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Wildcat News
December 2017
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Dear Westwood Families,
As we look forward towards the winter months ahead, we begin our second trimester at Westwood. We are extremely proud of the achievements of all students during the first trimester and accomplishments of our Wildcat learners. Students have developed great rapport with their classroom teachers and peers. Students continue to build lasting connections that will enhance their academics and social skills throughout the rest of the year. This month leading up to winter break always brings great energy and excitement from various building activities, from building Gingerbread Houses in kindergarten to the Holiday Hop. We will be concentrating on self-control and inspiring each other every day at Westwood. At Westwood, we are thankful for all our families and students who bring joy to us each day. Thank you for your continued support of Westwood and your partnership. We look forward to the new year ahead to assess our progress and continue to achieve greatness at Westwood.
Sincerely,
Derek Branton,
Principal
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From the office:
Westwood Gear:
The Westwood clothing program is all set to go. If you would like to order anything for your Westwood Wildcat you will need to go to www.rambow.com and enter the store code Westwood. Your order must be placed no later than Monday, December 18th.
Salvation Army Food Drive & Toys for Tots Drive:
Our Annual Salvation Army food drive and Toys for Tots drive at Westwood will run through mid December. The blue bins for the food drive are located at doors 1 & 6, the toy bins are right in front of the office and Door #5. Please consider donating to families in need during the holiday season
Winter clothing donations:
Donations are currently being accepted for gently used/new winter clothing for students at Westwood. We are accepting winter coats, hats, boots, gloves/mittens and snow pants for school aged students. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.
Upcoming Dates:
December 4th: NO SCHOOL
December 7th: Kindergarten Gingerbread day
December 15th: Last day of Food Drive
Report Cards sent home
December 20th: PBIS Assembly @ 8:30
December 21st: Holiday Hop (during students specialist time)
December 22nd-January 1st: No School
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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:
Happy December from the Art Room! We are starting some mini-projects this month so we can finish up before our Winter Break! Kinderkids are learning about Franz Marc and his Blue Horse series. First graders are working on a self-portrait..with a twist thanks to inspiration by Marc Chagall. Second grade creative kids are going to have some fun with a Winter-inspired self-portrait while Third graders are going to “Draw with Scissors”, just like Henri Matisse. Fourth grade will be working on some color theory as we talk about/work with color families and I hope Fifth graders don’t get too down as we learn about the elongated portraits of Amedeo Modigliani. If you are interested in some fun art activities over break just send me an email and I will get some information to your kiddo(s)- kristen.stoll@isd742.org. Have a GREAT month!!
Music:
Westwood students did a fantastic job performing for the veterans. The 5th graders did a wonderful job representing our school with their singing and behavior. The entire school sounded terrific and did a great job with the sign language. Many people in attendance commented about feelings of pride and appreciation for all the service members!
Physical Education:
It's been a great month in the gym! Kindergarten, First, and Second graders have been working on their scooter skills along with building their upper body strength exploring the climbing wall. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth graders have been having fun playing volleyball, with the Fifth graders looking forward to their big end of the unit volleyball tournament on Friday!
Orchestra:
The orchestra is working towards our first concert on January 9th! We are getting more control over our bows and have started to learn Twinkle Twinkle, help me practice by singing along and making sure they both match!
Academic Achievement:
Westwood Academic Achievement finished up a very busty month. The Knowledge Bowl team was comprised of three teams and had three events. They had two firsts, 1 second, and 2 third place finishes during the season! Great Job! The Math Olympiad has begun for 4th and 5th grades with the completion of 1 of five meets throughout the school year. 5th Grader, David Duong, is the top scorer so far. Mrs. Zipoy's class had a very successful Science Fair on October 26th. Earning ribbons from the well attended event were: Megan Stromquist, Lily Gallus, Finn Johnson, Jenna Greeley, Nick Hamman, Braylon Wanna, and Khloe Thomsich. This week, the students in grades 3-5 will be taking their first Word Master tests and tryouts for Math Masters will culminate on December 15th.
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Pre-School:
Preschool had conferences in November and it was a lot of fun talking to all of the families and sharing the great progress that their children are making. We have been learning about families in November and will move on to talking about Bears in December. We will have a Teddy Bear Parent Day on December 7th and look forward to having parents join us for the day.
Kindergarten:
During the month of November our kindergarten students were working hard learning to blend sounds together to read CVC words. Using our sight words to write a simple sentence was another focus. we are even learning to put spaces between words and use a capital letter to begin our sentences. Math lesson have been spent working on tricky teen numbers and patterning concepts. we are looking forward to a great Gingerbread Day with our students and families.
1st Grade:
During November, our first graders were geologists and learned about the properties of rocks! We were able to dive deeply into our reading and writing units after establishing classroom routines in the fall. We worked on addition and have now moved onto subtraction. Everyday we learned something new and exciting!
2nd Grade:
November was a busy month in 2nd Grade. We started our first science unit studying Balance and Motion or Plants.Some 2nd graders have a handle on some interesting new vocabulary like balance point, counter balance, and stable position, while others can educate you about plants, their different parts, and how they receive their nutrients. The second graders are also becoming grammar savvy by learning about nouns, verbs, adjectives, and different types of sentences that we can incorporate into our writing projects. In math class we are putting our addition strategies into play by learning about double digit addition with regrouping, and in health class we discussed our brains and the importance of good nutrition.
3rd Grade:
Third grade just finished reading biographies about inventors and their inventions. We focused on finding examples of cause and effect. We also worked on understanding metaphors. In math we've been subtracting numbers using regrouping. We can check the reasonableness of our answers by estimating or using addition. We just finished our first health unit and began our second rotation of science and social studies.
4th Grade:
Fourth Grade News:
Lions, Tigers, and Bears!! The fourth grade students have been learning about animals and have written animal reports. The focus has been on informational text features. Some students have started studying the Midwest Region, while others are learning about electricity and energy. Students are multiplying big numbers with success. Division will be introduced very soon. Thank you for practicing your facts! Please continue to work on ALEKS and Xtra Math. Your support is very appreciated.
5th Grade:
-Orchestra: Learned to use bows, play fast and slow, as well as lift and set
-Knowledge Bowl Season Ended and United States Academic Triatholn begins
-We are studying the early peoples of the Americas
-Mrs. Witte-Nyberg's reading class had author Bill Mizner visit.
They worked on writing some poetry together.
-We held our first Math Olympiad meet in Mrs. Jongeward's math class.
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