Literacy Lounge📚
A newsletter from your WMS Librarian and Literacy Coach.
Reach out to us any time!
Mr. Chris Cochran 📝
6-8 Literacy Coach
christopher.cochran@watertown.k12.ma.us
Follow my Instagram! wms_literacy_coach
Ms. Paula Cabral 📚
WMS Librarian
Literacy Updates✏️ (Mr. Cochran)
Multilingual Family Night
On Thursday, January 25, 2024, we hosted a Multilingual Family Night in the WMS Library, where we welcomed sixteen families. Several languages were represented, including Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, Pushto, and Haitian Creole. Chris Cochran (literacy coach), Paula Cabral (librarian), Kate Phillipson (ML Coordinator) and Heidi Baildon-Ross (ML coach) facilitated the event. Caregivers learned how to access Google Classroom and PowerSchool and we heard from a panel of three WHS students who shared their experience. They took questions from the audience and told us how they became involved in the Watertown community when they were new students. It was great to see so many families and to have this opportunity to strengthen our family-school partnership!
Preparing for WIN Term 3
How do we prepare for another round?
Students will be taking the i-Ready Math Diagnostic on Monday, January 29th, and the iReady Reading Diagnostic on Tuesday, January 30th. We are eager to see positive results now that we will be able to track our students' progress with this program. Please encourage your child to get a good night's sleep, charge their chromebook, and come in ready to work and focus on Monday!
A reminder about WIN:
Students are placed in WIN based on their need for math and/or reading intervention, classes they have previously taken, a rotation of extension opportunities, and teacher recommendations. Our goal with WIN is to support students in a personalized way while giving them a unique experience each term. We have developed courses to support students who need some practice in reading and to push students who have already mastered many of our grade-level skills.
Library News 📚 (Ms. Cabral)
New Library Books Available to Check Out!
The library has added 171 books to its collection since the beginning of January! Students can browse new books by logging into Destiny Discover and scrolling down to “Recently Added Books.” Horror fans will be excited to find that the entire Five Nights of Freddy’s Fazbear Frights series, including the graphic novel adaptations, have been added. Mystery fans may be interested in checking out The Inheritance Games, a fast-paced puzzler about an unexpected inheritance that’s full of twists and turns and leaves you on a cliffhanger ending. Or students who prefer a little romance may be interested in trying out Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute, a book that offers a new take on the classic Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility. Stop by the library to see the books in person and check one out! Ms. Cabral is always available to offer recommendations and chat about your favorite titles!
Previous News...
Community Service Work in the WMS library
Library volunteers have been hard at work to make the WMS library a better place for all staff and students. Volunteers have the option to help out after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, where they perform library management duties such as shelving books, cleaning tables, processing new book purchases/donations or work on design projects such as book displays, creating bookmarks, or seasonal decorations. Students are also available to help with printing, cutting, and laminating projects that teachers drop off. Teachers, if you would like help with any tasks that fall into these categories, please stop by the library and speak to Ms. Cabral. All student volunteers will receive community service credit for the volunteer hours they complete. Any students interested in helping out can email Ms. Cabral or stop by the library any time for more information.
WIN Class for Summer Reading 2025 - "One School One Question"
Summer Reading WIN Class Started T2
Ms. Cabral is so excited to offer a new WIN class for students that are interested in choosing our summer reading books for this coming summer. The class will be offered during Trimesters 2 and 3. Students who are in the class filled out a survey indicating that they were interested in joining and are okay with reading for long periods of time during the class period. Together, the class will select three books for summer reading, as we transition from a One School, One Book model, to a One School, One Question. The extra choice is intended to increase student engagement with summer reading, and student feedback from this class will help ensure that we offer a selection of books that can appeal to all students! More information will be offered as the year goes on!
Art & Literacy
Mr. Cochran (lit coach) and Mr. Davidson (art teacher) have teamed up to co-teach an art class for multilingual students as one of our WIN offerings.
Our Word Wall
In our WIN class, which is designed for multi-lingual learners, students were given an art vocabulary word. They translated the word into their first language so they could access the definition, then represented that word visually to show the meaning.
- How many languages do you recognize?
- How many art terms can you figure out based on how the students depicted them?