Wildcat Nation

It's official, the groundhog saw his shadow suggesting we can all expect the cold temperatures to continue for six more weeks of winter. It's all good, the cold never bothered us anyway! You can see for yourself below with all the fun we've had throughout the district this month!

Speaking of the weather, students at Seach Elementary welcomed a special and well-known guest, NewsCenter 5's weekend evening meteorologist, Mr. David Williams. If you don't trust Punxsutawney Phil you can tune into WCVB's StormTeam 5 for the weather, and keep a lookout for Seach students who will be featured on the EyeOpener for a short segment on Wednesday, February 8.

This week students in Mrs. Loud, Mrs. Cosgrove and Mrs. Ferreira classes had a "blast" building their own "volcanoes" as part of an inclusive Project Based Learning activity. "

• Thursday, February 2 - School Committee at 7PM
• February 6-10 - National School Counselor Week
• Monday, February 6 - School Committee Policy Subcommittee at 6PM
• Monday, February 6 - Chapman Parent Council Meeting at 6PM
• Wednesday, February 8 - WHS School Council at 2:30PM
• Tuesday, February 14 - Early Release Staff Professional Development
• Tuesday, February 14 - Town-Wide Parent Council at 7PM
• Wednesday, February 15 - Budget Subcommittee at 6PM
• Monday, February 21 - Friday, February 24 - Winter Break

Our school counselors are absolutely amazing at what they do. Here's a few of our counselors from around the district. Below are a few of our school counselors, help us celebrate all our school counselors during National School Counseling Week next week!

Hamilton Adjustment Counselor - Virginia Hershman

The Johnson ECC staff has been engaged in Professional Development that supports Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. We started this work during the 2021-2022 school year and will continue our learning journey. From this important work we have developed a new school vision statement for our Johnson ECC Community. At the last Professional Development Day held in January, the staff took a deeper dive into the physical environment of the classroom and lesson planning. We are so proud of the commitment by our staff to dig deep and reflect upon the work they do everyday to support and educate our students.

This week we want to highlight a school wide project initiated by ESP Mrs. Gavin. She has started a picture campaign to be sure all students have representation within our school community. She has taken beautiful pictures to brighten up the school hallways with happy students engaging in high quality PreK teaching and learning experiences. See some of the pictures below.

Thank you to Mrs. Gavin for exemplifying the meaning of Super Friend!

Academy has had a very busy start to the new calendar year. This past Tuesday, Academy held a special assembly, called Prismatic Magic. The theme was saying "NO" to Bullying and the importance of TEAMWORK and Positivity to build each other up!

The Winter Workshop was held on Tuesday, December 20. Students got into the spirit by shopping for gifts for their loved ones for the holidays. Special thanks to our AAPC and all of the volunteers that made this event possible.

Officer Flanagan read to Kindergarten classes and made them Jr. Deputies

Winter enrichment clubs have returned!

Lights, Camera, Action!!! Academy Media Club is on the move! Thank you to Mr. Dreyfus!

STEAM class fun!

School Resource Office, Officer Flanagan, spending time with Hamilton Elementary students.

Enrichment clubs have returned!

January was a busy month at Murphy as we entered the new year with many activities related to goal setting and community building. Our monthly PBIS assembly focused on the challenge of setting simple goals and following through with action steps. Our student had some amazing ideas and had fun sharing them during the assembly. We capped off the assembly with a teacher hoop-shoot contest.

We also had a great assembly with the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center from Bridgewater State University. This anti-bullying program was presented to all of out students in grades 2-5.

We were happy to add digital signage space to our lobby with the addition of a TV purposed for celebrating happenings throughout our community, student achievements and math facts and fun trivia.

Our students continued their journeys with ST math, providing lots of achievement opportunities and success.

We welcomed a group of high school students to promote healthy decisions and life choices (SALSA program). Our 5th graders enjoyed this interaction with the older students.

Kindergarten and grade three reading buddies

A welcome that makes us all proud!

January has been filled with fun and learning at Pingree Elementary School! Here are a few of our favorite January moments:

• Worked hard on Fundations
• Dissected owl pellets
• Read to our kindergarten friends
• Celebrated our "ice" Stem week winners- Mrs. Butler-Bowen's class with Italian ice

Small group work at Talbot continues through the winter months, and With the first snow fall of the season, Talbot made their own snow and built a snowman!

Talbot took some time to learn about and celebrate MLK Jr.

Mid-Year assessments help us to ensure we are providing equity with engaging small groups at students’ targeted instruction needs.

Students spent an hour participating in an interactive presentation about the weather with Mr. David Williams, NewsCenter 5's weekend evening meteorologist. The weather is one of the units that our students have been studying this year. Mr. Williams began his career as the weekend meteorologist and multimedia reporter at KAMR-TV in Amarillo, Texas. From there, he took a full-time meteorologist position at WRIC-TV in Richmond, Virginia. Throughout his career, he has chased tornadoes, forecasted severe winter storms, and reported on arid heat conditions across the high plains. Please ask your student(s) about what they learned from Mr. Williams' presentation. In addition, students recorded a short segment for the EyeOpener, which will air sometime next week. We will share the link with families when it is available.

On Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the Seach community had the opportunity to meet and hear from Clifford Kurker, a member of the Jamaica Men’s Lacrosse Team in an event that was sponsored by the Seach Parent Council. Mr Kurker spoke to students in kindergarten to grade 5.

Mr Kurker is a former high school and college student athlete with an impressive athletic and academic resume, which includes:

• Needham High School Graduate

• 2 sport captain, All American, Honor Roll Student

• UMass-Lowell

• 4 year Division 1 lacrosse player, Dean’s List

• Jamaican Men’s National Lacrosse Team

• Competed in the world championships in Israel 2018

• Boston College

• 1 year Division 1 football, Academic All American

Students were able to participate in an interactive presentation where they got to ask questions, see, touch and try on pieces of his jersey, gloves, helmet and lacrosse stick from his time playing in the 2018 World Cup in Israel. The presentation included him sharing about his participation in youth sports and the positive impacts it had in his life in the classroom, on and off the field. He also spoke about the overall benefits for kids who participate in youth sports:

“Students who play sports are less likely to get into trouble and being part of a team gives students a place to belong and a positive healthy outlet for their excess energy. Participating in sports is associated with improved teamwork, social skills, and social responsibility. When coaches teach kids about respect or teamwork, the kids carry those lessons in their classrooms and their homes. Sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skill sets that are directly relevant to class work."

Special thanks to the Seach Parent Council and everyone who made this event possible!

Wessagusset is showing our spirit by wearing our Wess gear on Wildcat Wednesdays!

First graders Brandon B. and Lucas A. won lunch with a very special guest, Officer Flanagan!

Mr. Sbarra's class blasted off into an outer space unit with fun hands-on activities.

Kindergarteners held a colorful and festive Lunar New Year Parade.

Owen Halpenny and Jack Ryan enjoyed a photo opportunity with Coach Mazzulla after the game.

Wildcat Media Presents: CTE at Weymouth High School

Click here for more information

WHS Capstone Fair

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

5:30 - 8:00 pm

Weymouth High School | 1 Wildcat Way | Weymouth | MA | 02190

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/d4kDWCgtLcrmxsA16

Learn more about WHS Capstone: https://sites.google.com/weymouthps.org/whscapstone/judges

Questions? Contact Malissa Northup at malissa.northup@weymouthschools.org

The Backpack Program is BACK, and has expanded into a districtwide program! Each Friday students who are in need and enrolled in the program are discreetly provided a backpack of food to take home for the weekend. This is a weekly program that continues all year, or until you no longer wish to participate.

If you feel that your children would benefit from receiving additional food to meet their nutritional needs over the weekend, we encourage you to sign them up by filling out the form provided by their school. All information related to this program is confidential. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Backpack Program Founders:

Marisa Matta | marisa.matta@weymouthschools.org

Katie Mahoney | kathleen.lyon@weymouthps.org

From education to athletics, WPS alumni are making fantastic things happen in their careers and communities. Whatever your accomplishment, we want to hear from you. If you've been a part of, or done something noteworthy, whether at home or abroad, tell us your story. To have yourself or someone else considered for an Alumni Spotlight feature, please complete the online nomination form below.