April/May 2015 Issue
WISH
INSIDER Leadership
Interview with Mrs. Doucette
Operations
Update: WISH Middle School Upcoming Calendar
Community Partnerships Nutrition Awareness
Student Life
Interview with Archery Coach 6th Grade Camp Art Update
Kid’s Corner
Book Reviews Craft Corner
WISH Middle School Day at LMU Baseball — The Pride of The Lions! by Ivey Steinberg
The Loyola Marymount University Lions baseball team invited our students to be their honored guests as they dedicated their game to WISH Middle School! WISH Middle School Day at LMU baseball was held on Saturday, April 18. In preparation for the big event, WISH MS student senators made posters featuring the players’ names. WISH MS students and their families enjoyed a picnic to start the day, while the LMU baseball players warmed up just a few feet away. The LMU coaches and players came over to join in the celebration, and to draw the name of one lucky WISH MS student to throw out the first pitch of the game! Seventh grader Adam Dreyfuss took the mound as the crowd cheered, starting the game in fine WISH fashion. Adam’s fastball was just the beginning of one of the most exciting games of LMU’s season. The Lions were tied in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and two strikes when LMU power hitter, Kyle Dozier connected with the walk off hit to win the game. Afterward, the players autographed balls and programs for the WISH MS students and thanked everyone for attending their game. This certainly won’t be the last game for the WISH MS students, many of whom are already making plans to return to Page Stadium!
THE LIONS AND OWLS
UNITE!
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Leadership (Not Quite) 21 Questions With Second Grade’s Mrs. Doucette
DRESS CODE CLARIFICATIONS
by Jayme Younger How many years have you been teaching and what was your teaching path prior to WISH? I graduated with my teaching degree from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. This is my third year at WISH and my tenth year teaching elementary school. I have taught Pre K to second grades in Arizona, Massachusetts, and California. I worked for LAUSD before heading to WISH. Where were you born and raised and what brought you to Los Angeles? I was born and raised in Massachusetts, about 45 minutes south of Boston. I fell in love with California when I came to visit family during spring break in college. I wanted to move immediately and I found an exchange program through Cal State University Northridge in which I could just come out for a semester. I studied at Northridge, made a bunch of friends and after graduating college I moved to CA! The rest is history. Where have your travels taken you and how have those experiences influenced your life? I have been to Paris, Tuscany, Rome, Venice, Mexico, Canada, many of the 50 states— Hawaii being my favorite and where I got married— and the Caribbean. Traveling allows you to see how others live and how amazing the world around you is. Although I do not enjoy flying — I am very afraid of heights— I enjoy seeing new places and eating the delicious foods! How do you like to spend your time outside of school? I love spending time with friends and family, especially my three-year-old niece. Shopping and the beach are usually in the weekend plans and I am a reality TV junkie. The Amazing Race is a family favorite. Who are some of the most influential people in your life and what is it about them that you appreciate/ admire? The most influential person in my life was my grandfather. He was amazing in so many ways: caring, selfless, giving, patient, strong, hard working, driven, creative, and would do anything for anyone. He was the person who said I would either be a “teacher” or a “waitress” because that’s all I ever played as a little girl. He helped me on my path of becoming the teacher I am today. What are some things that your 2nd graders have taught you? My second graders have taught me how to use technology! LOL… They have also taught me patience, forgiveness, how to enjoy the small stuff, how to laugh, and how being messy is okay sometimes! In your opinion, what makes WISH special? WISH is special because it’s WISH! I have been to many, many schools, and there is no place like it. It starts with administration and filters through each and every person who is involved in WISH including parents, community, staff, students, and donors. If I could choose one word I would say “family.” I have seen people come together at WISH when people needed it the most and ask for nothing in return. So as they say in Hawaii, WISH is “ohana.”
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OPERATIONS WISH Middle School at Cowan by William Brown We are so pleased to announce that, through Proposition 39, WISH Charter Middle School will be co-located on the site of Cowan Elementary School for the 2015-2016 school year, just one block away from our current site! This location and facilities agreement not only meets the needs of our growing student body, it fits wonderfully within our plan for a location in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, and it is in close proximity to both WISH Charter Elementary School and our university partner, Loyola Marymount University! Be on the lookout for additional information, and for opportunities to assist with the move this summer. We are grateful for this offer and very much look forward to serving the WISH Middle school community at this location! Proposition 39 is a law that serves to ensure "that public school facilities should be shared fairly among all public school pupils, including those in charter schools." It requires school districts to make "reasonably equivalent" facilities available to charter schools upon request. A major benefit of Proposition 39 is that money charter schools would typically have to budget for renting facilities (even though they’re public schools) can be better spent in the classroom. More information regarding Proposition 39 may be found at: http://www.calcharters.org/blog/ FactSheet_Prop_39.pdf
UPCOMING EVENTS May 13
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WCA Meeting WISH Campus 6:30 p.m.
No School
Scholastic Book Fair, location TBD Volunteer Breakfast @ WISH 7:30 a.m. - 9 a.m. Spring Sing, Auditorium 9 a.m.
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Board Meeting @ WISH 6:30 p.m. Archery Playoffs @ Frank Parent 4 p.m.
Scholastic Book Fair, location TBD Student Art Gallery, location TBD
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Annual Projects @ WISH Campus Minimum Day - School out at 12:30 p.m.
Scholastic Book Fair, location TBD Student Art Gallery, location TBD
Mark your calendar and don’t miss out on some community building events! 4
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS Taking A Bite Out of National Nutrition Month by Ellen Goldfarb Every year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics celebrates National Nutrition Month in March with a new theme each year. This year’s was, “Bite into a healthy lifestyle.” The purpose of the National Nutrition Month campaign is to help raise awareness of how to put good nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits back into the lives of Americans. As a Registered Dietitian-‐Nutritionist, I have been so happy to have the opportunity to teach our youngsters about good nutrition and healthy habits. This is my third year doing this at WISH and I absolutely love hearing the feedback from parents and the kids about the changes they are making and how much they enjoy learning about nutrition and exercise. This year, I had the pleasure of doing this with Coach Casey and we had such a successful campaign. We started off each lesson with what the kids thought nutrition and being healthy meant to them. Then we spoke about Everyday Foods vs. Play Foods. I don’t like to call foods good or bad so I call them everyday and play foods. All foods can fit in our lives at one point or another. Then we created a poster board which contained five food items and next to each item we spooned into baggies the amount of teaspoons of sugar in each item. We then had each class guess how much sugar was in each item. This exercise was extremely enlightening for the kids as well as the teachers! We ended our lesson with Coach Casey talking about exercise and how to get easy exercise routines into your daily life while keeping it fun. We picked two volunteers in each class to do a hula-‐hoop challenge which the kids really loved. We made sure to cater each lesson to each class age appropriately. Handouts were provided to each student to bring home. They included a list of ingredients that were other names for sugar as well as healthy snack ideas. All in all, the feedback on this has been outstanding. We look forward to doing this every year to help our kids grow into healthy adults.
Newsletter Team EDITOR IN CHIEF CHRISTIE KOBATA CREATIVE DIRECTOR ISABEL ALVAREZ CONTENT EDITOR OLIVER JONES WRITERS ANGELA JONES ALLISON GROVER-KHOURY IVEY STEINBERG JAYME YOUNGER KIMBERLIE TRACESKI MIKE STEINS PAULA TOMIZAWA- MENDOZA SARAH WHITNEY 5
STUDENT LIFE Spring Team Sports Aim for Targeted Fun! by Ivey Steinberg
In addition to the popular returning spring sports of soccer and track, dance and archery are the newest entries to the WISH team sports roster. Coach Danielle Busse, a parent at WISH since the school’s inaugural year, is leading a full count of archers and hosting the first home field games for the WISH team sports program. Q: Did you participate in archery when you were in school? A: I grew up in Texas and we were all about Marching Band and Football! There wasn't an archery program in elementary, middle or high school and I went to a music college with no campus or sports program. I love to watch archery during the Olympics and have always been interested in the sport! Q: What kind of training did you have before you started coaching? A: (Laughs). Prepare to be nervous! I took a two-hour course online and then went to an eight-hour training course at Easton Archery. It was a wonderfully interesting training course. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! Q: The archery roster filled up quickly. Why do you think so many athletes are interested in the sport? A: Weaponry— I think it taps into our primal hunter instincts! When you have the bow in your hands, and you are holding and just ready to release the arrow— it’s exhilarating! There are so many books and movies boosting the sport, it has seen HUGE growth over the past few years. I'm so happy to see interest from both the girls and boys at school. Q: Other than hitting the bull’s eye, what goals do you have for your athletes? A: I really want to instill a lifelong love of the sport in them. We only just shot our first arrow during the 4th practice session. The kids were so excited to shoot, but we had to spend a lot of time going over safety protocols, practicing good form before ever touching the bow, and learning about the equipment. I was so proud of them during our first shooting session. They were all so focused on doing everything right. Their faces when they were done shooting were absolutely priceless. I really want them to have fun!
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Sixth Grade Astrophysics Camp by Annika Livingston-Hall
Before I arrived at Astrophysics Camp, I honestly didn’t know what to expect because I had never been to a camp like it before. However, I did know that we would be covering a variety of lessons that would mostly take place outdoors. By the time our 6th grade class arrived, I was really excited. Everyone there was very nice and made the camp sound fun as well as educational. I think that my favorite part of the camp was definitely the fact that almost all activities were outdoors. It was really fun spending time with my friends and learning a lot too! The most challenging part of the camp for me was that we had to cram tons of work into a short period of time. This can sometimes be stressful for me because I like to make sure that I have enough time to complete my tasks. Despite this challenge, I was able to finish all my assignments on time. One thing that surprised me about the camp was that it was such fun. I initially thought that it would be strictly educational and I did end up learning a lot, but I also had a great time! I would recommend this camp to a anyone without a moment’s hesitation. I really liked the fact that I was able to learn so much in a couple of days. At this camp, everyone was was very nice and helpful and, if I could go back, I definitely would.
Art Update: Caterpillars, Recyclables and Cubism! by Coutney Coleman During our shorter month we will be doing a variety of activities.
Kindergarten is finishing their "Very Hungry Caterpillar" unit and adding the body made out of recycled egg cartons to their symmetry butterfly and glazing their clay caterpillars that they created last month. First grade is starting out the month working on their Standard 2.8 creating artwork based on observations of actual objects and everyday scenes. They started the month by going on a drawing scavenger hunt in the garden, practicing drawing what they saw and moving on to still-life drawing in the classroom. Second grade will continue their unit on combining their general-education knowledge of fractions with their art knowledge of color by creating a mix-media concentric circle.
amazing to see what they can do with boxes, bottles, magazines and other recyclables. We have a few owls, an elephant, dragon, dog, and more! Sixth grade is creating a piece using tints and shades and based on Picasso's Cubist Period. We started out with notes on color theory, drawing an everyday object, and dividing the space using various lines. Later we will fill in the spaces the lines created with tints and shades. Seventh grade is starting a mixed-media project and are going to be working on showing emphasis in a stilllife drawing. They will be incorporating value, color, and line in the final piece. We start out the month doing a shading practice with different shapes and will work up to drawing our composition along with incorporating the skills we have been working on in class.
Third grade is starting their clay sculptures where they get a chance to create based on their Standard 2.5 and create an imaginative clay sculptures based on organic forms. Fourth grade will be doing a project incorporating complementary colors and geometric shapes to create optical illusions. They are working on their Standard 2.8 using complementary colors in an original composition to show contrast and emphasis. Fifth grade will finish their recycled sculptures they have been creating in collaborative groups. It has been
5th grade working on recycled sculpture and 1st drawing what they saw in the garden.
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KID’S CORNER
BOOK REVIEWS: Dance, Color and Sound! by Allison Grover Khoury
Josephine –The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker This book is a fascinating biography of super-star dancer and extraordinary woman that we all should know about. Josephine is both wonderful and unusual for a picture book but well worth reading. Using words sparingly, perhaps even more poem than narration, author Patricia Hruby Powell, herself a dancer, documents the thrill and magic of Josephine’s dance and life. The illustrations by Christian Robinson, are what I would call primitive style, strikingly sparse but still detailed when needed. The pages are almost all dark colors, teal, orange, goldenrod— visually very rich and satisfying. While it is a picture book, it is much longer than the typical 32 page picture book for younger readers. Josephine won two honors this year: A Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration and The Robert Sibert Honor. The Noisy Paint Box – The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art Founder of the Abstract Art Movement, Vasya Kandisnsky started life in a wealthy Russian family in the mid-1800s. His life of privilege suppressed his creative and artistic gifts almost completely rather than nurturing them. He eventually broke free and painted as he saw and heard color, changing the traditional art scene forever. The authors, Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre, call the book historical fiction rather than a biography, but either way, any glimpse at Kandisky’s love of colors look and sound is a book worth reading. Each page is a visual feast of Kandisky’s stifling world and eventual brilliant works of art. Perfect for young readers, this picture book won a Caldecott honor for illustration in 2015.
CRAFT CORNER - In Honor of Earth Day Pencil Canister by Paula Tomizawa-Mendoza This month’s craft is in honor of Earth Day and turns a old frosting tub into a fun place to keep your pencils! Materials Empty frosting tub (you can also use soup cans too) Decorative Scrapbook Paper Scissors Glue stick What you need to do: 1. Take an empty frosting tub and a piece of scrapbook paper. 2. Cut the scrapbook paper so it fits around the tub. 3. Use a glue stick to affix the paper to the tub and voila! 8