Principal's Message Sept 6-9

Dear Peabody and Watkins Community,

I am thrilled that our schools are open and students are back engaged in joyful learning experiences and building relationships with friends and staff.

Thank you staff for the strong opening at both schools - our students are learning the routines and procedures of our buildings, getting to know you, and setting a strong foundation for deep learning this year.

Thank you parents and caregivers for your efforts to prepare our Panthers for their first day and week at school. All of the back to school shopping, form completion and covid testing isn't easy! But your kids are back in class and hopeful for a great year.

• Sept 5 - No School for Labor Day
• September 7: first PTA meeting at Watkins, 6pm. Dinner and child care provided. All staff and families are welcome.
  
• Sept 9th Peabody Rocks the Red
• Sept 12, 7pm Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias Curriculum Extension at Peabody for Caregivers (read more below) Click here to join the meeting
• Sept 13, 6pm LSAT meeting (virtual)
• Sept 20 Back to School Night for Watkins, 6pm
• Sept 22 Back to School Night for Peabody, 6pm
• Monthly PRIDE celebrations: 16th (5th grade), 23 (4th and 3rd), 30th, (1st&2nd) - Read More Below!

Today we successfully completed fire drills at both campuses. For our first time, our Panthers did an amazing job following directions and practicing a safety mindset. We will do another drill next week and have one fire drill each month of the school year.

Lunch will cost $3.00 for all students that do not qualify for free or reduced lunch. Families can apply for free and reduced lunch here. Forms must be returned to your child's school.

Separately, all student receiving school lunch, need to go to the DCPS Meals and Payment Page to establish a My School Bucks account. You will need your child's ID number to establish the account. (I'm hearing some families have it automatically synced per their email address). You can find your child's ID number through the Aspen parent portal. Please use the resources on the website for support accessing each website.

Schools will print out a barcode for each students and work with our kitchen staff to scan it while going through the lunch line. This process won't require any responsibility for students and should keep our lunch line moving. Any student wanting lunch will receive it, even if caregivers are still setting up My School Bucks accounts.

Having issues with the MyBucks process? Call (202) 299-2159 for support.

Each month our leadership and culture team will celebrate our Panthers for showing PRIDE - perseverance, respect, integrity, and dedication to excellence - throughout the month. We will also have community building activities and just a time to have fun together. We will provide virtual access for caregivers during these meetings. Stay tuned for grade-level links for access.

Our homerooms teachers will also recognize a Panther of The Week in each homeroom class. These Panthers will have their picture taken and posted on special bulletin boards outside of each classroom. Will your child be the first Panther of the Week?

Watkins students will engage in the Second Step Curriculum at least once a week this year. While homeroom teachers are in professional learning, our other staff will teach students this social-emotional curriculum. Homeroom teachers may extend these SEL lessons. Students will engage in the following units: Skills for Learning, Empathy, Emotion Management, and Problem Solving. We begin next week!

Please email Coach Drakeford with questions and to sign up! LaTavia.Drakeford-allen@k12.dc.gov

Meet Schedule:

• September 25
• October 2
• October 21

If your child plans to try out for basketball the coaches suggest signing up for Cross Country to get in shape before the start of the season.

The Peabody Equity Committee has been working hard to implement a curriculum extension for our students and staff this year. How will we make anti-racist work accessible to 3, 4, and 5 year olds? We'll show you! Please join our team, featuring Equity Lead, Stacy Barker, for a night of learning. We will explain our team's journey and share details of the first unit on identity by modeling the lesson for caregivers in this online session. We'll also explain how this work extends the Creative Curriculum's first unit on "Beginning the Year" and Kindergarten's English, Language Arts unit, "Being a Good Friend." Our team has been reading and learning from Anti-Biased Education for Young Children and Ourselves and the first lesson features the children's book, All Are Welcome, by Alexandra Penfold.

Click here to join the meeting at 7pm on September 12.

Email addresses are often entered into our systems with mistakes. If someone you know (partner, friend, neighbor) isn't getting school communication please have them email their names, their child's name, email addresses and phone numbers and any other information to either PeabodyESEnroll@k12.dc.gov or WatkinsESEnroll@k12.dc.gov. Our team will correct the errors asap.