Notes of Kindness

By Kayla 

Student Council has launched a new initiative to promote and spread kindness throughout the middle school, called Notes of Kindness. The goal is to promote community and citizenship while spreading kindness throughout the school. Envelopes were posted on every locker and students labeled them with their names. Yesterday Student Council placed notes appreciating or complimenting their fellow peers. On Monday all MS student will get the same chance.  Hopefully students can continue to build community and spread smiles through the Westside Middle School!

8th Grade Bungee Jumping

By Aisha

Over the past the few weeks, the 8th grade has been studying slope and linear equations. To make this unit more entertaining and enjoyable, the 8th grade STEM teacher Sarah created a Barbie bungee jumping project. Each table group was required to figure out how far their Barbie drops with 6 rubber bands, then graph the points and find the line of best fit. The objective of the project was to figure out how many rubber bands would be needed for Barbie to have the most thrilling bungee jump (getting as close to the ground as possible) from 316 cm without testing from that height.

In all, the table groups were generally accurate in their calculations pertaining to the number of rubber bands needed to successfully fall close to the ground. Everybody enjoyed the project and are looking forward to continuing on with our unit on graphing.

Super Bowl 2?

By: Emilio & Nate

After a very suspenseful game, the Seattle Seahawks came out with a win after the perfect pass to Jermain Kearse, amazingly holding on to the ball. The Hawks made history, becoming the first reigning Super Bowl Champions to win a playoff game the next year. For the Seahawks second Super Bowl, they will be playing the Patriots. The Patriots dominated against the Colts in AFC championship and moved on to the Superbowl. During the game Wilson had 4 interceptions all of them targeting Kearse.. Offensively, the Hawks struggled throughout, but their defense did the best that they could. The two key plays were when Brandon Bostick did not catch the onside kick and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix not making a play on the 2-point conversion. If Bostick had caught the ball the game would have been over and if Clinton-Dix had knocked down the pass they would have won by two points. We give props to the Hawks for coming back from one of the biggest comebacks in playoff history!

First Grade Family Heritage Project

By:

Carmen and Hanna

The first graders recently created a poster about their family. The poster included how they help their family, how their family helps them, their family history, and what they celebrate over the holidays.

We interviewed first graders about their posters and how long it took them.

"It took a long time." Zoe, age 6.   "About four days." Maddox, age 7.

We also asked how they made it.

"I wrote words about my family." Elsa, age 7    "I, I like glued it together." Grayson, age 6

They all really liked talking about their pets.

"I have two dogs." -Gavin  "Moxie is my dog I love him." -Ella   "I have a fish and a dog, and I brush the dog." -Zoe  "I have two dogs." -Elsa    "I help my family by feeding the kitties food." -Maddox.

When we asked what they liked about it, many of the kids had many good things to say about the project.  They said:

"I like drawing the pictures, I thought it looked good." Gavin, age 7   Zoe said, "I liked writing about my family's history."

Ella said, "When I was drawing my picture about washing the dog, It was funny because my mom was carrying a lot of stuff."

"It was really fun for me" -Gavin.

All in all they did a great job!!!

MS Student Council Leads Nickelsville Drive

by Kayal

This year the MS Student Council is holding a drive for Nickelsville. Nickelsville is a temporary housing space for the homeless. It is a self managed, eco-village for up to a thousand homeless people in Seattle, Washington.  Nickelsville is currently located on Dearborn, near the Central District. Even though this community is fairly self-reliant, they are still in desperate need of some basic necessities. Student Council is holding a drive to collect these items beginning on February 6th.

Student Council has decided to make this drive into a competition with each advisory assigned specific needs to bring in. The advisory that collects the most of the items assigned will be invited to a Student Council hosted Pizza Party!   Student Council will collect all donated items on February 13th so start collecting!   See below to see what each advisory is assigned.  If you have any questions please contact Susannah or Mary.  

Advisory Supply List

.Susannah

-Hand warmers, gloves, hats.

.Sarah

-Water, duct tape, zip ties

.Lauren

-Twine, rope, Sharpies, notebooks

.Jillian

-Garbage bags, coffee, creamer

.Mary

-Beverages, socks, toilet paper

.Sue

-Paper towels, paper cups, plates, bowls, plastic kitchen silverware

.Glyn

-Cleaning supplies, Gorilla tape, dish soap

.Jeremy

-Hand sanitizer, baby wipes, first aid kits

.Mike

-Vinegar, batteries (AA & AAA)

.Michael

-Flashlights, headlamps

Kristel

-Plastic gloves, tools

Ski Bus Cancelled!

by Nathaniel

Due to the lack of snow at Snoqualmie Pass did not get to go skiing last Friday and it is uncertain if they will get to go this week. Only one of the six slopes are open. Summit West,and its only open until four. Snoqualmie only has four trails open and only two of them are groomed. At Summit West they have three of the lifts opened. There was only 16" of snow cover last week. The good news is that it is lightly snowing. I talked to Glyn Jenkins Head of Ski Bus about alternative activities he said. "Right now the options are roller skating in White Center or having a group come in and talk about avalanche safety."   However students ended up going to EC Hughes.

When I asked him why we we do ski bus he replied, "We do ski bus because it is nice for all the grades to mix together in a free environment, have a good time and get out of the classroom. It's also nice for non skiers to learn how to ski so when the go to the slopes their parents they don't have to bother with lesson" - Glyn

Right now the conditions are 39 degrees and sunny with 22" of snow. With lots of rocks and shrubs sticking out, if we did go skiing it might not be as fun.

If we don't go skiing this week, what will we do?  I hope we finally get to go to the slopes!

Roots of Empathy Comes to 7th Grade!

By Nate

This year, second and seventh graders have the privilege of participating in the program, Roots of Empathy. During this project, the students follow and study the progress of a baby assigned to their group.  The baby that the 7th graders were assigned is Baby Sawyer.

Usually the project is for lower school students, but this is the first year trying it with middle school students. The creators of Roots of Empathy want to know if it would be effective on middle school students. We are the one of the few lucky middle schools to get to participate in this project. There is also a Roots of Empathy program in 2nd grade.

The 7th graders have already participated various sessions. During the first visit students measured and weighed baby Sawyer and  made notes on what they thought Sawyer would do.  The seventh graders also made patterns to see how baby Sawyer would react looking at them.

Roots of Empathy  is a great opportunity and every middle school should be able to experience it. The 7th grade students look forward to further participation in this project and continue getting know baby Sawyer.

New Teaching Staff - Spring 2015

New Teaching Staff - Spring 2015

By Kate

For the start of the new semester, we welcomed two new teachers to Westside. I asked them a few questions and below are their responses.

Hayley Sayre

What is your teaching position at Westside?
I am the instructional assistant in Jana's third grade classroom.

Where were you previously working before coming here?
Before working at Westside, I was a lead teacher at a couple different preschools in Bellingham and Seattle. Most recently, I worked at the Spring Street Early Learning Center in downtown Seattle.

What are you most excited about Westside?
I can't wait to get to know everyone! Everyone I've met - students, teachers, and parents - have all been so welcoming, and I'm very happy to be joining such a wonderful community.

What are other hobbies or activities you like to do outside of school?
My favorite hobbies are playing the ukulele, reading, and hiking. My wife and I like to spend our weekends exploring parks around the city, and backpacking at Mt. Rainier! I'm especially interested in plant biology, and learning everything I can about the trees and wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest.

Candace O'Leary

What is your teaching position at Westside?  
I am the Visual Arts Teacher for grades 2-8 at Westside School.

Where were you previously working before coming here?
Before working here at Westside, I was teaching Middle School at Billings Middle School in Greenlake.  Prior to that I taught art in Detroit, MI.

What are you most excited about Westside?
What I am looking forward to most at Westside is getting to know all of the students and other teachers.  I am very excited about working with everyone on bringing more art into the school and hopefully working towards creating an even stronger arts program!

What are other hobbies or activities you like to do outside of school?
Outside of school I love spending time with my family, my boyfriend, two dogs, cat and a turtle named Shel Silverstein.  We love taking walks around our neighborhood and enjoy visiting the local bakery on Sunday Mornings to get a fresh pastry.  We also love going to antique shops and salvage yards trying to find pieces of history that we can bring into our house.  In addition, I love exploring everything creative like drawing, decorating and sewing.

NFL Playoff Update

By: Emilio & Henry

The NFL playoffs have been narrowed down to four teams: The Seahawks, Patriots, Packers, and the Colts. The Seahawks will host the Packers and the Patriots will host the Colts. The Seahawks demolished the Panthers and stayed classy by not running up the score. Chancellor and Sherman both had an interception and Chancellor returned for his first ever career touchdown. On the offensive side, Russel Wilson had a good game connecting with Luke Wilson and Jermain Kearse many times. Luke Willson with two touchdowns on two amazing plays and Kearse had one hundred twenty nine yards including his one handed catch. Lynch didn't really have a good game but is looking to pound it hard against the Packers weak run defense.

Our predictions for the Conference Championships:

Green Bay Packers 24-17 Seattle Seahawks (Emilio's only)

New England Patriots 45-27 Indianapolis Colts

NFL Playoff Update

By: Emilio and Henry

Seahawks have been in the playoffs for the third straight year, last year winning the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos. This year they finished the season with a 12-4 record leading to home field advantage throughout the playoffs, beating out the Packers and the Cowboys. Marshawn Lynch had one of the best seasons of his career.

The playoffs have gone pretty much as expected with the exception of the Ravens beating the Steelers 30-17. The Panthers won 27-16 while putting on a defensive clinic while statistically having the best defensive game in NFL playoff history. The Cowboys undeservingly made an amazing comeback with a good pass interference call redacted to beat the Lions 24-20 with a fumble recovery in the final 45 seconds. As expected, the Colts beat Bengals 26-10.

Here are our predictions for the playoffs:

Patriots 31-17

Seahawks 24-10

Green Bay 28-24

Indianapolis 21-17

Go Hawks!!!

Meet The New Westside Wolf Staff!

My name is Hanna and I am in 6th grade. I like photography, pets and piano. Just kidding I don't like piano. My favorite part of break was Christmas Eve because I got to open all my presents. I love the excitement of it all. If I were a vegetable I would be a carrot. I would be a carrot because they are unlike all other vegetables, they are some how strange compared to the other green boring vegetables. My hope for 2015 is to have the most fun possible.

Hi my name is Carson I am in 6th grade.
I like making youtube videos and playing Minecraft. The highlight of my break was Christmas day. If I was a vegetable I would be asparagus because no one would eat me because I am so disgusting; I would live a long and happy life of not being eaten. My hope for 2015 is that I will get a few subscribers on youtube.  

My name is Nathaniel and I am in the 6th grade. What I like doing outside of school is playing baseball and drumming. My highlight of the winter break was going out to Virginia to my grandma's house. If I had to be one vegetable, I would be a carrot because it is my favorite vegetable. My New Year's resolution is to brush my teeth more.

My name is Carmen and I am in 6th grade. Outside of school, I like to play sports. I like all animals, except for lizards. I also like to run. The highlight of my break was skiing in Leavenworth. If I was any vegetable, I would be tofu. My New Years resolution is to read more often. 

My name is Kayla and I am in the eighth grade. Outside of school I enjoy playing volleyball. The highlight of my break was spending time with my family and relaxing. If I was a vegetable I would be brussels sprouts. I hope to get into the high school I want to in 2015.

My name is Emilio and I am in 8th grade. I like to play basketball outside of school. A highlight from my winter break is getting an xbox one. If I was a vegetable I would be a kiwi. A hope for 2015 is that I become president of the United States by the end of the year.

My name is Nate and I'm in 7th grade.Something I like to do is photography, and dancing.

A highlight of my break is getting on tv with Kieran and seeing the fireworks on New Year's Eve. If I was a vegetable I would be a pear even though it is not a vegetable. My resolution is to eat more pears.

My name is Aisha and I'm in the 8th grade. I love to run track outside of school. I get to hang out with other friends. Family came in from Baltimore, Maryland over the break. It was fun to see them and hang out together. I would be a sauteed asparagus if I had to be vegetable. In 2015, I hope to get into Seattle Prep.  

My name is Kate and I am in 8th grade. Outside of school, I spend most of my time at gymnastics, which I enjoy. During the winter break, I had a lot of fun doing nothing but sleeping, watching tv and eating food. If I were to be a vegetable, I would be a lettuce and in 2015, I hope to become less attached to my phone and get into high school.