September 30 2018

Week of 10.01.18

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

This was such an exciting week as we announced the results of our check drive.  If you missed it, we did video the announcements on Friday and posted it on the PTO Facebook page.  Follow the link below to access the exciting announcement!

PTO Website- Check Drive

I am so grateful to our community for the support you show us every day.  I’m grateful to be in partnerships with our parents/guardians in order to best meet the needs of our students.

Parent Teacher Conferences Next Week!

Our first set of Parent Teacher Conferences are just around the corner. We will have conferences on October 10th from 4-7 pm and October 11th from 4:30-7:30. Conferences will be arena style in our gym. This means that you will have an opportunity to talk with each of your child’s teachers for about 3-4 minutes. In order to make conferences as efficient as possible for families, we will be having families sign up for half-hour time slots.

We have sent out a sign-up for time slots so please check your inbox for this email. If you need to contact teachers prior to conferences, you are always welcome to email teachers with questions or concerns.  Please feel free to call the school with any questions on Parent Teacher Conferences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Heide, Principal Westlake MIddle School

 

 

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September 23 2018

Week of 09.24.18

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

It is officially Fall now and it looks like our weather this week will be more reflective of this change of seasons. As the school year progresses please consider joining us for our School Accountability meetings throughout the school year.  At these meetings we will look at the current state of our students’ academic achievement and growth and the plans for continued growth.  Below are the dates for our upcoming SAC meetings:

October 24th 4:15-5:15pm

December 12th 4:15-5:15pm

February 20th 4:15-5:15pm

April 10th 4:15-5:15pm

Your partnership in supporting the ongoing growth of our students is critical so please consider being a part of these meetings. I look forward to our time together!

Meet our Community Outreach Liaison

yo hablo español

Veronica Martinez has been a part of our WLMS school community for the past year and has contributed greatly to the success of our students.  Mrs. Martinez supports students and families in getting connected to resources that help students in being successful both inside and outside of school.  Please reach out to Mrs. Martinez any time with any questions or needs.

veronica.martinez@adams12.org

Check Drive Update

WOW, can you believe there are only two days left to contribute to the check drive?  The past two weeks have been wonderful as we have seen students mow lawns, babysit, and donate their allowance all in the name of helping their school reach the goal of raising $10,000. Thank you for all of those who have contributed.  Every dollar counts and we greatly appreciate your generosity.  We are so close to reaching our goal. One last push and we are going to accomplish it together. 100% of your donation goes to the PTO, directly benefiting WLMS.  Donations can be made on-line, via check or cash and are 100% tax deductible.  Please request a tax receipt by emailing westlakepto@yahoo.com.

A suggested amount is $25 per student, but any donation makes a difference!

For each $25 donated, you will get one raffle ticket and can win one of the following prizes:  Gift cards, WLMS spirit wear, Grand prize – 3 chromebooks (limit one per family)

Our goal is to raise $10,000!  Reaching our goal will help us fund these plus many more school requests:

  • Staff Appreciation Week
  • Parent Teacher Conference Meals
  • Student of the Month Breakfast 
  • Bully Prevention Luncheon

As a special thank you, families who contribute will get their name on a paper wolverine and displayed near the main office!

Make checks payable to Westlake Middle School PTO, complete the attached form and deliver both to the front office OR complete this on-line Google form and pay via PayPal:

https://goo.gl/4bymiG

Questions?  Please direct them to our PTO email: westlakepto@yahoo.com.

For more information on the check drive, visit our website at

https://asciangu.wixsite.com/westlakepto/copy-of-events

 

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September 16 2018

Week of 09.17.18

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

The official start of Fall is just a week away!  With Fall nearing that also means our first set of Parent Teacher Conferences are also just around the corner. Believe it or not, Parent Teacher Conferences are less than a month away! We will have conferences on October 10th from 4-7 pm and October 11th from 4:30-7:30. Conferences will be arena style in our gym. This means that you will have an opportunity to talk with each of your child’s teachers for about 3-4 minutes. In order to make conferences as efficient as possible for families, we will be having families sign up for half-hour time slots. We will soon be sending out a sign-up for time slots. Please look out for this email. If you need to contact teachers prior to conferences, you are always welcome to email teachers with questions or concerns.

 

Student Drop-off

Parents and Guardians, I know that all of us want to protect the safety of our precious students and ensure that our school drop off is safe and efficient. We have had a few near misses lately with students getting out of cars or crossing the street. When you are dropping off in the morning, please adhere to the following guidelines:
  • Drive slowly and stay alert. Please do not begin driving as you are watching your student walk away from your car.
  • Pay attention to the crosswalk and traffic monitors and follow all signals. It does take some time to get everyone in to drop off and we all need to be patient.
  • Please be kind and respectful by always pulling all the way to the end of the hug and go lane for drop off and always filling in all spaces on both sides of the lane.
  • When dropping off on the left side of the hug and go lane, please have students exit your car from the driver’s side door so they are not stepping in front of cars.
  • Please do your best to make sure that your student is ready to hop out of the car when you get into the hug and go lane so we can keep traffic moving.

Thank you for your help with keeping student drop off safe and efficient for everyone!

New Health Clerk

This past Friday we said good-bye and wished well to Cheryl Young-Beumer our Health Clerk for many years at Westlake.  Cheryl is heading into her retirement and we are so exited to hear about her many adventures in this new phase of life.  She will be missed.

Please help me in welcoming our new Health Clerk, Kara Dawdy, to Westlake Middle School!  Ms. Dawdy brings with her a wealth of experience in our district and will be a wonderful addition to our school community.  She has been briefed in the various needs of our students and if you wish to contact her directly please feel free to e-mail her.  Kara.k.dawdy@adams12.org

2018-2019 WLMS Check Drive

WLMS PTO Check Drive is off to a great start!  So far we have collected $6700 for our school community!  Thank you all so much for your support of our school community.  This money helps to support efforts to improve and enhance the learning opportunities for students.

In lieu of Read-a-Thon, we will be doing a check drive this fall.  100% of your donation goes to the PTO, directly benefiting WLMS.  Donations can be made on-line, via check or cash and are 100% tax deductible.  Please request a tax receipt by emailing westlakepto@yahoo.com.

Suggested amount is $25 per student, but any donation makes a difference!

For each $25 donated, you will get one raffle ticket and can win one of the following prizes:  Gift cards, WLMS spirit wear, Grand prize – 3 chromebooks (limit one per family)

Our goal is to raise $10,000!  Reaching our goal will help us fund these plus many more school requests:

  • Staff Appreciation Week
  • Parent Teacher Conference Meals
  • Student of the Month Breakfast 
  • Bully Prevention Luncheon

As a special thank you, families who contribute will get their name on a paper wolverine and displayed near the main office!

Make checks payable to Westlake Middle School PTO, complete the attached form and deliver both to the front office OR complete this on-line Google form and pay via PayPal:

 

https://goo.gl/4bymiG

Questions?  Please direct them to our PTO email: westlakepto@yahoo.com.

For more information on the check drive, visit our website at

https://asciangu.wixsite.com/westlakepto/copy-of-events

 

Have a wonderful last week of Summer!

Dr. Heide, Principal Westlake MIddle School

Category: Weekly Blog Posts | Comments Off on Week of 09.17.18
September 9 2018

Week of 09.10.18

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

The WLMS Transitional Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has had a successful start!  In the classrooms I’m seeing students engage in work both with and without their devices that is enhancing their learning experience.  At Westlake we are committeed to the combination of pen and paper learning and learning using technology.  Ultimately, we want students to be challenged in their learning and making at least one year’s growth in each of their classes.  The use of technology is a tool to help support student growth.

Students having access to technology is different than when we as the adults were growing up for the most part.  As a parent myself I’m constantly learning about where and how to set various boundaries around technology to ensure my own children are learning, growing, and healthy.  I came across this article below from Common Sense Media that I wanted to share with you regarding screen time.  I hope this article is helpful to you as it was to me!

School-Year Screen-Time Rules

 

2018-2019 WLMS Check Drive

WLMS PTO Check Drive Starts today!  In lieu of Read-a-Thon, we will be doing a check drive this fall.  100% of your donation goes to the PTO, directly benefiting WLMS.  Donations can be made on-line, via check or cash and are 100% tax deductible.  Please request a tax receipt by emailing westlakepto@yahoo.com.

Suggested amount is $25 per student, but any donation makes a difference!

For each $25 donated, you will get one raffle ticket and can win one of the following prizes:  Gift cards, WLMS spirit wear, Grand prize – 3 chromebooks (limit one per family)

Our goal is to raise $10,000!  Reaching our goal will help us fund these plus many more school requests:

  • Staff Appreciation Week
  • Parent Teacher Conference Meals
  • Student of the Month Breakfast 
  • Bully Prevention Luncheon

As a special thank you, families who contribute will get their name on a paper wolverine and displayed near the main office!

Make checks payable to Westlake Middle School PTO, complete the attached form and deliver both to the front office OR complete this on-line Google form and pay via PayPal:

 

https://goo.gl/4bymiG

Questions?  Please direct them to our PTO email: westlakepto@yahoo.com.

For more information on the check drive, visit our website at

https://asciangu.wixsite.com/westlakepto/copy-of-events

Checking Students Out From the Office

The safety of your children in our school is of the utmost importance to us.  One process we use to support the safety of children in our school is in how students can be checked out from the office during the school day.  As a reminder, if you need to pick up your child early from school we ask that you ring the bell at the front door and have your picture ID handy for us to verify.  The front office will verify your information against our records and retrieve your child from class.  Thank you for your partnership in this process to ensure the safety of our school community.

Join us for PTO!

Our first meeting of the year is scheduled this Wednesday at 6:30pm in the library and we would love to see you there!  Come join us to hear about all the exciting ways parents can be involved in our school community.  We value our partnerships with parents and guardians a great deal and look forward to our work together this year in supporting your children in their learning!

Tired of waiting in the long line to pick up or drop off your child?

The traffic around Westlake can sometimes be a little trying in the mornings and the afternoons.  If waiting in the long lines to get into the Hug and Go lane on the North side of the building or going around the parking lot on the East side has become challenging consider possibly dropping your child off along 135th Avenue or along Westlake Drive.  If you have any thoughts or suggestions about our morning and afternoon traffic please feel free to reach out to our Campus Supervisor, Chris Laws, at christopher.g.laws@adams12.org.  Thank you for your support around making our pick-up and drop-off times a little easier for everyone!

 

New Faces at WLMS!

We have a couple new staff members who have joined our school community.  Laureana Ledezma is our new front office

Laureana Ledezma, Front Office Clerk

clerk and you will see her any time you come into the main office as her desk is the first one you see!  Ms. Ledezma is a Westlake alum and is so excited to be back at Westlake to serve the community she loves!

Rob Hicks, Student Monitor

Secondly, we have hired a Student Monitor, who works with our students in the lunch room, from among our parent ranks!  Rob Hicks has joined our school community in a new capacity and we are so excited to have him with us in this new way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Heide, Principal Westlake Middle School

Category: Weekly Blog Posts | Comments Off on Week of 09.10.18
September 2 2018

Week of 09.03.18

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

Happy Labor Day Weekend!  I hope that you enjoyed the additional time added to the weekend.  At Westlake we are seeing some amazing learning already happening which is so exciting!  Last week I was fortunate to see our 8th graders working through a review of solving multi-step equations as well as our 7th graders demonstrating their knowledge on MAPs assessments.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with your children every day and we thank you for entrusting us with them!

This past week I also came across a blog post out of Philadelphia that reminded me of how much our children observe and model our behavior as adults.  While this blog is about the role of fathers in developing literacy skills in children it really shares a message for all of us as adults in our roles in modeling what we want for our children.  I hope you enjoy this blog post!

The Role of Fathers in Developing the Next Generation of Readers and Dreamers

 

“Remember that you are the windows through which your children see this world. Take notice of yourself and the things that you do in hopes that your example will stir their hearts and souls!”
Rayfield Wright, NFL Hall of Famer

Watch DOGS

We are very excited to share that Westlake Middle School will be using the Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program again this year!  Watch DOGS is a nationally recognized program from the National Center For Fathering, that helps men in the community connect with schools through volunteer service.


If you are interested in more information please join us for our kickoff night and pizza by RSVP’ing to Mr.Austin.  If you are unable to attend our fall kickoff but would like to be involved, just send Mr. Austin an email noting so with contact information.

Danny L. Austin
8th Grade Counselor
Westlake Middle School
720-972-5213

Dr. Heide, Principal Westlake MIddle School

Category: Weekly Blog Posts | Comments Off on Week of 09.03.18