Dear Wildcatter Parents,

It is a busy and exciting time at Junior High West! It is hard to believe we have only

seven weeks of school remaining! Progress reports went out on April 16 and the final

progress report will be posted on May 14. Semester exams will be held on June 2-4. Please

encourage your child to stay focused on his/her studies and school rules as we close out

the year.

We are preparing for the STAAR tests on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22 and 23.

Results are due back this week for 8th grade Reading and Math. Eighth graders who

were not successful during the first administration for reading or math tests will be noti-

fied on April 24 so tutoring can begin on April 28. Retesting for 8th grade math and

reading will be May 13 and 14. Further information will be forthcoming from the coun-

seling department.

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5-9. I think you would agree with me that Junior

High West has some of the greatest teachers on earth! It is a pleasure to work with them

in educating your child to reach his/her fullest potential. Teaching is one of the hardest

jobs in the world, but I believe our staff shows compassion and patience while encourag-

ing each student to believe in him/herself.

Thank you for all your support these past nine months—it truly takes everyone being

positive and working together to help all of our students. I look forward to our awards

programs at the end of the year and spotlighting all of our student successes!

Please let me know if I can of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Andrea Wenke

STAAR Math 7

Social Studies 8 April 22

STAAR Reading 7 Science 8 April 23

STAAR Algebra I EOC

May 6-8

STAAR Math 8 Retest

May 13

Band Concert May 13

STAAR Reading 8 Retest

May 14

Progress Reports May 14

Choir Concert May 21

Dance Showcase May 23

Holiday May 26

BOGO Book Fair May 27-29

Semester Exams June 2-4

WestFest June 5

Last Day of School Early Dismissal

June 6

Upcoming Events A Word from Mrs. Wenke….A Word from Mrs. Wenke….A Word from Mrs. Wenke….A Word from Mrs. Wenke….

Wildcatter Chatter

April 2014 4th Nine Weeks

On March 6, three choirs from West participated in Region 17’s UIL Concert and Sight Reading Contest. The Tenor/Bass Choir earned an Excellent rating on their Concert and their Sight Reading Performance. The Non-Varsity Treble Choir earned (for the second consecutive year) a Superior Rating and plaque for their Sight Reading and Excellent Ratings for their Concert Perfor-mance. For the fourth consecu-tive year, the Varsity Treble Choir earned Superior Sweepstakes Rat-ings and trophy, bringing home straight one (superior) ratings

from all judges for both their Concert and Sight Reading Perfor-mance. Congratulations to all stu-dents who participated and worked so hard to achieve these

results!

Solo and Ensemble Contest will be held at West on Saturday, April 26. All forms and money are

due Thursday, April 17.

The annual Schlitterbahn Gal-veston trip will be on Saturday, May 10. All forms and money are

due Thursday, April 17.

The Spring Concert will be Tuesday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m.

Rehearsal will be on Monday, May 19 after school until

5:30 p.m.

Check our webpage for the latest information about choir events. You can find it by going to http://www.pearlandisd.org/west.cfm, and selecting Activities

and then selecting Choir.

Shobha Dasari is the co-champion

for the Houston area Scripps

Spelling Bee competition and will

be going to the National Champi-

onship in Washington D.C., May

25–May 31, 2014.

Good Luck, Shobha!

A Few Notes from Choir

The 7th grade boys’ track team won the South Zone Champi-onship earlier this month. They edged out East in a hard fought battle, which literally came down to the last race. They are the first West track team since 1997 to win a championship. They also became the first group in West history to win a cham-pionship in cross country and track. Coach Dines and Coach Lloyd are very proud of this team. It was a great season!

Track Team Wins Championship

4th Nine Weeks Page 2

Another Win for Dasari

The Band Beat...

Congratulations to the Pearland Junior High West Honors, Sym-phonic, and Concert bands for their successful performances at UIL this month! Honors band received a Superior rating for their stage performance and a Superior rating in Sightreading, earning them a sweepstakes trophy for their second year in a row! The Symphonic Band earned a Superior rating on stage and a Superior rating in Sight-Reading and received a sweepstakes trophy for their performances. The Concert Band earned an Excellent rating on stage and a Superior rating in Sight-Reading and received a first division trophy for their sight-reading performance. Band directors Meredith Bates, Jessica Steiner, and Karen Young are very proud of all of the students and what they were able to accom-plish as a team this year.

The Math ^& Science Club, with members from West and Sablatura, competed in the re-cent TMSCA competition in San Antonio. Our team competed against 84 5-A schools and placed 11th in number sense, 7th in gen-

eral math and 7th in science.

Apart from team results, indi-vidual members won trophies and medals, competing against over 200 students in each category. Jessica Williams (6th grade – Sablatura) received a 5th place trophy in science. Siddarth Krish-nakumar (6th grade – Sablatura) received an 18th place medal in number sense, a 12th place medal in general math, and a 16th place medal in science. Helen Wang (7th grade – PJHW) received a 17th place medal in general math. Angela Tran (7th grade – PJHW) received a 15th place medal in science. Brian Liu (8th grade – PJHW) received a 20th place med-al in calculator and an 8th place

trophy in math. Finally, Chaitanya Lavu (8th grade – PJHW) received a 5th place tro-

phy in science.

Sponsors Jamie Williams and Susan Kovach are very proud of each of these students and all the hard work they have put in

this year.

Math & Science Club Competes

RED RIBBON WEEK: October 21-25 Page 3 Wildcatter Chatter

Advanced Academics

Melanie Grote, Specialist

Pearland ISD Advanced Academics

1928 N. Main St.

Pearland, TX 77581

281.485.3203

West Math Club in San Antonio

Although stu-

dents will not be

able to check out

print books after

May 16, they will

still have access to the library’s

FollettShelf ebook collection as

well as the district’s Overdrive

ebook collection. Students can

access both Overdrive and Fol-

lettShelf books from the library’s

homepage.

Contact Ms. Herrington, West

Librarian, for more information

about fines/overdue books and

for help with any of the library’s

online resources including

ebooks.

Beginning May 1, these library

circulation changes will take ef-

fect for the remainder of the

school year:

• Students may check out only

one book at a time.

• Checkouts will not be re-

newed.

• Students owing any fine

amount will not be able to

check out a book.

• The last day to checkout a

book will be Friday, May 16.

• Any book checked out after

May 8 will be due on May 23—

the last due date of the year.

All fines must be paid by June 6.

Library News

Campus Information

From the Registrar

CHANGE OF ADDRESS:

Please notify Mrs. Salais when you are changing

your address. An Official Change of Address Form

can be picked up in the Counselors’ office or the

front office. Residence verification requirements

in name of parent consist of the following docu-

ments that will need to be attached to the Offi-

cial Change of Address Form.

1. Deed of Trust (Pages 1, 2, 3 and the last two

signature pages), Current Residential or Lease

Agreement

2. Current Utility Bill (electricity, gas or water

only)

3. Current Texas Drivers License/Texas ID with

correct address.

Please contact Mrs. Salais with any questions at

281-412-1222.

From the Attendance Clerk When your child is ill and cannot attend school, he or she

must bring a note, signed by a parent or physician, with the

absence date(s) and the reason for absence. This must be

sent the day the child returns to school.

On a different note, please be advised that the deadline

to get messages to your child during the day is 3:20. Also, if

you need to check your child out of school early, please do

so by 3:30. Please allow at least fifteen minutes waiting

time when you need to check your child out for doctor/

dentist appointments, as they must be notified and then go

to lockers to gather their belongings.

Lost and found is located in the cafeteria. If you have mis-

placed a jacket, book or notebook please look in the cafe-

teria. If you have misplaced glasses, jewelry or keys please

Lost and Found…..

Did you know that

students can access

their virtual desktop

from home? When

they access their

virtual desktop,

students have access

to software such as

Microsoft Office. See

pages 6-8 for

instructions from

Pearland ISD Ed Tech

Department.

From the District... Stay in the Loop

Pearland ISD text messaging will provide parents with timely, relevant info, including school

cancellations, delays and other emergency notifications. If you want to receive these messag-

es, make sure your cell phone number is entered in the cellular field under primary parent/

guardian contact info in Skyward Family Access. (For instructions, visit www.pearlandisd.org »

Departments » Communications » Avenues of Communications. Click on “Text Messaging” link.)

If your contact info changes during the school year, please update it by calling your child’s

school office or logging into Skyward.

Also, subscribe to receive the district’s monthly e-newsletter and/or school board agendas

by visiting www.pearlandisd.org » Departments » Communications » Avenues of Communica-

tions. Look for “Board Agendas Subscribe” and “e-News Subscribe.”

Students now have access to a growing collection of ebooks through Overdrive. Click the image above to go to PISD’s

Overdrive login page. Students use their district ID number as their username and pearland for their password. Free

Overdrive apps are available for ereaders, tablets, and smartphones of all types.