WMS Family Smore

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Looking to engage your child in conversation? Start here! This week, all students had the first of many once/week series of digital literacy lessons coming up the rest of the year. This week's prompt: "If you could tell teachers one thing that’s on your mind about using technology at school or home, what would it be?" with many intriguing student responses including “I think that sometimes it can be hard to stop scrolling. It’s almost like social media traps you.”- A WMS student. Check out the whole lesson here, and ask your child what they think!

Our 7th graders had a fun day bonding and learning at the STEM day/Red Sox game field trip! Check out some pictures of them below.

This will be my last smore before we move into April vacation, my next smores will be sent in about a week and a half, before we return to school on April 24.

Quick announcements:

• It's Spirit week next week! See the section below for more information.

• Students will be taking the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) on Monday during WIN. Please see the section below for more information, including on how to opt your child out.

• Students are taking the ELA MCAS on April 12-13. Please help your child get to school on time those days! See the section below for more tips and information.

• Please see the monthly update from Nurse Lisa

• This is a reminder that students are welcome to come to WMS starting at 7:45am through the Waverly main entrance. Due to increases in safety protocols, we are not able to open doors earlier than that moving forward. In addition, parents that are dropping students off in a car need to drop students off on the Bemis entrance from 8:15-8:30am, rather than the Waverly entrance. This helps keep traffic flowing smoothly for Watertown.

Here are some dates to be aware of this week:

• April 6-May 2: Watertown Public Schools Art Show
  

• April 10: Students to take the YRBS during WIN
• April 11 Art Show Reception at the Watertown Mall, featuring the WMS Jazz Band (6-8pm, Watertown Mall)
  

• April 11: SEPAC documentary viewing (6:30PM, Hosmer Learning Commons)

• April 12-13: ELA MCAS, special schedule

• April 12: PTO Meeting (7:00 PM virtual)

• April 17-21: April Vacation - no school

Respectfully yours,

Ms. Jennifer Chen Fein, Principal

Ms. Susan Carle, Assistant Principal (Clusters 1, 3, 5)

Ms. Jennifer Sarmiento, Assistant Principal (Clusters 2, 4, 6)

Starting on April 12, WMS will begin the MCAS testing period for ELA (6-8), Math (6-8), and Science (8th grade only).

Statewide testing through MCAS is just one snapshot of a child's academic achievement and growth. This helps schools, teachers, and caregivers know how their children are progressing, and what areas need more support.

These assessments are intended to take between 1-2.5 hours, though students are given the entire school day to complete the assessment if needed. We will have an abbreviated schedule of classes after testing on MCAS days.

Here are ways you can help your child do their best:

• Please make sure your child arrives at school on time on testing days. Students who arrive late may not be able to participate in the test session with their class. They will take that test session on a make-up test day.

• Remind your child to pack their laptop charger for school, as we will use the laptop more than in a typical day on MCAS days.

• Ensure a good night's rest (8-10 hours of sleep) the night before each test.

• Make sure students eat a healthy breakfast that morning. Free breakfast is available every day in the WMS Cafeteria from 7:45-8:30am.

• Encourage your child to take their time and do their best.

Here are the dates of our assessments this year:

• MCAS ELA: Wednesday, April 12 and Thursday, April 13

• MCAS MATH: Monday, May 15 and Tuesday, May 16

• MCAS SCIENCE (Gr 8 only): Tuesday, May 23 and Wednesday, May 24, 2022

In order to better understand and address the health-related challenges affecting children and youth, Watertown Public School District is working with a coalition of cities and towns in Middlesex County to administer the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Specifically, the survey asks questions about student characteristics; violence-related experiences and bullying; mental health; substance use; sexual behaviors that could lead to sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy; and connections to peers, adults, and the community. The survey data is used to monitor the prevalence of risky health behaviors, assess general trends in health behaviors over time, examine the co-occurrence of health behaviors, and provide comparison data for geographies and subpopulations.

Students will be asked to complete the 2023 YRBS during WIN on Monday, April 10.

We would like all students to take part in the survey, but participating in the survey is voluntary. No action will be taken against the school, you, or your student if they decide to opt out of taking the survey. However, the more students who take the survey, the more useful the data will be to the district. If a student chooses to participate, they can skip any questions they do not wish to answer and can stop taking the survey at any point without penalty.

The survey is anonymous and students are asked to not put their names on the survey.

A copy of the survey will be available from March 28th until April 7th for parents who wish to preview the survey. If you have additional questions about the survey, please contact Frank Cacia at 617-926-7760 x36421 or by email at frank.cacia@watertown.k12.ma.us.

If you do not want your child to take part in this survey, please make a copy of this form and complete it no later than 12:00pm on April 10th, 2023 to return to Mr. Cacia.

You are invited to the 2023 Visual Art Show at the Watertown Mall. Selected student work will be displayed in the mall from April 6th until May 2nd.

An opening reception with student performances is planned for Tuesday April 11th from 6pm until 8pm.

Here is a list of all WMS students with artwork displayed, thank you WMS art teacher Karen Stern!

The Clough Memorial Committee has been working collaboratively to identify the best road forward for making revisions to the mobile that has hung in the middle school for a number of years. With feedback from students and staff in hand, we have agreed that the continents in the center of the original structure will remain removed completely and imagery changes will be made to the outer rings, respectively. The next phase of our collaboration will be working with the original artist to identify the next artistic steps, so that we can create a thoughtful and thorough plan to gather student feedback for the creation of the new components. Please stay tuned for what's to come. Reach out to Dr. Henry at kimberlee.henry@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions regarding the Clough Memorial.

Click on the links below to find updates from your child's teachers. These cluster/class smores are a helpful tool to know what your child is learning. These s'mores will be updated monthly in the WMS Family Smore.

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Cluster 3

Cluster 4

Cluster 5

Cluster 6

The Specialists

Reading

Connections

LB Math

ELD/Phonics

Wilson Reading

School Nurse

It's that time of year where you get to order a yearbook! This is an opportunity open to ALL grades. The deadline to purchase your yearbook is MAY 12TH. Students who would like a yearbook must order one online by that deadline; we can not order additional yearbooks after. Yearbooks cost $23, and can be purchased here: YEARBOOK ORDER ONLINE

Watertown SEPAC with special guest, Deb Opar (WPS K-7 Literacy and Social Studies Coordinator), invites all to attend our upcoming meeting (Training: Dyslexia & Screenings) being held on Tuesday, April 11 at 6:30 in the Hosmer Learning Commons. Please see the event newsletter for more information: https://www.smore.com/z9d8r

The PTO meets virtually on the second Wednesday of each month, and the next meeting is on Wednesday April 12 at 7pm. Reach out to the PTO President Erin Macomber at erin_macomber@neds.org with any questions or to express interest.

The WMS Diversity Council meets once a month. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, April 27 virtually, at 7:30pm. We will be focusing on planning and hosting an in-person event that celebrates the diversity of our school, as well as actionable steps outlined in the district equity audit taken last school year. Any and all are welcome to join. Reach out to Sarah Seldomridge at sarah.seldomridge@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions or to express interest.

The WMS SSC meets once a month on the first Tuesdays at 7:00pm, virtually. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023, with our K-7 and 8-12 Social Studies Coordinators coming as special guests. We will also be reviewing the WMS Master Schedule 2023-2024 prototypes and process so far. Please join us if you are interested in learning more about any of those topics. Here is our full agenda for this week: WMS School Site Council Agenda April 4

In March 2020, the federal government declared a public health emergency (PHE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the PHE and consistent with federal requirements, MassHealth put protections in place that prevented members’ MassHealth coverage ending during the COVID-19 emergency.

The federal government will end continuous coverage requirements on April 1, 2023, when MassHealth will return to our regular renewal processes​. At this time, MassHealth will need to renew all members’ health coverage to ensure they still qualify for their current benefit. These renewals will take place over 12 months, from April 2023 to April 2024. This means that members could get their renewal forms in the mail at any time during this one-year period​.

In order to reduce the number of qualified members that lose their coverage, MassHealth is working with the Massachusetts Health Connector, Health Care For All, and other partners to make sure members know how to renew their coverage and know of other affordable health coverage options if needed.

MassHealth Redeterminations Brochure (English)

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Is your child looking for ways to get extra help with school? The Learning Lab is available in the WMS library M-F from 7:45-8:15am and M-Th from 3:00-4:15pm. Late buses run M-Th.

In the event that a student is absent, a parent or caregiver must call the absence hotline at 617-926-7783 before 8:30 a.m. Please state the name, grade, homeroom of the student and the reason for their absence. In the event that the absence is not reported, a Robocall will automatically go out to the student’s home or the place of employment of the parent or caregiver to inform them that the student is absent. Students are responsible for working with their teachers to make up work they missed while absent.

Check out page 26 of the WMS Family Handbook to see all of our attendance procedures in more detail.

• April 1-31: Third Annual YardArt Watertown

• April 10: Art Show with Jazz Band Performance
  

• April 11: SEPAC documentary viewing (6:30pm, Hosmer Learning Commons)

• April 12-13: ELA MCAS, special schedule

• April 12: PTO Meeting (7:00 PM virtual)

• April 17-21: April Recess- No School

• April 27: Diversity Council Meeting (7:30pm zoom meeting)

• April 28: Music Fest (5:30-9:00 PM, WMS)
• May 2: School Site Council Meeting (7:00pm, virtual)
• May 4: Coffee with the Principal - School Safety Q&A (8:35-9:25am, WMS Cafeteria)
• May 12: Deadline to order a yearbook
• May 15-16: Math MCAS, special schedule
• May 23-24: STE MCAS (8th grade only), special schedule

• Watertown Public Schools Calendar 2022-2023
  

Let us know how we are doing with our communication from WMS here.

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Website: https://wms.watertown.k12.ma.us/
Location: 68 Waverley Avenue, Watertown, MA, USA
Phone: 617-926-7783