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Mr. Hepner's Advocacy

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Week of May 26th-29th

It is now week 8 of distance learning! Keep up the hard work! We are in the home stretch! Staying engaged can be especially challenging right now.  Please reach out if you would like any assistance in keeping your child engaged!

Important Dates

Monday, June 1st - Night of the Notables project due! Please email or share any files with your teacher.

Thursday, June 4th - Goodbye Parade in the Westgate parking lot (10:00am - 11:00am)

Friday, June 5th - Last Day of School / Yearbook Pickup / Equipment Return (more details coming soon)

Advocacy Activities from Mr. Rowan ( see previous post)

This month’s theme is Wellness! Please see the additional post with information and activities from Mr. Rowan 


Night of the Notables 

If your child is working on our optional Night of the Notables project, we have a few updates to share!

  1. The project will be due on Monday, June 1st

  2. Your child should be prepared to dress up as their person to the best of their ability

  3. Your child should choose to present in one of the 2 following ways

    1. Record an approximately 2 minute video presentation and email it to their teacher

    2. Create a PowerPoint about their person, including pictures of them dressed up as their person and share it with their teacher

Advocacy Zoom Meeting

Our Advocacy Zoom meeting is Today at 10:00 am. I hope to see all the kids there! 

Week of 4/20-4/24

Welcome to week 3 of distance learning! I hope that everything is going smoothly and routines are falling into place.  

Students will find their assignments in Moby Max as they click on each subject, specifically for science, social studies & writing.  Students should begin working on each subject at their pace, continuing to aim for the work times below. If you have any problems with Moby Max, please let me know right away so I can help get students rolling in the right direction! Please remember, I can help, answer questions, share my screen, and have your student share their screen during my office hours (Tuesday and Thursday 3-4 p.m.). 


For writing this week, you will find the rubric on which students will be assessed.  There is a 3rd grade rubric and a 4th grade rubric. The rubric is also attached to their assignment on MobyMax, which you can also view.  This is all under the “Writing Assignments” tab. Here are some additional guidelines for the weekly prompts:


  1. The response should be a minimum of two paragraphs, and about 10 sentences in total.

  2. The prompt should follow a RACES format.

    1. R - restate the question

    2. A - answer the question

    3. C - cite evidence (if possible)

    4. E - explain

    5. S - summarize


     Math-- 45 minutes a day

     Fact Fluency work on as needed or wanted


     Reading -- 45 minutes a day

      Reading Skills Literature

      Reading Skills Informational

      Reading Stories


     Writing -- 20 minutes a day

       Writing Workshops

       Writing Assignments

       Language


    Science/Social Studies -- 25 minutes a day (each subject)

Social Studies - MobyMax will have assignments automatically. Please meet the minimum time for the week

Science - MobyMax will have assignments automatically. Please meet the minimum time for the week

 

Our Advocacy Zoom meeting is on Tuesday at 10:00am. I hope to see all the kids there! 

Advocacy Activites

3rd & 4th grade Advocacy Activities 

Please send any completed activities to Mrs. Valenza

Monday- I have a strict belief that the more we know about a place the more we want to care for it. We can’t travel many places right now, but we can still appreciate what Earth has to offer. Let's travel using Google Earth. (https://www.google.com/earth/) Use the Search function to look up these different places: 1. Your house 2. Westgate 3. Favorite nature area to visit 4. Favorite City to visit 5. Somewhere you want to visit      Use the Street View function (the little guy above the black and white Earth on the bottom right hand corner of the screen) to look around each of these places.

  

Tuesday - Head to Mrs. Valenza’s Staff Profile page to hear her reading from The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry 

 

Wednesday – Take a scavenger hunt walk! Attached is a scavenger hunt document if you’d like to print that out. You could also just write down some of the items on a separate piece of paper and check them off as you find them. Let Mrs. Valenza know what things you found!  

 

Thursday – It's time to create! Ask your parents what recyclables you can use to create a recycling masterpiece. A robot? A castle? A new friend? Use your imagination (and a little tape)! 

 

Friday - Originally, we were going to have an Earth Day fair at Westgate but that can’t happen anymore. We’re going to celebrate in a little different way. Head to Mrs. Valenza’s Staff Profile Page to hear what she wants you to do!  

Office hours during Distance Learning

Hello All
I am going to set my office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.  I will be available to answer email directly during those times.  Feel free to email at anytime however and I will answer as soon as possible outside of those times.
 

Distance Learning

 have compiled an outline of what is the minimum expectations for this time during distance learning. 
MobyMax.com   School Code Co1797
Student username and password sent in individual email
(These are suggested Minimum Expected Times)
Moby Max Modules
     Math-- 45 minutes a day
     (take the Quick placement test first)
The program will assign  skills as needed (75% needed to pass)
     Fact Fluency work on as needed or wanted
     Reading -- 45 minutes a day
      ( take the Reading Level Assessment first)
      Reading skills Literature
      Reading skills Informational
     Writing -- 20 minutes a day
       Writing Workshops
       Writing Assignments
    Science/Social Studies -- 25 minutes a day 
 
Weekly Advocacy Meetings  
We will be meeting weekly as an Advocacy on Tuesday Mornings at 10:00 am.
 
Jeff Hepner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/6717767216?pwd=VU1UM29XZ1BGRGo4ZHYxNE5sRE15dz09
Meeting ID: 671 776 7216
Password: 249317

Access to Parent Portal 03/12/2020

Hello All,
With the cancellation of Conferences, Student Report Cards will not be printed. You can access the final quarter 3 grade via the Parent Portal in Infinite  Campus.  Instructions are available by following this link,
I should have all grade completed by 3/17/2020
Please email me directly if you have any further questions
 
Have a great day!

Conferences Update

 

Dear Families,

We have revised our school calendar.  Conferences will no longer be offered on Thursday, March 19th.  We made this change in order to give our teachers an opportunity to participate in a statewide ‘Red for Ed’ teacher walkout in support of public education and funding that is occurring on March 19th.  Thursday the 19th was already a no-school day for students so there is no need to reschedule educational instruction.

Conferences will now be offered on Monday and Tuesday, March 16th and 17th, from 4p-7p and Friday, March 20th from 8a – 8p.  

 A Sign-up Genius with conference date/time slots will be available to families later this week.  An email notification will be sent as soon as the sign-up window is open.  

Sharon Collins
Executive Director

MARCH Update 2-26-2020

Spring Conference Sign Up  

Conferences are coming up on March 16th, 17th, & 20th.  On the 16th & 17th, conferences will be from 4:00pm - 7:00pm.  On Friday the 20th, conferences will be held from 8:00am - 8:00pm.  We will be posting the sign-up link within the next week or two, so please look for that in your e-mail or the advocacy pages.  The 20-minute slots are first come, first serve.   

CMAS 

CMAS testing begins the week after Spring Break.  The following schedule is tentative. Our first test will be on Thursday, April 9th.  Testing will continue daily until April 16th. Students will be testing in the morning, so please try to have your students here on time as they will not be permitted to start the test if they arrive late for the testing window. Please try not to schedule appointments in the mornings on those days. 

Advocacy Focus for March  

Our Advocacy focus for March is Growth Mindset & Grit.  All classes will be working on helping students learn to reframe failure and have perseverance and tenacity in their academic and personal lives.  Identifying and replacing the negative self-talk that so many of us are accustomed to with positive self-talk will also be part of this unit.  

Treats at School 

Reminder--please do not send homemade treats with your child to share with the class for events such as birthdays.  All food that is to be shared must be store bought! This helps prevent and complications due to dietary restrictions and/or allergies. 

Upcoming Dates: 

March 16th & 17th: Conferences from 4:00pm - 8:00pm 

March 19th: No School 

March 21 - April 5th: Spring Break 

April 9th - April 16th: CMAS testing 

 

Kindness Week coming up

Monday 2/10 - Be KIND to the ENVIRONMENT 

  • Everyone Wear Green 
  • Kindness Tree in lobby – More information to come!

 

Tuesday 2/11- Be KIND to YOURSELVES

  • Everyone Wear Your Favorite Color! 
  • Self-Compassion Activities and Treat

Wednesday 2/12 - Be KIND to YOUR CLASSMATES 

  • Everyone Wear Blue
  • We will have blue nail polish at recess for the Blue Pinky Challenge – Kindness and Anti-Bullying Campaign

 

Thursday 2/13 - Be KIND to YOUR TEACHERS 

  • Everyone Wear Red for Ed
  • Spread kindness to your teachers through notes of gratitude, words of affirmation, and more!

Friday 2/14 - Be KIND to EVERYONE! 

  • Wear Westgate Shirts 
  • Community Kindness Day! 

February Advocacy Update

 

KINDNESS CARD DELIVERY AND PERMISSION SLIPS 

Kindness card delivery will take place on Valentine’s Day.  Please keep an eye out for the electronic permission slip via e-mail. 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Please consider making the walk with us to make deliveries of kindness cards.  Please indicate on the permission slips if you are interested in joining us. 

VALENTINE’S DAY CARDS AT SCHOOL ARE NOT ALLOWED AT WESTGATE.  Student cannot bring, make, or deliver ANY Valentines at school, even to their closest friends. We will be making kindness cards during advocacy for the locations each advocacy is visiting on Valentine’s Day.   

ADVOCACY FOCUS FOR FEBRUARY 

The focus in our advocacy lessons for February is HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS.  Topics can include such topics as good manners, learning to listen to others, conflict resolution, what real friendship looks and sounds like, and having respect for the differences of others.        

CMAS PRACTICE 

During the week of February 19th, the entire pod will be doing a CMAS practice test.  It is important that students understand how the test works and what sort of things are going to be asked of them.  Please speak with your child about the importance of doing their best, even if it is just practice.   

UPCOMING DATES 

February 14th: Kindness Card Distribution  

February 17th: No School - President’s Day 

February 18th: No School - Teacher Work Day 

Please share your Westgate Story

Dear Families,

We are asking for your help in raising awareness of Westgate Community School.  Specifically, we’d like you to tell your Westgate story on the social media channels you use.  As you know, we are a small charter school and we’ve found that many new families don’t consider Westgate because they don’t know we exist.  Being able to consider all the choices available allows families to make an informed decision regarding the best educational fit for their student.  

Westgate is now on Nextdoor and you can leave comments at https://nextdoor.com/pages/westgate-community-school-thornton-co/recommend/. 

In recognition of your efforts, we are giving a drawstring bag to any family who sends a screenshot of their post/recommendation to [email protected]. 

If you receive feedback requesting a point of contact at the school, please ask them to contact Ms. Rochelle Goforth at 303-452-0967 or via email at [email protected].  Rochelle can answer any questions and coordinate tours.

Thanks for supporting our community.

Sharon Collins
Executive Director

Welcome Back !!

Welcome Back!  We are excited for the second semester of school and hope you all are as well!  Here's what is going on and coming up: 

PALS testing window is open from January 13 - January 29, so we will be spending the next couple of weeks getting all third graders and some of the 4th graders tested to see their reading and comprehension progress.   

JA in a day is coming on Friday, January 31st.  All classes will have guest teachers to lead in learning about economic principles during the entire school day.  3rd and 4th graders will be separated for this day as they are learning about different topics. We will let students know soon which teacher they will be spending the day with.  The school is also still looking for a couple of volunteer teachers for this event. Please let us know if you are willing and able to volunteer.  

Our Advocacy Focus for January is Self-Compassion.  The learning goal for January is: Students will learn the basic tenets or self compassion (Self-kindness vs.  Self-judgment, Common Humanity vs. Isolation, Mindfulness vs. Overidentification). Students will examine their own places for growth and they will work toward changing negative self-talk into positive mantras. 

Bully Reports 

Westgate’s Bully Report webpage has been redone! It can be accessed at the following link:  

https://www.westgateschool.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=597781&type=d&pREC_ID=form.WESCS.rGRJahe.1mH 

We will be showing kids what this new form looks like and how to complete it.  It is very important that students know when and why they should be accessing this form.  Bullying occurs when the following happens: 

  1. It is repeated 
  1. There is an imbalance of power 
  1. There is intent to harm 

Please speak with your child about this.  Many students are filling out forms when what might be happening isn’t truly bullying.  These sorts of incidents should be reported to a teacher or adult. Westgate is committed to being bully-free, and one of the best ways to do this is by providing a way to report it when it is truly happening.   

Field Trips 

We have a couple of field trips coming up this January! We will be going to the National Western Stock Show on January 23rd and to the Denver Center of Performing Arts on January 28th.  Please look for permission slips coming home soon! 

Kindness Day 

Kindness Day will be on Friday, February 14th.  More information on this will be coming within the next few weeks! We will not be exchanging Valentines or having a party.  Instead, we will be visiting local businesses to spread kindness within the community.  

COMING UP ON THE CALENDAR 

January 20: No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 

January 23: Field Trip - National Western Stock Show 

January 28: Field Trip - Beethoven’s Birthday at the DCPA 

February 14: Kindness Card Delivery in our Community 

February 17: No School - Presidents’ Day 

February 18: No School - Teacher Work Day