2016/17 Volume #16: Issue #4 December

IMPORTANT DATES

Dec 5-9 Wildwood Book Fair

December 8 Cookies & Jammies

Night

December 13 Food Night

CPK

December 14

Band and Chorus Winter Concert

December 19 – January 2

WINTER RECESS

Directories were sent home the week before

Thanksgiving break. Also, this year PTA is happy to be able to provide PTA members with an online

directory and app. If you need help accessing the online directory, please email Nikki Shapiro at

nikki_shapiro@hotmail.com.

The one and only Wildwood Book Fair was last week in the MPR. Thank you for everyone who supported

our school through the Book Fair. It was a huge success again this year. Also, thank you to the PTA hospitality team for providing milk and cookies for

the Cookie and Jammies Night. A special thanks to our guest readers Isabella

Shattuck, Kelly Arocho and Brody Manser as well as our own Lt. Colonel Andrew Miller.

Thank you to all of you who have volunteered this week! If you are interested in volunteering or have a question about the Book Fair contact Amy Cann at

amycann@yahoo.com

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Principal Vollmer’s Corner @MrsDVollmer

Our children bring us special joy during this season, as we share meals with friends and relatives, share family traditions and share time together with loved ones. There is always something very special about this time of year, regardless of one’s religious affiliation and regardless of the commercialism in our stores, a spirit of joy and sharing always seems to

prevail. As the year draws to an end, remember to get in touch with how our children see and experience the holidays; hear the joy in their laughter, see the excitement in their eyes, feel

the love in their hugs. These are the experiences that give richness and meaning to our lives and are to be treasured and fondly remembered in years to come. My favorite time with

family is spent going on long walks to the park, hiking in the mountains, decorating the house with holiday cheer, reading stories about snowmen, and cooking Christmas morning breakfast for the whole family. The monetary gifts fade over time compared to the time and love we give

each and every day. From my family to yours we wish you a fabulous holiday season!

Congratulations to Serena Eaton. Serena is one of our talented 5th grade students who performed in the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra over the Thanksgiving break. She is a highly skilled Cello player and was one of nearly 120 students from across the country who come together to create musical masterpieces down at the UCLA Schoenberg Hall.

WILDWOOD IS PROUD OF YOU

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Take Care of Your Health As we have entered into the winter/flu season, please remember to follow the guidelines below in order to ensure we are all practicing proper hygiene and doing our part to help prevent the spread of flu or other illnesses.

1) Cover the nose and mouth with tissue or arm when coughing or sneezing. 2) Avoid close contact with someone who is ill. Individuals with symptoms should stay home until

totally fever free without the use of fever reducing medicines. 3) Wash hands with soap and water for 20-30 seconds, especially after coughing and sneezing. If

soap and water are not available, use an alcohol based hand sanitizer. 4) Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth. 5) Do not share food, drinks or eating utensils.

If your child is ill please keep them home to not expose other students to these viruses. If you feel a cough drop is necessary for the child, they must be dropped off in the office by the parent. Students then need to come to the office during their breaks to have a cough drop given to them. Cough drops or any other medicines cannot be sent with a child to school as they can pose a choking or safety hazard. If your child is out sick for 3 consecutive days we require a doctor’s note indicating the child has been under a doctor’s care. Thank you.

Over the past month, during PE, our 2-5th grade students have been practicing tennis skills with Jerry Yu. Mr. Yu is a tennis coach for the Men’s Tennis team at Cal Lutheran and a tennis pro with Total Tennis Academy. We are fortunate to have Mr. Yu and his family here at Wildwood and grateful for the time and equipment he provides to our students. “I had a great time teaching your child tennis during their P.E. class at Wildwood. If your child would like to play more, we offer group classes or private lessons. If your child

starts tennis in Elementary school there is a really high chance that they will make the Thousand Oaks High School Tennis team.” If your child enjoyed tennis please go to the website for more details on our programs and to receive a special Wildwood Family Discount www.wildwoodtennis.com. Winter camps at Cal Lutheran starting Dec 19-23 and Dec 27-30. Thanks to Principal Vollmer and the Wildwood Staff for the opportunity and support. We hope to see your kids on the tennis court! To see our 5th grade students perform the mannequin challenge during PE one day visit this private link https://youtu.be/2mkYuI0qyWE

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Kelli is a Wildwood Tiger who was diagnosed with a ganglioneuroblastoma of the right adrenal gland in June 2015. She had a right adrenalectomy and did not require further treatment, just surveillance. She successfully attended Wildwood last year as a 4th grader making many new friends. At her year scan of June 2016, two nodes in her abdomen were positive in her surgical site. Since her relapse she has begun the 18 months frontline treatment protocol for neuroblastoma. In addition to the numerous cycles of chemotherapy Kelli also just received a stem cell transplant. As a family, the Lay’s have united to provide Kelli with many opportunities to be with friends, go camping, attend sporting events and during times she is at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles she loves visits from the CHLA therapy dogs. Our school community continues to send positive thoughts and energy to the Lay’s and would like to send more moments of cheer and happiness to all the children at CHLA. This month we will be collecting Play-Doh to donate for the holidays. Every time a child at CHLA plays with the Play-Doh they must throw it away afterwards since it cannot be disinfected. This means they go through a lot of Play-Doh every year and that they are, most of the time, out of Play-Doh for the children to use. This is where Wildwood can help. The kids love using Play-Doh as it is a way for them to create something beautiful while they are going through a tough time in their life. Please bring in new, un-used jars of Play-Doh to your child’s class or the front office until Dec. 16th.

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PTA PRESIDENT’S CORNER

HappyHolidaysTigerFamilies,

IcannotbelieveitisalreadyDecember.Thefirstpartoftheschoolyearhasflownby!IhopethatyouallhavehadachancetoenjoyaneventorprogramthatyourPTAhasbeenabletoprovideforbothyourstudentandyourfamily.Inaddition,Iwanttothankyouallforyoursupportinourfundraisingeffortsthisfall.ThePTAisalltheparentsinourschoolcommunity,alongwiththeteachersandstaff,comingtogethertoprovideforourstudentsandtheirschool!IfyouhavenothadachancetojointhePTA,Iencourageyoutodoso.Thereareformsavailableinthefrontoffice.ThankyoutoeveryoneatWildwoodforyourcontinuedvolunteeringandsupport!

Ihopeyouallhaveachancetoattendourschoolbookfairthisweek!HaveagreatDecemberandarestfulwinterbreak!Ilookforwardtomoreexcitingprogramsandevents,andtheever-excitingJog-a-thon,duringthesecondhalfoftheschoolyear.HolidayCheertoyouandyours!NikkiShapiro

Assembly Time!!

This month the kids had an entertaining and informative assembly about water conservation that was put on by the

National Theatre for Children. This assembly focused on the importance of saving water and the ways to do so through a

comedic theatrical performance. The actors kept the kids laughing and engaged while teaching them really good some really good tips. Coming up in January the kids will have an interactive

STEM assembly where they will have 12- 15 stations to visit and learn from. This will include a programmable robot, bike generator, gravity well, radiometer just to name a few.

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Student Council News

Student Council has great news to share from the Student Body. Our first dress up day was a huge success! PJ day is one of the favorites at Wildwood and this

was evident by all the students wearing their most comfy pajamas on this day. Thank you to all the families for donating non-perishable food items for Manna. Your

generosity was well appreciated by the community. We collected a whole truckload of food to bring to the Manna house. This proves that Wildwood families really care about the community. Thank you again for your support!

We are asking families for help as we collect Playdough this December. Instead of Toys for Tots, we are involved in a fundraiser for Cancer patients at Children’s Hospital. We will collect new playdough to deliver to the Cancer patients for their use. We again look forward to your generosity with this collection. We would like to collect the Playdough donations by Winter Break - Thursday, December 15.

We have many things to look forward to this month. The Student Council Cabinet is going to

be reading a couple of books at Cookies and Jammies night. Also we have been looking forward to discussing the next dress-up day at our next meeting. To keep the holiday spirit up we will be discussing a date to go caroling at the TO Health Care Center. Don’t forget that the Wildwood Talent Show sign ups are the 1st week of January. Thank you! Go Tigers!

Isabella, Kelly, Brody

Your Student Council Cabinet

Report Cards Report cards came home on Friday, December 9th. Included in the report card envelopes will be your child’s Trimester 1 report card and a letter explaining the marks/grades. Please look over the report card and return the envelope signed to their teacher on Monday December 12th

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Keep Saving Those Box Tops!

Collection Drive starts January!!

Every January we have a Box Top drive to help fund PTA programs. It's an easy program to participate in.

Below you will see some participating products.

All you need to do is buy the product, clip off the Box Top and hold onto them

until collection time.

ART MASTERS Parent Volunteer Training #2 will take place on Wednesday, January 4 in the Wildwood Multi-Purpose Room at 8:15 Invitations will be sent home through your student’s classroom. Have a wonderful Winter Break. See you in the New Year. Lauren Piper

GATE There are many activities that we are involved in at Wildwood School. One activity is the monthly food challenge. This month we tasted Persimmons for the monthly food challenge. The students in GATE researched many interesting facts that were presented on an information board during the lunch time food tasting. These are the results: Kindergarten/ 1st grade 83% liked it 17% disliked it 2nd / 3rd grade 90% liked it 10% disliked it 4th / 5th grade 84% liked it 16% disliked it Persimmons are a true favorite of many at Wildwood! The goal is to challenge students to try foods that they may not normally choose to eat. Looking forward to our food tasting challenge for January! Here’s a fact about persimmons: The word “persimmon” comes from a Native American language and means “dry fruit”.

Thank you! Serena, Russell, Emily, Vince For updates for GATE please visit Wildwood Elementary School Teacher Web Mrs. Brunsell: GATE information Wildwood

FUNdraiser in support of: Wildwood Elementary PTA

Monday and Tuesday, December 12th & 13th 2016

Lunch-Dinner-Take Out Valid at

California Pizza Kitchen-The Lakes Thousand Oaks

2200 Thousand Oaks Blvd 805.777.1778

and Simi Towne Center

Simi Towne Center Way #790 805.522.0030

Fall Spirit Wear

The flyer was sent

home the week before

Thanksgiving break. If you have any questions, please contact Nikki Shapiro at nikki_shapiro@hotmail.com. There is

a very limited quantity of Fall Spirit wear for sale in the front office.

Get Ready for Wildwood’s

Talent Show!! Sign-ups will be available in the

MPR Jan. 3 - 6th (Tuesday - Friday

only)

Tryouts Wednesday and Thursday

Jan. 11th and 12th Instrumental acts will try out during lunch

recess on Thursday, All other acts will be after school.

• Please start polishing your act! • Each act may only be up to 2

minutes in length. • All lyrics for all music must be

appropriate for an elementary school audience and be preapproved before tryouts. Submit your lyrics to Mrs. Brunsell or Mrs. Morehead before you try out. No Lip Syncing • All costumes must also be appropriate for an elementary school audience and approved

before the actual performance. Talent Show

Performances Thursday, Feb. 9 (Primary) and Friday, Feb.

10 (Upper) Any questions please contact

Mrs. Brunsell, Mrs. Morehead, Mrs. Buck, or Mrs. May

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Have you started buying gifts for the holidays yet?

The season of giving is here and you still have time to order that perfect gift for everyone on your list! Use Amazon via this link or through our Wildwood PTA webpage the school gets a treat too! https://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=httpww2conejo-20 ************** Another way to earn cash for Wildwood is to buy books for your KINDLE!! 1. Start from the Wildwood PTA page or this link on a COMPUTER (not your Kindle device): http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=httpw w2conejo-20 2. Search the Kindle Store or search your book and click on the Kindle Edition to add to your cart. 3. Once purchased, your book will be downloaded to your account and will save to your kindle just the same. (Note: Ordering books straight from your kindle will NOT earn money for Wildwood.) Please make sure your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues use this link too!

Last week, your child brought home information about a reading program

sponsored by Six Flags. To earn a complimentary child's ticket to Magic

Mountain in Valencia to be used during the summer, your student must simply

document that he or she read for at least 6 hours in addition to daily

reading assigned by their teacher from now through February 15th. Winter break would be a great time for your

child to log their reading. Once 360+ minutes have been

documented on the reading log, please turn it in to your teacher. Teachers will also receive a ticket so long as at least eight students in their class complete

the program. If you have any questions or need another log, please email

Stephanie Farrell at stephkayfarrell@gmail.com.

Please make sure to label your child’s clothing, lunch boxes, etc so that we are able to get those items returned to them. Our lost and found has already grown to full capacity with lots of items that do not have names in them. At the end of each month we go through these items to look for names in order to get them to their rightful owners. For those who do not have names, we donate them to a local shelter.

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HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Diving into the holiday season can sometimes feel like diving into a swimming pool. While we breathe regular air during the rest of the year, the holiday air is different. It’s electric – full of never ending carols and decorative lights. It’s full of hopes and wishes and the spirits of giving, as well as receiving. More often than not, there’s a big current of stress circulating through it all, making us feel like we need to come up for air every once in a while. Here are a few quotes compiled by Forbes.com for us to use as those little pockets of air . . . or as the last sustaining gasp before we come up again in 2017:

• “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” - Hamilton Wright Mabie

• “This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” - D.M. Dellinger

• “As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.” - Donald E. Westlake

• “Sharing the holiday with other people, and feeling that you’re giving of yourself, gets you past all the commercialism.” - Caroline Kennedy

• “New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.” - Charles Lamb • “The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing others’ loads and

supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays.” - W. C. Jones

• “Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you. Thinking of you this holiday season!” - T.A. Barron

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes Wildwood Elementary would once again like to be able to offer our families an opportunity to access fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. To that end, we are working to partner with a CSA which will deliver produce either to the school for pick up or directly to participants’ houses. Please be on the lookout for further information in January. A small portion of the proceeds will go to the PTA. Healthy Food Promotion Students sampled persimmons during November’s HFP on Monday the 28th. This orange fruit packed full of vitamins A, C, E, and B6 was met with overwhelming thumbs up. For December’s Healthy Foods Promotion, the kids will sample a cooked food item for the very first time when they’ll be offered fresh cranberry sauce. Bijaya Eaton, Health & Wellness Coordinator, bijayak@gmail.com

Local Health and Fitness Events

12/18: 5th Annual Holly Jolly Half Marathon, 5K and 10K, Camarillo, 11:00 am, more info at www.HollyJollyHalf.com.