Windy Ridge Families-

I want to start by welcoming two new Windy Ridge Hawks that will be part of our student support team. School Social Worker, Ms. Caswell, and School Counselor, Ms. Bensen. They will be instrumental in providing social-emotional supports and monitoring student academics.

As August comes to a close, I am excited to see just how much our students are getting done in the classroom. As a curriculum leader, I believe in getting into classrooms to see the students in action. I have done this throughout my career, but this past week, as I was leaving one of the K-2 classrooms, I experienced a first. From the middle of the room, I heard a faint, "Was that the President?" While I am honored to be considered for such a position, it just shows that I need to make sure I'm introducing myself when visiting. Thank you for all you are doing to support us!

As usual, there is a lot going on at the Ridge this week, please take a look through our entire newsletter.

On Monday, we will be celebrating the life of Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library by filling our school with pink and the joy of reading. If you would like to participate, you can wear pink and bring a book to read in your backpack.

Congratulations to our Teacher of the Year (TOY), Jennifer Hewett, Middle School Math! & Congratulations to our Support Person of the Year (SPOY), Neftly Ortiz-Viera, Bookkeeper!

Thank you for all you do for our Silverhawks!

Our first SAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 1st at 5:30 in our Media Center. Thank you to the following parents who have applied for membership. We will vote on membership and positions at this meeting.

Susan Hollis

Carlos Vasquez

Gabriela Cerda

Turhan Hidalgo

Jessica Dagit

Middle School Families- We are reviewing all requests for schedule changes. At this time, we are not taking more requests.

Elementary School Families- Windy Ridge has seen an increase in enrollment, which we are excited about. For this reason, we may be hiring additional teachers at certain grade levels. If this happens, we will be sending out our procedures for balancing classrooms. We know that transitions can be difficult, but we are very confident in our grade-level teams ability to collaborate and support each other. While each teacher has their own personal style, the curriculum is identical.

Hawk Bucks Are Here! We are excited to launch our Hawk Bucks program to celebrate and incentivize positive behavior across all grade levels. Students can earn Hawk Bucks throughout the week for demonstrating great character, responsibility, and school spirit, which they can trade in for fun prizes at our mobile Hawk Store. Encouraging great choices starts at home—ask your child how they’re working to earn their Hawk Bucks this week!

We will be updating this with our concerts and performances throughout the year.

⚽ Soccer Season Is Here, Silverhawks!

Our first soccer game of the season kicked off against Horizon West on Monday. Both teams played hard but lost. On the girls' teams, the MVPs of the game were Victoria for Offense and McKaylee for Defense. The Robinswood games will be rescheduled due to weather.

This week our teams will play against Carver and Gotha. Please come out and support both of our Soccer teams and show your Silverhawk Spirit!

Fun Spot America is giving a Popcorn Party to the first school or team that reaches 100 registered participants! Let's have our school make the leaderboard! Register today at the link below:

This week, the media center was used on Tuesday and Thursday for testing, and I saw many students' smiles on picture day. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who volunteered on picture day!

📕 Accelerated Reader (AR) Update: On Monday, I was able to roster and get AR working for the entire school. Immediately, students began taking quizzes on books. Our students have currently earned over 1,000+ points. 1,026.6 points in the first week of AR. I have looked at our Top 10 Readers for the Week in AR and shared their names below. I know many students wanted to take quizzes on their summer reading.

Below is information on our end-of-year trophy goal for AR. Students have until April 16th to reach their AR points goal. If they reach their goal based on their current grade level, they will earn a trophy at the end-of-year award ceremony.

In news from the cafeteria, you can celebrate your student's special day with Birthday Bites. Birthday Bites are a healthy way to celebrate your child's birthday with the entire class. You can scan the QR code or order at: https://www.ocps.net/261122_3

This is a reminder that all orders must be submitted one week in advance.

This is a reminder that the cafeteria sells ice cream for $1 on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Planning ahead, we would like to share some upcoming coloring days for our campus. On September 4th is College Colors Day, and starting September 14th is our annual tradition of Kindergarten Color Days, where our whole school wears a different color each day to support our Kindergarten students in learning their colors.

Important for Drama Club Interest Meeting- Students must have arranged a ride home, be a front walker, or be extended day to attend the interest meeting.

Windy Ridge will be starting many clubs in the month of September. Additional clubs will be advertised soon. Below is the contact emails for club sponsors:

For more information about:

For any questions about upcoming health screenings you can email our school nurse Nurse Jones at: ashley.jones3@ocps.net.

This week, PM1 testing began with ELA and will continue next week with Math. Our students did a great job of showing up on time and were prepared for test day. Let's continue soaring to success with Math as well.

Tuesday, September 1: Math for Grades 6-8

Thursday, September 3: Math for Grades 3-5

Tuesday, September 8: ELA for Grades 1-2

Thursday, September 10: Math Grades 1-2

Tuesday, September 15: ELA Kindergarten

Thursday, September 17: Math Kindergarten

These tests are very important to establish where your child stands with regard to the standards they will learn this year.

Look here for your student doing amazing things.

Mary Caswell, our new school social worker, is very excited to be part of the Windy Ridge K-8 team! She recently relocated from the Florida Panhandle, where she worked as a social worker for Bay District Schools in their ESE Pre-K program. She has experience in schools with all ages and loves working with children and adolescents. Her background includes mental health counseling with both individuals and small groups. Mary, who also goes by Mrs. C, is excited to get to know our staff, students, and families!

This week, we will share photos of our middle school, special area, electives, ELL Para Team, Extended Day Team and Front Office Team.

Jennifer Hewett, Mary Michelle Del Valle, Rebecca Whitney, Toresha Green Warren, Beverly Mitchell, Jennifer Ehrlich

Jennifer Hewett, Samuel Vargas, LaRae Cross, Toresha Green Warren, Carissa Dee

Murat Cetin, Jennifer Hewett, Grace Gronowski, Corydon Strawser, Scott Meehan, Toresha Green Warren, Sarah Qazi

Mary Salgado, Geraldine Morillo Barazarte, Jennifer Shaffer, Cearan Caffrey, Leslie Kupetz

Maria Santos, Theresa Guiang, Mary Salgado, Corydon Strawser, Anna Fidelo, Cearan Caffrey, Jennifer Shaffer, Leslie Kupetz, Sarah Qazi

Llilian Fernandez, Rosilane Da Silva Devine, Aliya Kristaudo, Eric Diaz, Ivana Dordetto

Karina Gonzalez Garcia, Eileen Thatcher, Robin Beltz, Ethan Oliveri, Esther Thomas, Susan Brown, Jack Lawson, Ivana Dordetto, Sharon Zapata Torero

Juliana De Melo, Rebeca Lopez, Liliana Alcala Morera, Priscila De Freitas, Neftly Ortiz-Viera, Ashley Jones, Hiba Doleh