WIS Weekly

• Who needs support at home, in school, and in the community? ... Every Child!
• Who needs our guidance, attention, and patience today and every day? ... Every Child!
• Who will shape the future of our world tomorrow and in the years to come? ... Every Child!

WIS Family,

Attention Parents... Are you looking for a remedy for the summer slip? What's that, you ask? It's that doldrum period when your child is missing the friends and fun that only summer school can offer. If you and your child are looking for some unique and fulfilling ways to enrich learning, then consider enrolling in one of the many summer school courses that Duneland has to offer. Classes are filling quickly, so don't delay. Make the summer of 2025 one to remember!

Please see the attached link below for registration instructions:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10PRzuGz1GlK5cNi78QQT-OwuXNAFGXkf/view

Respectfully,

Mr. Longacre

slongacre@duneland.k12.in.us

We are striving to achieve a 96% attendance rate this year at WIS.

5th Grade 93.4046%

6th Grade 92.9049%

When needing to report a student absence, parents/guardians should call (219-983-3710) or email (mkowalecki@duneland.k12.in.us) the attendance secretary in the WIS office by 9:00 am on the day of the absence. If the school sends a student home early, then no notification is required.

Immunization requirements prior to the start of 6th grade

The State of Indiana requires 6th grade students to be immunized with Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine) and Meningitis vaccine. The Tdap and Meningitis vaccines must be received after the student turns 11 years of age and not before, to be considered valid.

On Thursday, February 20th 2025, your student was sent home with an envelope containing a letter indicating what immunizations your child needs before 6th grade and a copy of the most current immunization record the school has on file for your child. In the letter coming home, the vaccinations your student needs are highlighted and written in. Please make your appointment with your physician or health department as soon as possible to get started on this process.

If your student is 11 years old and has already received these immunizations please turn them in or email a scanned copy to the school nurse. You do not not need to wait until next school year.

Please contact Mrs. Sosby, WIMS School Nurse at 219-983-3710 or email tsosby@duneland.K12.in.us with any questions or concerns covered in this message.

We are excited to announce that this year’s yearbook will include both Westchester Intermediate School (WIS) and Westchester Middle School (WMS). Yearbooks are available for $30.00, and you can order directly through this link: Order Yearbooks Here.

Sixth grade students will have the opportunity to participate in both WIS intramural sports and Westchester Middle School athletics. If your child wants to participate in middle school sports, they must have a current physical on file, dated after 4/1/24. Sixth grade students can ONLY participate in Middle School Cross Country, Westling, and Track and Field. This fall, students can participate in Middle School Cross Country. Mr. Rich Gross rgross@duneland.k12.in.us is the athletic director for Westchester Campus. Please reach out to Mr. Gross with any questions.

Join the Duneland Education Foundation for an enchanting evening of masquerade, silent auctions, and celebrating another year of giving.

The Duneland Education Foundation is the foremost philanthropic partner of the Duneland School Corporation. DEF grants and scholarships ensure ALL Duneland students have access to a high-quality, exceptional educational experience.

Parents,

We wanted to take a moment to say,

That Tuesday of this week is the day,

When candy orders for Fannie May,

Will be sent to your home where you stay.

The gift of candy is such a great way,

To show appreciation that you want to convey.

Who wouldn't welcome a big chocolate bouquet

As a special gift at a special birthday?

So whether you live closer or farther away,

And whether the sky is sunny or partially gray,

The PTO fundraiser order should arrive Tuesday--

So enjoy your orders without delay... Thank you!

Team 91362A competed at the Indiana State Championship in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 22nd. After making the finals, the team upset 5 alliances ranked higher than them to finish in the 6th place alliance out of 122 teams. Unfortunately, this put their team one spot out of qualifying for the World Championship as the teams from the first five alliances received invitations to compete in Texas. The boys were only beat by one point for the fifth place spot. Even though the final results were heartbreaking, they competed well all day long!

Language Arts

• This week in class, students will continue reading the novel Hoot. In addition, we will be working to review concepts and skills in preparation for ILearn. We will be looking at paired text passages, figurative language, and plot. The StoryWorks assignment in Canvas is due on Friday. Honors ELA - Last week, students continued working with their book clubs on the novel The Egypt Game. Students were also assigned an at-home project, the Egypt Game prop. This week, students will bring the prop to class on the 9th and share with the class. The StoryWorks assignment in Canvas is due on Friday.

Math

• This week students will finish our unit on the area of polygons. They do not need to memorize the formulas but will need to know how to choose and use the formulas for areas of parallelograms, triangles and trapezoids. There are review options in Canvas that can help them prepare. The CSA for most students will be tomorrow, April 1. Later this week, students will revisit measurement conversions. Again, they will not need to memorize the conversions but will need to know how to move from larger units to smaller units and smaller units to larger units. For example: from inches to feet and from feet to inches. In the next few weeks, some students may be taking the ILEARN Checkpoint 2 test again to see if they can improve after more practice adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers. When we took this checkpoint originally, we had only just begun learning these skills and hope that students see how much they have learned. Not all students will be taking this checkpoint again.

Social Studies

• Last week, we looked at citizens' role in government. This week, we will be looking at principles of economics. This will include reviewing the economy of different groups we've learned about this year. There will be a CFA on Thursday/Friday.

Science

• Last week the students took the second opportunity for the ILEARN Checkpoint 2. So many of our students showed growth! This week students will take the second opportunity for ILEARN checkpoint 1. We will also spend time practicing data interpretation. Health will begin after ILEARN.

Language Arts

• This week students will continue to review priority standards in preparation for our ELA ILearn test on April 22nd.

Math

• This week in the wonderful world of numbers, variables, and formulas . . .We will continue to review 6th grade math priority standards. We will also take opportunity 2 of Checkpoint 3. This will give us another chance to work through problems on rates, ratios, measurement conversions, and area. Students need to continue completing their weekly homework assignments. These assignments are selected and designed to reinforce 6th grade math standards.

Social Studies

• Students will continue working through amendments to the Constitution. Our focus will be on equal protections under the law and due process. We will be analyzing different scenarios involving these rights. There will be no formative or summative assessments this week.

Science

• Students will be taking the science ILearn practice test on Monday so please have your Ipads charged. The middle of the week we will be reviewing photosynthesis and working on a performance task for science. The end of the week, the students will do a Gizmo to review seasons. The students will be doing a mad lib for moon facts and another performance task. The Science ILearn test will be on Friday, April 25th.

PE

• In PE this week, we are finishing our Flag Football Unit. We will be starting our baseball/softball unit after football.

Art

• This week in art, students will begin our digital ipad projects. Students will use the sketchbook app utilizing the layers, opacity, resizing, color palette, and brush tools to create their work of art.

Music

• 5th graders will begin songwriting in their groups. Our focus this week is Lyrics and balance. 6th graders will begin playing mallet instruments and reading basic melodies. This week’s Karaoke Friday Theme: Music of the Early 2000s

PLTW

• 5th graders will finish up an Engineering Challenge that they started last week and then will continue to practice coding on VEX VR. 6th graders will learn about the light, sound, and temperature sensors on the Microbit.

Media

• 5th grade students will continue completing modules in BrainPOP for digital citizenship. 6th grade students will be completing their digital technology modules in BrainPOP, as well as coding modules in Micro:bit.

Our Trojan Cafe has a new look! We have a new serving area with 2 lines to serve our students. We will also have new trays available for our students to use during lunch.

Please help your student memorize their student identification number, as they will need to know this number in order to purchase their lunch.

Here are the meal prices for the 2024-25 school year.

Elementary Breakfast Price: $1.45

Elementary Lunch Price: $2.55

Intermediate/Middle/High Breakfast Price: $1.60

Intermediate/Middle/High lunch Price: $2.95

• iPads are the property of Duneland Schools. Students should keep the devices in operable condition.
• Students should refrain from downloading apps, pics, etc. that are not permitted under school and/or corporation policy.
  
• Students are required to bring their charged iPads to class.
• Our Intermediate curriculum is designed to utilize iPads for lessons, remediation, and enrichment activities.

5th and 6th grade students are not allowed to use their personal communication devices (cell phones and smart watches) during the instructional day. Items used for communication should be stored in lockers to be kept safe throughout the day. If students need to contact a parent/guardian during the day, they are welcome to do so from the office. Classrooms also have phone access. Similarly, students are not permitted to wear personal earbuds with bluetooth capabilities attached to their phones (e.g. Air Pods, etc.). The only time audio ear pieces are permitted are for teacher-assigned classwork and medically-approved needs.

Westchester is committed to supporting students' use of technology. To get your problems solved as fast as possible, choose one of the following methods:

1. Open a new Incident IQ online:
   1. AV number is typically located on a sticker on the back/bottom of the device
2. Open a Incident IQ ticket by sending an email to: helpdesk@duneland.k12.in.us
   1. Please be sure to include email address, student or staff name, and a description of the problem
3. Contact Westchester's tech aide (Ms. Bennett) in WIS Library/Media at 219-983-3710 or fbennett@duneland.k12.in.us.

Dear Families,

We are excited to announce that we have adopted a new form of school-to-home communication at called ParentSquare for the 2025-2026 school year. This unified communications platform is designed to keep parents and guardians informed and encourage greater engagement and connection with [school or district name]. It provides a safe way for district administrators, school principals, teachers, staff, and parents to:

• Send and receive school and class information

• Share pictures and files

• See calendar items

• Sign up to volunteer

• Schedule parent-teacher conferences

• and much more . . . all in one centralized place!

Parents—Getting Started Video

All district and school, grade level and classroom information will now be sent to your computer or phone via email and/or text. For even more convenience, download the ParentSquare app (available for free for iOS and Android devices).

Have questions? Click the question mark in the top right corner of the desktop version or the Help tab on the app (tap the triple bar icon at the top left) to find answers to most of your questions.

Summer School Registration Opens Monday

Registration for DSC 2025 Summer School programs will open up on Monday, March 17. New this year is the ability for parents to register for summer school via the Skyward Family Access. For directions on how to register your child please follow the links below based on the current grade level of your student.

Instructions for Grades K-7 - Registration Open March 17 - April 15

Instructions for Grades 8-12 - Registration Open March 17 - May 2

Note: Students in grades 8-12 who are interested in taking PE should review the additional information on the Flex PE Credit and reduced diploma requirements prior to registering.

Grades PreK-7 Summer School will take place at Liberty Elementary School from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in Session 1 Only. Grades 8-12 Summer School will take place at Chesterton High School from 7:30 a.m. - 12:55 pm for both Session 1 and 2.

Separate invitations will be provided for families interested in KinderCamp, our Pre Kindergarten Program.

Need Skyward Support? If you need support in registering for summer school within the Skyward Arena Scheduling please call your child’s school and the Skyward/Office Administrative Assistant can provide support.

Should you have any questions about summer school programming please contact the following:

Grades PreK-7 - Call the Department of Teaching & Learning at 219-983-3656

Grades 8-12 - Contact the CHS Counseling Office at 219-983-3730

Something to Smile About Scholarship - The KTG Family Scholarship

The "Something to Smile About" Scholarship aims to support Duneland students aged 10-18 who need braces but face financial challenges in obtaining them.

Initiated through the collaboration of a local family and orthodontist, this scholarship provides an opportunity for parents or guardians to ensure their child receives professional orthodontic care, ultimately enhancing their confidence and promoting a positive self-image through a healthy smile.

General Eligibility Requirements:

• Your child is between 10 and 18 years old.

• Your total family income is 200% of the poverty level or less.

• Your child receives regular dental care and has good oral hygiene.

• Your child is not currently in orthodontic treatment or in between phases of treatment.

• Your child has not received previous orthodontic treatment.

• The family contribution is $500.

Downloadable Something to Smile About Application

DUNELAND TRANSPORTATION

Information regarding student bus transportation for the 2024-2025 school year is available on DSC website under the Transportation Department.

TRACK STUDENT'S BUS WITH MYSTOP APP

The Duneland School Corporation Department of Transportation has now made My Stop available to our families.

My Stop is a web-based application which will allow parents to access live bus GPS information using a smartphone, tablet, or computer and securely view the current location of your child’s bus on routes. The system also provides the bus’s estimated time of arrival at your child’s bus stop.

Please read the attached letter to parents for more information on how to use My Stop to track your child's bus.

To make an appointment please call 219-763-8112. Let NorthShore know you are a Duneland School student or staff member and that you would like to make an appointment at the Duneland School Clinic located at the old CMS.

WIS Mission:

WIS provides a safe and engaging environment where students are empowered to explore their talents, build on their curiosity, embrace high expectations, and become responsible, caring citizens.

WIS Vision:

WIS inspires learners to become independent, critical thinkers collaborating in an environment where responsibility, adaptability, and reflection are modeled and developed.

Email: slongacre@duneland.k12.in.us
Website: https://wis.duneland.k12.in.us/
Location: 1050 South 5th Street, Chesterton, IN, USA
Phone: (219) 983-3710
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westchesterintermediate/