March 19 2017

Week of 03.20.17


Monday marks the official first day of Spring and the weather this weekend certainly made me feel like we had skipped Spring and went directly to Summer!  Spring Break is just around the corner only a week a away.  Whatever your plans are for the break we hope you return from the break feeling rested and recharged and ready to finish the school year!

We have a number of events happening this week so please take some time to check out the upcoming events page on the yellow sticky note at the top of this page.  We are thankful for our parent/guardian community and look forward to continuing our partnership through the end of this school year and in the next.

Take care of yourselves during this week leading up to Spring Break and enjoy the time off!

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Upcoming PARCC/CMAS Assessments

6th grade 

March 20th, 21st and 23rd

7th grade 

April 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th

8th grade will also have CMAS Science testing on April 13th and 14th

Please make sure that students get a good night’s sleep on the nights before testing and encourage them to do their best.  Thank you for your partnership in supporting our students!

Category: Weekly Blog Posts | Comments Off on Week of 03.20.17
March 12 2017

Week of 03.13.17

This week we begin the PARCC and CMAS testing at Westlake!  I had a student this week e-mail me with a question as to why we take PARCC in addition to the MAPS testing that is done through out the year in Math and Language Arts.  I thought this was a great question and I imagine this is a question many people have.  PARCC testing (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is used in Colorado as well as 10 other partners including six states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense, and the Bureau of Indian Education.  PARCC is an annual end of year assessment in Language Arts and Math based on the rigorous standards adopted by many states (Common Core) back in 2010.  CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) is also a year-end assessment  given to students in grades 5, 8, and 11 in Science and to grades 4 and 7 on a sampling basis to one-third of the schools across the state for Social Studies.   CMAS is also based on the standards adopted by the state of Colorado in Science and Social Studies.  Data from this year-end assessment are usually available by the Fall of the following school year from when the test is given.

MAPS (Measures of Academic Progress) is an assessment given to our students in Adams 12 as well as other districts across the nation to measure the progress and growth of individual students in Math and Language Arts.  MAPS is given at minimum twice a year and the data is returned within 24 hours in order for students and teachers to gauge progress towards grade level mastery and growth from year to year and within the current year.

Having both PARCC/CMAS and MAPS allows us at Westlake to get a full picture on progress, growth, and mastery of content.  Teachers rely on the data they receive from all of these assessments to make instructional decisions and, as a school, to set our goals for improvement.  This week we begin our PARCC/CMAS assessments.  Please see the following information for testing dates and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us at the school:

Parents, this is a reminder of our upcoming window for state testing. Colorado’s PARCC and CMAS testing are an important way for our school to get information about how our students are performing in comparison to students around the district and state. We use this information for individual student placement and evaluation of our programs and teaching methods. It is important for all students to participate and do their best. Students will be taking the math and language arts test on the following dates:

8th grade 

March 14th, 16th and 17th

6th grade 

March 20th, 21st and 23rd

7th grade 

April 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th

8th grade will also have CMAS Science testing on April 13th and 14th

Please make sure that students get a good night’s sleep on the nights before testing and encourage them to do their best.  Thank you for your partnership in supporting our students!

 

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March 5 2017

Week of 03.06.17

Spring is just around the corner, believe it or not!  In the classrooms students are working diligently on gaining the necessary skills and concepts to be successful in their next year of schooling.  As we work with students to gain what is needed this year we are also looking toward the next years of school to ensure students have a continuous, rigorous middle school experience. As a staff, we are looking at how we better support students in this age of technology.  Over the next couple years we would like to better align ourselves with the needs our students have around learning to use technology effectively for expanding the learning experience as well as being good stewards of technology. One idea we are exploring is the concept of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).  Please take a moment to view this list of pro’s and con’s regarding BYOD/1:1 concepts as well as this infographic about the differences between BYOD and 1:1.  Finally, we invite you to share your thoughts regarding the idea of BYOD through this brief survey.

 

9 Months to 9th Grade Event!
Attention 8th graders and parents/guardians of 8th graders!  Our next 9 to 9 event will take place on Tuesday March 7th 6:30pm-7:30pm in WLMS cafeteria.  Come join us to hear current LHS Seniors speak to 8th grade parents and students regarding high school. They will speak about their mistakes, successes, lessons learned and reflect back on their four years.

Warrior Buck Drive

As a way to encourage generosity among our students and live up to our mission of inspiring a passion for service, we held a warrior buck charity drive in February. Students donated their warrior bucks to one of the charitable organizations that supports families in our community, and several businesses and individuals pledged matching funds so that the Warrior Bucks became 1000 real dollars that went to improving people’s lives.  A big thanks goes out to all the students who donated and to these local businesses and individuals:

Lindeman Chiropractic and Acupuncture

Prentice Orthodontics

Jus’ Burritos

Animal Central

Parker Construction

The Glueck Family

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Parents, this is a reminder of our upcoming window for state testing. Colorado’s PARCC and CMAS testing are an important way for our school to get information about how our students are performing in comparison to students around the district and state. We use this information for individual student placement and evaluation of our programs and teaching methods. It is important for all students to participate and do their best. Students will be taking the math and language arts test on the following dates:

8th grade

March 14th, 16th and 17th

6th grade

March 20th, 21st and 23rd

7th grade

April 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th

8th grade will also have CMAS Science testing on April 13th and 14th

Please make sure that students get a good night’s sleep on the nights before testing and encourage them to do their best.

Category: Weekly Blog Posts | Comments Off on Week of 03.06.17