Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Closing Out the Month


This past Friday was our annual Halloween Spooktacular and it was AMAZING! We had a record-breaking night with over 400 students (that's a lot of kids!!) participating. A majority of students dressed in their Halloween costumes and had a blast dancing, singing, playing BINGO, running around the gym, talking to one another (face to face without their phones) and generally just having fun. The kids were outstanding. The parent volunteers were incredible. A lot of our staff showed up to take part in the evening’s activities and connect with students. Our custodians were unbelievable in their efforts to clean up after such a huge event and have our building clean and shining as it always does to start the week on Monday morning.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who was involved in the planning and execution of this kid-centered event. The time and enthusiasm that our WGMS PTA puts into our students and staff is greatly appreciated. We couldn’t pull off events like this without an amazing team. Thank you!


The Monster Mash
Only took me 3 minutes to solve this cube


Positivity Project
This week our focus at WGMS is on the character trait CREATIVITY. As a building we have been discussing what CREATIVITY is all about:

“CREATIVITY is experimenting, growing, taking risks, making mistakes and having fun. CREATIVITY exists in all of us! There is no such thing as creative and non-creative people, only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. The key is that you have to not be afraid to fail. When it comes down to it, CREATIVITY is the POWER TO ACT and the power to
THINK BIG!" 

At home, think about different opportunities where you could have a conversation with your child about CREATIVITY to help reinforce what we are talking about here at school.  To help you make connections here is the link to the Positivity Project Character Card For CREATIVITY.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Happy Halloween!

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

It's a Spooktacular October

This Friday is our annual Halloween Spooktacular from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. This is an awesome event sponsored by our WGMS PTA that gives our kids an opportunity to show up to dance, play BINGO, shoot hoops, sing karaoke, and eat a lot of foods likely not found on the 'whole-30 diet'. It really is a terrific evening of fun! Pre-sale tickets are on sale today through Friday for $3 and are also available at the door for $5. To pull off this type of event off you need great planning and you need people willing to step up and volunteer their time. With that, I want to give a HUGE shout-out to our PTA for making it happen. If you are available and would like to help please let us know.

Halloween
Students and staff at the Middle Level do dress up for Halloween. We work hard and we like to have fun as well. Throughout the day staff will nominate students for their costumes and then during 9th period we hold our annual Halloween Costume Contest. Students that were nominated for their costume are invited to compete and possibly be recognized in one of our costume categories including Scariest, Best Homemade, Funniest, Most Creative and Movie/Book Character. Halloween is a fun day and we encourage everyone to get into the spirit if they choose to. 

Positivity Project
This week our focus at WGMS is on the character trait PERSPECTIVE. As a building we have been discussing what PERSPECTIVE is all about:


"Truly LISTENING to others, working to UNDERSTAND different points of view and trying to SEE THE BIG PICTURE is what PERSPECTIVE is all about." 

At home, think about different opportunities where you could have a conversation with your child about PERSPECTIVE to help reinforce what we are talking about here at school.  To help you make connections here is the link to the Positivity Project Character Card for PERSPECTIVE.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Best of luck finalizing your Halloween costume!

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Keeping It Positive


We all have two weeks left now to secure our Halloween costumes. Each year I wait later and later to lock in a final decision and each year my costume gets progressively worse. My goal right now is to finalize my costume prior to Wednesday, October 30th so if you see me at Party City or Spirit at 4:30 PM on the 31st please remind me that waiting until the last minute rarely pays off.

We are a full month into the Positivity Project at WGMS. We have had some terrific conversations and we have seen students stepping up and embracing the idea that ‘Other People Matter.’ I know that families are eager to partner with us in increasing your child’s character strengths and in helping them to continue to develop positive relationships. Each week I will provide an overview of our character trait of the week, as well as resources to help you reinforce what we are doing here at school.

This week our focus is on the character trait INTEGRITY. As a building we have been discussing what integrity is all about:

"INTEGRITY is choosing COURAGE over comfort, and choosing WHAT IS RIGHT over what is fun, fast or easy. It’s choosing to be a LEADER rather than being a follower. Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody’s watching and it’s knowing that nobody is going to know whether you did it or not. At the end of the day, no matter how educated, talented, rich or cool you believe you are, how you treat people and how you act 
TELLS ALL."

INTEGRITY IS EVERYTHING!

Here is the link to the Positivity Project character card on integrity.

You can view the calendar of when we study each character trait by clicking here.


Students of the Month
Staying on the theme of positivity, we recognized our new ‘Students of the Month’ as we turned the calendar to October. We continue to have students, who through their actions and character, help to create a positive school environment. Choosing ‘Students of the Month’ isn’t about grades and athletic or musical prowess, it’s about demonstrating all of the qualities that we value and celebrate - exemplary work ethic, citizenship, character, compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism and/or leadership in creating a positive school environment. 

This month we recognized 6th graders RJ Bartholomew, Samantha Bullock, Devin Dantuono, and Bella Vallely, 7th graders David Desko, Bridget Dunham, Joe Paoli and Nicole Vasilev, 8th graders Ryan Considine, Michael Herrington, Ella Thome, and Isabelle Wells. Well deserved and congratulations to all!


8th Grade Students of the Month


7th Grade Students of the Month


6th Grade Students of the Month

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms