Principal's Message September 25-29

Dear Peabody and Watkins community,

It was fantastic to have our schools full of families and students this week at Back to School Night! It is so easy for me to proud of the great schools and experiences we have to offer our students but it feels so great to hear from caregivers in the moment about how grateful they are for their child's experience at Peabody and Watkins.

If you missed our team, you can read the Back to School Night Presentation here.

Our teams and families are getting ready for Walk and Roll to School Day, Oct 4 at Lincoln Park. Join other schools communities and ours before 7:45 to walk and roll together to Peabody and Watkins. We'd love to have a huge team. Last year was a blast for our families that participated!

As far as what happens during school hours, our teams are doing a great job implementing our priorities from our Comprehensive School Plan.

At Peabody we are focusing on building routines, norms, and expectations in our classrooms through the use of "social stories." Teachers are co-creating these expectations with students and will soon publish a "story," including pictures of our students, that demonstrates how we line up, share crayons, and other routines and expectations.

At Watkins, we are focused on relationship-building structures, starting with morning meeting. Within those morning meetings all 20 homerooms are talking about how we give and show respect this month. In our 4th and 5th grade Panther PRIDE meetings this week (today was 2nd and 3rd grade but this is being written before then!) students shared the many ways how and many reasons why respect is important to them. We talked about a variety of topics the students brought up, including honoring differences in how we dress and our different skin colors.

Ask your child about these topics to learn even more!

Link to our cluster calendar!

Quick look ahead. Click above to see details:

DC law requires schools to conduct emergency drills throughout the school year. Every school in DCPS is required to complete two lockdown drills per year. To this end, next week we will conduct lockdown drills at each campus as follows:

• Wednesday, September 27 at Watkins
• Friday, September 29 at Peabody

A Lockdown Drill is used to secure our school building and campus during incidents that pose an immediate threat of violence in and around the school. During a lockdown, teachers and staff quickly clear hallways and lock or secure classroom doors. Additionally, no one is allowed to enter or exit the building. Parents and/or guardians will not be permitted to enter and should not come to the school during a lockdown.

We are sharing the information in advance so families will not be alarmed if they hear about the drill from their child during the day or when they come home from school. We encourage you to talk to your child about the exercise and reassure them that this is being done to help keep them safe and that they should not be scared or stressed about practicing these emergency procedures. The safety of our students is our priority, and drills like this one help our school community prepare in case of an emergency. Please call the school office at 202-698-3277 (Peabody) or 202-698-3355 (Watkins) with any questions.

Picture days will take place at each campus as indicated below. A flyer and more information regarding package options is typically sent 2-3 weeks prior to the scheduled date.

Peabody

• Individual Pictures- Nov. 16
• Make-Up Pictures- Jan. 10
• Class Pictures- March 27

Watkins

• Individual Pictures- Nov. 7
• Make-Up Pictures- Dec. 12
• Class Pictures- March 28

Back by popular demand, we are restarting the Watkins WatchDOGS (Dads [& Others] of Great Students) Volunteer program!!

What is WATCH D.O.G.S.?
WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads [& Others] Of Great Students) is a family and community engagement educational initiative.

What is the goal of a WATCH D.O.G.S. program?
To provide positive caregiver role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important.


Who are WatchDOGS and how does WATCH D.O.G.S. work?
WatchDOGS are fathers, mothers, grandparents, and uncles/aunts who volunteer for at least one day each year at an official WATCH D.O.G.S. school. WATCH D.O.G.S., a K-12 program, invites caregivers to volunteer at least one day at their child’s/student’s school for part or all of the day during the school year. Identification will be checked upon entrance.

Is this program only for Dads?

Absolutely not!! We welcome all caregivers to volunteer.

What do WatchDOGS do (while they are at school)?
During the day, WatchDOGS may read and work on flash cards with students, play at recess, eat lunch with students, patrol the school entrances and hallways, assist with traffic flow and any other assigned activities where they actively engage with not only their own students, but other students as well. Many school principals have reported that the mere presence of a WatchDOGS volunteer dramatically reduces reports of bullying. On the day of their participation, WatchDOGS participants are given a brief review of their involvement and they wear an official WATCH D.O.G.S. name tag identifying them as a WatchDOG.

What days can I volunteer and how do I sign up?

WatchDOGS participant days will be every Wednesday. Please sign up at least a week in advance so we can notify school administration and teachers of your visit using this link to the WatchDOGS sign-up list: https://signup.com/go/xxkWcuc

We want all students and families to have the best possible experience at our school. Part of that experience includes caregivers being able to have agency, information, and support to solve problems. The attachment below should help do just that. I will speak on this document and my approach to communication and problem solving at Back to School Night. For now, keep this doc close for when you have questions!

You can also find it here on our website.

Email lisa.brooks@k12.dc.gov for any questions about the garden clean up.

We want all students and families to have the best possible experience at our school. Part of that experience includes caregivers being able to have agency, information, and support to solve problems. The attachment below should help do just that. I will speak on this document and my approach to communication and problem solving at Back to School Night. For now, keep this doc close for when you have questions!

You can also find it here on our website.

All are welcome!

Math Team is back this year for students in all grades. We hope to include as many Watkins Mathematicians as possible, so ask that you indicate your interest and answer a few short questions to help with our planning.

Please reach out to Ms. Goedeke, janice.goedeke@k12.dc.gov if you have any questions.

Join us once a month, to celebrate our students commitment to Panther PRIDE - Perseverance, Integrity, Respect, and Dedication to Excellence. We sing, dance, and recognize our students in a grade-level community meeting once a month. New this year: students will lead much of the meetings!

Our second meetings of the year (we had one on the first week) start Wednesday, Sept 20 with 5th and 4th grade. Caregivers can access all the meetings using this link.

September 29

1st grade 9:15am

October 13

3rd grade 9:15am

2nd grade 10am

October 18

5th grade 10am

4th grade 9:15am

Click here to join the meeting - we will use the same link to access ALL of the grade level meetings.

Coach Drakeford has been doing a great job communicating sports updates via Class Dojo. If you are not connect there yet, please ask you child's teacher about it during Back to School Night.

We are excited to begin another year of student-athlete excellence, under the leadership of our Athletic Director, Ms. Drakeford.

Ms. Drakeford has been communicating directly with caregivers on Class Dojo. Make sure you are enrolled in your child's class to keep up with the latest.

Sports offered at Watkins 2023-2024:

Boys Cross Country (Fall)

Girls Cross Country (Fall)

Boys Basketball (Winter)

Girls Basketball (Winter)

Boys Track and Field (Spring)

Girls Track and Field (Spring)

Coed Soccer (Spring)

In order to tryout for any sports team you must submit forms using the link below. UHC/Physicals are only good for 1 year so please upload an updated form completed by your child doctor when submitting forms. Please complete the forms as soon as possible to ensure your child has a chance to showcase their athletic abilities for the sport they are interested in playing.

https://www.thedciaa.com/participation-forms

If you have additional questions regarding athletics, please contact Coach Drakeford via email at latavia.drakeford-allen@k12.dc.gov

Peabody and Watkins teachers have some big plans and big wishes for your kids and their classrooms this year. Please consider fulling some of those wishes from their wish lists.

Hello parents and guardians! We're back again for another year of FoodPrints at Peabody and Watkins Elementary and we are looking for parents to volunteer in our classroom and garden!

We'll have a maximum number of four (4) slots available for parent volunteers for each class. We'll be adding more dates in the coming weeks so be sure to check back frequently if you don't see your child's class as yet. Please reach out if you have any questions to ms. Natasha natasha@ffm.org at Watkins and Ms. Aubryn aubryn@ffm.org at Peabody.

The sign up genius also has the schedule for classes.

Thanks again for your support of FoodPrints!

Peabody caregiver sign up

Watkins caregiver sign up

Email addresses are often entered into our systems with mistakes. If someone you know (partner, friend, neighbor) isn't getting school communication please have them email their names, their child's name, email addresses and phone numbers and any other information to either PeabodyESEnroll@k12.dc.gov or WatkinsESEnroll@k12.dc.gov. Our team will correct the errors asap.

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.

Field Trips have resumed and we welcome parents to join as chaperones. Parents who would to volunteer/ chaperone on an ongoing basis, must complete the DCPS Clearance process beforehand. Upon receipt, clearance letters should be emailed to tanisha.montgomery@k12.dc.gov.

Exceptions

Exceptions may be granted to the DCPS Clearance process in the following situations:

1. 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.
2. 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