3rd Grade Biomes Project

By Aisha and David

The 3rd graders are wrapping up the a project in which they learned about different types of biomes all over the world. First, each group researched their assigned biome such as desert, grassland, and tundra. They were each given a worksheet with questions to answer according to their assigned biomes. Then they created a model biome using different materials such as paper and sticks. Everyone then proceeded to make a clay animal as an addition to their final product. We interviewed six 3rd grade students asking them about the project overall and the hardest and favorite part.

What was your favorite part of the project?

Ava and Theo really enjoyed learning about and researching all of the plants and animals and typing up the information found. While Miranda really enjoyed the creative aspect of it all and making the dioramas because she loves art.

What was the most challenging part of the project?

Many people have different thoughts as to what was the hardest part of the project. Miranda thought that working in groups was challenging because it was hard for her group to make decisions everyone agreed with. While Theo thought filling out the worksheet was hard because some of the questions were challenging. And Ava and Tyler felt as if building the biomes and researching was hard because some of the information was buried deep in the Web and took a while to find.  

Toys For Tots Drive Is A Success!

By Jac

Westside School just completed it annual Toys for Tots school drive and it was a huge success.  Last year over 200 toys were donated and this year over 300 were, so this year was even better!!!   Last Thursday the firemen from Station 37 came to pick them up.Thank you for donating toys for the kids who don't get toys and making their even better!

The Middle School Dance!

Last Friday night, Westside School held their annual Middle School dance. This year, for the first time, the dance was held off campus at Dakota Place. Our students were able to bring in an amazing DJ – Tim Malate – (family of some Westside School students), and the music choices kept everyone on the dance floor! With tasty snacks and a fun theme of Black and White, the Middle School Dance was a great way for students to celebrate together.

Away Goals Sink the Sounders

By Christopher Frost

2 goals a amazing performance from goalkeeper Stephan Frei weren't enough to keep the Seattle Sounders in the playoffs. A lone goal from Glaxaxy midfielder Juninho was enough to secure a berth in the finals for the Galaxy. The way the playoffs work is each team gets a game at home. They combine the scores of the two games, which is called aggregate. If the score is tied after the second leg, the series is decided on away goals. This is what doomed the Sounders. They held the Galaxy to 1 goal in LA, but weren't able to score themselves. This wasn't a bad result, but they had to score 2 goals at Home.

In front of 45,000 fans in Century Link Field, the Sounders came out attacking. Early on neither team could break the tie, and neither team could gain an advantage. Around the 30th minute Clint Dempsey chased a ball to the sideline. And played a slow bouncing ball across the middle. The keeper and defenders had chased Demsey, and the slow rolling ball across the middle fell right to Brad Evans feet. Evans tapped it in to tie the series 1-1.

Just a few minutes later right back DeAndre Yedlin played a low cross across the middle. The Galaxy defenders cleared it, but it fell right to Clint Dempsey. His shot took a little deflection and trickled past the Galaxy keeper, giving the Sounders a lead on aggregate. Unfortunately the Sounders couldn't hang on to the 2 goal lead and Galaxy midfielder Juninho's shot glanced off the post and went in. On aggregate the score was tied, but on away goals the Galaxy were ahead.

The Sounders needed one goal to win, but they just couldn't get it. The game ended 2-1, but the Sounders lost on away goals. It was a depressing end to amazing season. Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey led an attack that led the MLS in goals, while Chad Marshall won defender of  the year while improving a defense that struggled greatly last year.

6 years and no MLS Cup. The Sounder have won every of trophy in MLS. The Open Cup 4 times, and the Supporters Shield. Every year the Sounders have had a winning record and made the playoffs, but every year they fall short. They have the talent, they just haven't been able to put it all together. They has never been a shortage of talented players in Seattle, with Freddy Montero, Eddie Johnson, Blaise Nkufo and Mauro Rosales to name a few. They certainly have the stars now, with Obafemi Martins, Clint Dempsey and Osvaldo Alonso. They finally seemed to have the chemistry and supporting players needed this year, but they fell short once again. Maybe next year will be the year, maybe the year after, nobody knows.

FIFA Corruption

By: Emilio & Luke

Corruption. Normally that word might be associated with politics, but soccer? In fact this has been going on for a while. It is widely known that the governing body of the soccer world is extremely corrupt. Controversy follows FIFA everywhere it goes, including World Cup bids. For each World Cup, any country interested in hosting the tournament tries to convince the 24 members on the FIFA executive committee to vote for them. Now FIFA has years to make decisions, so if a country is interested in hosting the tournament they have plenty of time to pitch their argument to the committee. But there have been many, many reports of bribes and other illegal ways of obtaining votes for countries.

FIFA has just finished an 18 month investigation into the scandal. Russia and Qatar had bribed World Cup delegates. The officials accepted and voted for their country. Russia had used a Picasso painting to convince the officials. Qatar is no longer being held responsible as England is now facing charges for bribery. Mohamed Bin Hammam- Banned from soccer for life after being accused of paying bribes to win votes during doom 2011 Fifa Presidency Bid. Amos Adamu from Nigeria was banned for three years after being caught by the Sunday Times trying to sell his vote to undercover reporters, denied his chance to vote in 2010.  There will not be a re-vote as there is not enough evidence. Along that it has been under investigation for over a year.

Crystal Mountain

By Will and Kieran

Crystal has 30 inches of snow now and there is 3 feet of snow in an area called Green Valley. Normally this would be enough to open the mountain but this weekend they are expecting heavy amounts of wind and rain.  Therefore, the opening is to be determined and the winter season ends April 19th. When ski season does start, Crystal will be open every day at 9:00 am and close at 4:00 pm. All of the upper lifts close at 3:30, meaning there is no night skiing.

A number of the lifts have changed this year. The High Cambell lift that was destroyed last spring was replaced for this season. The chair is a fixed grip double manufactured by SkyTrac. The new chairs are twice as heavy so the lift will not close as easily as it did last year in one of the windiest areas on the mountain. The lift has been re-named Chair 6 for this year, the original name of the old lift. If the lift stops there is a full diesel back up.

Another lift that has been replaced is Quicksilver. It has changed from a double fixed chairlift to a quad fixed chairlift. It was replaced to make the mountain better for intermediate and beginner skiers.

New Chair 6 Statistics
900 people per hour
500 feet per minute
915 vertical feet
2,353’ slope length
13 towers
85 chairs at 7.2 second intervals

Crystal has also added a new snowcat for grooming this year.

PistenBully 600 Electric Diesel Snowcat

A new snowcat for grooming has been added. It consumes 20% less fuel and emits less CO2. Crystal mountain will be the first ski resort to get it in North America.

Food

There are many places to eat at Crystal. The nicest restaurant there is The Summit House and has been named the most scenic restaurant in Washington. This year they have a new Executive Chef, Zachary Reid.

Although the mountain is covered in snow and is very close to opening, skiers will have to wait a few more days to get back on the slopes of Washington's biggest ski resort, Crystal Mountain.

You can find out more at: http://crystalmountainresort.com

Our New Campus: Hillcrest

By David

Located on 34th Ave. and 104th ST., the new Hillcrest campus will house all of Westside School by the next school year.  Westside bought the Construction began this May before the end of last school year. Westside will begin moving into the new building towards the end of June. There is a ribbon cutting ceremony planned for August to commemorate the start of official operations. But Westside's summer camp programs will continue at E.C. Hughes. Some of the the highlights of the new facility include upwards of 400 people will be able to have seats in the auditorium. A new tech design lab will be accessible to all grades for use of 3D printers, green screens. Robotics will also take place in the tech lab. A major complaint from students working at school has been slow Wifi. The school plans to implement a brand new Wifi system that will improve performance for all students. Classrooms will have better projectors for class use and some rooms will have smartboards. Class sizes will remain the same with roughly 20 kids per class and two classes per grade.  We are all excited to move to our new home!

Aladdin Jr.

By Aisha

For this year's Fall Semester, Westside Middle School's musical theater class is performing Aladdin Jr. They will be performing two nights, Thursday and Friday, December 11 and 12th 6-8 PM. The class has been working very hard since the beginning of the year. Please come and show your support and watch an extraordinary play!

Westside School Ski Bus

                                       

by Jac and Kieran

Westside School Ski Bus will be happening in January. We will be going up to Snoqualmie Pass. The teachers that will help chaperon this special Westside adventure are Sarah, Glyn, Jeremy, Mike and Don. We will be taking a bus up to Snoqualmie. We will leave school at 1:00 and come back at 7:30. Make sure if you want to go and you are in the middle school contact Glyn, Sarah, Jeremy, or Mike!

We interviewed students that are happy to do the ski bus! Let's see what they have to say:

             

Henry has also done ski bus before. On a scale of 1-5 he would rate it 5 because it's fun to ski with friends and he enjoys the food. He had skied for 9 years, and is going to ski the hardest level of them all, black.

Will has gone on ski bus before. His favorite part of ski bus is skiing with friends, and he is going to ski on black. He says the food is great and he really enjoys skiing. Will would rate the ski bus a 5/5 because it's really fun hanging out with friends.

Sydney has been on ski bus before. Her favorite part was the car ride. She will ski at blue level.

She rates it a 4.5 for personal reasons. (don't worry we won't tell anyone)

This shows ski bus is great and the food is great! How about going on it this year?

Oldest Picture Take Found

by Luke

When you first look at this picture it doesn't seem like much, just a dark and blank photo of a deserted city.  But when you really look at it you'll see a man getting his shoes cleaned.  The camera it was taken with had an exposure of 7 minutes so the city looks empty but in reality the man getting his shoes cleaned and the cleaner (harder to see) are just relatively staying still compared to the carts and people walking.  This image, taken in Paris, France in 1838 was illegibly photographed by the famous French photographer named Louis Daguerre.  The photo shows the Boulevard du Temple, a fashionable area of shops, cafés and theaters.  

This photo, although a great discovery, sn not close to being the first photograph.  That
credit belongs to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who used a crude camera to capture the view from his French Estate in 1826 or 1827.  But with almost everyone having a smart phone in there pockets and almost 350 millions photos being uploaded to Facebook per year Louis Daguerre’s achievement might seem insignificant but it was a very large accomplishment for his time.  

Middle School Winter Dance

By Kate

After years of school dances in the MPR, it was finally time for a change.....

Coming up on December 5th, the Middle School will be having its first and only, off campus dance! After such a great response of Halloween Fest volunteers, the school, along with the Student Council, was able to organize our event at Dakota Place. The dance will run from 6-8pm and will include everything from decorations, to food and even a DJ. Speaking of which, the Student Council is willing to accept appropriate song requests to add to our playlist. Additionally, our theme this year is Formal Black and White so please come dressed in either or both of the colors.

Dance permission slips have already been handed out in advisories, though many are still available in Susannah's room. The form goes over the most basic of information such as date specifics, dress code and expectations. Also listed is a guest permission box. Each person is allowed to bring one extra friend (5th-8th grade) to join this event. Permission forms are due in by November 25th with a parents signature.

We hope that everyone is able to attend this fun event!

High School Here We Come

by Kayla

The time is approaching for our 8th graders to move on to high school. They are all searching for a school that is right for them academically, athletically, artistically, etc. There have been many schools that have visited Westside, looking to recruit some of our students to be the latest edition to their 9th grade class. The schools that have already spoken to the 8th grade class are St. Michael's in Victoria, The Dunn School in California, Seattle Lutheran, The Northwest School, Holy Names and O'dea. All of these schools have unique and interesting attributes and all of the students are very excited to start the process of applying to high schools.

Although exciting, finding the high school that is right for you and putting your application together can be quite difficult and stressful.  However,  the teachers here at Westside are quite helpful. To know that they want you to succeed provides the confidence you need to get into the school of your dreams and depart Westside feeling accomplished. They also provide the support and guidance to make sure you succeed when taking the ISEE or SSAT tests. All of the teachers help you and make sure you know the material that is in the test. This is also the first year that testing is at Westside, this provides a stable and comfortable environment for the students to test in. There are many different dates that you can take the ISEE or SSAT, tests have already begun and students are scheduling their dates to take the tests. The week Westside is available to test  on November 8th and students are encouraged to test at this time. Make sure you start the process soon and if you have any questions, you can contact the high school counselor, Glyn Jenkins.    

Westside School Basketball

By: Henry Aisha

Basketball season's finally here and Westside is prepped and ready to go!

There will be one girls and one boys team per grade practicing in Westside's gym throughout the week. Here's a list of the teams and their practice times.

5th Girls- Wednesday, 5:30-7/Friday 4:30-5:30

5th Boys- Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-4:30

6th Girls- Wednesday/Thursday 4:30-5:30

6th Boys- Monday/Tuesday 4:30-5:30

7/8 Girls- Tuesday/Thursday 5:30-7

7/8 Boys- Monday/Wednesday/ Friday 3:30-4:30

Games will be played on Saturdays and Sundays. Westside's home gym is Guadeloupe and Holy Rosary. We will have specific times and dates posted on the Westside Wolf calendar shortly. We hope you come out and support Westside Basketball.

Halloween Fest

By Kate

Saturday, October 25th was Westside's Annual Halloween Fest, and boy was it a huge success. This years event was run quite differently, though all turned out exceptionally well. With improved games and newly updated prize system, there were lines and busy kids at every station. Additionally, the fest itself ran a lot smoother. There was a better flow to many of the games, as well as the prize and spooksession stations. We couldn't have achieved what we did without the great turn out of middle school and adult volunteers. Because of this, we have the ability to have an off campus dance, which "is not a regular". In all, this new system is looking strong for years to come. We hope that everyone attending had a great time and will hopefully continue to join us for the festivities next year.

Mary's Place Christmas Drive

by Kate and Callum

The holidays are just around the corner and are a great time to help a child in need. This year Westside is helping by running a new shoe drive for Mary’s Place. But in order for this to happen we need YOU!

Starting next week, the MS Student Council will be organizing a school-wide drive in order to help support Mary's Place. Mary's Place is a homeless day shelter for women and children that also provides basic needs and services. In years past we have successfully run many drives and completed all sorts of service work to contribute to different organizations, so let’s do it again this year!

We encourage everyone to participate and help fulfill Mary's Place goal of 500 hundred pairs of new shoes for homeless women and children.

The drive will start Monday and end on Friday, December 5th at the MS school dance. Donation boxes will be outside of the library and by the main entrance.

We hope that you make the decision and donate to Mary's Place this holiday and we are sure that the homeless women and children will too!

New Staff 2014 - 15

By Aisha and Luke 

This year Westside has many new spectacular people to add to the staff and administration. We had the opportunity to meet them and ask them about how they like Westside and random fun facts about themselves as well. Here's a list of the teachers and their answers below.

New Staff

Debbie Treen

Laura  Anderson

Amanda Jones

Caroline Alben

Jacob Lucero

Kate Kandarian

Leslie Youngblood

Sophia Tolentino

Amanda Jones

What's your position at Westside?

“I am a Fourth Grade Classroom Teacher”

How's your experience at Westside been?

“It has been wonderful teaching here. The staff is so warm and welcoming and I have a fantastic class.”     

What was your job before you came here?

“I have been teaching 5th and 6th grade at a small school in Poulsbo (on the Kitsap Peninsula). I miss them terribly but I LOVE living in West Seattle and everyone at Westside has helped me not feel so homesick.”

What do you like most about Westside?  

“Hmmm, that is a really hard question. I guess I would say that I love seeing so many happy and smiling people everyday. The staff at Westside is really fun to work with.”  

What made you choose to work at Westside?

“I loved that "Joyful Learning" is so highly valued her and I was excited to work for a school that was growing like Westside is.  I can tell that the students and families are very invested in academic success.”

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

“Well, moving over here was pretty exciting but I would have to say it would be a tie between a sixty mile canoe trip in Utah and racing my first Ironman.” 

   

Leslie Youngblood

What's your position at Westside?

“I'm the 3rd Grade Instructional Assistant in Jana's class.”

How has your experience at Westside been?

“I'm having a great time at Westside! Every day is a new adventure.”

What was your job before you came here?

“Right before I started here, I was a supervisor at one of the top ten busiest Starbucks in all of Seattle. Before that, I toured the US and Canada with the Missoula Children's Theatre.”

What do you like most about Westside?

“I love how friendly everyone is! I enjoy it when new people say hi and introduce themselves. My goal is to meet everyone by the end of the year.”

What made you choose to work at Westside?

“I wanted to work with kids again. It had been a while and you guys are a lot of fun!”

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

“I was in a musical called "Urinetown" this summer! It's a silly title, but a fun show.”

Sophia Tolentino

What's your position at Westside?  

“ I am a Kindergarten Teacher”

How's your experience at Westside been?   

“Good! The staff is very welcoming!”

What was your job before you came here?   

“I was a Pre-K Teacher at Bertschi School.”

What do you like most about Westside?       

“The friendly community.”

What made you choose to work at Westside?     

“The community! (and the fact that it is much closer to my home than my last job)”

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?    

“I went on a family vacation with 17 of us in one big house in Hawaii...it was amazing!”

Jacob Lucero

What's your position at Westside?

“I am an Instructional Assistant in second grade.”

How's your experience at Westside been?

“I am enjoying the position, people, and students at the school. We are having a blast!”

What was your job before you came here?

“I was a private music instructor with a studio of 28 students who played violin, viola, guitar, and ukulele. Along with lessons I was performing professionally around Colorado.”

What do you like most about Westside?

“I like the school atmosphere. The teachers are great to work with and it is a fun place.”

What made you choose to work at Westside?

“On the website there was a phrase that stuck with me. The phrase was "we make learning fun." Once I read that I knew that I had to be part of the team.”

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

“The biggest thing was that we moved to Seattle in July. I had a little road trip from Colorado to Seattle and it was nice to see the different states.”

Kate Kandarian

What is your position at Westside?

“I am a 4th grade Instructional Assistant.”

How has your experience at Westside been?

“Excellent! The people here are incredibly welcoming and kind. I am greatly enjoying myself thus far.”

What was your job before you came here?

“I was a manager at a bakery and an after-school teacher in San Francisco, California.”

What do you like most about Westside?

“The people!”

What made you choose to work at Westside?

“Westside embodies a lot of the same ideals and philosophies that I hold most important.”

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

“I moved! From San Francisco to Fremont.”

Laura Anderson

What's you're position at Westside?

I am the Senior Accountant at Westside School.

How's you're experience at Westside been?

I have worked here since July 14th and since then I have learned a ton, I have made mistakes too - but making mistakes always tells me I'm learning.

What was your job before you came here?

My job before was with Charlie's Produce and before that I worked for the Seattle Boat Show.

What do you like most about Westside?

I enjoy everything so far about working at Westside, the work is busy and engaging and the people are very fun to work with.

What made you choose to work at Westside?

?

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

This summer I took my daughter to college in Flagstaff Arizona and was able to spend some time there seeing the town she is going to live in for the next four years.

Debbie Treen

What's your position at Westside?

I am the Consulting CFO (Chief Financial Officer).

How's your experience at Westside been?

I've fallen in love. It's my first time working in a school environment. I love hearing the kids in the hall and the youth atmosphere.

What was your job before you came here?

I was a consultant for many other companies. Working with a non profit organization working with domestic violence. I also worked in the Insurance and Funeral business.

What do you like about Westside?

I like the Teacher Appreciation days. There's lot of good food.

What made you choose to work at Westside?

I came because I knew I could reach make the financial needs needed for the new school campus.

What was the most interesting thing you did this Summer?

I went to the White River Amphitheater and saw Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails.