School Safety

The WS Emergency Preparedness Team met today to discuss school safety. We have decided it's time to make some recommendations to the school board, but want to have one more conversation before that happens. The EPC is inviting the Selectmen, WS School Board, Police, Emergency Responders, WS Faculty and Staff, and adults in the community to join us for a conversation on Thursday, June 20th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Ascutney Volunteer Fire Dept. We will have a working supper as we discuss ways to tighten school safety!  No RSVP necessary, just pop in.  

Hope you can join us!

Thank you,

JeanMarie

Thank You!

An Open Letter to Say Thank You to Those Who Have Made a Difference!

Congratulations to our 26 8th grade graduates and their families. Students, you are now officially 9th graders! We wish you love and success... you will be sorely missed and I mean that! Thank you to our 7th grade students and their families for the fantastic meal and decorations at last night's graduation reception... we were all impressed!

Today is the last day of work in the FY 13 school year for our Instructional Assistants. Please join me in saying a special THANK YOU to Emily, Marianne, Pat, Kathy, Gerri, and Charlene. Thank you for an excellent school year and for all your hard work and dedication! We couldn't do it without you!

Heartfelt thanks to Travis, Peter, and BJ who made graduation a superb event last night! Peter could do this professionally, no kidding!

God Bless Betty Brooks and Charlene Simone as they begin their retirement journeys (lucky ducks!). Happiness Always!

Thank you to our hard working kitchen staff, Sandy and Judy, for all they do to make the food service program so delicious!

Gary, Roland, Theresa, and Mike keep our school neat, clean, and welcoming... keep up the good work and thank you!

Who wants to be a bus driver?  A question I ask myself often.  It is a hard, noisy, thankless job, yet we have five dedicated bus drivers, who have nearly perfect attendance, and a loyalty like no other.  They are the salt of the Earth and you can count on them at every turn!!! A very sincere thank you to Chet, David, Larry, Rhonda, and John!

Thank you to the WS teachers and our professional staff for an incredible year! Your sincerity, work ethic, skillfulness, passion, and energy have touched my heart... many thanks! It's all about the kids!!!  

Tomorrow is your last day of work for this school year, as we have an inservice day on June 13th... yeah! We will start the morning with coffee, a light fare, and conversation from 7:30 am to 8:00 am in the all purpose room before we begin our NECAP test disaggregation and curriculum work. A full agenda will be sent to you electronically later this morning.

BJ and Joan... you run the school and make every single day a pleasure to come to work. I shudder to think what life would be without you! You care so deeply! You smile every day! There isn't anything you don't know and can't do!!! You are kind and so welcoming... thank you so much!

We have over 100 volunteers that work in our school in some capacity. Our Volunteer Thank You Tea was last Thursday, but I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the community and volunteers for caring about our school and working tirelessly to make Weathersfield School the very best school in the state of Vermont!

Our PTA is like no other... Thank you Kelly O'Brien and all of our PTA members for your love and hard work on behalf of our students and our school!

We appreciate all 230 of our K-8 students and their families for being our partners in education! Thank you Superintendent Baker and the WS School Board for caring and working so hard on our behalf! It is easy to be thankful if you live and work in Weathersfield!

Our end of the year awards assembly is today at 8:05am for grades 5-8. You are all welcome to join us.

Students will be dismissed at 11:20 am this morning, after lunch.  

Have a wonderful and adventurous summer!

Be happy, safe and READ, READ, READ!!!

Thank you all for making me smile!

With Love and Sincere Thanks,

JeanMarie

WS Newsletter - 6/7/13

Weekly News Letter from The Principal’s Corner

June 7, 2013

Last News Letter of the FY 13 School Year

Next week is a short week, (2.5 days), so this will be the last news letter from me for this year.  Where has the year gone?  It has been a blast!  After successfully completing my third year here at WS, may I say THANK YOU!  This is a wonderful place to work and play!  Thank you for all that you do to nurture and support children. 

YOU have made a difference! 

JM

Homework Help

The last day of Homework Help for this school year will be on June 11, 2013.

Grade 5 Change Next Year

Our middle level program prepares students for the upper grades where they'll be working with several teachers in various subjects. Next year's fifth grade students will be in Mrs. Allen's homeroom but will also have classes with Mrs. Day and Mrs. Karaffa. This is a change that we hope will make the transition to grades 7 and 8 much smoother.

FY 14 Calendars

We are attaching an FY 14 school calendar to this newsletter.  Please be aware that school starts on August 26, 2013 and the first week of school is a full 5 day week, so the children will surely need to gear up for school in mid-August!

FY 14 WS Report Card and Progress Reporting System

Weathersfield School is making some important changes to our report cards and the way we report student progress in FY 14, (next year).  Students in grades K-4 will have an electronic standards based report card starting this fall.  We will still have four quarters as marking periods, as usual, and the reporting dates are the same and can be found on the FY 14 calendar sent to families a month ago.  The teachers need to become familiar with PowerSchool Grading and all of the Common Core Standards for all subject areas in K-4.  Owing to the complexity of this new system,  there will be no progress reports from teachers in grades K-4 until the third mid-term closes on February 28^th, and only for at risk or failing students.  Students in K-4 will have regular report cards sent home in November and January, and the last two quarters.  Parents will still be able to contact teachers to see how their children are doing and parent-teacher conferences will be held as usual in November.  The teachers will be assessing students on new in depth standards and this takes time and practice.  The change will be in the look of the report card and how often we report out mid-term grades for K-4.  We are in the emergent stages of these many changes, so we will do our best to make it a smooth transition.  Though we are using PowerSchool to document grading in K-4 in FY 14, the parent portal will NOT be open until FY 15 for many reasons. 

Teachers in grades 5-8 used PowerSchool Grading this year, so they are familiar with the process.  The parent portal WILL be open on PowerSchool this fall, so there will be no need to send progress reports home four times a year, as has been the practice.  Teachers will keep student grades up to date, so a parent can access their child's progress electronically, at any point in the year. Report cards will still go home four times a year, see FY 14 calendar for the dates of the four quarters.  Any parent who does not have access to their child's grades electronically, please let your child's teacher know and a hard copy of a progress report can be made available to you. Numerical numbers for effort will no longer be on the report cards so they will not be used to determine eligibility for sports and extracurricular activities.

This whole system is new and complicated and like anything new, it may have nuances that are different and maybe even confusing.  We ask for your patience and support as we move forward to perfect this new reporting system.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call Principal Oakman at the school at 674-5400.

Puppets in Education

Mrs. Sprague, Guidance Director,  and PTA have arranged for us to see an awesome puppet presentation next week from the famous performers called Puppets in Education.  The performances will be on June 11th in the all purpose room and the public is welcome to join us:

8:30 to 9:30 -  Grades K-2 presentations on Bullying and Cerebral Palsy

9:30 to 10:30 -  Grades 3 and 4 presentations on Bullying and Learning Differences

12:30 to 1:45 - Grades 5, 6 and 7 Bullying prevention workshops

Track Team News from Mr. Lambert, Coach

At the Connecticut River Valley Middle School Track and Field Championship Meet on Friday, May 31st, Chris Gurney set a new Long Jump Weathersfield School Record at 14' 9", beating the previous mark set in 2007. He also beat his previous Weathersfield School record in the Triple Jump.  He set the new record at 30' 6". Additionally, Sara Spencer won a ribbon in the 800 meter run; she placed 6th overall. Weathersfield gP

irls placed 16th out of 29 teams! Congratulations, All!

Summer Film Making

Here is a link to information about a fun summer camp for children!  If money is a problem, please let Principal Oakman know.  https://smore.com/e5yu

Have a wonderful summer… read, read, read!

JeanMarie