Principal's Message March 13 - 17

Dear Peabody and Watkins Community,

I hope your conference with your child's teacher was informative and you both have an update on their progress and know how to support learning at home. If you weren't able to schedule a conference (there's way more need than just one day!) please reach out to your child's teacher soon.

Relatedly, the 2023 Panorama Survey is now live for families. Please click the link to send us your feedback.

For the Watkins community, we are preparing for a visit from leaders with the US Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services on Friday morning. The focus of the visit is to highlight issues related to child nutrition and we will celebrate the great work of our cafeteria staff! They are scheduled to arrive a little after morning arrival, but we may see additional traffic. Students in Mr. Hill's homeroom (5th grade) will have a chance to engage with these leaders during their FoodPrints class. This is another example of when our local and nation leaders are coming to Watkins to highlight the great work we are doing!

Link to our cluster calendar!

Quick look ahead:

Peabody families, please join Principal Berkowitz at Watkins for a school tour, 1st grade class visits, and conversation with the 1st grade team. We will meet in the library at 10am and wrap up by 11:30.

To celebrate the amazing winter reading done during our "Zoo-tastic Reading Challenge", we are hosting "Squeals on Wheels" on the morning of Thursday, March 30th. We will have a number of live animals and all students will have 30 minutes of animal viewing/petting time and will also do other fun activities such as coloring zoo animal masks, doing animal yoga poses and, for snack, eating ANIMAL CRACKER cookies!! Kindergarten students will see the animals first and will do the other activities during their specials class time. The other grades will see them during expanded one-hour specials class time.

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

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.

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