Westside Elementary

First Grade came to school on Monday to some 'egg-citing' stuff! Mrs. Thomason's class had 6 chicks hatch and 9 more are pipped! Students learn a lot about life cycles, nature, and practice responsibility during the chicken hatching process! This unit is a Westside favorite ❤️ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Westside proudly introduces another one of our fabulous Kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Sayre Whitaker! Sayre Whitaker has taught at Westside for 12 years. She taught 2 years of 2nd grade, 3 years of 1st grade, and is currently in her 7th year of teaching Kindergarten. She lives in Claremore with her husband Billy, niece Lilly, nephew River, and father-in-law Donald. They have 3 dogs, Buster, Axel, and Rose. She is a graduate of Claremore High School and has a Bachelor's Degree from Northeastern State University in Early Childhood Education. Teaching is her life's ambition and seeing the joy in her student's eyes when they truly understand something they have struggled with makes her heart happy. Favorite Things: God, my husband and family, and my students! 💖 Fun Fact: I love all things Harry Potter! Thank you for sharing with us, Mrs. Whitaker!! Westside is thankful for you!! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #TEACHERFEATURE

Getting in our last miles on the last day of Running Club!! Super proud of all their hard work!! So many goals were achieved! 🙌🏻 Last Day of Running Club calls for Mr. Phillip with Patsy's Sno Cones! (PS. Look for Patsy's Sno Cones at our Family Fun Night Event on May 6th!)💗 Looking forward to our Field Trip at Wheels and Thrills on May 3! 🛼 ⚡️

Ms. Palmer’s class participates in a postcard exchange every single year. This year was different though. They teamed up with Mrs. Ratcliff! Students typed out their postcards in Ms. Palmer’s class and decorated their cards in art. Mrs. Ratcliff had students draw an Indian blanket flower using their own style! We love this example of how written communication can bring people together! It is also an example of great teamwork! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

It's Raffle Ticket time! Family Fun Night is just around the corner and our students are working hard to sell those raffle tickets! Tickets are $1 each and you can enter to win a few things: ✨$250 Walmart Gift card✨ ✨$250 QuickTrip Gift card✨ ✨Stanley's 7 Cube Freezer✨ Raffles tickets will be sold by students for the top seller contest until May 6th at 9:00 AM, and raffle tickets will also be sold during the Family Fun Night! The winners will be drawn during FFN but YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE PRESENT TO WIN! The students that sell the most also have the chance to win some stuff! PreK-2nd grade top seller will win a new bike! 3rd-5th grade top seller will win a new hoverboard! Thank you all for supporting our students! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #FAMILYFUNNIGHT

Running Club Recognition! 10 Mile 🦶 Peighton Barnes Brayden Schumacher (not pictured) Owen Armstrong Allie Escobar 20 Mile 🦶 Tristin Kara Tania Vazquez Noah Groom (not pictured) Jax Smith Cy Busby (not pictured) 25 Mile 🏅 Grant Butler 90 Mile 🦶 Rivers Ratcliff Finley Faulconer Way to go, guys!! 🙌🏻 LAST DAY of the running club is TODAY!! (Wednesday, April 20th) Keep working towards those goals!! #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Westside would like to brag about our 2020-2021 district teacher of the year for this teacher feature! Meet Mrs. Andrea Ratcliff! "My name is Andrea Ratcliff. I’ve been teaching since 2006 and moved from my home state Arkansas to Oklahoma in 2017. I teach Art at Westside. I have 2 kids (Ella, 8th & Rivers, 3rd) and am married to Chris, the athletic director at RSU! Go Hillcats! I love good music playing real loud, travel (especially in the mountains), good food (and will travel a long way to get to it), pretty things, to laugh & making others laugh. I love kindnesses, I love life & I’m grateful every single day for it. Favorite Things: big cup Reese’s, Lindor truffles, quality music, good naps, watching others succeed, just LIVING…. Fun Fact: when I was a kid, I used to sneak out into our fields at our farm and lick our cattle’s salt blocks….after the cows had already licked them first. Yummy. " This is so very you and we thank you so much for sharing, Mrs. Ratcliff! We are very thankful for you! ❤ #TEACHERFEATURE #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

On Thursday of last week, Westside had a GROOVY time during our rise and shine, celebrating FOUR FANTASTIC YEARS BEING A GREAT EXPECTATIONS MODEL SCHOOL! Our Pre-K teacher, Mrs. T, said it best "The Great Expectations program is one in which I fully believe is best practices for the education of students. Essentially its premises boil down to giving your best and expecting the best from others and using respect to achieve that goal." It was wonderful to have some special guests and have all of us all together for the assembly! It's always a great day to be a Zebra! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #GREATEXPECTATIONSMODELSCHOOL #4GROOVYYEARSOFGE

Westside would like you to meet Mrs. Denise Classen! Denis Classen is an elementary teacher at Westside. Mrs. Classen was a paraprofessional at Westside for 7 years and has been a teacher for 7 years. Mrs. Classen grew up on a farm in North Dakota and has lived in Oklahoma for 30 years. She has 3 boys that are all graduates of Claremore Schools. Favorite Things: She enjoys reading, working with the youth football/cheer organization, and spending time with her family. Interesting fact: I do not like to wear closed-toe shoes. I only put them on for short periods when it is VERY cold outside but quickly change back into my sandals when I get inside. Thank you for sharing with us, Mrs. Classen! We are proud to have you with us at Westside! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #TEACHERFEATURE

We know you have been waiting and did not forget about our Miles of Change coin drive! With PTO's help, our students brought in an astounding 216 pounds of change! It totaled somewhere around $1,900! WOW. After we finished collecting change, assisted by PTO and some 4th and 5th graders, we laid out 1/4 of a mile worth of change and calculated the amount of change it would take to fill a WHOLE mile. (Our AMAZING students helped with the math!) It took 23,469 coins for 1/4 of a mile and would take around 93, 876 coins to do a full mile! We loved giving our students real-life experiences to connect to their classroom instruction and we can't thank you all enough for donating all these coins! A big thanks to PTO for all their effort in this. We are thankful for all you do at our school! This coin drive is sure to bring miles of change to our school. 😉 It's a day to be a Zebra! *Congratulations to our winning wings..... 3rd and 2nd grade! They nearly tied in weight of coins so both wings will receive a party* #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #MILESOFCHANGE

First grade is hatching some big ideas and chicks!😉 Recently, they used an Ova-scope (pictured below) to look at the fertilized eggs. Mrs. Sanders's class currently has 17 that are moving around, 4 they aren’t sure about, and 2 that are not fertilized. It’s very egg-citing!! 🐣🐤🐥 #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Westside now proudly introduces, Mrs. Hope Vinson! Hope Vinson is a certified PreK-12th Grade Reading Specialist for Claremore Public Schools. Mrs. Vinson has taught for 24 years, 22 years in First Grade, and is currently a Reading Specialist for Westside Elementary. Mrs. Vinson has taught in Texas and Oklahoma. Mrs. Vinson earned her Master's Degree in Reading from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in 2007 and was awarded Outstanding Graduate in Reading Education. She enjoys reading of all genres, yoga, and spending time with her family. Interesting Fact: I went to the Drummond Ranch and toured the Lodge. I opened every drawer, closet, and refrigerator and explored the pantry. Guess what Ree keeps in the drawer next to the stovetop? Ree keeps hairspray and lipstick, not spatulas and spoons, in the drawer next to the stovetop! Thank you for sharing with us, Mrs. Vinson! We are thankful for you! ❤ #TEACHERFEATURE #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Have you enrolled your kids for school next year??? If you're having trouble, please make sure you are signed into wengage through GOOGLE CHROME on a computer. You can follow this link to get to the parent portal https://ok.wengage.com/Claremore If you need help or have any questions, please call the office. 918-923-4260. Pre-enrollment numbers are used to hire the appropriate number of staff members and create schedules. To ensure we have a full staff, please enroll your children by May 2nd. #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

** REMINDER ** CPS will be closed on Friday, April 15th for an extended holiday weekend. We are "egg"cited to spend some extra time with our families. #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Yesterday was National Paraprofessional appreciation day! Westside would like to thank our paras for all the work they do and the love they show our students. We couldn't do it without them! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘵. 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵. 🏫 Mrs. Heatherly 🏫 Dr. Adkins 🏫 Mrs. Bopp 🏫 Mr. Worthington 🏫 Mr. Grisham 🏫 Coach Key 🏫 Mrs. Lee #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

This Friday Funny comes to you from Ms.Palmer in the 4th grade! "One of my kids was showing me a cool comic book he has. He said that it’s vintage and that it is from the 90s. I said, “I’m from the 90s, so are you saying I’m vintage?" He wasn’t sure how to respond because he didn’t want to tell me that I’m old. 😂😂" #CPSZEBRAPRIDE #FRIDAYFUNNIES

For this teacher feature, Westside would like to introduce one of our Reading Specialists, Ms. Marcia Rennick! "I am a Reading Specialist and I have taught Reading at Westside for 31 years. I live in Tulsa with my cats, Gracie and Bubby. I am a graduate of Tulsa Central High School. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and a Master's Degree from the University of Tulsa. Favorite Things: I love to read a good mystery, collect teacups, and grow houseplants. Fun fact: I saw a humpback whale next to our boat in the Atlantic Ocean. He was as long as our boat!" Thank you for sharing with us, Ms. Rennick! Your work is very appreciated! ❤ #CPSZEBRAPRIDE # TEACHERFEATURE

Westside is proud to share one of its teachers with you, Ms. Karen Olari! My name is Karen Olari, but everyone calls me Ms. O. I am an Elementary Teacher at Westside. I have lived in Claremore since I was five and attended Westside as a Kindergartener. I enjoy going to concerts, plays, and Triple D restaurants. I love machine embroidery and am teaching myself how to sew. Life Principle - Curiosity; how the heat of the sun bakes our s’mores. Life Principle - Empathy; understanding the sadness of a new Kindergarten friend and offering solace. Fun Fact - I am a lifelong Sooners fan! BOOMER! Thank you for sharing with us Ms. Olari! Westside is very thankful for you! ❤ #TEACHERFEATURE #CPSZEBRAPRIDE

Westside is proud to share another teacher with you! This time we would like to introduce Mrs. Sonia Eckert, a fourth-grade teacher! "I love to teach, run, sing Disney songs, read biographies, travel, and see my son play soccer, and my daughter performs in Irish Dance competitions!! I graduated from ORU with 2 education degrees and got my master's degree in education from OSU. At the end of this year, I will have completed 17 years of teaching. I enjoy teaching with my wonderful co-workers at Westside!" Thank you for sharing with us Mrs. Eckert! Westside loves you! ❤ #TEACHERFEATURE #CPSZEBRAPRIDE