March 16
Q & A for Elementary & Middle School Families
6:30-7 p.m.
Zoom (use regular WMS password)
Q & A for Toddler & Primary Families
7-7:30 p.m.
Zoom (use regular WMS password)
March 17
Deadline to Submit COVID Test Results to Nurse Kathy
Virtual Admissions Open House
Noon
March 18
Virtual Math Night for Early Childhood Students
6:30 p.m.
Register here to receive the Zoom link (Read on for more information)
March 22-26
Spring Break
Pre-registered child care available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. All registrations are due on March 15. We are unable to accept walk-ins to due COVID-19 restrictions!
March 31
Deadline to Submit COVID Test Results to Nurse Kathy
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Early Childhood Event: Virtual Family Math Night
Thursday, March 18, 6:30 p.m.
Toddler and Primary families are invited to a Virtual WMS Family Math Night on Thursday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. The evening will begin with a brief number-themed scavenger hunt, followed by a bedtime story read by Trish Harkins (Chicka, Chicka 1,2,3). We will also share a new math material that will be available to our early childhood classrooms. The kids will be entertained before bed, and parents will leave will math resources to try at home!
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Secure Your Spot for 2021-22 - Re-enroll today
If you plan to re-enroll your child for the 2021-22 school year, please do so as soon as possible.
The re-enrollment deadline has passed, and our admissions team is preparing to offer spots to new applicants. Some programs fill up quickly, and we would like to give priority to our current students.
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Parent Q & A Sessions - Tuesday, March 16
Head of School Lisa Lalama and Assistant Head of School Sarah Williams will hold two 30-minute Q & A sessions for parents on Tuesday, March 16.
Elementary and Middle School families -
6:30-7 p.m.
Toddler and Primary families -
7-7:30 p.m.
Feel free to send Lisa or Sarah any questions in advance. We hope you are able to join us!
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Important Magnus Health Reminders from Nurse Kathy |
Please make sure that your Magnus account for the current school year is up-to-date. All of the forms below should be submitted as soon as possible.
For any student in kindergarten or above, a requirement entitled "Self Administration of Sunscreen and Insect Repellent" is past due. We need to have these on file with the warmer weather fast approaching.
For students in kindergarten through third grade, the requirement "Take Home iPad Agreement" has been added.
For our Middle School students, the requirement "Middle School Device Agreement" has been added.
If you need any assistance with your account access, please contact Nurse Kathy. Thank you for your prompt attention to these requirements.
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COVID-19 Testing - Next Results Due Wednesday, March 17 |
We continue to be grateful for your efforts to keep our community safe through COVID-19 testing every two weeks.
Your child's next test results are due a week from today (Wednesday, March 17) at 4 p.m. in order for your child to attend school on Thursday, March 18. Results must be emailed to Nurse Kathy at nurse@wmsde.org as soon as they become available. If you are sending a screenshot, please include the date tested.
Important: Please understand that if no results are forwarded to Nurse Kathy, your child will not be permitted on campus. If your results are forwarded after 4 p.m. on the due date, you may experience a delay in drop-off in the morning. A last-minute result may delay or prevent your child from attending school; time must be allowed for communication to the staff members conducting screenings in the car line.
Please note that we will continue with testing every two weeks after spring break.
Upcoming required due dates are as follows:
- Wednesday, March 17
- Wednesday, March 31
- Wednesday, April 14
You are still welcome to have your child tested more frequently and may forward the results to Nurse Kathy.
Thank you, and please contact Nurse Kathy if you have any questions!
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Upcoming COVID-19 Testing Events
Friday, March 12
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Thomas Edison Charter School - 2-6 p.m.
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Delaware Park - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 13
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UD Star Campus - 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
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Westside Healthcare - 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 14
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UD Star Campus - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
(Please visit this page to confirm that there have been no changes to the schedule above before going to your testing location.)
Permanent Test Sites and Other COVID-19 Testing Options
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In order to keep our classroom cohorts separate and limit our students' contact with additional adults, we have changed the format of our specials/enrichment programs this year. Instead of having each specialist meet with each class weekly, most of our specialists are working with elementary and middle-school students in six-week blocks, with multiple sessions each week. Spanish and physical education continue to happen on a weekly basis as before.
In accordance with early childhood licensing guidelines, in our Toddler and Primary groups, classroom teachers are leading the enrichment classes under the guidance of our specialists.
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STEAM education coordinator Paula Sharpe has worked with both the 9-12 and Middle School classes this winter. The 9-12 students became gingerbread house architects, researching and designing houses with detailed blueprints including measurements of their homes. Once construction started, many children needed to redesign or scale back their houses. Redesigning was a wonderful lesson that encouraged students to realize that designs and plans needed adjustments with new iterations.
The 9-12 students also learned about planets. They each “discovered a new planet” and designed and created a model of it. Once completed, they made a video recording on their planet including rotations around the sun, number of moons and other facts about their planet. Students are also learning about the new Mars rover, Perseverance. They created moving rovers and designed a rover on Tinkercad. They hope to 3D print these designs soon.
Middle School students began Maker Studio in January. They learned about the importance of play for everyone, especially teenagers, by reading an article and watching a TED Talk. After their research, students were asked to design and create a model for a recess game they would enjoy. They then presented their work to Lisa Lalama who questioned them about their designs, thoughts and costs for their work. The group plans to build two or three projects this spring.
The Middle Schoolers' next STEAM challenge was to create a robotic arm that could pick up a plastic cup using the materials like cardboard, string, tape, glue and paper. Once students have completed this project, they will construct a moving robotic arm from a kit.
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Physical Education - Elementary & Middle School |
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Elementary and Middle School students have been enjoying getting to know Brandy Solomon, who took on the role of PE teacher this winter. Students in the 6-9 Program are currently working on balance and core strength, using a hula hoop in different ways - jumping from hoop to hoop, “walking the dog," arm circles and knee hooping. On Monday, they took a break from these activities to try a drumming based workout called Pound. 9-12 students are working on team building activities and doing relay race puzzle solving games. Middle school students were given the opportunity to pick topics of interest and each sport or physical activity has been transformed into a unit - they just finished football and have recently been working on juggling. |
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Art teacher Laurie Muhlbauer has been working with our Middle School students for the past few weeks. The students began with assembling art journals/sketchbooks and discussing the purpose of this book.
Their first project was to personalize the cover of their journals. Since then, they have been adding weekly entries. For their second project, students are creating a relief painting of a "masterpiece." This project began with sketches of the "masterpiece" and planning the layers of the relief in their journals.
Currently, they are creating their paintings on different layers/pieces of foam board that will be assembled to create the painting in relief. We look forward to sharing the final results!
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This February, music teacher BrendaRose Simkin worked with students in the Lower Elementary Program.
The children learned to identify the timbres of different wind instruments, through acting out the characters in Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” and dancing to the music of brass virtuoso Trombone Shorty.
They learned songs to help them remember the length of notes (whole, half, quarter, 8th and 16th), the pitch of notes (by their placement on the lines and spaces of the musical staff) and how to write notes.
Using “Hey Diddle Diddle” and “Hickory Dickory Dock,” they experimented with composition, improvisation and orchestration - on xylophones, glockenspiels and other percussion. They also learned clapping game-songs: “Tue, Tue” (from Ghana), “Down, Down, Baby” and “Little Sally Walker” (from the tradition of African-American playground chants).
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While Primary students do not attend Spanish classes on a regular basis, Ana Brown, WMS's Spanish teacher, holds special events and shares Spanish language materials with our classroom teachers. In February, Ana hosted Valentine's Day-themed Spanish reading of the book Adivina Cuánto Te Quiero ("Guess How Much I Love You") followed by an animal-themed yoga activity for each 3-6 classroom.
Elementary students have been focusing on learning about clothing (la ropa) in Spanish. In the Lower Elementary (6-9) Program, students are learning the vocabulary for clothing items and describing what they and their friends are wearing. They played Lotería (a game similar to Bingo) using the vocabulary words. After learning clothing-related vocabulary, Upper Elementary (9-12) students designed fashion magazines, generating a QR code through which parents can listen to their child describing what the models are wearing in Spanish.
Middle School students are learning all about food. They discussed various meals enjoyed in Spanish-speaking countries and how they differ from the typical meals eaten in the United States. After reviewing the food pyramid, each student designed a healthy meal and shared it in a Google Slide presentation.
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The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.
Please send submissions to wednesday-weekly@wmsde.org by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.
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WILMINGTON MONTESSORI SCHOOL
WWW.WMSDE.ORG
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Copyright © 2021, All Rights Reserved. |
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