Panther Print for Parents 🐾

Ms. Powers facilitates a Student Advisory Council during the school year that includes a team of high school students who represent all grade levels. Your child has been invited to join this team via email this week. If your child has interest in meeting with the Principal with a team of students every other week at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, he/she should respond to the email that was sent ASAP. If more than 4 students at a grade level show interest, the Class that your child is in will vote for the 4 students at the grade level to represent the Class in this Council.

Each group was given an exoplanet with different physical features and some have binary stars. They are designing aliens based on the physical and chemical properties of their planets. They will present their aliens next week as well as describing how their planets compare to Earth.

Spanish classes are working hard! All students learned about what Cinco de Mayo really means. It is a celebration of when a group of 4,000 Mexicans defeated an army of 8,000 soldiers! I am super proud of my Spanish 1 students, they were able to read a page in complete Spanish and do a crossword puzzle as well, many words were knew to them but they were surprised how much they could read!

Spanish 2 did a walk and learn about Cinco de Mayo.

Several Panthers opted for a military exploration day at Ft. Custer on Wednesday of this week. You can see from the photos that it was a good experience. Thank you to Mr. Linderman and Officer Thornsbury for chaperoning!

We would like to publicly recognize the generous donation to HS Robotics from Linda Zitta.

In honor of Kieth Zitta, a long time Watervliet teacher. Keith loved his students and teaching was not a job to him, it was his passion. He was very proud of his school and his students. He loved seeing them out in the community.

The contribution to add to the success of the Watervliet HS robotics team will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you Zitta family!

In Biology this week, students applied their knowledge about natural selection by completing a virtual lab using VR headsets. These headsets are on loan from Berrien RESA. The students enjoyed the interaction of the lab.

In chemistry we are using clay to help us visualize covalent bonding and free pair electrons. Once the students saw this in three dimensions they totally understood how things connected. They are doing great at grasping the concepts and the labs help them see what it looks like even though it is at the subatomic level.

Friday, May 10

4:30 PM JV Softball at Decatur

4:00 PM HS Track at Berrien Springs Invitational

Saturday, May 11

8:00 AM Golf at Lawton Invitational, Lake Cora Golf Course

Monday, May 13

4:15 PM JV Softball at Buchanan

4:30 PM JV Baseball Home vs. Kalamazoo Central

4:30 PM Varsity Baseball at Kalamazoo Central

4:30 PM Varsity Softball Home vs. Buchanan

5:00 PM Varsity Girls Soccer Home vs. Eau Claire

Tuesday, May 14

3:00 PM MS Track at Saugatuck

4:00 PM Varsity Golf at Bridgman Meet

4:30 PM JV Baseball Home vs. Coloma

4:30 PM JV Softball Home vs. Kalamazoo Christian

4:30 PM Varsity Baseball & Varsity Softball at Coloma

Wednesday, May 15

5:00 PM JV Softball Home vs. Berrien Springs

Thursday, May 16

8:30 AM Varsity Golf at Lake Michigan Hills

4:30 PM JV Baseball at Bangor

4:30 PM Varsity Baseball Home vs. Bangor

Friday, May 17

TBD Varsity Track Regionals Meet at Bangor

6:00 PM Varsity Girls Soccer at New Buffalo

Saturday, May 18

9:00 AM Varsity Baseball SAC Tournament at Home

10:00 AM Varsity Softball SAC Crossover at TBD

CONGRATULATIONS to the following Panthers who all placed at the Regional MITES meet. All of their pieces are headed to the State competition this week! From left to right: Emy Baldwin, Michael Melcher, Caleb Jewell, Connor VanLente, and Morgan Lowell.

On Friday, we celebrated Decision Day 2024 with the Class of 2024! Check out the slides below to see where each senior is headed after graduation!

Monday May 20 period 7

Tuesday May 21 periods 5 and 6

Wednesday May 22 periods 3 and 4

Thursday May 23 periods 1 and 2

The deadline for attendance for 3/B and 5/A for EACH exam is that SENIORS have to be here up until the day BEFORE that exam.

Your check out sheet will be turned in by Friday May 24th at 10:30 am to Mrs. Richcreek so that you can get your cap and gown and board a bus to process through the other buildings in the district.

Come to school everyday so that you do not have to take exams this semester.

If you want to know the status of your attendance email Ms. Powers.

You must be passing all classes needed to graduate at 3:10 on May 24th in order to walk at graduation. The final countdown has begun !

Let's go Seniors!!

IMPORTANT DATES FOR SENIORS AND FAMILIES

May 15 Seniors Awards Night 6 PM Auditorium

May 15 Senior Trip Meeting 5:30 in WHS Cafeteria

May 18 Senior Trip

May 21-24 Senior Exams

May 24 11 AM DEADLINE to turn in check out sheets to Mrs. Richcreek–once you turn this in, you will get your cap and gown from her.

May 24 Procession through buildings 11 AM

May 24 3:10 PM–Seniors must be passing all classes to walk at graduation

May 24 Car Parade 4 PM

May 24 Senior Sunset

May 29 Baccalaureate 6 PM Auditorium

May 30 Senior Field Day

May 30 Senior Picnic

May 30 Graduation Practice 3:30 PM MANDATORY

May 30 3:30 PM DEADLINE for cap decoration approval by Ms. Powers

May 31 Graduation 6:30 PM

The Concert Choir and Treble Choir members are hard at work preparing their music for the spring concert on Thursday, May 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. The theme this spring is “SONGS FROM THE SILVER SCREEN”, and will contain pieces from popular movies including, THE HUNGER GAMES, Disney’s, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ANASTASIA, MAMMA MIA, and THE BARBIE MOVIE.

Come out and support our choirs and enjoy an evening of fun music!

If your child has failed a class this year, summer school is needed to recover the credit to keep your child on track towards graduation. You will receive a letter in May that specifies what classes are needed for your child. Check out the plan below so that you can plan ahead for summer school for your child.

Session from June 17 - July 25 (July 3 and 4 off)
8:15 am-12:15 pm
Monday - Thursday

Students have to physically be in attendance everyday.

Breakfast, lunch, and transportation provided.

Students must complete work at home in addition to at school in order to recover lost credit during this time.

We want you accessing your child's Canvas account! Please take the following steps so that you can be checking on his/her grades on a regular basis.

1. Steps for parents to create a parent Canvas account.

   1. Obtain Student Pairing Code

   2. Sign up for an account through your phone app or on the computer using an email address.
      

2. Parents should go to www.watervlietps.org and click on the link "Canvas for Parents" in the middle of the homepage. Here is the direct link: https://www.

   watervlietps.org/o/wps/page/

   canvas-resources. Here you will find the screenshot instructions, a 7 slide presentation and brief videos on navigating the parent portal, checking grades, viewing assignments and accessing teacher feedback.

3. Students need to create the pairing code for their parents and it is only valid for 7 days.

4. If you are having difficulty obtaining the student pairing code, teachers have access to this information within their course by going to People and clicking on the 3 dots in the upper right corner and choosing Export Pairing Codes. Again, these pairing codes are only good for 7 days. Quick way for teachers get this code to a parent when communicating with them.

5. Instructions are online AND shared every Friday in the high school parent newsletter.

Please reach out to us in the high school office if you have questions or concerns about accessing your child's Canvas account. We need and want your support at the high school!