Congratulations to everyone in the Westfield Friends School community. Following a few pandemic-related interruptions, we completed an extensive self-study as a part of the school’s application for membership in NJAIS. A visiting committee of independent school peers read the self-study, reviewed the hundreds of assembled documents, and then spent three days with us last fall. This team sent a report to NJAIS. The NJAIS accrediting board met recently, accepted the report, and agreed that Westfield Friends met all 68 of the standards for accreditation and membership as a school in good standing. Westfield has been educating children for over 233 years, this process doesn’t make Westfield a school. Instead, it provides independent confirmation of our strengths, vitality, and mission.
That vitality is on display this week in the serious business of learning to read and interpret Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (6th grade), creating an adaption of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men (8th grade), and deciphering Tom Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense which figures in Laurie Halse Anderson’s historical novel Chains (7th grade).
The vitality is apparent in students celebrating friends and friendship on Valentine's Day. Second Grade students made old-fashioned heart-shaped Valentines for the adults who love them. Seventh Grade students hid candy-filled hearts in each classroom. This WFS tradition brings as much joy to the heart hiders as it does to the heart seekers.
PreK Students found the heart!
Prek students wondered what happened to Sweethearts if you tried to dissolve them in different types of liquids (what are those candies actually made of?). They also had fun using gummy worms and bears as math manipulatives.
In Monday’s Elementary School Gathering, students worked with their 5th-grade leaders to think about what they loved. Hung in the hall, these hearts provide a moving reminder of the size of children’s hearts and the important elements of their lives.
We've passed the 100th-day milestone of learning this school year! Students in different levels celebrated on their respective 100th day. Last Friday, the youngest grades celebrated, and on Monday grades 1-4 celebrated!
We have finished the second-trimester marking period and begun the third and final trimester. Families should expect to receive emails over the upcoming weekend providing links to their student’s grades. Having read over all of the reports, I am impressed by each student’s engagement with what they love and what they find challenging. Their extraordinary learning is possible because of this vibrant community: students know they belong, they know their teachers are committed to supporting their growth, they know they may bring all of who they are to their learning.
Warmly,
Margaret
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What I am reading:
 The Sentence
by Louise Erdich
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 Hey Kiddo
by Jarrett Krosoczka
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New in our library:
 Mel Fell
by Corey R. Tabor
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 A Walk in the Words by Hudson Talbott
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 Sugar in Milk by Thrity Umrigar
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 Peacemaker
by Joseph Bruchac
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