Middle School

We are officially releasing Episode 2 of the Woodland Wildcast into the wild today! Episode description: Dr. Machak gets to know four Woodland educators who have something very unique in common. Listen in to hear about their favorite things to do in Gurnee, first concerts, and inspiring stories from the classroom! Listen Here: https://woodlandwildcast.podbean.com/e/inspiring-stories-from-four-educators-with-something-unique-in-common/

Eclipse Safety & Reminder - https://www.smore.com/n/9zg4j Includes information from the district and each school.

In January, we asked you to submit nominations for the Village of Gurnee Teacher of the Year program. From your 246 nominations, the district selected a winner from each school, and today we celebrate the Woodland D50 Teacher of the Year School Winners for the 2023 - 2024 School Year!!! 💚 Carrie Monterroso, Woodland Primary 💚 Amber Dennis, Woodland Elementary 💚 Erica Veronie, Woodland Intermediate 💚 Richard Haines, Woodland Middle School One of these amazing educators will be selected as the District Winner and will move on to be Woodland's Gurnee Teacher of the Year! Congratulations to all the amazing Woodland educators who were nominated this year. We appreciate you!

Woodland School Libraries/LRCs are magical places where books and resources come to life for our Wildcats. Today is School Librarian Appreciation Day, and April is School Library Month. Thank you to the Library and Learning Resource Center teams at each school for supporting literacy, helping students find new and exciting subjects to explore, and providing a wealth of resources to our learning community.

There is a group of people on the #LifeintheW team that make a world of difference in the classroom and in our learning community. They are Paraprofessionals, and today we celebrate their dedication to our schools and the compassion they show our students. They are a crucial network of support across the district, not just today, but every day. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO! Happy Paraprofessional Appreciation Day!

Did you know that April 1 - 5 is National Assistant Principals Week? Please help us celebrate these amazing educators and administrators for their dedication to our students, our staff, and our schools. They are known for being caring, supportive, creative, and energetic. They are known for their singing, dancing, and playing. They are known for being hands-on, available, and present. And if there is a problem, yo they'll solve it! Happy #APWeek to all of Woodland's Assistant Principals! Thank you for all you do.

District Offices are closed on Friday, March 29. School resumes on Monday, April 1 as our staff and students return from Spring Break.

Woodland is currently hiring for a Facilities Manager position to join the Operations & Facilities Department. One position is available now, and one position will be available in July. This is an excellent opportunity to be part of the #LifeintheW team! https://www.applitrack.com/dist50/OnlineApp/default.aspx?Category=Non-Certified+Supervisory

Wishing our Wildcat Family a happy and healthy Spring Break! Here is the weekly newsletter with highlights from the March Board of Education Meeting and other important reminders: https://www.smore.com/n/e28a4

Mr. Taterka (WMS Assistant Principal) led a great seminar today for 6th graders on the topic of Bullying Prevention. The presentation was designed to provide an overview of what is considered bullying, expectations at Woodland Middle School, and things that everyone can do to help prevent bullying in our learning community. The students were then asked to personally reflect on examples of times when they were impacted by bullying, or when they witnessed other bullying behaviors among their peers.

Wildcat Volleyball Conference Champions for the boys too! 8th Grade Boys Green - 1st Place 7th Grade Boys Green - 1st Place Way to go Wildcats 💚🏐

Look which two teams faced each other in the final game to play for the Conference Championships - Woodland White and Woodland Green! Congratulations to 8th Grade Girls White for 1st Place, and to 8th Grade Girls Green for 2nd Place. Wildcat Volleyball can't be beat! 🤍💚🏐

Introducing the brand new Woodland Wildcast - A #LifeintheW Podcast!!! This is the very first episode and we are so excited to share it with you. https://woodlandwildcast.podbean.com/ Host: Dr. Robert Machak, Superintendent of Schools Guest: Anna Chang-Yen, Board of Education President Topic: Reflections on the development of Woodland School District's Five-Year Strategic Plan, a plan that focuses on the people that make up our #LifeintheW learning community. Thank you to the Woodland Middle School Jazz Band for providing us with music for our Wildcast, and to the 4th grade class at Woodland Intermediate who open the Wildcast with enthusiastic cheering - "Let's Go!" Please let us know what you think. What other topics would you like to hear about on future episodes? Send Feedback to Bhagstrom@dist50.net

Congratulations to the WMS Science Olympiad Team for placing 3rd at Regionals, and moving on to STATE for the 6th season in a row! The varsity team won medals in 15 events, with four 1st Place medals. Good luck at State! #LifeintheW

Ramadan Mubarak! Mr. Aablouche shared photos from the Arabic Club meeting at WMS where the students were preparing for Ramadan. During this session, the group explored new Arabic words, practiced Arabic writing, and discussed the importance of cultural traditions related to the month of Ramadan.

Woodland Middle School Career Talks! The Spanish Language Arts Team invited parents and community members to come to school and talk with some of our 7th Graders about their careers. They talked about what they do day-to-day, but also talked about how they got started in their career. They shared tips and suggestions about the types of skills students can begin working on now, and different fields of study or career paths to explore in high school and beyond. Thank you to the guest speakers for inspiring our students, and for demonstrating the strength of our community by having many different people serving in a wide variety of careers. Not all of the guest speakers are pictured here, but here is a list of some of the careers that were represented: -ICU Nurse -Photographer -Police Officers -Mechanic -Firefighters -Business owner -Community engagement director for a non profit -Developer of business/finance -Speech pathologist -Federal contracting officer for U.S department of Veteran Affairs/15 year experience in the Marine Corps -Assistant Principal (Woodland Elementary) -Local Family Owned Business -Realtor

School Social Work Week, March 3 - 9, 2024! Please join us in recognizing the impactful work Woodland social workers do to create positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environments for our students. School social workers play a pivotal role in enhancing the well-being and success of students across the nation, and here at Woodland. Thank you for taking care of our #LifeintheW Family!

Check out this recent collaboration between the Woodland Middle School Black Student Leaders Club and CLC's Black Student Union leaders! Thank you to Dan, Chris and Rose for speaking with our students about their career goals and providing advice on how to achieve those goals. The group also talked about black culture and black history, and how to make positive change within our school and communities. Ms. Summers-Lemoine reported that the students loved this collaboration and they are looking forward to a continued partnership with CLC's Black Student Union, and other school/community groups in the area.

Happening Now! Teen Technology Use and Misuse with Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Eau Clair, and the Cyberbullying Research Center. Learn more about Parent University on the district website: https://www.dist50.net/page/parent-university

Thank you to those that have taken the Illinois 5Essentials Survey already! There is still time: https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/?target_name=parent Here is Woodland's Parent/Guardian response rate so far: Woodland Primary: 20% Woodland Elementary: 18% Woodland Intermediate: 25% Woodland Middle School: 18% This feedback is very meaningful to us, and we appreciate you helping us reach that 20% threshold! As a reminder, we need to reach a minimum of 20% at each school in order to receive the survey results.