Principal's Message March 27 - 31

Dear Peabody and Watkins Community,

Last week it was sports, and this week I'm reflecting on the other opportunities our students have to show their responsibility, maturity, and creativity. I held and open house for Peabody families this week, which are always energizing for me because it's so easy to talk about our schools with pride. Our Peabody families briefly met with our 1st grade teachers and heard from me and more importantly our student co-hosts.

Our hosts talked about the pivotal moments in their Watkins' journeys that ranged from intense playoff basketball games to speaking in front of the nation on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Without any preparation or warning, Kimorah and MIcah recited their lines from Dr. King's speech for the Peabody families. Throughout the event they shared other special moments about their time at Watkins, highlighted their teachers (Micah shouted out Ms. Sheppard!), and were just all-around mature young people. These two co-hosts, and others that have shared this role with me, are fantastic examples of how students grow and develop through the cluster.

Last Friday, more Watkins students met with Admiral Levine (HHS) and Undersecretary Dean from the FDA to talk about childhood nutrition. Our students met in the garden, engaged in the FoodPrints class and then participated in a child nutrition roundtable. Our friends on the Eliot-Hine middle news crew covered the event and shared this video with us. Check out their points of view in minutes 3-7 when our team reflects on the impact of FoodPrints on their families' habits. Don't miss the action when we brought the VIPs to meet our cafeteria staff VIPs at 11:45!

Link to our cluster calendar!

Quick look ahead:

We look forward to welcoming you and your child back to Peabody and Watkins for the UPCOMING 2023-2024 school year! Enrollment opens on March 31, 2023. Join us at your school campus on this day for our "Spring Into Enrollment" event. Small bites and on-site enrollment and support will be provided. See flier below for more information.

In addition to completing an enrollment form all families must submit proof of residency to complete enrollment. We highly encourage you to begin gathering your residency verification docs now. Visit https://osse.dc.gov/publication/dc-residency-verification-forms for more information and please bring these docs with you to our "Spring into Enrollment" event.

Class pictures have returned and will take place on Peabody on April 5 and Watkins on April 6. On this day, students will take pictures with their homeroom teacher and classmates. Order forms and picture day flyers were home this week. If you would like to purchase pictures, it's highly recommended that you pre-order in advance by:

1. Visit www.classic-photo.com
2. Click "Schools", then "pre-order now"
3. Enter access key:

• Peabody- peabodygrps23
• Watkins- watkinsgrps23

The last open houses of the school year will take place at:

• Peabody on April 13th at 9:30am- 11am and 6pm- 7pm
• Watkins- April 11 at 9:30am- 10:30am and 5pm- 6pm

See flyers below for more information

April is National Poetry Month and Peabody Panthers are celebrating with an interactive “POET-TREE” display on our First Floor Lobby bulletin board. At the end of this current week a flower page and a leaf page went home in folders. Students and caregivers should have fun thinking up RHYMING WORDS. Write at least two words that rhyme on as many flowers and leaves as you’d like and share the student’s NAME and GRADE too! For them to go on the tree, you can send them back in your child’s folder OR find a stapler in the POET-TREE basket at the front desk and put them up with your child. Feel free to take extras home (in same basket) if your child wants to rhyme some more! Let’s ZING with SPRING! It’s TIME to RHYME!

To help us celebrate all our amazing winter zoo-tastic reading, Squeals on Wheels will be bringing a variety of live animals for our students to visit (bunnies, guinea pigs, ducks, chickens and possibly a chinchilla, hedgehog and tortoise). Every class will have 30 minutes to learn about and visit with the animals. They’ll also engage in additional fun activities including coloring animal masks, doing animal yoga, and snacking on animal crackers! Huge thanks to the PTA for funding this event! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher or to contact Ms. Bloom susan.bloom@k12.dc.gov

The Book Fair raises funds for both the Library and classrooms. It takes place in the 1st floor Lobby and is also available ON LINE at the url noted here:

http://www.scholastic.com/bf/peabodyearlychildhoodctr1

Shipping is free when a purchase is $25 or more, and all orders are mailed to the family’s home address.

eWallets: Family members such as grandparents may “gift” books to students by setting up an eWallet. Visit the home page above for details.

Teacher Book Wish Lists: There will be teacher wish lists at the fair if you’d like to help build your child’s classroom library.

We’ve blasted through our supplies so it’s time again to ask for recyclables! Our engineers, designers and builders in our Library Maker Space Center need any of the following items: small boxes (from butter boxes to tissue boxes) and cardboard tubes (TP and paper towel). Many students LOVE to carry their creations to class in a bag, so we’ll take any spare plastic or paper shopping bags you want to pass along. Your students can put any of these items in a marked animal bin in the lobby of their floor or pass them to me during morning arrival. Huge thanks from Ms. Bloom!

Who: 4th and 5th Grade Boys and Girls

What: Outdoor Track

When: Sign ups begin Monday 2/13

Where: https://www.thedciaa.com/participation-forms

Track Tryouts begin Thursday March 30th from 3:45pm-4:45pm

Athletes will not be about to participate if they don't bring proper running attire. (Shorts, Sweats, and Running Shoes)

Athletes will not be able to participate if they are not cleared eligible by Coach Drakeford.

Please meet in the gym dressed and ready at 3:30pm on Monday.

If you are unclear about if your child is eligible, please email Coach Drakeford directly at LaTavia.Drakeford-allen@k12.dc.gov

Participation Forms | thedciaa

Complete all forms to participate in sports. All students must complete a participation packet every school year. Additionally, the medical forms must be completed within the prior 365 days.

www.thedciaa.com

Please click the link above to complete participation packet and upload a recent UHC form completed by a doctor. If you have already completed these forms and your child was eligible to tryout or play a sport you do not need to resubmit.

If you have questions about clearance or would like to inform Coach Drakeford your child is interested in becoming apart of the track team, please email her at latavia.drakeford-allen@k12.dc.gov

Hello Watkins families! I wanted to let you know that I am serving on a grand jury for five weeks, March 3-April 7. This affects library classes, Library Club, Girls on the Run coaching, spring book fair, and the library volunteer schedule.

• Library classes will not be held while I’m out, but will resume when I return on April 10, which is a “library week.” We’d like to provide opportunities for students to check out books while I’m out. If you’re interested in helping with that effort, please email me at cory.langley@k12.dc.gov.
• Library Club is officially canceled for the duration, although I will welcome students in the library if I am able to get to school following jury duty.
• Girls on the Run: I’ll pick up coaching for GOTR when I return.
• A spring book fair was tentatively scheduled for this month; the book fair is canceled.
• I took down the library volunteer signup that included opportunities to support classes and informed the affected volunteers. I’ll put up a new signup before I return.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Our 3rd-5th grade students are preparing for PARCC, which assesses the standards of learning for ELA and Math. 5th graders also have to take DC Science. DC Science and Math tests will last three days. The ELA sessions are two days, with an extra session for 5th grade ELA.

Parents - please schedule all appointments to avoid these dates or in the afternoon. Testing will always happen in the morning. Only make up tests would be administered in the afternoon.

The schedule, which may change, is below.

Please read this letter from the chancellor to learn more.

No clearance required!

We are looking for caregivers to help organize pre-testing materials and help with day-of tasks, like troubleshooting technology and other critical roles. Please read more here and sign up for one or more shifts soon!

Would you like to join your child's class in our gardens? Up to 4 caregivers can join each class on Wednesdays (Watkins only) and Fridays. Please sign up for your child's class only.

Peabody sign-ups

For the Watkins schedule, the 1st-3rd grade classes will go in the afternoon, so look for your child's afternoon teacher, not homeroom teacher on this schedule.

Waktins sign-ups

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.

If you somehow are unsubscribed from Blackboard, please email your appropriate school inbox above and Adia.Howard-Stroud@k12.dc.gov who will fix the issue on Blackboard.

Field Trips have resumed and we welcome parents to join as chaperones. Parents who would to volunteer/ chaperone on an ongoing basis, must complete the DCPS Clearance process beforehand. Upon receipt, clearance letters should be emailed to tanisha.montgomery@k12.dc.gov.

Exceptions

Exceptions may be granted to the DCPS Clearance process in the following situations:

1. You are volunteering for a one-time, on-campus event, like Career Day or Field Day. Please email the Clearance Team at dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov to confirm whether you qualify for a clearance exception.
2. You are a potential volunteer with an active secret or top-secret federal security clearance. Individuals in this group should complete the Federal Security Clearance Verification letter in lieu of being fingerprinted with DCPS. The original signed verification form and a copy of a state issued photo ID to dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov