WMS Bulletin
01-27-20 Faculty and Staff
Such a wonderful community!
Hello WMS,
Thank you to everyone for all of your help this past week in Jason's absence, and especially as news of the fire broke and we learned one of our current and one of our past families are now homeless as a result. The WMS community is truly a special one!
We will be collecting for displaced families in our main office all week. Our current family that was affected has one 7th grade boy and one 8th grade boy. Some of you have been asking their sizes: their shoe sizes are 8 and 10. They prefer jogger pants and wear sizes L and XL, and they wear shirts sizes M and L. Officer Doss is in close contact with the family and we will support them with whatever they need through this, as well as helping other Watertown families. Amanda, Stacy, the ESL teachers, Clusters 4 and 5 and their specialist teachers will also keep a close eye on the boys!
In happier news, I will be supervising Heidi Baildon in her program for the Educator Leadership Institute through EDCO. So if you see Heidi engaging in administrative tasks, you'll know why!
Kudos to the Grade 6 ELA and Mathematics teachers! Grade 6 ELA has been working with TLA and Kellie to learn about and incorporate the Lucy Calkins Units of Study / Writer's Workshop in their curriculum this year. From what they report, it's going well! The Grade 6 Mathematics teachers are engaging in 4 coaching cycles with the MQI (Mathematics Quality of Instruction) Coaching Institute out of Harvard University. It can be difficult to try new approaches in our classrooms, and I am looking forward to hearing more about both of these programs!
Thank you also to everyone for another successful i-Ready diagnostic day! I have heard good reports about growth, and I am also looking forward to attending Collaborative Inquiry meetings to look closely at the data.
Have an excellent week!
Duties This Week:
AM: Cafeteria / PM Waverley and Bemis: A. Palermo
AM: Cafeteria / PM Bemis and Westminster: P. Martin
AM: Waverley Entrance / PM Waverley Driveway: C. Spicer
Bemis St. Crosswalk: A. Tammaro
The full Bus/Breakfast duty schedule can be found here:
Bus and Breakfast Duty Schedule
Lunch Duty this Week: None! Please keep asking around and let me know if you know anyone who might be interested! We need to fill 1-2 more spots.
**Upcoming Dates**
January 27 - Mentor/Mentee meeting
January 27 - Last day of Term 2 / Semester 1
January 28 - First day of Term 3 / Semester 2
January 31 - Grades and Effort Roll due
February 5 - Faculty meeting
February 5 - School Site Council meeting
February 6 - PDT meeting
February 7 - School Dance
February 10-14 - Spirit Week
February 12 - Department meetings
February 14 - Faculty/student basketball game
February 17 - February 21 - NO SCHOOL - February vacation
February 24 - Mentor/Mentee meeting
A reminder about Enrichment and Content Support classes for Term 3
Content Support- Students can be moved into Content Support at any point during the semester. Teachers are beginning to analyze i-Ready data in addition to other pieces of data to determine which students may benefit from CS. My hope is to be more consistent and have more specific entry and exit requirements as we begin the 2020-2021 school year - this is some of the work that the ILT and MTSS/RTI PLTs are doing.
Enrichment- There is a two week add/ drop period at the beginning of the second semester to add or drop Enrichment courses. The deadline for this would be Tuesday, February 11. If students express an interest in switching their enrichment course they should be directed to their guidance counselor for an add/drop form. It is the student's responsibility to obtain signatures from the teacher whose class he/she wishes to add as well as the class that he/she wishes to drop. Once this occurs the student will have his/her parent sign the form. Once the form is completed with all three signatures it should be returned to the guidance counselor for a schedule change in PowerSchool. Most enrichment sections should have a maximum of approximately 25 students with the exception of a couple of specific courses that only have a limited number of materials.
Thank you for your help with this process!
Evaluation updates
You can expect to see Jason, coordinators, and me making the rounds for observations over the next few weeks. All non-professional teachers will receive their formative evaluations by February 1st. Formative Evaluation meetings will be held during the period 2/1 through 2/15. The following is language taken directing from our evaluation timeline document.
The evaluator should complete mid-cycle:
February 1: Formative Assessment Reports for educators on one-year educator plans.
February 15: Formative Assessment Meetings if requested by either evaluator or educator.
If you have any questions, please see me or another administrator.
ILT Update - "Unpacking" Learning Targets and Learning Strolls Part 2
Please find an "Unpacking Cheat Sheet" HERE.
Additionally, the ILT will be doing part 2 of the Learning Strolls to see some of that "Unpacking". Please check in with one of the ILT members to discuss a good time for that to happen. You may want to have the same person as you had for term 1, or perhaps someone new. If you have any questions, please also see an ILT member. Thank you!
ILT members: Heidi, Eddie, Jason, Jim D., Meg G., Jim K., Kerri, Donna, Chris, Kellie, Karen S., Alison T.
Attendance Issues
Thank you!
Important ESL Information
Also, one new highlight is that we should have the PHLOTE (Primary Home Language Other Than English) category in Power School to say if the family requires interpretation. They have dedicated much time to marking this field. If you find that the families marked do NOT require interpretation please let Kate or me know. In the same vein, if they haven't marked someone as needing interpretation, please also let Kate or me know.
WPS Digital Learning/Library and Computer Science
Respecting one another's classes
Thank you!
No Backpacks to Period 7 please!
***They may also need a reminder by their lockers that they can't pack them up either. Taking the time to pack their bags will also make them late!***