Our fantastic principal, Mr. Sainsbury comes to read the book Me and Caleb to the fifth grade classes at his school every year. This great book was read to him by his fifth grade teacher, and he is now carrying on the tradition by sharing it with our students here at Westside. We are lucky to have such a great principal who interacts with and cares so much about our students!
Our Staff Spotlight this week is one of our great Kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Hansen. Mrs. Hansen is from Castle Dale, UT. Having 4 brothers, she was the princess of the family growing up. You may not know this, but Mrs. Hansen loved to perform. She was in plays, drama competitions, sang in concert choir, was on the drill team, the gymnastics team, and the business competition team. Not only that, but this talented lady played the flute in two bands and the piano for a third. Now, she and her husband have three daughters and two sons. In her spare time Mrs.
On Wednesday, October 7, Westside was given an incredible gift by Nestle. For the last few years, our school offered after-school 4-H programs that the students love. Unfortunately, funding was not available this year, and it looked as though the programs would not be able to continue. Thankfully, Nestle made a generous donation of more than $2,000 which allows our students to stay for over an hour after school to enjoy a snack and participate in arts, crafts, sports, and receive extra help with homework.
On September 2, 38 volunteers came from United Way, The Little Hen, Microfocus (formerly Novell), and Culinary Crafts to our great school to give a day of service. Their kindness and generosity made a huge difference for the students and teachers, as they brought materials and built scooter racks for every classroom (30 in total), re-painted the blacktop of the playground, and worked hard to improve our library – cleaning, stamping, weeding out, moving, and taping more than 1,000 books. Thank you so much to those volunteers!
This week's Staff Spotlight is Miss Bigelow, one of our great third grade teachers here at Westside! Miss Bigelow is from Seattle, Washington. She comes from a family of four girls; two of her sisters are here in Utah, and one is still at home with her dad and mom (who also works as a substitute teacher!) In her spare time, Miss Bigelow enjoys reading, baking, spending time with outdoors and with her family. Something cool and interesting about Miss Bigelow is that she once held a baby sloth, and someday she would love to travel to Italy.
This week Westside has the privilege of hosting Claudia Jex, one of Nebo School District's two Visual Arts Specialists. She is spending the week teaching art lessons in classes, and also working with teachers to find ways to integrate visual art into the regular core curriculum. On Tuesday the fourth grade classes had a lesson that involved learning to draw trees by breaking them down into smaller pieces. "She's blowing my mind," one fourth grader whispered to himself with a huge grin, as he learned to draw branches by making V's and Y's with his pencil. We're having a great time with Ms.
Mrs. Wimmer, one of our incredible third grade teachers, is our Staff Spotlight this week! Mrs. Wimmer is from Nephi, Utah, but is now happy to call Springville her home. She is married and has three daughters and one grandson. She enjoys golfing, working in her yard, speding time with her family and friends, reading, camping, boating, and snowmobiling. Mrs. Wimmer is beloved by her students, and we are so grateful to have her here at Westside!
Today the fifth grade enjoyed an exciting presentation from Discovery Gateway. They learned about physical changes and chemical reactions as they watched experiments being performed, including watching chemicals burn red and green, liquids changing into solids, and solutions changing color when acids and bases were added. After the presentation each class was able to meet with the presenter in a smaller lab session, where the students were given (completely safe!) chemicals to create reactions of their own with.
This week's Staff Spotlight is Mrs. Beckham, one of our wonderful Resource teachers. Mrs. Beckham is from Downey, California. She comes from a family of five kids, and now she is married with three sons of her own, as well as two dogs and a guinea pig. Some of her favorite things to do are: spending time with her family, reading, crafting, and this tough lady also trains for the Highland games, where she flips 12 foot poles while wearing a skirt. Mrs. Beckham's hope is for all students to feel loved and successful in school.
Welcome back to a new school year at Westside Elementary! With so many new teachers, staff, and students this year, we'd like to take some time to spotlight a staff member every few weeks so that you can all get to know us better. For our first spotlight we'd like to introduce you to our incredible principal, Mr. Sainsbury! Mr. Sainsbury is originally from Sandy, UT. He has 2 brothers and 4 sisters, a lovely wife, and 8 kids (most of who are still nearby). He likes to play in his garden, go on vacations, and cheer on his favorite sports teams. More than anything, Mr.
