McGovern News!

We just finished our first full week at McGovern. Our students, faculty, and staff are settling into the new school year. As a school, we have worked this year to provide explicit teaching of expectations and routines across settings. Our students have done such a nice job in generalizing these skills! We know the beginning of the year also brings new routines for families.
As we move into the year, students will be taking home books and reading at home. At this age, it can be difficult for students to read without a chair and surface. Below are some pointers for families to consider when setting up their reading routines:

• Find an area with good lighting
• Select a desk, table, or other sturdy objects to serve as your workspace
  
• Make sure the workspace is free of noise and distractions
  
• If possible help your child make the workspace their own based don't their interests
• Have items they will need available in their space
• Ensure that there's room for two so that someone can sit with them.

These are suggestions and some of these may not work for your family. A reading or workspace needs to work for your individual family and student, and should not take over your home! The benefits of establishing a space at home to engage in academics help students develop academic and executive functioning habits and may even engage some of our more reluctant readers by having their own special space.

Best,

Amy McDonald, Principal

*Medway Youth Baseball is proud to build on the success of the spring Challenger Division season by continuing Challenger Fall Ball in 2022! Any individual with a physical or intellectual disability may participate. If an individual can participate in the traditional youth baseball or softball program with reasonable accommodations, they should do so. The Challenger Division typically accommodates boys and girls ages 4-18, or up to age 22 if still enrolled in school.

For more information, please click here.

Did you know there are several ways to follow us on social media? Please see below for our links. Please also note that we will not be interacting with our Facebook page, as it is a place for us to post information. As always, if you have any questions regarding your child and/or the school, please reach out to your child's teacher, the front office, or administration.

McGovern Elementary School: Twitter: @McGovernElem

Facebook: @mcgovernelem

Instagram: @mcgovernelem

Back to School Night is an opportunity for families and caregivers to come to school and hear from their child's teacher(s). Educators will share classroom expectations, curriculum overview, a day in the life of your child, and answer any general questions you may have.

While this is not the time for you to ask specific questions about your child, you can always set up a time to check in with the teacher. So that you can fully participate, we ask that children do not attend the event.

Preschool and Kindergarten sessions begin at 5:30 pm and first grade begins at 6:45 pm. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher.

The Panorama survey is a comprehensive tool that helps us plan for and support our students and school. At McGovern, no student takes the survey. Instead, the classroom teachers provide ratings for each student on the following social-emotional competencies: Emotional Regulation, Social Awareness, Self-Efficacy, and Self Management. Teachers complete these surveys three times a year. This data has been very helpful in targeting support for students, classrooms, and our school overall

As in years past, MEPTO is organizing the T-shirt orders. If you are interested in ordering a shirt for your child, please use the links below (school specific).

McGovern:

https://trivalley.tuosystems.com/stores/mepto---mcgovern-school

Memorial:

https://trivalley.tuosystems.com/stores/mepto-memorial

We would highly recommend that students get a t-shirt. Not only are they worn for field trips and field days, but often teachers set up a class t-shirt day. This builds great community for students.

We would never want anyone to not have a t-shirt, so if you are in financial need of a t-shirt please reach out directly to Amy McDonald, Principal of McGovern (amcdonald@medwayschools.org) or John Kelley, Principal of Memorial (jkelley@medwayschools,org).

We are excited to welcome volunteers back to the McGovern School! Due to COVID-19 safety guidelines, it has been a while since we have had regular volunteers in our building. If you would like to volunteer on a more regular basis, it is required that you complete a training, complete a CORI form (yearly), bring your license to school, and complete a volunteer form. A link to the training and all related documents can be found here.

If you are interested in coming to school as a Mystery Reader or only for one event, you do not need to complete the training. The training is intended for regular volunteers in the school setting. If you are interested in being a more regular volunteer, please complete the training and then we will reach back with volunteer opportunities.

Medway Schools and Public Health Department have partnered to offer a COVID-19 and influenza vaccine clinic. The COVID-19 vaccine will be offered to children ages 6 months to 11 years old, and the flu vaccine will be offered to anyone over 3 years old. The vaccine clinic will be held at the Burke-Memorial Cafeteria on October 6 and November 3, from 3:30-6:00 PM. For more details and to register, please click here.

This school year, Medway T.H.R.I.V.E. is offering opportunities for parents/guardians to learn how they can promote student self-efficacy and sleep. Joanie Geltman, MSW, will share best practices for growing children’s self-efficacy, and Judith Owens, MD, will help parents and guardians understand the impact of sleep on academic and athletic achievement. Full event details can be found here.

A high percentage of Medway youth are learning to manage their mental health concerns, and most are supported by a parent or caregiver. Those caring for children with mental health concerns often feel overwhelmed with figuring out how to best support their loved ones while finding time for self-care. Paula LeBlanc, Famly Partner at You Inc., will facilitate a monthly group to support caregivers of children with mental health concerns and create peer connections. The first meeting will occur at the Medway Public Library on September 28 at 6:30 PM. For a complete meeting schedule, topic descriptions, and to register, please click here.

Please read the 2022-2023 Elementary School Handbook as it has important information for both McGovern and Memorial Schools. Please complete this sign off form by September 20, 2022 indicating you have read and understand the handbook.

In the coming weeks, we will begin our diagnostic assessments for students. Below is a description of the assessments that our students participate in. Please note that these assessments are used to help teachers identify students' strengths and areas of opportunity and they use the data to plan small and whole group instruction.

iReady Reading and Math Diagnostic Assessments:

The information about your K and 1st grade child’s current level of performance, both their strengths and opportunities for growth, are immediately available to their teachers from the iReady Reading and Math diagnostic assessment. Teachers will use this data to inform their daily instruction and a "path" in math is created for each student at their level that teachers use during math instruction and/or their intervention block.

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills):

Students in K and 1 will also participate in DIBELS. DIBELS is a set of quick probes to assess students acquisition of foundational literacy skills. Teachers will use this information to plan literacy instruction.

Children need healthy meals to learn. Medway Public Schools offers healthy meals every school day. During the 2022-2023 school year, all students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has provided money to do this for one year through the State budget. We need your help to ensure our district receives all the financial resources for which it qualifies. Please fill out and submit the application for free and reduced price school meals. If many families fill out and return this form, we will get more money from the federal government for free school meals now and in the future. We will also get more money for other school programs. Filling out this form also helps our community provide free summer meals to all kids, and free meals to kids in childcare. The information you provide is confidential. We follow strict federal rules to keep your information private.

MPS requests that all guardians complete the Online Registration process, better known as the “beginning of year packet”, within the Parent Portal. Please complete the application by September 30, 2022. Completing the online registration ensures we have the most accurate and up to date information for your child(ren) and helps us stay in touch with families. To access the Online Registration Process, please login to the Parent Portal via a computer. This is the URL address https://medwayma.infinitecampus.org/campus/portal/medway.jsp then choose MORE > Online Registration from the left menu. Follow the prompts to review and confirm the information we have on file. Please note that it may be difficult to complete the forms via a smartphone. Guardians without a portal account can email parent@medwayschools.org for an activation code.

September 22: Preschool Curriculum Night for Parents/Guardians 5:30 PM

September 22: Kindergarten Curriculum Night for Parents/Guardians 5:30 PM

September 22:1st Grade Curriculum Night for Parents/Guardians 6:45 PM
September 26: No School, Rosh Hashanah
October 5: No School, Yom Kippur

October 7: No Preschool Classes

Please click the following links for directions on how to translate the newsletter.

Here is the link for the master directions in English.

Here is the link for Spanish.

Here is the link for French.

Here is the link for Russian.

Here is the link for Arabic

Haga clic en los siguientes enlaces para obtener instrucciones sobre cómo traducir el boletín.

Aquí está el enlace para español.

Here is the link for Spanish.

Veuillez cliquer sur les liens suivants pour savoir comment traduire le bulletin d'information.

Voici le lien pour le français.

Here is the link for French.

Пожалуйста, нажмите следующие ссылки для получения инструкций о том, как перевести информационный бюллетень.

Вот ссылка на русский.

Here is the link for Russian.