Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school Wascher Wildcats! I watched parents and kids alike pile into the school this morning with excited chatter and happy smiles. The teachers and staff are ready and the school itself is decorated and festive. The start of school is here!

Remember, the first PTA meeting is tomorrow, September 8 @ 7 pm. Please join us and take an active part in your child's education.

Another reminder, the first of the year open house will be held on September 21 @ 6:30 pm. This is a great time for the whole family to come and take a look at the school, the staff, and the environment in which are children learn. Mark your calendars.

Which class is your child in?

The classroom assignments have been posted on the front window of the school. Make sure to run by and check which class your student is in before Tuesday so they are ready to go!

The 2010 - 2011 school year starts this Tuesday, September 7th and 8 am. Pack the lunches, gather the school supplies and send them on in!

The first PTA meeting of the year will be taking place this Wednesday, the 8th at 7 pm. Join in to help make the school year great for your children!

The 2010 - 2011 school year is here!

School Supply Lists

The district has posted this year's school supply list. It can be found here:

http://www.msd.k12.or.us/district/school-supplies

It's time to get our children ready for the 2011 school year!

Growth of Wascher

Call me a little odd but I am a person who likes to look at numbers.  I typically find that numbers give me the best representation of a given situation.  Over the past couple of months I have been looking at some of the numbers for Wascher Elementary and two simple numbers came to the top: How many Students attend Wascher and How many Teachers provide instruction for those students.

I decided to look back through the state report cards and ODE reports to gather the following information for the past 10 years.  (Unfortunately I have not gathered the information for the current school year yet).

What I see in these numbers is that number of students has increased by 37.5%, growing from 277 in 99/00 to 381 in 08/09.  However, the number of full time teachers has nearly doubled!  In 99/00 there were 13.1 Teachers (FTE) by 08/09 this number increased to 27.5, that is an increase of 96.2%. 

What does that mean for our students?  As you can see the Student per Teacher ratio has dropped from 21.2 down to 14.8.  Lower Student/Teacher ratio translates to more individual instruction and an overall better learning environment for our children.

I have not given you a graph for it but if you go back and read the report cards you will see that student performance has increased at Wascher.  I would make a bet that the lower class size plays a big part in that.
 

Weekly Events - May 16 - 22

As the school year starts wrapping up and the sunshine starts getting brighter life always seems to get a little bit busier.  To help keep ourselves on track it is always a good idea to take a quick look into the future.  Below you will find a list of events that are scheduled for next week along with a little bit of information about each one.

May 17 - Author Visit
Wascher PTA has arranged for authors to come to our school!  This year it will be sister/brother team of Laura and Rob Sams better known as Sisbro. They will be doing 3 presentations in the gym....one for grades K-1, one for grades 2-3, and one for grades 4-5.

May 18,  6:30 PM - Family Literacy Night

May 20 - 5th Grade Field Trip to Portland

May 21 - 4th Grade Field Trip to the Yamhill Historical Museum

May 21 - Last Day of KOB/PH
The Kids on the Block and Power Hour programs for the year are coming to an end on Friday. Please be sure to make arrangements for your student’s after school care during this time.  For additional information on the KOB/PH program check out this link from the Oregon Department of Education.

PTA Meeting

Just a quick reminder to everyone that the last PTA meeting for this school year will be tomorrow March 5th at 7PM.  Final plans for this years carnival will be made along with selections for next years PTA officers.  I encourage every parent of a Wascher student to attend and get involved in the PTA.  The students are our children and their education is our responsibility, take the time to get involved.

I hope to see you all there!

Appreciation for our Teachers

Today marks the beginning of the National Teacher Appreciation Week with Tuesday May 4th designated as Teacher Appreciation Day!  I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to let the teachers in your life know how much they mean to you.  There are many ways to show your appreciation.  You can send a simple e-mail or hand-written note, bake some of their favorite cookies, give a gift-card for the coffee shop they frequent,  the list could go on and on.  The simple bottom line is give the teachers a big THANK YOU for all that they do.  We are blessed with amazing teachers at Wascher and we need to let them know.