Westwood Wire
February 23, 2021
Dear Westwood Parents,
Dear Parents,
This has certainly been a challenging start to 2021 for many and we hope that you are safe and well. Last week, many of our students, faculty and staff experienced power, water and gas issues. The Westwood campus did not sustain any damage and we are very thankful to RISD personnel who checked in on the building while we were gone. If these issues persist for you, we hope that these resources will help support you and your family. If you are in additional need, please let your student’s Assistant Principal and Counselor know.
Despite the unique struggles of this school year, at WWJH we have much to celebrate. We are thrilled to observe Black History Month throughout February and look forward to sharing all the pictures and videos in our next Westwood Wire. Additionally, we are pleased to announce that we are the new proud home of the Westwood Wolves. This was made official by Dr. Stone at the February 8th, 2021 Board Meeting.
Thank you to the Westwood community’s work with mascot committee focus groups to determine viable options for the Westwood mascot and logo in preparation for a final vote. This work began at the end of October 2020 and in December the WWJH faculty, staff and students voted. In January, the 6th graders from our feeder schools, Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet, Northwood Hills Elementary, Spring Creek Elementary and Spring Valley Elementary, voted. There were 681 total students who voted on their choice of Westwood Junior High mascot and logo.
The Westwood Wolves announcement was made to our students on Tuesday February 9th by Olivia Taylor and Maryam Conner, the WWJH Student Council President and Vice President respectively. This announcement was followed by the Westwood Cheerleaders and Band leading a campus wide hallway pep rally that you can see here.
Please mark your calendars for the next Westwood Wire publications on March 23rd, April 13th, May 4th and May 25th. You can access this newsletter in your email inbox, Westwood Twitter & Facebook pages, school website and PTA platforms. In addition to a message from me, the topics will include academics, athletics, counseling, fine arts and library news. If there is additional information you would like to receive in this newsletter, please let me know. We encourage your feedback as we work to collaborate and engage with parents to meet our goal of communication that is proactive, timely and relevant.
Sincerely,
Katie Mottram
WWJH Principal
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Westwood Junior High Shout Out Award
Thank you to everyone, colleagues and parents, who took the time to nominate these 11 worthy Westwood Shout Award Winners for the exceptional CONNECTIONS they make. Each recipient will receive a certificate, sweet treat and will also learn the name of the special person who nominated them. This is yet another reason to celebrate at Westwood Junior High! We are truly grateful for our connections. Please stay tuned for the March Shout Award nomination process.
Grade Reporting
The Q3 grade posting window for teachers opens this Friday, February 26th and closes Friday, March 5th. Report cards will be sent home the following week.
Q4 starts Monday, March 8th.
To set up a Partent Focus account please visit https://web.risd.org/focus/#information
A parent Focus account will allow you to monitor your students grades and attendance online.
For assistance with the sign-up process, please email FocusParent@g.risd.org or call 469-593-0811.
Westwood Junior High PTA
Are you interested in serving on the PTA Board next year?
We have a number of opportunities to serve our faculty and students during the 2021-2022 school year!
The PTA Nominating Committee will meet soon to select the executive board for next year, and we need YOU to fill out this form to let us know you are interested in serving.
Not sure where you fit? Fill out the form and mark "Not Sure," and we will have someone contact you to talk about how you want to participate.
Click here to fill out the form.
Our next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, March 9th at 6pm via Zoom.
Winter Storm Resources
If you or your family need any support or resources following last week’s Winter Storm, please reach out to our counselors:
Brooke Scoggins – brooke.scoggins@risd.org 469-593-3511 (Last names A-K)
Beneia Ruttenburg – Beneia.ruttenburg@risd.org 469-593-3514 (Last names L-Z)
Heather Garrett – heather.garrett@risd.org 469-593-3521 (Intervention Counselor – part time)
8th Grade Parents
The counselors sent out an email on February 12th so this information may seem familiar but we understand that it could have been lost with getting so many messages from RISD last week. We have updated the deadline due to last week’s winter storm/school closures along with the information for you to review.
We want to share with you some important information from RHS for 9th grade. On Friday, February 12th you should have received an email from RISD (noreply@risd.org is the address – check your junk email if you don’t have it). The same email will be sent to your student’s RISD google email account. This email contains the 9th grade classes your student chose in December when we met with 8th graders to start their Personalized Graduation Plans. Students are going to submit a google form which will be posted in our 8th grade WWJH Counselor Google Classroom on Tuesday, February 23rd to confirm their classes or make any changes to their 9th grade classes. All 8th graders must submit the form by Tuesday, March 2nd by 11:59pm.
In their ELA class this week, 8th graders will see a quick video from the WWJH Counselors and then a video from the RHS counselors about 9th grade. If you would like to preview the videos they are here ( Initial Course Verification Video RHS video: http://bit.ly/IncomingFreshmenPreRegVideo). The 8th to 9th Initial Course Verification Form will be assigned to them in the WWJH 8th grade Counselor Google Classroom (code is p3tal23 to join if they don’t have it in their account).
Below are links provided by RHS to help assist parents/students:
http://bit.ly/IncomingFreshmenPreRegHandout (Incoming Freshmen Pre-Registration Google Doc with all the links provided for the Pre-Registration Process)
http://bit.ly/IncomingFreshmanCourseFlyers (Course Recruitment Flyers with Course Descriptions)
http://bit.ly/IncomingFreshmenCourseCard (RHS 9th Grade Course Card)
http://bit.ly/PreRegistrationFAQs (Pre-Registration Frequently Asked Questions Handout)
While we realize this is a lot of information to get at one time and can feel overwhelming, please know that your students are going to have another opportunity to make changes to their 9th grade courses April 1st when we do Final Course Verifications. The most important task right now is for you to look over the information provided and discuss with your student their 9th grade classes chosen (from the email you received) and then fill out/submit google doc to confirm/change your 9th grade classes by Tuesday, March 2nd at 11:59pm.
Please note that if an 8th grader is in GT Science currently and wants to take GT Biology for 9th grade next year, they can make that change when they complete the 8th to 9th Initial Course Verification form if it was note listed in the classes they initially chose for 9th grade.
7th Grade Parents
The counselors worked with students February 8-12th in their ELA class to assist students in choosing their classes for 8th grade. Mrs. Ruttenburg and Mrs. Scoggins will reach out to students who have not chosen their classes for 8th grade. Students will get a chance to change classes for 8th grade during Final Course Verification. An email/link will be made available the first week of April.
All WWJH Parents
Each year, Richardson ISD accepts parent referrals for gifted services for secondary students currently enrolled in the 7th-10th grades. By filling out this form http://bit.ly/GTPARENTREF you are requesting that your student be tested for these services. Students qualify for GT services with a 95th percentile (or higher) in the appropriate domain of an ability test (COGAT- Verbal, Quantitative or Non-Verbal) that indicates strength in reasoning for the correlated subject (GT Social Studies, GT ELAR, GT Science). Students who are already in a specific GT class do not have to re-test/requalify to continue with that GT course for the next school year. This link is only for parent referrals for students who are not currently in a specific GT course (GT Social Studies, GT ELAR, GT Science) and would like to take the test for consideration for GT services for next school year or previously did not qualify for a specific GT course and would like to re-test. Students may only test one time per calendar year.
Online Enrollment for the 2021 - 2022 School Year
Please note that the pre-registration process of students choosing their classes for the next school year is separate from student enrollment. Parents will receive an email with a code to complete the enrollment process for the 2021-2022 school year.
Enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year begins online starting at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, March 1. Parents can learn what information and documents are required to enroll by visiting risd.org/enrollonline. Leading up to March 1, RISD’s Parent University will host virtual sessions, translated into multiple languages, to explain the enrollment process and answer questions.
Additional Student Programming
Through our LEAD Academy lessons we continue to offer insightful and self-evaluative lessons for our all students. Our additional programming has been developed through best practices in three areas based on data collected from our student body this past fall. On a three-weekly basis our student body will be given reflective exercises based on Gratitude, Developing a Growth Mindset and additional life skills such as Perspective, Self-Control, and Self-Management of Mistakes.
This week's lesson included the viewing of a video on perspective. You can watch the video by going to YouTube and searching "Perspectables". The students completed the lesson with two reflective questions: one about themselves and one about their friends. We encourage all our parents to ask about these lessons at home and open a dialog that can be both enlightening and productive.
If you would like to learn more about this programming please email Stewart Brown at stewart.brown@risd.org.
Basketball
Basketball season will end on Thursday with the Lady Wolves hosting West Junior High. The Wolves boys teams will travel to West Junior High. Game times for both boys and girls this week are 7B @ 5:30pm, 7A @ 6:30pm, 8A @ 7:30pm, and 8B @ 8:30pm. Tickets can be purchased on game day (if available) using the following links:
Boys link – https://richardsonisd.brushfire.com/jh-boys-basketball/489528
Girls link – https://richardsonisd.brushfire.com/jh-girls-basketball/489744
Tennis
Tennis teams will play this Thursday, February 25th and close out the season on March 1st. The sites are as following:
Girls:
- Thursday, February 25th at RHS Courts vs Liberty Junior High @ 4:30pm
- Monday, March 1st at RHS Courts vs Forest Meadow Junior High @ 4:30pm
Boys:
- Thursday, February 25th at BHS Courts vs Liberty Junior High @ 4:30pm
- Monday, March 1st at LHHS Courts vs Forest Meadow Junior High @ 4:30pm
Track
Track workouts will begin during the week of March 1st. All students who would like to participate in track, must be cleared in UIL Rank-One with an updated physical and completed paperwork, and academically eligible. Student-athletes will tryout each week for track and field events. If you have additional questions, please see or email Coach Bristow or Coach Lockett.
Westwood Junior High Math, Science & Leadership Magnet
Email: kathryn.mottram@risd.org
Website: https://schools.risd.org/WestwoodJH
Location: 7630 Arapaho Road, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 469-593-3600
Facebook: facebook.com/WestWoodJH/
Twitter: @WestwoodJH_RISD