Just For Kids

"WitKids is not just a name, it's a way to help... it's you, it's me, it's we."
William A. - 5th grade

POSTED 12/26/11 AT 11:40

25 Days of WIT Day 24

Inspiration & Dedication
Today is dedicated to all the students from Midland, Westwood and Washington who inspired Sarah Hernholm to found WitKids in 2009

POSTED 12/07/11 AT 4:15

This week at the Language Academy, the student worked to prepare for their lemonade stand to raise money for their WitProject of repainting the handball walls over Winter Break. The students created posters to hang on the lemonade stand table and around the school explaining the time, location, and prices of the lemonade stand. The students’ posters were extremely creative and I am excited to place them around the school this Monday. As well, flyers will be handed out about the lemonade stand this coming week.

Secondly, the students worked on their international project of creating Holiday cards for soldiers overseas. Again, I saw extremely creative cards giving much thanks and cheer to these soldiers. I know the troops will be extremely happy to be receiving these cards for the Holidays.

The next two weeks we will be running the lemonade stand fundraiser at school as well as the online donation page, that is already up and running. I am sure we will be able to reach our goal of $500 by December 18th, the day before our WitProject takes place.

I am sad to say I will not be attending the next two weeks of WIT, but I know the kids will do great during the lemonade stand and card making. I am so excited for our WitProject! It’s only three weeks away!

Keep doing WIT!

Ms. B

POSTED 12/07/11 AT 4:06

Spreckels Week 10

On Wednesday class commenced with the WitKids going around the room to share the things that they are grateful for…Tiana is thankful for everything; Anna appreciates libraries and rain as water to drink; Cole is grateful for life; Lukas and Justin appreciate technology; Pia is thankful for God and herself; Jagger is indebted to his teacher; Jade and Bella are grateful for dogs and puppies; James appreciates friendship and Ricky is thankful to be thankful. Stunning group and stunning appreciation for life.

With so little time left in the year for the fundraiser the WitKids decided that they are going to change their fundraiser. Now we are pursuing the sale of candy canes or candy cane grams to accomplish our goal of $375 dollars to paint the wall-ball-walls. Our goal is to fund and then paint the wall-ball-walls over break as a gift to Spreckels Elementary and its students.

We wrapped up the day with a “Shout Out Circle”. The WitKids gave “shout outs” to their WITFriends for showing TRRFCC during WitKids. Tiana got major “shout outs” for doing WIT- no matter what!

Next week we are going to work on the fundraiser and complete 75 of our 150 card goal for the Veterans Village of San Diego. If you would like to participate, please let me know – info@witkids.org.

Keep doing WIT,
Miss Biller

POSTED 11/20/11 AT 10:06

Longfellow Week 4

“Gratitude Attitude” was the theme of this week’s class. The WitKids came together and directed a video about what they are grateful for and asked others, “What are you grateful for?”. WitKids will put the video up for Thanksgiving. It was such fun to hear the students work together during the creative process. This group is full of all ages and grades, which presents everyone with the opportunity to show TRRFCC to schoolmates they don’t usually interact with. What a wonderful skill set to learn – how to work with people of different ages and levels of experience!

During the second part of the class the WitKids focused on pitching their school WitProject ideas. It came down to 2 ideas- Playground Improvement or School Science Day. Each group got to pitch their idea and explain to the other WitKids why they should vote for their WitProject idea. In the end….the winning idea was….(drumroll please)…School Science Day! When we get back from Thanksgiving Break we will discuss this idea in greater detail. Stay tuned…

As always, it was an inspiring and wit-abulous 90 minutes!

Have a wonderful Thankgiving,

Miss Hernholm

POSTED 11/20/11 AT 9:49

Language Academy Week 9

We began with a measuring handball wall contest: boys vs. girls. The boy’s team won with their estimation of 8 feet by 7 feet (walls are 8 feet by 8 feet), winning the privilege of running the lemonade stand first!

After finding the measurements of the walls, the students redrew their designs of the two handball walls and were able to finalize the colors needed for the WitProject: dark blue, light blue, green, white, and yellow. After colors were decided Ms. Conley presented the children with the estimated costs given by the employees at ARTS: $25/gallon of paint and $25/gallon of primer. The students will calculate how much money needs to be raised in the following weeks.

Lastly, the students finished with their International WitProject: creating and sending holiday cards to soldiers overseas. As well, the students are teaming up with the Six to Six afterschool program to create even more cards to send to these soldiers. When the Language Academy WitKids found out that the Spreckles WitKids’ goal is 150 holiday cards, they were up to the challenge of creating 200 holiday cards.

I am extremely proud of my WitKids and all they accomplished this week. I am sorry I was not able to be there, but the weeks to come are sure to be exciting.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and keep doing WIT!

Ms. B

POSTED 11/20/11 AT 9:33

Spreckels Week 9

During school students often ask (especially during Math), “When will I ever use this in the real world?”. Well, this week the WitKids got to use those Math skills while figuring out a budget for their WitProject.

The class began with a measuring of the handball walls contest: boys vs. girls. The boys’ team won with their estimation of 7.5 feet by 8 feet since the final measurements of the Spreckles’ handball walls was 8 feet by 8 feet.

After finding the measurements of the walls, I presented the children with the estimated paint costs given by the employees at ARTS: $25/gallon of paint and $25/gallon of primer. After discussing their proposed designs for the walls, the students were able to calculate how many gallons of each color of paint they would need, and how many gallons of primer they would need to cover the two handball walls – Total cost -$375.

Finally, after finding out how much money the students need to raise, they all worked together to decide prices for their fundraiser: Holiday Movie Night. They discussed costs of tickets, food, and beverages. Their fundraiser is coming along quite nicely and I’m excited to see how it will all look!

Thank you Spreckles WitKids for giving me a warm welcome this week! Have fun with your fundraiser and WitProject!

Keep doing WIT!

Ms. B

POSTED 11/14/11 AT 7:23

Language Academy Week 8

This week at the Language Academy we had our meeting with Principal Lopez-Mendez. The students presented her with their designs for the wall-ball walls and compromises and final decisions were made on how to paint the four walls.

The first two walls will be sports themed with the new Language Academy mascot: the bulldog. The next wall will feature the world with an emphasis on the French, Spanish, and English speaking countries with flags. This wall will also say the Language Academy name and the year the school was established. The final wall will have a word the group will have a word describing unity, such as cooperation, and it’s translations in French and Spanish, tied with different student’s handprints.

After our meeting with the principal, we wrapped up with a discussion on our national and international projects. The students decided they would like to write holiday cards to those who have suffered a natural disaster. As well, we put our finalizations on the lemonade fundraiser. The students helped to create a flyer to post around the school and created a schedule of which students will work which week.

All of our projects are coming together. I’m excited to see how much we accomplish in the weeks to come!

Keep doing WIT!,

Ms. B

POSTED 11/14/11 AT 7:18

Spreckels Week 8

WitWeek number eight was “wit-abulous”!!! We started the day using the game “Telephone” to further build our group cohesiveness. Each game brought increased excitement and a chance to improve our communication skills. Then the WitKids wrapped up plans for the fundraiser and the designs of the wall-ball-walls.

In regards to the fundraiser, we are moving forward with hosting a holiday movie event at the school. Selling tickets and concessions during the film will generate the needed revenue to purchase paint and other supplies. As for the designs of wall-ball-wall, we have finalized that the Spreckels Wildcat will be on one side and a big target circle will be on the other side of the wall-ball-walls.

The WitKids made their first batch of cards for the Homeless Veterans of San Diego saying “Thank You”. Last Friday, the cards were dropped off at the Veterans Village of San Diego by Mrs. Jennifer Simmonson. For the holidays we are launching a WitProject to create 150 cards for the Homeless Veterans. If you would like to participate, please let me know – info@witkids.org.

I know that we are going to do “Whatever It Takes!” to accomplish our goals in the three weeks (with a holiday respite) we have let at Spreckels WLP. The time has gone so fast! If you would your child to continue in WLP, please send me an email at info@witkids.org.

I look forward to finalizing our fundraising plans before the Thanksgiving holiday so we can create a S-U-C-C-E-S-S-ful launch!

Keep doing WIT!,

Miss Biller

POSTED 11/12/11 AT 6:53

Longfellow Week 3

And the fun continues…

This week we spent time team building and worked together to “Get Untied”. This game required students to hold hands with others and without letting go, get untied. Many giggles were to be had as they wordlessly negotiated the best way to complete the task. One group was successful within seconds, while another tried twice and couldn’t get it. They asked to try again next week…of course!

After we got untied we started sharing how we’ve been showing TRRFCC even when we aren’t in WitKids. We spoke about how important it is to show good character at school, in the home, with friends and even when no one is around. You might want to ask your child how they showed Trustworthiness today?

Our next task was to design and launch a WitProject in honor of Veterans Day. Students spent 10 minutes pitching different ideas and then 5 minutes deciding what they wanted to do. MacKenzie used her artistic talents to make “Thank You Veteran” cards, while Jake delivered a “thank you” speech via video. Another group of students choreographed a skit/dance about all the freedoms we have to be grateful for. This was caught on camera and parts of it were posted on Facebook and shared with Veterans.

We wrapped up the day with a “Shout Out Circle”. This is a time for students to give “shout outs” to their classmates for showing TRRFCC during WitKids. Carson kicked it off with a “shout out” to Calli – sharing how much he appreciated how Respectful and Responsible she was during skit practice. It’s a joy to hear the students acknowledge one another in such a special way.

Next week we will work on our school and Thanksgiving WitProjects.

Until then…

Keep doing WIT!,

Miss Hernholm

POSTED 11/06/11 AT 8:26

Spreckels Week 7

WitWeek number seven was “wit-onerful”!!! We are now moving and grooving in our WLP routine. The WitKids are familiar with the structure of the day and the six pillars of character that serve as our guide to being a WitKid and doing “Whatever It Takes!”.

This week we focused on choices and how there are always two sides to every coin. We used this premise as we worked in groups to determine the fundraiser and the design of the wall-ball-walls. We shared both sides of the coin with our various ideas and negotiated an outcome that served the highest good of WitKids at Spreckels Elementary.

In regards to the fundraiser, we decided that we should create a movie event by showing a holiday film. Selling tickets and concessions during the film will generate revenue we can use to purchase paint and other supplies. As for the designs of wall-ball-wall, we have determined that the wall will feature the six pillars of character but the graphic design is still in the works.

We also chose our community project; our WitKids will make Christmas cards for the Homeless Veterans Association. The project will be completed in a WitKids class period and will make a big impact in the lives of those who have served this country.

We have five more weeks to accomplish our goals and I know that we are going to do “Whatever It Takes!” to make Spreckels Elementary and the community/nation/world a better place.

I look forward to wrapping up plans for the fundraiser and the wall-ball-wall designs next week and scheduling the card making for the Veterans of San Diego.

Keep doing WIT!,

Miss Biller

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