BAND
Janine Delwarte
Elementary Instrumental Music Coordinator Janine Delwarte offers band to 4th & 5th grade students in the Conejo Valley Unified School District. Instrumental music can enhance your child’s educational experience through creative self-expression, emotional release and satisfaction,discipline of achievement,cooperating and performing with fellow students. For more information, please visit: http://www.delartemusic.com
COMPUTERS
Wendy Worman
Our students do some terrific projects in the Computer Lab including writing Haiku using Word Art in MS Word, and creating a chart in Excel showing the number of left-handed and right-handed students in each class. The younger students have also done some projects in MS Word learning how to enhance documents with different font styles and colors and how to add clip art. Additionally they have been working on their keyboarding and mouse skills using web-based educational software such as StarFall and BBC typing.
Each class comes to the computer lab once a week to work with the specialist and there are sign-up times available for classroom teachers to use the lab as well. By giving our students early exposure to computers we are ensuring they will have the skills they need to be successful as they move on to middle school, high school and beyond.
Our Parent Faculty Association has purchased forty-one brand new computers for our Computer Lab to be ready for the 2011-12 school year. All students visit the Computer Lab once a week. For more information about the technology at Westlake Elementary, please visit our Technology section under the Programs tab.
SCIENCE
Alec D. Hess (http://teacherweb.com/CA/WestlakeElementary/Science/apt1.aspx)
"I am an alumni of Westlake Elementary. The Science lab is in my old 4th grade classroom, so even the science lab room has lots of fond memories for me. Being able to teach here at WLE is the best thing I could have dreamed of. This is home to me and I feel most comfortable being here. I love teaching and enjoy coming to teach the students each and every day. I graduated from Pepperdine University with my Master of Arts in Education and my Multiple Subject teaching credentials this past summer I am in the Science Lab Monday through Thursday. When I am not teaching Science at Westlake I can be found being a substitute teacher for the Conejo Valley Unified School District. Ask your children what they think of coming to the lab and I am sure that, like me, they love it."
All students receive regular science instruction based on the California Standards in their classroom. The curriculum for grades K - 2 is called, FOSS (Full Option Science System). FOSS is a hands-on science curriculum that students find very engaging: http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/index.html. Students in grades 3 - 5 use the Houghton-Mifflin science series: http://www.eduplace.com/science/hmsc/.
Westlake Elementary is very lucky to be one of the few schools around in the Conejo Valley to have a Science Specialist who teaches lab activities as extensions from the regular curricula in a self-contained Science Lab. Our Science Lab is visited once a week all year long in grades 3, 4, and 5. Our kindergarteners, 1st graders, and 2nd graders visit the Science Lab once a week for one semester.
LIBRARY
Ann Romig
I look forward to getting to know your child and helping them to learn about the joys of the library. The Westlake Elementary Library is a treasure chest of information and an adventure waiting to be explored! Students are lucky to visit our wonderful library once a week and may select from over 13,000 titles. For more information, please visit The Library section of the website, under Welcome.
MUSIC
April Amante
April Amante, soprano, is a native of Simi Valley, California. In May 2010 she graduated with her Masters degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Arizona. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Bachelors of Music at California State University Northridge in 2008. April has sung many opera and musical theater roles at these Universities and at summer opera programs around the country. April was a Teaching Artist for the Opening Minds through the Arts program in Tucson, AZ; a program that promotes the use of arts integration to improve student achievement in math, science, and literacy. Here at Westlake Elementary, every classroom comes to music once a week for thirty minutes. Students will be learning everything from rhythm and dynamics to musical foreign language terms and fun songs. She is thrilled to be a part of the welcoming and artistic Westlake Elementary community!
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Christine Hardison
http://teacherweb.com/CA/WestlakeElementary/ChristineHardison/apt1.aspx
"This will be my 6th year teaching Physical Education. It is my passion to teach and I love every minute! I am married to a Physical Education teacher and we live in Thousand Oaks with our two daughters and many animals. Physical Education is not just a class to me, it is a way of living. In my classes I show the students how everyday activity is good for them. I offer skills training through a variety of sports, my program fits in with the California State Physical Education Standards. Physical Education is a fun learning experience for every kindergartener to fifth grader. I meet with most classes twice a week and enjoy every minute of it. My goals for Physical Education are that every student is safe, tries sports, and has fun achieving success with sports."
