Westwood Intermediate/Middle School
September 29, 2021 - Newsletter
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Westwood Families,
Our students continue to “fall” into reading. Throughout grades 5-8, students develop comprehension skills focused on synthesizing what they read and citing textual evidence to support their thinking and ideas. Each grade level uses a different text:
- Grade 5 – Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
- Grade 6 – Bud not Buddy /Out of the Dust
- Grade 7 – The Outsiders
- Grade 8 – The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle / House of Scorpions
Teachers are working to integrate the texts into interdisciplinary units. For example, in seventh grade, The Outsiders is being used in Social Studies to explore the concept of communities and cities. In science, students will explore ecosystems, and in math, students will be working with scale to complete city plans. Our goal is to make learning relevant and engaging.
Conferences
Westwood conferences are coming up in October. Conferences will take place:
- Tuesday, October 19, 4:20–8 p.m. online using WebEx
- Wednesday, October 20, 8 a.m.–3:30 p.m. During this day, drop-in conferences will be available in-person at Westwood, 8–11 a.m. with face masks required. Online conferences over WebEx may be scheduled 12:30–3:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, October 26, 4:20–8 p.m. online using WebEx
Parents should sign up for a time to meet with their child’s teacher(s) using the conference sign-up form starting next Wednesday.
COVID update and help
COVID-19 continues to be prominent throughout the community. We continue to experience high transmission in Anoka County, and we do have active cases in school. The numbers are updated each Wednesday on the COVID-19 hub. At this time, Westwood is not at any threshold that would require additional mitigation strategies.
We do need your help in three specific areas:
- Please keep your child at home is they are sick or experiencing symptoms. If they come to school with symptoms, we will isolate them and send them home.
- Please keep your child at home if you are awaiting COVID test results.
- Please communicate with our health office – about illness, symptoms, testing. It helps us tremendously to understand what is happening in our school community as we work to create a safe environment for everyone.
We want to keep learning in-person at school – and limit disruptions for all. We need to work together to achieve that goal. Thank you for working with us.
Finally, a sure sign of fall. Homecoming is next week – October 4-8. We’ll be celebrating all week with some fun spirit days:
- Monday: Cozy Day
- Tuesday: College Day
- Wednesday: Monochrome Day
- Thursday: Country vs. Country Club
- Friday: Panther Spirit Day
Go Panthers –
Tom Larson
Principal
Mark your calendar: Picture day is coming
Picture day for Westwood students will be on Monday, October 11, 2021. Westwood families can order pictures at MyLifetouch.com with code: EVT7R2FCM
Panther Pride Sweepstakes is on – enter for a chance to win
The Panther Pride Sweepstakes started Monday, September 27. The Panther Foundation is posting a new question on the Foundation website each day. Each day families and staff members can submit their entries. The more entries you have in by October 7, the more chances you have to win.
Students who win earn a $500 cash prize for their school and will choose where to direct the funds from several pre-determined projects. The winning student will also win a $50 Panther Store Gift Card. The winners will be randomly drawn on Thursday, October 7. Good luck, Panthers!
Panther Store Homecoming Sale
Cardboard Challenge in 5B!
Students in the 5B Team worked on the cardboard challenge last week. They began by learning about the design process, then the teams were challenged to create an arcade game using nothing but cardboard and other recycled materials. On Friday, they shared their designs in a Team Arcade. Great job, 5B!
The next Westwood PTO Meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 25 at 6:30 p.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.
Fall Fundraiser is coming!
We are excited to team up with Club's Choice again this year to raise funds for our PTO. These fundraising efforts are used for enrichment items or activities for our students throughout the school year. Please see our fundraiser flyer here.
This year's fundraiser will start on Wednesday, October 13. Please, note that this is a change from the date previously communicated. Students will received their fundraising packet on this day in their homeroom or Panther time.
Thank you for your support!
- Wednesday, October 6 and Thursday, October 7 - MAP Testing
- Monday, October 11 - Westwood's Picture Day
- Wednesday, October 13 - Fundraiser starts
- Tuesday, October 19 - Evening conferences using WebEx
- Wednesday, October 20 - Daytime conferences (in-person 8-11 a.m. and WebEx 12:30-3:30 p.m.)
- Tuesday, October 26 - Evening conferences using WebEx
In case you missed important information from last week's newsletter, check out the topics below and click to learn more.
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