Notes from the WGIS Principal

Dear WGIS Families,

One more week to go! Students are working hard at WGIS! We are going to continue learning right through next week, but not without some fun mixed in! We have a few surprises in store for students to help us finish December strong!We had our second Lockdown Drill today and students did a fantastic job! We have now completed all of our mandated emergency drills for the first half of the year.

As we finish next week and transition into our Holiday Recess, please remember that we are here to support student learning and well being. If you have concerns, please reach out and let us know so we can support all of our students at WGIS. As always, thank you for your continued partnership with our school to make sure all of our students find success at WGIS.

Be Kind-Work Hard-Think BIG!

It's a great day to be a wildcat!

Mr. MacCollum

This page provides thoughts and commentary from Dan MacCollum, the Principal of West Genesee Intermediate School in the West Genesee Central School District.

Our District values your feedback! Starting today, December 2, 2024, we are asking you to take a brief survey to tell us about your experience with the West Genesee Central School District.

To ensure we continue to provide high quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback.

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses as they inform our Strategic Planning decision-making processes. The survey window will be open from December 2 - 16, 2024.

West Genesee Intermediate School Family-School Relationships Survey:

https://surveys.panoramaed.com/westgeneseeny/8342379062/surveys

Our clubs are up and running! Below please find the schedule for when each club will be meeting. As a reminder, we offer late buses on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:15pm.

Monday December 16th:

Battle of the Books, Wildcat STEAM Group. (Student Council is CANCELLED)

Wednesday December 18th:

Blue STEAM Group, Chess Club, Interact Club. (Board Game CLub is CANCELLED)

Click here for Club Descriptions

The WGIS Book Swap is a PTA free book fair held in the spring where over 700 students pick out books for free. We need to collect at least 2,000 books for each child to find at least one they want to take home.

Please send in gently used, age-appropriate books for us to include in the swap. Your child can drop off the books at the cart located under the main stairwell in the front entrance of the school. Thank you for your support!

"IT" (Interaction Time) buses are available for students staying after for clubs and activities on Mondays and Wednesdays. IT buses pick students up from WGIS at 3:15. These buses are not utilized for musical practices since those rehearsals go past 3:15.

This year, we will be using Second Step to promote positive character traits in our students here at WGIS. Each week, we will focus on a new character trait. Students who exemplify the character trait of the week will have an opportunity to be recognized on the Friday announcements and be featured in our weekly e-news.

This week, we recognized students that were seen seeing and acknowledging the best in others

throughout the school day. Next week we will be looking for students that are performing random acts of kindness for our character trait of the week!

This week, we recognized students who showed support for others throughout the week. Congratulations to Savanah, Sophia, Michael, and Junior, our Positivity Paw winners !

Each month the Physical Education Department recognizes individual students for the above and beyond qualities and character they demonstrated throughout the month.

Congratulations to our award winners who have set an excellent example to their classmates on being respectful, following directions, showing great effort and leading by example.

Congratulations Phys Ed. students of the month:

Lexi, Savannah, Julian, Raegan, Eli and Thomas!

As we shared earlier in the school year, have a new addition to our school community! Barkley is a service dog for a 5th grade student at WGIS. She made her debut this week and will back next week as she transitions into fulltime duty in the school for her 5th grade human.

An informational video was shared with all students to help educate everyone on what Barkley's job is and how we should act when around her. Please check out the video that her 5th grade student Dahlia, put together to help everyone better understand Barkley!

Do you want to do an experiment or invent a device that solves a problem? If the answer is yes, then click on the links below to join our google classroom and complete your application for the WGIS science fair.

Information for the science fair can be found in the office or room 309.

There will be an optional Science Fair Information Night for Students and Parents.

Session 2 - Monday, December 16th (room 309) 6:00pm

Students looking for assistance with their projects should contact Mr. Perkins in room 309 or through the Google Classroom.The science fair will take place on Thursday, February 27th from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Project set up will take place from 2:00pm - 5:30pm.

Science Fair applications are due back to Mr. Perkins (room 309) by Friday, February 14th.

Or apply on the Science Fair Google Classroom - Code: 4fcn37i

Or the following link - https://tinyurl.com/2p96wut6

Our student council will be putting on a "Themed Friday" each Friday. This week we had a "Winter Wonderland White-Out".

Next week, we will be following the Student Council schedule for Spirit Week!

Friday, we held our second Lock Down drill of the school year. Students all did a fantastic job staying silent and listening to the adult in their space. We have no completed all of our mandated safety drills for the first part of the year (September - December)!

Cherrydale Fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who made our Cherrydale Fundraiser a success this year! Also, a special thank you to all the parents who helped sort the orders for pickup!

Amazon Wishlists

Each year, we invite the teachers to submit an Amazon Wishlist that will be shared with the school community. These items are used to support and enhance instruction for our children throughout the year. The teachers and staff are so appreciative of the support. This is a way to show our gratitude for their efforts each day with our children. The links to the wishlists can be found here: https://2cde.edulnk.com/e/3z0w8/k8Kfdj?__$u__

Book Swap

The WGIS Book Swap is a PTA free book fair held in the spring where over 700 students pick out books for free. We need to collect at least 2,000 books for each child to find at least one they want to take home.Please send in gently used, age-appropriate books for us to include in the swap. Your child can drop off the books at the cart located under the main stairwell in the front entrance of the school. Thank you for your support!

Join the PTA

Lastly, the PTA would love your support! There is no commitment to participate in any meetings or events, but your $10 membership helps us ensure that we have the funds to continue the events that support our school community. You can join here: https://2cde.edulnk.com/e/3z0w8/faYJmN?__$u__

• December 16-20 - WGIS Spirit Week!

• December 22 - January 3 - Holiday Recess