Wilson Wildcats
Your Weekly Update from Wilson Middle School
Principal's Message
Hello Wilson families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. It was a great break for all us. We are excited to be back with the students for the next 4 weeks before the winter break, which is from December 24-January 2. We return to school on Tuesday, January 3.
Healthy Harvest:
We want to thank everyone for sending in all of the donations for our annual Healthy Harvest. We donated close to 5,000 items. See the pictures below. Overall, it was a great event.
Trimester 1 closes Friday, December 2:
Trimester 1 closes today and the parent portal opens after 3:00pm on Friday, December 9. The parent portal will be closed next week to allow for teachers to input final grades and comments. Once grades are released, the parent portal will re-open. Trimester dates for the school year are posted in the calendar section below.
Grade 7 SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) Screenings:
All Massachusetts public schools must include a verbal substance use preventive screening as part of their yearly mandated universal health screening programs. Since 2015, the Natick Public schools have screened students in grades 7 & 9 using the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol. Students answer questions followed by a private one-on-one conversation with a nurse or counselor. The purpose of this effort is to prevent, or at least delay, alcohol, marijuana, vaping or other drug use. The SBIRT program reinforces healthy decisions and addresses concerns about substance use to improve health, safety and success in school. Please click here to read the SBIRT letter in full. If you want to opt your child out of the screening, please read the letter and email Betsy Steinberg, one of our school nurses.
School Pictures:
School pictures came in this week and were distributed in homeroom. Please check your child's backpack. Picture retakes will take place on December 7 (next week). Below is some information about picture retakes from Coffee Pond.
Questions regarding student photos (late orders; missing orders, refunds etc.) should contact our dedicated Coffee Pond Lifeguards:
By phone:
1-800-632-2323 ext "0"
By Email:
By US Mail:
Lifeguards
Coffee Pond Productions, Inc.
3 Speen Street, Suite 200
Framingham, MA 01701
***Also, if you have ordered a digital sharing file (and no prints), the photograph has been e-mailed to the address provided at the time of the order.
Citizens of The Month:
November - “Gratitude”
In an effort to continue to build our Wilson community, School Counselors will announce Citizens of the Month at the end of each month. We have picked a theme for each month, and teachers will be looking for students whose behavior and attitude exemplify that theme. One student will be selected from each team on their grade-level, one will be chosen by our Specialist, and one from our World Language teachers. For the month of November, we looked for students who demonstrated “Gratitude: Being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen in your life and taking the time to express appreciation and return kindness.”
Congratulations to:
5th graders:
Skyler Papazian, Isabella Mullins, Devan Hendricks, Devin Quinn
6th graders:
Sloane Duhamel, Lucy Cappello
7th graders:
Kayvan Reza, Justin Major, Levi Oliveira
8th graders:
Elsie Gettel, Caylee Lynch
Specialists:
Luke Zitnick
World Language:
Cristian Torres Fonseca
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
Respectfully,
Teresa Carney
Twitter: @wmsnatick
Instagram: wmsnatick
Point of Pride
Virtual Reality In Action In Our Instructional Technology Classes
Lost and Found (All items must be claimed by Thursday, December 8).
Upcoming Spark Kindness Presentation
Mental Wellness During Stressful Times: Your Questions Answered!
Thursday, December 8 at 7pm via Zoom — For parents, caregivers, educators, and community members of all ages
SPARK Kindness has assembled a team of experts to help you survive and thrive during the hectic end of year season. Author and expert Ned Johnson, Licensed Mental Health Counselor Janine Halloran, and SPARK founder Christine Guthery will offer practical strategies to support you and your loved ones. Everyone is welcome!
ASL Interpretation will be provided at this event. Please visit www.SPARKKindness.org to register for this or any of our FREE programs, discover additional resources, and get information about how to get involved with SPARK!
Eight Things You Need to Know This Week
1. IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday, December 2: Last Day of Trimester 1
Monday, December 5: First Day of Trimester 2
Wednesday, December 7: Picture Retake Day
Wednesday, December 14: Early Release 11:30 am
December 24-January 2: No School- Winter Break
2. COMMUNITY SERVICE BOOK DRIVE:
The book drive will take place from December 5-December 21. Click here to read the details.
3. TUTORING PROGRAM-
We are happy to announce that we are continuing our collaboration with the high school and running a tutoring program for middle school students at Kennedy and Wilson. There are members of the National Honor Society at the high school who are volunteering to tutor middle school students. Our hope is to create tutoring partnerships that will primarily meet in person at the high school library between 2:30-5 p.m. as it will be monitored by a staff member. Occasionally, sessions can be held via Google Meet as a virtual option. Families will primarily be responsible for transporting their students to the high school for their tutoring sessions. We are providing training for the tutors on best practices for working with middle school students.
If you are interested in signing your student up for tutoring, please fill out this form. The hope is to get students matched with tutors by the end of November.
4. YEARBOOKS ARE ON SALE: The yearbook is a great way to record your student's school year. It features students from all grades, clubs, sports teams, etc. It is for everyone!
To order: Please go to www.yearbookforever.com and search for "Wilson Middle School." Please include your student's full name and homeroom number. "Be sure to select the location in Natick, MA.
Pricing: Order early to lock in the lowest price. Prices increase as the year goes on (please see the pricing schedule below):
November 1-January 31= $30
February 1-March 31=$35
April 1= $40 until they sell out*Please Note*: Yearbooks are expected to sell out. Books are not guaranteed. Any questions, please contact Allyson O'Connor at aoconnor@natickps.org.
5. POSITIVITY PROJECT THEME FOR NEXT WEEK: Other People Mindset (OPM). This is about Supporting Others When They Struggle. Click here to read the parent letter.
6. WILSON ATHLETICS
Please click here: Wilson Athletics for important information.
7. LIBRARY NEWS
Please click here: Library News for important information. There is A LOT of new information, so please click on the link to read it.
8. LAPS AFTER LUNCH SIGN UP & CORI CHECK REMINDER IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER
Please click here on the LAPS AFTER LUNCH GOOGLE FORM if you are interested in signing up to help with LAPS AFTER LUNCH. You must have a CORI check conducted, and you must go into the building with identification (driver's license or passport) to do this. Click here for a description of what a CORI check is and does. Without a CORI check, you cannot volunteer in the school. Here is the form to fill out for a CORI.
Paper - On-Demand Tutoring
Natick Public Schools is excited to announce our partnership with Paper for on-demand tutoring for NHS students. Paper is a secure, online tutoring service that provides students with unlimited, 24/7 academic support. Whether they’re stuck on homework, studying for a test, or need someone to read and make suggestions to their essays, there will always be experts available online to assist students in over 200 subjects and more than 4 languages.
Paper tutors have been specially trained to conduct expert, academic support in a secure, chat-based platform. With a commitment to helping students learn, they’ll never give students answers, but rather interact with them in an encouraging tone to lead them forward.
This is a free service that we’re providing, so students are encouraged to use it as much as they need, whenever they need. Our teachers also have accounts and will be able to review all student activity to see what they’re working on and provide more targeted instruction as needed.
If you’d like to learn more about Paper you can sign up for a Paper hosted Parent Info Session, available in both English and Spanish.
To see Paper and the help it offers firsthand, we encourage you to login with your students. To get started, simply visit PAPER’s student login page, type your school’s name, and log in via Google using your school credentials
We’re thrilled to offer our students the unlimited, 24/7 support that Paper provides and we can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish together.
Email Blast
Do you know of any Wilson parents that don't receive our blasts? Feel free to forward this email and have them join our mailing list at http://eepurl.com/gBdwNv
If you have any questions, please contact the Wilson PTO at wilsonmspto@gmail.com.
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- Title I: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title II
- Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title VI
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title IX
- Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
- MGL, Ch.76, Section 5: Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 76, Section 5