Dear Greenwood Families,
Happy Sunday! Ok, fine, it’s winter and supposed to be cold. But it’s not supposed to be “indoor recess four days in a row” cold! (Thank goodness for the reprieve on Friday!) Kids work hard while they’re here, and while there are always plenty of “Go Noodle” body break moments, teachers really count on those opportunities for outside play/activity to help kids recharge and reset for the next academic activity. Here’s hoping for at least a 10-degree temperature bump for all of next week!
Early Release - Friday, January 17th
Our next early release day for students is on Friday, January 17th. All students will be dismissed at 11:55am in order for WPS staff to have professional development sessions in the afternoon. While there will not be a scheduled lunch block during the morning, families will have the option to sign up for a “Grab & Go” lunch. See next blurb for details!
Grab & Go Lunches - Friday, January 17th
Due to the necessary adjustments to our instructional schedules on shortened school days, we will NOT have a scheduled lunch block during the morning on early release days (kids will still have snack!). However, we WILL be offering the opportunity for children to pick up a “Grab & Go” lunch before they leave the building or go to Wakefield Academy. While still free to access, families will have to sign up in order for their child to take a lunch on any early release day. I will be sending out a separate School Messenger with the sign-up link on Monday, January 13th. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about this!
Reminder - Snacks
Right before the break we noticed a slight uptick in students who were coming to the office because they did not have a packed snack for their morning break. Please know that while school lunches are provided free of charge to any student who wants one, we do not have that same capacity when it comes to snacks. We appreciate your assistance with this!
Midyear District Assessments
If your child happens to come home and say, “I did a reading activity with a different teacher today!” or “I logged into i-Ready to do math today,” that’s just a sign that we have entered the midyear elementary assessment window. As a reminder, there are three times over the course of the school year where we collect benchmark information about students in reading and math to better refine our general classroom instructional needs, identify and form intervention/enrichment groups, and monitor overall student growth. Once the data is collected, we will be sharing DIBELS and i-Ready assessment information out with families.
NOTE: For our DIBELS midyear assessments, we will be using a districtwide team model to complete testing more efficiently. Reading specialists and literacy interventionists from all four elementary schools will be scheduled to travel to different schools in order to focus their efforts and minimize disruptions to classroom instruction. Because of this work, most literacy intervention groups will be paused between 1/13 and 1/31. After that point, midyear data will be used to determine the next round of groupings. More information to come about that!
Report Cards - FYI
Nobody has really been asking yet, but I know the questions will come! Report cards will be made accessible to families on Friday, February 7th. A letter will be sent home earlier that week with more information about the report cards and what information they provide..
Greenwood All-School Meeting - Grade 2 Hosting
For many of our upcoming All-School Meetings, each grade level will be responsible for hosting an assembly to share about a positive attribute that we want our Greenwood community to embrace and embody. Our 2nd graders will be ready to talk about “responsibility” on Monday, January 27th at 10:15am, and we would like to invite 2nd grade parents/guardians to attend if you are able to do so. (Seating will be up in the balcony.) We look forward to seeing you!
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 all the way up until February break!. 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. Paiva 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