Winthrop Weekly

Dear Winthrop Families,

I hope this message finds you well! This week, there is so much to communicate, so I’ve divided the principal's column into four separate sections for your convenience. In these summaries, you’ll find information about our upcoming Veterans Drive of Honor, where students can honor the veterans in their families; updates on our Fall ACE programs; details about our recent practice drill to enhance our school safety; and important information regarding dyslexia letters and screening for our students. I encourage you to take a moment to read through each section to stay informed about what’s happening at Winthrop. Wishing you and your families a safe and festive Halloween filled with joy and laughter for those who celebrate!

Warmly,

Amy

The Big Apple Crunch - Thank you to Russell Orchards

Last Friday, we celebrated one of Winthrop's most cherished traditions: the annual Big Apple Crunch. When last year’s fifth-grade graduates were asked to share their favorite Winthrop memory, countless students chose this event, underscoring its unique place in our community.

When I first became principal at Winthrop and heard about the Big Apple Crunch, I had so many questions—Do we just bite into an apple? Should I read a story? Are there other activities involved? But time and again, I was told that the beauty of the tradition lies in its simplicity: the entire school gathers outside, we count down from ten, and everyone takes a big, joyful bite of a fresh apple at the same time.

This event is possible each year thanks to the generosity of the Russell family, owners of Russell Orchards, who donate farm-fresh apples to every student and staff member. This year’s variety, Macouns, were a huge hit! We were honored to have Miranda Russell, her daughter Cecilia, and their friend Owen join us to lead the countdown.

Today our school entered into a practice lockdown drill at approximately 1:35 p.m. As we have mentioned in previous communications with you, we continuously strive to ensure a safe environment in which all members of our community know how to respond in an emergency. The rehearsal today required all students and staff to practice a lockdown in their typical classroom spaces. Staff were instructed to lock the doors, turn off the lights, and pull down their shades. The Ipswich Police Department then evaluated our compliance with the procedure and made suggestions for maintaining or improving our emergency response protocol for future occasions. The purpose of the drill was to test our PA system both inside and outside the school and to evaluate how well we were able to move students into classroom spaces. We also checked whether the exterior doors were locked and secured properly. The practice drill was quick, lasting only a few minutes, and was completed by 1:45 p.m.

All students and staff did a remarkable job during the drill and there were no reports of any child showing distress. Regardless, we know that this type of drill may stimulate anxiety in young children and can be unsettling for parents. We would appreciate your support, through conversation, to provide reassurance to your child that this activity was performed in order to ensure that everyone would be safe; just as we do during a fire drill. Please consider mirroring the language used at school as found in each of the student safety presentations previously shared in the 9/25/24 Weekly Wednesday:

Grades K and 1 Student Emergency Presentation

Grades 2 and 3 Student Emergency Presentation

Grades 4 and 5 Student Emergency Presentation

Due to the young age of our students, we do not elaborate beyond that. Should your child press with further questions try to answer matter-of-factly and assure them they are safe. Here are some resources you may wish to review:

How to Talk to Kids About School Drills Without Scaring Them

Talking to Kids About Violence: Tips for Families and Educators

We believe that the best response in an emergency is a calm, prepared reaction. Preparation comes from a regular rehearsal of the required protocol. We appreciate your understanding of this important learning activity.

Please contact us with questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Amy B. Sullivan, Principal

Nicki Amisson, Assistant Principal

Joe Perna, School Resource Officer

Principal Assistant Principal School Resource Officer

Dyslexia and the New Massachusetts State Law/Mandate

Since last fall, we have been sharing with families about a new Massachusetts state law that focuses on dyslexia. Our Director of Teaching and Learning, Tracy Wagner, presented the new Dyslexia mandate at an Ipswich School Committee meeting in May. A copy of her presentation is linked below. During curriculum nights, we discussed the new law at our general information sessions. You may have also seen news reports. Or perhaps, this is the first you are hearing about it. Regardless, if you have been able to follow along, many families have inquired what does this all mean? What does it mean to our family? Our children? Our teaching and learning? Winthrop School?

The Massachusetts Dyslexia mandate has been put in place to better define what dyslexia means. In recent years, new brain research has helped us better understand how and when students learn how to read, which has demystified some old beliefs that a telltale sign of dyslexia was writing letters with reversals or that we could not identify a reading deficit until students were older, thus delaying intervention and support. We now understand dyslexia to mean difficulty with learning how to read- specifically due to the phonological component of language. Some signs of dyslexia could be poor spelling and decoding abilities, poor fluency and word recognition, and comprehension difficulties.

The new law requires school districts to screen all students at least two times per year to help better determine if a student may be at risk for dyslexia. In Ipswich, screening is not new. Annually, we screen students three times per year using DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). These are short (one-minute) fluency measures that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in kindergarten through eighth grade. Once we administer DIBELS students receive benchmark scores placing them in categories including Core+, Core, Strategic, or Intensive. These categories are only a snapshot of one moment in time and are based on 1-minute screenings. Screenings are not comprehensive, but rather a starting point for teachers to target student instruction.

The new law requires that schools send home screening results to all K-3 families. Although we want to be transparent, we also do not want to cause undue angst. Learning how to read is a very complex process. Student's reading abilities build every day throughout the elementary school years as they are exposed to explicit and systematic instruction, and student progress is very fluid.

The screening results enable us to take a closer look at students, while developing targeted interventions and monitoring individual progress. A student who may be at risk now, may very well be at the core by the end of the year. This is especially true at the Kindergarten level as students are only beginning their journey of learning how to read. It is not uncommon for a Kindergarten class to have the majority of students identified as at-risk at the beginning of the year, and then progress to being on grade level by the end of the year. At the Kindergarten level, the progress a student makes by mid-year and the end of the year is a much better predictor of a student's reading ability.

On Friday, we will be mailing home a letter to all Grade 1-3 families with a summary of your child's beginning-of-the-year screening results. Kindergarteners will be screened next month and letters for K students who display risk factors will be sent home in late November. Parent conferences will be held over the next several weeks and teachers can help you better understand what your child's reading progress has been since the beginning of the year by sharing a more robust look at many different measures of their progress. Please also reach out to Amy or Nicki with any additional questions or concerns.

As we approach Veterans Day, we are excited to announce a new way to honor our community’s veterans through our Veterans’ Drive of Honor. This year, we’re moving the display outdoors, creating a meaningful tribute along the connector. Students are invited to submit a tribute honoring a veteran in their family, with submission forms available digitally (below). Hard copies will be sent home in folders tomorrow. These tributes will be attached to yard signs, which will line both sides of the connector, accompanied by patriotic decorations. We look forward to your participation in this special project and encourage families to help us recognize the service of our veterans.

Our Fall ACE programs are now in full swing, if your child is participating in an ACE program, School Dismissal Manager must be updated for each day your child is attending as it is a change to their regular dismissal plan.

To make a change in School Dismissal Manager,

• Login to your parent account
• Choose the child's name that you would like to make an EXCEPTION for
• Choose the date your child is attending an ACE program
• Choose the specific ACE Progam your child is attending from the drop-down menu (i.e; Radical Riders, Game Club, Flag Rugby, etc)
• Click Update/Save
• Repeat this process for all the remaining ACE dates

It’s important to keep this updated WEEKLY and include all the dates of dismissal changes for the duration of the program to ensure smooth dismissals. Your attention to this detail helps us keep everyone safe and organized.

Thursday, October 31st: Grade 5 Workout, 8 AM

Thursday, October 31st: Early Release:PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50; Open Door Mobile Mart @ Dismissal

Monday, November 4th: Title I Parent Information Night, 6:00- 7:00 PM

Tuesday, November 5nd: School Picture Retake Day

Wednesday, November 6th: Pace Club, 3:00--4:00 PM

Thursday, November 7th: Grade 5 Workout, 8:00 AM

Thursday, November 7th: Early Release:PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50; Open Door Mobile Mart @ Dismissal

🚫 🏫 Monday, November 11th: No School, Veterans Day 🚫 🏫

Wednesday, November 13th: High Street Studios- Dance with Grade 1, FRIES-sponsored In-School Program

Wednesday, November 13th: FRIES Meeting, 6:30 PM @ Winthrop Cafeteria

Thursday, November 14th: Grade 5 Workout, 8:00 AM

Thursday, November 14th: Early Release:PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50; Open Door Mobile Mart @ Dismissal

Thursday, November 14th: Grade 5 SLC Meeting, 2:00-2:30 PM

Thursday, November 14th: No Place For Hate Meeting, 2:00-2:45 PM

Friday, November 15th: PACE Club, 3:00-4:00 PM

Wednesday, November 20th: No School for KINDERGARTEN ONLY, Parent Conferences 🚫 🏫

Wednesday, November 20th: High Street Studios- Dance with Grade 2, FRIES-sponsored In-School Program

Wednesday, November 20th: Pace Club, 3:00-4:00 PM

Thursday, November 21st: Grade 5 Workout, 8:00 AM

Thursday, November 21st: Early Release:PK @ 1:30, K-5 @ 1:50; Open Door Mobile Mart @ Dismissal

Tuesday, November 26th: Grade 4 Field Trip to Lowell Mills

Tuesday, November 26th: 1st Trimester Grades Close

Wednesday, November 27th: Half Day, Thanksgiving Break

🚫 🏫 Thursday, November 28th: No, School, Thanksgiving Holiday 🚫 🏫

🚫 🏫 Friday, November 29th: No School, Thanksgiving Break 🚫 🏫

If you’d like to get involved in our next event/fundraiser let us know by emailing winthropschoolfries@gmail.com
It’s a great way to meet fellow Winthrop parents and make new friends!

Harvest of the Month

Last Friday at lunch, students devoured cinnamon apple slices through our Harvest of the Month Program. It also happened to be Big Apple Crunch day! And wait, more apples... did you know that Winthrop and Doyon Schools have partnered with Russell Orchards to supply a bushel of apples to each school each week this fall? Thank you to the Food Services Director, cafeteria staff, Russells, and Green Team parent volunteers for making this magic happen! Our students are so fortunate to have access to these local (low food miles!) and delicious apples every day.

Email: winthrop@ipsk12.net
Website: https://www.ipsk12.net/Domain/185
Location: 65 Central Street, Ipswich, MA, USA
Phone: 9783562976