Wayne Trail Elementary Blog: January 2018

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Hat Day on Friday, February 2 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Over the next few weeks, you will be receiving information to donate for various causes in the month of February. The first one will be for this week and all donations will benefit the northern Ohio Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We have partnered with this society over the past five years and have raised close to $9,000 in the time period! These donations go directly to local families who are in need of financial support for medical costs and treatments as well as funding research to fight the blood cancer. Due to participating in the Feed My Starving Children event in the late fall, this year we are doing a one-day drive (not multiple weeks) on Friday, February 2. All students need to do is donate at least $1 by this Friday and they can wear a hat to school. Obviously, more that $1 will also be accepted.
Additional information will also be coming out later this week about supporting the Panther Pride's Foundation theme of "28-day Change Challenge." Each week will be a theme for giving during the month of February.

Lastly, our physical education teachers, Mr. Sheridan and Ms. Lipstraw, will be conducting a "Jump Rope for the Heart" campaign in the coming weeks. I encourage you to find a cause that is close to your "heart" and please consider contributing to the variety of great causes that are happening this month.

Dr. Neiderhouse

WT Principal

Thursday, January 18, 2018

2nd Annual Serve Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

turns into a day of Service for Wayne Trail Students

On Monday, January 15 over 30 students participated in voluntary service in their communities. Wayne Trail Elementary partnered with First Pres of Maumee to set up an entire day where students enjoyed serving others in the morning and then headed to First Pres to eat lunch, play games and watch a movie. We are very grateful for our continued partnership with them for this day and other serving events! Below are a few pictures of students living out our district's vision of proactively engaging and inspiring student learning, involvement and service. In addition, MLK Jr. believed, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve!" These students were great and served a wide-array of groups including those who are disabled, senior citizens in assisted living centers and local citizens living in poverty. Thanks to your donations and student council organizing the food drive before winter break, we were able to donate over 10 boxes full of food!

On another note, the Princess Ball has been rescheduled for Feb. 23 at Gateway from 6:30-8:30pm. The parent groups are looking for volunteers. If interested, please visit: http://signup.com/go/dySaFGK.

Lakes of Monclova

Sunshine Creating Community

Under One Roof Food Pantry

Monday, January 8, 2018

First WT Maker Day

January 8, 2018

Maker Day at Wayne Trail Elementary

When students returned from Winter Break on January 4, they were engaged in their first ever "Maker Day!" It was actually scheduled for a Thursday and Friday two-day event, but due to weather conditions, school was canceled on Friday. Nonetheless, one-day was enough to get a taste of our S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum approach to provide students hands-on and creative learning opportunities. We received supplies from parent donations the whole month of December and still bought other items to add increased challenges. The title of "The Great Arctic Circle STEM Challenge" was fitting with the weather and provided students a very relevant approach to learning. We kicked off the day with an assembly explaining the "Why" we are setting aside a whole day for a Maker Day and to set a foundation for how we would be following the Engineering Design Process (pictured below) to complete the challenges. To create a buzz in the air, I passed out marshmallows as students entered the assembly because marshmallows is what one challenge called for as a resource. We also rewarded our winter break reading winners at the assembly to start with excitement and praise! Following the 15-minute assembly, students returned to class to choose a challenge, form into groups and start to establish jobs/group roles. The rest of this day will be depicted through the pictures below with captions. Overall, it was a fun and successful way to start the second semester with learning and getting students to think outside of the box.