Dear Greenwood Families,
Happy Sunday! It’s always those short weeks that are deceptively jam-packed with things - we got a lot done in a short amount of time last week. And now we’re ready for more! It feels a little surprising that this isn’t actually the week of Halloween, given that we started seeing pumpkin-, ghost-, skeleton-, and other types of spooky-themed apparel starting on October 1st, but at least we can look forward to the Greenwood Halloween Party this Friday night!
Evacuation Walk Recap
Last week we held a schoolwide drill on Thursday to practice leaving the building in a situation where we would not be able to reenter the school right away. Students did a great job, starting with our usual “firedrill” routine and throughout the walk down Main Street to our off-site meeting spot at Most Blessed Sacrament. We were all back to school and moving on with our learning day by 9:30am after enjoying the chilly sunshine for a bit!
PTO Staff Appreciation - Thank You!
The Greenwood staff feels so appreciated by the appreciation events organized by the Greenwood PTO! Everyone was thrilled last Thursday to enjoy amazingly delicious sliders and a fun apple bar with lots of tasty options for toppings. Many pre-packed lunches ended up getting put aside for Friday!
Book Recommendation - Smart But Scattered by Pam Dawson and Richard Guare
At Greenwood’s Back to School Night, I mentioned to families that the Greenwood Instructional Leadership team did some learning around “executive functioning,” which seems to be coming up more and more as an area of need for students. The most important thing to know is this: executive functioning skills are skills that need to be explicitly taught. While we will be sharing out more information about specific areas of executive functioning and ways that you can support your children with the learning of these skills at home, there is a book that our team read last year, Smart but Scattered, that really explains what different executive functioning skills look like and lays out some concrete ideas about how to teach and improve these different skills. It’s a very interesting read!
“Terrific Thursday”
Let’s have some Greenwood fun to wrap up the month of October! On Thursday, October 31st, students can celebrate a fun day together here at Greenwood by dressing up in some wacky way, which could involve wearing their costume, or simply just sporting some seasonal fall gear, crazy hair, mismatched clothes, or a fun hat.
Dress-up guidelines for the day:
● Must be school-appropriate (both for costume theme and ability to do schoolwork in it)
● No props or accessories
● No full-face masks
And we will once again bring our day to a close with the K-2 costume parade! The parade will begin at 2:35pm - students will follow a route out the back door, around one big loop of the blacktop, walk around the Kindergarten side of the building, and go back in the front door to pick up backpacks, etc. before being dismissed. Families are welcome to come and spectate - please arrange yourself outside the cones. Our 3rd and 4th graders will join everyone outside to help cheer on our younger students. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather - we will not hold the parade if it is raining.
Contacting the Main Office
Again, since Ms. Paiva is out on leave, anything you would normally email her about can be sent to both me (tiffany.back@wpsk12.org) and Majed Chankhour (majed.chankhour@wpsk12.org), who is filling in for Marie during this time period. And as always, don’t forget to include the classroom teacher as appropriate!
Lunchroom Volunteers
Keep the volunteers coming! Kids love to see everyone at lunchtime!
Do you have any free time between 12:00-1:10pm on school days? Looking for a way to help out at Greenwood? We are finally bringing back lunchroom volunteer opportunities! If you’d like to come in and help support students while they’re eating lunch, please see the linked Sign-Up Genius to select time slots through the end of October. Single days, multiple days, one time slot, the whole lunch block…we welcome any and all helpers!
Lunchroom volunteers will help students with those tricky thermoses, hand out napkins and utensils, support students while they sort items into composting/food rescue/trash, and help clean tables at the end of each lunch. Oh, and the most important thing - bring smiles and laughter!
NOTE: You will need to have a CORI form completed before coming in for any lunch shifts - please contact Ms. Chankhour about the process or to check if you have a current one on file
Greenwood School Social Media
We are on Facebook and Instagram, and one of my personal goals this year is to show off the fun we’re having throughout Greenwood! Check us out - @wpsgreenwood on both Instagram and Facebook!
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with questions.
Thank you for everything you do to support your children and their learning! Let’s have a great week!
Tiffany Back
Principal, Greenwood School