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McGovern News!
November 12, 2021
We were excited to begin preschool COVID testing this week and our youngest students who participated did a great job with this new routine.
I am also thrilled to share that in partnership with Medway’s Public Health Department, we will be hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on November 18th from 3:00-6:00 PM in the Burke-Memorial Cafeteria. To register your student for the clinic please click here. After your student is vaccinated we’ll have opportunities for students to partake in a photo-op, a sweet treat, and additional fun activities.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Amy McDonald, Principal
McGovern School... The "I CAN" School
Include
Cooperate
Achieve
Nurture
Achieve can mean many things at McGovern School. Of course achievement, in the academic sense, means that students are meeting grade level expectations. We collect a great deal of formative and summative data in order to monitor students' progress towards end of year benchmarks. Teachers are skilled at using data to inform instruction, provide feedback to students, and remediate and/or accelerate small group work.
Of course achievement is also greatly impacted by a students' social and emotional well-being. Therefore, it is incredibly important to us that we build students' self-management, social awareness, self-efficacy, and emotional regulation. Research has show that students who thrive in these skills often thrive academically as well.
Here is a quick article about how you can help build student achievement at home. The third bullet really spoke to me, as a parent, teacher, and administrator. My favorite quote from the article was, "Set high expectations for your child, communicate those expectations with them often, and encourage them along the way – both when they struggle and when they’re successful." We know how important it is for teachers to have high expectations for students, it is equally important for parents to hold high expectations for children as well. The last year and a half have been really tough for parents and children alike. I know I have found myself as a parent drifting sometimes from holding my own children to high expectations...mostly because I am too tired! Parental fatigue is real!!! This article really helped me re-prioritize setting and communicating high expectations for my own children and hopefully helps you too if you find yourself drifting.
Lastly, in about a month you will receive your child's first report card. What is important for you to understand is that we are measuring students on end of the year benchmarks so it is quite normal for a student to be at the "Introduced," "Beginning" or "Progressing" categories. It is not expected that students have "Met" the benchmark in the first term of school. You can talk with your child's teacher a parent-teacher conferences and get a better understanding of how your child is doing both academically and socially and emotionally. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher.
Kindergarten Sponsors a Food Drive
As a result, the kindergarten team has created a meaningful service learning project in conjunction with the Medway Village Food Pantry. Children learned about the purpose of a food drive, took a "virtual field trip" to the Medway Village Food Pantry, and created signs and posters to advertise for the food drive. Thank you for all of the donations! We will send all donations to the Food Pantry. We appreciate your support in helping students learn the valuable lesson of helping our community.
The season for being Grateful
If you could send in letters any time now through November 24th, I know our faculty and staff would appreciate it! Thank you!
MEPTO sponsors Rhythm Room for Kindergartners!
Nurse's Notes
A reminder in this post-Halloween, pre-holiday period is that hard candy, lollipops, caramels and other treats, as well as cough drops and throat lozenges, place active children at risk for choking. Please refrain from sending these items to school with your child.
If your child needs to take medication at school, prescription or over the counter, orders from your child’s health care provider are needed. The medication in its original container or a pharmacy labeled bottle must be brought to the Nurse’s Office by an adult. Students are not to carry medications to and from school.
As always, I am available to discuss your child’s health care needs or answer any questions you may have. I can be reached by phone at 508-533-6626 extension 5354 or email at pmckay@medwayschools.org.
Thank you, stay healthy, and enjoy the Season!
Penny McKay, RN
Nutrislice App
You can always view the most up-to-date menu on the Nutrislice App. While the website doesn't always update changes, the app does, type in McGovern, and get the most up to date menu! You can find the app here:
MEPTO T-Shirt orders, deadline today
if you would like to order a T-shirt.
Supporting your children with reading!
This was shared through my children's school and I found the tips really helfpul, so I thought I would share. Please read below for helpful information about support your child as a reader!
Happy Reading!
● Read to your child often. Read to your children for as much time as they are interested. To expand their knowledge of the world and their vocabulary, read books that are at a higher level than they can read. When they see you reading, they will want to read too.
● To read independently and with understanding children must know at least 95 percent of the words. Help your child choose “just right” books. Easy books are good! If the book is too hard, your child may get frustrated and begin to dislike reading. If your child chooses a book that is too hard, read it to them or with them, so they can still enjoy the story.
● Handle reading mistakes in a positive way. Not every mistake needs to be corrected. If the mistake does not change the meaning of the text, let it go. If your child says “house” for home, even “bunny” for rabbit, let it go, for the sake of fluency, comprehension and enjoyment. If what they are reading does not make sense, or the meaning has changed, you need to intervene, but first pause and wait a few seconds to give them time to self correct. If they do, praise them. If they carry on reading, prompt them.
● Use effective prompts. For example, these are good questions to ask: Does that make sense? Does that sound right? Does that word look right? Or, if the sentence reads: “The boy rode the horse,” but your child reads, “The boy rode the house,” pause to see if your child self-corrects. If they don’t, ask: “Does that make sense? He rode the house? Look at each letter in the word.” Or, suppose your child reads, “The boy roped the horse.” Pause first, then point at “rode” and say: “Let’s look at this word carefully. Does this word look like roped?”
● Bring attention to words within words. Long words are challenging for beginning readers. Suggest they look for small words within the big words. Break down the word into smaller chunks (words) they might know: for instance, “play” and “ground” in playground. Go back to those words later and talk about the meaning of the two chunks and how they together make another word. Some common mistakes that create frustration and make reading unpleasant for children include:
● Over-relying on the ‘sound-it-out’ strategy. When a child stumbles with a word, almost instinctively, adults often say: “Sound it out.” Indeed, many words can be read this way, however you cannot always match each letter to a sound, for example: the words “the” and “two.” Such words are among the commonly used words that students must learn to recognize by sight through visual memory.
● Correcting every mistake. When children misread, skip a word, guess or take too long, many parents jump in too quickly and too often to correct them. Over-correcting erodes readers’ confidence and makes the experience painful. Most young children are excited about learning to read.
Encourage them to read daily and they will be on the path to becoming a lifelong reader! (Adapted from https://theconversation.com)
How to find a Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine appointment
Pediatric Vaccine now available for children 5 to 11
Children ages 5 to 11 will be able to receive the Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine from more than 500 locations, ranging from retail pharmacies, primary care practices, regional collaboratives, local boards of health, community health centers, hospital systems, state-supported vaccination sites and mobile clinics. Some appointments are available now for booking, with additional locations and appointments expected to come online in the coming days.
How to find a Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine appointment:
- Parents who prefer to have their child vaccinated by their primary care provider should call their provider’s office directly.
- Visit the VaxFinder tool at vaxfinder.mass.gov for a full list of hundreds of available locations. Residents will be able to narrow the results to search for locations that are offering the Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, with some appointments available now for booking. Additional appointments will be available online in the coming days. Many locations will be booking appointments out weeks in advance.
- For individuals who are unable to use VaxFinder, or have difficulty accessing the internet, the COVID-19 Vaccine Resource Line (Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 6 PM, Saturday and Sunday 9 AM – 2 PM) is available by calling 2-1-1. The COVID-19 Vaccine Resource Line is available in English and Spanish and has translators available in approximately 100 additional languages.
All state supported vaccination clinics will offer low-sensory vaccinations for children with disabilities.
Visit www.mass.gov/covidvaccinekids for more information. To view more information from the CDC, please click here.
Vaccines are widely available across the Commonwealth. Getting vaccinated remains the most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves, their families, and their community. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and free. Individuals do not need an ID or health insurance to access a vaccine and do not need to show a vaccine card when getting a vaccine.
Massachusetts leads the nation in vaccine administration, including adolescent vaccination, with over 80% of youth ages 12-17 having received at least one dose. Over 4.7 million individuals are fully vaccinated, with more than 92% of all adults having at least one dose.
Proof of Student Vaccination Request
As you likely read in Dr. Pires' communicaton, the CDC recently made available the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children age 5-11. As your elementary and middle school children become fully vaccinated we ask you to please share proof of their vaccination with our school nurses by completing this form: K-8 Vaccination Status Response. If your student attends Medway High School and we have previously reached out to you for proof of immunization and you have yet to respond, you may share their information through the use of this form: 9-12 Vaccination Status Response.
MPS COVID INformation HUB
Family- Teacher Conferences
State policy requires any person in a school building to wear a mask. If any family would prefer a virtual conference please just let your child's teacher know. If you still have questions or challenges with conference registration after receiving the classroom teacher's email, please reach out to them directly. We are excited to welcome our families back to our building to discuss student progress and goals!
Important- Please Complete
REMINDERS!
TEST AND STAY FLOW CHARTS
Test and Stay Flow Chart
Face Covering Policy
On August 31st, School Committee voted to reinstate last year's Face Covering Policy. Click here for the complete policy. This outlines the types of masks to be worn in school and when wearing a mask is required. Please see the face covering requirements for anyone inside the school building:
A face covering that covers the nose and mouth must be worn by all individuals in school buildings and on school transportation. Bandanas, neck gaiters, single layer face coverings, and face coverings with vents, ports or perforations of any kind are not permitted as an approved face covering.
Additionally, face masks or face coverings will not be required:
during mask breaks;
while eating or drinking;
while outside.
Breakfast and Lunch
Every child needs a healthy, nutritious meal to learn. Medway Public Schools offers nutritious meals to children each school day and breakfast and lunch will continue to remain free of charge through this school year. Please be sure to check out the menu here to ensure your child likes what is being served that day. You can find the menus by clicking on this link.
Communication
Important Dates!
Nov 24: Early Release, 12:00 PM
Nov 25-26: Thanksgiving Recess, No School
Do you need the Smore Newsletter Translated?
Here is the link for the master directions in English.
Here is the link for Spanish.
Here is the link for French.
Here is the link for Russian.
Here is the link for Arabic
Haga clic en los siguientes enlaces para obtener instrucciones sobre cómo traducir el boletín.
Aquí está el enlace para español.
Here is the link for Spanish.
Veuillez cliquer sur les liens suivants pour savoir comment traduire le bulletin d'information.
Here is the link for French.
Пожалуйста, нажмите следующие ссылки для получения инструкций о том, как перевести информационный бюллетень.
Вот ссылка на русский.
Here is the link for Russian.