 Dear Wolftrap Families:
We are so excited for the start of a new school year! What makes the job of working in a school so unique is the opportunity to start over every year with a clean slate. It is a time to try fresh teaching techniques and put newly acquired learning into practice while building relationships with a new group of students. Our staff creates communities in our classrooms built on trust, fun, and mutual respect. Our students get the opportunity to form new friendships and discover new learning. Students are able to take risks and fail in a comfortable environment. It is going to be an energizing school year as we have many new initiatives planned.
It is a special year as Wolftrap celebrates our 50th anniversary. We will be unearthing a time capsule buried in 1976 and then reburied in 2001. Two students per homeroom will be selected during a live drawing to participate in the time capsule event to be held several days prior to our celebration that is planned for September 7th at 6:00pm. The items from the time capsule, as well as memorabilia, including archived yearbooks and scrapbooks, will be on display at the celebration. We will be working collaboratively with our students to decide what items we want to include in the time capsule which will be reburied and unearthed in 2043 at the 75th anniversary!
Please also mark your calendars for our annual Back-to-School Night, which will be held on Wednesday, September 5 from 6-7:30 PM. This event is important for parents to attend, as you will receive important information from your child’s teachers regarding grade level expectations and operation.
We are thrilled to welcome new faces of fantastic educators to our community this year. I will be featuring our newest staff members in the second and third edition of this newsletter. Also in future editions of this newsletter, I will be providing updates on our many initiatives we are undertaking this year. Stay tuned for all of the exciting things planned for the 2018-19 school year and I look forward to partnering with you on this exciting journey.
Sincerely,
Teresa Khuluki
Principal
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The Wolftrap Elementary PTA Board would like to wish a warm welcome to all of our new and returning families and teachers! We are looking forward to a fantastic year filled with exciting events, enrichment programs and opportunities to connect with our Wolftrap community. We hope that this newsletter, the Wolftrap Connection, will provide you with the information you need to keep up to date with all that is going on at Wolftrap Elementary. The Connection is typically published every other week; however, this time of year is particularly busy so we will publish an edition weekly through September 10th. That said, please continue reading as there is a lot to cover for these first few weeks of school and we don’t want you to miss a thing!
First and foremost, as a PTA we wouldn’t be able to offer so many events and programs without the very generous continued support of our Wolftrap families. PTA membership provides much of this support, and now (the beginning of the year) is the best time to join! Remember, membership needs to be renewed annually so even if you joined last year, you will need to join again this year to keep your membership active! To help you in that process- here are the 3 simple steps to take:
- Visit our website (Google Search “Woltrap PTA” or go to our website directly https://wolftrappta.membershiptoolkit.com/)
- Sign up for a Membership Tool Kit account. (Quick Links > Join & Donate)
- You will then be directed on how to join the PTA. Membership is $25 for one parent or $40 per family.
Last year, we were fortunate enough to have almost 75% of our families join the PTA and we hope to top that participation rate this year.
Another way to support the PTA is through attendance at our regular meetings. These are held monthly, typically the second Friday of the month (AM meetings) or the second Thursday of the month (PM meetings). Check the google calendar on the school or PTA website for most current list of meetings.
Our first PTA meeting will be on Friday September 14th, at 8:45 a.m. in the Teachers’ Lounge. Come join us as we discuss the 2018 - 2019 budget, plan events over the next few months and find out about areas where the PTA could use some additional help (volunteers needed!). We will also host a Welcome Coffee directly following the PTA meeting. This is a wonderful opportunity for new families to connect and have their questions answered about Wolftrap from administration and fellow parents. We’re excited to get this school year underway and are always around if you need us. Feel free to reach out anytime!
The 2018 - 2019 PTA Board:
Sarah Helou, President (president@wolftrappta.org)
Jessica Jue, President-elect (president-elect@wolftrappta.org)
Christine Harney, Secretary (secretary@wolftrappta.org)
Lori Bowlin, Treasurer (treasurer@wolftrappta.org)
We are excited to welcome these new faculty and staff members to the Wolftrap Community! Over the next few editions of the Wolftrap Connection, we will introduce them to you more fully!
Kathy Feidler Administrative Assistant to Principal Khuluki
Caroline Kamel Office Assistant
Lindsay Davis First Grade Teacher
Molly Ballard Third Grade Teacher
Eric Painter Fourth Grade Teacher
Sofie Alavi Special Education Teacher
Andrew Bechtle PE Teacher (Wed/Fri)
Alysa Dempsey Psychologist (Tues/Wed)
Salima Jiwa Social Worker (Tues/Wed)
Susan Matthews-Edgerton Speech Teacher (Mon/Wed/Fri)
We're sure you've noticed a new look and delivery method for this joint Wolftrap Administration / PTA Newsletter. We continue to try and find the best ways to get you the information you need and want while staying up to date with best practices and county guidelines.
That's why this year, The Wolftrap Connection will be coming to you through the News You Choose system. You should be able to tell it's from us by the From line! But these emails do sometimes get lost in other folders because of email filtering. To be sure you get these bi-weekly messages from the PTA and school, please be sure and mark this message as important according to your email provider's settings.
While generally The Wolftrap Connection will be published every other week, you will receive 1 newsletter per week for the first few weeks of school. Please send any comments or questions about the new system to communications@wolftrappta.org or ptaboard@wolftrappta.org. Thank you!
Walking Wednesdays:
The first Walking Wednesday of the school year will be on August 29th. WWs will continue on a weekly basis until late fall. For families new to Wolftrap, Walking Wednesday is a program designed to encourage more students (and parents) to leave the car at home and walk or bike to school. We have a table set up outside Door 2 where walkers and bikers check in for their grade level and each child receives a small reward token to collect. At the end of the month, the grade with the highest percentage of walker/bikers is awarded the coveted "Golden Sneaker". As an added bonus to Walking Wednesday, Cafe Amouri kindly donates coffee for parents to enjoy after dropping their kids off at school.
Register for After School Programs
Registration for fall programs will begin at 7 a.m. Sept. 4 and close on Friday September 14. Some classes fill up quickly!
To register for the After School enrichment classes, log onto your PTA account and go to the “My Account” tab to register.
Some of the classes offered this fall include:
- Coding with Fun
- Puzzle Club
- Jr Forensic Lab
- Money Matters
- Comics and Animation
- Disney Dance
- Gamemaker Studio
- Nature Games
- Running Club
- Tiny Chefs Kids
- Chess
Back to School Night: September 5th, 6:00-7:30 pm. This event is important for parents to attend, as you will receive important information from your child’s teachers regarding grade level expectations and operation.
Wolftrap Under the Stars: Our annual welcome-back event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 7th -weather permitting. This year is an extra special celebration for Wolftrap Elementary's 50th anniversary. We will have music, inflatable obstacle courses, food trucks, a viewing of the time capsule contents and much much more! We hope to see you there. Please see this flier for more details.
Watch D.O.G.S.: Spend a day at Wolftrap as a positive male role model. Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) is open to fathers, grandfathers, uncles and other father figures. Learn more on our site and come to a pizza party Sept. 20th from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria.
 Important Safety Note:
Please do NOT drop off/pick up students along the school side of Talisman between Beulah and St. Roman. For the safety of our Wolftrap students, please use the designated kiss and ride or park in permissible areas.
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All of the many programs and activities run by the PTA can’t take place without the support of dozens of volunteers throughout the school year. Currently we have many opportunities to get involved- specifically our Faculty Volleyball Game, Grace Art, as well as our Communications and Webmaster teams need more volunteers. The Faculty Volleyball Game and Grace Art are in need of a chairperson while the Communications and Webmaster teams need team members to assist in managing our newsletter, Facebook, and web page maintenance. We also could always use more help for the Audit Committee, Talent Show, Reflections, 5K & Fun Run and many others-
See our flyer here for more info on these positions. Contact Sarah Helou at president@wolftrappta.org or Jean Lee at volunteer@wolftrappta.org with any questions, concerns, or to sign up for a particular role.
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