West Middle School

Portage West Middle School students had the chance to get creative and design their own bookmark! The theme was to create a design celebrating the 50th Anniversary of our school. Our Grand Prize Winner was 8th grader Nina S., who incorporated a beautiful poem into her design. Our first place winner for 7th grade was Emma T. and the first place winner for 6th grade was Shaun K. These custom bookmark designs have been copied and are now available for students to use in our school library! Great job by everyone who entered the contest! #50YearsOfWest #AllIn #TheWestWay

FLASHBACK FRIDAY! Many of our 7th & 8th grade band Pioneers performed with the Northern High School Marching Band on October 20. The musicians spent the first half of the varsity football game with the high school band & performed in the stands. It was a great time and a fantastic experience for our WMS bands kids! #Band #AllIn #TheWestWay

GAME DAY! Good luck Pioneers! **ACCEPTING EARLY SHOE DONATIONS AT GAME** Families can bring their gently worn, used and new shoes that you would like to donate for our shoe fundraiser to the game today. #BoysBasketball #AllIn #TheWestWay

Members of our 7th & 8th grade band performed at the MSBOA District XI Middle School Honors band on Nov 7! The students rehearsed at Plainwell HS all day and performed an amazing concert at night. Congratulations to: 1. Evelyn M 2. Nina S 3. Claire M 4. Devin S 5. Ethan B 6. Elizabeth R 7. Liam R 8. Olivia S 9. Lara N 10. Tyler D 11. Ryan D 12. Adrian D 13. Adeline B 14. Aarav R Outstanding job Pioneers! #MSBOA #AllIn #TheWestWay

GAME DAY! Good luck Pioneers! **SHOE FUNDRAISER ALERT - ACCEPTING EARLY SHOE DONATIONS AT GAME** Families can bring their gently worn, used and new shoes that you would like to donate for our shoe fundraiser to the game today. #BoysBasketball #AllIn #TheWestWay

PIONEERS, WE WANT YOUR SHOES! We're excited about our latest fundraiser because you don't have to buy ANYTHING! We're collecting gently worn, used and new shoes to raise money for WINSTON, our comfort dog! Not only do you help our school community with Winston, but the shoes donated get a second life with those in need. It's a double donation! The fundraiser begins MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13th. There will be a drop off box in the cube by the main office and at the athletic entrance during sports competitions. Our goal for WEEK #1 is to collect 250 pairs of shoes, which equals 10 full bags (25 pairs of shoes per bag). Let's start this fundraiser off strong! Clean out your closet to support a great cause! #ShoeFundraiser #WinstonOfTheWest #ComfortDog #AllIn #TheWestWay

PIONEERS! The PWMS Spirit Store is now open through November 19th. New gear has been added so be sure to check it out! Missed the first opening? This is another chance to purchase new PWMS gear including Limited Edition 50 Year Anniversary apparel, winter caps, bookbags, tumblers, and more! Great gifts for birthdays, special occasions, and the holiday season. Check out the site today! https://www.pwms.ctoutfit.com/ #SpiritStore #Pioneers #AllIn #TheWestWay

Job well done to Mrs. Schnurstein and her Red Ribbon Week committee. Not only was it filled with fun dress up days, but the students also brought awareness and a commitment for our Pioneers to be drug and alcohol free. Check out the commitment link with names hanging in our halls! #RedRibbonWeek #AllIn #TheWestWay

Take a glimpse into the world of our 6th grade literacy classes during Quarter 1. Pioneers engaged in unique learning experiences in ELA, Mathematics, Science, & Social Studies. Students will rotate through all classes by the end of the year. #LiteracyClasses #AllIn #TheWestWay

On the last day of Quarter 1, we surprised our students with 0 or 1 excused tardy with a donut hole to get the day started! Big thanks to Hardings and Sweetwater Donuts for your support! #AllIn #TheWestWay

We are so proud of our 6th Grade Science Literacy students and their final products. This was an amazing Project Based Learning experience for all! #ScienceLiteracy #ProjectBasedLearning #AllIn #TheWestWay Repost Moorsbridge Elementary School: The 6th graders at West Middle School collaborated with two of our 2nd grade classes to write a children’s book for their science literacy class. We are so fortunate to have a partnership like this where students in different grades and schools can work together!

Don't forget, tomorrow is a half day for students! Staff will attend professional development in the afternoon. Release times are: Elementary: noon Secondary: 10:55 a.m.

We want to give a HUGE shout out to our librarians, Mrs. Cote and Mrs. Messenger, for the leading our sock drive for the WAVE project! Pioneers donated over 102 pairs of socks at the Michigan Association of School Librarians conference! Way to go Pioneers! #AllIn #TheWestWay

The West Middle School Ski Club is selling Timber Ridge Ski Passes until November 15th. Our Ski Club night will be every Thursday starting January 11th. Please see the ski club flier here or pick up a flier in WMS Main Office. Thanks & Think Snow! #SkiClub #AllIn #TheWestWay

**SHOE FUNDRAISER ALERT** West is hosting a shoe fundraiser for our comfort dog, WINSTON, beginning MONDAY NOVEMBER 13th! Start pulling those new and gently used shoes out of the closet. More details to come! See you in early 2024 Winston! #WinstonOfTheWest #AllIn #TheWestWay

Greetings Pioneers! Our next sports season is getting ready to begin, with Boys Basketball having their first game this Thursday! Good luck to our basketball players and archers this season! #BoysBasketball #Archery #AllIn #TheWestWay

Today was our first day of Red Ribbon Week! Pioneers wore "mustaches" to get the week going & tomorrow is #SunglassesDay 😎. We had a special Monday Huddle for all students where they participated in prevention discussions, watched a relevant video, & were able to pledge to lead a drug and alcohol free life. Our RRW committee members met with Mrs. Jihan Young & Mrs. Bridget Lane, members of the City of Portage Human Services Board and Red Ribbon Week planning committee, to discuss their plans, ways to continue their work moving forward, and what they hope their classmates take away from this special week. Great meeting today with great takeaways! #RedRibbonWeek #AllIn #TheWestWay

Next week is Red Ribbon Week at West! Our RRW committee has planned a week of dress up days and will review the importance of being drug free. Monday's XTS huddle is dedicated to #RedRibbonWeek as well. The week kicks off w/ "Mustache Day" on Monday! #AllIn #TheWestWay

While students are away, staff are busy learning today! From school psychologists to teachers and secretaries, staff across the District are learning new skills to better serve our students at Professional Development.

Happy Friday Pioneers! Our staff is in professional development today gaining tools to bring back to the learning environment! In the meantime, check out some of the cool things that happened at West last week! #LiveDioramas #GreatLakesGreatBooksClub #AllIn #TheWestWay