Para traduzir este boletim, clique nele e use o link à direita. (Portuguese)

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لترجمة هذه الرسالة من المدرسة ، اضغط عليها ثم استخدم الرابط الموجود على اليمين. (Arabic)

Այս տեղեկագիրը թարգմանելու համար կտտացրեք այն, ապա օգտագործեք աջ կողմում գտնվող հղումը: (Armenian)

Чтобы перевести этот бюллетень, нажмите на него, затем воспользуйтесь ссылкой справа. (Russian)

Bu bülteni çevirmek için üzerine tıklayın ve ardından sağdaki bağlantıyı kullanın (Turkish)

Dear Lowell Fifth Grade Class of 2020,

Congratulations! You have successfully completed your elementary school education. You now move on to middle school.

I have no doubt you will always remember the year 2020, I know it will leave an indelible mark on your memory for many reasons. My hope is that you look back on your time at the Lowell and remember you were loved and cared for by many loving teachers, staff, and friends. This is just the first of many accomplishments you will make in school and in life. You will have many chapters in your book of life and this is the first chapter. As you leave the Lowell we hope you leave with a love of learning and spirit of inquiry. You are on your way to being scientists, mathematicians, writers, explorers, and citizens. Think of yourself as a scholar on a long path to limitless opportunity. You will do many things in the next chapter of your life, start by being the best you. Always remember to be humble and kind. Help others in need, not for recognition but because it’s the right thing to do. Take with you our core values of cooperation, kindness, perseverance and integrity. Know you can accomplish anything you wish to achieve if you set your mind to it. I will miss you and have felt honored to be your principal.

Parting thoughts,

Always have a positive attitude!

Laugh often!

Be mentally strong!

Be honest and work hard!

Be kind to others!

Look for quality role models!

Listen to music, enjoy art, and appreciate and respect nature!

Live with passion!

Understand success is not measured by the job you hold but rather the heart you put into that job!

I wish you health, happiness, and success!

Love, Mrs. Phelan

Watertown Elementary Schools are holding Celebration Meetings for each child. We want to take a few minutes to acknowledge the hard work and dedication children, families, and teachers have accomplished this year! Parents sign up for a meeting through Sign Up Genius.

Zoom classes are canceled on June 11th, 12th, and 15th. June 16th each class will hold their last community meeting in the morning.

Link below:

https://sites.google.com/watertown.k12.ma.us/lowelleoycelebration/end-of-year-celebration-sign-ups

Looking Forward as Best We Can

Good afternoon, WPS Families and Staff:

As we head into the last 8 days of school, I want to extend my deep gratitude for the support, understanding, and patience that you have shown to our teachers and to your children as we partnered together during these most challenging times. These last few weeks have a different feeling than our more traditional sprint to the finish, but we want to celebrate all that our students, teachers, and parents have accomplished during this very challenging time. Even though this is not how any of us imagined the end of the year to be, many of you shared that you were able to find some joy or ‘silver linings’ in this remote learning experience.

While winding down this school year, we are turning our attention to what next fall may look like for our students and staff members. Amidst uncertainty and without guidance from the State at this point, we are moving ahead with preliminary planning, enlisting a large and broad team of school community members. We established a School Reopening Task Force comprised of 40+ members representing teachers, administrators, parents, directors, and soon, students. This working team began meeting in May and will continue to meet throughout the summer, charged with considering all likely scenarios for the fall. This Task Force will work primarily in subgroups focusing on the following framework:

• Teaching and Learning: Remote, Face-to-Face, Hybrid

• Physical Learning Environments: Retrofitting our existing buildings to follow all safety, social distancing, and health guidelines while delivering high-quality instruction

• Student Support: Social/Emotional and Behavioral Health, Special Education & Health Services - We are prioritizing relationships and healthy human connections as we plan for academics and social-emotional wellness

• Operations: Food Service, Finance, Custodians, Human Resources

Additionally, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has established a ‘Return to School Working Group’ comprised of various stakeholders from across the state and is scheduled to provide guidance to districts by the middle of June. Once DESE establishes state-level guidelines, we will develop a specific plan for Watertown designed to meet the various needs of our community.

We would like to include three parents on the Task Force as well, one from each level. Please send an email to ariel.kennebrew@watertown.k12.ma.us with a brief description as to why you are interested in serving on the Task Force and on which subgroup you would like to serve. Meetings will be held every Thursday via Zoom at this time.

Safety: Our goal is to return to face-to-face teaching and learning as soon as we are able to do so safely, for both students and staff, based on the recommendations from DESE and the WPS School Reopening Task Force, in conjunction with our local Board of Health. Based on our current understanding of the pandemic, this will more than likely be in a way that promotes physical distancing along with strong protocols for cleaning and sanitizing, personal hygiene, and the use of personal protective equipment, including the wearing of face coverings at all times--not just in the classroom, but in all walks of school life.

While we await specific guidance from DESE regarding school next year, it is more than likely we will continue with some form of remote learning in the fall as part of the larger school experience in order to achieve the necessary physical distancing. We will take all that we have learned over the past months in our extended learning experience, along with the growing body of knowledge regarding distance learning, to continue to support our students’ learning into the future. We understand that this may be a hardship for you and your families. We must ensure the health and safety of our students and staff in the midst of this global health crisis.

Professional Development: The WPS Professional Development Team is creating a plan in support of our excellent educators to further facilitate learning about various educational technologies to include: blended learning, differentiating online, engaging students virtually, distance learning, and more. We will move to 1:1 Chromebook devices for students in grades 1 through 12 and continue to provide access, support, and training for any family who needs it throughout the year.

Summer Programming: WPS will offer summer programming for students K-12 this year, albeit remotely. Information on our Extended School Year (ESY), English as Second Language (ESL), and K-5 Literacy summer programming will be available soon. WHS will be offering a fee-based credit recovery program for high school students. In addition, WPS Community Education will offer a FREE virtual and voluntary Summer Explorations Program with 10 weeks of programming for students in grades K-5. Students will also have the opportunity to continue with self-paced online learning programs such as IXL and i-Ready throughout the summer. Our Teaching & Learning Team and principals will be sending out more information on summer programming when finalized shortly.

School Nutrition: Our School Nutrition breakfast and lunch distribution will continue on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays through June 30th. We are exploring options for continuing this service through the summer and will let you know as soon as we have more information.

As you can see, there is much to consider in the coming months, and as information becomes available, we will continue to update the WPS community. Given our successful shift to online learning in March, I have full faith and confidence that we will continue to provide the best educational experience for Watertown students, no matter what the structure is in the fall.

With kind regards and deep admiration,

Dede Galdston, Ed.D.

Dr. Theresa McGuinness will be sending out three Panorama Surveys, one for students, another for staff and one for Parents to complete. These surveys will be sent out midweek.

The goal is to gather feedback on remote learning to help guide our fall planning. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

Parents of students in grades PreK - 4th grade,

If you are planning to move out of Watertown or the Lowell School District, please complete the form below as soon as possible. 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 click the form here.

Dear Grade 5 Families,

I hope you all are well. As my first letter (Grade 5 Program of Studies letter 2020.pdf ) stated, we are very much looking forward to welcoming all of the new 6th graders in September! We wanted to share some information with you all, and normally we would do it in person, but this spring we are doing it virtually! :)

Please enjoy these videos:

1. WMS Program of Studies Video - Watch this and learn all about the classes you will be able to take at Watertown Middle School!

2. WMS Virtual Tour - Watch this and Mr. Del Porto will give you a tour of the school and introduce you to all of the 6th-grade teachers and other staff members!

For Parents/Guardians, a reminder there are a couple of upcoming events where you can meet with teachers, other WMS parents, and administration. They are:

1. A Coffee for Parent/Guardians of Incoming 6th-graders on IEPs on June 4th at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm. Click HERE for the link to the Invitation.

2. We also invite all Grade 5 Parents/Guardians to our next PTO meeting on June 10th at 7:00 pm to ask questions and hear all about the middle school from WMS Parents/Guardians! Here is the Zoom link: Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/98990636889

If you have any questions or concerns about your child moving up to sixth grade, please email Mr. Cloherty, the grade 6 guidance counselor, at thomas.cloherty@watertown.k12.ma.us, or me at donna.martin@watertown.k12.ma.us at any time. Thank you very much and we are looking forward to welcoming you into the middle school community!

With warm regards,

Donna K. Martin

Principal

At the Watertown Community Foundation, we are outraged by the ongoing violence and systemic racism daily affecting Black people in the United States. These injustices are layered on an historically devastating pattern of health and economic inequities in a global pandemic that lays bare huge disparities for communities of color. We stand with those fighting these forces everywhere.

The Watertown Community Foundation exists to affect change and support those most in need.

What are we doing about it?

Now is the moment to focus on lasting change. We know we can do better in serving everyone in our community, to actively stand for equality and against racism in all its forms.

WCF is committed to:

Get educated. From housing to health, from education to the environment, arts and culture there are many resources available to support our unlearning of systemic oppression. Here are places the Watertown Free Public Library suggests starting: http://www.watertownlib.org/antiracism

Share information at all levels. We will share knowledge with our world. At home. At work. At school. Online. In our lives every day.

Listen to our grant partners and provide critical funding to support their efforts.

We will continue to work in partnership and provide essential funding to our community members/organizations who are directly addressing the issues most affecting our communities of color and to seek out any new organizations or voices not yet heard or represented.

Now is the moment to make lasting change.

This past couple of months of transitioning to remote learning have not been easy. We are here for you!

Below you’ll find a few sheets with helpful Tips for Parents. The following research-based tips will help your student to control their impulses and delay gratification while learning at home.

These strategies are intended to strengthen SEL skills through honest and interactive discussions, taking the time to slow down, and finding opportunities to celebrate small successes, even in times of uncertainty.

Share these tips with your students' families, your colleagues, or use with your own children at home!

Please join Mrs. Phelan every morning at 8:20 am for Lowell Morning Announcements! See Schedule Below:

• Pledge
• Lowell Pledge
• Thought for the Day
• Start of Virtual Learning Pep Talk

Please click the link below:

https://zoom.us/j/94335348882?pwd=aEtEUTZJS1R2SGg3SWtubHhnc05uQT09

Hello Everyone,

Mr. Skaife and I will be holding live, multi-grade Zoom sessions together starting next Monday. The sessions will be bi-weekly, alternating between Grades 3-5, and Grades Kindergarten-2.

Mr. Spano:

anthony.spano@watertown.k12.ma.us

Mr. Skaife:

kurtis.skaife@watertown.k12.ma.us

Grade 3-5 Zoom Meeting:

Monday, June 8th, 2:00pm

Grade K-2 Zoom Meeting:

Monday, June 15th, 2:00pm

Instrument Lesson Zoom Meetings:

Mondays from 3:00-3:30pm

• Mr. Spano's students
• Ms. Schneider's students
  
• Mr. Boynton's students
• Ms. Byham's students
• *Ms. Slesinger's students (Mondays from 2:30 - 3:00pm)
• *Mr. Jordan's students (Tuesdays from 3:00 - 3:30pm)

Stay tuned for the unveiling of our Virtual Music Fest. Hundreds of members of our school community have uploaded video performances. Here's a teaser below.

Virtual MusicFest Trailer Video 1

Virtual MusicFest Trailer Video 2

Hello Lowell Students, Parents/Guardians,

Thank you for joining us for the Lowell School’s first (and hopefully only) Virtual Field Day! Our mission is to get everyone up and moving with a fun-filled week of friendly challenges. We hope that you enjoy the games. Share pictures and videos on Instagram with the hashtag #JRLowellVirtualFieldDay

Have fun!

Ms. Loguidice and Ms.Donahue

How it Works:

• Choose and select as many games and activities as you would like.

• You can always modify an activity to fit the equipment that you have!

• Keep track of how many events you completed.

Accomplishments:

• 4 activities completed = Bronze Metal

• 8 activities completed = Silver Medal

• 12 activities completed = Gold Medal

Please click link below to check out the fun!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1W6pU3ND5nO-QD07QyUkvRxzeQ_DL_f9vHqxgReOKe7Y/edit#slide=id.p

WHEN: Wednesday, June 10th, 12 pm

WHERE: This is an online event.

Kelly McCollum is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

This is a drop-in event each Wednesday @ 12:00 PM

Topic: Find Your Strengths: Biographies

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/4742415813?pwd=THJuSFZlMS92ZHpyM3JyN0lQVVU0UT09

Meeting ID: 474 241 5813

Password: 5w5fka

With everything going on in the world, our country, and our city, communicating with your child can be intimidating and overwhelming. During this time, in order to effectively communicate, it is important to listen, to learn, and to prepare yourself to both answer and ask questions with your child. Here are several resources to help facilitate these important conversations with your child.

Talking to Kids About Race - National Geographic

Talking to Children After Racial Incidents - UPenn

How to Talk to Your Children About Protests and Racism - CNN

CNN and Sesame Street will be holding a "Town Hall: Standing Up to Racism" this Saturday at 10:00AM. More information about this televised program can be found here.

Children's Books to Support Conversations About Race, Racism, and Resistance (adapted from The Conscious Kid).

1. All Because You Matter - By, Tami Charles (ages 4-8)
2. Separate is Never Equal - By, Duncan Tonatiuh (ages 4-9)
3. The Day You Begin - By, Jacqueline Woodson (ages 4-8)
4. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library - By, Carole Boston Weatherford (ages 9-12)
5. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop - By, Alice Faye Duncan (ages 9-12)

If you or a family member are in need of any extra support or resources during these times, please reach out to the Student Support Team.

Parents Helping Parents

Online Support Groups are free, confidential, and anonymous. These groups serve as a safe place for parents to express frustrations and concerns about their children and families and get advice from other parents who understand.

Parental Stress Line

You don’t have to keep doing it alone. Parents Helping Parents can help. Confidential and anonymous 24 hours/day, 7 days/week across Massachusetts. Call 1-800-632-8188.

A Note of Thanks….

We would like to close out the year by saying thank you…

Thank you to our PTO Board and Event Chairs:
Laura Antipov, Helen Oliver, Liz Geraci, Liz O’Toole, Ann Sjostedt, Erin Coole, Meredith Dourian, Donna Tuccinardi, Sonia Smith, Kathleen Hennemuth, Colleen Mahoney, Jennine Tambio, Kerry Biddy, Allison Egan, Kelee Fajardo, Beth McAndrew, Heather Chaisson, Leslie Brokaw, Julie Candiello and Leanne Hammond.

Thank you to our school leadership, Principal Stacy Phelan and Vice Principal Candice Whitmore, who set the tone for the wonderful school that the Lowell is and who have been steadfast in their commitment to our children during unprecedented times.

Thank you to our teachers and staff who have throughout the year shown their love and dedication for their students and who have overcome hurdles we never could imagine, ensuring our children’s continued learning whether it be in math and science or music and PE.

Thank you to Nurse Taverna and Ms. Jacovides who always have our children’s holistic health first and foremost on their minds.

Thank you to our custodial staff who have worked hours on end to clean and protect our students from every virus from the flu and the stomach bug to corona. You have even done it with a smile, and we are forever grateful as we find ourselves in a time when we will depend on you even more.

Thank you to our amazing Lowell community. You have made our school a wonderful place for our children to learn and make friends. You’ve supported the PTO and others in our community both financially and through your volunteer work. It takes a village….

In thanks,

Lauren Unsworth & Jaime Schloemer

Lowell School PTO Co-President 2019-2020 School Year

June 9th, 10th, and 11th we are scheduling times for parents to come in and gather items left behind by students. Teachers have been packing up notebooks, crayons, and items for parents to take home for the summer. These items have been bagged up and label for each student by their homeroom teacher. The bags have been placed on hooks by each student's cubby just outside their classrooms. We are asking parents to come in and pick up bags during a scheduled pick up time.

We are creating the schedule based on the first letter of your last name. For example: if your last name begins with the A, B, C, or D you will come in between 8:00 am-12:00 am on June 9th.

We ask you to return any item you borrowed during the school year. Please bring all items you borrowed on the day you pick up your belongings. Many students need to return books to their classrooms or library. We ask that you place those items in your child's cubby for safe return.

Here is the schedule, days, and times:

June 9th, 8:00 am- 11:00 am - A, B, C, and D

June 9th, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm E, F, G, and H

June 10th, 8:00 am -11:00 am- I, J, K, and L

June 10th, 11:00 am- 3:00 pm- M, N, O, and P

June 11th, 8:00 am- 11:00 am- Q, R, S, and T

June 11th, 11:00 am- 3:00 pm- U, V, W, X, Y, and Z

We are asking parents to enter at the main entrance on Lowell St. People entering our building must sign in before entering. Wear a mask, and practice social distancing regulations.

Return of Borrowed Library Books

Please return borrowed Library Books to school. You may place them in your cubby or on the return rack in the main lobby.

Free tutoring over the summer; founded by students from Buckingham, Brown and Nichols.

https://bostoncovidtutoring.org/.

Connecting Through Creativity

Our community is struggling with fear, loneliness and isolation. We are yearning to find meaningful ways to reconnect, to support one another

and to find joy in unprecedented times. Yet artists are piercing through

the darkness with their light, as they make connections, boost one another up, and create a sense of community that can't be contained within the walls of quarantine. They find joy, strength and solace within themselves and share it with others through visual art.

The Watertown Fine, Applied and Performing Arts Department believes

in the power of art to heal, to empower, and to inspire.

We invite you to join us as we connect with and celebrate one another.

In this spirit, we offer you our first ever Virtual Art Show!

Please click ling below to explore:

https://www.wpsart.org/