Wildcat news

Dear Western Valley Middle School Community,

We have two exciting opportunities coming up to connect, collaborate, and support student success!

📅 Parent-Teacher Conferences – February 3-6

This week, we are hosting Parent-Teacher Conferences—an important time to meet with teachers, discuss your child’s progress, and collaborate on their academic success. Your involvement makes a difference!

🧪🎨 March 6 Family STEAM Night – Explore, Create, and Discover! 🚀🔬

Join us for an engaging Family STEAM Night, where students and families can dive into Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math through hands-on activities for all! Luke Air Force Base will be on-site with their flight simulator, and you can also contribute to a campus art project. Plus, connect with local high school representatives to explore future opportunities!

We encourage all families to take advantage of these opportunities to engage with our dedicated teachers and staff. We look forward to seeing you there!

📣 Let’s work together for a bright future at WVMS!

Warm regards,

Dr. Nardi

Principal, Western Valley Middle School

At Western Valley Middle School, we are always looking for ways to strengthen our school spirit and create a positive, engaging environment for our students. Recently, Dr. Nardi joined the 7th grade technology class to introduce an exciting project that encourages student voice and creativity.

Working in pairs, students designed slide deck presentations showcasing their ideas for boosting school spirit at WVMS. From fun events to new traditions, their proposals reflect their enthusiasm for making our school an even better place.

In the coming weeks, these students will present their ideas to Dr. Nardi, who will then share them with our district’s administrative team. We are proud of our students for taking an active role in shaping their school experience, and we look forward to seeing their ideas come to life. Together, we continue to build a school community that students and families are proud to be part of!

Our students will participate in another amazing presentation from notMYkid this quarter.

Middle and high school can be difficult for students to navigate. With social and academic pressures, we want to make sure that our Wildcats have strategies to support their positive self-image and deal with the stress and pressures that face daily. Each grade level will have a student-focused presentation on the following dates. For adult-focused information on Teen Mental Health, click here.

Grade 7- January 21

Grade 8- January 28

Grade 6- February 18

Do you have any idea what petrified wood is? Well let me tell you about it. The Petrified Forest National Park defines petrified wood as logs washed into an ancient river system and were buried quick enough and deep enough by massive amounts of sediment and debris also carried in the water.

That oxygen was cut off and decay slowed to a process that would now take centuries. The result of a tree or like stone. Petrified wood is over 250 million years old and occurred during the late Triassic era.

The word Petrified comes from the Greek word Petro which means rock or stone. Beautiful colors in the Arizona Petrified wood comes from:

• Iron oxide stains wood orange.
• Rust stains red or yellow.
• Manganese oxide stains blues, blacks, or purple.

A fairy is a magical, mythical creature. According to the website Britannica, "Fairies are usually kind although sometimes fairies can be mischievous or even spiteful" (Britannica). Stories about fairies have been around for thousands of years.

First, as it is said on the website Study.com, "Some of the earliest recordings of fairies were written in the 11th century. Fairies have a queen named Mab. Fairies were eventually called the fallen angels." According to Sparkle stories, “Fairies have been showing up since the middle ages.” According to Fabulous Fairytale, “Fairies live in woodland communities, underground forest kingdoms, inhabit lakes, hills and streams." Fairies can be traced back to Greek mythology where they were known as Nymphs. Fairies were eventually explained as fallen angels. Fairies do have brothers and sisters. Sometimes fairies have lots of siblings and other times they have few siblings.

We are excited to share that our students will be learning about the risks of vaping through a grant from notMYkid. As part of our commitment to meeting the needs of our students, we are implementing the CATCH My Breath Youth E-Cigarette Prevention Program.

CATCH My Breath is a research-based program designed to prevent e-cigarette use among students in grades 5-12. Each grade level will participate in four lessons led by notMYkid presenters during their regular science classes. The schedule is as follows:

• 6th Grade: Week of November 18
• 7th Grade: Week of February 3
• 8th Grade: Week of February 10

For more information about this program, please visit www.catchmybreath.org.

Student ID replacement is $5.00. Students will also be charged $1.00 for any extra lanyards and 50 cents for plastic ID pouches. Thank you.

FESD Policy:

Electronic devices including, but not limited to, cell phones, handheld devices, media players, watches, earbuds, or other similar gadgets are not allowed to be used or displayed during the school day, from the beginning to the end, unless a staff member specifically instructs or permits their use for educational purposes. It is important that these devices do not disrupt the learning

environment, compromise safety, or affect the well-being of others. Please note that the school district cannot be held responsible for any loss, damage, or theft of such devices, and students bringing such devices to school or a school event do so at their own risk.

To maintain a focused and respectful learning environment at Western Valley Middle School, we have a clear policy regarding cell phones and wearable tech:

• All cell phones must be turned off and kept in backpacks throughout the school day. This includes lunch, recess, and passing periods.
• If a cell phone is seen out during the school day, it will be confiscated. The phone can be picked up by a parent or guardian (not the student) in the office after school or before school the following day. This policy will apply to each offense.
• Wearable technology, such as smartwatches, will be subject to the same policy if they become a distraction.