Dear Greenwood Families,
While it has felt challenging during this entire closure period for us here at Greenwood to be distanced from all of our students and families, that feeling increased significantly as we watched the tragic and troubling events of the past weeks unfold on our screens. As elementary school educators, our highest priority is to create a safe, welcoming, and supportive school environment, and one of the things we want most of all is to be there for kids when times are confusing. Our roles as trusted adults are not ones we take lightly. To that end, it was so wonderful to see the Greenwood community come together on Sunday morning for a circle of community and connection. As I watched parents, children, and neighbors approach from all directions and join the constantly-expanding circle, I felt so lucky and proud to be part of this amazing, caring community. It was exactly what we all needed at this time.
Resource on Racism for Kids: Something Happened in Our Town
Many families have been looking for age-appropriate resources to use when talking to elementary-school children about racial injustice. While there were a number of links shared in the email that went out to the entire Wakefield community the other afternoon, one of our teachers found a recorded “animation” of a children’s book that tackles this topic matter-of-factly and openly called Something Happened in Our Town. This book was published in 2018 by Magination Press, an imprint of the American Psychological Association. Unsurprisingly, it is currently out of stock at both Amazon and the publisher’s website, so I am sharing this recording with families for use with your children. If you are interested in more information, additional book-related resources can be found on the publisher’s website.
Student Belonging Pick-up
Many thanks to the classroom teachers who bravely tackled the contents of student desks last week to pack up student belongings! If your family has not yet signed up for a June 11th pickup window, please do so as soon as possible. (Here is the link to the Sign-Up Genius.) Again, if you need to make other arrangements, please reach out to me.
Lost and Found
In order to maintain social distancing and minimize contact, we will not put the lost and found bin out during the student belonging pick-up. However, if you have an item that you’d like me to look for (and can describe extremely well), I’ll go through the bin and put found items into student bags. Additionally, in order to give everyone another chance to reunite with their missing items, we will keep the bin until the fall instead of donating at the end of the school year.
Wakefield Virtual Field Day
Our first ever town-wide Virtual Field Day is finally here! Visit Mr. Hennessey's website and practice as many events as you want from Monday-Thursday. On Friday, please go back to the website for the official Virtual Field Day event cards and scoresheets. Record your scores to send to Mr. Hennessey through his website or to his email. Remember: Play Strong, Play Fair, Play Safe, and HAVE FUN!!!!
Class Placement
Due to the uncertainty and planning that needs to be done during the summer regarding the 2020-2021 school year, we will not be sharing elementary school class lists with families before the end of school as we have done in the past. Teachers have been and are still working on their thoughtful placement process to create balanced classrooms, however, class lists will be shared later in the summer at all four elementary schools. We know this may be disappointing, and we are working on ways that students might virtually meet both teachers from the next grade level before the year is over. If you have questions, please let me know.
“Honor a Senior”
The Wakefield Memorial High School Senior Night Committee has organized a project called “Honor a Senior” to recognize the graduating class of 2020. See the flyer for more information if you’d like to participate!
Whole-School Car Parade
The Greenwood staff really wanted to find a way for a “live” goodbye to our Gators before they head off into summer, so we are having a parade! However, in this parade, families will drive by and Greenwood staff members will be out waving and cheering (in a socially-distanced manner!) as everyone passes.
Date: Wednesday, June 17th.
The Greenwood parade begins at 10:00am.
There are staggered "start times" based on grade level in order to avoid traffic backups. Times listed below are tentative.
Kindergarten @ 10:00am
1st Grade @ 10:20am
2nd Grade @ 10:40am
3rd Grade @ 11:00am
4th Grade @ 11:30am
Cars proceed down Greenwood Avenue from Main Street/Pitman Avenue toward Oak Street without stopping.
All families must be in cars and are not allowed to stop.
This plan has been shared with the WPS Director of Facilities, Wakefield Police & Fire, the Wakefield Board of Health, and the Director of Wakefield Emergency Management. All four elementary schools will each have their own “rolling rally” to wrap up this unusual school year!
Weekly Theme
I’ll continue to share the ABC Countdown daily activity/theme during my morning message. We’re getting so near the end! Keep on sending me those wonderful pictures to re-post!
Greenwood Instagram & Facebook Account
Just another reminder about following the Greenwood School Instagram and/or Facebook accounts (@wpsgreenwood) to see the daily videos!
Thank you for everything you do to support your children and their learning—let’s have a great week! And as always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need support.
Take care,
Tiffany