Originally delivered on 10/23/2020 8:18 pm

SUBJECT: Wharton DLA Distance Learning Newsletter 10.23

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Friday, October 23, 2020
From the Principal's Desk

Dear ,

We just completed our first week of face-to-face instruction. We appreciate all our students, teachers, staff, and administrators for helping make this week a success. We continue to review and reflect on how to continue providing the best instruction to all our students both face-to-face and virtual. Thank you for your patience and flexibility.

We hope you'll join us next week at the Trunk or Treat Drive-thru hosted by PTO. We look forward to seeing all our students have a bit of social distanced fun.

Face-to-face parents: Please make sure to read Nurse Dana's notes for important safety guidelines. Also, take a moment to read HISD's changes to campus closure and cleaning procedures.

Have a great weekend!

Reminder: Socioeconomic Form

Please help us reach a 100% response rate on HISD's Socioeconomic Form. Data collected through this form is sent to the Texas Education Agency and ensures that Wharton receives Title I and State Compensatory Education funding.

Here's what you need to do:

  1. Visit HISD Connect Parent Portal.
  2. Log in with your parent account.
  3. Once logged in, click on "Forms" on the left sidebar. 
  4. Find the Social Economic Information Form on the list, fill it out, and click submit

Thank you!

Events & Programs

October is National Principals Month
There is one week left in October! Join us in showing your appreciation for Ms. Day by downloading one of these custom e-cards and sending it to us with a personalized note via email or Facebook.

Multilingual Parent Leadership Conference
Oct. 24, 2020, 9 AM - 12:15 PM

Join the HISD Multilingual Department in this conference for parents of English learners, bilingual and dual language students tomorrow. 

  • General Session #1 – Seidlitz Education: Valentina Gonzalez 
  • General Session #2 – Strategies to support young scholars at home: Debra Paz & Lori Espinoza
  • General Session #3 – Teacher Created Materials (Strategies to support upper-grade scholars): Claudia Rodriguez

Join the event here (in English) or here (with translation in Spanish).

Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 23-31, 2020

Join us in recognizing the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention awareness program. This year's Red Ribbon Week Theme is Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free. Celebrate the week with the Wharton community by participating in the following:

Monday, Oct. 26: Mask up Against Drugs  
Wear your favorite mask and share a photo online.

Tuesday, Oct. 27: Pair up Against Drugs 
Team up with a buddy and dress alike (Twin day).

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Sock it To Drugs 
Wear crazy socks to kick drugs out of our community.

Thursday, Oct. 29: Shade Out Drugs and Peer Pressure
Take pictures in your favorite shades.

Friday, Oct. 30: Team Up Against Drugs 
Wear your favorite team's jersey.

Share your pictures on social media using #RedRibbonWeek.

Wharton PTO News

Wharton PTO Social Hour
Oct. 29 at 6 PM

Join Wharton's PTO Board to catch up on various PTO activities. Register here.

Fall Festival Activities

Celebrate Fall by participating in these activities.

  • Pumpkin Decorating Contest - Submit a photo of your masterpiece by Sunday, Oct. 25. Voting for your favorites will take place next week. Stay tuned for details!
  • Do the Monster Mash - Send us a video of your or your family dancing to the Monster Mash in your Halloween costumes by Oct. 25.
  • Drive-Thru Trunk or Treat - On Friday, Oct. 30, come by our school to view our display of decorated trunks! RSVP here. We still need trunks for our drive-thru. Sign up to show off your creativity!  
  • Kona Ice will be joining us on Oct. 30 from 4 PM - 7 PM. Pre-order online for pick-up during the fall event. Enter code TXF00434 or type in Wharton Dual Language Academy to find the event and place your order. Kona Ice will donate 20% of the proceeds to Wharton.

Calaveras Literarias: Our Heritage group is sponsoring a contest for all students ending Friday, Nov. 6. Stay tuned for more details.

Print Your Holiday Cards and Support Wharton! Thank you for supporting our Fall Photo Sessions. We are also participating inMinted’s Fundraising Program. Using our unique code you will get 20% discount of your order and Wharton will receive 15% of sales on orders made through December. If you are purchasing holiday cards or gifts, please make sure to use our unique code so Wharton can get credit for your purchase. You may share the code with your family or friends, but please refrain from posting in public forums: FUNDRAISEWK8DA. For the fine print, please log into our Wharton PTOMinted page.

Nosotros ♥ Wharton Yard Signs

Show your love for Wharton with these cool yard signs. If you purchase one this week, you can pick up at next week's Trunk or Treat event. Pick-up for signs purchased after that date will be determined at a later time.

Gifted and Talented (GT) Notes

HISD currently experiencing technical difficulty with the Request for Evaluation form within HISD Connect. Please complete the form on HISD Connect, print a copy of the completed Request for Evaluation, scan it, and email the complete form to Ms. Patricia Selin, Wharton GT coordinator at pselin@houstonisd.org. 

Click here for instructions on how to complete the Request for Evaluation. The deadline to apply is Nov. 6.

Please note: We do not do "Entering K" GT testing for Pre-K students on our campus.

HISD School Choice

School Choice applications for the 2021-2022 school year opened on Sep. 19, 2020. Wharton is hosting Virtual Magnet Thursdays at 9 a.m. via Microsoft Teams on:

Wharton Middle School

Virtual Middle School Dance: Parents, if you would like to help organize our first virtual dance, please send us an email today. We are hoping to bring back our "Dia de los Muertos" theme for early November.

8th Grade PSAT:  Don't forget the PSAT 8/9 is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8:15-11:30 a.m.  ALL 8th grade Wharton students should come to campus this day to take the exam in the Gym, including students who are attending classes virtually. Please have them bring their calculator.

Fundraising Reminders

Our school is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school thanks to the generous contributions of parents over the years. The IB program is funded entirely by Wharton's PTO, and each year we need to raise $43,000 to cover its costs. We need your help more than ever this year! Any amount helps. 

Support Wharton's IB Program
Nurse's Notes

Thank you to The Assistance League of Houston and Wharton PTO for the safety goodies! Below are some important safety guidelines and updates.

Drop Off and Dismissal

We are using Microsoft Teams for dismissal, but we are having difficulty understanding you with your masks on. Please help us by following these procedures:

  • Students will be ready for pick-up starting at 3:45 PM.
  • Bring your pink card to dismissal – we can take a picture of it and place it in the chat. 
  • If you are a walker, bring a blue card with the child's name, teacher, and grade, clearly written (if you need one, we will have them at dismissal today)
  • Social distance during drop off/dismissal.
  • Please have your child ready for drop-off (unbuckled and backpack ready), so the line can move quickly.
  • Please go as far as you can down the car line before dropping off/picking up your child, so we can get the cars out of the streets. 

Return to school after being sick: Don't forget to call the nurse at 713-556-5162 if your child is sick and missed face-to-face school before bringing them back. I need to clear them to come back to school.

Lanyards: If your child loses the lanyard/ID holder that we provided, please buy a new one. They need it for the bathroom.

Walkers in the neighborhood: Regarding the crossing guard change – we would like to move the crossing guard to West Gray and Columbus instead of West Gray and Stanford. Please email the nurse at dana.bethancourt@houstonisd.org if you have input on this change.

Hispanic Heritage Month

The Center for the Healing of Racism invites you to Readings of Children Stories by Latino authors for kids and adults tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.Register hereor join the Zoom meetinghere.

Looking Ahead
Saturday, October 24
Multilingual Parent Leadership Conference | Conferencia Multilingüe de Liderazgo para Padres
Sunday, October 25
Deadline for Pumpkin/Video | Fecha límite para Calabaza/Video
Thursday, October 29
6:00p Social Hour with Wharton PTO | Hora Social con el PTO de Wharton
Friday, October 30
Fall Festival Drive-Thru Trunk-or-Treat
Tuesday, November 3
Student Holiday (No Classes)
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