Grade 6 Students

WES Grade 6 students had a special opportunity to talk with a NASA astronaut currently living and working aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call was aired live at 11:55 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 23, on NASA Television and the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public

NASA astronaut Drew Morgan answered questions from students at his alma mater, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland, as well as Washington Episcopal School and Washington School for Girls in the District of Columbia.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

Community Service First Friday Kick-Off Event a Success!

We are grateful to the more than 200 Dragons, dragon families, and faculty who turned out last Friday night for our First Friday community service event. It was wonderful to see parents, children, and faculty working side-by-side to create items and raise funds that are being donated to those in need in our area and in Ghana, West Africa.

We are pleased to announce who will benefit from our activities and donations from First Friday Night:

$60 was collected for the Sickle Cell Anemia Program at Children’s National Hospital and our collection of toiletries will go to several local shelters

Attend the Auction Kick-Off Wine Party on Saturday, Nov. 9!

Join us for the 15th annual Auction Gala Wine Party on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m., at the home of WES family near WES in Chevy Chase. This adults-only, casual party kicks off the Auction season as it builds our Auction wine cellar. A buffet dinner, valet parking, a mini silent auction, and a raffle are featured. Invitations were sent home last week with the youngest student in the family in Nursery- Grade 4, and mailed to those in Grades 5-8. Click HERE for the link to the online RSVP for the wine party. Click HERE for a link to the pdf of the Wine List.

 

Parent Workshop: Middle School Matters

Join us on Tuesday, Oct. 29, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., in The Stuart Work Library for this special presentation.

Filled with anecdotes and expert advice from her experiences as a middle school counselor, Phyllis Fagell’s book, Middle School Matters, is a must-read for everyone who lives and works with middle schoolers. The MS Faculty read this book over the summer, and parents and faculty are invited to hear Phyllis’ 10 key skills that kids need to thrive in middle school and beyond.

Phyllis L. Fagell has been immersed in middle school for years as a psychotherapist, school counselor, writer, and parent. She believes that middle school shouldn’t be a time to dread, but rather a key phase parents can capitalize on to impart critical skills. Fagell is also a journalist who stays up-to-date on new breakthroughs in counseling, parenting, and education and brings the latest research to life and gives it practicality. With the right concrete, evidence-based strategies, parents can help kids emerge from middle school feeling positive about the experience and ready for the demands of high school and life.

Parent Workshop: Laying the Foundation for Strong Reading Skills

On Wednesday, Oct. 23, from 30-9:30 a.m., parents of NPK children who are interested in learning more about early childhood literacy and the methods we are using at WES should plan to attend this presentation about helping to build a foundation for literacy. Knowledge of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, letter-sound association, and word structure will be discussed, and activities that help support these skills will be shared. Our presenter is Janique Parrott-Gaffne, founder of Literacy Without Limits. With over a decade of experience in teaching, Janique specializes in reading interventions for children with reading difficulties and consults with schools in the DC metropolitan area.