Wrangler News

Principal Message

Welcome,

I have a HUGE thank you to everyone that joined the PTA to keep me from wearing the Harris purple on Thursday. We are already at 126% of our PTA membership from last year. I also want to thank all of the parents that came to Greenback night. We had a great turnout and I hope that everyone enjoyed the "come and go" format that we used this year. The volleyball games at Madison on Thursday went well, and it was nice to see all of the parents and former Wranglers supporting our students.

It's hard to believe that we are getting ready to start our 6th week of school. Please remind your students that this progress report can effect eligibility. Please reach out to your students' teachers and schedule tutoring sessions as needed.

I know that the end of the week was rough due to the social media posts. This is a great time to make sure that your phone and email contacts are updated in Skyward. Also, please check your contact settings to make sure that you are receiving contact from me. I will only send communications during the day if it is something important for you to read right away, and a text will accompany the email. Otherwise, communication from me will come out around 5. Please reach out if you have any concerns or questions. We are here to help.

Repeat Announcement: If your student walks home, please discuss with them the importance of using the crosswalk and paying attention to the crosswalk signs. Especially at a busy intersection such as Fountainwood and Judson Road. We almost had an accident last week, and I want us to avoid that. We made an announcement last week, and will continue to remind the students.

Please follow me @BradHenze to receive the latest information on everything Wood Middle School. More social media could possibly be coming from me to help spread the word about our great students, teachers, and school.

Wrangler Of the Week

This week's Wranglers of the Week are:

STUDENTS of the Week

Damien Shold- Damien is receiving a W.O.W. award this week for his superb manners. Every morning Damien enters school and greets faculty members with a cheerful “good morning.” He also takes a moment to ask us how we are doing and leaves the conversation with an enthusiastic “have a great day!” Damian, we want you to know that we greatly appreciate your morning greetings. Thank you for bringing us great joy and for helping us start each day with a smile.

Isaiah McGrew - Isaiah is being recognized for seeing a faculty member in need and for volunteering his assistance. Isaiah helped clean the gym and put away equipment after the volleyball game. This task required heavy lifting and a commitment of time. Isaiah stepped up and took great initiative to support others in a time of need. Thank you Isaiah for your help and for demonstrating how we are all a little better when we work together!

Ethan Zinck – Ethan is being recognized for showing student leadership by helping our staff clean the cafeteria during lunch. Ethan took the initiative to help without being asked and demonstrated great character. He stacked trays and collected trash that others had left behind. Thank you Ethan for taking pride in our campus and for being a role model for your peers.

FACULTY of the Week

Mrs. Turner – Mrs. Turner is receiving a WOW award for beautifying our campus with student artwork and spirit items. She regularly changes out the display cases to showcase our student athletes and amazing artists. When you walk the hallways of Wood MS you will see her handiwork everywhere. Thank you Ms. Turner for beautifying our campus and for visibly highlighting our students.

Mrs. Russo – We are recognizing Mrs. Russo with a W.O.W. award for the countless hours she spends helping the staff and students of Wood Middle School. She is often the first person at school and the last to leave. If there is a request for help, she is typically the first person to volunteer. Thank you Mrs. Russo for your commitment to Wood Middle School’s faculty and students. Your hard work and dedication makes our campus great!

Congratulations to all of the WOW recipients this week. Thank you for being YOU and for making Wood Middle School better.

Shout outs

We had two incredible events since last weeks’ Smore went out, and a few of my incredible staff members, Wood parents, and our attendees need to be recognized.

Last Friday we had our mum making party in the cafeteria. We had an incredible turnout. Watching our parents spend some quality time with their students did my heart good. I brought my family to the event and they had a blast as well. Multiple people went into making this event possible, but I would like to highlight a few of them. Monica Orozco, my family specialist, and Rebecca Santillan, incredible Wood parent, were the driving forces behind the event. Mrs. Santillan also made the mum that I proudly wore all day Wednesday and Thursday. Thank you ladies for all that you do in helping to make Wood the place we want it to be. I also want to recognize and thank Eduardo Torres another incredible Wood parent for the generous donation of mum making supplies.

The second event was the pep rally that our 7th and 8th grade students attended on Wednesday. Mrs. Arevalo, our dance teacher, approached me with the idea of a pep rally for this week. We went through multiple ideas on what the pep rally would look like but we eventually settled on a drum line procession for the school and a pep rally for the 7th and 8th graders. This is where my help ended. Mrs. Arevalo took over and planned an incredible event for our athletes, dance team, and student body. We had a dance performance, athlete recognition and a hilarious game that some of our teachers participated in. Thank you Mrs. Arevalo for helping to recognize our students and increase our school spirit.

PTA Information

Doughnuts for a great cause!! Wood middle school is giving you the best reason to indulge in a dozen (or two) Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Until October 15, 2023, 50% of your order will be donated back to Wood middle school when you purchase via our fundraising sales page! Simply buy online, visit your local store & redeem using your code. Treat yourself or even gift them to friends and family here: grouprai.se/krispykreme13914ma

Academic UIL

Academic UIL is one of the most important college preparatory clubs your child could join! It is designed to enhance all the subjects your children are taught, and follows the state designed curriculum (TEKS). All students benefit from participating in our program, ranging from the Gifted student to the Special Education student, all of our students; 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are welcome to participate. It is very important that your child goes to practices so that they can learn all the rules, the tricks, and gets practice for each of the events.

Competition Subjects: General Math, Number sense (Mental Math), Calculators, Chess Puzzles, Science, Maps-Charts-Graphs, Dictionary Skills, Spelling, and Social Studies.

Practices will begin on September 11th, if you have any questions please contact:

Mrs. O’Dowd,

jodowd@neisd.net

or Web page: https://www.neisd.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=6891

PTA Board

Thank you, again, for all of your support in helping us to have a greater increase in memberships than Harris did. We have already increase our PTA memberships by 126% over last school year.

We are always looking for more general memberships and we have additional board positions if anyone is interested. Please email neisd.woodpta@gmail.com for more information.

Board Members

PTA President - Stephanie Portorreal

Vice President 2 - Larrisa Hernandez

Vice President 3 - Jessica Garza

Treasurer - Melissa Vasquez

Secretary - Guadalupe Madrigal

Parliamentarian - Thea Russo

https://sites.google.com/view/neisdwoodptsa

https://www.facebook.com/neisd.woodpta/

Campus Improvement Committee

I am looking for a parent volunteer to be a part of our Campus Improvement Committee. We meet 4 times year to help make decisions for our campus. For example, we work together on our Campus Instructional Improvement Plan (CIIP) and discuss items such as our campus budget and campus needs and upgrades. If you are interested in joining, please email me at bhenze@neisd.net. Our first meeting is coming up this Tuesday at 4:00.

Band Information

The Wood Band is excited to announce that the Honors Band has joined their 2nd music consortium and will be premiering Scratch Eden’s Marooned Martian at their Fall Concert in October. The Wood Band is one of 19 bands in the country and one of 3 bands in Texas, to have premiere performance rights before this piece is released for public purchase. Great things are happening within the Wood Wrangler Band!!

HB 114 - Vapes

The Texas Legislature passed a bill regarding vapes on school grounds during the 2023 session. If a student has a vape or any parts of a vape in their possession, regardless of what is in the vape, must be recommended for a placement in a DAEP placement. This is a change from last year, where the oil in the vape had to contain THC.

Basically, I have to recommend ALL vape possession for an AMS placement.

Lunch and Breakfast Information

We are a free breakfast and lunch campus again this year. ALL students will receive a free breakfast and lunch. Our students can purchase additional items that ARE NOT included in the free lunch, such as, chips, desserts, etc. If your student is interested in purchasing additional items, please make sure that there is money in their student lunch account.

CEP Forms

Every year CEP (Community Eligibility Program) forms are sent out to all parents of campuses that receive free lunch and breakfast. I will start sending out these forms on the second week of school, August 21. Please take the time to fill out the form and send back to the school. We need these forms returned so that we can keep our free meal status. If you would prefer to fill out the form electronically, please let me know and I can send out a link via text message.

STAAR Information

TEA FAMILY PORTAL INFORMATION–STAAR 3-8

On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, students who participated in the spring 2023 STAAR Gr. 3-8 assessments will have access to STAAR 3-8 results. Parents may log into NEISD’s Skyward Family Access to retrieve student results using the “Texas Assessments” tab. After clicking on the “Texas Assessments” tab, parents must click “Texas Assessments Results Website” to go to the TEA Family Portal.

What if I can’t access results through the “Texas Assessments” tab?

INFORMACIÓN DEL PORTAL FAMILIAR DE TEA–STAAR 3-8

El miércoles 16 de agosto de 2023, los estudiantes que participaron en los exámenes de STAAR de la primavera del 2023, tendrán acceso a los resultados de STAAR grados del 3-8. Los padres pueden iniciar sesión en Skyward Family Access de NEISD para encontrar los resultados de los estudiantes usando la pestaña "Texas Assessments". Después de hacer clic en la pestaña "Texas Assessments", los padres deben hacer clic en "Texas Assessments Results Website" para ir al portal familiar de TEA.

¿Qué sucede si no puedo acceder a los resultados a través de la pestaña "Evaluaciones de Texas"?

Athletic Information for 2023-2024

Football

8th Grade

A Team - Wood - 6 Harris - 24

B Team - Wood - 6 Harris - 20

7th Grade

A Team - Wood - 44 Harris - 22

B Team - Wood - 12 Harris - 6

Volleyball

8th Grade

A Team - Wood - 1 Harris- 2

B Team - Wood - 0 Harris - 2

Go Team - Wood - 0 Harris- 2

7th Grade

A Team - Wood - 0 Harris- 2

B Team - Wood - 0 Harris- 2

Go Team - Wood - 2 Harris- 0

Concessions at all games are cash only and 100% go to support our student groups on campus like: Robotics, Theatre, Band, Choir, Orchestra, NJHS, PALs, Spirit Squad, NJAHS, Art and ALE. We have had to increase our prices to combat inflation. We are grateful for all donations to support our Wrangler Pride!!!

Important Dates

October 12th- 7TH GRADE PARENT APPRECIATION GAME

MONDAY, OCT 16TH- GAME VS. GARNER- 8TH GRADE PARENT APPRECIATION GAME

October 20th-21st- 7th and 8th Grade A TEAMS ONLY tournament

7th @ Krueger MS 8th @ Lopez MS- Dates and Times TBA

MONDAY, OCT 23rd- MANDATORY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME @ BAC 5PM AND 6:30PM - ALL VB PLAYERS WILL RIDE THE BUS THERE. Parents can attend and sign out their players after the game. The bus will come back to Wood with anyone who does not get signed out and picked up.

VOLLEYBALL SPORTSYOU : SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW OR USE THE CODE: GUVD7EXA

Nurse Information

Upcoming Health Screenings: Hearing, Vision, and Acanthosis

Hearing, Vision and Acanthosis screenings for all 7th Graders will begin the week of Monday, September 25, 2023. Screenings will continue until completed.

Please see the attached acanthosis screening notification letter for additional information. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Clinic.