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Weekly Update 2/3/24

Weekly Update 2/3/24
Weekly Update 2/3/24
WRMS Staff

Hello West Rocks!

Congratulations to the members of our orchestra and director Mr. Glen Ullman for a great performance at Norwalk’s All-City Strings Concert on Thursday evening! There were representatives from grades 5-12 across all secondary schools in the city. 

This week was our school wide IXL Math Competition Kick-off! On Wednesday, all students were provided time during our WIN period to work on their assigned IXL math lessons. See more detailed information below, and please support our initiative to have students spend more time learning and practicing math.

February is Black History Month! We kicked it off this Thursday morning by learning about its origins dating back to 1915 and celebrating the founder Dr. Carter G. Woodson! We are organizing a school wide celebration later in February and will also participate in the district wide event. Students and staff are beginning to organize and plan. Each morning, we will celebrate pioneers, heroes, and significant figures in Black History on Panther News.

The Winter Dance is coming! This Friday, February 9 is our PTA’s second dance of the year! Permission slips are required to purchase a ticket during lunch waves. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Quarter 3 is now underway! Students changed some of their related arts classes and final grades are in PowerSchool! Please reach out to your child’s counselor if you have any questions. 

Have a great weekend,
Adam Reynolds
Principal, West Rocks Middle School

PS. A full week of February break is back! There is no school February 19-23, 2024. Please refer to the district calendar for all holidays, vacations, early dismissals, and other special schedules. https://www.norwalkps.org/about/district-overview/official-district-calendar

EVENTS AND GROUPS

Math Counts Competition @ Fairfield University
Good luck to the members of our math team that compete in the Math Counts! Southwest Connecticut Chapter Competition at Fairfield University this weekend. Students have been working with Ms. Mouland and Ms. Wilson after school throughout the winter. The team has the opportunity to compete in regional and statewide competitions like this one as well as contests against other middle schools in Norwalk. We are in the process of setting a date to compete against the math team at Nathan Hale later this month. If your student is interested in joining, please see Ms. Mouland in room 133!

Drama Club – Beauty and the Beast Jr.
The West Rocks Drama Club is selling ads to be placed in the production’s playbill. If you would like to place an ad or know a local business that would like to support the group, please use this form. All ads are due by February 9th. Tickets for the show will go on sale February 14th. Stay tuned!

IXL Competition! Math practice 5 days a week! 
Students are assigned lessons or “may path” aligned to their NWEA scores by their math teachers. Each student is responsible for successfully completing a minimum of 5 lessons each week. This is included in their overall grade for the quarter. Successful completion means earning 75% or better on the lesson.
Students can complete more than what is required to earn a pizza party and other fun events for their individual math class! We will dedicate time during WIN each week to this initiative. 
 
Please support the school and your student by asking if they have completed their IXL math lesson each day! Ask them to show you using their Chromebook. Students will log into Classlink, then click the IXL icon. Students will also have a hard copy of their own “IXL Tracker” in their math notebooks.  
 
Early Dismissals – no later than 1:45 pm
Students that are dismissed early for appointments, family obligations…etc. need to be picked up no later than 1:45 pm to the greatest extent possible. We understand there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that requires a pickup after that time. 
 
We transition to the final period after that time and run into regular school dismissal. Also, please send in a note with your student in the morning so we can give them a pass to come to the office at the appropriate time. 

ACADEMICS, PROGRAMS, AND CAMPAIGNS

Quarter 2 Report Cards
Q2 grades and comments were finalized Tuesday, January 30 in PowerSchool. Families have access to view final Q2 grades and comments in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. We will NOT distribute hard copies of the Q2 report card. If you need access to the PowerSchool Parent Portal, please contact your child’s counselor or the main office.

Q3/S2 is now underway. Attendance, grades, and contact information is available in the PowerSchool Parent and Student Portals.

Chronic Absenteeism
ATTENDANCE MATTERS! Students need to be in school every day. The State of Connecticut considers a student chronically absent if they have been absent 10% of the time – this counts both excused and unexcused absences. If your student has been absent 6-8 days, they are considered chronically absent by the district and state. Attendance letters were sent home this week indicating if your student has been out 6 days or more.

Please contact your child’s counselor for more information.

PTA UPDATES AND UPCOMING DATES

The PTA will be in lunch waves all week! 

  • Dance tickets with a permission slip $5
  • WRMS T-shirts $15
  • WRMS Puravida bracelets $10

Thank you to those parents that have volunteered to help! 

Also, we are looking for concession donations and volunteers to help set up, clean up and chaperone the dance (2/9). Want to support this event but don’t have the time to chaperone or shop? Make a monetary donation to the PTA via PayPal or Venmo!

Our next PTA meeting will be on 2/13 @ 6:30
Questions? Contact the PTA directly via email: westrockspta@gmail.com

Upcoming Dates
February 3 Ski & Snowboard Trip to Mohawk Mountain
February 7 East Side Band at Norwalk High School at 7:00 pm
February 8 Orchestra Winter Concert at 7:00 pm
February 9 Winter Dance 7-9pm
February 13 PTA meeting @ 6:30 pm
February 14 Valentine’s Day; Advisory lesson in homeroom
February 16 Black History Month Celebration

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