Westwood Weekly
Staff Newsletter - Week of October 28-November 3, 2019
Shout-Outs!
- Happy Birthday, Jon (10/28)!
- Farewell to Candy! We have enjoyed working with you! (We just learned that she has been reassigned, and will no longer be supporting tech at Westwood.)
- Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to help make our Fall Fest a success! Lots of fun was had by all who attended.
- Thank you to our SDC crew for making the extra effort to give our kids the opportunity to participate in the Special Olympics on Friday!
- Thanks to everyone who took on extra kids to support our colleagues!
- Thanks to everyone who has participated in our Boo! activity so far (remember to Boo someone if you've been boo'd!)!
- Thanks to Jill, Kim, and Jon, as always, for holding down the fort in my absence!
- Thank you to the 4th grade team for your flexibility to change your field trip date.
- A much-delayed thank you to Becky West for making a huge dent in our shredding pile!
Highlights this Week!
All Month: Disability Awareness; Anti-Bullying Awareness
This Week:
Post On-Demand Writing Assignment (to be completed by 11/8)
Red Ribbon Week (cont'd)
Monday - Wear RED
-School Site Council (3:00, Library)
-School Board Meeting (
-Hip-Hop (2:25)
Tuesday - Team Up! (wear a team jersey!)
-Initial IEP Meeting for Ellyzveth AJ (2:30, D6)
-Nancy at AVID Leadership Meeting (3:45, WCC)
-PFC Meeting (6:30, Skipolini's?)
Wednesday - Sock it to Drugs! (wear crazy socks)
-JCL Tutoring (E4)!
-Teacher Discretionary Day
-DHH Departement Meeting (2:30, CHS)
-Annual IEP Meeting for Liya A (3:30, B1)
Thursday - Halloween! Say 'Boo' to Drugs!
-UC Berkeley Eye Screening (8am-2pm, MUR - see schedule attached to the Weekly email)
-Costume Parade (10:05)
Friday - Spirit Day!
-Lifetouch Retakes
-Glitter Tattoos
-KidzToPros Coding (2:25, Library)
-PE Minutes Due by 2:37
Sunday - Daylight Savings Time Ends
Upcoming Events:
11/4 - Mobile Dairy Classroom Assembly
11/5 - Camp Loma Mar Presentation
11/6 - Shelter-in-Place Drill (10:50)
11/8 - End of 1st Trimester, Walk Through California (4th Grade)
11/11 - Veteran's Day (No School)
11/12 - Turkey Trot Pep Rally
This Week in AVID
Call and Response or Call Backs are very useful for uniting your classroom community and easing transitions from one task to another. They are not just for elementary teachers! HERE is a list from AVID Elementary Foundations and another list where you will find more secondary style Call and Responses.
MDUSD AVID has entered in the Poly Challenge. Join the team using our district code: #AVIDMDUSD! AVID is excited to collaborate with Polyup to bring you the AVID Poly Challenge! The 10-week challenge is open exclusively to K–12 teachers and their students at AVID-member schools. This is a great opportunity to engage in creative problem solving, improve math skills, learn computational thinking, and win prizes. Each week offers a new chance to win a $250 gift card to the AVID eStore. The AVID Poly Challenge begins September 30 and runs through December 15.
Jeanne Johnson - AVID Instructional Coach
Google Classroom Add Code: 7uwcLg or eavk628
PBIS Weekly Focus
Common Area of the Week - Hallways - Please be sure to review school-wide expectations and teach the related lesson plan.
Halloween Brain Breaks - These activities are a fun way to give the students movement breaks throughout the day. These might be especially helpful this week, as we may be stuck inside due to smoke.
Costume Parade - Please be sure to share our Costume Parade rules with your students and their families. Please note: the Parade starts at 10:05 (not 10:15)
Handbook Helper
Movie Permission Slips: It is best practice to inform parents any time you plan to show a full-length movie to your class, however, if you plan to show a movie in your classroom that does NOT correspond with their age, you are required to inform parents and give them the option to excuse their child from the activity: *Policy 6166 states “Parents will receive notification only when a video does not parallel the age appropriate industry guidelines (G, PG, PG13, R).” In these cases, please use the MDUSD Movie Permission Form.
English Learner Support Reminder
Imagine Learning - Due to the way that Imagine Learning was set up to work through Clever, all English Learners will see the Imagine Learning tile on their Clever page. However, only newcomers are allowed to use it. The district only has enough licences for newcomers, not for all English Learners. Teachers, please instruct students NOT to click on the Imagine Learning tile (unless I have told you a student has access)- it is blue with a robot- very tempting! Technically, as soon as a student clicks on it a licence is assigned to them.
The Good News- all teachers have access to Imagine Learning through Clever and there are thousands of lessons available to use for whole group or small group instruction. There are online and offline lessons and activities. Please check the "Teacher Resources" tab and take a look. These lessons are helpful for all students, not just English learners. If you would like Samantha Altomare to meet with you to show you more, please let her know.
ELPAC Prep - Here is the link to the tests: https://www.elpac.org/resources/practicetests/. Please take a moment to review the test for your grade level. It would be really helpful for the students to become familiar with the language in these tests- especially for reading and writing. You could do mini lessons at the beginning or end of ELD and incorporate some of these questions.
Assessment Reminders
- ESGI #2 ELA (Kindergarten only) - October 21-November 8
- ELA Standard Assessments (1st only) - note the updated 1st grade instructions are attached to the Weekly email
- Math Standard Assessment (1st/2nd Grade) - Grade 1 Grade 2
- Optional IABs (3rd-5th) - Ongoing
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS:
Engineering is Elementary - This 1 day training is for teachers that have NOT attended an EIE pd in the past, or that are teaching a new grade. Units will be explored by grade level, teachers will learn the basics of the NGSS and the Science and Engineering Practices. Team from the same sites will have registration priority. CLICK HERE for the flier and registration. For questions, please email Jan Robertson at robertsonj@mdusd.org
STUDENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT Intradistrict Transfers 2020-2021
Secondary Intradistrict Transfers (October 15, 2019 – November 15, 2019):
The online application for secondary Intradistrict transfers (current grades 5-11) will be available at mdusd.org/transfers, October 15, 2019 – November 15, 2019. Transfer information will be available on the District’s website at: mdusd.org/transfers, through each site’s school webpage, and in each school’s newsletter!
Elementary Intradistrict Transfers (February 10, 2020 – March 10, 2020):
Please note the following changes to the Elementary Intradistrict transfers timeline: All Elementary Intradistrict Transfer applications will be available at the same time. Therefore, the online application for Intradistrict transfers (new TK/K and current K-4) will now be available at mdusd.org/transfers, February 10, 2020 – March 10, 2020.
Parent-Faculty Club Business
Red Ribbon Week Continues - The PFC has organized an exciting week of activities to highlight bullying-prevention and healthy habits. Please be sure to read through the packet provided, and encourage your students to participate in the Spirit Days and related activities.
Turkey Trot Preparation - Please start thinking about how you might motivate your students to generate pledges for our Turkey Trot Fun Run fundraiser taking place on November 22nd! We are doing something a little bit different this year, and are looking for creative ideas to reward classes for reaching benchmark amounts 'per lap'. Let the brainstorming begin!
Looking for Class Talent - The PFC is looking forward to hosting our Talent Show again January 24th! Signing up and doing a solo act can be daunting. We we want to encourage as many group acts as possible. Our coordinator, Sierra Kulak, is hoping with more time teachers may be able to use PE time or music class time to put together an act representing a grade or class - consider connecting it to a theme in your curriculum. And of course, we encourage more staff members to perform this year as a treat for our students and families.
2019 Bay Area Science Festival
Dates and locations: October 25-November 2, calendar of events; held at numerous sites throughout the Bay Area
For info: Visit their website
Fee: Check specific events for admission fees, but many are free
The Mobile Dairy Classroom is Coming to Westwood!
What Students Learn From Mobile Dairy Classroom:
· The anatomy of a dairy cow
· How milk goes from a cow to their school/home
· The agricultural technology used on dairy farms
· The many different foods made from milk
Each assembly teaches how milk and dairy foods are produced and how they contribute to healthy eating. When the Mobile Dairy Classroom assembly is combined with Dairy Council of California’s FREE nutrition lesson plans, which align to Common Core State Standards, students learn the full story of healthy foods—from the farm to the table—and how to make healthy choices for themselves.
Language Arts, Math and Science are integrated into the lesson, as well as healthy food and activity choices and agriculture’s contribution to our food supply.
To extend learning after the assembly, Dairy Council of California offers extension activities that are aligned to Common Core State Standards and downloadable from www.HealthyEating.org/MDC4Teachers.
We look forward to seeing you at Mobile Dairy Classroom!