Westwood Weekly
Staff Newsletter - Week of September 3-8, 2019
Shout-Outs
- Welcome to Maureen Serpe, our new teacher in B1!
- Special thanks to Cheryl for taking on the task of developing a schedule and sub plans for B1 in the absence of a teacher!
Highlights this Week!
All Month:
-Attendance Awareness - Please include information regarding the importance of regular attendance in your classroom/grade level newseletters.
All Week:
-Continue to submit 'Warm Body Counts' every day, in addition to taking attendance online in Aeries by 8:15 (10:30 for A5)
-i-Ready Diagnostic Administration (Helpful Links for Teachers)
This Week:
Tuesday, 9/3
Wednesday, 9/4
-Teacher Discretionary Day
-Initial IEP for Gabriela H (2:30, D6)
Thursday, 9/5
-Nancy at TK-12 Principal's Meeting (7:30-11, WCC)
Friday, 9/6
-I-Ready Diagnostic Testing Window Closes
-PE Minutes Due by 2:37
Upcoming Events:
9/2 - Labor Day -NO SCHOOL
9/4 - Initial IEP Meeting for Gabriela H (2:30, D6)
9/5 - Annual IEP Meeting for Eliza C (2:30, A3)
School/District Business
Looking for Class Talent - The PFC is looking forward to hosting our Talent Show again January 24th! Signing up and doing a solo act can be daunting. We we want to encourage as many group acts as possible. Our coordinator, Sierra Kulak, is hoping with more time teachers may be able to use PE time or music class time to put together an act representing a grade or class - consider connecting it to a theme in your curriculum. And of course, we encourage more staff members to perform this year as a treat for our students and families.
CPI Training - Please find enclosed the flyer and a link to sign up for Crisis Prevention Intervention training through the district. The District employs this program in order to assist staff in developing skills needed to avoid escalating situations that occur in classrooms. The program focuses on verbal de-escalation techniques and also teaches how to maintain student and staff safety during physical management of crisis situations.
We encourage you to attend and learn more about maintaining a calm, safe learning environment.
PLTW - Megan Gerdts has rostered all of your students to the teacher at each grade level who is trained in PLTW. If there was more than one person, she put the students in their respective classes. She also changed the student passwords to be 'wildcats' with whatever grade level number at the end. Students will use their PLTW login information (can be found when the rostered teacher logs into PLTW) and their password... wildcats5 for 5th grade, wildcats4 for 4th grade, etc. The exception is that kindergarten is wildcats1 because you have to have a number in the password! She is available if you have any questions or would like any support at gerdtsm@mdusd.org
This Week in AVID (via Jeanne Johnson)
In continuing with our community building activities for the beginning of school, another AVID strategy is Give One Get One, a collaborative structure intended to encourage critical thinking and it really gets the students moving and talking. GOGO is an interactive method for reviewing content, accessing prior knowledge, or processing newly learned content. HERE are the instructional steps to get you on your way!
PBIS Focus of the Week
Classroom Procedures and Routines - Refer to "The First Six Weeks"
Back to STEAM Event
Handbook Helper
Mandated Training - If you have not yet completed your mandated training series, please make it a priority this week. Login here.
Keys - Please be very careful with your keys. Do not leave them in the car, where they might get stolen if your car is broken into. It is recommended you keep them attached to your car keys to avoid leaving them behind.