Whitford Newsletter

Welcome Whitford Families,

What an amazing start to the school year. We had our 6th graders back last Tuesday and our entire student body back last Wednesday. I want to thank you as parents and guardians for having your kids prepared and ready to go from day one. Getting off to a good start can have lasting impact on the relationship between student and teacher.

Speaking of positive relationships, one of our main focuses during pre-service and throughout the entire year is social emotional learning. This the positive relationships our teachers create with your children so they feel safe and take educational risks which will equate to positive results. Your children will hopefully feel there are more adults at Whitford who care about them. Safety is always our number one concern. The physical safety has always been there, but our efforts this year also include emotional safety.

We have our annual Back to School Night coming up on Tuesday, September 17th starting at 6:30. We will run our evening similar to last year where families will have time to meet their child’s teachers, but we are also offering short 30-minute classes on topics of interest to parents. These range from internet safety for our school resource officer, how to check grades, meet the principal, Canvas, what is proficiency, social emotional learning at home, what is AVID, and much more. We received positive feedback last year on this structure, so we have decided to do it again. Additionally, there will be an optional brief review of the health curriculum from 6:00-6:25PM

I want to be very clear with our priorities this school year. Everything we do should focus around one of the topics listed below.

1. Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
2. Reading and Writing Workshop in all Humanities classes
3. College Preparatory Math for all 6th and 7th grade students and AGS for all 8th graders
4. Having AVID spread school-wide.

Your student might have come home after the first day talking about some new rules at Whitford. The eight middle school principals and assistant principals agreed that we should all be on the same page with regards to some basic rules.

• Phones- Off and away all day. Adults and children are becoming addicted to their phones and we felt that social interaction is a skill needed for the world, at least for now.

• Gum- Whitford has had a NO GUM rule for many years, but there is growing research it can help students stay calm and the movement is soothing. We are allowing gum to be chewed for a few weeks, if there is an increase of gum found in places other than the garbage, this rule will be revoked. We have explained this and this to all students. There are a few places where gum will never be allowed: PE, Band, Drama, some Science classes, and the office and library due to the carpeting on the floor.

• Hats and Hoods – We are now allowing hats and hoods to be worn as long as it doesn’t interfere with a student’s ability to learn. If it becomes a distraction, each teacher may request for the hat or hood to be removed.

We feel all of these changes are best for kids and will allow teachers to better focus on preparing engaging lessons and instruction verses having to look for gum, hats, and hoods. We ask that you have a conversation with your student and help them understand why these rules are in place.

I am looking forward to seeing you at Back to School Night next week

Sincerely,

Brian Peerenboom, Principal

Nutrition Services information is easier to access this year, and we have lots of cool information to share!

Remember that the 30-day Rollover Period for 2018-2019 meal benefits will end in early October. Be sure to apply TODAY so your students don’t have a lapse in benefits. Any families whose students go into “Paid” status will be responsible to pay for all meals charged in school cafeterias. Don’t let this happen to you!!

Click on the link below to go to SchoolCafe, and see all the things that you can do:

https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/departments/nutrition-services/meals/schoolcafe

All you need is your student’s ID number. If you don’t have that, you can call your school office

or the Meal Benefits line (503-356-3957). Here are some of your options in SchoolCafe:

1. Create an account
2. Apply for Meal Benefits
3. View and print Meal Benefits letters
4. See what items your student is getting in the cafeteria.
5. Check your student’s account balance.
6. View cafeteria menus
7. Set up low balance alerts
8. Set up auto-pay (when balance gets to an amount that YOU set, the account is replenished from your credit card)

SchoolCafe can provide amazing amounts of information!

If you do not have access to a computer, you can also apply for Meal Benefits on paper. Applications are available in every school office and cafeteria.

If you have questions or need help, please call Laurie Bishop at Meal Benefits, (503)356-3957 or email us at NS-MealBenefits@beaverton.k12.or.us.

Mrs. Arguello's math class had fun working in groups on a math exercise.

If your student is attending a high school football game at Beaverton, Mountainside or Southridge High School they will not be allowed to enter the stadium if they are not with an adult. Also, no backpacks, bags or drinks will be allowed into the games. All middle school students are expected to sit in the stands and watch the game! We hope you come out and watch the Beavers, Mavs or Skyhawks this season!

Whitford will be holding auditions for Luchadora. Students can sign up for an audition time outside room A19. Auditions will be held 9/16, 9/18 and 9/19 in the cafeteria from 4-6PM. Students can leave after they have auditioned.

September 16 Luchadora Auditions 4-6pm Cafeteria
September 17 Back to School Night 6:00-8PM
September 18 Luchadora Auditions 4-6pm Cafeteria
September 19 Luchadora Auditions 4-6pm Cafeteria
September 19 Instrument Night 4-5:30PM Cafeteria
September 24 AVID Family Night 6:00 PM
September 25 Bus Evacuation drill
September 27 Lights Out Day--Conserving Energy
October 1 Breaking Barriers 6:00 PM
October 2 SUMMA FT to Champoeg Park 9:15AM -2:30PM

October 10 Whitford Soccer to Nike
October 11 Staff Development Day -- NO Schol for Students
October 14 District wide earthquake drill
October 16-18Conferences -- NO School 10/17 and 10/18

Flyers were emailed last week. Please see flyers below