Pool Testing Monday, April 11th

Incoming Kindergarten Registration

Message from Mrs. Phelan

SEPAC

Listen to Sipu

Human Impact Panel- Hosmer

Ms. Brodeur's Class Debates

Arab American Heritage Month- This Weeks Highlighted Individuals

Lunch Menu

Scenes from Lowell

Walk-A-Thon Pictures

What's Happening Around Town

Upcoming Events and Save the Dates

Online Kindergarten Registration is now open. Click on this link to register your child for Kindergarten for the 2022-23 school year.

Greetings,

I hope you all enjoyed the vacation as much as I did. I didn't travel further than Rhode Island, but I soaked up every quiet moment. I feel ready and excited to finish off this year on a high note!

We hope to end strong, bringing back many of our beloved traditions. Please take a look at the events below. I'll continue to add events as the dates are finalized. There are lots of fun-filled moments ahead.

Lowell School will have an official groundbreaking event on April 27th at 4:30. I hope you can join us as we officially kick off our renovation project.

With Gratitude,

Stacy

We will be holding a community forum to present the findings from the Equity Audit this Monday, April 25. Dede Galdston will present and then provide an opportunity for the community to ask questions and get more information about the next steps the district is taking. Our intention is to hold the forum in the Watertown Middle School Auditorium at 6:30, facilitated by Lisa Smith McQueenie. The flyer is attached below.

The new SEPAC leadership board invites all interested members of the Watertown Community to join us at our upcoming Relaunch Event Tuesday, April 26, at 6:30 via Zoom.

Come meet the new leadership board, learn about the mission of the Watertown SEPAC, find out about upcoming events, and connect with other caregivers invested in accessible education for all Watertown students. SEPAC membership is open to all and we are striving to include all voices, contributions, and perspectives. If you have additional questions you can reach the SEPAC at wps_sepac@watertown.k12.ma.us

The Watertown Community Foundation has provided us with the opportunity for all students in grade 3 & 4 to attend an in-house performance of the New Rep play Listen to Sipu! This is "a captivating and powerful story that illuminates Watertown's Indigenous history....the tour guide begins describing Watertown's local history only to find that the facts are missing a lot of truths." The play will visit the Cunniff and Lowell schools on Monday, June 6th and the Hosmer school on Tuesday, June 7th. We are grateful our students will have this opportunity!

Lowell's fifth-grade students joined fellow Watertown fifth-graders at Hosmer on Wednesday, April 15th to engage in a panel discussion exploring the topic of human impact on our local environment. Student were given an opportunity to ask the experts about topics such as renewable energy, environmentally friendly textiles, and composting. Students came prepared with amazing questions. Our Science Coordinator Elizabeth Kaplan organized this event for all three elementary schools.

On Friday, April 15th I had the opportunity to watch Ms. Brodeur's students debate their side of an argument. Students were given topics to research and find facts to support their side of an argument. The topics included composting, one-use plastics, recycling, wind power, and solar energy. The arguments were compelling and well supported. It was a true delight to watch them.

Anti-Bias Coalition Meeting

Monday, April 25,⋅5:30 – 7:00 pm

Description: Meetings will be held in a hybrid model. 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

Watertown - Building for the Future - Lowell Elementary School Groundbreaking Ceremony

Wednesday, April 27,⋅4:30 – 5:30 pm

Location: Lowell Elementary School - 175 Orchard St, Watertown, MA 02472

Description: We are extremely excited to invite the Watertown School Building Committee, Watertown Public Schools, and the entire Watertown Community to this monumental milestone as we break ground for the Lowell Elementary School, the final of the three elementary school projects. We look forward to seeing all of you at the Lowell Elementary school on Wednesday, April 27th at 4:30 pm for the ceremony. A small gathering will take place to acknowledge all the hard work and planning that went into this moment. Please hold this date and time for the Watertown Building for the Future - Three Elementary Schools – Lowell Elementary School Ground Breaking. We look forward to seeing you then!

Parent Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Council

April 28th, 7:00-8:00

Join Zoom Meeting https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/86985632231 Meeting ID: 869 8563 2231

Literacy Week

May 9th-13th

Stay Tuned for Events

Meeting: Full Faculty

Wednesday, May 4,⋅2:45 – 4:05 pm

Monthly on the first Wednesday, until Jun 30, 2022

FTO Meeting

Tuesday, May 10,⋅6:30 – 7:30 pm

Lowell - School Council

Thursday, May 12,⋅6:00 – 7:00 pm

Memorial Day Program - Gym

Friday, May 27th

10:00 am

Lowell West Only

Grades 2-5

Listen to Sipu- Gym

Grades 3 & 4 Event

June 6, 2022

1:00 PM

The Watertown Community Foundation has provided us with the opportunity for all students in grades 3 & 4 to attend an in-house performance of the New Rep play Listen to Sipu! This is "a captivating and powerful story that illuminates Watertown's Indigenous history....the tour guide begins describing Watertown's local history only to find that the facts are missing a lot of truths." The play will visit the Cunniff and Lowell schools on Monday, June 6th, and the Hosmer school on Tuesday, June 7th (times below) We are grateful our students will have this opportunity!

Band Concert Save the Date

June 8th

Lowell West

Field Day Save the Date- Victory Field

Thursday, June 9th

Friday, June 10th (Rain Date)

Kindergarten Picnic- Phillips Campus

Thursday, June 16th

Friday, June 17th (Raindate)

MCAS Dates for Spring 2022

Math: May 16th & 17th Grades 3, 4, & 5

Science: May 24th & 25 Grade 5 Only

Online registration for Watertown Community Education's 2022 Summer Explorations Program, being held at the Cunniff Elementary School, opens at 7:00 PM on Thursday, April 14! Spaces are limited, please register early. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Click the link to the 2022 Summer Explorations Program Smore Flyer for full details including cost, dates, and themes, and to access the online Google Form registration link https://www.smore.com/6xh2g.

Please reach out to Debi Cornelius at debora.cornelius@watertown.k12.ma.us and Jeff Bodner at jeffrey.bodner@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions regarding the 2022 Summer Explorations Program.

Thank you,

Debi

Mythical Creatures Scavenger Hunt Kick-Off

Friday, April 15, 2022, 11:00am to 4:00pm ET

Join us to hunt for mythical creatures across the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Can you find a genie, merfolk, or a centaur? What might have inspired a cyclops or a piranha plant? Travel through the galleries of four museums on your quest for these amazing creatures. Test your skills in the galleries of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. The quest ends on May 30. Regular museum admission rates apply.

We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the longer days as we creep slowly but surely toward warmer months. We are thrilled to be holding our rescheduled January Watertown Race Reels event on April 27th. In honor of Armenian Genocide Remberance Day, Watertown Race Reels, in collaboration with the Watertown Free Public Library, will be screening, What Will Become of Us (see attached flyer for details).

This month one of our guest speakers will be Stephanie Ayanian, the producer and director of this month's featured documentary . Her documentary, What Will Become of Us, focuses on a small ethnic group grappling with how to maintain their cultural identities in the melting pot of America 100 years after genocide. She is currently in post production on her next film, No Difference Between Us, that shares the story of Father Armenag, an Armenian-Catholic priest in Los Angeles who works tirelessly to aid Christian and Muslim refugees escaping the atrocities in Syria to secure their lives in America. Ayanian co-owns storyshop, an independent production house for creative media. Before starting storyshop, Ayanian worked as a Senior Producer/Director for Penn State Public Broadcasting where she was the producer and co-director of Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure, for which she received the American Association of Engineering Societies Award for Journalism. The feature documentary was shown on 717 public television stations with a total of 1800 broadcasts in a 12-month period. She also produced and co-directed the Geospatial Revolution Project, which was released episodically on the web and has screened worldwide. She holds an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a BA in Film and Video from the Pennsylvania State University.

Stephanie is a third-generation Armenian American. Her grandparents survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915 as children, grew up in the Armenian ghettos of Marseille, France, and came to reestablish their community in Fresno, California. Her bedtime stories were often of her grandmother’s childhood—the Genocide, the kidnapping of her family members, the reuniting, and the refugee camps.

Joining Stephanie will be our own Watertown resident Stepan Piligian. Stepan is a NASSR (National Association for Armenian Studies & Research) board member who is also a columnist for the Armenian Weekly newspaper in Watertown. We are honored Stephanie and Stepan will be joining us to present and facilitate discussion.

We hope you can join us and will help us spread the word of the event/event details/flyer with your circles within Watertown and beyond.

In Solidarity,

Kara and Teo (Watertown Race Reels Co-collaborators)

A group of parents is trying to put together a recreational softball league for parents of kids in the Watertown schools. The idea is for it to be super relaxed and open to people of all skill levels. Teams would be school-based to give parents a fun opportunity to socialize and build community with other parents at their kid’s school.

If you might be interested in participating (or, even better, helping to organize!), please fill out the Google Doc below

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqgG8g7GXfkQigYh0QYNdrlX4AlmjYW0GUViXjqQk1IXOfYw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Virtual Family Program

Wednesday, April 6, 4:00–4:45 pm ET

Free

Advance registration required

Afterschool Animal Encounters: Super Skeletons

How do animals change as they grow? What do skeletons have to do with how an animal moves? How do animals today compare with their ancient ancestors? Get the answers to these questions and more with human museum staffers Javier and Arielle. Each month we will discuss a different theme while sharing specimens from the museum collections and interacting with some of the museum’s incredible live animals!

Do snakes have bones? Can a turtle crawl out of its shell? How far could you jump if you were a frog? Looking at skeletons can help us answer these questions! Comparing the skeletons of different animals can help us learn more about how they live and move. Join human museum staffers Arielle and Javier as they lead you in a 45-minute program with live animals and specimens from the museum collections. This event will be fun for the whole family so bring your questions and sense of wonder.

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Upcoming Programs for Kids and Families
Now Register for Summer Science Weeks
5/4 Afterschool Animal Encounters: Ancient Ancestors
5/15 In-person Family Workshop: Colossal Heads of Mexico

Phillips Location

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