Our Art Teacher – Larraine Seiden
Larraine is passionate about growing kids’ creative confidence! You may know her from Piedmont Makers, PAINTS, and Piedmont Rec. She’s an exhibiting studio artist, who holds an art teaching credential, along with a BA in art and an MS in art and design education from Pratt Institute.

Our Frameworks
National Visual Arts Standard
The National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts lead us to the four artistic processes which will guide our major themes for this year: Creating, Responding, Presenting and Connecting. We will work on all four processes with every activity we do but will use one process to frame our guiding question for each trimester and our year end reflection. We look forward to making learning visible to students and the community through our K­5 “Thinking Walls.”

Studio Habits of Mind
The Studio Habits of Mind outline the thinking skills present in the art studio that also support engagement and success in other areas of school, family, and community life. They are: Develop Craft, Engage & Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Reflect, Stretch & Explore, and Understand Art Worlds. We look forward to providing the types of experiences which will foster these skills in the art studio and beyond.

California Arts Standards
In addition to national standards, California also has an educational framework which outlines the types of art skills we want to develop in our students and articulates those through every grade level from kindergarten through twelfth grade. We will use the California Arts Standards to guide our lesson development for our K­1, 2­3, and 4­5 grade level bands.

Behavior Expectations
Be Nice. Work Hard.

The counseling program at Wildwood is a general education support to enhance the social emotional health of our school. It includes individual, group and whole school supports. The goal of the program is to help students build skills and enjoy a positive social emotional experience at school. 

Our school counselor, Colleen Stormer, is on-site at Wildwood on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you have questions, concerns, or are looking for resources for your child or for yourself, you are welcome to reach out to her.

Colleen Stormer, Wildwood School Counselor
cstormer@piedmont.k12.ca.us
 

The English Development Program assists students who are not yet fluent English speakers in the development of English reading, writing, listening and speaking.

The English Language Development specialist, Rebecca Finn rfinn@piedmont.k12.ca.us, works with students and serves as a resource to classroom teachers to provide additional and appropriate instructional opportunities for students developing fluency in English.  Economic Impact Aid funds this program.  All classroom teachers have been trained in skills to assist English language learners and possess CLAD or equivalent credentials.

Hours:

Wednesdays 10:15 am - 2pm,
Thursdays 8:30 am-3:15 pm,
Fridays 9:00 am- 3:15 pm.   

Open for recess:   Mini-maker space, board games, building activities... and reading. 

Monday, Tuesday - lunch recess, no book checkouts
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - morning recess/lunch recess.

Family checkout right after school: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays

All families are welcome to create a library account for adult checkout. 
Student checkout notices go out via email weekly to adults to help students return materials in a timely fashion.   

Staff:
Robin Ludmer – Teacher Librarian --email: rludmer@piedmont.k12.ca.us
Liz Cha  – Library Assistant --email: echa@piedmont.k12.ca.us
Contact: Email is best

 

The Wildwood Library is a safe and welcoming space for all students to explore their understanding of the world and their understanding of self through stories, informational texts, and additional materials. 
At the Wildwood Library, students: 

• ask questions 

• seek and find answers  

• imagine possibilities 

• make connections 

• entertain curiosities  

Wildwood School enjoys a beautiful library built in 1998. Our diverse collection includes more than 15,000 items including print books, eBooks, magazines, and electronic databases. Students learn to access information using the computer catalog or via the internet.

Our Library Catalog is at Destiny Discover. 
The Tri-School Library Homepage is where you can find links to our library tools and databases.

 

Literacy:
Literacy and information literacy skills are strengthened and extended by our library program. The library is staffed by a half time teacher-librarian who meets weekly with all classes to promote a love of books and to provide an integrated program relating library standards and curricular standards. The library program is supported by a library assistant.  An extensive collection that serves as a community and faculty resource is maintained. 

The library program consists of four components:

Reading – Promote reading through storytelling, exposure to different genre, guest authors and illustrators, and individual reader advisory. The library maintains a wide variety of print and media to meet the reading and information needs of students, families and teachers. 

Technology – Use technology to enhance learning with desktop computers and Chromebook Touchscreen which access subscription databases, eBooks and the online catalog. 

Collaboration with classroom teachers – Support the curriculum with resources and work with teachers to create resource based research projects and classroom collections of books for units of study. 

Information Literacy – Help students learn by being able to find, analyze, and use information in meaningful ways. Reinforce digital literacy skills.  

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Volunteer Opportunities:
Parent volunteers are an important element of our school library program.
Parent volunteers help to staff the library during class visits, research projects, recesses and lunch.
Parent facilitated Book Fair occur twice a year.
5th grade students are invited to volunteer in the library during recess.

Helping each child develop a love for reading and writing is one of the primary goals in Piedmont. Whether your child is already an avid reader or reluctant to pick up a book, we have wonderful resources to enhance their learning of literacy skills.

In grades K through 3, Reading into Phonics, published by Sadlier is our adopted foundational literacy curriculum which covers skills such as phonics, phonemic awareness, and spelling. The district’s adopted curriculum for reading and writing is Units of Study from The Teachers College at Columbia University.

In the upper grades, our adopted curriculum is the Fountas and Pinnell Word Study System and Units of Study from Teachers College, Columbia University.  

Writing Workshop

Our elementary school has been using the writing workshop model for more than a decade. Each workshop is designed to provide personalized instruction, including brief, highly focused lessons on one aspect of the writing craft as well as guided exercises to develop skills in writing.

Starting in Kindergarten, children are encouraged to express themselves through writing. Each day, we’re amazed by the complexity, beauty and progress we see in our students.

Reading Workshop

All students practice reading skills in a workshop model to ensure that all students are learning at their own level. In Kindergarten, First, and Second grades, students work in small groups using decodable readers to develop their skills, and work on comprehension. In Third, Fourth, and Fifth grades, students work in book clubs, small groups, and as a whole class to develop their reading skills.

Assessments

Three times a year, our K-3 students are assessed using DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) to track their progress in reading, as well as screen for reading disabilities. In grades 4 and 5, students’ reading comprehension is assessed three times a year using the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI). Students are also assessed on spelling several times throughout the year.

If a student needs more support to reach a benchmark in literacy skills, we have a robust Reading Intervention program where interventionists work in small groups, or one-on-one, to reinforce the concepts being taught in the classrooms.

Learning practices that foster a growth mindset and curiosity are integral to the classroom mathematics community. Students are encouraged to take risks, make mistakes, explore, communicate, problem solve, reason and justify their thinking so that they are able to make sense of mathematics at the deepest levels. Through these experiences, students develop an appreciation for the beauty and creativity inherent in the field of mathematics. 

Wildwood Elementary School uses Bridges in Mathematics, including Number Corner, as its core curriculum. Bridges is a comprehensive K-5 curriculum that equips the teachers to fully implement the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in a manner that is rigorous, coherent, engaging, and accessible to all learners.
 
The curriculum focuses on developing students’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and the ability to solve complex and novel problems. It taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful.

Teachers also  enrich their classroom math programs with resources from the Silicon Valley Math Initiative, Jo Boaler’s “youcubed,” Math Forum and Nrichmaths to name a few.  These programs, along with the Bridges curriculum provide many avenues for differentiation to meet student needs.

Math intervention is applied in the classroom and in small groupings with our math specialist, Shawna Matilla.

K-3rd Grade:

All students receive 40 minutes of music instruction each week with Mr. Behrendt, abehrendt@piedmont.k12.ca.us. Classes focus on a sequential music curriculum including Kodaly, Orff and other teaching approaches. Classes focus on melodic and rhythmic development through activities involving singing, movement, games, and playing instruments.

4th Grade:

All fourth grade students participate in 40 minutes of musical instruction each week with Ms. Wilde, swilde@piedmont.k12.ca.us. At the beginning of the year, students will learn about the brass, woodwind, and string families. In September they will make a selection between the following instruments: clarinet, flute, trombone, trumpet, violin, and viola. Students will be split into two groupings: band (brass/woodwinds) and orchestra (strings). They will learn about tone production on their instrument, how to play as a group, and learn to read rhythms and musical notation/tablature. 

5th Grade:

In fifth grade students will continue on the instrument they chose in fourth grade. (String students, however, have the opportunity to switch to cello based on availability of instruments.) All fifth grade students will participate in 40 minutes of musical instruction each week with Ms. Wilde. They will continue to refine their instrumental technique in either a band or orchestra grouping. 

The tri-school physical education program is off to a dynamic start. We’ve kicked off the year with individual ball skills, cooperative and competitive team sports, muscle building fitness circuits and heart pumping Fun Runs. Students have been putting their best foot forward, whether it is a run, skip, hop or jump!  While each school is taught by a team of PE specialists, each student at Wildwood has either one or two PE teachers.
As you may remember from our welcome letters, the Piedmont Elementary physical education curriculum is based on the California State Standards. Not only does this guide our teaching but it also directs the grading of students. Following is the grading supplement that explains what students learn at each grade level as well as the areas we evaluate for report cards. Please let us know if you have any questions about the grade reporting or your child’s physical education.

Sincerely,
Brad Sullivan, bsullivan@piedmont.k12.ca.us
Tri-school PE Team

FIRST GRADE
Locomotor skills, body management, rhythmic patterns

• Demonstrates an awareness of personal and general space
• Understands boundaries while moving in different directions in general space
• Travels over, under, in front, behind, using different motor skills
• Changes speeds in response to tempos, rhythms and signals
• Traveling in straight, curved, zig-zag, pathway
• Locomotor movements: walking, running, leaping, hopping, jumping, galloping, sliding and skipping
• Changes direction from forward and back, right and left in response to tempos, rhythms and signals while performing different motor skills
• Demonstrates the difference between slow and fast, heavy and light, hard and soft while moving
• Balance: static and dynamic
• Symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes, using different part of the body
• Landing on both feet after taking off on one foot and on both feet
• Jumping a swinging rope held by others
• Rolling forward direction, without stopping
• Creates or initiates movement in response to rhythms and music

Manipulative Skills

• Demonstrates one-hand underhand and overhand throwing pattern, as well as two-handed overhand throwing pattern
• Catches, showing proper form, a gently thrown ball.
• Catches a self-tossed and self-bounced ball
• Kicks a rolled ball from a stationary position using a smooth, continuous approach
• Strikes a balloon upward continuously using arms, hands, legs and feet
• Strikes a balloon with an upward motion using a racket or paddle
• Dribbles a ball in a forward direction, using the inside of the foot
• Dribbles a ball continuously with one hand

Demonstrates understanding of health and fitness concepts

• Participates in physical activities that are enjoyable and challenging without stopping
• Understands the importance of drinking water during and after physical activity
• Explains that nutritious food provides energy
• Recognizes that the heart is the most important muscle of the body and why
• Identifies major muscle groups and what exercise to perform for each group
• Sustains continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity
• Travels hand-over-hand along a horizontal ladder or hang from an overhand bar
• Stretches arms, shoulders, back and legs

Sportsmanship

• Listens and follows directions
• Makes safe choices
• Shows respect for oneself, others and equipment
• Works towards personal best on a consistent basis
• Participates willingly in new physical activities
• Identifies and demonstrates acceptable responses to challenges, success and failures in physical activity
• Invites others to use equipment
• Demonstrates sharing and cooperation in physical activities
• Works well in partner activities

SECOND GRADE
Locomotor skills, body management, rhythmic patterns

• Skips and leaps using proper form
• Moves to open spaces while traveling at increasing rates of speed
• Performs two types of body rolls and a stationary balance position after each roll
• Jumps for distance, landing on both feet
• Transfers weight from feet to hands and from hands to feet, landing with control
• Performs rhythmic sequences related to simple folk dance or ribbon routines

Manipulative Skills

• Rolls and throws a ball for distance, using proper form
• Catches a gently thrown ball above and below the waist
• Kicks a slowly rolling ball
• Strikes a balloon upward or forward consistently, using a short-handled paddle
• Strikes a ball with a bat from a tee or cone, using correct grip and side orientation
• Hand-dribbles a ball for a sustained period with control
• Foot-dribbles a ball along the ground with control
• Jumps a rope turned repeatedly

Demonstrates understanding of health and fitness concepts

• Understands the effects of exercise on the heart, lungs, and muscles
• Understands the importance of warming up and cooling down
• Identifies muscles being strengthened during a particular activity
• Describes the role of moderate to vigorous physical activity in achieving or maintaining good health
• Demonstrates stretching techniques
• Traverses an overhead ladder one bar at a time
• Understands the importance of food and water as fuel for the body (energy balance)
• Identifies ways to increase physical activity time outside of school
• Explains how the intensity and duration of exercise, as well as nutritional choices, affect fuel use during physical activity

Sportsmanship

• Listens and follows directions
• Makes safe choices
• Demonstrates respect for self, others and equipment
• Works towards personal best on a consistent basis
• Participates positively in a variety of group settings without interfering with others
• Accepts responsibility for one?s own behavior in a group activity
• Encourages others
• Demonstrates how to solve a problem with another person during physical activity

THIRD GRADE
Locomotor skills, body management, rhythmic patterns

• Jumps a rope continuously, forward and backward
• Chases, flees and dodges others in a constantly changing environment
• Performs tripod balance (evenly distribute weight on body parts)
• Performs a forward roll and straddle roll
• Performs a line, circle, and folk dance with a partner

Manipulative Skills

• Balances while traveling across a ground level balance beam, and manipulates an object simultaneously
• Catches an object thrown by a stationary partner while traveling
• Rolls a ball with accuracy towards a target
• Throw a ball overhand with a partner while increasing the distance and maintaining the accuracy
• Kicks a ball to a stationary partner, using the inside of the foot
• Strikes a ball upward, continuously, using a racket or paddle
• Hand-dribbles a ball, continuously, while moving around obstacles
• Foot-dribbles a ball continuously while traveling and changing direction

Demonstrates understanding of health and fitness concepts

• Understands components of physical fitness
• Understands effects of exercise on the heart, lungs, and muscles
• Understands importance of warming up and cooling down
• Understands how to lift and carry items properly and why it is important
• Identifies major muscle groups and what exercise to perform for each group
• Able to climb a pole or rope
• Demonstrates stretching techniques
• Understands importance of food and water as fuel for the body (energy balance)

Sportsmanship

• Shows respect for oneself, others, and equipment
• Listens and follows directions
• Makes safe choices
• Demonstrates cooperation and teamwork in pairs and small groups
• Works towards personal best on a consistent basis
• Sets personal goal to improve a motor skill and work on that goal in non-school time

FOURTH GRADE
Locomotor skills, body management, and rhythmic patterns

• Jump a self-turned rope
• Perform a simple balance stunt with a partner sharing a common support base
• Based on speed, determine the distance between the offense and defense
• Perform a series of basic square dance steps

Manipulative skills

• Throws and catches with a partner while in motion
• Throws overhand with correct follow-through to an increasingly smaller target
• Punts a ball dropped from hands
• Foot-dribbles away from a defender
• Kicks a ball to moving partner
• Strikes a moving object with paddle, racket, or bat
• Serves to a partner using an underhand motion
• Keeps hand and foot-dribbled ball away from a defender

Demonstrates understanding of health and fitness concepts

• Explains the FITT principles of physical fitness: frequency, intensity, time and type
• Explains the purpose of a warm up and cool down
• Understands basic stretching techniques for various parts of the body
• Sets personal short-term goals for aerobic endurance, muscular strength, endurance and flexibility; measures improvement by recording personal fitness scores
• Understands how to measure heart rate and why heart health is important
• Recognizes how strengthening major muscles can improve performance at work and play
• Describes correct form to push and pull heavy objects

Sportsmanship

• Listens and follows directions
• Makes safe choices
• Works towards personal best on a consistent basis
• Collects and records progress toward attainment of a personal fitness goal
• Accepts responsibility for one’s own performance without blaming others
• Responds to winning and losing with dignity and respect
• Includes others in the activity and respect individual differences in skills and motivation

FIFTH GRADE
Locomotor skills, body management, and rhythmic patterns

• Jumps for height and distance using proper take off and landing form
• Performs a simple small group balance stunt by distributing weight and base of support
• Designs and performs a creative dance combining locomotor patterns with changes in speed and direction

Manipulative Skills

• Enters, jumps and leaves a rope turned by others
• Throws and catches objects utilizing a variety of throwing patterns while avoiding a defender
• Punts a ball to a target
• Passes a ball to a partner using bounce and chest passes
• Hands and foot dribbles away from defender
• Demonstrates kicking, trapping, and foot dribbling skills
• Volleys a tossed ball to intended target
• Strikes a ball using side orientation
• Serves a ball over a net using the underhand movement pattern, using a hand or paddle/racquet

Demonstrates knowledge of health and fitness concepts


• Develops and describes fitness goals (short and long term)
• Explains elements of warm up and cool down activities
• Explains why dehydration impairs temperature regulation as well as physical performance
• Recognizes the importance of good nutrition
• Understands how to monitor heart rate at rest and during physical activity
• Identifies the target heart rate range that is necessary to increase aerobic capacity
• Understands how to perform push ups and curl ups
• Recognizes the importance of the components of health related fitness: cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and endurance
• Participates in scientifically based health-related fitness assessment

Sportsmanship

• Listens and follows directions
• Makes safe choices
• Contributes ideas and listens to ideas of others in cooperative problem-solving activity
• Works towards personal best on a consistent basis
• Acknowledges orally the contributions and strengths of others
• Accommodates individual differences in others’ physical abilities
• Appreciates physical games and activities that reflect diverse heritages
• Identifies areas of improvement in health-related fitness and motor skill activities, and then works towards improvement by participating in fitness and skill development activities outside school.

Special Education programming is designed to meet the instructional needs of those students whose educational needs cannot be met with modification of  the general instruction programs and those related services which are needed so children can benefit from their specially designed instruction  following assessments for eligibility.

Fourteen percent of the Piedmont Unified student population benefits from the Special Education program. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 established 14 disability categories. From pre-k to 12th grade, Piedmont schools offer a wide range of help for all 14 categories: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, developmental delay, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment including blindness

If a child is not achieving at an appropriate academic level, interventions are mandated by the state of California. Our first approach is to employ strategies in the classroom and a progressive level of intervention through general education programming such as Reading and Math resource. If eligibility for Special Education services are determined, our district has many specialists at the ready, including speech pathologists, occupational therapists, Adaptive Physical Education specialists, and resource specialists for grades K-12. Students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) have specific goals to help them progress toward grade level standards.

If you have a child that you feel may need special education support services, please contact the school principal Melissa Daymond at 594-2780 or mdaymond@piedmont.k12.ca.us.  For preschoolers, please contact the Director of Special Education Services, Douglas Harter at 594-2733 or dharter@piedmont.k12.ca.us.

One of our primary goals at Wildwood Elementary is to create a safe, inclusive, kind and respectful environment. Children at every grade level are given guidance on how to be a good friend, school citizen and student.
Inevitably problems will arise; this is part of growing up! When they do, teachers and staff are available to help students navigate through difficult situations. In addition, 
 school counselor, Colleen Stormer is on site Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for those who need extra support and guidance. Kindergarteners and new students are introduced to the school counselor and encouraged to speak with her if problems or questions arise.
Children at all grade levels learn age-appropriate tools to help them understand how to be a good friend and classmate.

At the elementary level the Second Step curriculum is used to teach core social-emotional skills such as empathy, emotion management and problem solving in developmentally appropriate ways.

• In addition to these programs, we utilize literature to help students understand and relate to challenging social scenarios. In the classroom, we do a lot of reading and storytelling; we also act out skits, plays and hold discussions that provide children with an opportunity to reflect on social and emotional issues.
• Schoolwide Guidelines are posted and reviewed regularly.  Students and Adults strive To Be: Respectful, Responsible, Inclusive and Problem Solvers

When issues arise, classroom teachers as well as principal Melissa Daymond are available to meet with parents and families. Please feel free to pick up the phone and give us a call.

Student Study Teams comprised of the classroom teacher, former teachers, teacher specialists and parents convene regularly to identify intervention strategies to promote student success. Working as a team, the parents, teachers and school administrator identify the student strengths and assets and use those to design an improvement plan. Response to Intervention  (RTI)  can have several levels, Tier 1 classroom interventions, Tier 2 small group work with a teacher specialist and Tier 3 individual support with a teacher specialist. Concerns are seen as obstacles to success and not descriptors of the child or his motivation or character. Student Study Teams are part of general education. Once strategies and improvement plans are identified, the team determines a follow up schedule to monitor student progress.

Parents wishing to schedule a Student Study Team discussion can reach out to their classroom teacher, principal Melissa Daymond or our Student Study Team chair, Rebecca Finn at rfinn@piedmont.k12.ca.us

Wildwood Elementary’s technology curriculum teaches students to use digital tools to access, manage, evaluate and synthesize information in order to solve problems individually and collaboratively. The technology curriculum is integrated with all curricular areas, and is used as an instructional tool in reading, writing, math and science instruction.

The school’s technology program also emphasizes digital literacy and citizenship, including units developed by commonsensemedia.org to address these topics in an age-appropriate way. Lessons focus on thinking critically, behaving safely and participating responsibly with digital media.

Technology is a critical component to student advancement because it supports inquiry, communication, and analysis. Our implementation of technology resources is grounded in research, tied to curriculum, and focused on positively impacting student learning. Informing our approach are best practices of 21st century skills, ISTE’s NETS skills, and critical thinking derived from work around Bloom’s Taxonomy to create engaged and literate learners. Educational Technology aims to improve student achievement through providing:

1- equitable access to technology, through adequate student/computer ratios, security, maintenance and reliability

2- opportunities for students and staff to acquire 21st Century skills

3- support to state curricular standards by enhancing instruction planning, delivery, practice, assessment, and communication

Computer lab periods are scheduled for all 1st – 5th grades. 3rd, 4th and 5th grades are also outfitted with chromebooks for each student.
Library workstations are also available for student use.

 

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