Weekly Update 2/17/24

Hello West Rocks!

We are officially on February break! There is no school Monday, February 19 – Friday, February 23, 2024. Please enjoy the time away from school. We are asking for your support to have our students carve out about 20 minutes each day to work on IXL to practice math as read independently for 20 minutes.

Our February IXL Schoolwide Scoreboard is included above with leaders in red. There will be winners for each month! YOU CAN HELP! Please support our initiative to have students spend more time learning and practicing math.

Thank you to our Student Council for organizing Our Kindness Week! Students and staff wrote kind notes to each other during lunch waves, and they were delivered on Friday! There was also a carnation sale on Thursday for students to spread caring one flower at a time.

We kicked off one of our Black History Month celebrations on Wednesday. Students had an extended homeroom and researched significant figures in Black History that contributed to the national theme for the month of African American and the Arts. Each homeroom will decorate their door recognizing one individual. Stay tuned to see the end products! We are organizing a school wide celebration later in February and will also participate in the district wide event on Thursday, February 29 @ Brien McMahon High School.

Please utilize our school website and calendar for upcoming events…we have a lot planned! This included our grade level Q2 PAWS Awards when we return from break. https://wrms.norwalkps.org/ 

The next weekend update will be on Saturday, March 2, 2024. Enjoy the week off! 
 
Adam Reynolds
Principal, West Rocks Middle School

EVENTS AND GROUPS

Travel Basketball Championships
The Girls and Boys Travel Basketball Teams will both play in the championship games...congratulations for making it this far! The games are on February 28th at Brien McMahon High School. The girls game starts at 5:00 pm against Ponus, and the boys game is at 6:00 pm against Nathan Hale. Please come out and support our teams! There will be concessions!

Black History Month Door Decorating
We are celebrating Black History Month in a variety of ways. Each morning, students are meeting with Mrs. Jean to plan a schoolwide celebration that will happen on February 29. We will also participate in the districtwide celebration on February 29 at Brien McMahon High School.

This Wednesday, our students started planning the decorations for their homeroom doors! We presented the directions on Panther News…check out the presentation using the link below.

2024 Black History Door Decorating

Yearbook Orders
Don’t be broken hearted on Yearbook Day! The West Rocks Middle School yearbook is on sale now! We have to place our final order by February 21st. Order today so you are guaranteed a book in May/June. There is NO guarantee there will be extra books at that time! Please direct questions to our yearbook adviser Dr. Maria Fox (foxm@norwalkps.org).
 
Direct link to order Yearbooks: https://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A01068840

ACADEMICS, PROGRAMS, AND CAMPAIGNS

Math Practice and Independent Reading
Our students are in the middle of the February IXL School-wide challenge! The current scoreboard is at the top of this post. Students should continue to practice IXL each day. Also, our ELA teachers have reminded and assigned our students independent reading. Please support our students improving literacy and math by encouraging them to read and practice IXL each day. 

NWEA Progress Report Sent
Individual student progress reports were sent home through Parent Square on Wednesday, February 14, 2024. This showed scores from our recent winter map assessment. The documents are useful to show not only achievement but growth for your student over the first half of this school year as well as previous years. If you have questions, please contact your student’s counselor. 

Course Selection is Coming for 2024-2025
Students will begin selecting courses for the 2024-2025 school year. This includes related arts classes such as music and art, as well as world languages. 8th grade students will also discuss core classes in high school. If you have not done so already, please talk to your student about what they want to take next school year. Your student’s counselor will communicate the next steps. 

PTA UPDATE AND UPCOMING DATES

Thank you to those parents and family members that helped make the Winter Dance a success! It was a lot of fun and the concessions raised a significant amount of money!  

• Order your West Rocks Spirit Wear!
  • https://doubledaydd.tuosystems.com/stores/wrms?fbclid=IwAR2RxW3FZIweml5IksA8Cd51f73eIXc7NNxUeqOV1Rzl6pQVTjBv6YWlXEs
• Questions? Contact the PTA directly via email: westrockspta@gmail.com
• For more information, see the PTA website: https://westrocks.ptboard.com/ 

Upcoming Dates
February 19-23 February Break (no school)
February 26 Grade 6 PAWS Awards 8:30am
February 27 Grade 7 PAWS Awards 8:30am
February 28 Grade 8 PAWS Awards 8:30am
February 29 Black History Month Celebrations - WRMS in morning; NPS in evening
March 1 National School Nutrition Month Kickoff – Health Plate in Homeroom
March 2 Indoor Clean-up 9am-12pm

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Follow West Rocks on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/West-Rocks-Middle-School-100076430403630/