WHS Information and Update-Week 8

WHS Band Concert-There is a WHS Band Concert tonight from 7:00-8:00 in the Washburn Performing Art Center. Come hear some OUTSTANDING music, played by the WHS Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble!

Spring Break-Spring is nearly here, which means students’ minds typically drift from schoolwork to vacation, sleep, or relaxation.  Before WHS students let their minds wander, they should look at spring break as an opportunity to get caught up or ahead.  Students should communicate with their teachers this week and find at least one class they can either get caught up in or get ahead in during spring break. Use this time wisely.

Spring Conferences-March 27-29 students will be released at 11:25 am in order for parent-teacher conferences to happen.  Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, teachers will be available from 12:00-3:00 pm to conference with parents.  We are asking parents to initiate contact either by phone or email with teachers in order to request a conference.  Teachers will be responsible for scheduling their own conferences this spring.  We will be sending out our conference schedule later this week.

Thursday night, teachers will be available from 5:00-8:00 pm.  Conferences will be 15 minute.  If after 15 minutes you would like additional time, we would like for you to re-schedule for another day.  In addition to individual conferences, we will be providing parent workshops covering variety of topics.

Parent Workshops-The evening of Thursday, March 28 from 5:00-8:00 pm, WHS staff will be providing workshops for parents and guardians covering the following areas:

•    Graduation Requirements and Academic Success101-Ms. Mackey and

     Mr. Sanford will be providing information about graduation requirements as

     well as sharing resources that are available for students and parents.

•    Math Information (myhrw.com support, standards, etc)-Math teachers will

     be providing information for students and parents about math standards and

     resources that are available.

•    Cyberbullying-Mr. Washburn will be sharing information about responsible

     cyber-communication and our policy.

•    Skyward 101-Mr. Bennett will be sharing with parents all of the information

     that is available on skyward as well as helping parents log into skyward.

•    State Assessment Information (EOC-Algebra, EOC-Geometry, EOC-

     Biology and HSPE)-Ms. Boyden will sharing information and resources

     available regarding the state assessments that students must pass.

•    AP Information-We will have a session dealing with the upcoming AP exams

     as well as information about the AP courses we currently offer.

•    Career Cruising and High School and Beyond Plan-Mrs. Spencer will be

     providing information and example of what Career Cruising has to offer WHS

     students.

Each workshop will be approximately 30 minutes long except for the math and graduation requirements workshops, which are one hour long.  I have attached the tentative parent workshop schedule to this email.

Forecasting Deadline

All WHS students should have completed forecasting for their classes for the 2013-14 school year.  Students need to submit their courses using Career Cruising, print a Course Selection Sign-off sheet, have parents review and sign it and return it to their 3rd period (Panther Time) teacher by Friday, March 22.

Forecasting Timeline: 2013

• February 20-25: Grade level assemblies reviewing Career Cruising with students at WHS.
• March 5-6: Counselors present information to middle schools
• March 11: Curriculum Night in the Auditorium and Commons at WHS for 8th graders 6:00 p.m. start time.
• March 11-15: Students go into labs with counselors and begin selecting classes (if they haven't already started at home), and can lock in their selections.
• March 22: Student and parent SIGNED Course Request Sheets are due to 3rd period teachers.
• March 25 & 26: Counselors return to CCMS & JMS to finalize forecasting

WHS Update and Information-Week 7

Parent Workshop Schedule-Thursday, March 28

HSPE Week Review-Although we will not have HSPE Reading and Writing results until late June, the week as a whole was successful. The staff who proctored the exams reported that students worked hard and the testing environment was good.  I appreciated the opportunity to share with 9^th graders how they can use Skyward to check their attendance, academic history, academic progress relative to graduation requirements, grades and state testing information.  I was impressed with the level of questions asked and the attentiveness of each group.  Mr. Washburn had an opportunity to talk with the 9^th graders about the importance of being cyber-savy.  He shared with them the risks involved in sharing personal information via the internet, texts, etc.  Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Leonard had the students in computer labs working on Career Cruising and the Career Day activity.  Ms. Mackey and Mr. Sanford worked with the 9^th graders in the morning on completing their forecasting for next year.  The math department had the students take an online math assessment and students had two 45-minute sessions to work on their work.  All in all, it was a good use of HSPE time.

Wednesday, PLC Early Release-Wednesday, March 20 students will be released at 11:25.  Students will be attending their 5, 6 & 7 periods.  Staff will be continuing work on the Teacher Principal Evaluation Project (TPEP) as well as meeting in course-alike teams.  

Spring Conferences-March 27-29 students will be released at 11:25 am in order for parent-teacher conferences to happen.  Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, teachers will be available from 12:00-3:00 pm to conference with parents.  We are asking parents to initiate contact either by phone or email with teachers in order to request a conference.  Teachers will be responsible for scheduling their own conferences this spring.  We will be sending out our conference schedule later this week.

Thursday night, teachers will be available from 5:00-8:00 pm.  Conferences will be 15 minutes Thursday night as well.  If after 15 minutes you would like additional time, we would like for you to re-schedule for another day.  In addition to individual conferences, we will be providing parent workshops covering variety of topics.

Parent Workshops-The evening of Thursday, March 28 from 5:00-8:00 pm, WHS staff will be providing workshops for parents and guardians covering the following areas:

•    Graduation Requirements and Academic Success 101

•    Math Information (myhrw.com support, standards, etc)

•    Cyberbullying

•    Skyward 101

•    State Assessment Information (EOC-Algebra, EOC-Geometry, EOC-Biology and  

     HSPE)

•    AP Information

•    Career Cruising and High School and Beyond Plan

Each workshop will be approximately 30 minutes long except for the math and graduation requirements workshops, which are one hour long.  Staff will be providing information as well as being available for questions.  I have attached the tentative parent workshop schedule to this email.

WHS Information and Updates-Week 6

Team Mean Machine and "Odd Job" qualify for Nationals

Team Mean Machine and their robot, “Odd Job” earn trip to the Robotics National Championships-The partnership between Camas, Washougal and Hockinson continues to excel.  The alliance that Team Mean Machine was part of won the regional robotics championship this weekend in Portland.  They have qualified for the National Championships in St. Louis scheduled for April 24-27.  See Columbian article for more information.

8^th grade Grade Curriculum and Graduation Requirement Night for Incoming 9^th graders(Class of 2017)-Monday, March 11 from 6:00-7:30 we will be providing information form incoming 9^th graders and families at WHS in the following way: 

• 6:00-7:00 Curriculum Fair-In the WHS commons, teachers will have information tables set up and will be available to share details about their classes.
• 7:00-7:30 General Information and Graduation Requirements in the auditorium-In the auditorium, we will present important graduation requirements for the class of 2017 and discuss the forecasting process.  You will be able to ask questions about the forecasting process, AP, Honors courses, etc.

Curriculum Guide- Students are currently able to forecast and will be locking in their choices during the week of March 11 for the 2013-14 school year.  We feel it is very important for both students and parents to be aware of all the graduation requirements.  Please take some time to review graduation requirements and our curriculum guide. You can get all the information you need by visiting the WHS Counseling website at http://www.washougal.k12.wa.us/whs/departments/counseling.htm.  If you have questions, please contact your student(s) counselor.

2013 HSPE Testing Schedule (March 12-14)-It is HSPE WEEK!!!! It would be great to see every student who takes a HSPE, pass a HSPE! 100%!! 

All 9^th and 10^th graders as well as 11th and 12th graders who have not met standard are expected to attend Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning.  The bus schedule has not been changed.  Buses will run at regularly scheduled times.  Monday and Friday are regularly scheduled days.

• All 9^th graders will be working on a variety of activities which will include finalizing forecasting, taking a math assessment, completing Career Cruising activities, receiving information about cyberbullying, etc. 
• All 10^th graders will be taking the Writing and Reading HSPE. 
• All 11^th and 12^th graders who have not met standard will need to be at school starting at 7:55 to take the exam in room #133 (Mr. Amundson's room).  If you are not sure if your student has met standard, please contact the main office ASAP. 
• 11^th and 12^th grade students who have met standard can arrive at the beginning of classes at 11:00 a.m. each day (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday).  

Helpful Suggestions for HSPE Week-During the week your student(s) is taking the HSPE, here are some suggestions:

• Make sure they get enough sleep.
•  Have them eat breakfast each morning.
• Let them know you expect them to do their best, but to not get stressed out about it!  It’s just another piece of information about how they are learning, so teachers can help them learn better.
• Ask them each evening what was on the test.  What did they think was hard?  Why?  What did they think was easy?  Why?  Let them know you are interested, but don’t be judgmental about their approaches.
• Be loving and supportive!

Go Panthers!

WHS Information and Updates-Week 5

Last Week in Review-I thought last week was pretty good week.  The week started with an assembly for 10^th graders to go over the forecasting schedule, spring sports starting and an informative PAC meeting Monday evening.  We recognized the junior and senior class Academic All-Stars and those earning Honor Roll status on Wednesday and Thursday during 3^rd period. During our staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon, we analyzed artifacts that teachers brought representing student learning, open lines of communication, etc.  We continue to familiarize ourselves with our new evaluation system we will be implementing next year.  

Panthers Shine at Regional Solo & Ensemble Contest-Success for Washougal High School at the Regional Solo & Ensemble contest this weekend.  Junior Nick Stevens took first place in the Tenor category and will go to state. The mixed and women's ensembles earned "excellent" ratings and the men's ensemble earned a "superior". The men were among those considered for a winner/ alternate spot for the state contest in their category.  All other WHS solos earned "excellent" ratings. We are extremely proud of all those who competed and earned such high marks for themselves and for the WHS Community. 

WHS PAC Meeting Summary-Thank you to those who attended the PAC meeting on February 25.   We had good turnout, but I am hoping for more at our March meeting. Dessert will be provided at our next meeting….does that help? At the meeting we discussed the forecasting process, increasing parent involvement, 1st semester grades and a closed campus.   I have attempted to summarize some of the details.

• Forecasting Process- There were some concerns brought up about classes that we used to offer (CWS-English block).  I explained that in place of CWS-English we now offer AP Government and Honor Senior English.  It was brought up that sometimes classes that are listed in the curriculum guide are not offered.  This does happen each year. We take what students forecast for and create.  If there are not enough students in a particular course, it may not be offered. 
• Increasing Parent Involvement-There were some good ideas suggested for increasing our parent involvement.  We need to advertise for specific needs that we have.  Those in attendance encourages us to provide a workshop for parents to support their use of Skyward as well as provide teasers in the weekly information and updates.
• 1^st Semester Grades-I shared 1^st semester grades broken down in a variety of ways. It continues to be a priority for us to have more students being successful.  One of the ways we measure progress over all is to analysis our semester grades. We discussed the number of 9^th graders who appear to be struggling.  We talked about current support for 9^th graders as they transition to high school.  The WHS staff is continuing to look at different ways we can support all of our students, but specifically helping incoming 9^th graders.
• Closed Campus-I shared safety concerns I have about 11^th and 12^th graders with parent permission leaving campus during lunch. Increasing the overall safety at WHS continues to be a high priority for the WHS community.  I realize that the off-campus privilege has been something that 11^th and 12^th graders appreciate, and look forward to.  I would like to put together a group of students, parents and staff to look at the issues and concerns associated with a closed campus for the 2013-14 school year.

Curriculum Guide- Students will be forecasting during the week of March 11 for the 2013-14 school year.  Last Wednesday, students reviewed their progress toward graduation by completing a graduation credit check form.  We feel it is very important for both students and parents to be aware of all the graduation requirements.  Please take some time to review graduation requirements and our curriculum guide. You can get all the information you need by visiting the WHS Counseling website at http://www.washougal.k12.wa.us/whs/departments/counseling.htm.  If you have questions, please contact your student(s) counselor.

2013 HSPE Testing Schedule (March 12-14)- During HSPE week, all 9^th and 10^th grade students will be expected to attend.  All 10^th graders will be taking the Writing and Reading HSPE.  All  9^th graders will be working on a variety of activities which will include finalizing forecasting, working on math and/or their other classes, completing Career Cruising activities, etc.  All 11^th and 12^th graders who have not met standard will need to be at school starting at 7:55 to take the exam in which they have not met standard.  Those students will be receiving a reminder this week as well as a reminder will be sent home in the mail.  If you are not sure if you student has met standard, please contact the main office.  11^th and 12^th grade students who have met standard can arrive at the beginning of classes at 11:00 a.m. each day.  If you want to familiarize yourself with the Reading and Writing HSPE check out the following sites:

• http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/HSPE.aspx
• http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/FAQ.aspx
• http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/TestQuestions/Testquestions.aspx

Helpful Suggestions for HSPE Week-During the week your student(s) is taking the HSPE, here are some suggestions:

• Make sure they get enough sleep.
• Have them eat breakfast each morning.
• Let them know you expect them to do their best, but to not get stressed out about it!  It’s just another piece of information about how they are learning, so teachers can help them learn better.
• Ask them each evening what was on the test.  What did they think was hard?  Why?  What did they think was easy?  Why?  Let them know you are interested, but don’t be judgmental about their approaches.
• Be loving and supportive!

Spring Conferences-March 27-29 is Conference Week.  All students will be released at 11:25 am. 
 If you are not sure whether or not you want to meet with your student’s teacher(s) please consider the following examples when you might  want to schedule a conference with a teacher:

• Your student is struggling in a particular class and neither of you are clear on what help is available to get him or her back on track.
• Your student has gotten behind and needs a plan to get caught up.
• Your student is really excited about this subject and interested in pursuing it further.

Parental involvement in a student’s education may not be as hands on in high school but students still need your support. We will be communicating out how you can set up your own parent-teacher conferences in the near future.

Go Panthers!