Tiger Ambush

October 9th - Picture Day - Must be dressed in dress code - see info below

October 12th - End of First 9 week marking period

October 13th - Teacher Work Day (NO School)

October 16th - Beginning of 2nd Nine Weeks

October 16th - Schoolwide Food drive Starts sponsored by NJHS

October 17th - Showcase of Schools for Choice Programs at Fairgrounds

October 18th - Hidden in Plain Sign Parent Presentation @ 6:00pm (see flier below)

October 19th - SAC Meeting @ 4:30PM

October 20th - Report Cards posted to SIS

October 23rd - 27th - Red Ribbon Week

October 23rd - Anti-vaping Presentation to all students

October 24th - PSAT - ALL 8th grade students

October 24th - Special Block Schedule Day (Periods 4, 5, 2)

October 25th - Special Block Schedule Day (Periods 1, 6, 3)

October 25th - Honor Roll celebrations with students during school (students only)

October 26 & 27 - County Writing Assessment during ELA Class

October 26th - Special Block Schedule Day (Periods 5, 2, 4)

October 27th - Special Block Schedule Day (Periods 6, 3, 1)

October 27th - Kona Ice Truck outside afterschool

October 30th - Day of Awesome from Fundraiser (reschedule from last month)

November 1st - Teacher Professional Development Day (NO School)

November 2nd - High School Open House for 8th grade during school

November 4th - Honor Flight at PBIA (Saturday Evening)

November 10th - Kona Ice Truck outside afterschool

November 10th - Evening Dance Party for students

November 11th - Veterans' Day (Saturday)

November 13th - Last Day for Food Drive

November 16th - SAC Meeting

November 18th - 26th - No School - Thanksgiving Break! 🦃

December 5th - PM-2 Reading FAST STATE Testing

December 6th - PM-2 Math (except Alg/Geo) FAST STATE Testing

December 20th - Alg/Geo midterm exams

January 23rd - Civics (7th) and Science (8th) diagnostic testing

January 25-26th - PBPA County Writing Test # 2

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Athletics:

September 20th - Girls Softball @ Crestwood - (Need to make up)

October 6th - Boys Baseball against Crestwood (@WPMS)

October 9th - Girls Softball @ Osceola Creek

October 10th - Boys Baseball @ Osceola Creek

October 10th - Girls Softball against Wellington Landings (@WPMS) (make up)

October 12th - Boys Baseball @ Lake Shore (Double Header) (Make Up)

Parents -

It was a good week here at The Pines! Couple of important topics below.

Monday (tomorrow) is Picture Day. If you have not purchased pictures yet, please do so by clicking here and ordering directly through the picture company's website. You can also send in the order form with your payment. All students will take a picture as this is the picture for the yearbook. All students must be in dress code and may not wear a PE uniform for this picture.

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Our bathroom notification system for parent notification is back up and running. An automatic email will be sent to parents when their child goes to the restroom. Why are you doing this Mr Preddy? We are doing this so parents have the power to have conversations with their child about bathroom use. Some students (some meaning a good number of students) go to the restroom almost every, single, period of the day (so that's about every hour). They are doing this because they want to get out of class and walk the halls and they are missing valuable instruction. They also get behind on the assignment at the time, which affects their grade. This system in no way penalizes those students who use the restroom an appropriate number of times per day for valid reasons. However, excessive use of the restroom to just to get out of class, is affecting many students. We have tracked who uses the restroom for a while so that if something inappropriate happens (vaping, drugs, bullying, destruction) we can refer to who was in the restroom at that time. This parent notification is more to help you help us. :)

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Our fundraiser results are in and because of our outstanding families and friends, our school brought in almost $22,000 to be used on students. Please know that the way the fundraiser is setup, the funds have to be spent on students only :). It is so nice to have your support and be able to do incentives such as honor roll desserts, birthday recognitions, class rewards, the Jingle Jam (stay tuned about that), and so much more. We really have the best students and parents. Many times parents become disengaged when the child gets to middle school, and I know that is not true here at Western Pines. Thank you for your support!

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This weekly update called the Tiger Ambush is mainly to just update you on what is coming up. If you want to get a feel for what is going on around campus, please be sure to join our school Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/WesternPinesMSOfficial). There you will find a lot of pictures, kudos, congratulations, and just daily life here at The Pines!

Just this week alone we have posted about:

• Girls' Softball and Boys' Baseball wins!
• Our amazing Students of the Month
• A Dunkin Donut Event we had for our teachers and staff
• Reminders about Picture Day
• and much much more!

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Last but not least, I want to commend our parents on continuing to monitor and adjust cell phone expectations for their child. The students have not been a big fan of me with this, but that is ok because I always want what is best for them. Some real eye opening situations have been uncovered. An 11-13 year old is still growing and learning and to be in total control of a device with such capability to cause issues and destroy innocence requires the intervention of an adult. This is especially true for the SnapChat app. Let's ask ourselves... why does a child need to communicate through a platform that AUTOMATICALLY deletes every message they send and receive. They already have text messaging on their phone, so the need for SnapChat is moot. Not to mention how students develop their self-worth off of how many friends they have on SnapChat, the Snap Streaks, and how many likes/comments they get. This also opens the door for predators to contact children and bullies to bully children and the evidence erase. Please consider this when allowing the use of SnapChat. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it immensely.

Sincerely,

~Mr. Preddy

Hello parents,

The end of the 1st nine weeks is this coming Thursday, October 12th. The counselors will be working to identify any student who has a failing grade (F) in a CORE class (Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies). If a student has a failing grade in one or more classes, they will be required to participate in COURSE RECOVERY at school during the mornings (7:45-8:45) and/or selected Saturdays. Please check your child's report card and if they have earned an F in a CORE class, information will be coming home soon on the schedule for course recovery. Please communicate with your child's counselor if you have any questions.

Melinda.Hurtado@palmbeachschools.org (6th Grade)

Ryan.Shields@palmbeachschools.org (7th Grade)

Lori.Bednarek@palmbeachschools.org (8th Grade)

Click here for the PDF ordering information

Orders can only be placed online through the picture company's website.

Do you have books around that are gently used and have already been read? Well in that case.... see below :).

This is 10% of your final ELA grade so make sure you are studying (see flier below for more information).

10-9-23: Monday:- Vocabulary Quiz on Then vs. Than, Transitions, Plagiarize, Counterclaim, and the prefix Pseudo.

Words of the Day:

10-10-23 Tuesday - Analyze: Systematically and critically examine each of the facts.
10-11-23 Wednesday - Compare: Show how the facts or ideas are similar.
10-12-23 Thursday - Contrast: Show how the facts or ideas are different.
10-16-23 Monday - Define: Set forth the meaning or make something clear.
10-17-23 Tuesday - Discuss: Present a detailed argument or consideration.

Parents and Students -

Click on the link below to see all the extra curricular (non-athletic) activities we have to offer. If you are interested in your child being a part of any of these, please contact the sponsor by email. We make a flier for a lot of them, but here it all is, in one spot.

Click here for our schedule!

Get involved!

In years past, we have had White, Maroon, and Gold Days.... each of those days starting with a different period of the day. This year we are moving to a 6 period rotation. Each day will start with a new period. For example, the first day of school will start with the student's 1st period class. The second day of school will start with the student's 2nd period class and so on. On a "Second Period Day" the rotation will be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1 and on a 4th Period Day, the rotation will be 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. This gives every class the opportunity to start the day and end the day. It also helps with early releases for sports. Don't worry, we will help our students know what period we are starting the day with and help them throughout the day. Below is our rotational schedule for the year. Whatever number appears on that date, is the period we start with for that day.

Morning and After school registration forms are available in the front office. Stop by Monday thru Thursday from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM to register.

Morning school begins 8/10/23 through 5/30/24 from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM (Monday thru Friday)

Afterschool begins 8/28/23 through 5/16/24 from 4:15 PM to 5:15 PM (Monday through Thursday Only). There is a nominal fee and it varies by month.**

Tutoring and a variety of clubs and activities will be available.

If you have any questions please to contact Shelbie Chaney at shelbie.chaney@palmbeachschools.org or (561) 792-2519

Parents - in order to continue to provide a safe campus, please be sure to adhere to the State Statute below. Students may not be on campus before 9:00 am or after 4:30 pm unless they are part of a school sponsored activity. Supervision is not provided outside of those times. We do have morning care and afterschool programming available - please contact Mrs. Jimenez for more information liz.jimenez@palmbeachschools.org.

Western Pines Business Partnership Opportunity.

Help support our school and get more customers.

If you or someone you know owns a local business and are interested in purchasing a banner for the fence, please contact Mr. Krupa for pricing and details! James.Krupa@palmbeachschools.org. It will be hung on the fence in our parent drop off loop.

Please click here for a letter from our Superintendent, Mr. Mike Burke welcoming all students back to school with a handy print out of school calendar dates.

Also, please click here for access to the School District of Palm Beach County 2023-2024 Student and Family Handbook.

Parent and Family Engagement Plan Summary (English)

Parent and Family Engagement Plan Summary (Spanish)

Parent and Family Engagement Plan Summary (Creole)

Parent and Family Engagement Plan Summary (Portuguese)

School Parent Compact (English)

School Parent Compact (Spanish)

School Parent Compact (Creole)

School Parent Compact (Portuguese)

Western Pines Title I Schoolwide Plan

Click HERE for the School District of PBC Parent / Family Involvement Plan

6th Grade Assistant Principal - Mrs. Jimenez (liz.jimenez@palmbeachschools.org)

6th Grade School Counselor - Mrs. Hurtado (melinda.hurtado@palmbeachschools.org)

7th Grade Assistant Principal - Mrs. Stuart (christina.stuart@palmbeachschools.org)

7th Grade School Counselor - Mr. Shields (ryan.shields@palmbeachschools.org)

8th Grade Assistant Principal - Mr. Krupa (james.krupa@palmbeachschools.org)

8th Grade School Counselor - Mrs. Bednarek -(lori.bednarek@palmbeachschools.org)

Student Services Secretary - Ms. Chaney (shelbie.chaney@palmbeachschools.org)

Counselor's Office Secretary - Mrs. Bosco (gisela.bosco@palmbeachschools.org)

ESE Coordinator - Ms. Schwab (terri.schwab@palmbeachschools.org)

ESOL Coordinator - Mrs. Jimenez (liz.jimenez@palmbeachschools.org)

School Tech Coordinator (Chromebooks) - Mr. Delgado - (walter.delgado@palmbeachschools.org)

Choice Academy Coordinator - Mrs. Jimenez (liz.jimenez@palmbeachschools.org)

WPMS Transportation (Bus) Coordinator - Mrs. Stuart (christina.stuart@palmbeachschools.org)

School Data Processor (Registration) - Mrs. Navarro (martha.navarro@palmbeachschools.org)

School Treasurer (info on obligations) - Mrs. LeBlanc (tammi.leblanc@palmbeachschools.org)

Principal's Secretary - Mrs. Bennett - (robin.bennett@palmbeachschools.org)

Principal - Mr. Preddy - (philip.preddy@palmbeachschools.org)

The Pride of the Acreage

Website: https://www.palmbeachschools.org/WesternPinesMiddle
Location: 5949 140th Avenue North, Westlake, FL, USA
Phone: (561) 792-2500
Facebook: facebook.com/WesternPinesMSOfficial
Twitter: @philippreddy