Cluster 1 Newsletter

Hello Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers!

This is our biweekly newsletter where your teachers will provide you with updates on the happenings in their classrooms and at the school. We'll include any important upcoming dates and important messages. We're so excited to begin the year with your students. Please reach out to your child's advisory teacher with any questions.

Yours,

Cluster One Team

Welcome to 6th grade! It has been lovely getting to know your children over the course of the past couple of days. They are happy, kind, and ready to learn! Thank you for all you did to help prepare them for their transition to middle school. This week in ELA we’ve spent time getting to know one another, and getting to know ourselves as learners. Students identified subjects where they’ve found success in the past, discussed teaching styles that work for them, and began creating GoogleSlides that represent our different learning styles. Ask your student to share their slide with you! Next week we’ll take the i-Ready diagnostic in English classes so please help your children get a good night’s sleep and nourishing breakfast. Let’s have an awesome year!

Entering (ELD 1)

Welcome to WMS!

I am Ms. Rix and I am happy to be teaching you this year.

This week we have learned to introduce ourselves, say what we need, and what we like. Ask your students how to greet people in English, answer “How are you?”, or ask some common school questions.

Next week, we will continue to build our skills in explaining who we are, what we like, what we need in school, and how to explain our school schedule.

Emerging (ELD 2)

Welcome! I am so excited to be teaching you this year! This week we did a lot of community building and activities to get to know each other better. We practiced asking and answering questions about ourselves in complete sentences. Next week, we will start with taking i-Ready ELA, a school wide assessment. Then we will review pronouns and practice modals vs. ‘have to’ and ‘need to’. We will talk about community members and their careers, as well as time. If you have any clocks at home, have your child practice saying the time in English!

Phonics

Welcome to Phonics! This class is for students who are in the beginning of their English learning journey and working their way up to reading in English. This week, we did lots of community building and activities to get to know each other. We briefly reviewed concepts of print and then practiced differentiating between uppercase and lowercase letters. Next week we will get to know consonants and identify CVC patterns of words. Have your child show you their Make Your Name activity on our Phonics google classroom.

Hello! Welcome to math class! Students have spent the first week orienting themselves in the school and math class. We’re going through expectations and routines and getting to know each other. Next week, students will be taking their first i-Ready diagnostic assessment. This helps us place students in the correct support or enrichment classes. Please encourage your students to try their best on i-Ready.

At WMS, we utilize the Desmos curriculum for math. The Desmos math curriculum helps students express their brilliance every day. Every student is brilliant, but not every student feels brilliant in math class. Desmos has designed their curriculum to put students’ ideas at its center. The lessons pose problems that invite a variety of approaches. The Desmos technology helps teachers celebrate and promote interesting thinking in their classrooms. As we progress through the Desmos curriculum, we will be posting a useful link to Family Resources which will enable families to preview our upcoming unit on Area and Surface Area.

Welcome to Social Studies! This week we’ve started our study of the 7 continents and 5 oceans which will culminate with a labeling quiz on the 15th. Students can study by using an online labeling game on Google Classroom. Over the next couple weeks we’ll investigate the world’s imaginary lines, latitude and longitude, as well as how to interpret different map types.

Sixth Grade Scientists are adjusting to their new laboratory (classroom), and did some investigating as we got to know the space! We also discussed lab safety so we will be prepared for our first experiment involving the topic of metric volume! I look forward to our year of learning together! Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

https://www.smore.com/sq8v1

This space is where your students' specialist teachers can update you on their classes!

Zachary Allen - English - zachary.allen@watertown.k12.ma.us

Jessie Daigneault - Science - jessie.daigneault@watertown.k12.ma.us

Ann Palermo - Math - ann.palermo@watertown.k12.ma.us

Megan Lipson - Social Studies - donna.lipson@watertown.k12.ma.us

Jim Duffy - Special Education - james.duffy@watertown.k12.ma.us

Jody Gladstein - Guidance - jody.gladstein@watertown.k12.ma.us

Sheila Gilmartin - English Language Development - sheila.gilmartin@watertown.k12.ma.us

Zara Rix - English Language Development - zara.rix@watertown.k12.ma.us