Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year! We have a lot of exciting things happening this year as we celebrate the end of our construction project and our new Principal Becky Stevens!

To stay up-to-date on all things WRE - please make sure you subscribe to our calendar and to Principal Stevens weekly email update. The latest emails will remain linked in the upper right hand corner under "Notes from Principal Stevens". Also, make sure you are subscribed to the Seahawker (WRE PTA's Newsletter) to learn all about our fun events we have planned for 2019-2020!

It's going to be a great year at WRE!

The Shop WRE Store will remain open to purchase the following:

Book Character Day - This Thursday 10/31

This Thursday, October 31, we are celebrating the annual WRE Book Character Day! Students are allowed to come to school in costumes that represent a character from a book they've read. This is not a chance to wear Halloween costumes, but simply to dress up as a favorite character! Keeping in tradition, our precious kindergartners will also be parading around for the school to see them and outside for parents.

Please do not send students to school in anything scary. Scary, gross, and inappropriate costumes will not be allowed and any student wearing this type of costume will be asked to change clothes. Please keep in mind that we still have school this day and if costumes are on the elaborate side, students may need to bring back-up clothes to change into for class. Keep in mind that they will still have recess outside (weather permitting) and PE if they have that specials class on Thursday. Costumes are NOT required, but must represent a character from a book.

Thank you for your cooperation with this! We are excited to see all of our fun costumes that day!

Auction Ticket Price Increase

Buy your tickets for the auction on November 9, 2019, THIS WEEK, before prices increase on Sunday, October 27th. We are getting excited for a wonderful evening with friends, raising money for our wonderful school! Get excited for all that will be for sale from art, to parties for kids and adults, to trips and experiences. Purchases your tickets, learn about the auction, and preview items all on our Auction Website: www.bidpal.net/wre Previews will be updated daily, so check back often.

WRE Auction Raffle

The WRE Dad’s club holds an annual raffle promoting WRE’s auction. The raffle gives students an opportunity to participate in raising money for our one big fundraiser for the year. Here are the highlights:

The Grand Prize is a $1,500 NorthPark gift card. The winner will be drawn at the auction and need not be present to win.
The raffle is online this year! The website to purchase tickets is www.bidpal.net/wreraffle . The tickets are $10 each or 5 for $40. Your child will also receive a QR code that will take you directly to the website.
The student that sells the MOST tickets by Fri, Nov 8th can choose one of the following prizes: $250 in NorthPark Gold, Season Passes for 4 to Six Flags, iFly Experience for 4, OR an Electric Scooter. The winner will be announced at school on Mon, Nov 11th.

P.S. Haven't bought your tickets yet? Don't wait! Buy them here. Sneak some peaks of what will be for sale at this year’s auction! Follow us on Instagram or Facebook

Take your Grands to Lunch!

WRE Families: November is Grandfriends Month. Invite a Grandparent or a Special Grandfriend to lunch during your child’s lunch period between November 1-20. Bring lunch or purchase one from our school’s cafeteria.

RSVP here. Seating is limited!

4th Grade Fundraiser

The 4th Grade fundraiser raises funds to cover the cost of the bus transportation to and from their 5th grade Sky Ranch field trip.
There is a choice of red or white poinsettias supplied by Ruibal's Nursery (local nursery).
$15 each.
Order deadline: November 19th
Delivery date: December 4th
Leave order form in WRE front office or drop in mailbox- 9478 Spring Branch

WRE's Health & Fitness Night

Thursday, November 14th @ WRE

6:00pm-7:30pm

Local vendors, activities, & healthy snacks!

Reminders on Attendance - Write a Note!

Just a reminder - Notes must be sent to the office within three days of a student's absense. Excused absences include illness, doctor's visits, family death, and most family emergencies. Family trips, vacations, car problems, childcare issues, etc. will not be considered excused.

Excuse notes should include: the dates of the absence(s), reason for the absence, student name, teacher name, date the note was written, and must be signed by a parent or guardian. Excuse notes cannot be accepted in email form.

WRE's STARS Teacher of the Year Nominee

Our staff recently nominated their peers for our RISD STARS Teacher of the Year representative and the winner is - Miss Amy Fletcher! We are THRILLED to have Miss Fletcher representing WRE in this prestigious award process. She is an extremely dedicated and passionate teacher, always doing everything she can to reach each of her students and ensure their growth. We are so proud of Miss Fletcher! Now, a team of WRE staff and parents will put together an application to officially nominate her for this award, given by The RISD Excellence in Education Foundation.

Those who nominated her left comments with why they think she is a STARS teacher and I couldn't agree more -

"She goes above and beyond to make the learning experience fun for her students."
"Amy loves her students so well and is effective at helping each one grow!"
"She goes above and beyond for her kids. At any given time that you go into her room, she is engaged with her students."

Congratulations, Miss Fletcher! You are truly a once-in-a-lifetime teacher!

Construction Update

We have a few updates to share about the progress of construction at WRE:

The current field and playground where we have recess and dismiss for parent walk-up will be closed off for improvements following the WRVNA National Night Out picnic. Please see below in the newsletter for details on dismissal for parent walk-up. When this field is complete, it will go back to being the soccer field. We cancelled the Back-to-School picnic on October 10 in case that this part outdoor construction is delayed.
Students will then have recess on the new playground area which is very close to being finished. This playground includes a primary play structure, basketball court, two swing sets, sveral new trees and sidewalks, and a large grassy area. The play structure that students are currently playing on will be reinstalled on the new playground, giving us two play structures.
There should be no time between the playgrounds switching, so outdoor recess will continue.
The ten incomplete classrooms will be complete in the next two weeks and we are planning classroom moves once we have a final date of completion.
The new back wing includes the 6th grade classrooms, two 2nd grade classrooms, some extra classrooms, student restrooms, two staff restrooms, a conference room, counselor offices, and the teacher’s lounge. It is looking beautiful!
All construction is still on track to be completed by the end of the semester.
Unfortunately, our 9 Square court, which was purchased and installed by our wonderful Dad's Club, was destroyed by some vandals last weekend and it was too dark for our cameras to catch who did it, though it looked like some teenagers. We are working on plans to get another one and reinstall it.

Dismissal Change - Parent Walk-Up

Once the field off of Chiswell is closed for improvements, we will have a slight change to our dismissal procedures for parents who walk-up to pickup their children. Instead of meeting in this field, we will need parents to walk down the sidewalk between the building and the field and pick-up children in the new playground area (which is outside of our cafeteria and new gym). We will have staff members outside to help guide parents at first. We will be in communication on the exact date that this is changing, but it will likely be the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

21 Day Challenge

The 21 day school district challenge starts on October 7th! "Kids teaching kids" encourages kids to make healthy food choices. WRE students received their cookbooks last week. Don't forget to sign up your children today for the challenge. Sign up here. Go WRE!

Talent Show - Date Change

This message is from our amazing PTA and Talent Show committee:

In an attempt to be as inclusive as possible, we are changing the dates one last time for talent show.
*Rehearsal: 3/11/2020
*Show: 3/12/2020
*Location: Richardson High School
1250 W Belt Line Road Richardson, TX 75080

Please know that we recognize this is the week before spring break and that this is not ideal. However, we feel incredibly honored to be able to use Richardson High with the dates they had available (Lake Highlands High School was not able to accommodate us this year due to construction).

Thank you so much for all of your hard work on making this happen, PTA!! You are awesome!

This is a very exciting and wonderful change that we are bringing to WRE this year! Starting Monday, September 9th, parents can come eat with their children in the cafeteria. Please read the following information ahead of time so you are in the know about our procedures. We are very excited to offer this opportunity to parents this year - for the first time in a long time!

Enter the building through the front office.
Parents must have an ID to scan to come inside the building.
Student will be called by walkie to come get their parent in the front office and walk down to the cafeteria. It is best if parents can arrive 5-10 minutes early so we have time to get the student to the office (and if for some reason we miss the kid or the parent comes later, we will just send the parents down).
Sit at the side tables with your child only – no friends!
Don’t bring lunch for children other than your child.
Please don’t wander the building or visit a classroom or stop by a staff member's office on the way in or out – the cafeteria and front office should be the only stops parents make when coming to eat lunch.
Younger siblings are welcome, however, they must be with a parent at all times.
If a person other than a parent is coming to eat lunch, please make sure they are listed on your child's Focus account from registration. If they are not listed, parents can give the teacher or office permission for the person to eat lunch. Due to our safety procedures, guests other than parents will not be allowed to eat with a student unless that permission is granted.

to the 2019-2020 PTA Board for your leadership &

service to our school!

President: Melissa Duffield

1st Vice President: Courtney Halpin

2nd Vice President: Maura Houchard

3rd Vice President: Laura Wilcox

4th Vice President: Michelle Williams

5th Vice President: Corrie Strosnider

6th Vice President: Lauri Griffith

7th Vice President: Diana Hunter

Secretary: Emily Kretz

Treasurer: Sarah Hefton

RISD Council Delegate: Tara Hickman

RISD Council Delegate: Sara De Los Reyes

RISD Council Delegate (ALT): Katie Isbell

RISD Council Delegate (ALT): Mindee Haas

Click here to learn more about our PTA and PTA Board!

VOLUNTEER APPLICATION FORM - VOLY

If you or a family member would like to volunteer, you will have to complete an online background check. Please note, it takes two weeks to process.

All volunteers must submit a form annually, even if you are a returning volunteer and had one the prior year. Volunteer application forms are available here.