Turtle Talk 01/10/2025

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Happy New Year Watershed Turtles!

We have had an interesting start to the school year! With the snow and the opening of our new 5th grade classrooms, we are experiencing new situations at all times. Thank you for your flexibility and support when BCPS closes school unexpectedly. One thing I do want to share directly with our community - I recently attended a meeting with other principals from the area. Watershed was noted as having the lowest rate of chronic absenteeism among those schools! Fantastic news! Watershed continues to lead schools in not only academic experiences but also our connection and student experience! Let's keep this momentum going into the new year. Thank you for your continued partnership ensuring that students are at school regularly and on time!

Breakfast entrance - Please drop students for breakfast by 7:55 am each morning. Doors for breakfast will open at 7:45 and will close at 7:55 am. From 7:55 - 8:00 am, we have staff entering the parking lot to ensure our families and students are moving safely through the parked cars. Students can still receive breakfast when they enter the building at 8 am - they will report directly to the cafeteria to eat. Students who arrive to school between 7:55 and 8:00 am will be directed to go to their entrance doors. They may walk to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and will not be marked late.

Magnet seats - Watershed values school choice! One of the ways that school choice is available to Baltimore County students is through the Magnet programs of Baltimore County. Magnet seats will be emailed to families at 4:30 on Friday afternoon. Should your child be offered a seat at a magnet program based on your application, parents/guardians will have 10 days to accept that seat. Please note: Acceptance of a magnet seat will signal a withdrawal from Watershed for the 2025-26 school year. BCPS will tell us that your child is accepted to that specific magnet program and we will begin sending information to the new school and will withdraw your child at the end of this school year. Accepting a magnet seat will signal to Watershed that your child will not be attending in 2025-26 and their seat will be opened for the lottery. Please call the front office should you have any questions.

Virtual snow days - While we know that virtual learning is not for everyone, we also know that Baltimore County has planned for our school year to end based on the use of virtual snow days. Otherwise, the school year would be extended into the summer. Each year BCPS provides a survey which allows stakeholders to provide input on the calendar. Please be sure that share your thoughts when that survey comes out. So, what do VIRTUAL snow days mean for Watershed? We must follow the BCPS opening and closure schedules as outlined in our contract with BCPS. We will implement virtual learning synchronous learning in alignment with the expectations from BCPS and MSDE. Please see the BCPS plan here . Information about our specific plan will come to Watershed families on Wednesday 1/15 so that you have an idea of what it will look like. We promise to balance the need for outdoor learning, with limited screen time.

If you need a device for your child to use for virtual learning, please click to complete this form by Wednesday January 15th.

Request for Records and student progress: Please send all requests for student progress and records to the main office (bclark4@bcps.org). Ms. Bernadette Clark is our school records secretary and will be able to get you all of information that you need to ensure a quick and thorough response from staff. Contacting the front office first allows us to expedite the experience - teachers are able to provide parents/guardians direct information easily but additional paperwork is required for the school to share information with medical providers, independent schools or outside individuals.

MSDE Expert Review Team: On February 5th and 6th, the Maryland State Department of Education is visiting Watershed to see math instruction. There will be opportunities for teachers, community members, parents/guardians and students to provide feedback. Look for the Turtle Talks in the New Year for opportunities to join in showing off the amazing things our Turtles do each and every day to the State of Maryland!

REMINDER - the Unit 2 showcase is scheduled for Wednesday March 12! Remember parents/guardians, we need your help feedback for our speaking and listening standards. When you attend Unit 2 showcase, you partner with your child's teacher to ensure they are progressing through the standards!

https://bcps.nutrislice.com/menu/bcps-weekly-menus

Watershed is pleased to announce its intent to renew our Maryland Green School status this spring. The application involves providing examples of the hands-on, integrated environmental project-based curriculum, stewardship, and activism for which our Watershed Turtle educators and students are known. Learn more about Maryland Green Schools here: https://marylandgreenschools.org

Ms. Lauren has created a plant propagation station in the Watershed front doorway. Plant cuttings are growing in the window and available for anyone to adopt a plant cutting and take it home. Families are also welcome to leave their own plant cuttings for others to take. If you are looking for a new houseplant, check out Ms. Lauren's display!

Watershed participates in Trex's plastic recycling program. There are 2 tall white containers in the front lobby to collect plastic bags and plastic wrap. Each week, a Watershed volunteer collects the plastic, weighs it, takes a picture of it and drops it off at a local grocery store for recycling. Watershed logs our plastic donations each week. If we reach our goal of recycling 1,000 lbs. of plastic by the end of August, Watershed would receive a composite bench for our campus made out of plastic bags like the ones that we have been recycling. Please help us reach our goal and bring your clean, dry, and food-free plastic to recycle at school. Thank you!

Next up: the construction of the middle school modular classrooms! Our contractor is working through the permitting process with Baltimore County, and we anticipate initial site work to begin in February. Thank you for your continued support as we expand our campus to meet the needs of our growing Watershed community.

We are excited to share that work began over the Winter Break on a new security video camera and door access system, funded by a generous grant from the Middendorf Foundation. New wiring and monitors have already been installed, and we’re in the process of scheduling the remaining work. This important project will enhance the safety and security of our campus.

Ideas/Questions/Concerns Contact us at PTO@watershedpto.org

On Friday, February 7th, from 3:30 - 5:00 PM the Watershed PTO will host its first-ever Repair Shop! Families with reserved time slots can come together to learn how to make small repairs, whether it's fixing a favorite toy, shirt, or even that stubborn bike chain.

The Repair Shop helps keep items out of landfills by teaching repair skills. Volunteers will offer tools, advice, and materials to help fix broken items. We’ll focus on textiles (patching clothes, replacing buttons), kids’ transportation (bike, skateboard, and scooter repairs), and kids’ toys (gluing, cleaning, and upcycling).

To make this event a success, we need volunteers with repair skills and others to help with set-up and take-down. Interested? Sign up here!

Slots for families needing repairs will be announced soon!

The Annual Watershed PTO Spelling Bee will be held in the evening on Thursday, February 27th, as a Scripps-registered event. Students in grades 3-7 will take a spelling test in class between January 29th-31st. The top two students from each class will be invited to compete in the Spelling Bee on February 27th. Following the classroom tests, winning students from each class will be recognized and given materials to prepare for the school-wide bee. The school winner will move on to the Scripps regional competition on March 22nd. Please check your students Tuesday Folder on January 14th for more information.

Did you know that the Watershed PTO has a linktree? Visit https://linktr.ee/watershedpto to find an up to date list of all our links including the Fall Fest RSVP, Room Rep Contact Information, volunteer sign-ups, our Mabel’s Labels fundraiser, and more!