Dear Winthrop Families,
It was wonderful to celebrate the solar eclipse with so many of you Tuesday afternoon! I hope to see a big turnout tonight for the 44th annual Elsie Piddock Jump Roping Contest for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. The festivities begin at 5:30 PM at Winthrop School- please see the schedule and more details below. A special thank you to our extraordinary elementary physical education teachers- Anthony Falcoinieri, Mark Southam, and Whitney Cardew for organizing and hosting this annual tradition.
Speaking of our PE team, I am sharing some information about our new Heart Rate monitors that we recently introduced to students.
Heart Rate Monitors
The elementary PE team consisting of Mr. Falconieri, Mr. Southam, and Mrs. Cardew has been extremely fortunate to take advantage of both the William Paine Enhancement Grant and the Edmund Traverso-Robert Weatherall Innovation Grant.
The William Paine Enhancement grant has allowed the PE team to purchase three sets of Heart Rate Monitors that will allow all students in grades four and five to track their heart rates and their steps during a PE class. Currently, Mr. Falconieri's fifth-grade class and his Thursday morning workout groups have been exploring and experimenting with how they work and how best to use them as a fun and engaging tool in the PE setting. The students have currently been using any monitor they choose. After April vacation the goal will be to link each monitor to a class and assign a number to that class. This will allow us to create reports and see how their heart rates are affected by different types of activities and different styles of fitness. By the end of the year, the PE team is hoping to be able to share reports that will be linked to their parent and guardians' email addresses which we hope will help adults start discussions about fitness, physical activity, and how they are enjoying being physically active in PE.
The PE team was also fortunate to take advantage of the Edmund Traverso-Robert Weatherall Innovation Grant and was able to put a clear touch smartboard in both the gymnasiums of both elementary schools. These touchscreen smart boards are designed to withstand objects bouncing off of them and so far have held up perfectly in the gym. Having the smart boards has allowed the teachers to bring in more visuals to their learning and has allowed the heart zone monitors to be displayed on the board as the class is being taught, which allows the students to see their heart rates in real time during every minute of the 45-minute class that they receive twice a week.
Check out a sample Grade 5 student's heart zone report!
School Council Survey
Thank you to everyone who has responded to our school council survey about Communication, Belonging, and Academics. If you have not already, kindly take a couple of minutes to provide your input as we work to develop new school improvement goals. Thank you!
Bus 3 Late Pick up on Friday 4/12
An important message for Bus 3 families. This Friday, Bus 3 will be picked up LATE from Withropu School due to a bus driver shortage. Bus 3 will not leave Winthrop until 3:30 PM on Friday. If you would like to change your child's dismissal plan for Friday afternoon please call the office or update School Dismissal Manager. We will also send out a separate communication to all Bus 3 families as a reminder.
Have a great week and a wonderful April vacation!
Amy
- Wednesday, April 10th: Elsie Piddock Day ~ Jump Roping Contest, beginning at 5:30 PM @ Winthrop - please see schedule below
- Wednesday, April 10th: FRIES meeting, 6:30 PM @ Winthrop Cafeteria
- Thursday, April 11th: Grade 5 Workout, 8:00 AM @ Winthrop Gymnasium
- Thursday, April 11th: Early Release PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50
- Thursday, April 11th: Free Open Door Mobile Mart @ Dismissal
- Thursday, April 11th: Grade 4 SLC Meeting, 2:00-2:30 PM
- Thursday, April 11th: Grade 5 SLC Newspaper Meeting, 2:00-3:00 PM, Rm 17
- Monday, April 15th- Friday, April 19th: Spring Break, No School
- Monday, April 22nd: Classes Resume
- Tuesday, April 23rd: Early Act, 8 AM in the library
- Tuesday, April 23rd: Mrs. Zybert's 2nd Grade Class Walking Field Trip to the Ipswich Public Library
- Wednesday, April 24th: Girls Inc, 3:00 PM
- Thursday, April 25th: Grade 5 Workout 8 AM @ Winthrop Gymnasium
- Thursday, April 25th: Grade 4 Field Trip to Joppa Flats
- Thursday, April 25th: Early Release PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50
- Thursday, April 25th: Free Open Door Mobile Mart at Dismissal
- Thursday, April 25th: No Place For Hate Meeting, 2:00-2:45 PM, Room 25
- Thursday, April 25th: Preschool Information Night, 6:00 PM @ Ipswich Town Hall
- Thursday, April 25th: Kindergarten Information NIght, 7:00 PM @ Ipswich Town Hall
- Friday, April 26th: Arbor Day
- Friday, April 26th: Green Team Harvest of the Month @ Lunches
For a complete list of school events, please see the Winthrop School Calendar
Please make every effort for students to be present during their grade level's test administration dates. Scheduling make-up sessions due to absences is impactful on the school schedule and instruction.
Grade 4 ELA - April 11th
Grade 5 ELA - April 8th and 10th
Grade 3 Math - April 30th and May 2nd
Grade 4 Math - May 10th and14th
Grade 5 Math - May 1st and 3rd
Grade 5 STE - May 15 and 17th
April FRIES Meeting: This month's FRIES Meeting will be moving to 7pm to accommodate the Elsie Piddock Jump Rope Contest! Join us tonight in the Winthrop Cafeteria to chat about plans for upcoming events, the latest news on Green Team and more.
Spring Raffle: Thank you to all those who purchased raffle tickets to support FRIES! We're announcing the winners every day on the Winthrop FRIES Facebook page, and notifying winners directly via email. Congratulations to our first three winners:
- The Woodward/LaGuarda family, who won a ride to school on the fire truck!
- The Roddy family, who won a ride to school in a police car!
- The Recinos family, who won Principal for the Day!
Upcycle Solar Eclipse Glasses - You can turn in your used eclipse glasses at the Ipswich Public Library or Zumi's and they will be donated to an organization that will distribute the glasses to children in South America so they can safely view the October eclipse!
Seedling update - Despite last week's Nor'easter, bee balm, kale, sunflowers, collard, dill, and black-eyed susans are all spouting in the milk jugs on the backside of Winthrop School! Thanks GT students for planting these seeds in January!
April Harvest of the Month - Students will enjoy honey-whipped goat cheese from a local farm in Topsfield! Let us know if you can help prep or serve this special treat during lunch on Friday, April 26. Anytime you can volunteer in the 10 am - 2 pm range would be helpful!
Earth Day Community Clean-up - Save the date for Sunday, April 28th, 3:00-4:30 pm at Bialek Park. We'll be teaming up with the Doyon Green Team to pick-up trash at one of our favorite community playgrounds. Join us if you can!
Get involved - If you'd like to learn more about ways to get involved with the Green Team initiatives at the school or district level, email Molly Dugdale mduffy345@gmail.com - all are welcome, and we love new ideas.
Winthrop School
Email: winthrop@ipsk12.net
Website: https://www.ipsk12.net/Domain/185
Location: 65 Central Street, Ipswich, MA, USA
Phone: 9783562976