Wolverine News
UPDATED September 22, 2020
West Orient Middle School
Website: gresham.k12.or.us/woms
Location: 29805 Southeast Orient Drive, Gresham, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 663-3323
Twitter: @WOMSwolverines
Dear Families,
School begins on Monday, September 21st! Please see the latest information about the start of the school year.
Our mission is to prepare our students for the best comprehensive distance learning experience possible. We ask that you guide and support your child's learning by ensuring that they:
- Attend all classes, arrive on time, and be prepared and ready for the day's learning.
- Complete and turn in all assignments on time.
- Consistently communicate with their teachers.
- Know that you expect them to succeed in school.
WOMS is EPIC (Engaged, Persistent, Intentional, Career & College Ready). Together we will make this Mission Possible!
Be safe and stay healthy!
Ms. Elise Catanese
Principal
ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
UPDATE: Back to School Drive-Through & Supply Pickup Rescheduled
Dear West Orient Families,
The scheduled nights for Back to School Student Supply Pick Up are being rescheduled for next week.
Due to delays in shipping caused by the recent wildfires and smoke events, some of the critical supplies for students have not yet reached us. Supplies are not anticipated to arrive until the end of this week, so we will move our dates for student supply pick ups to next week.
- Monday, September 28th, 6th grade from 4:30 - 7:00 PM.
- Tuesday, September 29th, 7th & 8th grade from 4:30 - 7:00 PM.
Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to get these important materials to your students. Items for pickup include; Chromebooks (if not already picked up), math textbooks, whiteboards, and various classroom materials. If you ordered and paid for a 2019-2020 Yearbook, they will be available for pickup during this event. Please follow the map above when participating in the supply pick up.
We will be observing important safety precautions including social distancing and mask wearing during the event. You can help us be safe by also wearing a mask and remaining in your vehicle unless picking up a musical instrument.
We look forward to meeting you and getting these materials to you next week!
Student Devices (Chromebooks)
Many of you have been asking if students are required to use the district provided Chromebooks. The answer is yes. Security, firewalls, software, applications, etc. are guaranteed when our devices are used.
If you need to check out a device for your student, please contact the school's main office at (503)663-3323 to schedule an appointment. When picking up the device, please have your picture ID and your student's ID# available. Devices will be given to parents or guardians ONLY! Hours for device distribution are in blocks of 15 minutes from 8:30 am-3:30 pm.
ATTENDANCE UPDATE
Daily attendance is very important to academic achievement and connection with peers. Daily attendance is required and daily participation is expected in online face-to-face class sessions.
Attendance will be taken for students in each scheduled class. Attendance includes both participation in class activities and interaction with a teacher during a school day. Students will be considered as having attended a class if they participate in a face-to-face video class, have two-way communication with their teacher, or complete and submit any assignments to that class.
If a student does not attend the scheduled face-to-face class during the day, an auto-dialed message will be sent to parents letting them know that the student did not attend the online lesson. The message will then explain that students can still be counted as attending the class for that day if they complete and submit any assigned work and email their teacher by the end of the day.
When there is no evidence of student interaction during a 24-hour period surrounding a scheduled school day as described, students are reported as absent for the day.
Please contact the main office at 503-663-3323 if your student is not able to participate during a daily synchronous session. It is important to know what types of activities count as attending.
DAILY SCHEDULE
Since last June, the Gresham Barlow School District has been working to develop a daily schedule for students and staff that would provide everyone the greatest opportunity for success. We learned last spring that we had to find ways to shrink the number of classes for both students and staff as managing learning online is quite different than face-to-face in a traditional classroom.
The eGBSD Middle School Schedule was built with the following goals in mind:
- Reduce the number of classes for both students and staff.
- Reduce class sizes for more effective remote learning.
- Extend class time with each class to provide more flexibility with synchronous instruction and small group work.
- Develop a system that provides key Social Emotional Learning needs for our students and a direct connection to staff.
- Meet guidelines outlined by ODE for Comprehensive Distance Learning.
As you look at the schedule you will see that students are attending an advisory class beginning at 8:30am, followed by periods 1-5. Class periods are 50 minutes each and will meet in person four days per week (M, Tu, Th, Fr) with students working independently one day per week (Wed).
Students will be enrolled in five classes, four core classes and an elective. The four core classes will be ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Students are enrolled in one of the following elective classes; Band (full year), AVID (full year), or PE/STEAM (half-year each). If students are enrolled in Band or AVID elective, they will be provided opportunities to engage in PE/Wellness activities outside of the regular daily schedule.
ADVISORY CLASS
One of the greatest goals we set each year is to build meaningful relationships with our students. This year we are taking extra steps to focus on establishing critical relationships as we know how important it will be to provide those social-emotional connections that have been missing over the last few months.
In order to facilitate these relationships, we are implementing the use of a daily Advisory Class. Each teacher has been assigned a student group that they will meet with synchronously (live) for twenty-five minutes each day of the week. The purpose is to provide a community that allows for student discussions, academic support, social-emotional learning, social interaction, and distribution of school news and important documents.
Advisory Classes:
- Develop meaningful relationships with all students.
- Foster connectedness and promote open communication.
- Build a positive community where students feel safe and valued.
- Closely supervise academic progress.
- Provide attendance and social-emotional learning support.
- Celebrate student successes and accomplishments.
- Contact all students and families prior to the start of the year and throughout the year.
Expect to be contacted by your student's Advisory teacher in the first weeks of school
Please know that all calls coming from teachers may be from a "Blocked" or "Restricted Number". If there is a way for you to change your phone settings at this time to receive calls from these options that would help us to communicate with you more effectively.
GRADES
This year students will earn a letter grade in each content class they take. Grades will be A-F as they have been in the past. Teachers will be discussing how that looks in each class as well as posting key information for parents so everyone knows the expectations for earning a grade.
The middle school yearly calendar has been divided into four "Quads", or quarters. Each Quad is nine weeks in length and students will receive final grades at the end of the nine weeks as well as progress reports at the halfway point of each quarter.
As always, students and parents will be able to monitor progress through both StudentVUE and ParentVUE. If you do not have a ParentVUE account at this time, please email Carla Hunt, our counseling secretary at: hunt@gresham.k12.or.us.