Dear Greenwood Families,
Happy Monday! It was wonderful last week to see our Greenwood Gators visiting the school for their hybrid orientation sessions. The hallways and classrooms here have been empty for far too long, and we’re looking forward to fixing that. This week’s letter has a lot of information, so let’s get started!
Moving into Phase 3
We have one more day in Phase 2 of our WPS Reopening Plan, and on Tuesday, September 29th we are moving into Phase 3. In this phase, families are either participating in the hybrid model with in-person learning based on cohort assignments or remaining in a full remote model with a specifically-assigned remote teacher. Schedules for instruction in both models have been shared previously - they are linked below again for your convenience.
Full Remote Cohort Update
On Friday, families who indicated that they would continue with the full remote model were notified about their child’s teacher assignment. If you did not receive this message and should have, please notify me as soon as possible.
Phase 3 Specialist Schedules
All Greenwood students, regardless of the instructional model they are in for Phase 3, will continue to participate in virtual specialist classes during their asynchronous learning time. Much will remain the same on these schedules, most importantly, the start times of specialist blocks. However, there are some adjustments:
Specialist time blocks are now 35 minutes.
All students will now have a special on Wednesdays. Kindergarten and 1st grade will have an additional PE block, while 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades will have an additional Library block.
Specialists will have an “office hour” opportunity after each AM and PM cohort block on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for students/families at all grade levels to ask questions or follow up with the teachers.
You have probably received these grade level-specific links already from classroom teachers - they have now been updated to reflect the changes outlined above.
These schedules will take effect on Tuesday, September 29th.
Arrival
The arrival window for students in all grades is from 8:15-8:25am for the AM cohort and 12:25-12:35pm for the PM cohort. Students will enter the building immediately upon arrival and head directly to their classroom. Multiple doors will be utilized to facilitate social distancing, per the chart below:
Click here to view a map of the doors that should be used at arrival.
Classroom teachers will be in their classrooms at the start of the arrival block to be ready to welcome students. Other staff members will be assigned to monitor an outside door or inside hallway to ensure smooth traffic flow and proper social distancing.
No car traffic will be allowed in the front driveway during arrival for the safety of our students and families. Students who are dropped off via Greenwood Avenue may need to walk around to the front of the school building to access the appropriate entrance door.
Dismissal
The end of the school day is at 10:55am for the AM Cohort and 3:05pm for the PM Cohort. Classroom teachers will escort their students out the appropriate dismissal door in a staggered manner to help with social distancing. All grades, with the exception of Kindergarten, will then proceed to the back of the school to meet families in order to facilitate the collection of siblings. Kindergarten will be dismissed first and their pick up will take place on the ramp side of the school building as it has in previous years.
Students in Grades 2 & 3 who are leaving the building through the front door may be picked up in the front of the building if there are no siblings from other grades to collect and you are leaving school grounds on the Main Street side. Otherwise, we ask that you meet your children in the back of the school to minimize foot traffic walking around the outside of the building.
Grab & Go Lunches
Because our AM/PM cohort model does not include time for students to eat lunch at school, all WPS elementary schools are offering a portable meal to any student whose family requests one. For the AM cohort, students will pick a lunch up as they leave the building, to be eaten off-site. For the PM cohort, students will collect their lunch as they arrive. This lunch can be eaten during their afternoon snack/mask break time or brought home for lunch on the following day.
In order to try and get accurate numbers for how many lunches we will need prepared, we are asking families who would like to participate in the Grab & Go program during September/October to fill out this survey by Wednesday, September 30th.
If you suddenly realize your child needs to pick up lunch one day and you didn’t fill out the survey, don’t panic. We plan to have some extra lunches on hand just to make sure we're not missing anyone.
As with many things these days, we will evaluate how this is working once we get going and make adjustments as necessary.
Literacy Coach Website
Our WPS Elementary Literacy Coaches have put together a website with lots of valuable information and links for families. You can access it here.
Massachusetts STEM Week 2020
Massachusetts STEM Week 2020 will take place the week of October 19th-23rd, and we are planning many exciting events for our Wakefield students. Be on the lookout for more information during the first week of October! In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about Massachusetts STEM week check out the website: https://www.massstemweek.org/
Technology Support
As you know, classroom teachers are working with different cohorts of students in the morning and afternoon. In order to assist with providing timely information, our WPS Tech Department has asked families to email them at technology@wpsk12.org if your child is in need of technology support while at home.
Playground Notes
Once again, please be mindful of social distancing and appropriate mask behavior while visiting our beautiful new playground. DPW has put up new signs to remind everyone of how we can do our part to keep Wakefield healthy.
Also once again, I have had families ask if it is okay for them to use the playground after their children are dismissed from school. This is fine to do, with the reminder that after the AM cohort, there is another cohort of students coming to the building for in-person instruction in the afternoon. In order to maintain social distancing and reduce large groups, everyone from the AM cohort should leave Greenwood (including the playground) by 11:45am unless otherwise specified.
Safety Updates
As we start the school year, we want to ask parents to support us in our efforts to keep everyone safe by practicing and promoting safety precautions, which include hand hygiene, mask-wearing, social distancing, and avoiding large group gatherings and travel to high-risk states where the rates of transmission are high. We are also asking for you to keep children home if they are experiencing any of the following symptoms:
Fever of 100.0 or higher, and/or chills
Cough (not due to other known cause such as chronic cough, asthma, allergies)
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Headache when in combination with other symptoms
Muscle aches or body aches
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
Fatigue when in combination with other symptoms
Nasal congestion or runny nose when in combination with other symptoms and not due to other known causes such as allergies
Unusual rash when in combination with other symptoms
Our school nurse, Mrs. Doherty, is always happy to answer any questions you may have or provide clarification.
I am also sharing here a more Greenwood-specific document for safety procedures. This is a live document that will continue to be updated as necessary.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with questions. Thank you for everything you do to support your children and their learning!
Tiffany Back