We had another fantastic week many students completed their iReady assessments for math and reading! We are very please with the overall results. On Friday we held kindergarten screening and met many new incoming k students and their families. The student DIB met on Friday afternoon to create posters for Saturday's Watertown Pride Parade. I'm including pictures below. It was a lot of fun. We also sang songs and celebrated what it means to be "You." Parents for our Parent DIB were on hand for support.

We are happy to announce, that all school supplies will be provided by the school department for no cost to families. During the pandemic, the District provided materials for students and we have made the decision (across the three elementary schools) to continue with this practice. We hope that this makes things easier for all of our families and students!

Saturday, June 4th Lowell's Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Council will be marching in the Watertown Pride Parade. All are welcome to join us. We'll plan on meeting at the library just before 11 am. Everyone should come wearing their most colorful outfits and sparkles are always welcome!

Field Day is back this year! All Phillips and Lowell West students will be participating in Field Day at Victory Field on Thursday, June 9, with a rain date scheduled for Friday, June 10. The students will participate in different relay races and events. Please make sure your student has dressed appropriately for outdoor activities, has a bottle of water that can be refilled, a bagged lunch, dry clothes, and sunscreen!

Summer Offerings

Here is the Prek-12 compilation of the WPS Summer Academic & Enrichment Offerings - 2022 for your planning purposes. In addition, this is a truncated 'Cheat Sheet' - Summer Programs, 2022, streamlining dates and times. Please refer to the full WPS Summer Academic & Enrichment Offerings - 2022 for a more detailed view.

With Gratitude,

Stacy

Monthly Diversity & Belonging Council meetings

The monthly meetings serve as a space for any Lowell caregivers who are in support of our mission to ensure we have a welcoming and inclusive school community. Meetings can range in their focus from updates of upcoming events or resources to discussion and processing of local or national events. Next year, meetings are generally scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of each month (other than December and June) from 7-8pm. Please save the following dates on your calendars!

9/27, 10/25, 11/22, 12/20, 1/24, 2/28, 3/28, 4/25, 5/23, 6/13

Collaborations

· Partnered with the Lowell FTO to host a Popsicle Playdate before the first day of school for new and returning families to learn about both organizations and how they can get involved.

· Attended meetings of other parent groups including the English Language Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) and Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) to build our connections and collaborate in our shared goals.

· In February, we provided Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for teachers and staff to express appreciation for supporting our students through the transition of moving into new buildings.

Programming

· Lowell students created artwork and portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day that were featured in Watertown’s annual Unity Breakfast that takes place every January.

· The Lowell D&B Council, in collaboration with the Cunniff and Hosmer D&B Councils, were awarded a grant through the Watertown Community Foundation to bring Listen to Sipu, a play on Watertown’s indigenous history to all elementary schools.

· Invited WFPL librarians to join the Student Diversity Council to read a story about Pride, discuss the history of Pride, and share about Watertown’s first PRIDE Extravaganza on Saturday, June 4.

· Organized a Student Diversity Council Pride sign making event for the mini parade that kicked off the PRIDE Extravaganza.

Advocacy

· Advised on book selections for a Juneteenth whole school read.

· Advised on ways to celebrate various heritage and awareness months.

· The elementary Diversity and Belonging Councils were pleased to collaborate on writing a letter of support for the Watertown Free Public Library’s first ever Pride Extravaganza to the Watertown Community Foundation Letter.

· Students wrote letters of advocacy and sent them to Watertown DPW to advocate for lighting up the trees in Watertown Square in rainbow colors in honor of Pride Month

2022-2023 School Year

If you would like to be a Parent Rep for the Lowell Diversity and Belonging Council, we invite you to contact us! Serving as a rep can include anything from helping to plan monthly meetings to sharing ideas for programming or events. Please contact lowelldbc@gmail.com

Parents of students in grades Kindergarten - 4th grade,

If you are planning to move out of Watertown or the Lowell School District, please let us know, please email Ms. Jacovides at Melina.jacovides@watertown.k12.ma.us. This information helps us to accurately plan for the fall.

Once we receive the information, we will email you the WPS Release Form for you to fill out and return to the school secretary via email. We will use this information to send your child(ren)s records to the receiving school when staff return to school.

Please submit this information as soon as possible as record transfers require time to process.

Thank you. You will be missed!

Watertown High School Graduation

June 3, 2022

6:00 pm

Pride Parade

Student and Parent Diversity Council

Saturday, June 4, 2022

11:00 am

WFPL

Band Concert Save the Date

June 7

Lowell West

Field Day Save the Date- Victory Field

Thursday, June 9

Friday, June 10 (Rain Date)

Anti-Bias Coalition Meeting

Monday, June 13⋅5:30 – 7:00 pm

The physical location will be on the 3rd floor of the Phillips Building in room 301.

The recurring zoom link is listed below.

Join Zoom Meeting https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/82142739210?pwd=MjZZL3JURU5RdUtYc3ZNVHlockVCQT09

Parent DIB Council

Thursday, June 16th, 7:00 – 8:00 pm

Location:

https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/86417412092

Fifth Grade Field Trip- Duck Tours

Thursday, June 16th

9:00 am

Third Grade Field Trip- Boston Tea Party

Thursday, June 16th

Kindergarten Picnic- Phillips Campus

Thursday, June 16

Friday, June 17 (Raindate)

Juneteenth is Observed

Monday, June 20th

No School

Moving On Ceremony

Thursday, June 23rd

Gore Place

Extravaganza details are firmed up and I wanted to share promo information for you to reference and hopefully spread to your other social networks.

Visit the Watertown Pride webpage: watertownlib.org/pride

Share the Facebook Event

Share the Instagram Post

Share the Tweet

I wanted to highlight some of the activities that may interest your kids. In addition to the mini-parade that kicks off the Extravaganza, we have arranged to have lawn games and an obstacle course that will be run by Boys and Girls Club staff. Art projects will include rainbow wand making, making your own pronoun pin, and tie-dying.

Parade participants (all are welcome to join) will gather in front of the Library and kick-off at 11:00. We will be supplying as many noisemakers and mini-Pride flags as we can. Please feel free to make and carry signs. Dress fabulously!

ALSO: I have reserved one information booth for the Diversity and Belonging Councils (elementary schools)—there is the possibility of having more than one table. Please let me know asap if the one table is adequate.

Come join the book club discussion, Monday, June 14th at 4:00 pm. All are welcome the featured book is This is Our Rainbow.

If you have any questions, please reach out.

Thanks so much!

Carey Conkey-Finn

Supervisor of Teen Services | Watertown Free Public Library

123 Main St.| Watertown, MA 02472

617-972-6437

She/her

30 Common Street

Watertown, Ma 02742

Telephone: 617-926-7770

Lowell West Location

175 Main Street

Waltham, Ma 02451

Telephone: 781-899-3701

Email: stacy.phelan@watertown.k12.ma
Website: http://watertownjrlowell.ss19.sharpschool.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JRLowellElementary