Wilson Wildcats
Your Weekly Update from Wilson Middle School
Principal's Message
Hello Wilson families,
As we head into the Thanksgiving break, we want to thank you for trusting us with your children. We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving break.
This month's theme was Gratitude for Project Thrive: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Below are some important things to review and read.
Elf, The Musical:
The show dates are listed below in the picture. Click here to buy tickets. We hope to see you there.
Wilson Winter Athletics & Registration:
We have the following sports available at Wilson this winter: Boys Basketball, Boys Intramural Basketball, Girls Basketball, Girls Intramural Basketball. and Boys & Girls Wrestling. The registration deadline for all of these sports is on Wednesday (11/22). Please visit the Wilson Athletic Website for instructions on registration, team info meetings, team websites, and contact info. Feel free to reach out to Mr Shute if you have any questions.
Healthy Harvest 2023
This was a huge success this year. This year because of all your generosity we collected over 6,800 items (up from 5,600 items last year), for the Natick Service Council. Thank you to everyone who donated, and to the Student Council who helped throughout the Healthy Harvest. Our winners from each grade are:
Grade 5: Ms. Murphy
Grade 6: Miss Trischitta
Grade 7: Ms. Bixby
Grade 8: Ms. Sullivan
*Ms. Sullivan's homeroom was to overall winner with over 1,000 items.
See pictures below of our festivities today.
Backpack Safety Program Notification
We will be conducting a Backpack Safety Program for our Wilson students starting at the end of November. It is recommended by the American Occupational Health Association that children do not carry more than 10% of their body weight in their school backpack. We checked a very small sample of student’s backpacks last year (students who were being dismissed from the clinic) and discovered that many of these students’ backpacks exceeded this 10% guideline.
In order for us to check the weight of a sample of our students’ backpacks and calculate the percentage relative to their body weight, we will need to check both students’ body weight and the weight of their backpacks. We will be conducting some of these checks for students volunteered by their teachers. Others will be done for students who are being dismissed from school from the clinic. All checks will be done by a nurse in a private area. Students will receive a written flier with the number of pounds which need to be removed from their backpack to meet the 10% weight limit and specific suggestions for reducing their backpack weight. We will also be posting tips for reducing backpack weight and instructions for checking your child’s backpack weight on Instagram @npsnurses. It will not be possible for us to check every student’s backpack, but if you would like us to check your child’s, please reach out to us at wilsonnurses@natickps.org.
You may opt out your child out of the Backpack Weight Program by emailing bsteinberg@natickps.org.
Please include your child’s full name and grade in the email.
Newsletter updates and where to find helpful information on our website:
Our biweekly school newsletter is sent out every other week and will be linked in the district Engage communication. You can also access the newsletter on the school website in the NEWS section.
Extra-Curricular Activities and Late buses:
The listing of extracurricular activities & late bus stops are here. We encourage all students to get involved in something after school. Please reach out with any questions.
Volunteers Needed for Laps and Composting:
We want to get started with getting the students outside for laps during lunch next week. Therefore, we need your help! Parents volunteers are needed for both laps and composting. We are composting every day in the cafeteria. Both links are below to sign up if interested. You must have a completed CORI on file to volunteer. You can reach out to our administrative assistants in the office, Trish Williams or Jeanne Holihan if you need help with a CORI.
Respectfully,
Teresa Carney
Twitter: @wmsnatick
Instagram: wmsnatick
Points of Pride
5th grade Theatre students working on "Page to Stage" projects.
8th grade student, Gabby Rubenstein leads a 5th grade No Place For Hate assembly
5th Grade Enrichment poster projects from Andrew Clements books
Elf, The Musical
Frosty 5K Information
Trimester 1 Grades and Start of Trimester 2
Four Things You Need to Know This Week
1. IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
Thursday, November 9: No Late buses or extra curricular activities due to the holiday
Friday, November 10: No School-Veteran's Day Observance
Wednesday, November 15: - Early Release 11:30am, Parent Teacher Conferences (12:30-3:30)
Wednesday, November 22: - Early Release Day (11:30am)
Thursday, November 23 & Friday, November 24: No School: Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 27: - No School (Natick Innovation & Learning Summit) Professional Development for Staff
Friday, December 1: Last day of Trimester 1
Monday, December 4: First day of Trimester 2
Wednesday, December 13: Early Release-11:30 am
2. WILSON ATHLETICS:
Please click here to access information about Wilson Athletics and Winter Registration.
3. 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.
4. CLINIC INFORMATION:
7th Grade Vision and Hearing Notification
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 https://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001zTeux4Ivlq52HgbNqIjCY4R6x1UN3kCsEcuuG0M9ydb_FVfyrpdINBmZS0ZpML4wTWYWUNlSzhLb2NyJ36MFejZwD6VXRDYC
If you have any questions, please contact the Wilson PTO at wilsonmspto@gmail.com.
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