The Annual WJHS 8th Grade Picnic to celebrate the Class of 2018!

Washington Hosts Medal of Honor Winner

We were honored today to have a U.S. Medal of Honor winner speak to our students. Major General Patrick H. Brady spoke about the importance of personal courage, sacrifice, and character. There were performances by the WJHS Advanced band members, choir members sang the National Anthem, Student Council President Morgan Hasler led the Pledge of Allegiance, and art student Whitney McLeland presented a gift to our speaker.

Washington Junior High would like to send a special note of thanks to Walmart for their role in bringing the Medal of Honor winners to Northwest Arkansas, to Flowerama of Bentonville who graciously donated the beautiful plants and decorations for today's event, and to the Bella Vista Veterans Honor Guard who proudly presented our colors today. 

For those who are interested in learning more about our Medal of Honor winner, please click on the link to watch the video:

http://vimeo.com/70869461

Congratulations to our Newest 21C Teachers!!

It was a big day at WJHS today! Seven of our teachers received news that they had won a 21st Century Classroom grant. These teachers will each be receiving 30 laptops to use in their classrooms next year. We are so excited that our students will have the opportunity to benefit from these new tech tools! 

Congratulations to:

Katherine Collier
Natalie Campbell
Carrie Beach
Jessica Hester
Brittany Smith & Jill Harris (as a team)
Leanne Sandlin

Crystal Bridges Teen Council

Crystal Bridges is now accepting online applications from creative and motivated high school students for positions on the Museum’s Teen Council. We are looking for a diverse group of teens who desire the opportunity to plan and promote programs for their peers, while learning about the Museum.  Applications are due May 26. Visit crystalbridges.org/education/teens/ for more information.

Last Rewards Seminar of the Year

Our last rewards seminar will be on Wed. May 28.  To participate in this rewards seminar you must have your fines paid.  Please find your name and clear the fine BEFORE May 28. 

The staff here at Washington would like to thank all of our PTO members! We are truly blessed to have such wonderful support from our community. 

Today we honored our PTO Officers: Misty Tadda, Missy Baldwin, Marcie Bayles, and Susan Parker-plus the wonderful Paula Mantel who could not join us today. We would also like to thank our committee chairs who do such great work to benefit Washington and all of our parents who volunteer their time, donate supplies, and give money to benefit our students and staff. Thank you so very much! We appreciate you!

Washington to Host Medal of Honor Recipient

On Friday, May 16th, WJHS will host Congressional Medal of Honor winner Patrick H. Brady. He will be speaking to all 7th grade students. We would like to invite all veterans and current service personnel who are interested in attending the assembly to please join us. The assembly will begin at 9:30am.

WJHS STEM Open House

Join us for the WJHS STEM Open House. Come and see what your child has been learning in Science, Math, and Gateway to Technology. There will be hands on science experiments, robotics demonstrations, and math Desmos projects in addition to presentations by BHS engineering and an educator from the Amazeum, Family Learning Center. The open house will be in the cafeteria from 5-7 pm on Thursday, May 29.

The Wildcats Rock Worlds of Fun!

Congratulations to our 8th Grade Wildcat Band for taking First Place in the Festival of Music at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City on Saturday, beating out seven other bands from four states! This is only the second year for our school to attend this highly competitive event. What an amazing job, Wildcats!

Gold Rush 5K 2014

Congratulations to Obadiah Koster on placing 3rd in his age group at the Gold Rush 5K Run on Friday! 
 

Reflecting on Teachers that Matter and Year One of The Wildcat Way

This morning, I read Why Teachers Matter on Edutopia and the paragraph below resonated with me:

When you really think back about your best teachers, they were the ones who connected with you. They might have been classroom teachers, after-school coaches, parents or principals. They patted you on the back, knew your name and made jokes with you. They were human beings offering encouragement and building confidence, saying things like, "I know you can do this. Come on."

After reading the article, I thought back to the first official professional development day for our current WJHS teaching staff (June 3, 2013).

We started that day with a simple activity. Each teacher was asked to identify who their favorite teachers were and list the reasons why/how those teachers impacted their lives.

While sharing out, some of the same themes described above emerged. Our favorite teachers connected with us. They encouraged. They built confidence. They helped us uncover and develop our passions. They had a relationship with us. We felt like they taught for us.

The next step in our professional development day was to reflect and ask ourselves, “Am I being that kind of teacher for my students?”

Then we asked, “How can we develop a school wide system of operation that keeps the focus on what’s best for students?”

These discussions led to the creation of The Wildcat Way which is how we do business at Washington Jr. High.

Year one of The Wildcat Way has been a HUGE success because our staff is filled with teachers that strive to adhere to our CORE beliefs, Focus on Excellence, and build quality relationships with our Wildcats- the students that we impact daily.

Thank you WJHS teachers and staff. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Great Minds at Work!

Our kids used recycled materials and Solo cups to make “Scribblebots.”  The kids problem-solved to figure out what to do next if their robots would not move or how to change things up to make them do different things. The robots were tripods made with marker legs so they wrote all over the paper placed on the table-circles and designs. They also battled with each other a bit..  An amazing and engaging lesson!

Come see our kids perform!

Don’t miss the WJHS production of High School Musical, Jr.!  Play dates are May 15 and 16 at 6:30 PM, and May 17 at 2:00 PM.  Check out the play website at www.wjhsplay.weebly.com.