The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.
Activities for the week:
Monday: President Lincoln's Day: No School
Tuesday: Regular Day
Wednesday: Regular Day:
Happy Valentines Day! Sweets for the Sweet will be in the mail room....
Thursday: Regular Day:
Wish Deputy Marcos Collins well as he leaves to the Vista station to become a Juvenile Detective. This is his last day with us. New SRO to be identified and joining us soon....
Friday: Minimum Day: End of first grading period
To all who helped with FRESHMAN SHOWCASE!
The entire Pit was full of people. Parents and students remarked consistently how OPEN, FRIENDLY, and WELCOMING we are! They really enjoyed getting in to CLASSROOMS and talking with teachers, coaches, STUDENTS and Admin about West Hills. THANK YOU to all for your efforts and hospitality! Below are just a few photos shared with us....
(L) Class of 2022 interested in AVID and below, observing current AVID students in tutorial sessions.
Orchestra students encouraging Class of 2022 to join them!
Theater students representing their joy of acting and talking with parents and students about our wonderful theater options.
Choir "singing" their praises for options at West Hills.
Below: Guitar students playing beautifully and letting Class of 2022 know WH can teach them everything they need to know for guitar--even how to build one!
Wolfie and Wolfette grabbed a photo with the gals of Admin as the night was underway....
Wednesday, February 21, 7:00 p.m.-- FACULTY AIRBAND Performace...arrive at 6:30 p.m. (we are somewhat of a surprise for our students):
Rehearsals in our Theater:
Thursday, Feb. 15: 2:45-3:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 16: 12:30-1:30 p.m
Tuesday, Feb. 20: 2:45-3:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 3, 2018: West Hills 30th Year Gala and Hall of Fame Dinner;tickets on sale NOW via our special Faculty and Staff google form. Celebrating at The Handlery Hotel, we hope you will join us for this West Hills Foundation sponsored fund raiser and celebration! Our Hall of Fame is honoring:
Bryan Halsey (1996)
Andy Wharton (1998)
Amber Martin (1999)
Ben Aragon (2001)
Matt Gilson (2005)
The Handlery Hotel is offering discount room rates with parking...tell them you are with West Hills High School and make a night of it!
Amber Martin (1999)
Ben Aragon (2001)
Matt Gilson (2005)
The Handlery Hotel is offering discount room rates with parking...tell them you are with West Hills High School and make a night of it!
Thank you to those who have DONATED a silent auction item or service! We welcome and need more.Please let our two wonderful Foundation Gala Coordinators, Melissa Smith cow_girlmelly@yahoo.com or Lisa Hurst lisa.hurst@gmail.com know if you have any service, items or "freebies" you can donate for our auction. We have Disney Passes, Sea World tickets, one private Chef dinner for 6, one private photography session for an individual or family, and we need much more! No item is too small or too large to offer for auction. We can take your item or service and make a theme basket so please donate! In addition, if you have any community members or philanthropic folks who might be interested in sponsoring our event, please feel free to share this document...we are actively looking for sponsors! All proceeds benefit West Hills High School students, faculty and staff.
Please help us publicize this event via social media and any who might want a night of fun!
Monday, March 5, 2018, 7:45 a.m. in S-8: Admin Lead Staff Meeting: Mandatory for all Faculty and Staff; Wonderful AVID Students will be leading us in a short activity applying Costa's Levels of Rigor; Final whole staff meeting before our WASC visit; See this link for our visitation schedule; We have sent out calendar invites for the various meetings and will be asking selected teachers for sub needs;
Sunday, March 18- Wednesday, 21, 2018: WASC Visiting Team on campus. Please look at your email for the calendar invite(s) that pertain to you. Department Chair and Leadership along with WASC Focus Group Leaders have a few more invites than others. Link to the schedule for the visit is here.
Tentatively Monday, June 4 @ 1:00 p.m.: Dedication of the Dave Hunter Gymnasium with unveiling of the new name and a reception in the Foyer. More to come on this....
San Diego County Board of Supervisor Dianne Jacob visited WHHS
On Wednesday morning, County Board of Supervisors Dianne Jabob visited with Kathy Worley in the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Technology classrooms. Kathy, as a California State Finalist for Teacher of the Year invited the Supervisor to come see what West Hills and our CTE pathways teaches and allows students to experience. Supervisor Jacobs, a former 6th grade teacher at Bancroft Elementary, was impressed, excited and enthused about our program and the learning experiences Ms. Worley is providing for students. She asked us for our list of things we need to keep our Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Pathways thriving. We are happy to provide that for her!
On February 15, Engineers from OtterBox and LIfeTouch (makers of the popular cell phone safety cases) will be on campus looking our our Maker Spaces in both the Library and the Adv. Manufacturing building. You may recall they generously chose WHHS for a $10,000 grant for this purpose and are eager to see our students in action!
Focus on English Learners:
Did you know WHHS now has 28% of our students who self-identify as Hispanic or of Latino descent? Another 11% note they are Asian, Pacific-Islander or Multi-Racial. We also have 60% of our students who identify as Caucasian, and this is the Federal identifier for individuals of Mid-Eastern descent as well. Currently, West Hills has about 73 English Learners with 13 students enrolled in ELD coursework towards English language fluency.
This article describes some strategies for planning social studies lessons with ELLs in mind, with a particular emphasis on building background knowledge. This link will also give you websites to support ELL's in the social studies classroom.
One easy activity to consider implementing before beginning a new chapter is a "chapter-walk", where students predict what the chapter will be about based on pictures and highlighted features of the textbook. Most ELL's report that visual aides support their understanding of content area information.
Check out this graphic organizer which is an excellent and easy reading strategy that can be used at the beginning of a unit.
Also, the district has an EL Curriculum Specialist, Joann Phillips, who is available to help with lesson planning or support in your content area for helping ELL's in the classroom. Please contact Barbra Ruggles, EL Coordinator, for more information or help with ELL strategies.
A staff member sent this to Admin and I say "Heck ya...let's see who's up for the challenge!" Maybe we have a talented student who wants to design our logo? Feel free to sign up and let me know if you are interested....this is a great way to celebrate the start of Spring Break! Go Wolf Pack!! Forward on to students and our community in any way you like! Bring the family!
HEY Pack
Let’s keep the great kindness challenge going and participate in something as a school. Clubs, Teams, Departments
Register at https://www.raceforautism.org/ and the join our team
WHHS Wolf Pack
We can be "Super Wolves"
And do something fun as a group
OK honestly here is where I fall short since waking up early on a Saturday morning is not really my idea of fun, but hanging out with a bunch of friends from work does, and doing something to promote how awesome our school is- even more awesome!
Someone design a "Super Wolf" logo
...submit to Ginny Bell by Wednesday, March 5. All submissions will be voted on by google survey.
