Wrangler News

Week of April 28 - May 4

Principal Message

Welcome,

We had our first Wrangler Fiesta put on by our incredible PTA and it was a huge success. We had multiple food booths, sumo wrestling suits, tug of war, caricatures drawn by one of our Wood students, and, of course, the dunking booth. I want to thank the PTA, my staff that worked the event, and all of the families that attended. We are already planning our next family event for the fall. More details will follow next school year.

STAAR for the 23-24 school year is mostly over. We will have make-ups this week, but there are no more whole campus shut downs for STAAR. We have our end of year MAP tests coming in May. The STAAR tests help us to know how our campus did on grade level TEKS, while the MAP tests are diagnostic in nature. We have beginning, middle, and end of year tests to help us diagnose and remediate or provide extensions for our students. We receive our MAP scores in about a week or so, while the STAAR scores will not be released until the end of May, or early June. Both tests helps us to make sure that we are providing the best education that we can for your students.

May is upon us. Which means we only have a few weeks of school left. We have lots of performances, soccer games, golf tournaments and end of year awards ceremonies to come this month. Please keep an eye out for the upcoming dates section at the end of the Smore. Academically, we still have TEKS to cover and prep work to make sure that our students are prepared for next school year. I am a big believer that ending the year strong will help us build for an even better year next year. So I am going to continue to challenge my staff and our students to live our school motto and Be Better.

Repeat Announcement: I do not typically include any personal information in the Smore, but I feel that our community needs to know as it will affect time that I am on campus. My wife and I are expecting our 6th child on May 24th. If all things go to plan, then I will miss all of the end of year ceremonies and the 8th grade party. I will update if I will miss more time due to the little one coming early.

Safety Announcement: For parent pick-up, please use the two main lots for parent pick-up, and avoid picking up behind the science building by the portables. I do not have staff on duty in this location and it could be a safety hazard for our students that load or walk home that way. Sometimes safety is an inconvenience but I would rather inconvenience some than have a student hurt.

Important Tardy Information:

We are having more students tardy to class. We will do more tardy sweeps to help get our students to class on time. Basically on a tardy sweep, ANY student in the hallway during the tardy sweep is assigned a lunch detention. Our students know what a tardy sweep is and what the consequence is but they do not know what day and time we perform the sweep.

Repeat Announcement: We have started using the SmartPass system to track how often our students are in the hallway. I have noticed a significant decrease in the amount of students that are in the hallways, which is a good thing. The more that our students are in class, the more they will learn.

Repeat Announcement: If your student walks home, please discuss with them the importance of using the crosswalk and paying attention to the crosswalk signs. Especially at a busy intersection such as Fountainwood and Judson Road. We will continue to remind the students.

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23-24 Wood Student Expectations ppt .pdf

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Due to STAAR testing and multiple meetings that I had on and off campus this week, I was unable to announce our WOW students and STAFF this week. We can celebrate these deserving students and teachers one more week. I will announce more WOW students and STAFF this week.

WOW Students of the Week:

Our first WOW student of the Week is Hunter Loveall. Hunter helped us to live out our mission by being an independent thinker. He presented the idea of reading the lunch menu on the announcements to administration and we have been reading it ever since. Thank you Hunter for being an independent thinker.

Next, we would like to recognize Gianni Martinez. She is a great student, hard working athlete, follows directions, has a good attitude, shows perseverance during tough times and is very respectful.

WOW Staff of the Week:

Our first WOW teachers of the Week are Coach Garcia and Coach Ramirez. Coach Garcia and Coach Ramirez have coached the four major sports this year. That means they have been in practice everyday since the beginning of the school year. We are so lucky to work with such hard working individuals that have committed to making our campus a better place. Thank you for all of your hard work this year.

We would also like to recognize our STEPS program. Mr. Andrew, Ms. Escamilla and Ms. Biers are always going above and beyond for their students and for Wood Middle School. Whether its covering ISS, supporting a student in crisis, or helping a teacher, they are always here to help.

8th grade party Eligibility Criteria

-No more than 1 ISS placement

-No off-campus suspensions

-No more than 4 unexcused absences

-No ISS placement due to excessive tardies

Band Info

The Wood Wrangler Drumline enjoyed another year of kicking off the Fiesta Shoebox Float Parade at the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children! Many thanks to their principal, Cindy Escobedo, and wonderful staff for welcoming our students to provide the musical entertainment for its parade participants.

"As an advocate and music educator who is also deaf and hard of hearing, I highly value the opportunities to show these students and their parents that participating in music CAN be done regardless of what you can and cannot hear. This school continues to hold a special place in my heart." Assistant Band Director, Adam Chitta

"It was so much fun seeing how those kids with hearing aids and cochlear implants wanted to play our drums and be like us!” 7th grade drumline student, Brody M.

NJHS Information

Congratulations to the students who APPLIED and were accepted into the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS). Congratulations letters were delivered to the students on Thursday. The NJHS Induction Ceremony will be Wednesday, May 1st at 6:00 p.m. Students are need to wear Sunday best for dress: NO shorts, jeans--dress code. Light refreshments will be served after. Again, congratulations to the new NJHS inductees.

Robotics Information

Our World qualifying robotics team is competing this week in Dallas. We wish them the best of luck and will report results as we have them.

Mariachi News

The Wood MS Mariachi Juvenil Los Charros has had an amazing FIESTA 2024! The students have been working incredibly hard the last month and a half to prepare for so many fun and exciting events! Our students participated in the annual “Alamo Heights Night” at UIW, the Fox Run Fiesta, the Ford Mariachi Festival on the Riverwalk, and finally the Elementary Fiesta Parades at both Fox Run Elementary and East Terrell Hills Elementary. Mrs. Esparza is incredibly proud all of the successful performances they have had this month! We look forward to our last two events this year, May 10th (Noche de Mariachi@Churchill HS) and May 22nd our final concert at Wood MS. Thank you to our amazing parents and staff for your amazing support! We would not have survived all of these events without your help!

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Yearbook Information

REMINDER: The 2024 Wood Middle School yearbook is still on sale. Make sure that your student doesn’t miss out on our yearbook tradition. It’s the only book that captures the year’s events, activities, friendships, experiences and memories from Wood Middle School!

Have your student pick up an order form at school or place your order by scanning the QR code.

If you have already purchased a book, thank you! This year’s book is one you won’t want to miss!

Clinic Information

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL CURRENT 6TH GRADE STUDENTS

In accordance with Texas immunization requirements, current 6th grade students who will be in 7th grade next school year (2024-2025) need the following immunizations:

Tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis containing vaccine (required)

▪ One booster dose if at least 5 years have passed since the last tetanus containing vaccine was received

AND

Meningococcal vaccine (required)

▪ One dose of meningococcal vaccine

These vaccines are DUE BEFORE August 12, 2024 in order for your student to start school.

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Sixth Grade Immunization Letter_Spanish.pdf

Sixth Grade Immunization Letter.pdf

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PTA Board

We are always looking for more general memberships and we have additional board positions if anyone is interested. Please email neisd.woodpta@gmail.com for more information.

Board Members

PTA President - Stephanie Portorreal

Vice President 2 - Larrisa Hernandez

Vice President 3 - Jessica Garza

Treasurer - Melissa Vasquez

Secretary - Guadalupe Madrigal

Parliamentarian - Thea Russo

https://sites.google.com/view/neisdwoodptsa

https://www.facebook.com/neisd.woodpta/

Food Deliveries

For food deliveries during lunch, please only bring enough food for your student and not their friends. Due to various laws, food cannot be delivered to groups of students.

Also, we do not allow delivery services to deliver food to students. ONLY parents can drop off food to their students.

HB 114 - Vapes

The Texas Legislature passed a bill regarding vapes on school grounds during the 2023 session. If a student has a vape or any parts of a vape in their possession, regardless of what is in the vape, must be recommended for a placement in a DAEP placement. This is a change from last year, where the oil in the vape had to contain THC.

Basically, I have to recommend ALL vape possession for an AMS placement.

Lunch and Breakfast Information

We are a free breakfast and lunch campus again this year. ALL students will receive a free breakfast and lunch. Our students can purchase additional items that ARE NOT included in the free lunch, such as, chips, desserts, etc. If your student is interested in purchasing additional items, please make sure that there is money in their student lunch account.

Athletic Information for 2023-2024

Soccer Results

8th Grade

Boys - Wood - 0 Tex Hill - 5

Girls - Wood - 0 Tex Hill - 0

7th Grade

Boys - Wood - 0 Tex Hill - 5

Girls - Wood - 0 Tex Hill - 7

Concessions at all games are cash only and 100% go to support our student groups on campus like: Robotics, Theatre, Band, Choir, Orchestra, NJHS, PALs, Spirit Squad, NJAHS, Art and ALE. We have had to increase our prices to combat inflation. We are grateful for all donations to support our Wrangler Pride!!!