Whitford Newsletter

Hello Whitford families,

I want to thank parents and guardians for attending conferences last month. I hope you were able to receive specific feedback on your student’s academic and behavior performance. If you were unable to meet with a teacher, please contact them directly to set up a meeting.

On a related note, we had several parents stop in for the showing of Screenagers. We showed this documentary to our staff the week prior to conferences in hopes to drum up more interest with parents. I was happy to see our parents, students and community took advantage of this opportunity to see how screens can have a direct effect to a child’s social emotional health. Depression and anxiety associated with screen time are on the rise, and we must educate and teach our students to use self-control. Much easier said than done, as adults also struggle with this idea of self-control.

You have been sent several emails regarding the Coronavirus. The district website has updated daily information about the Coronavirus. I ask that you follow the information provided by the district. https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/departments/public-safety/emergency-preparedness/coronavirus Each school has been asked not to give medical advice to parents, but encourage you to see your doctor if you have questions.

At Whitford, we have completely turned our dedicated health room into just a sick room. Our secretaries and school nurse have moved all medications out of the health room, diabetic students will be check in an adjacent room, and all first aid necessities are kept in another location just to be safe.

We need your support. Our school is trying to purchase hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. Unfortunately, many places are sold out of these products for the same reason. If you have either hand sanitizer or disinfecting wipes that you willing to donate it to your student’s classrooms, it would be most appreciated. We must all work together on this to protect ourselves, our kids, our community, our nation, and even the world. It’s the little things that start to make a difference.

We have just learned that Superintendent Grotting has pushed back the common middle school experience for one year. This decision allows for all the changes; common schedule, middle school boundaries, and the start of Raleigh Hills 6th grade to Whitford all begin at the same time. This decision will hopefully create less transitions and staff movement.

We recently learned that money from the last bond will be used this summer for air conditioning and upgrading our roof. You might have seen the large office trailer in the parking lot. This will be an enormous project which will begin before school is out and won’t finish up until after school starts next year. There simply is not enough time in the summer for all the work to get completed. There will be little to no disruption during the school day, but we will have employees here after school as they begin to prep for when students are gone. Our school will be closed the entire summer. I will update everyone on our summer location as soon as we know. Thank you for your support of the bond and the minor inconveniences until school is out.

The next Principal Chat is on Tuesday, March 17th at 9:30 in the library.

Be well, Brian Peerenboom

Attention Whitford Middle School Families!! Mark your calendars - the science fair is on Wednesday, March 18, 6-8pm! This community event showcases students' projects and we're all looking forward to an evening celebrating their hard work! The PTO will be selling concessions to support a variety of school-related activities throughout the year, so bring the whole family and your appetite!

Last week students from the Black Excellence Group attended the conference "Women of Purpose" presented by REAP. Students listened to speakers, participated in discussions and workshops.

Pennies for Patients -- Donate Today! For the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Both Leukemia and Lymphoma are types of blood cancer with forty-five different treatments. Only about five work on children. Our goal is to raise $2,000. We raised $1,200 last year. The proceeds go to helping fund research on cures and helping families make it through cancer. Donate to your Advisory Class with: Cash or Check Donate Online at https://events.lls.org/pages/oswim/WhitfordMiddleSchool-2020

State testing will begin in April following spring break and outdoor school. All students will test in Language Arts and Math, and 8th graders will also take a science test. If you already have a planned absence for your student during April, you may contact their Math and Humanities teacher to find out specific testing dates. Make up tests will begin in April and continue through the month of May.

Somnang Manivanh, Kyle Hanson and Ivy Brooke Mills represented their teams at MESA Demo Day 2020. The teams interviewed a client working in the healthcare industry and then engineered a solution to help make their job easier. At Demo Day they pitched their ideas to a panel of judges. Somnang took 2nd place, while Kyle and Ivy took 1st place in the regional competition! Way to go engineers!

Talking points for students and parents concerning screen time and technology use. Please see the attachments. Even if you did not have the opportunity to view this movie, the parent guides give great information.

When Humanities teacher Tyler Smith was given the opportunity to teach a section of Literacy Enrichment, he immediately began brainstorming creative ways to engage his class of 6th graders. He wanted to meet them where they were at and create an opportunity for them to practice their literacy skills utilizing an area that was near and dear to their hearts—video games. After collaborating with his school Library and Instructional Technology Teacher, they decided to use a relatively new tool called Makecode Arcade in order to theme the unit in a way that would help motivate and engage his students. Smith worked with his LITT to create a Donorschoose project. This money would end up funding the building of a 2-player table top arcade to showcase the student games and hopefully provide additional learning and motivation for years to come.

To see and read more about this exciting project, click on the purple ARCADE button below

Congratulations!! These students completed 100 or more lessons during our competition with other middle schools. Way to Go WHITFORD!!!

Remember, students should continue to complete 5 lessons a week.

During our last assembly, we held a hula hoop contest. One student from each advisory was chosen to compete in the competition.

Congratulations to Radek Litinsky this year's Whitford Spelling Bee Champion!!

Radek will go on to represent Whitford at the Portland Regional Spelling Bee on March 14th.

Kudos to our second place winner Emma King. Emma and Radek competed through many championship rounds to determine this year's winner!

Thank you to all this year's bee participants their hard work and excellent sportsmanship!

3/10 6thGrade Outdoor School Meeting 6PM – Library

3/10 PTO Meeting 5PM

3/13 Yearbook Meeting 8AM B14

3/13 Southridge High School Football coach visit 9:15 AM

3/13 7th Grade AVID to visit PCC (Rock Creek)

3/16 Lights out for conservation

3/17 Principal Coffee 9:30AM Library

3/17 Set up for Science Fair

3/18 8th Grade AVID to visit Chemeketa Community College

3/18 Science Fair 6-8pm

3/23-27 Spring Break – School Closed

3/30-4/1 SUMMA Outdoor School

3/31-4/3 6th Grade Outdoor School

4/2 8th Grade District Band Festival

4/8 8th grade PICTURE

4/10 Grading Day – School Closed