NEWSLETTER April 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME
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Nurse News
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Cultural Corner
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WP TV Studio News
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Talent Show
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Spring Family Picnic
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WP Parents vs Staff Soccer Match
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ACADEMICS Pre-K 3 & 4
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Kinder
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1st Grade- Mrs. Melendez
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2nd Grade- Ms. Papar
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2nd Grade-Ms. Ricci 3rd Grade- Mrs. Biggers
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3rd Grade Spanish
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4th Grade-Mr. Gonzalez
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MYP Personal Project Exhibition
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Spanish- 5th and 6th
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5th and 6th-Ms. Sudberry
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6th Grade-Mr. Koehnle
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Discover Costa Rica Trip
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DP Art Exhibition
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WELCOME Welcome, WP community members, to our April Newsletter! It’s hard to believe we are already approaching the end of the school year! There are only two more months left, and no doubt they will fly by. Even though the month of March was cut short by Spring Break, there were still many exciting activities and events that took place, such as our MYP Costa Rica Trip, our DP Art Exhibition, our WP Talent Show, and much more! Keep reading to get an inside peek! We hope you enjoy!
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Nurse News March is National Nutrition Month! Here are some tips on healthy eating for kids: Vegetables and fruits are not always a child’s first choice at mealtimes, but most children will outgrow their “picky” eating phase with time. The more pleasant and stress free mealtime can be the more easily a child will move through this phase. Make food fun! Try making fruit faces on plates; cut sandwiches into different shapes. Also, cut out any distractions at mealtime. Involve children in picking out fruits and vegetables for mealtime. Keep trying new foods and textures. It takes approximately 8-15 different exposures to a new food for a child to decide whether or not they like it. Hide fruits and vegetables anywhere you can; try a smoothie with berries and low fat yogurt. Be patient and do not give up. Children will eventually enjoy eating different types of food.
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Cultural Corner This month, our Cultural Coordinator, Mr. Cervantes, teamed up with our Music Teacher, Mrs. Kholodnaya to organize our 2019 WP Talent Show, which you’ll read about later in the “Talent Show” section. Also, as part of our initiative to promote diversity and multiculturalism at Woodlands Prep, several special guests were invited to our school this month, including the Education Advisor of the Consulate of Spain in Houston, Mr. Jesus Valencia, and the Consul General of El
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Salvador in Houston, Mrs. Margarita Guevara. They toured our facilities, spoke to many of our students, and even agreed to carry out interviews for our WP TV Spotlight segment, which you can watch in our WP TV News section. We look forward to seeing our two guests at our school again soon!
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WP TV Studio News Welcome, once again, to the WP TV News section! The month of March brought us many interesting events and topics to talk about during the morning news. Some people and topics covered were: •Space X Dragon Capsule Docking on ISS •Dmitri Mendeleev and the Periodic Table •Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone •Alexey Leonov and the First Spacewalk •The History of St. Patrick’s Day •French Language Day •The History of Nowruz •Air Pollution •The Life of Ludwig Van Beethoven •The Importance of Nutrition
Also, during our regular WP Spotlight segment, we spoke to several featured guests, including: •Mr. Jesus Valencia-Education Advisor of the General Consulate of Spain in Houston •Mrs. Margarita Guevara- Consul General of El Salvador •Tiana Terry-Pre-K Teacher
We hope you enjoy our WP Spotlight videos! For now, this is WP TV signing out!
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Talent Show Our 2019 WP Talent Show took place on March 22, and it was a show to remember!
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Spring Family Picnic On March 30th, our WP parents, students, and staff came together at Rob Fleming Park to enjoy the WP Spring Family Picnic! It was a beautiful day to spend outside, socializing, eating good food, and playing games together as a community. We would like to give a special thanks to the PTSA for their effort in organizing such a great event, and we thank everyone for coming! It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of Spring as a community!
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WP Parents vs Staff Soccer Match Normally, WP parents and staff work together as a team, but on Friday, March 29th, WP parents and staff were pitted against each other in a thrilling “parents vs staff� soccer match! Fortunately, no red cards were given, and in the end everyone had a great time brushing up on their soccer skills and getting a good cardio workout as well. It was a fun and different way for staff and parents to come together. We look forward to having more of these events!
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Pre-K 3 & 4 The Pre-K 3 & 4 classes finished up their unit with career day! In this unit, How We Organize Ourselves, we talked about how community helpers support their community and the transportation systems present in a community. Each student made a poster and dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grow up. Students did a wonderful job presenting to other parents, teachers and students.
Kinder Students learned about living things and life cycles while working on their current Unit of Inquiry, Sharing the Planet. A field trip to the Houston Zoo allowed student led inquiries and hands on learning experiences.
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1st Grade Mrs. Melendez
First grade in room 102 began a new unit called How We Organize Ourselves. The Central Theme is: Communities are organized in different ways to meet the needs and wants of its citizens. We’ve enjoyed building rural, urban and suburban communities using different materials in our class and presenting our projects to our classmates.
We’ve also started our money unit by sorting coins, discussing purchases and working on story word problems involving money. We are ending the unit by creating different structures for our STEM afternoons where we use toothpicks, popsicle sticks, play doh or marshmallows to create different forms. E
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2nd Grade - Ms. Papar Black History Month We invited Ms. Terry to come and speak to us about Black History month. She was very informative and gave us a lesson on slavery and racial discrimination and segregation.
They spoke about the importance of amendments, why they chose them, and what they mean to them. It was a brilliant performance and we really proud of each and every student.
Summative assessment on - US Amendments Our students chose different US amendments that they researched on their own and as a team presented in front of parents and faculty members.
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2nd Grade - Ms. Ricci In Ms. Ricci’s second grade class, students learned about government and how it functions. For their summative assessment, the students ran for a political office of their choice after thoroughly researching their position (i.e. President, V.P., Senator, Governor, Judge, Mayor). Then they wrote a campaign speech that highlighted why they would be the bestcandidate for the position.
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They created campaign posters and delivered speeches to their classmates and families. After all speeches were finished, a class election washeld in which each student filled out their official election ballot.
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3rd Grade The third grade class took a trip to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, a 155-acre nature sanctuary in the heart of Houston. They learned a lot about nature and about Houston’s flora and fauna with hands-on and interactive exhibits in the Discovery Room and a teacher-led, self-guided trail activity. They even had the chance to go pond-dipping and study different living organisms.
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3rd Grade Spanish Our Spanish 3rd grade class researched about Latin American currencies and created a presentation using the app “Makesto�. They compared the value of food in different countries and practiced their math skills in Spanish.
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4th Grade 1. After learning about observation and drawing skills, the students set out to make some drawing of their own in preparation for their Summative Assessment. They created fantastic drawings that show an increasing capacity for wonder and to observe and appreciate the world around us. They had to make choices, observe, and copy by tracing and coloring. They added these drawings to their collection. 2. For their Summative Assessment, fourth grade had an art exhibition in which they presented their understanding as well as their artwork to the school community. They developed social, organization and communication skills. They had to write a short introduction to one of their peers and answer questions in front of a small audience.
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MYP Personal Project Exhibition On March 29, Woodlands Prep had its annual MYP Exhibition. This year we had nine students from Grade 10 to share their personal projects with MYP students, parents and teachers. All MYP students had an opportunity to learn about a variety of topics such as 3D modeling, solar-powered house, cooking recipes, logo design, fashion design, positive thinking, etc.
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Spanish- 5th and 6th Spanish 5th/6th graders attended the Hispanic Flamenco Ballet performance. They enjoyed different music genres from Latin America and Spain, such as, Flamenco, Salsa, Cha Cha, Merengue, and much more.
5th and 6th Grade Grade 5 and 6 students used their creativity and math skills to create their own unique EQUATION clocks! For each hour position on the clock, students developed equations with the answers 1 through 12. To create their equations, they used math skills learned this year including concepts like: the order of operations, exponents, square roots, greatest common factor, and least common multiple. Some students even turned their clocks into a game and challenged their peers to test their math skills!
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6th Grade- Koehnle 6th grade students have been working hard building props to present star constellations, ancient Greek astronomers, and the Greek mythology behind behind it all. In addition, 6th grade earned a special recognition for the grade level that collected the most ‘Box Tops’ for the school.
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MYP Discover Costa Rica Trip 14 MYP students went on an international educational trip to Costa Rica during the Spring Break. It was an amazing learning experience for all the students as they zip lined through the Sarapiqui rainforest and kayaked in the Arenal Volcano National Park. Students also had the honor to participate in releasing a sloth back to nature after treatment for an injury. This trip provided opportunities for students to expand their knowledge of the world around them, appreciate new cultures, discover more about themselves and grow more confident and independent. What do students say: “Costa Rica was fun, exciting and challenging!” —Jake Edwards, Grade 9 “My trip to Costa Rica was both exhilarating and influential. It showed me the differences between my life and life in a very different place from the physical differences to the social aspects. It made me think and make connections between my life in Houston and in Australia. There are amazing things everywhere.” —Mackenzie Batterham, Grade 8 “Costa Rica is a great place to be. Everyone is friendly, the nature is awesome, we had a lot of fun”. —Natalia Pilay, Grade 9
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DP Art Exhibition DP Art Students Angel Maita, Olga Kedya and Alejandra Cordova executed a stellar Art Exhibition March 5th at The Glade Gallery in The Woodlands. Each student was able to present their pieces and explain a little bit about their theme and creative process. The two-year journey of the IB Visual Arts program culminates in this exhibition. We are very proud of all the hard work these artists have put into this final phase of their art education and thank them for sharing their thoughts and talents with us at WPS
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Thanks for reading!
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