Wayland Middle School  Newsletter September 17, 2018

*** WMS has a New Phone Number: 508-358-3801 ***

IMPORTANT DATES All Grades: 9/19 - No School, Yom Kippur 10/8 - No School, Columbus Day 6th Grade:   9/27 - Back-to-School Night 6:45 - 9:00pm 10/11 - Walden Bike Trip, Henry 10/12 - Walden Bike Trip, David 10/16 - Walden Bike Trip, Thoreau 7th Grade: 9/20 - Back-to-School Night 6:45 - 9:00pm 10/25 - Days of Wonder / Treetop Adventures Trip (Rachel) 10/26 - Days or Wonder / Treetop Adventures Trip (Carson) 8th Grade: 9/20 - Back-to-School Night 6:45 - 9:30pm (DC Trip Info. Session 9:00 - 9:30pm) 9/25 - Geology and Edward M. Kennedy Institute Trip (1/3 of grade) 9/28 - Geology and Edward M. Kennedy Institute Trip (1/3 of grade) 10/1 - Geology and Edward M. Kennedy Institute Trip (1/3 of grade)

Message from Principal Gavron

‌ Summer is the perfect time to relax and recharge in order to get ready for a new school year. July offered me a unique opportunity to travel to Italy with my mother to see my 15-year old daughter, Abby, play her viola in a tiny off-the-beaten-path village. Experiencing an orchestra, comprised of students from across the Eastern seaboard, perform the “Stars and Stripes Forever” for a town full of Italian locals who were clapping along joyfully, filled me with hope for our world. Throughout the evening the music felt restorative, as selections from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story broke down language and cultural barriers. There emerged a palpable feeling of community.   That night reminds me of our charge at Wayland Middle School - to create a positive learning community as we bring together a diverse group of students who travel to WMS every day from Wayland and Boston. Each child who walks through our doors has a unique story to tell and a set of circumstances that we will work tenaciously to understand over the coming year. Together the WMS staff will help our middle schoolers explore the many facets of their identities as they grow as readers, writers, linguists, musicians, and problem solvers. We might encourage them to unearth a passion for anime, zumba, or building rockets. They might fall in love with the euphonium, dystopian fiction, or field hockey (or even a student sitting beside them in science class). As we teach and learn together, we aim to help our students come to appreciate what makes each of us unique and help them find common ground across their differences. Middle school is such an awesome time for exploration. In addition to relaxing travels through Italy, this summer I was gifted with the opportunity to recharge by learning alongside colleagues from across the district.  Thanks to 6th grade math teacher Michael Kotin’s brilliant vision (and the generosity of the Wayland Public Schools Foundation), I was able to spend three days working with John Derian, a trainer from the Buck Institute. As a class, 26 of us explored the possibilities of interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning. We learned about the “Gold Standards” of project-based learning and their seven key elements. Projects are: Driven by challenging problems or questions that matter to students, Require sustained inquiry, Grounded in authenticity - connected to the world around us, Express student voice and choice, Offer opportunities for ongoing reflection,  Build in critique and revision, and Culminate in a public product. In teams and individually, we designed and planned projects we hope to try out in the coming year. I was able to work with a 6th grade team of teachers to conceptualize a project entitled “Living Simply By Choice or By Design.” Through it, we planned for students to first learn about Henry David Thoreau’s decision to build his “tiny” house at Walden Pond. Then working in teams, students will hear a “client” describe his/her geographic location and priorities for wanting to live in a tiny house. Each team will then design a “tiny” house to meet the client’s needs. Through this process students will learn: about Thoreau, how to listen to others needs, how to collaborate and compromise, how to engage in the engineering design process, and how to present and reflect on their ideas to an outside audience. I hope teachers will be able to overcome the logistical challenges a team-based project poses in order to see this project play out. Additionally, I look forward to seeing students engage in other projects created during this Professional Development such as immigration stories in drama and climate change projects in earth science. I predict our students will be the lucky beneficiaries of our teachers' inspiration. I hope your summer hit the mark as well as mine did.  Whether you are a first time WMS family or you are a frequent flier to WMS (having had older students come through), I hope you come into the 2018-2019 school year as charged up as me, excited about the innumerable possibilities that come with the promise of a new year. Respectfully, Betsy Gavron

Current News & Announcements

Back-to-School Nights 7th & 8th Grade Back-to-School Night Thursday, September 20, 6:45 - 9:00 pm (9:30 pm for 8th Grade Parents) There will be a DC trip information session for all 8th grade parents from 9:00 - 9:30pm. 6th Grade Back-to-School Night Thursday, September 27, 6:45 - 9:00 pm If your child takes Band, Chorus, Orchestra, Lit Boost or Org Skills, please come at  6:30  to meet with those teachers.

Co-curricular Clubs This week during lunch, students will have the opportunity to learn about the various clubs offered at Wayland Middle School. Ask your child about their interests! A full list of club offerings for the 2018-2019 school year will be posted on the website the week of September 24th. Please note that students are not permitted to remain at school after dismissal unless they are participating in a club, program, or other activity supervised by a teacher or staff member.

Boston-Wayland Back to School Family Cookout Claypit Hill School Sunday, September 23, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Click here for more details. ‌

Register Your Stop & Shop Card & Earn Money for WMS! Do you shop at Stop & Shop? If you do, please consider registering your Stop & Shop Bonus Card to earn money for our school through their A+ School Rewards Program. Registration is easy and it won’t affect your Stop & Shop gas points program in any way. To register your card:  Go to:   http://www.stopandshop.com/aplus    Sign in to your account (or register for an account) to link your Stop & Shop Card to your school. You may select up to two (2) schools. (The code for WMS is 09946) Selected school(s) earn money from your qualified purchases during the program period. If you need assistance, Call Customer Care at 877-366-2668 OPTION #1 Last year, WMS participants in the A+ School Rewards Program earned over three thousand dollars for our school!  Please consider signing up - The program runs from October 7, 2018 - March 16, 2019. Thank you!!!

PTO News

Did You Complete the Parent Checklist? Donate to the WMS PTO with Gift Your Child. The generous contributions of our parent community provide resources that enrich the learning experience for our middle school students and support the staff and parent community. Our goal is to have 100% of families participate! With the breadth of our donations, your child is sure to have benefitted in some way! See WMS PTO Donations in Action here! Register in our online family directory, My School Anywhere.  Access contact information for families in our school district online or through an app. You must register to be included.  Like our Facebook Page. We will include weekly updates here, but additional details, photos and videos are shared on Facebook. Stay in the loop!

WMS PTO Donations in Action: Profile of the Week - Cultural Enrichment Through performing arts, our students learn about the world, its varied culture and celebrate its diversity. The WMS PTO brings talented artists, locally and from afar, to deliver these unique experiences to our children.

We kick of our programming this year on Sep 17th with Alash Ensemble from the southern edge of Siberia performing Tuvan Throat Singing. For more information, please check out Alash Ensemble.

Volunteers for Back to School Night Dinners We are organizing a dinner for the staff before the two Back-to-School Nights. Dinner is a great way to thank the staff for spending the time with parents on those evenings and ensuring their bellies are full! We are still in need of some volunteers for entrees and set-up/clean-up. Click below to sign-up: 7th and 8th Grade Back To School Night Dinner Sign-up , Sept., 20th 6th Grade Back to School Night Dinner Sign-up , Sept., 27th

NEW TO WAYLAND?  PTO New Family Welcome Breakfast October 4, 9 - 10 am WMS Staff Lounge Welcome to Wayland and to the WMS community. The PTO looks forward to getting to know you. We hope to meet you at our breakfast, or be sure to stop by our table at the Back to School Nights. Additionally, there are a number of resources on the WMS PTO Website , including a document, Pointers for Families New to Wayland which contains school and town information. Please contact Meredith Tobe, our New Family Welcome Coordinator, with any questions.  [email protected]

PTO Thanks…. Staff Appreciation Team and Volunteers: Thank you to Vicky Sin, Nan Li and Melissa Davis-Bell for organizing a delicious lunch for our staff on Aug 29th and to those parents who donated items! Picture Day Team : Thank you to Mei-Lyn Kingsley and front office whiz, Chris DiBona, for organizing and to our team of volunteers: Carolina Sala Kotzampaltiris, Ashley Boyer, Risa Hochroth, Kristin Chisum, Leilani Camacho, Cathie Davies. Webmasters : Thank you to our webmasters Kim Reichelt and Jennifer Dennis for helping to streamline and update the Wayland PTO website . We think you will find it to be a more useful resource!

Artist of the Week

Artist: Mitch Kavey Grade: 7 Medium: Watercolor

Information from Last Week's eBlast...

Attention all 6th, 7th & 8th grade hockey players - register now for the Wayland boys or Wayland/Weston girls teams.  Boys Team Please contact Sharon Desmond at  [email protected]  if your son is interested in playing or for more information. Tryout dates will be announced in mid-October.  Girls Team Please contact Morgan Ley at  [email protected]  for more information or to sign up for the team.  middle school HOCKEY teams are run by the Wayland Hockey Association (WHA). For more information, please go to  waylandhockey.org .

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