Aug. 12-16

The mission of West Hills High School is to graduate critical thinkers and problem-solvers who contribute positively to society as productive, responsible citizens.

WHHS self-identified & WASC confirmed Goals

Activities for the week: 

Monday 8/12:  West Hills Back to School Agenda (Day 2 PD with Adults)

Tuesday 8/13:  West Hills Back to School Agenda (Day 3 PD with Adults)

Wednesday 8/14: Regular Day--First Day with Students

Thursday 8/15:     Regular Day

                                      

Friday 8/16        Regular Day

Thank you for the great start to the school year! 

It was great to be together again for the start of the 2019-20 school year. Huge THANKS to Jamie Gwyn and Lucas Hondros for our wonderful HOWL day with students! Also a shout out to Elise Reinert, leading our Blue and Black Brigade marching band as they gave SPIRIT MUSIC and a terrific welcome to about 400 freshmen today!

We also had Business Day yesterday with THANK YOU to Finance Tech Kelley Herman, VP Secretary Maria Lenhoff, ASB Adviser  Ardy Riego and ASB for managing several hundred of students and parents pre-buying WH Spirit gear, PE Clothes, ASB Cards and turning in all kinds of documents.

Master Schedule is still refining as we begin the school year.

Please do not send students to Guidance if there are "too many" students in your class. We are actively working on balancing but do not want the student to feel unwanted or "less than". This is the message they take with them, no matter how kind we are, when we send them out of class this first few days.  We are well aware of  class numbers and are working on complying with maximum class counts and balancing actively. 

We have sent out to parents and students via email and Infinite Campus portals this notice: 

Students are asked to come to Guidance to sign up for one of these reasons OUTSIDE YOUR CLASS PERIOD. 

Students: Schedule changes are only available for one of four reasons:

You have a hole in your schedule (missing a class)

You have a duplicate class--two periods of the same class in the same semester

You have a class you have already taken and earned credit for.

If you are a freshman, you have fewer than 6 classes.

As always, our bell schedule is 7:15 - 2:47 pm. We are not able to change start and end times. The campus is open for you to arrive before / stay after your last class. 

   Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Teachers: Thank you for your engagement and active participation with our UDL Part I work on Friday and our Literacy / UDL / Vocabulary work with Lin Kuzmich. She mentioned her website with resources and she also shared her powerpoint with us. Thank you to all for your exit tickets and your responses to our google form. On Monday and Tuesday, you will we will learn more about flexible means and materials, Learner Variability (with ideas and strategies for use in all content areas) and about Multiple Means of engagement, representation, and allowing for action and expression in a variety of ways for best first teaching for all students. You can visit and read more about UDL at the CAST website. (No, not the Science test "Cast" but the Center for Applied Special Technology. UDL originally began back in 1984 as a way to assist students with special needs access curriculum and the classroom). 

Here is a great reminder of quality instruction for all learners, and specifically, English Language Learners from Education Northwest: http://tinyurl.com/ordbd28 Please remember that while we have a small population of students taking ELD, we have a larger number of students--about 175 "sprinkled" throughout our grades and courses who may need additional content area support. Barb Ruggles is happy to help you with any ideas / resources / needs. 

As always, our website has a wealth of information and links wolfpack.guhsd.net