What's Happening at Western

Dear Western families,

We continue to have all buses arriving by 8:08 each morning and all buses leaving on time at 3:10 each afternoon. I know there are still some isolated issues with picking up and dropping off at some specific stops, and your emails continue to help find solutions to these problems. It has recently been brought to my attention that there is some talk among parents that Western students are not able to go outside for recess because of the buses parked at our school. This is not true. We had to move our recess from our regular blacktop and grass area near the cafeterias up to the turf fields. The students have been outside every day this year, except for yesterday when it rained. We know many students are missing their 4-square and basketball games on the blacktop, but I am confident that the district will find a solution to the bus parking and the students will be back out there playing the recess games they love. I am continuing to work with the district to ensure there is the least impact as possible on our school and that the safety of the students and staff are the priority. We are all trying to make the best of this challenging situation, and I appreciate all your patience and support.

While we are still seeing a huge improvement in our drop-off procedures and on-time arrival from last year, I have started to see more cars and students arriving much closer to 8:15. This is making some students late to their period 1 class. As you will learn, a priority at Western is for our students to arrive at school on time. Personally, I am a very on-time person, so lateness is a sore spot for me. Just ask my husband anytime we are late to something because he can’t get out of the house (which is often). Whether you are driving your child or they are walking/biking to school, they should be on time every day. This does not mean they should be pulling up to the curb or parking their bike at 8:15am. They should arrive by 8:00 am each morning so they have time to get to their class on time. Students are allowed in the building at 7:55am, but they can be dropped off from 7:30 am on and wait outside with supervision. We do have students dropped off even earlier that wait on the steps or benches. When the weather is cold or rainy, they are allowed into the gym.

It is very important for our students to start the day in a positive way, and rushing into school and entering a class late is not a good way to start the day. Think of how you feel when you are late to work. We don't want our students starting the day feeling that way. I am asking you to please prioritize getting your child to school on time, so it becomes a priority to them. If they beg you to stop at Dunkin’ for an iced coffee (which they are not allowed to have in school) on the way, just tell them you will take them after school instead because they were on time to school. We will be monitoring on-time attendance closely and reaching out to parents if a child is showing a pattern of tardiness. As always, we are here to support you if you need us to help you get your child to school on time. Please review Western’s Attendance and Tardy Policy. We appreciate your support with making this a priority.

As you will find over the years, your children will think it is funny to display some behaviors that do not make any sense at all to the adults around them. Most of these they are learning from TikTok, and seem mostly silly and harmless. However, when a large group of middle schools begin to display this same "harmless" behavior, it can become disruptive to the learning environment in school. There are two behaviors that we need to eliminate quickly at Western. The first is our students’ loud and disruptive response when any adult says the number 7 after the number 6, such as ”please turn to page 67” or if they happen to count from 1 to 10. The other is taking the little loops off of backpacks that are attached to help you open and close a zipper. Kids are taking them from other backpacks without permission, which is upsetting students and causing unnecessary disruptions. I am asking that you speak to your child about these behaviors and expect consequences to be given if they are involved in either type of behavior. And while you are at it, if you can stop them from watching TikTok, we would appreciate it!

I hope you have a great weekend. This is a big weekend for Penn State fans, with the much awaited White Out game against the Oregon Ducks. This will be our first big test as to whether we can make it to the championships this year. Good luck to all your teams!

Sincerely,

Suzanne

• Thursday. October 2nd: Yom Kippur- NO SCHOOL
• Friday, October 3rd at 9:00 am- 7th grade PTA Coffee, 9am-10am, (WMS Small Cafe)
• Friday, October 3rd at 10:00 am- 8th grade PTA Coffee, 10am-11am, (WMS Small Cafe)

On Wednesday, October 1st, we will have our first Flex Day. On this day, we will run a different schedule that will allow for an hour-long Advisor Base, where students will meet in their Advisor Base pairs. During this time, the following will take place:

• Mid-Quarter Progress Monitoring: Students will take a deep dive into their Aspen Gradebook to record their grades for each class and identify areas they are proud of, as well as, those that they want to set goals and action steps around in order to improve.
• Students will email parents to make them aware and bring home a progress monitoring reflection form that parents will be required to sign and send back for AB teachers to check. This form is located in their student planner PLEASE ASK YOUR CHILD TO SHOW YOU THEIR PLANNER ON Wednesday.
• Mid-Quarter Celebration Ceremonies: We will be celebrating what we value at WMS by awarding students with various awards. These will include awards for great classroom citizenship, a growth mindset, AVID student skills, kindness, effort and more!

As the sports season is in full effect and more and more grades are being entered into Aspen, we want to remind you that students need to maintain good grades and appropriate behavior in order to be able to play on a sports team. Students playing on a team represent Western when they are playing against other schools, and if a player is displaying poor behavior during the day, then their ability to attend practice or a game will be in jeopardy. We are working to help our students see the importance of maintaining good grades and behavior so that if they want to play sports at GHS, neither will get in their way. Below are the rules in more detail:

1. 2 or more Ds in the Progress category: students can practice and play in games, but they have to complete 3 study halls and or lunch sessions each week until their grades improve to no more than one D in the Progress category.

2. One or more F in the Progress category: the same applies as having 2 Ds, but they cannot play in games until they have no grades of an F in the Progress category.

3. If a student gets detention or any disciplinary action that day (e.g.,they are sent to an administrator), then they will not be able to attend a practice or game that day.

We focus on the Progress category of the students’ grades, as this is the classwork and homework that leads up to mastery grades. We recognize that students may perform poorly on a test from time to time, and this can impact their overall grade. A teacher will address this area with a student through our reassessment policy and extra help. However, if a child is consistently completing their work and test performance is being addressed, we want them to be able to continue to play on a sports team.

Last year, we provided an extra math support class for all our on-level 6th grade students to give additional time to reinforcement of skills and concepts in the 6th grade math curriculum, as well as pre-requisite skills students had not mastered on district and state assessments. This resulted in an increase in our students' math performance, so we have expanded this support to all three grades this year. If your child is taking an on-level math class, you will see an extra math class on their schedule that takes place on a pattern. This class is extra time with their math teacher to target skills identified needing additional instruction and/or reinforcement. We are looking forward to seeing the results across all three grades this year.

I know school just began, but it is time to order your child’s yearbook so that you can pull it out in 15 years and make fun of these awkward years. You can use the QR code or link below to buy a yearbook for the lowest price of the year $30.

Yearbook ordering

A reminder to all 8th grade parents to use the links below to register for DC. The deadline to register is October 15th. The deadline to request financial aid is October 31st.

Click here to register for D.C.!

Click here for the presentation

Now that your child has come home saying their picture is probably awful, you can buy it to display prominently in your house. I did actually wear that for my 6th grade picture, which my kids love to make fun of me about. There is nothing like the 80's! Below is the information to order pictures:

Link to order: Picture Orders

Password: wms25

The prepay link active until: October 3rd

While we are trying to teach our middle schoolers responsibility, we do request that you put their names on items that are sent to school with them: lunchboxes, water bottles, sweatshirts etc, as we are already accumulating many items in the lost and found. If they do not have a name we cannot return them to their owner. Thank you for your help with this!

We worked hard last year to make our website user-friendly for you all. We created a section called “Parent Pages,” which is where you can go first when looking for important information to answer questions you may have or help your child. Here is where you will find information related to:

After-School Clubs

Nurse Information

Attendance Policy

Principals’ Message

Bell Schedule

School Calendar

Bus Routes

Sports Calendar

Homework Hubs

What’s Happening at Western (New & Prior)

Lunch Menu & My School Bucks

We will add any new information, such as sports registration, as new activities start or needs arise. If there is something you think would be helpful to have in this section, please email me to let me know. Here is the link to our website to take a look.

Please consider donating items to our CARE CLOSET to help us provide everyday essentials for our students who are in need. We are looking for the following items, which we provided last year:

Hair supplies, Shower supplies, Nail clippers, Deodorant, Toothbrushes/paste, Chapstick, Feminine hygiene products, Hats & gloves, Wipes, Hand sanitizer, School supplies

New this year: new or very gently worn shoes, sporting equipment, and jackets/coats.

If you are able to donate any of the items from the list, please bring them to the main office.

We would love to get 100% participation in the WMS PTA this year! By joining, you are providing funds that help our PTA support our students and staff throughout the year. Please join by clicking on the following link: https://westernmspta.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/328022

Help your child be a part of our two spirit days each week by reminding them to wear college gear on Wednesdays and Western gear on Fridays.

When your child will be absent, coming in late to school from an appointment, or needs to be dismissed early, please call the attendance line at (203) 531-5678 prior to 8:45 am and leave a message. Please be sure to include your child’s name, grade and the reason for their absence, tardy or dismissal.

If you do not have an Aspen account to check your child’s live grade book OR you are having any issues with Aspen, please follow the instructions below. Once students start doing school work, you can see what work has been turned in and what grades he or she earns.

1. Email support@greenwich.k12.ct.us

1. Let them know your child’s name and that you need your Aspen account activated or the problem you are having. They will respond with instructions.

Below are the Homework Hubs for each grade-level team and World Language teachers.

8th grade: Orange Green

7th grade: Purple Yellow

6th grade: Red Blue

World Language