Grizzly Gazette- 2/13/2023
February 13, 2023
Thank you for a great week of celebrating School Counselors last week- especially our WB PTO who showered them with beautiful bouquets of flowers.
West Briar is celebrating Kindness in honor of this month of love. Challenge yourself to show more Random Acts of Kindness! Below you'll find a a February Kindness Calendar- share it with your family. Let's focus on being friendly, generous, and considerate this month.
We've gathered all STAAR testing dates, including practice Interim testing. See those dates on the flyer below. Please note that February 20th is a student holiday and a staff development day.
Finally- per the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA), school districts are required to share our Federal Report Card with parents. Below (and attached to the email) you will find this Parent Notification Letter that includes links to the TEA, District, and Campus report cards. (HERE is the 2021-2022 WBMS Federal Report Card Link.)
Let's continue to enjoy this beautiful weather and make it a great week-
- Tue, Feb 14- Baseball Tryouts- Round 2- 4:15pm-5:30pm
- Fri, Feb 17 - 6th Grade Winter Social (flyer below)
- Mon, Feb 20 - Teacher Professional Dev Day- Student Holiday
- Tue, Feb 21- Campus Tour
- Thu, Feb 23- Choir Concert
😃 7th Grade PTO Social 🎉
Our 6th grade Student Council Class Representative, Maddy Ashby- produces a monthly sixth grade newsletter. I'm including the February issue below for your enjoyment. We're so proud of the contributions to West Briar that Maddy offers!
Congratulations to:
Mr. Holloway- West Briar's 2023 Teacher of the Year
Mr. Holloway is new to West Briar this school year coming from Patrick Henry MS. He teaches 8th grade ELAR and stepped up to coach our Swim Team this year. He is a data-driven teacher who builds positive relationships with his students. Mr. Holloway knows ELAR content and plans engaging, digital activities that allow students to take initiative of their own learning.
and
Coach Woods- West Briar's 2023 Beginning Teacher of the Year
We are so excited for Coach Woods to have this honor as he is actually a former West Briar Grizzly! He graduated from Westside HS and serves as a positive role model for his students. Coach Woods is often found following his athletes to their classes to ensure they are upholding his standards of excellence. He's also instituted a dress-up for game day policy where his team wears suits and proper attire to school.
Parent Spring Walk- FACE
We are looking for 15 parents to sign-up for the FACE (Family & Community Engagement) campus Spring walk-through. This will be on February 28th from 1:15pm - 3:15pm. Parents will be asked to walk around the campus and provide feedback on various aspects of the school including customer service, as part of HISD's Family Friendly School Initiative. West Briar has been a Platinum Family Friendly School for the last two years and this is a part of that process. Sign-up is on a first come first serve basis.
If you have any questions, email Ms. Taylor directly: mailto:madison.taylor@houstonisd.org.
Please use the link below if you would like to be part of the walk-through activities:
👏👏🎉🎉💻
Congratulations to Ms. Alanis and her ESL students who worked very hard on the English/Language Arts program- Summit K-12! Students work hard to spend as much time working in this program as possible as it truly helps their language acquisition skills. They earned West Briar the Imagine Learning Campus of the Month for February 2023!
This group of students is working exceptionally hard right now as they prepare for their upcoming TELPAS test.
For our ESL Parents:
Here are some resources to help you understand the importance of the TELPAS test. If you have questions about the test or your student's ESL status, you can reach out to either ESL Teacher- Ms. Alanis or Ms. Onwegbu.
Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) Resources
♟️ Chess Club
Chess Club is returning to West Briar! The Dark Knights Chess club is offering an after-school chess program at West Briar. Chess develops reading and math ability, strengthens critical and analytical thinking, and builds character and self-esteem. But don't tell the children that...they think it's a board game!
- Learn from Nationally ranked Tournament Chess Players
- Student/Teacher ratio 16 to 1 or better
- Enrollment open to all students (only the first 32 entries will be accepted)
- Over an hour of detailed chess instruction in each class
- Each student receives:
- Chess handouts
- Homework assignments due following week
- Custom made Dark Knights Chess T-Shirt
- Students must maintain E or S in conduct, be picked up punctually when class is finished, and be appropriate and respectful during Chess Club.
Chess Club will meet Every Wednesday from 4:00pm-5:30pm
Will begin by February 20th. 12 total classes.
Cost is: $225 and made payable to Dark Knights Chess and can be turned into the Front Office.
Contact Coach Bo Githoro for more information at houdkchess@gmail.com or head to https://chesshouston.com/.
Attached Below:
- Chess Team Flyer
- Chess Team Information Sheet
- Chess Team Contract Form
2021-2022 Federal Report Card
Per the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), West Briar is obligated to share the district and campus data with you. Below is the letter to parents regarding this data report and the 2022 West Briar Federal Report Card. This information, along with state and district level data, can also be found our campus webpage: School Information: Accountability Summary.
❤️ February = Kindness Month 🤗
🏀 Updated Boys & Girls Basketball Schedules
2023-2024SY Calendar
The HISD School Board recently approved the 2023-2024 school year Academic Calendar. See it below and the PDF for download.
Who do I contact?📥
Attendance: Mr. Anderson- compassion.anderson@houstonisd.org
Registration/Enrollment- Ms. Rodriguez- laura.rodriguez@houstonisd.org
Nurse: Nurse Papillion- rebecca.papillions@houstonisd.org
Special Education Secretary: Ms. Aguilera- joana.aguilera@houstonisd.org
6th Grade House Secretary: Mr. Rachal- tony.rachal@houstonisd.org
7th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Bass- vbass2@houstonisd.org
8th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Young- syoung1@houstonisd.org
Social Worker: Ms. Taylor- madison.taylor@houstonisd.org
Campus Administrators Webpage (includes new School Counselors)