Inflight News (January 2025-26) by Westside Neighborhood School

3, ISSUE 4: JANUARY 2026

WNS Middle School Newsletter PAGE 2 Winter Performing Arts Showcase

A NOTE FROM MRS. ROD

Happy New Year! The school year is unique in that it has two beginnings: the first day of school and the first day of the new calendar year. This offers us an opportunity to help students note their progress thus far and take stock of what areas they would like to improve in, both in and outside of school This is also a great opportunity for families to consider how their home routines are working and what they may want to change

As we move through January, it is impossible not to think of where we were a year ago with the fires in the greater Los Angeles area. While we have come a long way since then, we recognize there remains so much loss and much work to do towards rebuilding the physical and emotional toll of these fires. Through it all, I maintain the utmost gratitude and appreciation for our WNS community, who consistently rise to the aid of others in and outside of our community. It’s what makes us special.

Mrs. Rod

A Note from Mrs. Rod PAGE 1 PAGE 3 Buddies

Curriculum Updates PAGE 4-6

6th Grade Family Game Night PAGE 7

Dates and Announcements PAGE 8

Performing Arts Showcase

- I LOVE LA - 12/18 & 12/19

Our Middle School students were thrilled to showcase not only their voices, but also their instrumental talents at this year’s I Love LA Winter Showcase. It was a joy to watch them bring their hard work from music class to the stage, and we hope you enjoyed the performances as much as we did.

Buddies - 1/21

Our 1st/6th and 3rd/7th grade buddies worked together to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by completing a worksheet that highlighted many of his character traits. Together, they reflected on how they model these traits in their own lives and identified areas where they can continue to grow. Students also made meaningful connections between MLK’s values and our four pillars at WNS

Our K/8th grade buddies chose from a “buddy choice board” for their shared activity today. Some pairs worked together to build block towers, while others collaborated on drawing self-portraits and other creative, amazing artwork.

6th graders are kicking off a meteorology mini-unit where they’ll explore weather forecasting, fronts, and pressure systems. To showcase their learning, students will create large-scale weather maps and record videos as on-air meteorologists delivering TV-style forecasts. Next, we’ll transition into our climate change unit, diving into topics such as energy sources, sea level rise, and other key environmental impacts.

7th Grade

The 7th Grade Science students have just completed an extensive unit on cellular biology. They examined live plant and animal cells under microscopes and explored the essential life processes that distinguish living things. Through a series of experiments, students investigated cellular metabolism, osmosis, respiration, photosynthesis, and DNA extraction, gaining a deeper understanding of how cells power all living systems.

8th Grade

8th graders are currently wrapping up their Chemistry unit. The last few weeks have been all about balancing chemical equations and identifying the various types of reactions. To further reinforce the concepts, students have applied their knowledge both in and out of the classroom. They shared their knowledge with someone over the age of 65, conducting interviews, and engaging in hands-on experience over the winter break. And after all their hard work, what better way to solidify their understanding of chemical reactions than with one-minute desserts in class!

Students are wrapping up their “Moment in Time” project, where they created a personal, visual narrative based off of a family photograph. It could have been a family gathering, an important date/time in history for their family (past or present), or a moment merely capturing everyday life. We discussed art during the Harlem Renaissance as our inspiration for this project, diving deeper into the art created by Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. Students were challenged to place themselves in that moment in time and space, and recreate its energy and sense of importance through simplification of their photograph.These visual “stories” of a moment in time came to life with a variety of materials collaged together

6th Grade Digital Art

In 6th grade digital art, students completed their Geometric Animal project and participated in their first art critique. Students choose an animal they were interested in and created a digital version using geometric shapes and lines. Afterward, they learned how to give and receive constructive feedback on artwork. They have now entered their final unit in digital art: animation. This exciting project integrates with social-emotional learning by encouraging students to identify emotions and express them through art. They learned how to use a “feelings wheel” and select an emotion to communicate through animation. Their animations will be displayed on the TV monitor in the school hallways.

7th Grade

7th graders have completed their first project, Elements of Art Students created a six-panel poster board that explored the elements of art, including line, value, color, texture, space, and shape/form. For this assignment, students selected an object of interest and sketched its silhouette six times on watercolor paper. They then differentiated each drawing by using a variety of art media to emphasize a different element of art in each panel.

Students are now beginning their second project: Relief Tiles 7th graders learned the three types of relief sculpture and applied this knowledge to their own ceramic work. Through a visualization, students reflected on a “safe space” that brings them feelings of calm and peace They then transformed their imagined space into a ceramic piece by adding and subtracting clay to create depth and dimension.

8th Grade

By studying Andy Warhol’s impact on modern art, the 8th grade students are currently working on an art piece inspired by Pop Art, which entails four series of their self-portraits. Two of the self-portraits will be created digitally using a program called Procreate, while the other two panels will encompass traditional art, using watercolors and collaging Pop Art encompasses a range of artistic, cultural, and critical thinking skills Understanding this art movement helps students develop a deeper understanding of art's relationship to society, materials, and context Additionally, they will understand the relationships between line, shape, color, value, form and texture, and how to unify the four self-portraits

6th graders have continued to explore the concept of increasing complexity as we have moved through the thresholds of stars, elements, and the creation of planets. Most recently, we considered the role of causation and how ideas change over a variety of case studies, such as how we moved from a geocentric to a heliocentric view of the universe and how we have come to understand the way continents interact. After traversing through over 9 billion years of cosmic history, they are taking a deep dive into a specific continent. Students are in the process of creating stunning maps depicting human and geologic history, along with creative posters to promote travel to the continent. This work sets the stage for collective learning, a hallmark of the human species. As our journey through the past continues, we will consider the impacts of the move from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle into agrarian societies, the major catalyst for civilizations.

7th Grade

In 7th grade social studies, students are exploring the rise of empires across the ancient world. We began by discussing the nature of empire, why these political formations arose at a certain point in human history, and the challenges they faced in gaining and maintaining authority across vast distances. We zoomed in on the story of the first globe-spanning empire, Persia, and examined its famous rivalry with the city-states of Greece. As this unit of study continues, we will compare classical empires from around the world, discovering the many ways imperial forms adapted to different cultures and geographic settings, before examining the always-fascinating story of how and why they fell apart. Next up, we will turn to the simultaneous story of the emergence and growth of major world religions

8th Grade

8th graders are currently studying a pivotal period in US history, when our young nation was establishing its identity and expanding westward, by examining how the United States transformed through events such as the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the construction of the Erie Canal Simultaneously, we’re looking at how this transformation came at tremendous cost to Native Americans and how slavery expanded alongside territorial growth Students are also investigating resistance movements led by figures such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, David Walker, and Sojourner Truth. By exploring primary sources, maps, charts, and recent scholarship, students are grappling with the central tension of how America was simultaneously building democratic institutions while excluding entire groups of people from the very freedoms those institutions claimed to protect.

6th Grade Family Game Night - 1/30

6th grade students, along with their families, advisors, and teachers, came together in the MPR for an evening centered on games, friendly competition, and community connection. After sharing a pizza dinner, the fun kicked off with familiar favorites like Jenga, cornhole, and Connect Four. Students and their families then broke into smaller teams to tackle a variety of faculty-led challenges designed to test teamwork, communication, knowledge, and creativity. With plenty of laughter and excitement throughout the night, it was clear the event was a big success.