McGovern News!

I can't believe Monday begins November! This year is going by fast and slow all at the same time! Our students have really settled in and are making strong academic gains. We have spent the first several weeks really learning about your children: who they are as people, their successes, things that are hard, and goals we have for them.

We have spent much of October analyzing academic and social emotional screening data. We use this data to differentiate our academic and social emotional instruction to meet the needs of each individual learner. This is done within the classroom, by many educators and paraprofessionals in our building. We call this "Core" or "Tier 1" instruction. Some students may qualify for additional support- beyond the core- in reading, math, or social emotional learning. We call this "Tier 2" supports/instruction. We have recently begun our Title 1 math support and social emotional groups will start next week with our team. Both of these supports are intended to be short term and focused on particular skill acquisition as part of our regular education programming. If you have any questions about these supports, please reach out to your child's teacher.

Have a great weekend. If you celebrate Halloween with trick or treating, be safe!

Best,

Amy McDonald, Principal

In my last newsletter, I shared that the McGovern School motto is "I CAN?" I CAN is an acronym that stands for:

Include

Cooperate

Achieve

Nurture

Cooperation is a life skill and one even as adults, we probably use daily. In the simplest form, cooperation means working together and helping others. When children cooperate, they have better social interactions, are more likely to make and keep friends, are more likely to be able to cope with failure, and generally have more fun.

Cooperation also means a person can think about and balance their own needs and wants with another person's needs and wants. We have globally noticed that children are struggling more with this skill this year. This is likely a result of COVID-19 and living in a 6 foot bubble for the last year+. Our teachers are intentionally working every single day to help children work together, help one another, and see the perspective of others.

You can help at home too (and maybe you have noticed this too)! Here is a quick article with how to help your child grow cooperation skills. Additionally, this article is also helpful and provides some concrete ideas to support children.

As part of the Social Studies standards, our kindergarten students are almost through their first unit, "My Classroom and Me." As part of this unit they learn about what makes them unique, different family structures, various holidays, how to be helpful within their classroom and school communities.

As a result, the kindergarten team has created a meaningful service learning project in conjunction with the Medway Village Food Pantry. Children have learned about the purpose of a food drive, took a "virtual field trip" to the Medway Village Food Pantry, and created signs and posters to advertise for an upcoming food drive. Please send in food items November 1-11th. You can use this "Get in the Mood to Donate Some Food" flyer to help you identify what makes a good donation item as well as the most needed items. We will send all donations to the Food Pantry. We appreciate your support in helping students learn the valuable lesson of helping our community.

As we look ahead to Veteran's Day in November, we would like to create a meaningful display bulletin board honoring the veterans in our greater McGovern community. We would love families with active service members or veterans to send in a photograph of their special veteran in uniform (with their kids if possible!). Our intention is that these photos will spark conversations that teach kids about these special members of our community. Please submit photos by Tuesday November 9th with your child's name and room number on the back of the photo so we can properly return them.

We had our school pictures taken yesterday. Families have until this Tuesday, November 2nd to get late orders in without a late fee. If you missed picture day do not worry! There will be a picture retake day Tuesday December 14th !

Over the next week, you will be contacted by your child's classroom teacher to schedule an in-person family-teacher conference. Conferences will take place on December 2, 2021 and December 7th. Both of these dates are also early release days with dismissal being 12:00 PM.

State policy requires any person in a school building to wear a mask. If any family would prefer a virtual conference please just let your child's teacher know. If you still have questions or challenges with conference registration after receiving the classroom teacher's email, please reach out to them directly. We are excited to welcome our families back to our building to discuss student progress and goals!

The Parent Portal within Infinite Campus, our student management system, is a vital resource to help families stay up to date on students’ assignments, grades, and contact information. If you are a family that does not have an account, please email parent@medwayschools.org and we will forward a personal activation code to create one. ALL families are asked to please complete the Online Registration [OLR] option, better known as the “beginning of year packet,” within the parent portal system. This process allows parents to see the information we have on file and make updates if needed. We also require review and sign-off of our Responsible Use Policy and Handbook as part of this process. If you haven't already, please complete this process by selecting MORE (on the left menu) then Online Registration from the menu options.

Assistant Superintendent Abrams attended the first MEPTO meeting of the year to meet with families and take questions. Assistant Principal Chris Terzigni, Principal Kelly, and I presented on our Districts K-5 literacy work this year. It was a great opportunity to connect with families and talk about strategies for reading at home.

Medway T.H.R.I.V.E. and Medway SEPAC are excited to host a virtual parent event on Nov 3, 2021 at 7:00 PM. Lisa Damour, Ph.D., the New York Times bestselling author of Untangled, returns with an urgently needed guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college. Damour details the many facets of girls’ lives where tension takes hold and offers critical coping strategies that will help parents to reduce their daughters’ anxiety and address the toxic pressures to which our culture subjects girls and young women. To register please click here.

Our Wellness Department developed Flow Charts to better explain how our Test and Stay program will work. Please see the the information below to understand how the program will work.

Test and Stay Flow Chart

On August 31st, School Committee voted to reinstate last year's Face Covering Policy. Click here for the complete policy. This outlines the types of masks to be worn in school and when wearing a mask is required. Please see the face covering requirements for anyone inside the school building:

A face covering that covers the nose and mouth must be worn by all individuals in school buildings and on school transportation. Bandanas, neck gaiters, single layer face coverings, and face coverings with vents, ports or perforations of any kind are not permitted as an approved face covering.

Additionally, face masks or face coverings will not be required:

• during mask breaks;

• while eating or drinking;

• while outside.

Every child needs a healthy, nutritious meal to learn. Medway Public Schools offers nutritious meals to children each school day and breakfast and lunch will continue to remain free of charge through this school year. Please be sure to check out the menu here to ensure your child likes what is being served that day. You can find the menus by clicking on this link.

If you are not receiving email communications from the district or the schools, we are here to help. Please email parent@medwayschools.org and a team will work to ensure that you are connected.

Oct 31: Halloween!

Nov 2: Election Day

Nov 5: Preschool Arena Day, No Preschool classes

Nov 7: Daylight Savings, turn clocks back 1 hour

Nov 10: School Site Council, 3:30 PM Agenda

Nov 11: Veterans' Day, No School

Nov 12: Rhythm Room, Kindergarten

Nov 24: Early Release, 12:00 PM

Nov 25-26: Thanksgiving Recess, No School

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