Principal's Message Jan 23 - 27
Dear Peabody and Watkins Community,
Two more school days and we are officially at the mid-point of the school year. Students are completing Term 2 work and in the middle of our middle-of-the year assessments. Our K-5 teachers will have grades input by February 2 and reports cards will be available on the Aspen Parent Portal a few days later. The following week, report cards will be mailed home. The next scheduled Parent-Teacher Conference day is March 9. If you have questions or concerns before then, please reach out to your child's teacher.
Want to a recap of last week's "I Have a Dream" event at the steps of the Lincoln? Check out the news coverage and on our website.
Looking for older newsletters? Principal's Messages are once again updated on the website weekly and archived again on our website.
Key Dates for families
Equity Dialogues - Accomplishments and Next Steps!
Our 2nd mini-dialogue group is almost full and will start soon! If you are interested in joining the 2nd or 3rd group, please reach out to Maggie Adams at maggiemaeadams@gmail.com for more information. You can also check out our updated equity and inclusion page on our website.
Promote Our Open Houses!
Leading with Pride - DCPS Event
Leading with Pride will be January 21, 2023 from 12 – 4 pm at Dunbar Senior High. This event is for LGBTQ+ students ages 6 years – high school. The day will include a series of age-specific, student-centered activities and workshops, food, music, and giveaways. Additionally, sessions will be offered for caregivers, liaisons, and advisors.
Workshops/Proposals
Proposals are currently be accepted for youth workshops and activities. The workshops and activities can range in presentation style and topic. The goal is to ensure students have the opportunity to lead activities on topics that are relevant to their and/or peers' queerness and/or allyship. The link to submit a proposal can be found at bit.ly/LWP23Proposal.
Registration
To ensure the correct number of resources are available for the event, attendees are asked to register in advance via Eventbrite which can be found at bit.ly/LWP23Registration.
Tabling and Performing
If you are interested in tabling at this event, email dcps.lgbtq@k12.dc.gov and place LWP 23 Tabling or Performing in the subject line.
field trip chaperones- Complete a Clearance application
Exceptions
Exceptions may be granted to the DCPS Clearance process in the following situations:
- You are volunteering for a one-time, on-campus event, like Career Day or Field Day. Please email the Clearance Team at dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov to confirm whether you qualify for a clearance exception.
- You are a potential volunteer with an active secret or top-secret federal security clearance. Individuals in this group should complete the Federal Security Clearance Verification letter in lieu of being fingerprinted with DCPS. The original signed verification form and a copy of a state issued photo ID to dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov
FoodPrints Caregiver VOlunteer Sign Ups
For the Watkins schedule, the 1st-3rd grade classes will go in the afternoon, so look for your child's afternoon teacher, not homeroom teacher on this schedule.
Visitor Policy Reminder
All visitors must present an id to security upon arrival.
All in person visits to classrooms or offices within the building, must be pre-scheduled and confirmed with the teacher/ staff member you are meeting with.
Approved classroom visits can be scheduled for a max of 20 minutes. Visits longer than 20 minutes, must be pre-approved by an Administrator.
Items brought to the school must be labeled with the intended recipient's name and dropped off at the security desk. Staff will ensure that the item gets to the location. Visitors will not be allowed to drop off items to classrooms.
Volunteers must complete the DCPS clearance process.
Solicitors (i.e. retirement advisors) can not walk through our buildings.
Peabody
Get ready for Peabody's Winter Zoo-tastic Reading Challenge!
Peabody families and readers, We officially kicked off our "Winter Zoo-tastic Reading Challenge” with our Rock the Red all-school assembly this morning! The first reading log (African Savanna) is going home in folders today and each log represents 10 books (10 minutes of chapter book reading = 1 picture book). In eight weeks we’ll wrap it up with another Rock-the-Red Assembly and Read Across America Celebration on Friday, March 3. Your goal is to see if you can read EVEN MORE than you have normally been reading together! It’s one of the BEST things you can do for your children! Our Peabody School goal is for students to read a total of 8,000 books over 8 weeks. Our 2 African lions (one in lobby and one in the library) will fill with color as we read more books! Our fun theme is an animal journey through the ZOO and we hope to celebrate all the great winter reading with an animal celebration event in the Spring! Want an option for an E-log? Click on this link and fill out the form: https://rb.gy/dwobom
Bedtime Reading Surprise!
Peabody kids (and siblings too!), to make our 8-week Winter Zoo-tastic Reading Challenge even MORE fun, put on your PJ’s, grab your stuffy, and join Ms. Bloom for virtual bedtime stories every two weeks from 7 to 7:30 pm! The dates are Thursdays, January 12 and 26, February 9 and, after February Break, March 2. Let’s go crazy reading together and log even more books for our zoo-tastic reading challenge! Here’s the TEAMS link to join.
Reminder: In-class parent drop off ends at 9am
Watkins
Boys and girls basketball schedule
WELcome Nurse Michelle!
Nurse Michelle can be reached directly at 202-698-3353 or by contacting the main office at 202-698-3355.
Library Volunteers Wanted!
The next couple weeks, Ms. Langley could use help around the library and shelving books. Sign up here.
Email issues with Smore? Unsubscribed from Blackboard?
If you somehow are unsubscribed from Blackboard, please email your appropriate school inbox above and Adia.Howard-Stroud@k12.dc.gov who will fix the issue on Blackboard.