Hello Advocacy Families!  

Welcome to September! This month our Advocacy theme is Self-Awareness. For this theme we have two learning goals that we want students to work towards.     

Goal 1: Students will practice identifying their emotions and leveraging their strengths to overcome challenges. 

Goal 2: Students will be able to name the things that make them unique, and how those character traits help them succeed in their personal and academic endeavors.           

As we are over halfway through the first quarter, I want to make sure you are logging in to Infinite Campus and checking on your students’ grades and identifying any incomplete or missing assignments that may need to be finished.

The following link will help you set up the Infinite Campus App, which is nice to have as you can set it to notify you whenever a grade is entered for your student. https://1.cdn.edl.io/X3X3DBQ7iIoHx1h6P5aI99A0RyC52XnQd9k5SnwDVIODKHgl.pdf

Important Dates            

• Sept. 4^th: Fun Run and Half Day Dismissal at 11:30
• Sept. 7^th: No School
• Sept. 11th: Picture Day           
• Sept. 14th – 18th: Spirit Week              
• Monday: Country vs. Country Club - Are you more of a country person or a city person? Do you belong at the rodeo or the country club? Dress to show off either way
• Tuesday: Tacky Tuesday - What's the wackiest, tackiest outfit you can find? It doesn't have to match - in fact it probably shouldn't.
• Wednesday: Westgate Wednesday – Wear your Westgate gear!
• Thursday: Throwback Thursday - Throw it back to the days of old.
  50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or beyond. We're not stopping you - go as far back as you want and dress in that style!
• Friday: Pajama Day - Some days you just want to roll out of bed and come to school! Wear your PJs and make it easy! (must be school appropriate clothing)
• Sept 22nd: 8^th Grade Field Trip to the History Colorado Museum (make sure you have signed the permission slip and sack lunches are required that day)         
• Sept. 23rd: 7^th Grade Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science  (make sure you have signed the permission slip and sack lunches are required that day) 

Dear Families,

Starting next week, our pod will be participating in a new school program called Nourish in Nature. As part of this environmental education initiative, students will enjoy lunch outdoors during their regular lunch block.

• 7th/8th Grade: Thursdays
• Lunch Time: 12:15–12:45 p.m.

To help students make the most of this experience, we ask that, if possible, lunches brought from home do not require microwaving only on Thursdays. This allows students to spend the entire lunch period outside, increases their daily time in nature, and gives our pod the opportunity to eat all together.

Students who receive a school lunch will have their meals brought outside and served as usual. At the end of lunch, students will clean up their eating area and return indoors to resume classes.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're excited to offer this new opportunity for our students!

Hello Advocacy Families!

My name is Kyra Long (Ms. Long to students), and I am your child’s Advocacy Teacher/ Advocate. Advocacy is more than a Homeroom. Advocacy classes are first and foremost a time for students to build supportive relationships with their peers and with an adult they can trust. It is a time for everyone to feel recognized and welcomed into the school community. As your child’s Advocate, I will be your primary point of communication, and I am committed to advocating for your child this year.

I have subscribed you to my Advocacy page and my classroom pages, so you will receive updates to your email automatically. You can use the link below to access my page.

On my pages, I will be posting academic information on my Edlio every week for you to review. Monthly, I will post Advocacy specific information.

We have sent home two documents that we would like you to read over with your student, sign, and send back.

1.        Behavior and Expectations

2.        Electronic Use Agreement

This month, our August Advocacy theme is RISE!

At Westgate, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a part of our Whole Child Education program. PBIS is a system in which students, staff and community create a set of school-wide behavioral expectations/ core values, we teach those expectations in all our various environments, and then we CELEBRATE when we see students doing those things! At Westgate, we RISE (Respect, Integrity, Safety, Empathy).

We will be teaching students what these 4 words mean—focusing on a different part of RISE each week—and what it looks like to live these values out during school and at home. We will use RISE all year to celebrate positive behaviors.

I am excited for the new school year and getting to know you and your student!

Sincerely,

Ms. Long