1WESTWOOD WORD APRIL 2018 Issue 7 7666

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Westwood Word April 2018

A GREAT PLACE TO GROW IN THIS ISSUE

by Donna Johnston, Principal

With the weather slowly improving, some students want to stay and play outside on the playground after dismissal times (12:00 & 3:30). Please be aware that our student body has been told that they are to go home first and ask permission if they want to come back and play. We want them to be responsible by going straight home and respectful by asking their parent/guardian permission to return. Hanging around after school invites problems to occur because the playground is unsupervised at these times. We ask for your cooperation in reinforcing with your child(ren) to come straight home directly after school, in an effort to curb bad choices and unfortunate circumstances from occurring. We thank you in advance for your support in keeping our Westwood students safe!

Science Fair Another successful year!

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Mini Winterfest Westwood Celebrates our Northern Culture.

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Let’s Show Our Support WW…

6N Website by Amanda Nsi, Gr. 6 Teacher

The 6N class has our own website! Check it out at www.mrsnsi.ca. This website has all of our class news and daily assignments. Be sure to click on the "Exploring Space Magazine" section, which was created by an amazing group of 6N students for an independent science project.

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March highlights:

Mar. 5-9 – Spring Break (No School) Mar. 12 – Report Writing (No School am only) Parent Meeting Re: Service Dog Mar. 16 - Gr. 8 Ski Trip Mar. 20 – Science Fair Mar. 28 – Mini-Winter Fest Mar. 29 – Weiner Roast Gr. 7 Extreme Sledding Competition Reports Go Home Mar. 30 – Good Friday (No School)

Jump

Rope For Heart by Dan Dotin, P.E. Teacher

Westwood did a great job and raised a whopping, $4900.99 in fundraising for the Jump Rope for Heart. This beat our goal by just over $400. I just wanted to say thank you for encouraging our students to fundraise for Heart & Stroke, and participate during our event day.

March Attendance

86.9%

Yikes! 90% attendance is the minimum that we strive for! We need everyone’s help to achieve this goal.

Looking to April:

Apr. 18 – Student Led Conferences (No regularly scheduled classes) Apr. 20 – K of C Track Meet

Science Fair by Wendy Mercer, Gr.7 Teacher

We had another successful science this year! The Westwood School Science Fair Committee would like to thank all teacher and student volunteers, as well as our judges from the community. We greatly appreciate those who volunteered their time for our Vikings!

Seventeen students will be representing our school at the Regional Science Fair, which will be held on April 13th at Riverside School. Good Luck to all of our young scientists!

The Westwood School Science Fair Committee look forward to having even more students participate in the science fair next year!

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Students worked in groups of four, spending several classes on design, problem solving, and planning.

On March 29th each group used provided supplies to build their sleds in just two hours.

Throughout the day, all eight groups were judged on teamwork, design, safety, and of course the race in the afternoon. We had a wonderful time, and learned a lot!

Thank you to Skills Canada/Manitoba, and their generous sponsors!

Grade 8

Design

Challenge by Cora Grant, Gr. 8 Teacher

Students in grade 8 competed in a design challenge for the high school's Spirit Wolves Racing Team. Students had to create a picture that represented Thompson. The chosen picture will be displayed on one of the F1 racing cars that the Spirit Wolves Racing Team will be taking to Austin, Texas to race in a school competition in May/June at the Circuit of America's. Kassidy Morin in grade 8 won first place out of all the schools who participated in Thompson, Manitoba. She won a $50 gift certificate of her choice. Thank you to all of those who participated!

Extreme Sledding by Wendy Mercer, Gr.7 Teacher

The grade seven students channeled their inner engineers to design and race a sled in the Extreme Sledding Competition hosted by Skills Canada/Manitoba.

Fun in 4D by Bill Dwyer, Gr. 4 Teacher

Grade 4D participated in a lot

of activities during Westwood

Winterfest (March 28th), but

we showed notable teamwork

and resourcefulness when we

worked together to construct

a prospector tent with Ron

Cook. We are pictured inside

of it.

In the other picture, we are

assembled together

showcasing our completed

Musical Instruments for our

Sound Unit assignment. Our

class designed many creative

instruments such as: the

kalimba, guitar, banjo, drum

kit, panpipe, and many more.

Photo was taken March 1st.

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The Fantastic Field Trip to Paint Lake was located at the Paint Lake Provincial Park on

Wednesday, March 21st, 2018. It was a sunny day with blue skies. The setting was so beautiful because

of the warm temperatures and the cumulus clouds.

We went on our field trip to learn all about winter safety survival skills and how to build a

quinzee. This was a great way to have hands on learning! The things I learned about winter survival

that I found most important were:

1. how to build a quinzee

a. step one is make a snow pile

b. tap it down

c. let it set

d. dig a hole

e. stay inside

f. build a barrier around it

2. you need to bring things to be prepared

a. cell phone and a charger

b. tell someone when and where you are going

c. stay put until someone comes to help

d. take winter gear with you

e. take water and nonperishable food

f. bring spare gas

g. bring a buddy

h. bring a tin can, candle and matches

We had so many fun activities to keep us busy, they were; sliding, skating and hanging out in the warm

up shack. On the hill lots of funny things happened like; we pretended to be penguins sliding down

and everybody was racing. When Ms. McCartney was taking a picture of some of the sliders I jumped

in the air in front of them. It was the perfect photobomb! Now on to the skating; Brock, Reed, Rylen,

Justyce and I played a big hockey game. We were so skilled we didn’t even need nets! We looked for

fish in the ice too. While we were building the quinzee, Cashton made up a song called Money. It was so

funny! We even built snow couches to relax on beside the quinzee.

Thank-you to all of the teachers that made this field trip possible and so much fun!

By: Matthew Hirsch

P.S. Hug a tree and stay put for safety! It’s no fun to be lost in the forest!

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Welcome to Kindergarten (WTK) is a wonderful opportunity for families, schools and community partners to come together and celebrate active early learning. Active early learning ensures a smooth transition to school for every child. Welcome to Kindergarten for All Children shows that WTK Family

Orientation sessions are for every child.

Talk Read Sing Play every day!

Westwood Word

April 2018

46 Mallard Cres. Thompson, MB R8N0X9