WMS Weekly Newsletter

Dear Wayland Middle School Caregivers,

新年好 Happy New Year! The Lunar New Year will be celebrated with a day off this Wednesday.

The end of this past school week was blessed by the Lunar New Year Celebrations at each lunch and throughout the building. The Mandarin classes put on a spectacular performance, taught students new phrases in Mandarin and gave us a beautiful year of the snake creations that are now hanging throughout the building.

Thank you to our Mandarin students and most especially Dr. Chang for her work to organize these wonderful celebrations for our school community!

With Care,

WMS Faculty and Staff

• Wednesday, January 29: Lunar New Year - NO SCHOOL

• Wednesday, February 5: 6th Grade Ski Trip - Henry Cluster

• Thursday, February 6: 6th Grade Ski Trip - Thoreau Cluster

• Thursday, February 6: WMS Winter Musical at 7:00 PM (see below)

• Friday, February 7: WMS Winter Musical at 7:00 PM (see below)

• Monday, February 17: President's Day - NO SCHOOL

• Tuesday, February 18 - Friday, February 21: February Break - NO SCHOOL

• Thursday, February 27: WMS Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Please be sure that your HAC account is working properly. If you need assistance, please contact our main office at 508-358-3801. Grades will close on Friday, January 24. Caregivers will be able to view grades in HAC on Monday, February 3 after 12:00 PM.

While you are checking your HAC account, it is also a great opportunity to be sure that your contact information, especially email, is correct in Eschool. Correct information in Eschool is particularly important for caregivers of 8th grade students as you will receive information directly from the high school using the contact information.

As safety is a top priority at the middle school, may we remind everyone of the dismissal procedure found in the student handbook.

"Riding the bus is considered to be part of the school day. School rules apply to student conduct on buses...

Your caregiver may drop you off before school and/or pick you up after school.... we have two requirements:

1) caregiver must use the drop-off/pick-up loop on the west side of the building. Near the mural.

2) Students may only get in and out of a car from the sidewalk that runs next to the west side of the building. Walkers and bikes may only walk across the drop-off/pick-up loop drive at the crosswalk just before the school’s main drive."

As the procedure states, for safety purposes, please do not allow you student(s) to walk down into the overflow lot to be picked-up. Thank you for your understanding on this important safety measure.

Additionally, please remember school has officially started at 8:40 AM. If your student(s) arrive after 8:40 AM they will need to check in at the office, before heading to class. Please reference the student handbook for additional information.

The School Committee has requested that we as a district examine our current policies/practices related to cell phones (and other student devices) and make recommendations that will support both the academic and emotional lives of our students.

As such, the district has created a district Cell Phone Working Group. This group includes School Committee members, School Council members at both the middle and high schools, representatives from our elementary school community, and district leaders.

The Cell Phone Working Group met for the first time on Monday, January 6th. The first task of the group is to assess how current practices are working this year. Please complete the linked survey by Thursday, January 30th.

Wayland Middle School Parent/Caregiver Cell Phone Survey - 2025

With Cold and Flu season in full swing and the temperatures plummeting, we understand that many students may be absent due to illness. If your child is diagnosed with any illness, please call the school or the nurse line 508-358-3809 for notification and tracking purposes.

Additionally, as a gentle reminder, any student who is not feeling well or is hurt is expected to go to the nurse for evaluation and dismissal. Calling or texting a parent to be picked up is against school cell-phone policy. Please reference the Student Handbook for more information.

Thank you for your understanding, attention and cooperation with this matter.

Artists: Olga Tveretinova

Grade: 7

Medium: Mixed Media

Our SOUPER middle school teachers and staff event was a Super event! The teachers and staff were very happy and truly appreciative of the warm and comforting lunch prepared and served with love and care.

A warm thank you to all the amazing parent volunteers who contributed delicious soups, breads and other food/materials to help with WMS staff soup and salad lunch! We were so happy to treat the WMS staff to a warm lunch during this very cold week.

Special thanks to Shirra Baston, Jen Lux, Heather Grimmett, Larina Mehta, Andrea Winkler, Krupali Shah and Tonya Cunningham for helping with set-up and clean-up.

Thank you to our WMS community for helping us reach our fundraising goal! The PTO is now able to fund more great programs, enrichment activities and unique classroom materials for our students.

Grant requests

The PTO has reviewed and approved all of the grant requests from staff. Here are just a few things your students will see and use that were paid for by the PTO with your donation money.

Extra large laminated world map will now hang in the library.

Four New Keyboards have just been added to the music room.

Flexible floor chairs are on their way to a sixth grade Social Studies classroom this week.

New learning materials and games are being added to the Language Based Learning Program.

Large magnetic grids are being used on the whiteboards in 8th grade math classrooms to encourage student collaboration.

New books have been added to all English classrooms as part of the annual refresh of books sponsored by the PTO.

New diversity, inclusion and belonging books are being purchased and will be used as a learning tool for students.

It's not to late to donate.... (See link below)

Please see more examples of what we can support with your help.

The WMS PTO adds weekly updates in the Monday newsletter, but additional reminders, school news and photos are shared on Facebook.

We have many ways to get involved! Please fill out our survey below or send an email to Waylandmiddleschoolpto@gmail.com

Other opportunities to volunteer

To see some of the descriptions, please see here.