Due to winter break look for the next update on Monday, Jan 9th.

Dates this week: Dec 19-23rd

Monday: 5:00 PM - WBMS Swim Meet @ WBHS vs. Ferndale (warm ups at 4:00PM)

Wednesday: 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM CASA Room N229 Ms. Jabiro

4:00 PM - WBMS Boys Green Basketball @ home vs East

4:00 PM - WBMS Boys White Basketball @ Warner

We are collecting for Lighthouse (details below)

Student Spectators are welcome to stay for games at 4pm or earlier.

Games that are after 4 require students to go home and come back to be a spectator.

Athletes, including cheerleaders do not have to go home regardless of game start time

Our Scholastic Book Fair will be open 12/21-12/22 in the iCenter 8-3:15.

Winter Spirit week:

Monday Dec. 19 - Long Winter's Night (PJ Day),

Tuesday Dec. 20- Character Day (Dress Like Your Favorite Holiday Character),

Wednesday Dec. 21 Holiday Family Pictures (Wear Plaid),

Thursday Dec 22 (Holiday Color Day - Wear Red, Green, White, Blue or a combination of all colors! Also, staff if you would like to be a lump of coal wear all black!)

Friday Dec 23 - Ugly Sweater Day

Mark your calendars: Frozen Jr is our BIG musical for the year. Our 6th graders will travel to the high school on March 3rd at 10am to watch a preview.

Tickets will be on sale soon for March 3rd and 4th performances.

Next Positive Behavior Treat: January 13th

Winter Break - December 26 through Friday, January 6

(returning to school on Monday, January 9)

January 15 United We Walk
January 16 Dr. MLK Jr. Day - No School
January 18 Half Day - HS Only
January 19 Half Day - All Schools
January 20 Half Day - All Schools

February 1 No School for Students

Volleyball tryouts will begin Monday, January 23

Also, mark your calendars we are fortunate to have Funding the Future coming to WBMS on April 28th for 8th graders More information soon!

8th Grade Dates:

June 5th: Cedar Point trip

June 9th: 8th grade dance (evening event)

June 13th: 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony details coming soon

The WBMS PTO has our first Donut Sale of the school year on Tuesday, 12/20/22.

The donuts will be coming from Donut Cutter (Berkley Shop).

We are super excited about this and hope the students are too : )

The donuts will be sold for $2 per donut.

There will not be a PTO Bagel Sale on Friday, 12/23/2022 due to the Donut Sale.

We strongly encourage students to wear their lanyards and IDs to help the check out in the lunch lines go faster.

We have made some changes: Those students wearing a teal lanyard may exit to class through doors closer to the teal pod to encourage on time arrival

Our district nutrition office has created a separate "snack line" to ensure that every student who wants to purchase a lunch can do so and have plenty of time to eat. This has been a HUGE success however, many students prefer to purchase snacks in addition and sometimes in lieu of a lunch so the snack line has become very long and sometimes there is not enough time for students to purchase snacks.

We appreciate the patience of all of our students as we continually try to improve the lunch experience for each one of them

Nutrition Services serves nutritious meals to students daily in all buildings. A school lunch includes an entrée, grain, fruit, vegetable, and milk. A la carte milk prices are $0.50 for students and adults.

Middle School Breakfast: $1.50 Middle School Lunch: $2.95

See below for a list of prices for all alacarte (snack) items

We love our parent volunteers and would like to extend that invitation again to any parent interested:

If you are interested in coming into the building to volunteer, we have a variety of areas to offer you the opportunity to participate in.

If you would like to begin the process of volunteering at the middle school please click on this link and complete the google form.

Once you have completed the form, you will be emailed the required forms to complete. Once those forms are completed and processed you will be contacted to arrange the date(s) and times to volunteer.

We look forward to having parents, and guardians in the building to support the educational process.

Link to google form: Click to begin the volunteer process

During the last week, we have found that male students are entering the bathrooms, pulling the soap dispensers off of the walls and placing them in the toilets. We are working to identify these students. If you can, please have a discussion with your students that when this happens, we do have to discard the materials and this is becoming a daily cost.

West Bloomfield took on the Royal Oak Bull Dogs last Wednesday night at Royal Oak Middle School. Both teams were hit by a plethora of missing athletes due to sicknesses. This gave a chance to some newer swimmers to step up and take on varsity roles to score in competition. The ending score was Royal Oak 88 and West Bloomfield 50 but many exciting races were had by both teams. A new school record was even broken!

West Bloomfield’s “A” Medley relay took 2nd place with swimmers Keira Pratt (back-33.11), Piper Smith (breast-33.50), Alexa Swikoski (fly-33.77) and Delaney Brager (free-28.81).

The “B” relay (3:00.35) was swam by Raven Brown (back-1:05.17), Isla Bogosian (breast-44.40), Adriana Nunez (fly-36.80), and Chloe Hecker (free-33.98).

Logan Zdyrski took third in the 200 free at a new personal best time of 2:34.67. Mollie Shelters (2:50.67) took 4th and Chloe Busovicki (3:31.25) took 6th.

Keira Pratt took third in the 100 IM (1:11.06). Winnie Washington took 5th (1:43.53).

Alexa Swikoski battled it out until the very end with Royal Oak swimmer Rylee Shields. She was able to out touch and take the first place by .1 seconds finishing at a time of 28.56.

Piper Smith won the 50 fly with a time of 29.97. Delaney Brager took 3rd (35.82) and Logan Zdyrski took 5th (37.94).

Alexa Swikoski took 2nd place in the 100 with a time of 1:05.81. Chloe Hecker took 4th (1:19.15).

West Bloomfield took 2nd in the 200 free relay at a time of 2:12.47. Swimmers included Delaney Brager (30.62), Logan Zdyrski (32.66), Mollie Shelters (35.78), and Adriana Nunez (33.41).

Delaney Brager took 2nd in the 100 back (1:23.58). Hudson Stamper took 5th with a time of 1:55.20.

Piper Smith swam her heart out in the 100 breaststroke finishing 1st at a new personal best time of 1:14.67. With that time she broke a 17 year standing school record set by K.Moore back in 2005. She beat the time by .66 seconds. Keira Pratt took 3rd with a time of 1:23.03.

West Bloomfield finished the meet taking a 2nd and 3rd place in the 400 free relay. The “A” relay went 4:20.74 with swimmers Alexa Swikoski, Adriana Nunez, Keira Pratt, and Piper Smith. (Times not available due to soft touches). The “B” relay went 5:10.37 with swimmers Logan Zdyrski (1:10.25), Chloe Hecker (1:22.63), Cameron Goodman (1:20.54) and Mollie Shelters (1:17.49).

It’s hard to drop time when we are doing back to back meets and having no practice but the swimmers continue to give their best which the coaches are super proud of. Congratulations to Piper Smith in breaking a 17 year old school record in the 100 breaststroke. Our next meet will be on West Bloomfield Laker Territory on Monday December 19th. Mark it in your calendars! Let’s have a great showing going into winter break!

REGISTER TODAY!

Attention all parents - have you created your PowerSchool Parent Portal Account? If not, please create a parent portal account today. This allows the District the ability to communicate with you about your child's progress. Additional information can be found here

Mrs. Morton can also help--she is in the main office

Teachers can assign lunch detentions for disrupting class, but most lunch detentions are for tardiness to class.

Here is how they are assigned: the first 3 tardies = warnings, the 4th tardy is a lunch detention, the 5th tardy is a warning, the 5th and 6th tardies are after school detentions.

The pattern then repeats. Consequences reset on the first Monday of each month.

Parents can keep track of your student's tardiness on Power School. If your child is assigned an after school detention, you will receive an automated message from our HERO system.

We only assign after school detentions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Students will need picked up at 4:00. You do not need to come in the building. Mrs. Henry or Mrs. Berryman (our after school detention teachers) will walk them out to the carline. Mrs. McDowell will also send your student home with a reminder note.

Please help your child and encourage him/her to be on time to class.

We're sooo excited about our first book fair at the new WBMS!!!

Our Scholastic Book Fair will be open 12/12-12/22 in the iCenter 8-3:15.

Tuesday, Dec. 13th 5-7 is Family Shopping Night.

Students will preview the book fair with their ELA Class on an assigned day 12/13, 12/14, 12/15 and 12/16

Parents are able to send in cash, checks payable to : West Bloomfield Middle School

or set up an eWallet:

Students may come to the book fair between 7:55-8:15, prior to the start of advisory, if they have money to purchase.

The book fair will be open from 5-7 PM on Tuesday, December 13th.

There are 50 cent "games" that the students may be interested in participating in. These games might provide the student with a prize, such as candy or a poster that will need to be stored away until after lunch or after school. Students should NOT be eating candy during their classes or in the hallway.

Although we have alloted time for students to complete XELLO during the school day, many students have yet to complete the process.

We will pull kids at recess who have not completed the process to allow them to do so.

ASK YOUR STUDENT ABOUT XELLO

XELLO is a program that assists students in discovering relevant college, university, trade, and career options based on their personality, skills, and knowledge. XELLO is a great tool to explore career options.

Students will use XELLO each year through twelfth grade by logging into their student PowerSchool account. Students have access to XELLO at home please ask your student about his/her XELLO plan and progress.

Students can complete XELLO at home or at school. Links to the directions can be found below

Over the past decade the middle school has collected and fundraised monies to give gifts at the holiday time to our families who are in need. If you have any gift cards you would like to donate you can have your students bring them to school and drop them in counseling (Mrs Peguese) or to Mrs Graff at breakfast or lunch. We will also be doing some additional events to support some of our families during this holiday season.

Maecy Sproat, nominated by Mr. Weingarden: Maecy is a very hardworking student, who has done an exceptional job in math this year.

Aarden Mack, nominated by Mr. Weingarden: Arden is very motivated and hardworking. She is a terrific math student.

Jaiden Bowie, nominated by Ms. Giglio: Jaiden has been extremely helpful to all of his classmates and teachers. Including encouraging his classmates to stay on task. I am very proud of all the amazing work he is doing in science class, and I am so proud to see the growth he has made this past year. He is turning into an amazing and mature young man!

Our WBMS Student Council is asking families to donate the items below through December 21.

There will be donation boxes in the front of the school, outside the icenter doors daily.

Our goal is to collect 800 items.

If we reach our school goal, no teacher will give homework over Christmas break (thank you teachers!)! Items will be delivered on December 21.

On March 3rd, all 6th graders will take a school bus to West Bloomfield High School at 10am

to view part of the middle school musical "Frozen Jr"

This is what we call a reverse field trip, meaning, all students will attend (no fees, no permission slips). If parents do not want their 6th graders to attend there will be an opt out process in February.

As you know we have very limited medical treatment that we can give students. Students cannot bring over the counter or prescription medication to school without proper documentation (see form below)

We as school staff are allowed to give ice as part of standard first aid care in a school setting without parental consent, in addition to bandaids and soap and water.

If it's deemed a minor injury the student can be treated and return to class.

For a head injury or more serious injury the parent will be notified in addition to ice or bandages.

As we near winter break, the WBMS staff wants to make sure all of our families have access to the resources they may need. This is the Oakland County Community Resource Guide, which includes resources about topics including Abuse & Protective Services; Food Pantries, Clothing & Household; Healthcare Services; Housing Assistance; and Parenting & Pregnancy Resources.

211 (United Way) offers resources/connections for family support as well. Parents/adults can call, text, or email. Here is the link to the 211 website, which is searchable by topic. Additionally, see these 211 flyers in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Finally, here are some resources for Food Pantry/Supplies near WB/Oakland County.

If your student tests positive for CoVID 19 please keep your student at home and email Mrs Graff: Lisa.Graff@wbsd.org with the onset date of symptoms and the test date so she can calculate the days your student must stay home and wear a mask in school. These days are excused.

Route 3 cannot host any extra riders at this time.

If your student needs to ride a different bus home (or to a friend's house) a note must be dropped off in the main office before 1st hour, with a parent's signature. The note will be processed and can be picked up by the student during the day. The notes, authorized with a staff signature must be handed to the driver of the route. Students who do not have signed notes will not be allowed to ride a different bus.

Please mark your calendars! We will take professional photos of every house (pan to wear your house shirt) in the morning of Feb. 6th

Photos will be available for purchase/order soon.

The upcoming season, which begins January 23rd is for Volleyball and Wrestling.

Volleyball will most likely have 2 7th grade girls teams and 2 8th grade girls teams and try outs will start Jan 23rd. Coaches are: Mrs. McCormick, Mr. Webb, Ms. Hubbard and Mr. Gold.

Wrestling is co-ed and all grade levels are invited to participate in this no cut sport. Mr. DeGrand and Mr. Acosta will coach wrestling.

If your student is interested in either of these activities please make sure your Final Forms account is updated, complete and current. Contact Lisa Graff if you have questions:

Lisa.Graff@wbsd.org

We have a wonderful in school support team to assist students. Counselors, assigned by last name, are the best place to start. We also suggest reviewing with your students:

• Trusted Adults - Please encourage your students to utilize trusted adults in their schools. When we focus on relationship building, the culture of the school becomes one of inclusion and support where students feel comfortable confiding in trusted adults.

• OK2Say - Michigan Student Safety Program - Report anonymous tips on criminal activity, potential harm, or threats using OK2Say. Call 855-565-2729.

• Talk to Us - On our district website. This is a safe place to ask questions and report problems anonymously.

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - Provides 24/7 confidential support for those in distress and suicide prevention.

Mental Health Resources

WBSD has partnered with Parent Guidance.org to give parents free access to resources and helpful information. ParentGuidance.org is an online service by licensed therapists that provides trusted and specialized courses, professional support, and a safe community for parents to learn how to support their children and get answers to mental health questions.

If you know of someone experiencing grief or stress this season, please click here for tips and strategies.

Semester 2 will begin at the end of January.

It is rare that we need to change a student's schedule. We do not change schedules to accommodate requests for a certain lunch, to be in class with friends or to request a specific teacher. PLEASE complete this form only IF you are currently placed in an incorrect class; for example: I have Waller for ELA now and Weiner semester 2.

Please do not email your counselors directly. Counselors will use the responses on this form to make changes in the order which they are received and communicate those changes to you. Students should not assume that the schedule is changed until the updates can be seen in Power School and/or the counselor has communicated with you directly.

Also, if you are interested in being a LINK student, I am attaching the application here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NsAgSBq8kYeyAXmDSF9itBY-Ttp-NjLmAy-JmmnukLw/edit?usp=sharing

Due January 10th

Schedule change request form is here: https://forms.gle/htXssgLFXTMxiL3V6

We are encouraging students to wear their lanyards and school IDs every day. To support these positive behaviors, we will be rewarding those students with a raffle ticket.

If a student needs to purchase a lanyard, they are for sale for 2$ in the office

If a student needs to purchase an ID, they are for sale for $5 in the office

We are drawing a winning ticket every day at every lunch!

Our next PBIS reward will run from Dec. 5-Dec. 23rd and January 9-12th. The criteria will be no office referrals and five or less tardies. We love catching our Lakers doing the right thing!

As the weather is getting colder, parents are asking about our procedures for coats, and snow boots.

Coats that fit in a student's locker should stay there for the day (unless it is needed for recess). If a coat does not fit in the locker, students may hang coats on hooks in the Advisory classes during the school day.

Snow boots will be the house collaboration areas (we ordered plastic trays for the boots to be placed on).

We will continue to have an opportunity for students to go outside for recess as long as the students want to go out and the weather cooperates (for example, we will not offer the outside option during an ice storm)

If your student is waiting to be picked up in the car line please make sure they are appropriately dressed for the weather. We are asking that parents pick up those waiting in the car line ASAP due to the changing conditions of MIchigan's cold weather and no after school supervision for students waiting to be picked up.

Every month the Superintendent and the Board of Education will recognize one WBSD student for academic excellence. In addition, the student must be dedicated to their studies, clubs and organizations, and exhibit qualities of a role model. They will be presented with the Superintendent's Excellence Award at the regular board meeting for that month. The Superintendent's Excellence Award is meant to promote success in and out of the classroom. The student must be able to handle many different aspects of student life while maintaining excellence in the classroom. The student must be diligent and complete their assignments on time; show a strong effort to learn subjects to the best of their ability; prepare for class; and have good classroom participation. The student must demonstrate excellent behavior in and out of the classroom, is well mannered, and is respectful to both peers and teachers. This award is designed to nominate and select students who promote and take pride in WBSD and in themselves.

Students will be nominated by WBSD staff and administration each month. Each month the staff will be reminded of the nominations and sent a link to complete the nomination application. Each staff member can only nominate one (1) student per month.

A student cannot receive the award more than once within a year.

The event will take place at West Bloomfield MIDDLE School in the Audeteria from 1 - 3 p.m.

1 p.m. - Short program featuring student talents

1:30 p.m. - Walk begins

2:15 p.m. - Refreshments available

We encourage you to participate in a variety of service projects and activities at the event including:

• Blessings in a Backpack – donate small cans of tuna and chicken and Kraft Mac & Cheese

• Lighthouse Pantry – donate Mac & Cheese, canned vegetables, non-perishable items, adult and child diapers, and baby formula

• Open Door Food Pantry – donate non-perishable foods and socks

• Book Donation – donate new or used K - 12 books for West Bloomfield students in need and Lighthouse

• Decorate Bookmarks

• Peace Rocks – decorate rocks with symbols of Peace. Make 2 and 1 will be placed in the terraces of WB Library or around a peace pole yet to be installed on the administrative grounds and 1 may be taken home

• Peace Mobile – submit designs that will be later painted on a “hippie-type” van which may have variety of uses.

• Bone Marrow Registry

If your student will be ABSENT or LATE to school please call the Safeline at

248-865-4482

The line is open 24/7

Absences must be excused within 24 hours of the date

If your student must have access to, carry or take ANY prescribed OR over the counter medication while at school, a form attached below, completed and signed by a doctor, must be on file in the main office.

This includes, but is not limited to Tylenol, Tums, prescriptions, and Advil. Under no circumstances can a student be in possession of medication without the proper forms on file. Students possessing medication without the forms on file or distributing medication to other students will be subject to discipline following the district's Code of Conduct.

Nominate an 'Exceptional Educator'

WXYZ (Channel 7) seeks your help in recognizing some of the exceptional educators within WBSD. Nominate a difference-maker today! A winner will be chosen monthly and will receive a $1,000 donation for their respective school or program, along with a $100 gift card to Happy's Pizza. Discover more and nominate a teacher or administrator as an exceptional educator.

Amy Hughes, Principal

Jermaine Evans, Assistant Principal

Blaine McDowell, Dean of Student Services

Lisa Graff, Assistant Principal