Westwood Intermediate/Middle School
November 4, 2020 - Newsletter
See translation information below / Consulte la información de traducción a continuación.
Westwood Families,
I hope all of you are taking some time to enjoy the beautiful weather we have this week. Students at school are getting outside for recess and physical education classes. We hope at home learners are taking time to be active outside, too.
We have some important updates for families by grade level this week. Please see below for information your family needs to know this week. This includes several specifics on the transition to distance learning for grades 7 and 8.
Good news, school pictures for our Modified Campus (hybrid) students are in. We will be sending them home with our fifth and sixth graders this week. For families of seventh and eighth graders, if there is a fifth or sixth grade sibling you’d like us to send them home with, let us know. You can also come in and pick them up or wait until students are back at school.
November 11 is picture day for students in Extended Flexible Learning (distance). Students can come to school to get their picture taken between the hours of 8-11:30 a.m. and 12-3 p.m. If you are ordering pictures, please go to the My LifeTouch website and use code EVTFSJVBM.
This school year continues to throw interesting challenges and curve balls our way. Our goal through it all is to continue to care for our students and stay focused on what they will need to be successful, both short and long term. We continue to appreciate your partnership.
Tom Larson
Principal
Grades 5 and 6: Requesting Learning Model Changes, Monitoring COVID Cases
We are nearing a district trimester transition. At this time, you can request a change to your student's current learning model to or from Modified Campus (hybrid) or Extended Flexible Learning (distance). The request would be for the second trimester (through March 11). Please communicate any requests for your family to our front office by calling the main office number, 763-600-5300, or emailing fball@district16.org. Please make your request before Sunday, November 15.
We'll review any requests against current staffing plans and communicate with requesting families the week of November 30 for any transitions to begin at the start of the trimester on December 8. If you have already made a previous request for a change, we do not need you to put in another request. Please be aware that with any transition, your child would likely be learning with a different teacher and group of learners.
Monitoring cases
We also are continuing to monitor increasing COVID-19 case rates in Anoka County through the weekly report we receive from the Minnesota Department of Health and looking at daily county case numbers. As a district, we intend to continue to operate our Modified Campus (hybrid) model for grades K-6 for as long as possible and prioritize learning at school.
We are working with our regional support team, which includes public health experts, to consider county, district and school data and trends. We know any transition is disruptive to families, and we want you to continue to keep you informed should the public health situation necessitate a change in the future. We’ll have updated data and more information in the coming days.
Grades 7 and 8: Distance Learning Tomorrow, Attendance, More
Families of students in grades 7 and 8, thank you for your support and patience as we make the transition to distance learning. We want you to know the plan for learning, how we’re approaching invitations to “learn at school” and how we’ll take attendance. Please review these updates and reach out with any questions.
What’s the plan
All students in grades 7 and 8 will resume their learning tomorrow morning, Thursday, November 5, in the Extended Flexible Learning (distance) model. Please note:
- Students who have been learning in this model already will follow their current schedules already set by their teachers.
- Students transitioning from Modified Campus (hybrid) to Extended Flexible Learning (distance) will follow the daily schedule teachers created with their students prior to this week. Students have a copy of their schedule in a Schoology assignment and on their iPad (Students took a picture of their schedules.).
Teachers will have live learning sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays that follow students’ schedules. Students have set timers on their iPads for their live sessions.
Taking attendance
During full-time extended flexible learning, attendance will be taken and recorded at the end of each period based on student attendance in the "live" session for the period.
Parents are asked to continue to call the attendance line to report a student absence when a student is not able to attend school in person, and/or participate in "live" sessions, and/or complete daily work expectations. The attendance line is: 763-600-5309.
If students experience frequent absences, staff will reach out to identify and resolve access concerns or other barriers to participating in instruction.
Learning at school
Unlike the spring, when our buildings were completely shut down, we are able to continue to offer opportunities to learn at school in specific areas. Transportation is available.
By the end of the day today, Wednesday, November 4, staff will have reached out to parents of students who have been invited to “at school learning days” based on additional support their learners may need. This may include students receiving special education services, English learners and students who have identified interventions to support their learning needs.
All students may have invitations to come learn at school for specific reasons in the coming week. Staff will communicate with students and parents through weekly overviews of learning posted in Schoology by the end of the day each Friday. If a student has an invitation for an “at school” component in their next week’s schedule, it will be noted on the overview.
Invitations for learning at school are focused on those experiences that can’t be provided at a distance, including some labs, music, art, assessments, and others. Wednesdays will continue to be set aside for students who have been in the Extended Flexible Learning (distance) model to come to school for support and specific learning opportunities.
Reminder: Meal services available for students learning at home
Students learning at home can pick up a daily meal pack at no cost that includes one breakfast and lunch at the Spring Lake Park High School, 1100 81st Avenue Northeast; Door #32. Meal pick up is available Monday – Friday, 9-11 a.m. and 1-2:30 p.m.
Questions? Contact the Nutrition Services Department at 763-600-5041.
Transportation updates for Westwood
Transportation services continue for students in grades 5 and 6 attending school in the Modified Campus (hybrid) model.
For students in grades 7 and 8, bus routes will continue to run while we are in a distance learning model to transport students to school for any learning at school time identified on the student's schedule for the week.
Students can ride their normal bus route and be at school for that whole school day. Bus routes will run Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. For students who ride the bus, we will have spaces students can use – with supervision – to participate in their other classes while they are at school for the "at school" component of their day.
The next Westwood PTO Meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 16 at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom.
We are looking forward to working with all of our parents and families this year to support the staff and students at Westwood.
Visit the PTO Facebook page: Westwood Intermediate and Middle School PTO
- Click here to receive email notifications about Westwood PTO.
In case you missed important information from last week's newsletter, check out the topics below and click to learn more.
Translate This Newsletter / Traducir Este Boletín
To translate this newsletter information to another language, please click anywhere on the newsletter to open it in a web browser and at the top of the page, select your language from the dropdown menu.
Para traducir este boletín de noticias a otro idioma, por favor presionen en cualquier lugar del boletín para abrir el boletín en un navegador web y en la parte superior de la página seleccione su idioma del menú.