April2016

ImportantUpcomingEventsApril13–StudentLedConferences(KindergartensareApril13&14),appointmentscanbebooked

onlinenowApril5–MakerClubround2starts(forthosestudentsselected)April13–15–WestwoodishostingtheirsecondScholastic’sbookfair,pleasecomeoutand

supportus!

WestwoodWordWehopeeveryonehadarestfulandenjoyableSpringBreak!

WinterFest 2016 On March 8 and 9, Westwood held their annual Mini-WinterFest. The students participated in a variety of activities both indoors and outdoors focusing on Aboriginal culture. We had perfect

The Spirit of Giving Continues

In February, 2/3R and 3B held a bake sale to raise money for the Thompson Homeless Shelter. They raised over $500 dollars and this month Ms. Bettess and Ms. Rindall went shopping for the Thompson Homeless Shelter. Christina Moody from the shelter came and accepted the donations of clothing and personal hygiene items.

Sports Corner Currently we are training our athletes for the Knights of Colombus Track Meet held at the end of this month. The practice schedule for the events is posted on our website. Please also have your child to listen to the daily announcements for any changes

Upcoming Events

In May we will be celebrating Jump Rope for Heart with various activities for all grades.

Badminton will be starting for junior high students in May as well and intramurals will start up again.

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Science Fair 2016 This year’s Science Fair displayed a great variety of projects from Grade 2 to Grade 8. An enormous amount of work was put forth by all participants and should be congratulated. Westwood’s scientists showcased their work to classmates, friends and even to the community at the open house. Many thanks to those who helped organize the students and the event and to the judges for taking time to come in. This year’s competition awarded the following for their excellent projects:

Grade 4: 1. Harshan Siddhu "Making A Low Cost Efficient Sleeping Bag For Homeless" 1. Jessica Smud " Plant Soil" 2. Maitri Patel and Namya Patel "Which Fruit Has The Most Vitamin C?" Grade 5: 1. Deklan Coggan "Do Plants Need Water?" 2. Matthew Schultz and Cayden Nychyporuk "The Marvelous Mint" 2. Jasleen Kaur "Pinhole Camera"

Grade 6: 1. Aeron Humaid "DNA: Code For Life" 1. Omran El-Renewi "Never Wet Spray vs Homemade Spray" 2. Colby Grandy "Magnetic Levitation" 2. Ereka McIvor and partner Samantha Randell "Touching Memories" Grade 7: 2. Hannah Birch and partner Danika Armitage "The Green Mystery" Grade 8: 1. Ashley Duke-Morgan "Is Snow Really That Dirty?"

These students will be moving on to the Regional Science Fair competition, this year held in The Pas, Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9. Public viewing is in the Roy H. Johnston Arena from 1:30 to 2:30 shortly followed by the awards ceremony. The Science Fair committee encourages all participants to return next year to compete and show off their mad science skills. Mr. Larocque challenges all grades next year to compete. A prize will be given to the class with the highest number of participants at next year’s Science Fair. A great big thank you goes out to Parent Council for their very generous donation to purchase the trophy awards. The award winners truly enjoyed their prize and even motivated other students to participate next year. Good luck to all at the Regionals!

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Tell Them for Me Survey

This month we are going to focus on the Social-Emotional outcomes of the “Tell Them for Me Survey”. The results show the amount of time each grade level indicated they spend watching TV, reading a book, and playing on the computer of video games compared to the Canadian average.

Scholastic Book Fair

Westwood School will be holding their second Scholastic book fair April 13-15 during

Student Led Conferences. Stop by the library and check out the books available. All

proceeds stay in the school and help purchase new books for our library.

Grade Seven ‘Extreme’ Adventure!

Extreme sledding was an awesome experience and we all had a great time. We really liked how everyone worked together as a team to build amazing sleds made out of cardboard and wood. The race track was so cool and we loved blowing bubbles to get extra points! There are a few things we would change to make this event even better, such as a bigger work space and more materials. Overall, we had a very awesome day AND didn’t have to do school work! Thank you very much to Michelle Pruder from Skills Canada and Skills Manitoba for giving Westwood grade seven students a memorable day!

- Danica, Alli & Meirochan

It was a clear and crisp winter day on March 23rd, 2016. The McCartneys and Osbergs were so excited because

they were going on a fun filled field trip to Paint Lake! The beautiful weather and the anticipation were almost too much to bear. The bus was prompt and we were all loaded on before 9:10am. Nobody wanted to waste a minute of time. The students and chaperones were all a buzz and talking on the bus. There was lots of laughter and even some singing. We arrived shortly after 9:30am.

Everyone helped unload the bus and the truck of supplies. We all went to the warm up cabin to drop off our stuff before the day’s events could begin. Everyone gathered outside for a discussion on winter safety and survival. We learned how important it is to have the proper clothing, emergency supplies and a plan before travelling in the winter. One of the strategies we learned about was building quinzees. This is when you build a large pile of snow, let it harden and dig out the middle. It is a shelter to use if you are stranded. It is important that the structure be solid and secure we learned because if a hole is punched into the side of it (Ms. McCartney “helped out” with that part) then the whole quinzee will come crashing down, especially if there are a ton of children on top! It was sooooo much fun. Kids were laughing and screaming and trying to dig their way out. Lesson was learned Ms. M.! hee hee

We also had some free time to enjoy the outdoors and be active. Students could go skating, play hockey or go sliding. For those that went skating; they had races or taught each other how do different techniques and tricks. Thank goodness Ms. Osberg and Mr. Elmore were there to help tie up all of those skates. Students were caught laying down and looking for fish through the ice. Paige, Parita and Jasleen took this part very seriously. The ice itself was very different from the arena because it was dark, bumpy and had some big cracks in it. It was fun and scary at the same time. Don’t worry we didn’t lose anybody in the ice cracks, although Keerat and Sunaina tried to squeeze in. hahaha. Many students played hockey as well. The speed and stick handling were pretty impressive. The real talent was on the siding hill though. Students were so eager to attack that humongous hill and show off their sledding talents. Drew did not listen to rules of gravity at all, he flew down the hill! Students were racing and trying different tricks as well. It was so much fun! Some crazy students ended up in snow banks or in the trees, like Sofie and Summyr. Mrs. Flores was convinced to join the madness. Ms. McCartney was there for all of it taking pictures! The best was when Mr. Elmore, Eddie and Ethan were “accidently” used as a sled and students caught a ride down the hill. We caught that on film too Olivia and Kaitlyn.

We used the warm up cabin off and on throughout the day. Lunch time was a real treat because Ms. McCartney and Ms. Osberg had brought healthy and not so healthy treats for everyone. We will never look at orange slices the same way again Adrian, Cayden and Deklan! It was really good to take a break and visit with everyone.

Our bus arrived in the late afternoon so we cleaned up and packed up for home. Students were so appreciative of their fun trip and thanked everyone from the bus driver, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Elmore the spectacular sled expert, Ms. Osberg our skating expert, Mrs. Flores our super helper, Mrs. Roberts our vice principal extraordinaire and Ms. McCartney our fun-tastic field trip planner and photographer. The students were so worn out from their day of fun that some of them fell asleep on the way home, like Harshan, Malay and Sheel. I wish we could go back and I wish we could stay with Ms. McCartney and Ms. Osberg forever!

Sincerely,

Ms. McCartney’s Class & Ms. Osberg’s Class