Dear Woodward Families,

What happened at school today? I imagine you've asked your student several times what's happening at school and I also imagine you get the standard response of "nothing". And if you're at all like many parents, you press on with something like, "There must be something happening?!" Middle school students probably have many new things they could share with you, but are reluctant to just because they are changing! This change is both common and developmentally appropriate. Remember these things about adolescence: 

Early adolescence is when students begin separating from parents as their primary audience. This is developmentally healthy. They’re forming independence, opinions, and social identities.

Less sharing is often a sign of growth — not disconnection.

Social dynamics feel amplified in middle school. Students may avoid sharing details because:

The social world is complex — and fragile — at this age.

Students feel deeply but don’t always have the language to explain what happened or how they feel. “Fine” can mean overwhelmed, embarrassed, confused, or just tired.

Middle schoolers expend enormous energy navigating academics and social relationships. By the time they get home, many are simply depleted.

Parenting is both stressful and rewarding, but mostly it’s a joy to see our youth grow into amazing young adults! I am so proud of all of our students! Thank you for sending them to Woodward!

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Jeannie Donoghue 

Principal

What I’m reading now: Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

Bainbridge High School counselors will be coming to Woodward on March 3rd to talk to 8th graders and provide registration information. BHS online registration will be open from Tuesday, March 3rd to Monday, March 9th at 9am. 

Sue Constan, 7th Grade Counselor, and Molly Webber, Counseling Secretary, will be in 7th grade World History classes on Tuesday, March 3rd to pass out elective registration forms for 8th grade and share how to input their elective choices into Skyward. Woodward online registration will open on Tuesday, March 3rd and close on Friday, March 6th at 5pm.

As part of our ongoing commitment to student well-being and belonging, we will be administering the Character Strong Youth Needs Screener to students in grades 6–12.

This screener—along with teacher input and other data (e.g., attendance)—helps us better understand students' social-emotional well-being and determine if additional support may be helpful. It also allows us to assess the effectiveness of our Tier 1 Social-Emotional and Behavioral (SEB) supports within our Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS).

The screener consists of 16 questions related to internalizing behaviors (e.g., “I feel worthless or lonely when I am around other people”) and self-identified strengths (e.g., “I am able to establish relationships with others”). Students respond on a scale from 1 (Almost Never) to 4 (Almost Always). Please note: this is not a diagnostic tool—it is intended to identify general trends and needs to ensure students receive the right level of support.

A team of district and school administrators and counselors will review the results and may implement school-wide, group, or individual interventions as needed. If your student is identified as potentially benefiting from group or individual support, you will receive a follow-up letter with the option to opt out.

The survey is scheduled to take place on Monday, March 2nd during Seminar. If you do not want your child to participate, please print, sign and return the Youth Needs Screener Opt-Out Form to your child’s counselor by Friday, February 27th.

Sue Constan (7th Grade) - sconstan@bisd303.org

Patti Beer (8th Grade) - pbeer@bisd303.org

Thank you for your continued support!

Spring Sports are just weeks away and it's time to register and submit paperwork in time for the start of the season!

Visit the WMS Athletics Page to register.

Questions: Contact Kristin Gellert in the front office - kgellert@bisd303.org / 206-780-4501

3/9 @ 6pm - Informational Meeting - WMS Commons

3/16 - Season begins

Coach: Judy McLaughlin - jmclaughlin@bisd303.org

3/23-25 - Tryouts

Coach: Shaine Schramling - sschramling@bisd303.org

Utilizing our Monday Seminar time in February and March, Woodward students will dive into career exploration utilizing a program called Career Planner. 7th grade students will take a Preference Survey and 8th Grade Students will take an Interest Survey. The results of these surveys link students to careers that align with their preference and interests. For the second 8th grade career lesson, students will explore or ‘dig deeper’ into careers that look interesting to them while exploring duties, training, helpful high school courses & wages of their interested careers. 7th grade students will “dig deeper” into the wage of their selected career and fill out a Career Investigation and Expenditure Worksheet that they will use at one of the activities at the EXPLORE event on Wednesday, March 26th (see below).

On Thursday, March 26th, 7th-grade students will participate in the half-day event called EXPLORE.

Explore focuses on exposing students to future careers while also bringing a bit of real-world simulation to budgeting. After completing a career exploration activity in their seminar class, students will utilize their top career interests to complete a reality simulation to make a month’s salary last as they pay for the various expenses in life. 

Students will also rotate through career exposure sessions including:

On Monday, March 2nd Lia Swanson, BISD Career Guidance Specialist, will be visiting 8th Grade social studies classes to share about the High School Beyond Plan in preparation for high school registration. The High School & Beyond Plan is an exploration and planning process that revolves around three guiding questions: 1) Who am I? 2) What can I become? 3) How do I become that? This presentation is part of the WMS counseling department’s career education focus at Woodward Middle School and is a continuation of the career seminar lessons that took place on Feb 19th and 23rd during Mondays' Seminar time. 

Woodward’s Seminar is one of Woodward’s social/emotional learning platforms where students participate in a 35 minute class and discussion every Monday during 4th period. Seminar covers various topics that are connected to student’s social emotional health and well being.

On February 2nd, 7th grade students participated in a lesson titled, They Said What? This lesson examines the impacts rumors, drama and people talking about each other has on ourselves and our community. 8th grade students participated in a Media Literacy Lesson titled What Do You Share where students are provided 10 different scenarios that involve issues of online privacy to discuss as a class.

In the February 9th Seminar Lesson, 7th grade students' lesson was titled Introduction to Apologies where students focus on how and when to apologize. In 8th grade, students utilized the BISD online career platform called Career Planner to explore careers and took an online interest survey which helps them identify careers that align with their interests.

For the final Seminar lesson on February 23rd, 7th grade students discussed Navigating Friend Groups. This lesson focused on the dynamics that can occur in friend groups. Students defined loyalty and examined their role(s) within a friend group. 8th Grade students continued their career exploration utilizing the Career Planner platform and identified 2 careers they're interested in to dig deeper.

Come check out what it means to be a Spartan at this year's Futures Camp on March 6.

Learn the Spartan way, play small sided games, and eat pizza with teammates while watching a Varsity Scrimmage.

Register online to take this first step on your Spartan Journey!

Lead From Within is a six-week group through Bainbridge Youth Services for 7th and 8th graders starting Feb 26.

Each week includes creative, art-based activities along with guided conversation focused on understanding what’s going on inside, building skills you can use in real life, and helping to navigate middle school. No art experience is needed.

For students who are looking to further pursue their interest in audio and/ or visual media or who may feel they missed out on video production or photography class, this new A/V Club will meet on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8-8:45 AM in Room 304. Come to just one meeting a week or both if you're available!

Contact Mr. Harris with any questions - tharris@bisd303.org

Woodward Middle School will host “Welcome to Your Future,” a budgeting exercise based on career choices, for 7th graders, on Thursday, March 26. 

We are looking for 12 parent volunteers for the morning. Volunteers will meet at 8:30am on the north side of the school building (where the school buses pick up), for a training session, and then will work with students from 9-1 during the budgeting simulation. Please consider volunteering, and make sure you have a current volunteer application on file with the school district. The form can be found here, if needed.

Please sign-up for a spot if you are able to help!

The next PTO meeting is TONIGHT!

February 25, 2026 - 6:00 pm, Conference Room

Online meeting: https://meet.google.com/rhc-poeu-zvn

Phone access: 1 262-682-3694‬ PIN: ‪337 801 443‬#‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Be sure to follow the PTO Instagram for fun images and friendly reminders.

If you are looking to contribute to the school year, check out the WMS Wishlist!

From caffeine for staff to Health Room supplies, we'd love your help to restock some shelves with commonly used items.

The 8th Grade Banquet team is seeking volunteers! Whether you are eager to provide ideas, lock in sponsors, manage the social media pages, or just work with a great group of other 8th grade parents, they would love your help!

Please email woodward.banquet@bainbridgeptos.org to connect on ways that you can help.

Check out the Community Events Page for fun and engaging activities around the island!