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West Elementary School

Parents As Reading Partners- PARP

 

 

PARP Information

PARP is a statewide program designed to encourage children to read at home with their parent or other adult family member for 15 minutes each day.  Learning to read is the single most important activity in a child’s education.  Thus, this program is an excellent way you to help your child develop their reading skills and increase their interest in reading.

The theme for PARP this year is DIVE INTO READING!  Studies show that children who read at home are better to succeed in formal education.  PARP asks parents/guardians to encourage their children to read, impressing upon them that reading can be fun as well as informative.  Reading to children further helps to supplement the excellent reading programs currently used at West School.  So come on, open the door to your child’s future successes- READ TOGETHER!!!

PARP Contract

Our PARP program is a four- week event beginning October 22 and ending November 16.  A PARP contract is enclosed with this packet.  The contract indicates you and your child’s willingness to participate in this program. Your child’s reading partner can be a parent, guardian, grandparent, sibling, relative, neighbor, babysitter or a friend.  This Contract should be signed and kept at home to remind you of your commitment to read at least five out of seven nights.

PARP Time Sheets

Beginning October 22nd, we are requesting your child and their reading partner read for at least 15 minutes a night for at least five out of seven days in a week.  On the weekly time sheet, your child and their reading partner should enter the total number of minutes read for that evening.  Then, both should sign in the appropriate places to show that the reading was accomplished.  On Monday of each week, return your signed time sheet and we will issue a new one to your child that day.  Parent volunteers will record and keep track of the total number of minutes each child reads with an adult partner. 

An incentive to keep the students interested in reading is offered by Six Flags Amusement Parks.  Any student that reads for 600 minutes or more over the four -week period will receive a free admission to Great Adventure. Six Flags will not send us these passes until late in the spring, but your child can expect to receive one if their contracts total 600 or more minutes of reading time during PARP.

Other School Events

We will be launching this year’s program with a wonderful program called Reading Rampage. We will be scheduling parents and other community personnel to be Visiting Readers during this four –week period.  Please be sure to return your request form if you are able to join us as a Visiting Reader at West School.

 

Current News

Mission Patch Art and Design Winners

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The Microgravity Project is part of Mission 17 of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP). The goal of SSEP is to provide students with an opportunity to participate in America’s Space Program, where they become architects of a project to be conducted in space by astronauts on the International Space Station. As previously announced, the winning team’s proposal was “How Does Microgravity Affect the Germination of Oyster Mushroom Spawns (Pleurotus ostreatus).”

Most recently, the science department collaborated with the Long Beach Director of the Arts and the K-12 Art Departments on the Mission Patch Art and Design Contest. The two winners were third grader Mackenzie Pastuch from Lindell Elementary School and fifth grader Emilia Conneally from West Elementary School.

In June 2023, mission patches will be launched to the ISS, along with the science experiment designed by the sixth-grade students, and the patches will return to Long Beach with embossed certificates. Onboard the ISS, the patches and experiment will fly at an altitude of 260 miles above Earth’s surface. This is 47 times higher than Mt. Everest and will travel 400,000 miles each day!

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education Internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks, LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

Date Added: 4/4/2024

West Hosts Family Heart Huddle

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West Elementary School in Long Beach held a school-wide Family Heart Huddle on Feb. 14. Students were asked to invite one special person from their life that shows helpful, empathetic, accountable, respectful, and trustworthy (HEART) values. Special guests joined their student to participate in various Valentine theme arts and crafts projects.

Date Added: 2/27/2024