The hierarchical cube, which Montessori teachers present to students throughout the elementary years helps reinforce understanding of place values. The material consists of a tiny unit cube, a few millimeters on each side, and progresses from there to include a ten-bar, a hundred square, a thousand cube, a ten-thousand bar, a hundred-thousand square, and a million cube, which is equivalent to one million tiny units.

This afternoon, Westwood preschool students were shown these materials. This presentation was inspired by the children’s hunger for more and more knowledge. After studying the thousand cube, the children wonder about bigger numbers and how they look in a cube.

Preschoolers were very excited to see the difference between the small one unit and the large million cube. They all received a better understanding of the numbers they love to work with!

Some of the preschoolers wanted to know what the largest number was, making the assumption that if the alphabet ends with ‘z’, that numbers must end somewhere. This led to a discussion about infinity, a concept that continues to intrigue the students!

The million cube presentation was given by Ms. Scott of P2 to all preschoolers that do not nap after lunch.

Our F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S students spelled through all of the words in their books and went into specially selected dictionary words for the championship rounds!

What was the winning word? M-O-I-S-T-U-R-E spelled by Kanji Ohta! Laine Betanzos came in 2nd place and Nikita Marwaha came in 3rd place. Congratulations to all of the 3rd Graders for doing their best and making this event so exciting.

As a part of the Confucius Grant we received in October, we have been able to purchase a mobile cart to bring Mandarin materials into classrooms! This cart has a large, flat screen monitor for teachers to use a variety of resources. Mandarin teachers bring the multi-media cart into classrooms and students watch authentic materials as they learn about Chinese culture.

Recently, this cart has been used to introduce Traditional Chinese Opera to Preschool students! The students watched clips of Chinese Opera and watched other first grade students perform a Chinese Opera song.

This month, we have also been able to provide some updated equipment to the High School film students. New video cameras have been purchased and put to good use! As a part of their Mandarin studies, Sophomores and Juniors made a music video! The song was composed by our students and sung in Mandarin. The students acted, filmed and edited their video and teacher, Judith Worrall, has submitted that video to the Asian Film Festival! Click here to watch their video.

Students took care to set the tables with table cloths and colorful dinnerware. They were also proud to make a variety of finger sandwiches, prepare strawberries and make biscotti from scratch! Then each child created a special picture frame with stone-centered flowers to express their love for their mothers.

On this special day, our preschool students took pride in serving their mothers hors d’oeuvres and herbal tea. We hope that all of our Westwood moms enjoyed this event!

Lower Elementary students created different projects in observance of Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican Holiday celebrating the Battle of Puebla which took place on May 5, 1862. This holiday is not to be confused with the Mexican Independence Day on September 16.

First grade students made Mexican Paper Flowers with colored tissue paper. Second grade students worked on a Mexican Metal Tooling project based on the Mexican Tooling art form, and third grade students painted wooden spoons.

Middle School Spanish students have also been working on projects! Seventh grade students made “Ojo de dios” which is Spanish for Eye of God. It is a weaving made across two or more sticks. It is thought to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco, Mexico.

Eighth grade students worked on their culminating Piñata project for the last few weeks of Spanish. This project consisted of several steps. First, they paper machéd their balloons. Then, they cut their paper strips and glued them onto their paper maché balloons and voilà…a Piñata! The students are very proud of their “Hot Air Balloon Piñata”!

Lafayette, Einstein, and Da Vinci

Third grade students gathered in the gym this week to showcase the focus of their individual biography projects! Students prepared a presentation of a famous person after reading a biography and creating a poster highlighting details they learned about that person’s life.

To demonstrate their knowledge, students created costumes represented their character in the gym. Students in kindergarten through second grade were invited into the gym to meet with each famous person and ask them questions about their lives.

The third grade students gained confidence in summarizing biographies and using that information to design their poster boards and costumes!

UE/MS Track Team:  Coach Heather Lourcey, Skyler Adiguzel, Sam Betanzos, Josh Betanzos, Sam Eppich, Beau Lourcey, Dean Lourcey, Matthew Mendez, Kari Pompeo, Lindsay Sides, Mackenzie Toliver, and Zander Worthen

Working with Ms. Navalta, High School students have trained and competed throughout the season at Track Meets organized through TAPPS (The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools). Next week, students on our High School Track Team will be competing in the Track & Field State Championship Meet on May 4th and 5th at Baylor University!

HS Track Team: Coach Debra Navalta, Russ Allton, Dayton Blankenship, Holly Blankenship, Antonio Byrd, Kristy Corbeil, Thuy Do, Taylor Hendricks, Tommy Hendricks, Rachel Ijames, Lauren Pompeo, and Douglas Westurn

Recently, Mr. Russell visited each Preschool classroom and did a woodworking demonstration. The classes made photo boxes for their rooms. Mr. Russell explained the steps to make the photo boxes and assembled each side with wood glue and tiny nails. Students enjoyed learning about the materials and are proud to see the photos displayed in the class!

This year our students placed at the state level in many events within our division. Congratulations Wildcats!

Academic and Speech

Russ Allton (Senior) – 1st in Social Studies and 3rd in Current Events

Melanie Vargas (Sophomore) – 2nd in Spelling

Dayton Blankenship (Senior) - 5th in Spelling

Lauren Pompeo (Freshman) – 6th in Persuasive Speaking and her first time competing!

Fine Arts:

Natalie DuVall
Honorable Mention    Color Drawing   “Pear”
2nd Place        Applied Design    “The Green House”

Antonio Byrd
2nd Place        Graphic Design    “Power”

Taylor Hendricks
5th Place         Graphic Design     “Just a Peek”

Melody Tam
6th Place          Mixed Media         “Day and Night”

Students spent the day serving the North Texas community by maneuvering supplies, including 50lb boxes of water bottles. Lancaster Fire Department Battalion Chief, Rob Franklin, noted that “[Westwood students] not only worked hard without being asked, but smiled all the way through!”

Students gave their time and strength during these service days and learned what is required to help following emergency situations. We are very proud of them. One of the best compliments received was from another volunteer who said, “I want my kids to grow up just like these students.”