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McGovern News!
September 25, 2020
We had another busy week at McGovern School. Students are really becoming acclimated to our new routines, one way hallways, lunch and recess procedures and wearing masks during the day. They have truly done an exceptional job learning all of the new.
Our teachers are also getting into the flow of 2 in person days, a remote day, followed by 2 more in person days. They have been working incredibly hard to build meaningful Learning Management Systems and to create lessons for both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. This will evolve over time as we get used to this new way of teaching and learning. As a reminder to families, we do track daily attendance, including Wednesdays. If your child is not in morning meeting, he/she will be marked absent. In addition, teachers are tracking small group attendance on Wednesdays. I want to be sure families understand that Wednesdays are a key part of the whole student experience and are not optional.
Please mark your calendar that in observance of Yom Kippur, there is no school on Monday, September 28, 2020. Finally, beginning in October, I will return to communicating a bi-monthly Smore newsletter.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Amy McDonald, Principal
Changes to Dismissal Plans
If your child has a change to their normal dismissal procedure, please remember to call the front office and speak directly to office staff that morning. We certainly recognize that emergencies do happen and we will always support families in these instances. Please do not email teachers these changes, as teachers do not have the opportunity to check email during their day. We ask that you please call the office prior to 2:00 pm, if possible. Any time after 2:30, we are preparing for dismissal and it is incredibly challenging to make changes. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
iReady Diagnostic
The Medway Public Schools is committed to supporting the academic growth of all students. Each student has areas of strength and areas of need as a learner. It is important that educators have information about our students’ current level of performance, in order to plan instruction to meet their individual needs. Even in more normal times, having student learning data to inform our work is incredibly important. Since the March 2020 school closures and subsequent remote learning and now hybrid or full remote experiences, our commitment to ensuring a clear understanding of student learning needs has been further solidified.
iReady is an online diagnostic assessment tool which assesses students across the key domains in reading and mathematics. The iReady diagnostic is an adaptive test that adjusts its questions throughout based on student responses. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions. The adaptive nature of the assessment provides us more information about your child's areas of strength in reading and mathematics and their areas of need. iReady results help to identify both struggling learners and learners needing acceleration, while also providing meaningful information to parents. All students in grade K-5 will also have access to iReady’s interactive online learning environment which is a “path” created for each learner based on their diagnostic results. Some learners may be identified to receive support from a reading or math tutor/interventionist based on their results.
Students have/will be complete the iReady diagnostic assessment by the end of next week. Each diagnostic takes an average of 45 minutes to complete though some student diagnostic completion time is extended due to the adaptive questions. Our Virtual School students will also take the diagnostic assessments. Students will not engage in the math and reading assessment on the same day.
We will share the results of the Fall diagnostic with families during conferences or in a communication home. The results will be accompanied by a cover letter that explains the parent report.
As always, should you have questions or concerns, your child’s classroom teacher is the best first point of contact. They are looking forward to building effective and productive partnerships with you in support of learning and growth this school year.
Chromebooks
Beginning on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, students at McGovern School, will not need to bring their chromebook back and forth from home to school, until we go 1:1 for all students. We have chromebook carts at school that teachers can use and it is easier to keep the cart together as a unit. This process may change in the future, but for now, students can leave their chromebook at home. I will update you if this process changes.
Please note, this is a process for McGovern only and if you have children at other MPS, you should follow the process delineated by the principal.
School Pictures
Flu Clinic
Medway Public Schools is offering a flu vaccine clinic for our community. Please see details and registration link below. Unfortunately, CVS does not offer the flu vaccine for children under the age of 9. This will have to be scheduled with your pediatrician.
Pharmacy Information:Clinic Information:
Clinic Date/Time: October 07, 2020, 2:00 PM - 6PM
CVS Pharmacy #01852
67D MAIN ST.
MEDWAY, MA 02053MEDWAY HIGH SCHOOL
(508) 533–677188 Summer St.
Medway, MA 02053
Pharmacist Contact Information:
Name: Lauren Barakian
Phone: (508) 353–0862
Clinic ID: CI088845
Clinic Registration Link: Click here to register
Nancy Whitehouse RN NCSN
Nurse Leader
Virtual School Announcements
We are happy to report that several new staff members have joined the MPS Virtual School this week! We extend a warm welcome to the following teachers:
Ms. Debra Garcia - Grades 6, 7, & 8 Wellness
Ms. Sarah Vaillancourt-McCann - Grades 5 & 6 ELA and Social Studies
Ms. Alyssa Lagere - Grades 7, 8, 9, & 10 ELA
Ms. Laurie Leavitt - Grades 2, 3, 4, & 5 Art
Last Friday we held a material pick up where we were able to send home most of the materials our Virtual School students will need to start the year. We also have a rubbermaid container outside the front entrance of the school with first grade materials in it. Feel free to pick up today or Tuesday between 8-3:45pm.
A tradition at the McGovern School is for students to receive a book on their birthday. MEPTO graciously donates the books to McGovern School. For our students in the virtual school, I will sign the book and put it in our bins so you can pick up at your convenience. The boxes will stay out daily from 8:35-3:45 daily. We want to be sure our students in the virtual school model also get to celebrate their birthday in a special way!
Reminders!
IDs and Passwords
Contacting Our Nurse
School Lunch
Medway Public Schools and Chartwells Introduces Plans for Serving Up Happy and Healthy at Mealtime For the new school year of 2020-2021!!!
While the start of the school year looks a little different for everyone, I wanted to share with you some good news that schools nationwide have received. The USDA extended a waiver that allows schools to serve free breakfast and lunch to ALL students, through 12/31/20. We are thrilled with this news as it means that we will be able to provide all Medway Public School students with nutritious and tasty food that will support them, both in school and at home.
Please click here to see the entire Chartwells Fall Update
FREE and REDUCED LUNCH:
Every child needs a healthy, nutritious meal to learn. Medway Public Schools offers nutritious meals to children each school day, often at a free or reduced price for those who need it. Medway Public Schools participates in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program (NSLBP), a federally funded program that helps children receive free or reduced meals.
Click here for additional information and to find out if you qualify.
Nutritional Support / Remote School Lunches
In order to ensure that children’s nutritional needs are satisfied during this period of remote learning, we are offering any Medway resident under the age of 21 the opportunity to access free school meals every day of the week and/or food to prepare meals at home. For more details about these offerings and to sign-up for remote meals please click here.
Pick Up and Drop Off Update
If you have not received a name placard for your car, please email your child's teacher and we will make one. Thank you! This really helps at drop off and pick up.
Communication
MEPTO NEWS!
Important Dates!
Sept 28: No School, Yom Kippur
Oct 12: No School, Columbus Day
Oct 29: Back to School Night, (virtual, details to follow)
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.