Mark Your Calendars:

• STAAR Testing Tuesday, March 29 4th Grade Writing 5th Grade Mathematics Wednesday, March 30 5th Grade Reading

• WUES 7th Annual Invitational Track Meet Friday, April 1, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. HISD Butler Stadium 13755 South Main

• PTO Meeting Tuesday, April 19, 8:00 a.m. MPR

• WUES 90th Anniversary Celebrations Monday-Friday, April 18-22

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Birthday Book Club 2

Pennies For Patients 2

Counseling Corral 2

Bookmark Contest Winners 3

PTO Guest Speaker 3

Art Night Winners 3

Book Fair Info 3

Bike Safety – Helmets 4

Vaccination Controversy 4

Spring Edition, 2015-2016 Volume 12, March 28, 2016

Principal’s Place Upcoming Events As I mentioned last week, we begin our STAAR testing tomorrow with 4th and 5th grades. If you have a 4th or 5th grader please make sure your child has a good night’s sleep and eats a good breakfast tomorrow and Wednesday mornings to help them do their best on these important exams. The schedule of the exams is in the “Mark Your Calendars” box to the right of this page. Go get ‘em, West U! We are launching a sneak attack this week and need your help! (that got your attention!). Our Writing Lab Teacher Kathryn Adams and our School Librarian Kelly Russell are calling on you to help us secure a free author visit. We are currently participating in a contest to win a visit from the amazing author, Jan Brett. Schools across America have been racking up votes for weeks. West U is behind now, but with your help, we can steal the lead. Please take a minute to enter the contest. Our goal is to hit 10,000 entries during the week of March 28 - April 1 making it impossible for anyone to top us. The

deadline to enter is April 4. Please get friends, neighbors and your family on board for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Remember, only one vote per e-mail address. Please ask everyone you can to join in the effort. Follow these easy steps and secure a victory for our students! 1. Visit this website:

http://www.janbrett.com/contests.htm

2. Click “enter here”

3. Fill in the boxes. Our school address is 3756 University Blvd. 77005

4. Click “submit”

With a school the size of ours we should be able to win this author visit for our children. Thanks for helping to spread the word. Remember, the deadline to enter is next Monday, April 4. Have a first-class week! John T. Threet, Principal

West University Elementary School

The West U Pony Express

Happy Birthday, 生日快乐, Feliz Cumpleaños, С Днем Рождения!

The following students are celebrating their birthdays this week by donating a book to our school library:

Mimi Wright March 24th Ruhi Patolia March 28th Anthony Zhang March 28th Jack Robbins March 29th Jackie Neumann March 29th Frederic Anthony Corsiglia March 30th Barrett Maguire March 30th James Westin March 30th Libby Agarwal March 31st Nicholas Hanson March 31st Gus Jukes March 31st Madelyn Trudel March 31st Brian Zhang March 31st

If you signed up your child for the Birthday Book Club and their birthday already passed, but they have not chosen their book yet, please be sure to let them know to stop by the library as soon as possible! Also, remember……..

- If you would like to order a Birthday Book Club membership for your child, all orders are due NO LATER THAN Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. to be included in the following week’s Pony Express.

- Submit your Birthday Book Club forms as soon as possible, to make sure we include your child in the Pony Express during their birthday month.

- Order forms can be found online www.westupto.org, or in the blue PTO box at the front office.

Happy Birthday and thank you for supporting the West U Elementary library! If you have questions please contact Tracy Benner at:

(tracymbenner@yahoo.com) or Guadalupe Harper (guadacarlesso@hotmail.com).

We are continuing our collection of coins for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society until April 1st. The boxes can be filled with coins, bills, and checks made out to the Leukemia &

Lymphoma Society. We have an West University Elementary page for online donations. Please visit: http://events.lls.org/pages/txg/WestUniversityElementarySchool to make your donation online. We did not do individual class pages, just a school-wide page. Please visit and consider a donation April Fool’s Day Friday is April Fool’s Day!! To celebrate, we will do Goofy Hat and Sock Day as a Fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Wear your goofy hat or socks and bring a dollar to donate. Please bring an extra dollar (not from your coin box). You can wear the items all day to celebrate April Fool’s Day and give to a good cause. Paula Bottecelli, R.N. School Nurse

Last week we installed the character benches we made last year. The benches will be placed along the walkway going through the courtyard next to the vegetable garden. The next time you are at school, walk by and take a look. All the students put their thumbprints on the tiles covering the top of the bench. Citizens of the Month This month students were selected for Citizen of the Month for being a role model for the character trait kindness. Below are the students nominated by their teachers. Kindergarten: Kylie Chap, Mrs. Powell’s Class 1st Grade: Lianna Chap, Ms. McMillan’s Class Anne Marie Maurer, Mrs. Breen’s Class Jordan Young, Ms. Webb’s Class 2nd Grade: Mary Bertrem, Mrs. Wick’s Class 3rd Grade: Ellie Elmore, Ms. Langston’s Class Marquesa Madison, Mrs. McLamb’s Class Sofya Domakhina, Ms. Herrera’s 3rd Class 4th Grade: Carter Murphy, Ms. Wood’s Class Jenny Abdalla, Ms. Schlichting’s Class 5th Grade: Elisha Rabley, Mrs. McAleavy’s Class Michael Connolly, School Counselor

The West U Pony Express March 21, 2016

The West U Pony Express March 28, 2016

Thank you to everyone who entered the “Design a 90th Birthday Bookmark” competition. There were so many fantastic entries it was hard to pick. The lucky winners will have their book marks sold at the Book Fair on April 4th, 5th and 6th. Book Fair Winners: Eden Ingraham - Kinder Lauren Chen - Kinder Grace Smith - 1st Xinru Lai - 1st Aylin Ozus - 2nd Kate Jurkash - 2nd Layla Knott - 3rd Sofia Giuliani - 3rd Lucy Ginzel - 4th Bella McIntyre - 4th Jane Johnston - 5th Evelyn Shatto - 5th

Please join us for a special guest speaker during our 90th Anniversary week of special events: Tuesday, April 19, 8:00 - 9:00 a.m., in MPR. We are pleased to have Barbara Gruener, Author, Counselor and Character Coach, to help us support our children: KINDNESS IS THE REAL GLOBAL WARMING Did you know character is a learned trait? Empathy leads to compassion, which leads to kindness. As parents, we teach our children by role modeling it. Barbara will give us guidance to help make it an action, not a noun, for our kids. For more information, please contact heather.curran.kelly@gmail.com.

Thank you to our amazing community for helping make Art Night 2016 such a successful and enriching event for our kids! A Special Thank You goes out to our dedicated parent volunteers:

• Food Service Lead: Lisa Prati

• Station Coordinator: Jennifer Blum • Event Set-up and Wrap-up Lead: Corrie

Chumpitazi • Bulletin Board Lead: Martina Luke Dorn • PTO Team: Kristine Martinez, Rachna Shroff,

Suzanne Doué, Jamie Burress, Felecia Fitzgerald, Robin Wexler (Bracelet station), July Cheng (HOA), and Lori Yi

• We would also like to express our gratitude to our School Administration for their guidance and support: Principal Threet, Tracey Wyatt, Coach Jones (Master of Ceremonies), Mr. Connolly (No Place for Hate), Mrs. Chapa and the Custodial Team. We had incredible attendance, and, as promised the following classes (with the greatest attendance), will be treated to a Pizza Party on Friday, April 1, 2016 (no joke).

Mrs. LaPadula’s Class (Kindergarten) Mrs. Smith (1st Grade) Mrs. Stone (2nd Grade) Mrs. Reid (1st Grade)—most parent volunteer

participation. Greta Pliskin & Janet Feng, 2016 WUES Art Night Chairs

Join us next week at the annual WUES Book Fair to purchase recommended summer reading books and participate in a variety of free entertainment. Any item purchased during the event will help fund improvements and additions to our school library. The WUES Book Fair is April 4th, 5th

and 6th, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., located at Barnes & Noble on W. Holcombe and free to all. Join us to hear amazing Teacher and Author Readers, Ted Schwank the Magician, The Houston Museum of Natural Science presenting butterflies and other fun animals,

Writers in the Round, Honeydew the Clown, and much more!

The West U Pony Express March 28, 2016

Bicycle Safety Month isn’t until May but we in Houston probably started riding our bikes last month when the sun popped out and spring-like weather came to town. Throughout the spring we will include bike safety tips for kids and parents. One of Mr. Threet’s pet peeves is to see parents riding to school along with their children and not wearing a helmet. If your child sees you not wearing a helmet, they will eventually think that helmets are only for kids. Two percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. In a majority of these deaths, the most serious injuries were to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce head injury risk by 85 percent. The City of West University Place requires helmets for children under the age of 14 including any side car, trailer, child carrier, seat or other device attached to a bicycle. Parents can be ticketed for failing to ensure that their child wears a helmet: https://www.municode.com/library/tx/west_university_place/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH46MOVETR_ARTIICERE_S46-54BIHE.

There has been much controversy over the last few years surrounding the issue of vaccinations for young children and an alleged link to autism. Last year about this time, there was an interesting Letter to

the Editor in The Houston Chronicle from Dr. Mark Kline, Physician-in-Chief, Texas Children's Hospital, J.S. Abercrombie Professor and Chairman, and Dr. Ralph D.

Feigin, Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine about this issue: http://www.chron.com/opinion/letters/article/Thursday-letters-Irrefutable-evidence-6173481.php#comments. For more information from other respected hospitals and medical organizations, please visit these websites:

Texas Children’s Hospital: http://www.texaschildrens.org/departments/center-vaccine-awareness-and-research-cvar/vaccine-facts-and-myths Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety#.VvlJKeIrLmE Boston Children’s Hospital: http://childrenshospitalblog.org/measles-numbers-multiply-myths-linger/ and http://childrenshospitalblog.org/british-medical-journal-further-discredits-doctor-who-claims-autism-linked-to-mmr-vaccination/ Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/vaccines/art-20048334 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html

West Univers i ty Elementary Schoo l 3756 University Blvd., Houston, TX 77005

Phone: 713-295-5215 Fax: 713-667-8514

We’re on the Web!

visit us on the web at: www.westues.org

John T. Threet, Princ ipal Tracey L. Wyatt, Instructional Coordinator

Amber Pinchback, Assistant Principal Daphne Rawlinson, Teacher Specialist

Texas Education Agency Exemplary School

Texas Education Agency Met Standard with Academic Distinction in All Areas

Children At Risk, Ranked #2 Among All Texas Public Elementary Schools

Texas Honor Roll School

The West U Pony Express March 28, 2016

It is the policy of the Houston Independent School District not to discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, handicap or disability, marital status, religion, veteran status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, or any other basis prohibited by law in its educational or employment programs and activities.