WMS Family Newsletter

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

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

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I hope you are enjoying time with loved ones. As we head into 2024, it is a natural season to re--establish a sense of community and remember how to daily live out our SOARS principles: Success, Ownership, Achievement, Respect, and Service.

Quick Updates:

• Thank you for taking the time to complete the 5 Essentials survey. We received responses from 28% of families (minimum needed - 20%), thank you for your feedback!

• In case you missed it, here is Superintendent Galdston's December Newsletter.

• One important thing you can help us with: remind your children to charge and pack their chromebooks every night so they are prepared for class the next day

Upcoming Dates this week:

• January 3: WMS Site Council (agenda), 4-5pm, WMS art room/zoom
  

Respectfully yours,

Ms. Jennifer Chen Fein, Principal

Ms. Susan Carle, Assistant Principal (Clusters 1, 3, 5)

Ms. Jennifer Sarmiento, Assistant Principal (Clusters 2, 4, 6)

Students showed off their geography knowledge in a school-wide challenge on December 23rd. This is a favorite tradition that is always a fun way for the WMS community to head off into the winter break.

Congratulations to our winner, eighth grader Carson Beale, and thank you to the faculty and staff at WMS who made this exciting event such a success.

Hi, my name is Christopher Cotreau and I am an Instructional assistant here at the Middle school. I have been a part of the Middle School community for 25 years.

This letter is to advise that starting tomorrow, I will have a new service dog, Carter, accompanying me to work. Carter is trained to provide service in a manner that does not disrupt the learning environment for others and is identifiable by its vest or harness.The Service Dog will be assigned a specific seating area very close to me and he is trained not to be disruptive while in school. Please see a picture of Carter and I to the right.

We respect the needs of all students in providing a safe and inclusive learning environment. Please reach out to Principal Chen Fein at jennifer.chenfein@watertown.k12.ma.us to let us know if you have any specific concerns regarding the presence of a Service Dog in our school. Thank you for your ongoing support.

We live in New England, and whether we love them or hate them, snow days may be just around the corner. In the case of inclement weather or school closure for emergency reasons, information about school closures will be:

• Posted on the District’s website (www.watertown.k12.ma.us), the WPS Facebook page (@watertownpublicschools) and the WPS X feed (@watertownschool)
• Emailed to parents and staff from the Superintendent’s office via the District’s messaging service
• Broadcast by the following stations:

WBZ Television (Channel 4)

WCVB Television (Channel 5)

WHDH Television (Channel 7)

NBC Boston (Channel 10 and NECN)

WFXT Television (Channel 25)

WBZ Radio (AM 1030)

In most occurrences, the decision to open, delay, or close school is made between 5:30 and 6:00 AM.

Delayed Openings

A delayed opening may be announced to allow the District and/or Department of Public Works to adequately prepare streets, walkways, and parking lots for safe travel. Delayed openings will be for one (1) hour to two (2) hours after the schools’ regular scheduled start times. Before-school programs are canceled on days with delayed openings. Lunch will be served at the regular time and school will close at the regular time.
On occasion, the District may call for an early release or cancel PM and evening activities including after-school Extended Day programs. Please check the aforementioned television and radio stations for notifications of PM closures.

Join us for our next meeting on Wednesday, January 3. Here is our agenda.

The WMS Site Council is a body of students, faculty, parents, and caregivers that plays a strong role in the vision and direction of our school. Site Council meets on the following Wednesdays from 4-5pm in person (WMS art room, A128)/virtually (zoom). Join us for any of our following meetings:

• January 3 - guest: World Language Coordinator
  
• January 31 - guests: Math and Science Coordinators
• March 27 - guest: ELA Coordinators
• May 1 - drafting the WMS School Improvement Plan 2024-25
• May 29 - finalizing and voting on the WMS School Improvement Plan 2024-25

Do you have a question for the WMS Site Council, but can't make it to our meetings? Submit this form to ask, and we will share a summary in this newsletter and/or follow up with you.

Reach out to Principal Chen Fein at jennifer.chenfein@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions or to express interest in joining next year.

Thank you PTO for providing hot chocolate and cookies for teachers at the end of December, these little moments of joy are priceless!

Please join us for our next meeting, January 9 (in person - WMS Art Room/virtual) at 6:30pm. Upcoming meeting date for the year include: February 13 (virtual), March 12 (virtual), April 9 (in person - WMS Art Room/virtual), May 14 (virtual), June 11 (virtual)

Are you interested in being on the WMS PTO? Reach out to our new co-PTO Presidents Elena Poillucci <elenapoillucci@gmail.com> and Melissa Parker <melissapisces@yahoo.com> with any questions or to express interest in joining next year.

Watertown's annual Martin Luther King Day Unity Breakfast will once again take the form of a television and online broadcast on Monday, January 15th at 10am. You can watch the event online at unitybreakfast.org, and Watertown cable subscribers can watch on the program on Watertown Cable Access Corp's Public Channel (Comcast 9, RCN 3).

Prior to the Unity Breakfast broadcast on MLK Day, the community is invited to attend the Youth in Unity event at the Lowell Elementary on Tuesday, January 9th at 6pm.

The WMS Diversity & Belonging Council is a forum for caregivers and other community members to work toward more equitable practices at the middle school by encouraging accountability, raising awareness, and fostering community engagement.

We will usually meet the third Monday of each month, with our next meeting on January 22 virtually

You can reach out to Sarah Seldomridge at sarah.seldomridge@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions. Thank you!

Dear Watertown Community,

As promised, we held our 2nd monthly meeting of the newly relaunched Watertown Anti Bias Coalition on December 11, 2023 at 5:30pm in the Lowell Learning Commons at the J.R. Lowell Elementary School.

Here is a link to the SY 23-24 Watertown Anti Bias Coalition Meeting Dates. This document will be updated at the conclusion of each session with a link to the meeting agenda/slidedeck and a link to each session's feedback forms.

In addition for anyone who has completed the SY 2023-24 Anti-Bias Coalition Participation Survey, you will receive a mtg invite directly to your personal calendar.

Thanks to all in advance.

Best,

Dr. Daly and Superintendent Galdston

Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Starting this month, all Clusters emailed their monthly update directly to caregivers, as well as having the information available here. We hope these updates help you engage in conversation with your child about what they are learning.

Please see our monthly update from WMS teachers:

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Cluster 3

Cluster 4

Cluster 5

Cluster 6

World Language

Specialists

Wilson Reading

*New* Library & Literacy

Nurse Lisa

WMS Winter Clubs run through March 14, 2024.

Students pay $50 one time to participate in any sports or clubs all year; please reach out to the guidance counselor to inquire about a scholarship. Students may participate in any enrichment activities for free (Learning Lab, Student Leadership, GSA, and Yearbook).

The late bus runs Monday-Thursday at 3:45pm.

It was great to see so many caregivers at our first Caregiver University Event in November.

If you missed it, here are the slides we used in our presentation.

Supporting Students with PowerSchool and Google Classroom - English slides

Supporting Students with PowerSchool and Google Classroom - Portuguese slides

Supporting Students with PowerSchool and Google Classroom - Spanish slides

Supporting Students with PowerSchool and Google Classroom - Arabic slides

Our next Caregiver University event will be focused on Teen Mental Health and how to support your child, coming up in early 2024.

Teaching and learning is best done with students and staff are regularly in attendance at school. There will however, be times where WMS staff are absent, and students have their learning supervised by a substitute teacher or other adults at school. Our Supported Substitute Classroom (SSC) is a structure we implement 6-12th grade in Watertown, to ensure learning is able to continue even with an unexpected teacher absence. The SSC is located in the auditorium during periods 2-5 and the cafeteria periods 6-8.

If we have a known adult who can take a class to teach in their regular classroom when the teacher is out, we try our best to do that. However, the system we have established in our district is to have all students in one place to start so that we can establish routines whether there is one or multiple teachers out.

The routine in the SSC is that students need to arrive for success by bringing their D.E.A.R. book, a pencil, and their Chromebook. They must have these to enter the auditorium or cafeteria. We are implementing D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read), as a part of the daily SSC routine, which helps to establish clear expectations as students are arriving. Students will read, complete classwork, and complete their check-in and exit ticket for each period they are in the SSC. We have students read first, as this helps us to minimize students who are tempted to be off task on their chromebooks later in the period.

D.E.A.R. ("Drop Everything and Read") is a structure we are intentionally re-incorporating into our school day as part of our school wide literacy development goals. Our goal is to support all readers’ growth through student choice and by meeting each reader “where they are” in order to improve decoding, fluency, and vocabulary acquisition. Students are supported to develop independent reading strategies and practices. D.E.A.R. is a national celebration of reading designed to make reading a priority activity in our lives. April 12th is national D.E.A.R. day in honor of author Beverly Cleary’s birthday. D.E.A.R. time was a reading practice featured in the Ramona books.

Something that caregivers can help with is reminding your child to pack their D.E.A.R. book every day, along with their charged chromebook, planner, and any other school supplies.

• January 3: WMS Site Council, 4-5pm, WMS art room/zoom
  

• January 9: WPS Youth in Unity - Lowell Learning Commons (6:00pm)
• January 9: WMS PTO (6:30pm, virtual)
• January 10: Early Release (11:45am dismissal with grab-n-go lunch)
• January 15: No School - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• January 15: Watertown Unity Breakfast (10:00am, virtual at unitybreakfast.org)
  
• January 22: WMS Diversity Council (virtually here at 6:00pm)
• January 25: Trimester 2 Progress Report Reminder
• January 26: 90s Party - hosted by the WMS PTO - Sons of Italy (7-10pm)
• January 29-30: WMS i-Ready mid-year diagnostics (Reading, Math)

• January 31: WMS Site Council, 4-5pm, WMS art room/zoom
• February 8: Caregiver University: Your Teen and Mental Health (6:30-7:30pm)

• February 13: WMS PTO (6:30pm, virtual)
• February 19-23: No School - February Recess
• February 28: Early Release (11:45am dismissal with grab-n-go lunch)

• WMS Bell Schedule and Trimester Dates 2023-2024
  

• Watertown Public Schools Calendar 2023-2024
  

• WPS MCAS schedule Spring 2024
  

• Watertown Community Resources - English
• Watertown Community Resources - Spanish
• Watertown Community Resources - Portuguese

Community Resources for Food

• Watertown Food Pantry: 80 Mt. Auburn St. (rear of the Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church), Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. https://www.watertown-ma.gov/330/Watertown-Food-Pantry, 617-972-6490
• Watertown Catholic Collaborative Food Pantry: 770 Mt. Auburn St. (basement), Thursdays from 10 to 11:45 a.m. 617-926-7121
• Watertown Community Fridge: 80 Mt. Auburn St. (Front of the Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church), Open 24/7 https://www.watertowncommunityfridge.org/
• Watertown Social Services Resource Specialists: at Wayside Multi-Service Center, 127 North Beacon St. https://www.watertown-ma.gov/673/Watertown-Social-Services-Resource-Speci 617-744-9585
• Live Well Watertown/Watertown Farmers Market: City Hall, 149 Main St. 617-972-6446 x8 https://www.livewellwatertown.org/home
• Watertown Community Foundation: https://www.watertownfoundation.org/ 617-926-1500
• Food Pantry at American Legion Post 440: 295 California St., Newton, 3rd Fridays from 10 to 11 a.m. 617-244-0440
• Centre Street Food Pantry: 11 Homer St., Newton, Tuesdays 2:30-6 p.m. & the first Saturday of the month from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. 617-340-9554
• SNAP: (formerly Food Stamps) https://www.mass.gov/snap-benefits-formerly-food-stamps
• Project Bread: https://www.projectbread.org/ Food Source Hotline (1-800-645-8333)

Source: Watertown News, December 11, 2023

• Ms. Jennifer Chen Fein, Principal, jennifer.chenfein@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Jennifer Sarmiento, Assistant Principal (Clusters 2, 4, 6), jennifer.sarmiento@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Susan Carle, Assistant Principal (Clusters 1, 3, 5), susan.carle@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Lisa Gallagher, Nurse, lisa.gallagher@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Sarah Juusola, Special Education, Team Chair, sarah.juusola@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Mr. Tom Cloherty, Grade Six Counselor, thomas.cloherty@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Jody Gladstein, Grade Seven Counselor, jody.gladstein@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Amanda Skypeck, Grade Eight Counselor, amanda.skypeck@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Saira Chaudhry, Administrative Assistant, saira.chaudhry@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Ms. Laurie Brackett, Administrative Assistant, laurie.brackett@watertown.k12.ma.us
• Officer Anna Margaryan, Watertown Police Department School Resource Officer, anna.margaryan@watertown.k12.ma.us

Watertown Middle School Full Staff Directory

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Website: https://wms.watertown.k12.ma.us/
Location: 68 Waverley Avenue, Watertown, MA, USA
Phone: 617-926-7783