This edition of the newsletter is brought to you by:
Two Down and Four To GO!
We're back with this six weeks news from the WesterPTA. Included in this newsletter is pretty much everything anyone wanted you to know and probably some stuff they didn't. You can find the latest on:
How to receive important updates via test message
The upcoming Bookfair
This months Spirit Nights
Spirit Wear
Every student's favorite, "Freaky Friday"
Our "Don't Show Up Event" Donation Drive!
News from the Wester Middle School's Librarian extraordinaire
A quick word from your WesterPTA President
As we begin to gather our fall decorations and make preparations for the holiday weeks ahead, it’s unmistakable that we’ve settled into the routine of another school year. During this time of giving thanks, I’d like to extend PTA’s gratitude and appreciation to all the Wildcat parents, teachers and staff for making Wester Middle School the great place of learning that it is. I would also like to share that due to PTA membership and donations the PTA was able to purchase new, much-needed, tables for the cafeteria. Thank you for your continued support!
Even in the little amount of time since school began, PTA has been able to accomplish a number of things.
Freaky Fridays continue to be enjoyed by the kids as they look forward to refueling with snacks at the end of each week.
A successful book fair was completed.
The annual Reflections contest generated more entries than in years past and talented Wester students were clearly evident.
Teacher Appreciation events have been fantastic and given us the opportunity to thank our awesome teachers and staff that dedicate their careers to serving our kids.
The addition of Spirit/Dining Nights Out. Who doesn’t need an excuse to forego cooking in order to raise money for our school? These events are a great way to support Wester PTA while dining out with family and friends in our community. Look for additional information and dates in this newsletter and on our website.
Dad’s Club implemented Dad’s at the Door. Please take a moment to thank them for their weekly commitment and dedication.
Certainly, there is much more to look forward to such as the highly anticipated social for all students, spirit nights out, Wester Wildcat hoodies, and additional teacher appreciation events. Read on to learn more from the various PTA Chairmen!
Don’t forget to check us out and view a calendar of events online at www.westerpta.com.
I wish you a very happy and wonderful holiday season! As always, your ideas, comments and suggestions are always appreciated so please do not hesitate to contact me.
The first bookfair of the year was a great success! We had many students come down to browse through our books and lots have even stopped to purchase their favorites.
We had a great turnout for parent ( and grandparent) volunteers to help the students find books and get through the check-out lines!
A big THANK YOU goes out to all of the fantastic volunteers we have here at Wester Middle School, including: Sharolyn LePage, Wanda Edler, Carol Evans, Loretta Goodfellow, Teresa Banks, Brenda Evangelista, Tina Schramme, Glenda Weitzel, Winkie Myers, Terri Pekar, Jenny Ross, Diana Sisk, Luci Arnold, Debbi Fisher, Tracy Baggett, Tara Wetli, Barbara Cook, Robin Collins, Suzy Hermman, Michelle Brown, Liz Alexander, Courtney Wilson, Suny Kang, Anissa Lara, Fran Thomas and Lisa Hudgins (PTA's intrepid leader). Many thanks go out to Karen Swanson, our tireless Librarian!
Freaky Friday's here again!
Don't forget to bring a couple of dollars with you for some well deserved snacks after school. This is a great way to help out with the student hunger problem and support your Wester PTA!
Everything is one dollar!
If you’d like to volunteer to help with sales, please contact
Donation Drive A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our “Don’t Show Up Event” Donation Drive!
All donations directly benefit the students and campus of Wester and we are thankful that your generosity has raised $4,000.00 thus far!
If you have not participated, it’s never too late to submit your tax-deductible donation!
You can donate online via Paypal at www.westerpta.com or send a check (payable to Wester PTA) to school, attention PTA.
While a $25.00 donation per student is suggested, we will happily accept any donation you can make.
Library News from the Library
Database of the Month! Gale Research Databases are a gold mine of information for your research needs. Our custom Power Search home page lets us use keywords to find newspaper and magazine articles, books, TV & radio transcripts, multimedia (video and photos and audio) from a great deal of sources, constantly updated.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources (ebooks) for multidisciplinary research. These are actual books converted to electronic format so the students can access these excellent resources from anywhere in the world. The great collection of ebooks we have is due to a wise purchase by the MISD School Board so all students in the district have equal access.
The password for this link is “wildcats” as all our usernames are “wester” and all the passwords are “wildcats.”
One of the other great things about these databases is that we have permission to use the materials in our projects as we have paid for them. All the students need to do is “cite” where they get their information or photos to be a responsible researcher. Gale provides MLA citation at the bottom of every article for our convenience.
Please explore this great research to use with your student and encourage them to use this instead of the “open internet” as the information has a better chance of being correct.
Please do not hesitate to email me swanka@mansfieldisd.org or call me at 817-299-7015 if you have any questions.
Mrs. Swanson, Librarian
Yearbook Yearbooks still on Sale
Now all yearbooks must be purchased online at http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/index.asp and be paid for by debit or credit card. Don’t wait too long as we will have to decide how many to order and we don’t want to be caught short at the end of the year. The price now is $40 and they can be personalized up until January. The price at the end of the year distribution goes up to $45.00. Don’t miss out on this all-color, student-produced memento of all the fun we have at Wester.
Want to order your hoodie? You can download the order form here.
Reflections A big congratulations to all the students that entered this years Reflections contest. Wester has some very talented students!
The top entries have been forwarded to the Mansfield ISD Council of PTA's for judging at the end of the month. Look for the winners to be announced in the next PTA newsletter.
Spirit Nights
What a great addition this has been. We raised over $1,200 at Spring Creek with our last spirit night. Keep up the good work. Here are some upcoming dates for other spirit nights:
Schlotzsky's Monthly- every second Tuesday
Next date: Tuesday December 8th, 2009- All Day Event. Look out for more information to come on the website. Mention that you are a Wester Widcat and our school gets 20% of all proceeds.
Papa Murphy's Take & Bake Pizza- Wednesday December 2, 2009.
Teacher Appreciation
The teachers and staff at Wester are the greatest and our parents are quick to step up and help us show them how much we all appreciate what they do every day for our kids!
Wester PTA started the school year off with a luncheon catered by Texas Roadhouse during the busy week before students started back to school. Many thanks to Roadhouse owners, who are also Wester parents, Rick and Elizabeth Schweik for such a tasty lunch! The teachers and staff were well fed and fueled up for the busy days ahead!
Next we had a "Take and Go" breakfast day on Oct. 29th with all kinds of breakfast treats provided by the Teacher Appreciation team of volunteers. If you signed up to help with Teacher Appreciation (form included in the Back to School packets) and have not received an email from me, please email me at the email address below. I had quite a few emails that bounced back to me and I don't want to leave anyone out!
We have a few dates already scheduled for future Teacher Appreciation days. The dates are subject to change, but for now these are what we have planned:
December 16th - Catered holiday luncheon
February 12th - Sweets Day
May 2nd-8th - Tentative dates for Teacher Appreciation Week
More details to come as those dates draw near! Thanks to all of our parents who have stepped up to help us show our teachers and staff at Wester how much they are appreciated! We have a fantastic bunch of kids and parents!! If you ever have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.
Connecting to Facebook
Bookfair
Freaky Friday's here again!
Donation Drive
Library
Yearbook
