Happy New Year Westlake!

Welcome back  and happy 2018!  As we end one year and begin another, we can reflect on the accomplishments of the year and set goals for the next.  One of the major areas of focus for the Westlake School community this year has been around literacy across all content areas.  Being able to read, write, listen, and speak are critical elements to learning any content area and we are committed to supporting students in gaining these very important skills.  One way to support this effort with your child is to engage in our school book.  Please consider being a part of this effort.

Students, parents and community members, this year, we have selected Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (the young adult version) to be our all school book.  This is the amazing story of Joe Rantz and the 1936 Olympic rowing team’s miraculous journey to win gold in Berlin.   A story of courage, perseverance and the power of teamwork, this will be a text to connect our whole community with our vision, Dream, Risk, Achieve.

We are asking students and families to get involved by reading this exciting text. You may also think about organizing a book discussion with your own family or pull together other families you know to discuss the ideas in this book. We have discussion questions and you can use this book club guide for tips on how to facilitate your conversation.

Here at school in January, we will be hosting grade level book clubs run by our administrators, and teachers will have some activities and discussions they can use in their classrooms. This event will be culminated on February 22nd with a movie night when we will be showing The Boys of ‘36 the PBS documentary about this inspiring story.

The book is available for a discounted price from both Amazon and Walmart. Many teachers here at school have copies to loan to students and books will be provided for students who are participating in grade level book clubs.

How do you celebrate New Year’s in your culture?

Westlake’s Culture Club wants to learn more about how different cultures celebrate New Year’s.  Please take a moment to share with us various traditions or cultural experiences you and your family are involved in to celebrate the new year through this survey.

New Year’s Around the World Survey

Westlake’s Culture Club will be holding a cultural night on January 31st at 6:30pm to celebrate New Year’s around the world!  Please join us for this fun and engaging event.

W.E.B. (Where Everyone Belongs) Go Fund Me Opportunity-

Our wonderful coordinators for the Westlake W.E.B. program which supports our incoming 6th graders as well as provides leadership opportunities for our 8th graders have an opportunity to gain more training and expand our program.  Please consider helping send out coordinators to this training by helping to support them through Go Fund Me.

https://www.gofundme.com/webtraining