The West Valley Wolfpack Howler
Spring 2018 - Volume 16 Issue 6
Personalize Your Morning Schedule for PEAKS Testing Week: APRIL 2-6
NEW! Each student will have at least one day when they can personalize their morning schedule during PEAKS testing week. During the week of April 2-6, all PEAKS testing will occur in the mornings with rotating academic classes after lunch. This is a change from last year. This change will allow each of our students to have the dedicated test-taking time they need and, hopefully, remove any pressure to rush through the tests to avoid missing class.
Each grade level has a different schedule during PEAKS testing week, for the full detailed schedule for each grade level, check our website and PEAKS Testing Schedule.
Community Service Projects
Additionally, once we have our projects outlined we will also be looking for donations of supplies or funds to make the projects a reality. If you are interested in donating or supporting in this way, also please let me know.
Some ideas we already have generated: Making and selling healthy smoothies as a fundraiser, writing postcards to Parkland students, making dog biscuits for the dog parks in town, making no-sew blankets, collecting and donating goods for the Door, partnering with Raven Landing and the Pioneers Home, and more.
If you'd like more information, or are interested in helping, please don't hesitate to contact me at 479-4221 ext. 46501 or through email at sarah.gillam@k12northstar.org
Emotional Intelligence for Students
Educating the whole child is a common topic among education, and after gathering feedback for our mission statement revision, I was excited to see strong work ethic and character among the top five. These are two areas that require effective collaboration between our school and families and I am looking forward to start finding ways for us to collectively develop these areas among our school and students.
Another important area of focus we often discuss with students is their emotional intelligence. Their ability to be self-aware and practice self-discipline and control are also important in determining students' overall success in school.
Maurice Elias answers the question: What is Emotional Intelligence?
"Emotional intelligence is the set of abilities that we like to think of as being on the other side of the report card from the academic skills. It's the set of abilities that helps us get along in life with other people in all kinds of life situations. It's our ability to express emotions, to detect emotions in others, to regulate our strong feelings when we have them. It's our ability to focus our energies on goal setting and problem solving -- to be able to take the perspective of other people that are in our social world. And finally, it's our ability to have the basic social skills that we need to manage everyday relationships."
We see the stress and anxiety in our students and work to support them in many different ways and any way that we can. Below is an article with a number of resources regarding social and emotional learning strategies for parents as well as ideas for collaboration among schools and families. The article is from 2012, so some of the links aren't working, but the ideas are still pertinent.
Quarter 4 Preview
March 21-24 - State Basketball & Cheer Competitions in Anchorage
March 27-30 - Regional Solo & Ensemble @ North Pole HS
April 3-5 - PEAKS Testing for 9th & 10th Grade: Personalize your Morning Schedule
April 10 - Incoming Freshmen Parent Night
April 21 - Junior Prom - 8-11pm @ West Valley
April 26 - Celebration of Excellence
May 7-18 - AP Testing
May 8-10 - Senior Finals
May 15-17 - Regular Finals and Early Dismissal
May 17 - Graduation @ 7pm - Carlson CenterSources of Strength
Who is your counselor?
WVHS Counseling Office: 479-4221 ext. 46520
Mr. Blackburn - A-G (10th-12th) ext 46525 - willie.blackburn@k12northstar.org
Ms. Guy (2nd Semester) - O-Z (10th-12th) ext 46523 - tamara.guy@k12northstar.org
Ms. Everts - H-N (10th-12th) ext 46527 - paula.bettano-everts@k12northstar.org
Mr. Mitchell- all Freshmen ext 46524 - bryan.mitchell@k12northstar.org
School Hours:
Building/Library: 7:00am - 3:00pm
Classes: 7:45am - 2:15pm
Office: 7:15am - 3:15pm
**Unless in the presence of a teacher, coach, or advisor, students must leave the building by 3:00pm**
West Valley High School
Email: contact-wvh@k12northstar.org
Website: http://www.k12northstar.org/westvalley
Location: 3800 Geist Road, Fairbanks, AK, United States
Phone: (907) 479-4221
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wvh.wolfpack/
Twitter: @WVH_Wolfpack