Lately At Whately

Tanglewood Marionettes

On September 30th, our students were treated to a Tanglewood Marionette show thanks to a grant from the Whately Cultural Council. The Tanglewood Marionettes are always a big hit with our students. We have missed this for the past two years. It was so good to have it back. The younger students saw Fairy Circus and the older students watched Arabian Nights. Both performances were wonderful.

Talking Hands Theater

Our younger students were able to participate in a puppet show, also thanks to a grant from the Whately Cultural Council. The Talking Hands Theater visited Whately to entertain the students in pre-K, kindergarten and grade one entitled Bugaboo Revue.

Field Trips

We were so fortunate to be able to send students on field trips again this fall. Fourth Grade went to Mike’s Maze. Our kindergarteners traveled to Pine Hill Orchards.

Girls On The Run

WES girls in grades 3-5 were invited to participate in Girls on the Run this fall. This is a national organization that provides the structure for running teams specifically for girls. We had parents who were interested in creating a WES chapter of Girls on the Run. They did a great deal of work to make this happen. We met twice a week for eight weeks. Each session included a social/emotional lesson as well as stretching and running. This program culminated in a 5K which was held at Ashley Reservoir last Sunday. It was an amazing event and our girls did such a great job running and supporting their teammates.

I want to thank Sarah Kells, Beth Reilly and Heather Frechette for sharing their time and talent to bring this wonderful experience to our school. I can’t wait for round two!

Food Drive

The 4^th grade class is continuing the tradition to learn about civic action around food insecurity in the community and beyond. We are hoping your family will participate in a community service project to help those in need of food. Since the pandemic, there is more food insecurity locally than ever before and we would like to try and help others in this time of need. Students collected food for two weeks to donate to the Northampton Survival Center. Chief Sevigne arrived on Monday, November 22nd and fourth grade students loaded the donations into his cruiser. With help from so many WES families, the fourth grade students collected 635 pounds of food!

Monte Belmonte from radio station 93.9 The River came to school to talk to our students about Monte’s March. This is a 43 mile march from Springfield to Greenfield which will take place next Monday and Tuesday. The purpose of the march is to raise funds for the Foodbank of Western Mass and awareness of food insecurity. We held a mini Monte’s March on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The entire school walked the half mile route around the perimeter of our campus holding signs that they made to bring awareness to the problem of food insecurity. Our younger students walked the half mile and our older students walked it twice. It was a beautiful and chilly day for our Mini Monte's March.

A big shout out goes to the fourth grade students and Mrs. Apanell and Ms. Preston-Wells for taking on this service project! Well done!!!

Global Leaders Presentation

At WES, our student council is called Global Leaders. These students work together to complete projects that impact our school, community and the world. Prior to COVID, we had All-School Meetings once a month. We are still not able to have the whole school in the gym at one time. So, now we are going to try Half-School Meetings. For the December meeting, the Global Leaders prepared a presentation on winter festivals of light. They did a great job delivering their presentation to students during the Half-School Meeting.

Pottery On Wheels

On December 16th, POW! (Pottery On Wheels) came to WES. Students who participated worked on individual clay projects that would become part of a larger group project. Thank you to the Whately Cultural Council for supporting this special project.

Coat Drive

In Western Massachusetts we are welcoming new neighbors from many different nations but especially Afghanistan. These families left their country in a hurry and have arrived with very few belongings. The Global Leaders are leading us in helping by collecting gently used coats, jackets, snow pants, hats and gloves/mittens.

The coat drive will finish on January 14th. Ascentria Care Alliance will distribute our donations to those in greatest need. Please send your donations in with your child at your convenience.