Mark Your Calendars: • Early Dismissal Day Friday, September 26 School dismisses at

12:15 p.m. • Fall Holiday Friday, October 3

School is closed • Halloween Dash 5K

Race & Fun Run Saturday, Oct. 11 8:00 a.m.

• PTO Meeting Tuesday, October 15 7:00 p.m. Please enter the MPR via Goode Street

The Pony Express 2014 Fall Edition, Volume 4 September 15, 2014 West University Elementary School

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

PTO Corner 1-3

President’s Column 1

Boo Bash Carnival 1

Chess Tournament 2 Team

Halloween Dash 5K Race and Kids’ Fun Run 2

Birthday Book Club 2-3

Are You VIPS Approved? 4

Pony Email Sign-Up 4

Marathon Kids 4

Girl Scouts Rally 4

Principal’s Place Sometimes we get overwhelmed with data these days in public education. Late last week I

was cleaning out files on my desktop and noticed an Excel file with all of the elementary schools in Texas ranked by performance by Children at Risk. I downloaded the file in mid-May and really hadn’t looked at it since. I thought you might find this interesting. Out of 4,359 elementary schools in Texas, we were ranked #14. That’s the top 0.3% of schools in the state. Wow! Following is our state ranking going back a few years: Year Rank 2014 14

2013 28 2012 18 2011 33 2010 34

We are never satisfied until we are #1. I always tell the teachers, “The price to stay at the top is equal to or greater than the price to get there in the first place.” We are constantly striving to improve in order for our children to have the best education possible. Have a superior week! John T. Threet, Principal

It is hard to believe we are half way through the month of September. October will be a busy month at West U. Please refer to our PTO website to check our calendar: http://westupto.org/. You can also sign up for the PTO West U Email. Click on the logo picture on the right-hand side of the page that looks like this one to sign up: Have a great week! Magnetized to WUES, Elizabeth Karkowsky, WUES PTO President 2014-2015

PTO Corner: PTO President’s Notes

Boo Bash Carnival Info VOLUNTEERS: Thank you to all the volunteers out there who signed up at Open House and through Sign Up Genius! If you have not signed up to volunteer or bring a sweet, please make some time to do so now! DINNER FOR 2 AT TINY'S!: We will be offering dinner for 2 at Tiny's No. 5 to one lucky winner. All you have to do is pre-purchase a wristband!

INFLATABLES AND GAMES STILL AVAILABLE TO SPONSOR!

PTO Corner (cont.)

Birthday Book Club

page 3 The Pony Express

Register Now for the West U Halloween Dash 5K Race and Kids Fun Run. Registration is open for the West U Halloween Dash on Saturday, October 11 at 8am. Please join us for this family-friendly and fun event that benefits that West U PTO. Tell your friends and neighbors! Registration is open to anyone. Register at http://westupto.org/fundraising/fun-run/.

West U Halloween Dash 5K Race and Kids’ Fun Run

WUES Tournament Chess Team

The WUES Chess team competes in scholastic tournaments against other schools. If your child is a United States Chess Federation (USCF) player and would like to be on the team, let us know! For more information on chess classes and developing tournament players, see the PTO website.

Happy Birthday, 生日快乐, Feliz Cumpleaños, С Днем Рождения ! The following students are celebrating their birthdays this week by donating a book to our school library:

Andrew Benitez June 7th Will Jones August 24th

Sarah Amor Parviz June 8th Brock Kelly August 25th

Joe Soendergaard July 14th Grace Manuel August 25th

Aydin M. Gelwick July 24th Addisyn McKenney August 25th

Tessa Dillard July 25th Rex Petrulis August 25th

Will Juden August 1st Kagan McAlpin August 25th

Hania Kusinski August 1st Robby Salomon August 25th

Robert McGee August 1st Grey Warren August 26th

Fiona Young August 1st Caden Warren August 26th

Samantha Hutchinson August 1st Emily Messina August 28th

Hania Kusinski August 1st Ella Knape August 28th

Brandon Grewal August 2nd Reesie Packer August 28th

Kaitlyn Holtorf August 2nd Christopher Deem August 28th

Daniel Lin August 3rd Cade Lium August 29th

Connor Chan August 4th Nithya Ravi August 29th

Continued on next page

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More students who are celebrating their birthday with a donation to the library!

Walker Dellinger August 5th Macy Mogas August 30th

Zoe Jung August 6th Matthew Schafer August 30th

Morgan Rippstein August 6th Ryan Frew August 31st

Evelyn Park August 7th Kristen Kinney Grass August 31st

Olivia Holst August 7th Shiv Khera August 31st

Alexandra Tabacu August 9th Quang Nguyen August 31st

Isabella Vaughan August 9th Harris Kirmani September 1st

Kate McQueary August 10th Aaron Bawden September 2nd

Cole Moorhead August 10th Danielle Lynch September 2nd

Kiera Swiger August 12th Alice Xu September 4th

Annabelle Potts August 12th Henry Branch September 7th

Shephard Calhoun August 12th Maxx Valadez September 8th

Tripp Goydan August 14th Cole Kelly September 15th

Ryan Gatto August 14th Riley Tackett September 15th

Ryan Karkowsky August 16th Advika Sadasivan September 15th

Sarah Jane Wise August 16th Bryan Lee September 16th

Reagan Ann Nguyen August 16th Niko Charlton-Ouw September 16th

Holden Smith August 16th Christian Scheibner September 16th

Elisha Rabley August 16th Kirk Waller September 16th

Alfred Y. Harper IV August 17th Greer Fuselier September 17th

Avery Moore August 18th Blake Young September 17th

Jake Rodriguez August 18th Serena Parilan September 17th

William Silva August 18th Alexander Nolen September 18th

Nicholas Snider August 18th Yufei He September 18th

Emmy Kate Packer August 18th Caroline Thompson September 19th

Berkeley Deutsch August 19th Oliver Satchell September 20th

Mason Goode August 18th Ella Brown September 20th

Charlise Giang August 20th Rhea Salerian September 20th

Gabriela Bryant August 21st Devin Shamoo September 20th

Caroline Cole August 23rd Jason Boué September 21st

Alyssa Dawes August 23rd Paul Pichon-Garcia September 21st

Happy Birthday and thank you for supporting the West U Elementary library! We will honor members with summer birthdays throughout the month of September. If your child has a June, July or August birthday, please sign up now so they can be recognized in the Pony Express along with other members having summer birthdays If you would like to order a Birthday Book Club membership for your child, please note that all orders are due NO LATER THAN Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. to be included in the following week’s Pony Express. Order forms can be found at www.westupto.org or by contacting Tracy Benner (tracymbenner@yahoo.com) or Guadalupe Harper (guadacarlesso@hotmail.com).

The Pony Express Birthday Book Club (cont)

The Pony Express

Marathon Kids

It is the policy of the Houston Independent School District not to discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, handicap or disability, marital status, religion, veteran status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, or any other basis prohibited by law in its educational or employment programs and activities.

JOIN GIRL SCOUTS! Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character. The Braes Oaks Community of Girls Scouts of San Jacinto Council is hosting a membership rally for parents of girls in grades K thru 5th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September18 at West U Methodist Church Drummett Building. Troops will be forming during the rally. Come and find out what Girl Scouting is all about.

Girl Scout Rally

Wes t Un i ve rs i t y E lemen ta ry Schoo l

3756 University Blvd. Houston, TX 77005

Phone: 713-295-5215

Fax: 713-667-8514

We’re on the Web!

visit us on the web at: www.westues.org

John T. Threet

Principal

Tracey L. Wyatt Magnet Coordinator

Amber Pinchback Assistant Principal

We’re beginning our 10th year of Marathon Kids here at WUES. Marathon Kids is a free 6 month program where your child runs/walks a marathon, 26.2 miles, along with eating a healthy diet. A finisher shirt will be given to all students who complete their marathon by the March 31st deadline. The majority of miles will be done at home since we have PE so infrequently. Marathon Kids veterans log their mileage walking to & from school, while on vacation, estimating distance covered during practices & games, etc. The 1st optional event is the Marathon Kids Kick Off on Saturday, October 7th, 10am, at Tellez Track on the UH campus. Registration forms are available on the information rack next to the aquarium near the office & my room, T-1. For more information, visit MK’s website: www.marathonkids.org or see me. Irene Duvo, Physical Education Teacher

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Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS) Are you VIPS Approved? Volunteers should contact our VIPS coordinator Tracey Wyatt to find out the status of their background check. For more information, please go to our school website at: http://www.houstonisd.org/westuniversityes. Click on the General Parent Info to access a PDF copy of the information sent home in the first day packet.

Are you receiving the text version of the Pony Express? Sign up to receive the Pony Express via email! Visit our school website at : http://www.houstonisd.org//cms/module/selectsurvey/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=471