Let's raise some dough! Instead of cooking this Wednesday (December 9th), plan to order dinner from Dewey's Pizza in Grandview. Mention "WICKLIFFE" when you order CARRYOUT (not delivery) between 4pm and 9pm and they will donate 20% of your check to benefit Wickliffe PTO! Thank you for supporting our school

Please share this flyer with family & friends.

Empower your kids by letting them browse and choose books in the fun, interactive Virtual Book Fair. Visit Wickliffe's Scholastic Homepage to experience the virtual fair with your student and to shop! 

Surprise your family and friends! Yard Party Signs will donate 20% of 'Elf-ed' yard sign orders to Wickliffe PTO! For $35, the elf display will be in place before they rise. You can order here: https://yardpartysigns.com/columbus/. Please remember to add "WICKLIFFE" in the Special Requests field when you order. Spots are limited, guarantee yours by ordering today!

• If you would like to choose a child or a family to shop for you can access the Sign Up Genius here: Holiday Gift Sign Up. 
• Gifts should be delivered to Wickliffe Monday December 14th- Thursday December 17th between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. There will be donation boxes just inside the first set of doors.
• There will also be a box for homemade cards, so if your child would like to create a holiday card or gift tag, those can be dropped off as well.

We are excited that we can still help others this year even though we can’t volunteer in person. If you have questions, please email Sarah Oberlin at soberlin@uaschools.org.

As we return to Enhanced Distance Learning, many of our teachers are continuing to go into school to teach their classes via Zoom. 

A little pick me up during the day lets our teachers know that we appreciate all they are doing to keep our children learning. If you'd like to contribute, please click on the sign up genius for all the details and to add your name to the sign up.

If you have any questions please contact Jennifer Waddell at jenniferawaddell@yahoo.com. Thank you for your support! 

As the first semester is coming to an end, we are preparing for our winter lunch groups.

• OUR NEWEST GROUP  is called, “Calm, Cool & Connected.” It will be facilitated by Sarah Perry, our Syntero mental health clinician, and her intern, Autumn Davis.

We all know that staying connected in a safe way has been a challenge this school year. Some students have expressed that they are missing playing and spending time with friends that they used to see outside of their classrooms. At the same time, many students have also talked about struggling with the challenges of spending a lot more time with the same peers in their cohorts and, let’s be honest, their siblings at home! 

This 8-week group will focus on building emotional regulation and coping strategies for big emotions as well as helping provide some helpful tips and social strategies for staying connected to peers and friends they aren’t able to visit with at this time. It will also address how to manage our feelings and social behaviors with peers, family and friends with whom we may be spending more time than usual. 

We will discuss topics such as but not limited to, perspective taking, patience, self-advocacy, boundaries and gratitude.

• IDEA Mentors- This group will shift to a Zoom format during Enhanced Distance Learning. When we return to hybrid, we will resume in-person meetings. 

• Gender Diverse Kids, Families, and Allies- This group, formerly known as Gender Creative Kids, will focus on fostering ally behavior, celebrating diverse families, supporting gender diverse kids, and continuing to create an inclusive and welcoming culture at Wickliffe that embraces and honors diversity.

If you are interested in having your child participate in any of these groups, please email Dr. Kassoy (fkassoy@uaschools.org).

On Sunday evening, we hosted a parent coffee to talk about “Rethinking the Holidays.” There were two articles published by Nationwide Children’s Hospital that provided some helpful ideas about the challenges and opportunities that COVID provides us and reminders for taking care of our mental health during this time. We had an opportunity to discuss how these ideas resonated with each of us.

If I could capture the essence of our conversation, these would be the four “takeaways” shared by the participants.

• Try to avoid the temptation to overcompensate (perhaps with gifts, etc.) to take away the pain and disappointment our kiddos may be experiencing this year with respect to the holidays.

• We sometimes conflate self-care with pampering one’s self. This can send a confusing message to children.

• It is helpful to affirm the feelings of sadness, disappointment, frustration, anger or whatever your child is expressing. It is also helping to remind our kiddos about gratitude. But, I would suggest making these separate conversations. Having them at the same time might inadvertently send the message that being grateful negates those big feelings. 

• Consider thinking about ways to teach your children about the history of your family traditions while encouraging them to think of starting some new ones.

Wishing each of you moments of joy and good health in the weeks ahead.

Onward,

The Counseling Team (Felice and Rebecca)