• Principal's Message Continued From The Home Page

    Please be aware of all of the schedule changes that November brings:

    • Monday, November 11th, Veterans Day: NO SCHOOL
    • Monday, November 18th, Report Card preparation day: School dismisses at 12:15 (NO LUNCH)
    • Friday, November 22nd, Report Card (Progress Report) available in Skyward at 5:00
    • Monday, November 25th, Parent/Teacher Conferences: NO SCHOOL for students
    • Tuesday, November 26th, Parent/Teacher Conferences: NO SCHOOL for students
    • Wednesday, November 27th, Parent/Teacher Conferences: NO SCHOOL for students
    • Thursday, November 28th, Thanksgiving holiday: NO SCHOOL
    • Friday, November 29th, Thanksgiving holiday break: NO SCHOOL


    Digital Citizenship and Online Safety
    October launched our annual instruction on Digital Citizenship and Online Safety lessons.  Students in grades 2-5 learned about online safety, cyberbullying, and digital etiquette in class from their teachers with the support of our Instructional Technology Coaches. We encourage families to continue to build understanding and expectations about digital citizenship and safety at home. Brainpop and Brainpop Jr have excellent, age-appropriate videos that many classrooms used in their direct instruction. You can access those at home via Classlink.  Additionally, there are several other helpful resources families can access to engage in important conversations and expectations around this topic. Find a compilation of parent resources about online safety resources on our District website here:
    https://www.mercerislandschools.org/Page/14588

    Car Pickup and Student Safety
    When picking students up after school please be aware that we must leave a clear path for parents and emergency vehicles to get down our driveway up until 5 minutes before dismissal. This means that cars should wait at the top of the hill (in front of our yellow sign that explains the process) until 3:40 every day but Wednesday, and 2:00 on Wednesday. Please also make sure that your car is out of the roadway and leaves room for other vehicles to pass. I understand from some families that they have not been able to pass the line of cars to get to their child when picking them up before 3:40. This is a safety concern if we had a student that needed to be transported due to an illness or injury we would not be able to unless the line up of cars provides enough room for others to get by.

    We also want to remind you to have your children enter the car on the curbside and have appropriate car or booster seats ready for them. 

    For the safety of all, refrain from using your cell phone when driving in our lot.

    Changing Weather
    As we head into November our weather often turns a bit colder and wetter. Please remind your child to come to school prepared for outdoor recess with a coat and waterproof shoes every day. We try to limit “indoor recess” to only those REALLY nasty days (high winds, thunder, etc.) because we believe that time to run around outside each day is important. 

    The changing weather also brings a pile-up of lost and found items as students wear their jackets and sweaters in the morning when it is cold and then take them off during recess when they warm up. This is a great time to remind them to check the lost and found pile to retrieve their lost sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets. We will also have the lost and found available for you to check through when you come for conferences, in case your child has not found their item on their own. We do donate all items from lost and found that are not claimed at our breaks, our upcoming Winter Break will be the first one.

    The Wolf Way 
    We began this year introducing a new behavior expectation system (PBIS—Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) to students. We call it “The Wolf Way: take care of yourself, take care of the pack—be safe, be respectful, be responsible”. The students have responded in a very positive way and as a school have earned more than 8,000 HOWLS so far this year! HOWLS are the recognition that students receive from staff members to acknowledge their positive behavior—we were hoping for this many once the entire year was up but to have this number of positive acknowledgments at just the end of October is remarkable!! Way to go, Wolfpack!!

    November/December calendar:

    • Friday, November 1st –Parent Playground (12:20-1:00 for K-2, 12:45-1:25 for 3-5)
    • Monday, November 11th—NO SCHOOL due to Veterans Day
    • Monday, November 18th—school is dismissed at 12:15 for Report Card Preparation, NO LUNCH
    • Thursday, November 21st—Island Books & Browse (10-12 and 5-7)
    • Friday, November 22nd—Report Cards (Progress Reports) available online (Skyward) at 5:00
    • Monday, November 25th—NO SCHOOL for students’ due to Conference Day
    • Tuesday, November 26th—NO SCHOOL for students’ due to Conference Day
    • Wednesday, November 27th—NO SCHOOL for students’ due to Conference Day
    • Thursday, November 28th—NO SCHOOL due to Thanksgiving
    • Friday, November 29th—NO SCHOOL due to Thanksgiving holiday
    • Thursday, December 5th—Winter Music Concert, 7pm
    • Friday, December 6th—Parent Advisory Council (PAC), 9:30-10:30am
    • Friday, December 6th—Parent Playground (12:20-1:00 for K-2, 12:45-1:25 for 3-5)
    • Tuesday, December 10th—Culture Fair, 6:30-8:00pm
    • Monday, December 23rd through Friday, January 3rd –NO SCHOOL (Winter Break)
    • School resumes on Monday, January 7th 

    We hope that this month of Thanksgiving brings you much to be thankful for and allows you time to spend with those whom you love most!

    Carol Best                                                           Melanie Ready
    Principal                                                             Associate Principal
    West Mercer Elementary                                 West Mercer Elementary & Northwood Elementary