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Mr. Baldwin Advocacy

Course Description

 

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Conferences

Conferences will be on Thursday and Friday of this week. The sign-up genius for this set of conferences is now closed. If you need to make a change to your conference or schedule a last minute conference, please contact Mrs. Dorschner at [email protected].  

Week of 9/10/18

This week, we will be drafting our personal narratives called "Slice of Life".  We will be focusing on details and thoughts.  We will also work on the reading strategy "inferring".  

Survey - Please See Link

Hello Parents and Guardians, 

 

In conjunction with Westgate's Whole Child Education Program and in an effort to provide every single student with unique, differentiated, and appropriate educational opportunities, we are assessing all students in academics as well as SEL and behavior. In order to get a complete picture of your students strengths and challenges, please fill out the following survey, created by Robert Goodman, as soon as possible. 

 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=g63kUOjsn0GLHt1cphgzjX02WoAuO7xBsOOZMYX-ZMNURTZKOERMQkRCME1IN1hWUzBFMk9UVTM0NS4u

September 2018

Conference sign-ups for the first quarter will be emailed out by your child's advocacy teacher at the end of the day on Friday, September 7th. Please remember to follow the sign-up instructions when you see the email come through.
 
Curriculum Night Presentations are posted to advocacy teacher pages if you were not able to make it and would like to see what each teacher will be focusing on in their classes.
 
Please make sure your kiddos have a healthy morning snack each day as all classes have snack during literacy. Sugary treats are not recommended, and fruit snacks and candy are prohibited. Bringing a box of snacks to keep in the classroom is allowed if your child has trouble remembering to bring their snack daily.
 
Reminder: No Waste Lunch Wednesdays! Many students bring them every day (thank you for that!) but we are striving for everyone to have no trash on Wednesdays if you are able to participate.
 
We are working on some field trip options and permission slips will always come home in Friday folders so please be sure to check them weekly and send them back with your child on Monday.
 
School-wide: COMING UP
 
Order Your Rockies Tickets for 9/28 by Friday 9/7!
Order your tickets for Westgate at the Rockies! Orders are due Friday, September 7 (game is September 28).
 
 
Saturday September 8th at 8 am
 
Register today for the Westgate 5K Fun Run and Kids Obstacle Course, Saturday, September 8! https://www.westgateschool.org/apps/pages/RUNWILD5K
Run Wild 5K Fun Run - Westgate Community School
www.westgateschool.org
Westgate Community School is an innovative alternative for Gifted and Creative Learners located in Thornton, CO.
Join us for the 10th Anniversary Speaker Series
Sally Northway Ogden - Love & Logic Expert at Westgate on September 13; 6-8 PM
 
Looking ahead:
 
10th Anniversary Westgate Gala tickets are now available!
October 18 7-11 pm at Stonebrook Manor

Parent Focus Group

Parents! THIS Thursday, September 6th, Amanda Novak and Generation Schools Network are hosting a Parent & Student Focus Group about topics such as bullying, social emotional learning, and more. Join us for meaningful conversation and DONUTS on Thursday morning from 8:15am-9:15am. We need your input - your voices matter!

Week of August 20th

We will be finishing up beginning of the year testing this week and will begin transitioning into needs based classes on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the completion of the assessments.  Please understand that placements are preliminary and are based on our best judgement using the data and knowledge of the kids that we have available to us, as well as scores from last year and input about what curriculum they have already been exposed to.  Adjustments may need to be made at a later date so each child is in the right class, so please be understanding if changes have to be made later.  
 
Plan to attend 3-4 Curriculum Night presentations on Thursday, August 30th from 6-7 to hear more specifically about what each teacher will be focusing on in their curriculum this year.  You will attend 20 minutes with your child's advocacy teacher to hear about advocacy, social studies, and science.  Then 20 minutes with your child's literacy teacher and 20 minutes with their math teacher.  

Week of August 12

End of Day Pick-Up
Please remind your children with younger siblings that they should check out with their advocacy teacher and then immediately go to stand with their youngest sibling for pick up.  This speeds the process up and helps us to load cars more efficiently.  Older siblings standing with younger ones are expected to follow all of the same rules and be respectful to the teachers they are standing with. 
 
MAP testing will be this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
We will be going over expectations for computer use on Monday and assign computers in order to begin testing on Tuesday morning.  We will begin switching for Social Studies and Science classes in the afternoons this week but will remain with advocacy classes for testing in the mornings. 
Picture Day is this Friday, August 17th!
Forms for ordering are in your child's Friday folder. 
 
Please send a Healthy Snack
Students are already beginning the year trying to have candy at snack time.  We have snack daily in the morning and would like each student to have access to a healthy and appropriate snack at that time.  Candy is never acceptable for a morning snack and suckers are not appropriate for school at any time.  Please send a healthy snack for your child to have at that time.  I do typically have emergency snacks on hand but it gets expensive for me if I am giving several a day out to students who regularly don't bring a snack.  If you would like to send a box of something shelf-stable for your child to have on hand here we can find a place to store it. 
 
Lunches
Please be sure that your student has an appropriate and adequate lunch each day.  We are required by law to offer them a balanced lunch so we must have them get an emergency lunch that you will pay for if they are not bringing one with them from home.
 
Toy Policy
No card games of any kind are allowed in the 3-4 pod (such as Pokemon).  We find that it is always a distraction and students begin to have issues with trading and selling cards, none of which we want to have here at school.  Also, there is really not enough time for them to play with them at recesses and the clean up is frustrating. Please do not allow any cards to come to school.
All other toys can come out at recess only unless it is an approved fidget for use during classes.  Slime or putty of any kind is generally not acceptable for classes but can be used during recesses and quiet time. 
 
Personal Items in Specials Policy
Our pod has decided to strictly enforce students not taking personal items of any kind with them to specials.  These are times when students should be actively engaged in other things and should not have personal items with them as a distraction.  Our policy is that we will take it if we see it and they will get it back at the end of the quarter in which it was taken.  This includes purses or bags of any kind, toys, journals and pens or markers, and fidgets.  Water bottles are allowed for PE only.  Please contact your child's advocacy teacher if you have concerns or questions about this policy. 
 
REVIEW FROM LAST WEEK
 
Communication
The best method of communication for all 3-4 teachers is email.  You should always receive a response within 48 hours (excluding weekends).  We love communication and believe it is valuable for our students to know that their teachers and parents are working together for their benefit.  Please see the communication pathway in the Community Handbook which suggests always communicating with your child's advocacy or content area teacher first regarding concerns or questions and then moving to contacting the team lead teacher, Cassie Seybold, if that becomes necessary.  
 
Hot Lunches
Our hot lunch provider has changed, please reference newsletters coming from the school for more information.  Also, be aware that individual milk purchase is no longer available.  If you still have punches available purchased last year you can be refunded for those.  
 
Advocacy
The school-wide advocacy focus for the month of August is Starting Strong!  This includes relationship and community building, social and emotional integration and regulation, academic tools, organization and time management, as well as the culture of school in general.  We will be talking a lot about procedures, expectations and class/school norms this first month in order to set the stage for a productive and successful school year.  

 

 

Week of 8/6 - 8/10

Welcome back!  We are excited to get started and can't wait to get all of our students into our classrooms!  

Communication

The best method of communication for all 3-4 teachers is email.  You should always receive a response within 48 hours (excluding weekends).  We love communication and believe it is valuable for our students to know that their teachers and parents are working together for their benefit.  Please see the communication pathway in the Community Handbook which suggests always communicating with your child's advocacy or content area teacher first regarding concerns or questions and then moving to contacting the team lead teacher, Cassie Seybold, if that becomes necessary.  

 

Hot Lunches

Our hot lunch provider has changed, please reference newsletters coming from the school for more information.  Also, be aware that individual milk purchase is no longer available.  If you still have punches available purchased last year you can be refunded for those.  

 

Advocacy

The school-wide advocacy focus for the month of August is Starting Strong!  This includes relationship and community building, social and emotional integration and regulation, academic tools, organization and time management, as well as the culture of school in general.  We will be talking a lot about procedures, expectations and class/school norms this first month in order to set the stage for a productive and successful school year.  

 

Schedule

Students will stay with their advocacy teacher the entire day for at least the first two weeks of school as we get to know each other and work on getting to know their needs for academic placements.  They will also be attending specials daily.