Westwood November 2021 Newsletter

With November right around the corner, we are school routines are well-established and it’s great to see in-person learning occurring in the classrooms. With progress reports being sent home on November 19th, we value the communication and partnership between home and school and the importance of discussing strengths, areas of growth and next steps for your child’s learning.

Halloween Activities

On Friday, classrooms will be participating in Halloween activities. Unfortunately, Halloween parades continue to be paused this year. However, we will be having a pumpkin decorating contest this year following physical distancing and other enhanced safety protocols. As an additional reminder:

• Students can wear costumes to school as per prior year’s practice (e.g., no cultural appropriation,
  no offensive and insensitive costumes, no weapons, no costume masks that might impede vision,
  no inappropriate images, etc.) Students can also wear orange and black if they choose to not wear a costume.
• Students choosing to wear a costume should come to the school already wearing the costume and
  keep the costume on for the duration of the day.
• Student costumes must be able to accommodate a face covering as per COVID requirements.
• A costume mask is not a substitute for a face covering. A costume mask should not be worn over a
  non-medical mask or face covering because it can be dangerous if the costume mask makes it hard
  to breathe.
• Treats are permitted but must only be purchased and individually packaged treats (no home baked foods).

Dressing for Outdoor Learning

We’ve had at least two months of outdoor learning and it has gone very well!  Thank you for making sure your child has come to school prepared with running shoes and other attire appropriate for the outdoor weather!  Please continue to keep those fingers and toes crossed for us during the next three months. 

With this next season approaching, however, we may experience colder temperatures.  Does that mean we can’t go outside?  Absolutely not!   

Some of the best learning happens outside (exploring the environment, orienteering, personal injury and safety prevention, exertion levels, etc.) so we need your help ensuring that your child is dressing for the weather and has warm clothing that they can layer on and off (mittens, snow pants, hats, extra pair of socks, etc.) especially on days they have Phys.-Ed.   

Nutrition Program Start Up

We are so happy that the Westwood nutrition program is up and running! All foods will be pre-packaged to allow for minimal food handling. The Tastebuds Student Nutrition Program will be involved in all school level Nutrition and Food Programming to ensure all safety guidelines and procedures are in place. Students are encouraged to eat their own packed lunches/snacks from home first before selecting snacks from the nutrition bin. A special thank you to our nutrition program parent volunteers that make the nutrition program possible!

Message From Our ESL Teacher

Friendly Reminders from the Office

• Please do not park or drop off your child(ren) by the school main doors during 8:30 – 9:15 am or 2:45 – 3:15 pm. This is when our personalized school buses drop off and pick up students before and after school.
• Please send your child to school with a reusable water bottle every day. We do have 2 hydration stations in the school for students to refill during the day. We only have a limited supply of disposable cups to provide students that do not have water bottles.

School Photo Day