Westwood Intermediate/Middle School
Westwood Families,
It’s I Love to Read Month! The PTO is sponsoring a book fair at Westwood this week. Students are previewing the book fair with their classes and able to purchase books during the day. The book fair will also be open Friday evening, 6-7:30 p.m. during family fun night.
In fifth and sixth grade, our students focus on comprehension, fluency and vocabulary in the area of reading. Teachers build these skills throughout the year.
- Comprehension is focused on the understanding of what a student reads. Students make conjectures and then use the text to support their thinking. Comprehension also includes the basic understanding of who the story is about and what happened in the book. Students show evidence of their comprehension in multiple ways including in their writing, socratic seminars, discussions, and answering questions.
- Vocabulary is built from a multi-subject approach and aims to build connections between words. For example - conjecture is used in science when conducting scientific experiments and also in reading. Word study focuses on the prefixes, suffixes and roots in words. Fluency continues to build in grades five and six.
- Fluency is reading a passage with accuracy, expression, and at a speed that supports a student’s comprehension.
Reading provides access to every other subject area. This is particularly important as students move into middle school. Strong reading is a critical and enduring skill that we want all students to feel confident in as they continue in school and life –all the time, including I Love to Read Month.
For our 8th grade families, I hope you are planning to attend the Explore Your Options event at Spring Lake Park High School this evening. The event is 5-7 p.m. It’s a great opportunity to check out the high school building, connect with a counselor, learn more about courses, find out about earning college credit and exploring careers and all the ways incoming 9th graders can get involved.
Enjoy the Super Bowl weekend,
Tom Larson
Principal
U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championship
Westwood Middle School is proud to highlight three student-athletes who are part of the Northernettes Synchronized Skating team.
Maddy Rechnagel, Lily Engelke, and Audrey Anderson competed at the US Figure Skating Midwestern Synchronized Sectional Championships in Wichita, KS. All three students are part of the Northernettes Juvenile team, with Engelke also a member of the Novice team. Juvenile earned the Silver medal and Novice earned the Bronze medal. Both teams will advance to the U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championships February 23 in Las Vegas, NV.
Let’s go, Northernettes!
From letter sounds to chapter books, caterpillar to butterfly
The journey of the emerging reader is a transformation much like that of caterpillar to butterfly. As news headlines and legislative actions focus on the science of reading, Spring Lake Park Schools is in its third year of implementing new resources aligned with practices to help more butterflies take flight.
During the summer of 2020, a team of Spring Lake Park Schools elementary teachers spent 1,500 hours completing a curricular review that brought Wit and Wisdom and FUNdations to grades K-6 for the 2021-2022 school year. That review was the culmination of extensive work to align the latest research in the science of reading to the district’s instructional frameworks.
When the Minnesota legislature passed the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act last spring, Spring Lake Park Schools was already years into the implementation of the "evidence-based" instruction the legislation requires. The goal is to ensure student mastery of five components of reading – phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency and reading comprehension.
Take a peek, from kindergarten through fourth grade, to see how letter sounds turn into chapter books. Read the story of the emerging reader.
Thank you to 2024 Panthers for a Purpose Sponsors
The Panther Foundation would like to extend a thank you to those who have committed to sponsorship of this year’s Panthers for a Purpose event. Each sponsorship allows the Panther Foundation to reach more students and do more for kids in our schools. Join the cause and become a sponsor.
2024 Annual Sponsors:
- Reverie Boutique & Co.
- White Bear Eye Clinic & Optical
- Bottomline Accounting Services, LLC
- Chris & Niomi Hasling
- Imagine Smiles
- Marsh McLennan Agency
- Pitzl & Pitzl Accountants and Advisors
- Thrivent - Brad Hunt
2024 Event Sponsors:
- 3M Open
- Twin Cities Eye Consultants
- IQa Engineering
- Tanya & Josh Hartwell
- Walters Recycling & Refuse
- Ceso
- Kraus-Anderson
- Wold Architects
- Village Bank
- Herzog Engineering
- Inspec
- Kyle & Heather Goochey
- Seth & Julie Smolich
- Ryan & Maureen Sundeen
- Janine Hanson Communications
- Wayne & Allie Schmidt
- Stephen Tokle Inspections
- USI Insurance Services
2024 Fund-A-Dream Sponsors:
- Rotary Blaine - Ham Lake
- The Wolfgang Family
- Eric & Kari Nokken
