Westwood Wire
November 17, 2021
Dear Westwood Families,
As we enter into Thanksgiving week, we are feeling grateful for the community of learners, teachers and parents that make up Westwood. I am especially thankful for the Ed-Talks presentations that took place at Westwood on November 4th. Please take the time to view the brief and wonderful video recap of the day below.
Thank you to Kat Diggs and Stewart Brown for making this vision come to life. Thank you also to the Speakers, including several of you, parents, as well as former RISD students, who gave Westwood students an insight into how the skills they learn at Westwood will serve them in their future careers. Students were able to choose which speaker they wanted to hear based on their future goals. There was also a chance for students to participate in several hands-on demonstrations. University of Dallas gave students some insight into the different types of research conducted by students. Some of the companies attending include Google, Disney , Peloton, Crystal Palace FC and the US Space Force. Additional speakers from Scotland, London and the Pacific Ocean attended virtually. Many guests spoke about themes that would serve the students well in any career such as teamwork, collaboration, focus and how to treat people. This powerful event left the campus inspired, enlightened , entertained and informed about STEM in the real world. We are grateful to these professionals for giving up their time to support Westwood.
I hope that you are all able to spend next week with those you love and know that as I sit around my Thanksgiving table, that I will be giving thanks for the opportunity to lead and be a part of this extraordinary community working collaboratively to positively impact the success and well being of all our students.
Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter and if you have any questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Katie Mottram
Principal
Westwood Ed Talks
Reminders:
- Student car pick up/drop off is only in the front of the building through the circle drive.
- Please do not pick up/drop off on La Cosa Dr., Meandering Way or the alley by the track field. THESE ARE NOT SCHOOL SAFETY ZONES!
- Food deliveries from third parties such as Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc. are NOT accepted on campus. Lunches should only be delivered by a parent or others who are listed on the students emergency card.
- When picking up a student early for an appointment please come into the office to sign them out - we can not release a them even if you call. Early student pick up between 3:20 - 3:40 PM is not permitted.
QSA Testing
Title 1 Parent & Family Engagement Meeting
In person Spanish translation during the meeting.
Wednesday, Dec 1, 2021, 06:00 PM
7630 Arapaho Road, Dallas, TX, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
NJHS Update
- Current NJHS members will begin service events next semester.
- If your child is currently an 8th grader and is eligible to be a new member, an email was sent on Friday November 12th & Tuesday November 16th at 4pm to those who have been identified as being academically eligible for consideration for membership in the National Junior Honor Society as administered at our school. Eligibility is determined by your cumulative grade point average which must meet or exceed our chapter’s standard for scholarship currently set at a 90 or above.
- If your child is a 7th grader, eligibility will take place in Spring 2022.
- Please contact the chapter sponsors, Mrs. Wilkin and Ms. Powers, at westwoodnjhs@g.risd.org if you have any questions.
- In addition please text @fkg6gae to the number 81010 for information. Alerts will be sent out regarding meetings, hours and any additional information regarding NJHS.
Teacher Shout Outs
Thank you to all the parents who nominated the following teachers for the October Howl Out Award!
October Winners:
- Kaci Bausch - Science
- Katie Showalter - AVID/Leadership
- Jared Oubre - Social Studies
- Nick Heinen - Science
Click below to nominate a teacher for the November Award!
This award will be given monthly to teachers for showing WOLF characteristics. These include being welcoming, offering opportunities, demonstrating leadership and being future focused. Your recognition and celebration of our teachers and staff is an amazing gift and if you would like to shout out a teacher or staff member who has shown WOLF characteristics towards your student please complete the form below.
Mascot Tryouts
Yearbook Sales
Leader Of The Pack Awards
Congratulations to these winners:
- RLA - Savannah Hanvey & Drew Baker
- Math - Annika Balster & Marshall Clark
- Science - Nidhi Kumar & Byron Nunez
- LOTE - Marcus Burk & Siba Alsoudani
- Fine Arts - Iris Egeland & Marley Braxton
- PE/Athletics - Charlotte Cole & Addyson Liew
- CTE - Abdullah Mahras & Anahi Mirza
All Star Celebration
Congratulations to all our All Stars!
ID Badges & Punch Card UPDATE
ID Requirements:
- ALL students have now been given a WWJH ID with blue lanyard (permanent ID or blue laminated temporary ID)
- IDs are required to enter the building each day and to attend all RISD extracurricular activities (includes RHS games)
- Must be worn around neck, with a lanyard
- Replacement lanyards can be purchased in the front office for 25c
- Students without IDs will be directed to the commons upon arrival to receive temporary ID
- 50c for orange temporary with NAME and DATE
- If student does not have 50c, they will receive one lunch detention to be served on Fridays/Mondays
- Student that has purchased 3 or more temporary IDs = lunch detention
- $5 replacement IDs are sold in the library
Punch Card UPDATE:
After the launch of this procedure, we reflected on the communication and roll out and determined through student, parent and teacher feedback that adjustments needed to be made.
As always, our collaboration and relationship to ensure a sense of belonging, acceptance and responsibility for maintaining our collective safety and high quality instructional environments is paramount to the success of our students. In retrospect, the goal and incentive of the punch card procedure could have been better communicated.
After student and teacher collaboration, I made a video announcement to students on Friday reviewing the goal, incentive and changes to the punch card procedure. In my video message, I reminded students that all four student restrooms are open and available to them. Due to COVID mitigation protocols and other safety concerns through the beginning of this school year, we were unable to open all the restrooms and therefore encouraged students to use the restroom during the class period while bathroom monitors were available in the hallway.
The goal of the punch card procedure is to reward and incentivize using the increased number of open student restrooms during the passing and the lunch periods. Additionally, students have always been able to exceed the number of punches for restroom use. Students may use the restroom during the class period without penalty.
Students who have one or more punches left on the punch card, over this six week period, will turn it in for a treat on December 10th during their lunch period.
Our goal has always been to reward and incentive students in a positive way in order to make them aware of the increased access to restrooms campus wide. We appreciate your continued support.
Sincerely,
Katie
Final Exam Schedule
PGP's
After Thanksgiving break, the counselors will be helping students create their PGPs during one of their Language Arts class. After some feedback, we will now showcase all information related to High School and PGPs on our website. Please click here to view our PGP webpage.
RHS Magnet Program
8th grade parents, information about RHS magnet program will be emailed to parents on Monday, November 15. This email will be sent by RISD. Below are a few important dates that we wanted to bring to your attention. For additional information about Richardson High School Magnet Program, please visit www.rhsmagnet.org.
- November 15 – Introductory letters and magnet requirement flyer will be emailed home to 8th grade students. The field trip permission form will be included in this email.
- December 1 – RHS Magnet Connection Field Trip Forms are due. (Westwood can only take 100 students on this field trip).
- January 14 – Magnet Connection Field Trip
- January 14 – Applications open online to students to apply for the magnet program.
- January 19 – RHS will hold an open house for parents and students interested in any of the magnet programs.
- January 31 – RHS Magnet applications are due.
Virtual Calming Room
BASKETBALL
WWJH boys and girls basketball tryouts concluded on Friday. The Wolves participated in a scrimmage against West on Monday night at Richardson High School. All four teams did a good job and we are proud to have each of you as a part of Westwood 2021-2022 basketball program. More basketball information to be shared soon.
CROSS CONTRY
Game Tickets
BAND
We’re celebrating Native American Heritage Month in the library!
This month Book Club discussed Exit Strategy with the author (Mrs. Zutavern)!
A lunch discussed Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.
Parent & Family Engagement
Becoming a Digital Parent
Remember when your parents used to complain about television and rock n' roll? Now we complain about TikTok, texting and screen time. We are now officially old. Unlike our parents we have tools and resources available to us, but how many of those are valuable and actually useful?
In this interactive session, we’ll look at the current research around social media, gaming, screens and more in an effort to avert our fears and empower ourselves and our kids going forward into the digital future.
Thursday, Dec 9, 2021, 06:30 PM
1250 West Belt Line Road, Richardson, TX, USA
RISD Academic Calendar
RISD Secondary Grade Reporting Calendar
RISD COVID-19 Pandemic Site
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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