The Westgate Wire

It has been a busy week at Westgate! Below are a few important pieces of information:

• A HUGE thank you to parents who contributed snacks for the Westgate Staff. We are so grateful to have such a caring community!
• We need your help to keep our school community healthy. Please be sure to self-certify your child each day they are coming to school. Keep your child home if they are unwell, are in close contact with a sick or COVID positive person, or develop covid symptoms, or test positive for Covid-19 themselves.
• The weather is changing! We go outside for mask breaks and recess every day (weather permitting). Please be sure to send your child to school with warm clothes (winter coat, hat, gloves). Students will also need boots and snow pants to play in the field once the snow begins to fall. Please be sure to label all clothing.

We wish you a fantastic weekend!

~Ann and Scott

A quick thought from your Westgate support staff: Are you fostering your child's independence? Remote learning presents many challenges for parents and students, and kids rely on adults in their lives to help them adjust. While some assistance is important, remember that your child will be returning to school one day full-time and will need to be ready to take control of his or her own learning. Help them prepare for that again by doing the following:

1. Allow them to Zoom independently - avoid sitting next to your child for too long during remote learning.
2. Let them do the work on their own and ask the teacher for help - they are supposed to make mistakes!
3. Encourage them to reach out to their teacher with questions through Zoom chat or Go Guardian, if your child's teacher uses that platform.
4. Help your child problem-solve any technical difficulties - try not to "do it for them."
5. Suggest your child practice coping strategies to stay flexible when remote learning becomes frustrating. Deep breathing, taking a walk, progressive muscle relaxation, and positive thinking are all good options.

Even though this has been a difficult year full of unique challenges, we want to continue to developed a positive holiday spirit at Westgate! Plans are in the works to continue some of our holiday traditions virtually. Look for more information in the coming days.

In the meantime, check out Interlochen Center for the Arts, live streaming version of "The Nutcracker" on Saturday evening, at 6:30 pm our time. (Remember, Michigan is an hour ahead of us.)

This article below gives the information you will need if you want to watch it.

https://mynorth.com/2020/12/interlochen-streaming-holiday-performances-like-nutcracker/

12/21-1/1- Winter Break