Westwood Wire

Dear Westwood Families,

It is hard to believe that it is almost November but as I think about all that has been accomplished here at Westwood in a few short months, I am honored to be a part of this community. Our teachers have been working daily in professional learning communities with the instructional coaches to provide excellence in curriculum and accelerated instruction. It has also been wonderful to watch our talented students perform in the choir, band and orchestra concerts as well as on the court in volleyball and on the field in football. We have also had the privilege to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage month, as well as our hard working custodians and our teachers every Friday in Rocktober.

There is much more to come this year at Westwood and we are proud to announce our next event in its inaugural year on November 4. Our students will have the opportunity to participate in our first ever Westwood Math, Science and Technology “Ed-Talks” where they will be introduced to a variety of careers that utilize math, science and/or technology as the foundation of their daily work.

Being a Wolf at Westwood includes being Future Focused. We are excited to present over 40 speakers to our students to choose from. We have local speakers as well as national and international speakers participating in the event throughout the day. You can access the speaker schedule by CLICKING HERE.

During your student's math, science and technology/health classes they will have the opportunity to sign-up to hear the speakers of their choosing for that period. Sign-up will occur throughout the day on Friday October 29.

A huge thank you to parent Kat Diggs, the PTA and all our speakers and entities for making this event happen for our students.

If you have any questions regarding the event please email stewart.brown@risd.org.

Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter and for our continued collaboration to support all members of our Westwood community.

Sincerely,

Katie Mottram

Principal

Mark your calendar!

10/27 - Early Release at 1:30pm
10/29 - Picture Retakes 8:30-11AM
11/1 - No School - Student/Staff Holiday
11/2 - No School - Staff Professional Development
11/4 - Ed Talks on campus

ID Badges and Restroom Punch Cards

ID Requirements:

ALL students have now been given a WWJH ID with blue lanyard (permanent ID or blue laminated temporary ID)
IDs are required to enter the building each day and to attend all RISD extracurricular activities (includes RHS games)
Must be worn around neck, with a lanyard
Replacement lanyards can be purchased in the front office for .25c

Students without IDs will be directed to the commons upon arrival to receive temporary ID

.50c for orange temporary with NAME and DATE
If student does not have .50c, they will receive one lunch detention to be served on Fridays/Mondays
Student that has purchased 3 or more temporary IDs = lunch detention
$5 replacement IDs are sold in the library

Punch Card Procedure:

In an effort to minimize instructional time missed, all students will be have 10 restroom passes per 9 weeks, located on green punch card

In order to use the restroom during class, students must have their ID on, around their neck, with green punch card

Students may still use the restroom during passing periods (5 minutes) and at lunch without utilizing a punch

Wolf Den Advisory class that has most unused restroom passes at the end of the 9 weeks will receive a PIZZA PARTY!

Teacher Shout Outs

Last chance to nominate someone for the October award!

This award will be given monthly to teachers for showing WOLF characteristics. These include being welcoming, offering opportunities, demonstrating leadership and being future focused. Your recognition and celebration of our teachers and staff is an amazing gift and if you would like to shout out a teacher or staff member who has shown WOLF characteristics towards your student please complete the form below.

Picture Retakes

Picture retakes are scheduled for Friday October 29 - if you ordered pictures and would like retakes please send the order packet back with your student so they can have pictures retaken.

PTA Spirit wear

PTA sprit wear that was not picked up last Friday is available for pick up in the WWJH Front office.

Last day to pick up your items is Friday, October 29.

Reminders:

Student car pick up/drop off is only in the front of the building through the circle drive.
Please do not pick up/drop off on La Cosa Dr., Meandering Way or the alley by the track field. THESE ARE NOT SCHOOL SAFETY ZONES!
Food deliveries from third parties such as Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc. are NOT accepted on campus. Lunches should only be delivered by a parent or others who are listed on the students emergency card.
When picking up a student early for an appointment please come into the office to sign them out - we can not release a them even if you call. Early student pick up between 3:20 - 3:40 PM is not permitted.
Please remind your student to wear their student ID daily - we have begun issuing lunch detentions this week for those who do not have their ID.

8th Grade Parents

We are so excited to work with you and your student this school year in preparation for high school. There will be several steps on this journey to help your student make informed decisions about high school courses and to create an interest driven Personal Graduation Plan. A Personal Graduation Plan, or PGP, will help your student map out the next four years of their high school career.

This letter is to inform you in advance of the steps that we will be taking this school year to prepare your student for high school. We want to keep you up to date on this process and will do my best to communicate with you about each step on this journey. Here is a broad and flexible overview of the goals that we have for the next several months of this school year to help your student understand and prepare for the academic requirements for high school graduation. All resources that we share with students will be housed in the PGP One Stop Shop.

Volleyball Teams

The Girls volleyball teams are doing a great job and showing great improvement from all teams. We have 2 more regular season games against Richardson North JH (10/28) and Richardson West JH (11/3 -7th grade and 11/4 -8th grade). The 7th and 8th grade A volleyball teams will participate in the RISD JH Volleyball Tournament on November 5th and November 6th.

Basketball

Girls Basketball Tryouts will begin on November 8th for 7th grade and November 9th for 8th graders.

Boys basketball tryouts will begin the week of November 8th. Tryouts Packets will be available during the week of November 3rd.

Reminder: All students attending basketball tryouts must be cleared in UIL Rank One (Physical on 2020 form and online paperwork). https://richardsonisd.rankonesport.com/New/NewInstructionsPage.aspx

Cheerleaders

The Westwood cheerleaders have been hard at work all year! We are proud of what we have done for football season, and as it wraps up are excited about cheering for the basketball team. Watch for information about mascot tryouts!

REGION 20 ALL-REGION HONOR ORCHESTRA

Westwood JH had 18 students audition for the Region 20 All-Region Honor Orchestra at Pearce High School on Saturday, October 16. Each student who auditioned did tremendously and outperformed other students in their audition room. Top students for each instrument were selected to become a member of the All-Region Honor Orchestra and will participate in a Clinic & Concert at Booker T. Washington High School in the Downtown Dallas Arts District in December. Congratulations to 8th graders Ayomide Johnson, Lillian Forrest, Tatiana Tobias, Mominah Amjad, Kaelin Fernandez, Michael Roddy, Joshua Flores, Drew Baker, Siba Alsoudani, & 6th grader Amelia Hollis from Spring Valley Elementary!