Westfield Arrow
Aiming to Keep You Informed
December 18, 2020
From the Office
Happy Holiday's from the Westfield Staff! Staff Holiday Card We hope everyone has a very relaxing and fun Winter Break the next 2 weeks! As a reminder, school will resume on Monday, January 4th.
January 4th also marks a return to In-Person Learning for students who were part of the A/B rotations in October and November and will follow the previous Cohort model until January 15th.
New In-Person Learning Model - Begins January 19, 2021
On Tuesday, January 19th, we will begin a new In-Person Learning Model at Westfield, allowing students to follow their current 9-period student schedule and physically change classroom locations each period on days that students attend In-Person Learning. Students who choose to remain in the Full Remote group will not be affected by this change.
Parent Response needed: In order to prepare for January 19th, we are asking all parents to complete this SURVEY indicating the Learning Model you prefer for your child(ren). If we do not receive a response, your child will be placed in the Full Remote group. Please complete the survey by Sunday, December 27th. Thank you!
Selecting Remote: If you prefer to have your child participate in the Full Remote model, your child will remain fully remote through the 2nd Trimester, which ends on March 5th. You will have the option to update your preference for the 3rd Trimester which begins on March 8th, by submitting a request for In-person learning by February 26th.
Selecting In-Person: In complying with the room occupancy limits, we will evaluate the amount of interested students for In-person learning and if that number exceeds our square footage, we may not be able to accommodate all families who request In-person learning. It remains our goal to be able to honor all requests.
Key aspects of the New In-Person Model beginning on January 19th:
- Social distancing, mask wearing, cleaning of surfaces, and frequent hand washing/sanitizing will be practiced.
All students attending In-Person learning must have a health pre-certification form completed by their parents through Raptor each day that they attend In-Person learning.
A/B rotations will continue to be utilized in order to meet room capacity limits and maintain 6 foot distancing requirements.
Staggered passing times and hallway traffic patterns will be utilized between classes to maintain social distancing.
Students will often be with a different group of classmates each period of the day.
Lockers and Locker rooms will not be used. (students will not change for PE)
A/B Group Designation
- If your child previously attended In-Person Learning in the Fall, they will remain in their same A/B group unless otherwise requested.
Unless notified directly by the office your child's A/B designation will be as follows:
Students in the A Group have last names starting with: A-L
Students in the B Group have last names starting with: M-Z
See the District Calendar below for designated A & B days for the remainder of the year.
If your student is now interested in attending and you have a placement request for your student which does not match the A / B designation above, please contact the main office the week of January 4th - 8th at 630-529-6211 and we will do our best to honor your request.
Updated District 13 Calendar
Please take note of the updated January - June District Calendar shared by Dr. Bartelt earlier this week.
Have a wonderful Winter Break!
Stefan Larsson
Principal
Nicole Gabany
Assistant Principal
WARRIOR OF THE WEEK
Each week the staff recognizes students for demonstrating outstanding character based on attitudes or actions that fall under the Character Counts Pillars and our WARRIORS Mission and Vision.
UPCOMING DATES
Please visit our Google Calendar for all activities and schedules!
- Winter Break: December 21st - January 1st
- Resume Hybrid In-Person Classes: January 4th 8:30am--3:30pm
- Virtual Incoming Lake Park Freshman Night: January 13th
January 2021 Revised, Hybrid Calendar
- During the first two weeks of January, students will follow the group schedule they used before Thanksgiving (A, B or Full Remote)
- Beginning Tuesday, January 19th, a new format will begin based upon new survey data indicating parent preferences for their child's learning model for the remainder of the 2nd Trimester.
WESTFIELD THIS WEEK
The 'Christmas Carol' Lives on through Westfield Virtual Quarter 2 Drama Students!
Recycle Your Frosting Containers Here!
Grade Level News:
STUDENT INFORMATION
You Can Check Out Books Remotely!
Parents & Students: Email Your Cross Country Snapshots
Order Your Yearbook
Order by April 18th to make sure it arrives by the end of the school year! Please use this link>> to order your 2020-21 Yearbook
Parents/Guardians: Please Call in Your Student's Absence
Want to give someone a shout out?
FROM WESTFIELD TECHNOLOGY
Chromebook Trouble?
If you need assistance from the Technology Department, please use this link to request support:
Students: Please log out of your Chromebook and log back in daily
See this video on how to log in and out of your chromebook.
Otus Student Progress for 6th Grade Parents
Get the Parent PowerSchool App
Similar to the PowerSchool Parent Web Portal, parents can download the PowerSchool Mobile App from the App store on your iOS device or the Play Store on your Android device. Simply search for “PowerSchool” to find and install the mobile app on your smartphone or tablet.
- After downloading the mobile app to your device, connect the Mobile App to the correct PowerSchool server for Bloomingdale School District 13, by entering our unique, four-character code: G M K T
- You can also search for Bloomingdale SD13 by district or school name.
- The PowerSchool Mobile App will display your child(ren)’s schedule and assignments.
- PowerSchool Mobile app users can also enable Push Notifications to receive alerts when attendance is recorded or a final grade changes. To setup notifications within the app: Tap Account, then tap Notifications to configure the notifications you want to receive. Use the slider icons to turn the notifications on or off.
- Note: Parents must have a PowerSchool Parent Web Portal account created and students linked to their account before using the PowerSchool Mobile App. Click here for instructions on how to create a parent Portal account.
'How-To' for Parents/Guardians:
FROM THE WESTFIELD SOCIAL WORKER
Parents, please complete this needs assessment:
FROM THE WESTFIELD NURSE
PARENTS:
The State of Illinois is not waiving the requirements for all students who have mandated health forms (physicals, immunizations, dental and eye exams), even though students are not currently physically present in the schools. Please submit the mandated forms to your child’s school as soon as possible. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact your school’s building nurse for assistance (Westfield Middle School nurse is Beth Jones bjones@sd13.org) Please scan, fax, or drop off hard copies of medical documents to the school. We are unable to accept photographs of medical documents. Thank you!
{Students who are transferring into our district from out-of-state must speak with the building nurse.}
The exclusion date for non-compliant students remains October 15th, except for the dental exam which is not due until May 2021.
The required forms are available at your Doctor offices and on your school’s website, located under “Health Information”.
Please see below for the grades which have mandated paperwork due October 15th:
Kindergarten (or 1st grade, if your student did not attend kindergarten): physical examination, up-to-date immunizations, eye exam and dental exam. (Dental exam is due in May 2021.)
2nd grade: dental exam. (Dental exam is due in May 2021.)
6th grade: physical examination, up-to-date immunizations and dental exam. (Dental exam is due in May 2021.)
Teenage Depression and Anxiety
Student Expectations for Remote Learning
We ask that all parents take a moment and review the expectations for proper school behavior and on-line etiquette provided in the following links. Please reference our Student Handbook for general policies and procedures and this Virtual Etiquette for Google Meets infographic to assist students with Remote Learning expectations. Thank you!
WESTFIELD'S PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION (PTO)
Staff was asked for their Favorite things
When students return fully, we'll use SignUp.com to organize Westfield Volunteers.
1) Click this link to see our SignUp: https://signup.com/go/xZeejVZ
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
VILLAGE OF BLOOMINGDALE PROGRAMS
Bloomingdale Park District
WESTFIELD SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
How-To Videos
Gmail:
- How to delete all email (6th grade)
- How to appropriately write an email
- You can only email other sd13.org email addresses
- Creating Bookmarks
- Starring and snoozing Emails
Google Classroom:
- How to Join Classroom(with Code)
- How to Join with Teacher Invite
- Check Stream and classwork page
- How to Turn in assignments
PowerSchool: Coming Soon
- Logging in
- Checking grades
- Seeing assignments
- Comments from Teachers
FlipGrid:
Chromebook: