Washington Elementary School

💻✨ New Year, New Chromebook! ✨💻

This Wednesday and Thursday were all about fresh starts as our Technology department hosted Chromebook Swap Days for our rising 8th grade students!

Students exchanged their old devices for brand new Chromebooks that they will use throughout their journey with us—all the way until graduation or they leave the district.

Here’s to new devices, new opportunities, and a bright future ahead! 🚀📚

Save the dates, Westfield families! 🗓️ Here is your September 2026 schedule of key events to help kick off a successful and exciting school year:

Sept 1: First Day for Students 📚
Sept 4: Student Early Dismissal (PK-12) ⏰
Sept 7: District Closed – Labor Day 🛑
Sept 10: Elementary Schools – Back to School Night 🏫
Sept 15: Board Meeting 👥
Sept 17: Intermediate School – Back to School Night 🎒
Sept 24: WHS Back to School Night 🏛️

Here’s to a fantastic month ahead! ✨

While our buildings may have been quiet, a tremendous amount of learning, planning, and preparing was happening behind the scenes this summer at Westfield Public Schools. 📚✨We are proud of the hard work and commitment shown by every member of our team:

👩‍🏫 Our Teachers collaborated on new curriculum
💼 Our Administrators engaged in collaborative planning
🧼 Our Custodial & Maintenance Staff participated in detailed facilities training

We are excited to carry this great work into the new school year! 👏👏

📅 Save the dates! As we prepare for the start of the 2026–2027 school year, please note these important August events:

🔹 August 25 at 7:00 p.m. — Board of Education Meeting
🔹 August 26 — Teachers and Paraprofessionals Return
🔹 August 27 — Staff In-Service Day

Please also watch for additional information and important updates directly from your child’s school as we get closer to the start of the year.

We look forward to welcoming our staff back and beginning another great year in Westfield Public Schools!

Construction is officially underway on our Referendum projects! This summer’s work includes site work, HVAC relocation, a new drive loop and canopy, restroom renovations, and Learning Commons updates.

More updates to come as work continues this summer.

Wishing our students, staff, families, and community a safe, joyful, and healthy Independence Day. 🇺🇸

The fourth-grade orchestra concert featured some great music and wonderful announcers.

Hello, Operator? I'd like to practice my fluency.

If it is Cinco de Mayo, it must be time for the PTO Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. We love our teachers. We love our PTO.

For the past eight years, Laura Lemaire has been visiting our classes each week to share a mindfulness lesson. This past week, we learned about dandelions.....

Dandelions are weeds. But one day, I picked one of the dandelion flowers after it had turned white. I looked at it under a microscope. It looked amazing - almost silvery and magical.

We are quick to judge and criticize people who are different. People who aren’t like us, someone who doesn’t seem as smart, as good a student, or as good in sports. Maybe they have a different way of laughing. All of us are different.

Be on the lookout for dandelions, and remind yourself how dandelions can be like people.

Our speech and language teacher, Samantha Gilgen, has been visiting classes this month to teach us the many ways people exchange information, helping us understand that communication can look different for everyone and encouraging us to think about alternative ways people express themselves, emphasizing respect, patience, and inclusivity.

I hate to read!
Well, maybe not......

Small group instruction provides targeted support and personalized learning. Research indicates that students in small groups often learn significantly more and retain knowledge longer than those receiving only whole-class instruction. They work in tandem.

Knitting is for boys. No, knitting is for girls.... When you have a good teacher, everyone loves to knit. Thanks, Mrs. Signore!

Fourth graders continued their study of energy by using solar cells to power a motor. They worked great on this sunny day outside. Cover the solar cell with a little shade, and it stops on a dime. So interesting!

Our third graders visited Huber Woods Park last week to build Lenape Longhouses and enrich their study of Native American culture in our area.

Our therapy dogs love to read with us. At night, if you listen closely, you can hear them howling at the moon, saying, "It's so much fun visiting the kids at Washington School every week!"

Mickey the Beekeeper visited with first and second-graders. He taught us about wax and comb, propolis, pollen, bee suits, and Worker bees, Queen bees, and Drones.

Last week, we celebrated We Would Be Lost Without You Day, formerly known as Secretaries' Day and, most recently, Administrative Assistants' Day. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

After mastering French Spool Knitting, we are now learning two different hand-sewing stitches to make Love Grams. Concentration, stress-release, fine-motor integration, and fun!