The staff and students kicked off the week by highlighting The Willow Creek Way: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe. They reviewed what it means to be respectful, responsible, and safe in each of the areas of the school by completing what we call a Skill Blitz. During a skill blitz, students move from station to station throughout the school and staff teach behavior expectations for each area of the school. Students may participate by role playing or acting out various scenarios that are presented by each staff member. I have posted our building Behavior Matrix to our web page for parents to view the expectations that were presented to students. The expectations that are on the matrix are also posted on signs that we have hung in each area of the school for students to view throughout the year. We are continuing to positively reinforce the behaviors that we expect to see students demonstrate by handing out "Positive Paws" to students who are following the Willow Creek Way! The entire student body will be working together to fill our "Positive Paw" container in order to earn an all school reward. We will once again have a weekly drawing to recognize students who are demonstrating the Willow Creek Way. I have included a picture below of students whose names were drawn in our first "Positive Paw" raffle of the year!
We began our benchmark assessments with students this past week in order to determine students' reading and math skill levels as we start to delve into our academics. The first assessment that students completed was a fluency assessment. This assessment gauges how many words per minute students read. It gives us a good idea of how fluently students are able to read, as reading with fluency aides in comprehension of text. Some students also started to complete STAR math or reading assessments last week, and all students will take the STAR assessments by the end of this coming week. Parents will receive reports of the STAR results with the students' report cards. Students also completed what we call "on demand" writing prompts this past week. These writing pieces will be assessed by teachers in order to inform their instruction in the area of writing this year. Students will complete similiar prompts at the end of each writing unit in order for teachers to determine students' growth in the area of writing with each form of writing. 
Thank you to our parents who attended the PTO meeting on Tuesday evening! We had a really nice turn out. The PTO has many exciting events and activities planned for Willow Creek students and families this year! Volunteers are still needed for many of the events that are planned. If you are interested in helping to make an event possible by volunteering your time, you may sign up for various events this week during our Curriculum Night on Wednesday. PTO will have a table set up for parents to visit and sign up for different events. Spirit Wear will also be on sale! 
This Wednesday, September 10th, is our Curriculum Night. This event is an opportunity for parents to come to school to meet their child's classroom teacher and hear more about the classroom, grade level curriculum, and various events that take place in each grade. The evening will begin at 7 p.m. in the gym, followed by information sessions in each of the classrooms. Our evening will conclude at 8:30 p.m. for families who attend two classroom presentations. On Thursday of this week, we will conduct our first Fire Drill of the year. Following the fire drill, we will also practice relocating to the church. This entails our entire school walking together through the neighbor to the church, which is our relocation site in the event we need to evacuate and we are not able to return to our building. As a result, it is important that students have gym shoes for walking on Thursday and are dressed properly for the weather outside. As long as it is not raining, we will conduct the relocation drill.
Upcoming Dates to Remember:
Wednesday, September 10th: Curriculum Night, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 11th: Fire and Relocation Drills
Friday, September 12th: Market Day Pick-Up
Monday, September 15th: 5th Grade Parent Outdoor Education Information Mtg., 6:30 p.m. @ Sipley School
Tuesday, September 16th: Beginning Band Open House, 5-8 p.m. @ JJH
Friday, September 19th: No School, School Improvement Day
Friday, September 26th: Fun Run
Friday, October 3rd: Fall Picture Day
Tuesday, October 7th: Room Parent/New Volunteer Mtg., 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 7th: Mingle with Matthews, 7 p.m.
Thursday, October 16th: 5th Grade Robert Crown Parent Information Night, 6:30 p.m. @ Murphy
Friday, October 17th: Market Day Pick-Up
Thursday, October 23rd and Friday, October 24th: 5th Grade Outdoor Education Trip
Friday, October 24th: Halloween Dance
Check out the picture below of our students whose names were drawn in this week's "Positive Paw" raffle!!
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