Dear CHE Families:

Flipping the calendar from March to April feels like welcoming spring, even though spring in the PNW is a confusing season, alternating daily between winter and summer weather. The unpredictability makes it difficult to know what clothing to send your student to school in. Remember that we will send students outside before school and for recess as often as we can, staying inside when the rain necessitates us remaining indoors. 

This is also the time of year when students will wear a jacket outside and then take it off when they warm up. We collect several jackets from the play area daily and put them in the Lost & Found. If you are missing a jacket or lunch box, be sure to have your student check the Lost & Found.

The end of school will be upon us quickly, and one thing that happens in school is end of the year assessment of student progress. 3rd and 4th graders will take the state level Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) on May 13-15 and May 21-22. Please try to schedule appointments around these dates, so students can take the SBA with their classmates instead of making it up at a later time. All students will take district level assessments in reading, writing, and socioemotional learning to measure their growth over the year and to determine needs for the coming year.

Spring is also the time of field trips and celebrations, so pay attention to Parent Square messages, and reach out to the school with questions. Speaking of celebrations, if you attended last Friday’s PTA sponsored Lego Night, you were part of a fun and creative event. Thank you, PTA, for supporting opportunities for our students and families to have fun together!

Sincerely,

Bill Weinsheimer

Principal

Spring break is right around the corner. Many parents are looking for creative ways to keep their kids off the couch and active. Below are some helpful ideas for getting kids active in the Spring.

Kids and teens need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, and what a better time to get these habits in place than during spring break when they don’t have to go to school? It can be hard to break the cycle of Netflix, YouTube, video games and social media scrolling, so here are some family-friendly activities that you and your kids can do to get moving. Going for a hike, walk or bike ride after dinner can get the whole family involved in fitness. Other great ideas to boost fitness include rollerblading, skateboarding, jump-roping, leap frog, hula hooping, playing catch with a baseball or football, basketball, and playing Frisbee or Spikeball in the grass. Take advantage of the mild spring weather by taking your fitness outside to the park or the beach. Running and playing in the sand can add an extra level of difficulty.

Absolutely! While it’s nice to get out of the house, sometimes time or weather can hinder that. Doing yoga in the living room can bring flexibility and relaxation to the household. There are also infinite fun workout ideas and games on Pinterest that use easy-to-find materials from around the house like a deck of cards, popsicle sticks, Jenga, or no equipment at all like challenges that include squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, planks, running in place, mountain climbers and core exercises.

Sometimes getting kids and teens off their electronic devices can seem like a workout in itself! But we can also embrace technology to improve health and fitness. YouTube has a ton of workout videos for everything from yoga to Zumba, and aerobics to strength training that can be suitable for all ages and ability levels. There are also the active video games and consoles, like the Wii, Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move that can be just as effective as a gym workout!

You also can’t forget about apps that provide encouragement and additional ideas to increase movement (with or without a fitness tracker) like FitBit, Garmin, Couch to 5K, Pocket Yoga, Nike Training Club, Zombies Run and Pokemon Go.

There are also app and device timers that you can use if you want to encourage your kids to get off the device and get outside. The goal is to get kids and teens moving for at least 60 minutes per day, but it’s also important to know that this time does not need to be all at once to be effective. Breaking fitness into smaller 10-15 minute bouts can make it more accessible and easier to accomplish.

Jenn Wutzke

The defense department as well as many schools celebrate the month of the military child each April. Specifically, April 15 is called “purple up” and CHE encourages all students to celebrate this special day by wearing purple.

There are more than 1.6 million US military children. According to the United States Census Bureau, Oak Harbor, Washington, has a population of approximately 24,000 people (2023). It is home to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI), which supports 9,000 active-duty military members and over 19,000 family members (Military OneSource, 2025). 53% of our students at CHE are military dependents while 60-70% total student population work on base (federal government affiliated).

The dandelion is the official flower of military children and a symbol for the Month of the Military Child in April. Dandelions are a symbol of resilience because they can grow and spread their seeds almost anywhere, just like military children who move often. 

Faith Franz

CHE counselor

On March 22nd, these students were able to attend the Elementary Honor Choir Festival in Bellingham. They represented our school very proudly. Just wanted to give them a shout out and a hearty THANK YOU!!! They will perform one of their song selections, The Dream Keeper, for our June 10th assembly & evening concert. They will also help teach another one of their song selections, Banaha, to the 4th Grade to also perform at the June concert. 

Mr. Rawson 

CHE Music teacher