A Note from Our PrincipalThank you to everyone that was able to attend student led conferences this past month. It was great to see students sharing the progress that they have made so far and what their goals are as the year continues. Our Veteran's Day parade that was organized through our student council was a great success. Thank you to all of the veterans and families that were able to join us. We are happy that we were able to honor all of our Veterans with this celebration. Thank you. Important Dates:
With the winter break and a New Year approaching I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season. News from our TeamsTeam Persistence - This month, Team Persistence explored ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. We Skyped with artist, Ben Zoltak, who creates art from recycled materials. Students worked collaboratively to create recycled mosaics from bottle caps. We made a video of one of our favorite songs about taking care of our planet! https://safeYouTube.net/w/Z0Xw Team Respect - During the past month Team Respect worked really hard preparing for our first student led conferences. We would like to thank our families for supporting us and attending this event. We also are in the thick of working on our community project. We look forward to exhibition night in January to show off our hard work. This past week we welcomed a few experts to inspire us and teach us about their careers. We would love to have any parents that would like to come and do the same contact us to set up a date. Team Integrity - Team Integrity practices a Mindful Minute each day after lunch. It helps us calm down and refocus. We gain self control and prepare for the afternoon ahead! Look at us go! Team Diversity - This month Team Diversity has been working on collaboration and giving feedback throughout the day. The students have been completing research on famous historical heroes. The students are using a grow and a glow to give feedback. During conferences, students shared their feedback with their parents. We posted a Parent Pride anchor chart. Parents then had the opportunity to post glows for their child on their work and accomplishments in school. The feedback has been very powerful! Excellence East - This was an incredible month in Excellence East! We have been working hard on being positive, active collaborators with one another, and to practice this we have participated in numerous activities including creating passion projects that will be completed throughout the year, and playing a Countries Around the World Sprint in the gym. We also, in finishing our government and citizenship unit, were able to take an amazing trip to visit/tour our capital in Madison, and tour the Wisconsin Veteran's Museum to deepen our understanding before Veteran's Day. Excellence West - Excellence West students, have been celebrating the school wide focus of "Embracing Diversity." We welcomed a guest speaker, Miss Nadia Malik, who taught us about her family, traditions and celebrations as a practicing Muslim. We also researched to find the meaning, popularity and family significance of our names. We are excited to implement Penpal Schools online platform as a way to discover and appreciate the difference and similarities in holiday traditions around the world. Students have connected with penpals from within the United States and as far away as Vietnam! What a wonderful way to embrace diversity and extend our learning beyond our classroom walls. Team Endurance - Last month in Team Endurance our goal was to foster self-motivation within each student. In order to achieve this, each student was given relevant material, a justification for learning, and a reasonable chance at success. Students focused on the understanding of who they are and what they are capable of as well as gaining confidence in each subject matter in the classroom. Next month we will be working towards challenging every student to work just beyond her/his reach. The optimal zone for student engagement is one in which they are working towards something they cannot easily do but is within their reach if they put forth effort while believing in themselves and making academic growth. Clubs and Specials UpdatesVeteran's Day Celebration - Every year Walker students and staff honor our Veterans. Student Council along with our Student Ambassadors honored our local Veterans by inviting them to a parade. The students created cards, designed capes, and chose their role in the parade. The students greeted our guests at the door and welcomed them to Walker School. They were thanked for their service and escorted in the parade. After the parade, the guests were led to the classrooms where students and staff planned different activities. Some classes sang songs, others made treats and had a question and answer session. It was truly an honor to meet and honor all of our Veterans! Special thank you to the Boy Scout troop for being the honorary Color Guard! The Young Authors Conference - All 4th and 5th graders at Walker were given the opportunity to apply for the chance to represent their school at the annual Young Authors Conference, held at the Milwaukee Art Museum on December 2nd. Students were asked to complete an application that had them answer questions about why they felt they would be a great representative of Walker. With nearly 50 applications submitted, there was a lot of competition! Congratulations to Coraline Bott and Koda Bruner for being selected to represent Walker at the conference! Student Council - Walker Student Council has been busy since the beginning of the school year. Our first task was to count and collect box tops. The students counted the box tops and put them in bags of 50 before we sent them off to meet the deadline. We also encouraged families to log into the box top app to earn money for Walker School. The money earned from the box tops will be used to support projects around the school. Another way Walker Student Council is reaching out to the community is by forming a partnership with Together We Rise. This organization is dedicated to children in foster care. Student Council raised money for to provide birthday boxes for children in a local foster care. The student council will be decorating the birthday boxes and filling the boxes with little gifts sent to us by Together We Rise. Each birthday box will include a personalized card that is made by student council members. Once the boxes are made they will be delivered to a local foster care facility. Project Based Learning with Ms. Bruno - Students started project-based learning as a special this month. Teams are working on various projects with a focus on designing and creating. Students worked on creating an eight-page book of thanks and grateful bracelets. Another project in the works is our dream project where students are creating poems about their dreams. Engineers are definitely in the making with designing structures and learning about their functions through many of our activities. What is your dream? School Ambassadors - School Ambassadors learned a lot about Walker School and how it got its name. In addition to discovering some great facts about our school, they also greeted our Veteran's and helped in idea sharing for Student-led conferences.
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