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Wildcat Family News
October 2017
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Dear Westwood Families,
We had a wonderful first month of learning at Westwood. Our focus for students throughout September was learning new expectations within their homerooms and reviewing building wide procedures. The students have come back to school with an amazing attitude and energy level. I have witnessed on a daily basis, peers helping each other out and staff encouraging students to be at their best each day. The motto at Westwood this year is; to make everyday a better day than yesterday. We have set our goals high this year for academic achievement for all students in reading and math. Our goal setting conferences were a great way to start our partnership together in helping each student succeed. Our staff at Westwood is dedicated towards creating growth for your student with their academic and social emotional development. I am thrilled with how our first month unfolded at Westwood. We expect to have a wonderful 2017-18 school year at Westwood. Thank you for your support and continued partnership.
Our Walk-a-thon was a wonderful success at Westwood. We pushed back our activities from Tuesday to Thursday due to weather related concerns. Our day turned out to be fabulous. Many thanks to all the parent volunteers, staff, and athletes who made the day possible. We raised nearly $9,000 for the students at Westwood. We will continue to build our technology program and enrichment opportunities at Westwood with the generous donations from the walk-a-thon. All proceeds go directly back to students this school year. Please check out our Westwood Facebook www.facebook.com/StCloudWestwood/ page for pictures.
Sincerely,
Derek Branton,
Principal
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From the office:
*Please let the office know of any changes to your child’s information (phone, email, address, etc.) so that we can update their file. Current addresses on file are important as this is how we send some of our communications.
*Our main office hours are 6:45-3:00 daily. Please make sure you are calling your child into school if they will miss for any reason. Please leave these messages on our attendance line, it is very important that you are letting the main office aware of any absences and not just the students teacher as those messages do not always get relayed to the office.
Fall Conferences:
Our fall conferences will be taking place Tuesday, October 17th and Thursday October 26th from 3:00-7:30 at Westwood. This is a great opportunity to connect with classroom teachers to review school performance and goals established at goal setting conferences in August. Please make sure that you have your Skyward login information as this is how you will sign up for your conference time.
No School:
The MEA break occurs Thursday and Friday, October 19th and 20th. Students will have not school these two days.
Facebook:
Westwood Elementary now has its very own Facebook page. Like our page and keep up to date with what is happening at your child's school https://www.facebook.com/StCloudWestwood/
Changes to the 2017-2018 School Calendar:
We want to make you aware that as part of the recent settlement of the teacher contract, the 2017-18 school district calendar has been revised. Please discard any copies of the original calendar. Alswo, the website has been update to reflect the revised calendar. You will find it on the homepage under the calendar icon and also in the Upcoming Events section at: www.isd742.org.
Important changes to note:BOTH October 27th and February 20th are now instructional days with school in session. In addition, the school year now ends for students on May 31st. Finally, this year's scheduled now make-up day is June 1st.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to your school principal or the district communications department at communications@isd742.org
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Westwood Family Calendar
Please be sure to update your Family Calendar with Westwood School Events. We have added a few activities and want to be sure you are kept informed. This calendar can be found by clicking HERE. We also provide this information through the calendar on the Westwood website.
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Art:
What a great start to our school year it’s been in the Art Room with Westwood’s Artists! We have created not one, but TWO whole-school collaborative art pieces. On their first trip to Art, students created a self-portrait in their favorite color, now assembled and up in the Art hall. We then made our mark and celebrated International Dot Day inspired by Peter Reynold’s book, The Dot (on display in the hall by the office). Students have started working in their sketchbooks, a valuable tool as we begin planning more INCREDIBLE artwork in the months to come. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me ( kristen.stoll@isd742.org), I look forward to this year, working with your kiddos, and assisting them in any way I can as they grow as artists.
Music:
Students are working hard in music class preparing for our annual Veteran's Day program. The program will take place November 10th at 10am. We are excited to honor those who have served our country so we are safe and have freedom. We welcome all veterans and their families to attend!
Physical Education:
We are off to a great start in Physical Education. We have some new exciting units coming this year in gym, with rollerblading, cross-country skiing and the brand new Bicycling unit just to name a few. Please make sure that your child has tennis shoes on the days they have gym. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Trevor.marohl@isd742.org.
Orchestra:
So this was our first week with our instruments. Orchestra students got a lesson on safety and how their instruments work. We will be learning new notes and more about reading music this next month!
Pre-School:
In preschool, we have been working on learning the school routine as well as making and playing with friends. The children have enjoyed doing various art projects, name activities, and learning new songs. Heading into October, we will be learning more about different emotions and what they look like, as well as fall activities. We will also start to learn a different letter each week including the name, sound, writing stroke and action.
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Kindergarten:
The kindergarten students and teachers are working hard to solidify routines and school expectations. We are very busy assessing students to gather baseline data to drive our instruction. Kindergarten is a busy, happy place!
1st Grade:
First grade is off to a great start! We have been busy learning and practicing the "Westwood Way" as well as bus safety. The children have been watching and waiting for our next monarchs to emerge from the chrysalis. A very high-interest science unit!
We will be looking forward to a field trip to the apple orchard in October, as well as a play at the Paramount.
2nd Grade:
Second grade has been busy building classroom routines and learning to work with partners. We ended September by celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day. In October, we are looking forward to starting small group, differentiated instruction. We will take a field trip to Saint John's Outdoor University.
3rd Grade:
Third grade has been busy reviewing the Westwood Way and practicing new routines. In math we've been working on number sense: place, value, comparing, rounding and expressing numbers in different ways. Our stories in reading have been from the fantasy genre. We've been looking for the lesson in each story and character traits. Our areas of study in social studies and science have been archaeology, seeds and the sun.
4th Grade:
Fourth grade is off to a fantastic start! With our first field trip complete, the students traveled to St. Joe to attend the Water Festival. They were able to learn many cool facts about water. Ms. Zipoy's class has started preparing for the Science Fair that will be held on October 26th. All of the fourth grade students enjoyed participating in the Walk-a-Thon. The fourth grade teachers are looking foward to visiting with parent on the 17th and 26th of October for conferences. We have an amazing group of Wildcats!
5th Grade:
Fifth grade is getting into routine. In Math we have been working on place value and number sense. Please have your child practice their math facts. Practicing on ALEKS Quick Facts is a wonderful way to get that practice in. In Reading students have been writing book letters, or essays telling about themselves. Please make sure your child is reading at home. We are looking forward to a visit from the Wolf Center in October.
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