Dear Greenwood Families,
Happy Monday! The kids have been talking about Halloween since the first hint of October…the calendar is finally catching up with their wishes! It was so fun to see everyone dressed up for the Greenwood Halloween Dance on Friday - lots of creative costumes!
Early Release - Friday, October 30th
Our next early release day for students is on Friday, October 30th. Preschool students will be dismissed at 11:25am and all K-4 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
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, October 26th. (NOTE: PreK families have their separate lunch calendar and will not complete the survey,) Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about this!
DIBELS & i-Ready Reports
We have wrapped up our beginning of the year assessment window, and we will be sending home paper copies of your child’s DIBELS report on Friday. There will also be an email sent out containing instructions on how to digitally access iReady reports. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!
Intervention Groups
Related to having finished beginning of the year assessments! As an extension to the small group instruction that classroom teachers do throughout the school day, our reading team and math interventionist will work directly with students outside of the classroom during WIN blocks to further develop foundational skills and reinforce the instruction happening in the classroom. If your child is taking part in one of these groups, you will receive more information early next week.
School Messenger Reminder
Gator Tales goes out through a different email list service, but any messages sent out by Greenwood or WPS are sent using School Messenger. We have occasionally run into situations where those messages end up in people’s spam folders and then end up getting “blocked” from being delivered altogether. If you are NOT receiving school/district messages and would like to be getting those, please email Ms. Paiva and me so that we can check the system and “unblock” if needed.
Lost & Found
Has your child’s jacket gone missing? Are you wondering where their sweatshirt has gotten itself to? We have QUITE a collection of items in the lost & found. Please stop by and check it out!
Dogs on School Grounds
Since Greenwood is a community where many families walk to and from school regularly, we do have a number of folks who naturally take that opportunity to bring their dogs along for the walk. However, I’d like to remind folks that if you have a dog with you, please keep them away from the building and monitor them closely while you drop off or wait for pickup. We want everyone to be safe and feel comfortable while arriving and leaving!
Annual Pumpkin Drop - New Arrangements!
Wakefield’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Sustainability Committee are proud to once again partner with Black Earth Compost for their Annual Pumpkin Drop. This year the collection site will be centralized and held in conjunction with WMGLD’s Electric Vehicle Showcase. If your jack-o-lantern or doorstep pumpkin is ready for a new life, bring it to the Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department’s parking lot on Sunday, November 8th from 10:00-1:00pm so it can be composted..
Please remove glitter, stickers, plastic decorations, and candles/wax from your pumpkin prior to drop off. If you bring your pumpkin over in a plastic bag, please do not include the bag in the compost pile. Last year, Black Earth and communities across the state diverted 22 tons of pumpkins from the waste stream!
Fun Fall Friday
If you’ve been with us at Greenwood for a bit, you know that we like to give a little nod to Halloween! On Friday, October 30th, we will have the chance to celebrate together. Students (and staff!) have the opportunity to dress 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 then we will bring our (early release) day to a close with the PreK-2 costume parade! Because our PreK classroom has an earlier dismissal time than the rest of the school, we will start the parade at 11:00am so that they can be part of the fun. Students will follow a route out the back door, around a giant loop (or two!) on the blacktop, walk around the Kindergarten side of the building, and go back in the front door. 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.
Lunchroom Volunteers
We love, love, love having family members come in and help out during lunches! And we are so lucky to have so many folks who regularly sign up!
Do you have any free time between 12:00-1:15pm 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 up until the DECEMBER 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 start to the school year!
Tiffany Back
Principal, Greenwood School