Westridge Wildcat News

5/3 - Westridge PTSO General Meeting 6:00-7:00 (zoom link below)

5/3 - 5/7 - Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week

5/3 - Respond to Racism Kids' Storytime w/ Katharine Phelps (See Below)

5/4 - Meet the New Superintendent, Elementary Zoom (See Below)

5/7 - Class Placement Input Due

5/12 - LOSD Cares presents Parenting in a Pandemic (See Below)

5/21 - NO SCHOOL - Grade Prep Day

5/31 - NO SCHOOL - Memorial Day

Dr. Jennifer Schiele wants to hear from you. Parents and guardians are invited to join her at a listening session to get to know you and hear your perspective on any topic you’d like to share. Each session is dedicated to a specific school level.

Elementary School

Tuesday, May 4

5-6 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://loswego-k12-or-us.zoom.us/j/84026001506

Middle School

Wednesday, May 5

5:30-6:30 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://loswego-k12-or-us.zoom.us/j/88638134242

High School

Thursday, May 6

5-6 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://loswego-k12-or-us.zoom.us/j/85885434063

LOSD is planning for in-person five full days a week for the 2021-22 school year.

As part of that plan, LOSD is exploring offering an online-only program for students who choose to remain fully remote for the 2021-22 school year. This offering will be different than LO Online. Next year's online program model will be dependent on interest in being remote.

We understand there are many unknowns at this time. Based on what you know now, please answer the questions in this survey to help LOSD in our planning. Please complete one survey for each student in your care. Thank you.

Teacher Appreciation Week

May 3rd through May 7th

YOUR MISSION THIS WEEK:

Make sure our Wildcat teachers and staff know that they are the BEST IN THE UNIVERSE!

Please color the OUT OF THIS WORLD page and write a special note to your teacher, OR any of our other incredible Wildcat teachers and staff (secretaries, our educational assistants, Mr. Kieser, Mrs. McMahon, Mrs. Jacobs, Mrs. Melton, our learning specialists, our custodial staff, etc.)

This part is MISSION CRITICAL - remember to bring it to school next week and let’s decorate our school with your artwork and kind words!

You can download and color as many copies as you would like!

Westridge is “Virtually Talented” The Sequel: 2021

Calling all Wildcat performers to the digital stage! We are excited to offer our 2nd Annual Virtual Talent Show! We were impressed and proud of last year’s performers and know that our talent pool is even deeper this time around! Here is your chance to showcase your stunning skills (just as long as they are safe and appropriate) with your Wildcat family. Get out your cameras to document the unique or fun things you have been perfecting this year. Here's how you can participate:

• Please upload a video or photo for submission by Friday, May 21st.

• Videos can be 30 - 60 seconds in length. Any video clip longer than 60 seconds will get edited so keeping it short and sweet is best!

• Your child’s video/music choice should be previewed and approved by parents before submission.

• Parents, please submit videos in MP4 or MOV format or you may submit a photo to Catherine Melton at meltonc@loswego.k12.or.us

• Please include in the Subject line when emailing your video:

• Talent Show: Student’s First & Last Name, Grade, Teacher’s last name

• Your submissions will be reviewed for appropriate content and music choices, then uploaded into a movie compilation for all Wildcats to enjoy together during our final week in school. It will also be sent out in the last Wildcat Newsletter.

• If you have any questions, please contact:

• Kelly Troike troikek@loswego.k12.or.us

• Catherine Melton meltonc@loswego.k12.or.us

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month. Here at River Grove teachers will be highlighting, discussing, and teaching about AAPI individuals and their communities throughout May. If you would like to join the greater Lake Oswego community in meeting local AAPI community members and discussing anti-Asian hate, Respond to Racism is hosting a virtual meeting this Monday from 6:30-8:30pm. Registration details can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/respond-to-racism-may-3-2021-community-meeting-tickets-152370270581.

It has been so amazing having all our hybrid students back in person! As the weather warms and the sun is out more and more, please remember that we do not have adult supervision outside of the school until 7:55 (AM cohort) and 12:40 (PM cohort). Please do not drop your child off unsupervised before those times.

Thank you for your understanding.

Each spring, placement teams begin the process of developing the next year's class rosters. Placement teams take great care to consider a number of factors that contribute to the success of each child, including social, emotional, and academic factors. Teams also consider factors that lead to balanced classrooms that benefit all students, such as balancing class size, academic strengths and goals, and behavioral and work habits. Placement teams include your child's teacher, other grade level teachers, specialists, counselor, principal, and other staff knowledgeable of your child and your child's grade level peers.

If you would like to provide input to the placement team, please fill out the form by May 7th. Requests for specific teachers are not considered as a part of the placement process.

Input may include:

• Academic, social, and/or emotional strengths and/or needs
• Instructional methods or aspects of the learning environment that benefit your child
• Goals you would like to see next year's teacher work towards with your child

Click here for the 2021-2022 Parent Input Form

Congratulations to the Fearsome Foursome (Grace E., Gracie N., Kyra M., and Laurel R.) for repeating as Westridge OBOB Champions, with two nail-biting victories this Wednesday over the Thrashing Three (Andrew K., Luke M., and Zachary W.) in the 5th Grade Final and then over the Big Brains (Alex B., Fletcher M., Ian V., Keelyn K., and Mason S.) in the School Championship.

The Fearsome Foursome recovered from an early Pool Play loss to the Thrashing Three to amass the second most points across the whole competition, and only got stronger as the tournament progressed these last several weeks. They saved their best performance for the final day, during which they avenged their earlier loss to the Thrashing Three and then bested the team who had accumulated the most points across the competition in the Big Brains. In the last five years, we have not had a single repeat champion team, making this year's achievement all the more impressive -- the Fearsome Foursome survived the gauntlet of other very talented Westridge teams not once, but twice.

Congratulations also to the Big Brains, who took the 4th Grade Championship over the Fantasy Flamingos (Hazel B., Julia K., Emily M., and Sydney N.) earlier in the day, and posted the highest individual round score of the whole tournament in the process with some of the most difficult questions designed for the competition.

The Thrashing Three and Fantasy Flamingos should hold their heads high, finishing tied for 3rd place in the school. Both teams put up very impressive scores, and either could have advanced with a little different luck with the questions.

With all the talented 3rd and 4th Grade teams we saw this year, the future for OBOB at Westridge remains bright. The class of OBOBers graduating this year -- perhaps the most skilled class we have ever produced -- will be welcome additions to LMS's thriving OBOB competition next year.

All of our Westridge OBOBers learned valuable lessons in teamwork, competition, independence, reading comprehension, and study skills this year. They were all just great -- always showing up on time and playing with spirit but also friendliness. They also did a ton​ of reading -- well over 20 million words of high-quality children's literature from diverse perspectives and genres as a collective group.

A special thanks to Librarian Lauren Calbreath and parent volunteers Justin Ormiston and Amy Mai, who all gave up three month's worth of Wednesday lunchbreaks to make this year's all-virtual competition a possibility. Amy Mai has led, co-led, or otherwise helped run the OBOB program at Westridge for five years, and her leadership and hard work on behalf of our OBOBers will be sorely missed as her youngest child graduates this year (with a pair of OBOB trophies in hand!). If you are interested in the Oregon Battle of the Books competition, please inquire as to how you can help plan and execute next year's competition. We have big shoes to fill.

What is OBOB?
The Oregon Battle of the Books is a reading and trivia competition that serves as a statewide celebration of literacy and good books. 3rd to 5th grade students form teams of three to five members, then read and study from a common list of 16 books selected by the State OBOB Committee each year. Teams square off in a series of "Battles" to show off how much they have learned by answering questions about the books.

If you or your student are interested in getting a jump on next year's reading, the full list of titles can be found here: https://www.oregonbattleofthebooks.org/2021-2022-obob-title-lists/

Sponsored by Respond to Racism, join in each month for kids' storytime. Reading selections are for K-5 elementary school-aged children and share narratives from a multitude of experiences, voices, and cultures. The next storytime is May 3rd at 5:00 PM. Register at www.respondtoracism.org.

We are so fortunate to have students back at school learning. Unfortunately some of them are choosing to visit our campus during the school day when they do not have classes and distracting others. Students are only welcome on campus during their cohort's time for in-person instruction. All LOSD playgrounds are closed from 8-4 Monday-Friday. This includes the undercover basketball court. We want to ensure everyone's safety and do not have staff to supervise children during their asynchronous learning times.

The Westridge Elementary School Advisory Committee (SAC) brings citizen input on the conduct of school affairs to the administration and staff. It also serves as a sounding board for proposed or current policies and activities at Westridge and provides information to parents of students, the Lake Oswego School Board, and Central Office administration. Participation on this committee involves a once/month meeting and provides the following aspects between the school and the district:

· Liaison role

· Communication

· Problem-solving

· School Board resource

· Facility/finance/safety

· Counsel to Principal

Applications can be emailed to Mrs. Montgomery at montgomk@loswego.k12.or.us

Click here for the SAC application.

Each school year our second grade students are given a TAG screener where individual results can help recognize exceptional ability and/or gifted potential in our students. Due to the reduction in instructional time this school year, the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) will not be administered this spring, and instead all second and third-grade students will be tested in the fall of 2021 to accommodate the change in testing schedule for this school year.

Please feel free to connect with our building TAG Coordinator, Mrs. Swanson at swansona@loswego.k12.or.us if you have any questions.

Oregon school districts are required to administer state assessments this spring in English Language Arts (ELA), math, and science. The Oregon Department of Education’s request to waive these assessments due to the pandemic was denied by the federal government. However, a revised waiver has been conditionally approved to require fewer assessments at each grade level this year, per the below schedule. In addition, the ELA and math assessments have been shortened and will take less time to complete this year.

• Grade 3: ELA
• Grade 4: Math
  
• Grade 5: Science
• Grade 6: ELA
• Grade 7: ELA and Math
• Grade 8: Math and Science
• Grade 11: ELA and Math

State assessments cannot be administered remotely due to the need to maintain security and provide accessibility supports to students where applicable. All participating students, including those in the LO Online program, must be assessed by trained district staff in a secure environment such as a school building. Any parent who does not wish their student to take these assessments is asked to notify the school using Oregon’s legislated processes:

• ELA and/or math (grades 3, 4, 6–8 and 11): submit the state opt-out form to your child’s school. The form is available on the State Assessments page of the District website.
• Science (grades 5 and 8 only): submit a written request for exemption to your child’s school (email or US mail).

Each school will determine its own testing schedule and logistics. Parents of LO Online students will be contacted with additional information. Please let your student’s school know if you have questions.

Dates: Monday to Thursday, July 26 to August 5

Student Schedule: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Parent Schedule: July 27, July 29, August 3, and August 5 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Parent Topics include:

• Meet the principal and PTO/PTA

• School District Nurse and District Communications

• Community School and Extended Day Program

• Foundation and Transportation

Fee: $200

Schools:

Oak Creek Elementary

Rivergrove Elementary

Lake Grove Elementary*

Forest Hills Elementary*

Hallinan Elementary

Westridge Elementary

*Lake Grove & Forest Hills programs located at Oak Creek Elementary due to construction.

Registration Opens: Friday, April 16, 2021

Registration Instructions:

From Lake Oswego School District website: www.loswego.k12.or.us

• Click on ‘Community School’ under the ‘Extended Programs’ tab on top of page

• Click on ‘View and Register for Summer Programs’

• Click on ‘Elementary Enrichment’

• Click on ‘Kindergarten Transition Programs’

• Choose your course and click REGISTER

Fee waivers/Fee Reductions

2020 - 2021 Fee Waiver and Registration Form: https://www.losdschools.org/Page/8017

Consistent with its mission to be an inclusive learning community, the Lake Oswego School District accepts requests for fee waivers or fee reductions for students currently enrolled within the Lake Oswego School District that participate in district extra-curricular or enrichment fee-based programs. Fee waivers/reductions may be granted, and are based on district policy and federal guidelines. For questions or to find out more information contact the Community School Office at 503-534-2302.

If you have any questions or would like more information about Kindergarten Transition Programming, please contact Vanessa Davalos at davalosv@loswego.k12.or.us or at 503-534-2126.

Starting on 5/4/2021, Crunch and Munch will be held with Mrs. Taylor in her Zoom Room.

Mrs. Taylor is excited to meet all of the 1st and 3rd-grade friends that like to attend our lunchtime meetings.

You will see her Bitmoji in Clever, or you can use this link to get to Crunch and Munch.

The schedule will stay the same.

1st grade- Tuesdays 11:30-11:50 am

3rd grade- Thursdays 11:30-11:50 am

Kindergarten-Mondays 11:30-12:00

2nd grade-Tuesdays 11:30-12:00

4th grade-Thursdays 11:30-12:00

Students can use these instructions to access the Zoom link through their Clever account, or you can use this link directly:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i4cz2YAZa6bU9ufr5Tak98Umu-1Ge3_bPYMUizX9urA/edit

Dear Westridge Families,

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

~Mr. Fred Rogers

During the month of May, Westridge will be investing our time and attention on the character trait: RESPONSIBILITY in our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons, classrooms, and throughout our school community. The dictionary defines Responsibility in a few ways: duty, accountability, and the independence to make decisions. At school, we will be referencing the following definition:

RESPONSIBILITY: to take action and understand how our

choices affect others, ourselves, and the world.

All the choices we make impact the world around us. The responsible person works to be aware of this impact and makes decisions based on what is good for as many people as possible which requires self-reflection, self-control, and a willingness to take ownership. As a school community, we will spend time talking about how to build and use these skills in order to earn more Responsibility in our lives, positively influencing our world. Further, we will learn about distinguished people, like Mr. Rogers, who modeled Responsibility in their daily lives. By demonstrating Responsibility in our daily activities and interactions, together we Wildcats can contribute to a more kind and generous world!

Here are links for extension activities to explore RESPONSIBILITY together as a family:

K-2 RESPONSIBILITY Family Letter (English) 3-5 RESPONSIBILITY Family Letter (English)

K-2 RESPONSABILIDAD para Familias (En Español) 3-5 RESPONSABILIDAD para Familias (En Español)

Asynchronous SEL lessons are posted weekly by 8a.m. each Monday morning on my google classroom. Students may complete these supplementary lessons at their convenience any time throughout the week. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out to me via email at kieserg@loswego.K12.or.us.

Sincerely,

Gary Kieser

School Counselor- Westridge Elementary

Join our adult LOSD community & caregivers on Zoom for a conversation with local parent, advocate, & speaker, Tara Rolstad.

• Title: Getting Real about Our Kids’ Mental Health
• Time: May 12th 11:30am - 30 minutes presentation + 30 minutes Q and A (Q & A = questions for Tara to answer AND Wellness Team)
• Tara Rolstad's website: https://tararolstad.com/

The LO Parks Gnome Hunt kicked off April 1st! The Parks Stewardship program invites families to explore 21 natural park areas in the city. Each month, look for Blossom, Greenie, and Oak, our 3 gnomes that hide in 3 different natural park areas. The Gnome Hunt runs from April to October.

Visit lo-stewardship.org for monthly clues, maps, gnome trivia and cool interactive links to learn about birds, animals and native species. Each month, the Gnome Hunt invites you to discover park features such as a 10 ft. bird nest, foot bridges and more!

bhamachek@ci.oswego.or.us

Mystery Science kits are still available at the school for pick up. The office is open from 7:30am-3:30pm, where you can ask for the grade appropriate kit.

Registration for the 2021-22 school year is happening now!

• January 20, 2021 for registering new students enrolling into grades 1–12 who have never enrolled in Lake Oswego before and returning students enrolling into grades 1–12 who are not currently enrolled but will re-enroll for next year.
• February 24, 2021 for registering new students enrolling into kindergarten for the 2021-22 school year.
• Students who are currently attending LOSD during the 2020-21 school year do not need to register for the 2021-22 school year.
  

LOSD is pleased to offer online registration through its parent portal, ParentVUE (contact your resident school for help with logging in). See the Registration & Verification page of the LOSD website for guidance.

Through a partnership with the Lake Oswego Schools Foundation, LOSD is pleased to offer another term of Wednesday Workshops enrichment classes to create more connection experiences for our LOSD elementary students only and offered free of charge.

Wednesday Workshops will run for 6 weeks from April 21, 2021 to May 26, 2021. Classes are scheduled from 9:15-10:15 a.m. and 10:30-11:30 a.m. and can accommodate both the AM and PM cohort schedules.

Wednesday Workshops sign up is through LOSD Community Schools and features fun, high-quality third-party instructors in science, robotics, engineering, art, world languages as well as activity classes in leadership, movement, writing, acting and more.

Please click here to go to the Wednesday Workshops landing page on the LOSD website for more information and to register for a class.

The ILLO clothing closet, located next to Lake Oswego High School, provides clothes and personal hygiene items to people that live, attend school, or work in Lake Oswego. Its hours are from 9am-12pm every Saturday. If you have any questions, or would like to donate to the closet, visit their website at https://www.ilovelakeoswego.com/.

The District has added a page to ParentVUE that allows parents to view a history of websites which their student visited using a District device over the past week. This is informational only and does not allow blocking of sites. To view this information, navigate to the Additional page using the options on the left of the screen, then click Parent Umbrella. For assistance, please watch this video or contact the school office.

Please join us for our last virtual PTSO General Meeting for this school year. In addition to general PTSO updates, our agenda will include:

• Principal's Update - Kari Montgomery
• Slating PTSO executive officers for next school year
• The LOSD bond team will share updates for the current bond and will discuss the need and plans for another bond measure.

Monday, May 3

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

JOIN WITH ZOOM

https://zoom.us/join

Meeting ID: 897 6878 5028
Passcode: 288059

If you would like to review minutes from previous PTSO General Meetings, you can find them at https://www.losdschools.org/Page/2439

We are excited to announce our upcoming Restaurant Night Fundraiser at Panda Express (17799 SW 65th Avenue, Lake Oswego) on Saturday, May 15, 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Please remember to present the digital flyer below when ordering, or enter 322722 in the promo code box during online checkout at order.pandaexpress.com. 20% of event sales will be donated to the Westridge PTSO. ORDERS MUST BE PLACED ON THE EVENT DAY!

Minted's fundraising program is a "win-win" for everyone. You save 20% on all minted purchases, and 15% of your order total gets donated back to the Westridge PTSO. Check out minted.com for graduation announcements, Mother's Day gifts, personalized stationary, etc. To receive your discount, be sure to enter promo code FUNDRAISEWESTRIDGE during checkout.

The Westridge Elementary PTSO (Parent Teacher Student Organization) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization run by parent volunteers. Through parent and community donations, we help to fund field trips, technology, and over 30 school programs each year for the enrichment of Westridge students.

While in the midst of the ongoing COVID pandemic, we find ourselves in an especially unique position this year. Many of our community members have experienced financial hardships as a result of the pandemic. We realize that it may not be viable for your family to donate to our annual fundraiser, and thus, we are not hosting one during this academic year.

While our school year looks quite different this year, the need for resources to enrich the academic experience of each and every student is still very real. Therefore, we are still gratefully accepting donations. If you are in a position to donate and able to take advantage of your employer's corporate matching program, we encourage you to participate in giving. Your donations are incredibly valuable and allow us to support our teachers and students.

Thank you for considering donating to support our Westridge students. If you would like to donate at this time or at any time during the school year, please visit Tinyurl.com/wildcatfund.

We love your sweet dogs, but to keep all our Wildcats safe and sound, we ask that you do not bring your dog on campus. We have students who have phobias around dogs and we want to keep all our students feeling safe.

Thank you for your cooperation.

On November 16, 2020, the LOSD School Board approved the ALL Students Belong Policy which prohibits the display of hate symbols and the use of hate speech in our school community. This is another step forward in our efforts of becoming an anti-bias and anti-racist organization and living up to the District’s core values of equity and inclusion. The All Students Belong Policy makes it clear that hate will not be tolerated nor accepted in our schools. We encourage students to stand against hate by interrupting and reporting any bias and/or racist incident that they witness or personally experience.

We want LOSD schools to be a safe, welcoming, and loving space where all students have the opportunity to be themselves and thrive socially and academically. If you have witnessed or experienced any harm directed to any student, teacher, or staff member based on perceived or actual identity, you can report to your administrator, a trusted staff member, by using the new elementary Incident Report or anonymously to SafeOregon.

The Oregon Department of Education publishes an annual notice regarding state assessments in English Language Arts and Math. Please review the Annual Notice for Statewide Tests for information regarding why participation matters, an explanation of the right to opt out, testing windows, and other resources.

All members of our community are committed to providing a safe and inclusive learning environment that cultivates empathy, creates challenging opportunities, and fosters lifelong learning.

Email: kari.montgomery@loswego.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.losdschools.org/wr
Location: 3400 Royce Way, Lake Oswego, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 534-2371