Wawaloam Updates Week ending September 30

TONIGHT!!  Scholastic Book Fair Family Night

Where: Metcalf School Cafeteria

When: Friday September 30

Time: 6:00-8:00p.m

With a special appearance from Keith Johnson and his amazing Bubbleology!

WHAT A GREAT TURN OUT FOR OUR KINDERGARTEN OPEN HOUSE! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUTLAST NIGHT!!  

WALKATHON

Our Walk-A-Thon is coming up soon, and as the main fundraiser of the year, we need YOUR support!  Please be sure to send your completed donation letters back in to school with your child as soon as you can and THANK YOU to all parents who have already done so!

In 2015, we raised $24,000 for our students, which helped pay for field trips for each grade, science enrichment in the schools, a music enrichment for Lineham, new music stands for the Metcalf band, projectors for art classrooms, iPads for library and speech and language department, and much, much more. We'd like to make 2016 even more successful!

Our goal this year is to raise at least $18,000 in our Walk-A-Thon to fund all of these very important additions to our children's curriculum. For just $25 per student, we can accomplish our goal. Please consider sponsoring your child for this amount by sending in a check (EWG PTA) or visiting our GoFundMe page.  (We understand this may be easier for some families rather than sending out the letters.) And if you're able, please keep those addressed letters coming back in - our family and friends' sponsorships are vital to our success, and we are so grateful for it.

We appreciate all of your continued support. Please email ewgpta@yahoo.com with your questions, or visit us on Facebook for updates.

CHALK IT UP AGAINST BULLYING

Participate in the 4th annual Chalk It Up Against Bullying community arts event in Exeter, Wakefield, Westerly, or Wickford!  NEW LOCATION THIS YEAR: EXETER PUBLIC LIBRARY, CHECK IT OUT!! 

OCTOBER 15, 2016  11:00-2:00 PM 

Volunteer artists ages 5 and up are needed to create chalk art drawings with bullying prevention themes on sidewalks in Exeter, Wakefield, Westerly, or Wickford. Chalk will be provided. While they last, pre-registered participants will receive a free Chalk It Up Against Bullying T-Shirt.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Join us for the EWG 5K Colorthon to benefit the students of the EWG Music Program! On October 1, 2016, Runners, Walkers, Families and Teams will enjoy this festive event, which is open to the public.  This event is new for 2016 and will help us raise funds for the April 2017 EWG High School Band Trip to Orlando, Florida.

The EWG Colorthon is a 5km fun run with a pre-determined circuit near and on the EWG Campus. The run begins at 9:30am on October 1, 2016. The challenge is to run five laps while receiving blasts of multi-colored powder on completion of each lap (different color for each lap). Runners will be provided with a bright white t-shirt on the day of the event to really show their colors off! Entry to this event is to anyone aged 6 and above, entrants under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a paying and participating parent or guardian (entered into the same event).

Pre-registration (before September 19) guarantees an event T-shirt and personal bag of color.  Please visit our Facebook page and click the “Sign-Up!” button:www.Facebook.com/EWGColorthon

Sponsorship opportunities are also available:  Please contact Lori Caine by emailcainecommitment@gmail.com

YOUTH HOOPS REGISTRATION

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_SShHJTJjZjSy1BNG1jYkxLalE/view

Good Afternoon! 

We are looking forward to the opportunity to be scientists at recess! If students are interested, they may opt to select some of the newly purchased items that will support inquiry and discovery learning while playing. Thanks to our PTA, we will have items to explore, investigate and challenge our imaginations!  

 What a great turnout we had for OPEN HOUSE for Grade 1! Thank you for coming to hear all about the learning that will happen this year! You will be AMAZED at the growth students will make! 

We are anticipating an amazing crowd this coming THURSDAY for Kindergarten Open House! Hope to see you there! 

Keep those yoga mats, light weights (2-3 lbs), stretch bands, balance balls etc. etc.  coming in! (ANYTHING ELSE YOU THINK MIGHT ALIGN WITH THIS REQUEST) 

We are excited to have a space in our school to help students keep their engine running at the "just right" speed :) 


I wanted to take a moment to reflect regarding the LOCKDOWN that took place last Friday. You need to know that your children are not only cared for....they are loved. Wawaloam School was ready to do whatever was necessary to protect your "babies". 

On Monday afternoon, we came together as a school and processed the events that took place. We came up with even more steps we can take to improve our "readiness".  We have made some precautionary additions and teachers have shared additional ideas with me.  I have heard many stories about the ways teachers soothed their students while we were waiting for the "all clear" message. I also heard about beautiful letters of thanks and gratitude that teachers received on Monday morning. 

Please know how special your children are to us, we care deeply about each of them. We treasure the gift of seeing their smiling faces each day. We hope we never experience a moment like that again. Know that safety is paramount, always. 

REMINDERS:

BOOK FAIR NEXT WEEK 

MONDAY: Corcoran, Petrarca, D'Amico, Lerner, McGrane, Levett
TUESDAY: Titus, Fasula, Hurst, Cash, Grossman, Millar
FRIDAY: Callanan, Cohen, DiRocco, Caron, Donnelly, Millard

FAMILY NIGHT FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 @ METCALF 6-8 PM 

KINDERGARTEN OPEN HOUSE  SEPTEMBER 29  6-7 PM

WALKATHON OCTOBER 5th MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

OCTOBER 10 No School Columbus Day

PARENT CONFERENCE DAY OCTOBER 21 No School Students

PICTURE DAY~ NOVEMBER 16

FOLLOW UP EMAIL FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT:

Good Afternoon,

Late today I received the final information from the State Police regarding the incident that occurred on Friday, resulting in a district-wide lockdown. At this point, I can share some additional factual details. The threat was received at Metcalf School by a third party, concerned about potential violent actions of another individual. The threat was not directed toward any one individual or group of individuals. The police were contacted immediately and a district-wide lockdown was put in place as per protocol. 

We were aware that the person of concern was reportedly on the way to the school district, so police were on scene to be sure that did not happen. We wanted all individuals to be inside and certainly did not want to convey a message of panic that would undoubtedly bring many concerned parents to the school buildings while the police were in the process of locating the reported individual and conducting their investigation. At no time during the event did anyone of concern enter any of our campuses, and the procedures at every school were executed as planned.

I was notified late this afternoon that there was no credible evidence that the reported concern would come to fruition. As we did for the remainder of the day on Friday, all classes and activities will resume as normal on Monday morning. Principals at each building will debrief with their staff and staff will debrief with their students. Administrators will also meet to debrief to be sure that everything in place was executed as planned, and to look at ways to make our current procedures even tighter.

We spend a great deal of time in schools preparing for the unthinkable, but when we have to put things in place outside of the typical drills that we conduct, it is a very different feeling. Our teachers and principals acted with confidence and bravery - remember that they were not privy to all of the facts as they unfolded either - but they took care of your children as their first and onlypriority under difficult circumstances. I cannot thank the staff, building administrators, and the state and local police for their handling of a very serious situation. Although we never want to experience the reality that many schools have faced across our country, everyone can rest in the comfort of knowing that our district is prepared to handle such a situation to the best of our ability should the need ever arise.

I have had a chance to see several parent responses to the initial e-mail that I sent out within minutes of the lockdown being lifted. I appreciate the many notes of thanks and your patience in waiting for the additional relevant information that I said would be released when it became available. I am very relieved to hear the results of the investigation, and I am confident that we will return to school tomorrow in as safe an environment as we have always had.

Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. Know that all of your children were outstanding listeners during the event and I have heard nothing but praise from teachers about the way their students responded to what was asked of them on Friday. Please take the time to reinforce to them the importance of these safety procedures and convey my appreciation to them for their behavior on Friday.

Sincerely,

James Erinakes

Superintendent

September News You Can Use

Dear Wawaloam Community,

We can not stress enough the pride we have in all of our students! We have just started the school year and already our students are doing such an amazing job with all of the new routines! We are at capacity in our school and it is more important than ever that all students are following directions. Today we had our first Fire Drill of the year! What a great job! Ask your child about it!


Just a gentle reminder that on Thursday, September 22 we have a scheduled EARLY RELEASE day. All students in the entire district will go home 2 hours early on this day. Our buses will be here at 1:08. Our pickups will begin at 12:50. If your child usually gets home from the bus at 3:55 they will be home at 1:55. Please call us if you have any questions that we can help you with about this.


This week we officially started Popcorn Fridays! On Fridays at Wawaloam School for .50 your child can purchase popcorn at school for snack time. We would like to extend a BIG thank you to all of our parent volunteers who come to Wawaloam and make this possible each week!

A very special thank you to PTA for all of the time they devote to our students. We are constantly catching glimpses of all of the ways that you support us! We NOTICE these efforts and APPRECIATE you!!!

Our school is very excited to be working together to introduce out students to the concept of Self-Regulation. We are using some elements from the "How does your engine run?" program in our classrooms to help students identify if they feel their engine is running low pace, just right or too fast and having available items that can help students shift in the direction that is desired. We are still looking for balance balls, small weights (1-3 lb), yoga mats, foam rollers, stress balls etc. If you have items at home that might support our initiative, please send them in!  Check out this picture from Mrs. Corcoran's class of her students using their "Speedometers".

How Does Your Engine Run More Information

Check out these speedometers! 




Be Sure to Check out this Link to the Superintendent's Blog:    http://erinakes.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your weekend and the time with your family!

Melissa Marino 

Follow me on Twitter @MelissaMarino9

#ewgrsd

UPCOMING DATES/INFORMATION 

Next Week: 

EARLY RELEASE DAY SEPTEMBER 22

GRADE 1 OPEN HOUSE  SEPTEMBER 22  6-7 PM

Soon: 

KINDERGARTEN OPEN HOUSE  SEPTEMBER 29  6-7 PM

WALKATHON OCTOBER 5th MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

OCTOBER 10 No School Columbus Day

PARENT CONFERENCE DAY OCTOBER 21 No School Students

PICTURE DAY~ NOVEMBER 16