School Vacation Week Learn! Move! Play!

Greetings!

Reading week was lots and lots of fun, just like we predicted! We appreciate you all at home for taking the time to plan and organize crazy hats and pajamas and stuffed animals and socks!! I know how busy and chaotic the mornings can be and time is precious! We hope the reminders and notices have helped as the children seem to have had a great time with all of the excitement to promote the love of reading! An extra special thank you to Donna Gagner for organizing the events this week! I was so lucky to be invited to Metcalf School to read to Mrs. D'Amico's class as a guest reader, this was an honor and a privilege for me!!!

The students saw a video of my daughter reading a short story- I told them that if someone at home videotapes them reading a short story, I will incorporate these videos into weekly meetings or show these during lunch! A chance to be famous! Please consider sharing reading videos with me!!!

*By the way, the Junior High Student Council is collecting gently used books to give to the RI Books are Wings program. What a great week to look through those collections! If you have any books for them, send them to Wawaloam and we will make sure they get them!

Grown ups dressed like a book or character day! So much Fun!!!

                                      

                                Book Movies During Lunch!

    Mrs. Larkin Reads To Kindergarten!

Crazy Hat/Hair Day!

CRAZY SOCK DAY!!

Recycle Project Invitation

A notice came home this week inviting everyone to participate in our Annual Recycled Art project! Just like the 100th day of school, we are inviting families to work together to create masterpieces out of items you might have otherwise thrown away! Have fun with this, be creative!! We can't wait to see what you all come up with!

School Vacation week is upon us and once again, I thought I would share some easy links to check out the calendar of events to consider.

Don't forget about our  PUZZLE-A-THON on Wednesday April 22 from 9:30-11:00 here at Wawaloam School. The event costs 10.00 with proceeds going to Athletes4Autism.org
You do not need to pre-register, you can pay at the door to participate in all of the fun!! Hope to see you here!

The Audubon Society of RI has a week full of opportunities to keep you busy and learning!  www.asri.org

Another favorite destination of mine is the RI Children's Museum: www.childrensmuseum.org
Almost every day their are awesome activities planned including Mad Science, Dave Marchetti's Animal Show, Farm Friends etc.

Don't forget to make some time to get to your local libraries to check out a few books or to participate in any of the events that they have scheduled- check them out online:
www.louttitlibrary.org
www.exeterpubliclibrary.org
Casey Farm Project Chick: Tuesday April 21 11:00 AM
Pinocchio Play Wednesday April 22 6:30 PM
Project Peep Thursday April 23 10:30-12:00

Are you busy on Thursday, April 23 at 10:00 AM? I will be going with my daughter Juliette to the Showcase in Warwick across from Dave's, Panera etc.  to see Monkey Kingdom! We can't wait!  http://nature.disney.com/monkey-kingdom  By going to see this during opening week, they are making a donation to protect monkeys and other endangered species in their natural habitats. What a great way to do something to celebrate Earth Day!! 
Consider joining us, this is not a school sponsored event, just an opportunity to see a great movie together!! 

Remember our Bandaid Brigade has started! We are collecting band-aids and stickers for The Tomorrow Fund at Hasbro Children's Hospital-we can't wait to count how many boxes we will collect this year!!

Please visit EWG's Community Announcements page for Girl Scout Camp information.  All girls grades K - 12th are welcome! 

April 22 is Administrative Assistants Day and I have to take a minute to acknowledge how fortunate I am to have the best office team! It is a pleasure to have people who can anticipate needs before they arise and who work in the best interest of students at all times. Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. SanAntonio light up our front office with their smiles and are always ready for the next idea! I watch them share the enthusiasm when your children are in our presence and I can not think of a moment when I have heard a negative word. I count my blessings to work with them every day! I am sure you all share in my appreciation for these amazing women!

Hoping you all have a week that allows you time to spend some quality time together while making memories that you will hold in your heart for years to come.

Enjoy the week off and get ready for the home stretch of the 2014-15 school year!

Respectfully,
Melissa Marino

Wawaloam Updates and a Reminder to Vote for our School Budget~

Dear Wawaloam and Exeter West-Greenwich Community, 

Thank you for remembering to VOTE on 4/13/15

EXETER-WEST GREENWICH REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 

ALL-DAY REFERENDUM 2015 - 2016 SCHOOL OPERATIONS BUDGET 

MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015 FROM 7:00 A.M. TO 8 P.M. 

~ EXETER VOTERS VOTE AT EXETER TOWN HALL 675 TEN ROD ROAD EXETER ~ WEST GREENWICH VOTERS AT WEST GREENWICH TOWN HALL 280 VICTORY HIGHWAY WEST GREENWICH

For more information:

http://goo.gl/zkJ6hF

The EWG Drama production of Shrek the Musical that is taking place THIS WEEK Tickets are $12 for students and $15 for adultsThe show is amazing!  The leads are phenomenal and the supporting cast is fantastic!  Kids (and adults) can even ‘Meet the Cast’ at the Exeter Library and have a photo-op with the EWG Drama students starring in the show (Shrek, Fiona, Donkey).

The district-wide lip sync show is approaching. This is event is very close to my heart and was organized to honor and support a my friend Gail Bender and her family, she is a retired physical education teacher from the Junior High School and recently faced the heartbreaking loss of her beautiful 5 year old grandson, Zachary .  This will take place on May 1st and you will not want to miss this event! Tickets are now ON SALE and we will also accept donations to support the cause. Adults are $5 and children are $3. Tickets can be obtained by inquiring in the school office. ALL PROCEEDS WILL SUPPORT THE TOMORROW FUND.

During the school vacation week, on April 22 you are invited to come to Wawaloam School from 9:30-11:00 with your children to participate in a community  puzzle-a-thon in an effort to support http://www.athletes-4-autism.org/ This will take place in our school cafeteria and should be a fun event to put on your calendar of things to do during the week off if you are not going away. The event costs 10.00 per family and will include time to make puzzles, a balloon artist, snacks , music and fun!! Join us!

If you ordered a Reading Week T-Shirt, we hope to see as many as possible on FRIDAY 4/17/15

Next week is Reading Week! Each day students are encouraged to participate in the fun events that are planned!

Monday:Bring your favorite book to school to share with a friend!

Tuesday: Cuddle up with a good book, bring your favorite stuffed animal to school (must fit in backpack)

Wednesday:Crazy hat/Crazy Hair Day!!

Thursday:Pajama Day!!

Friday: Crazy Sock Day! Guest Readers Today and Free Popcorn!!

I am ready:

*Report Cards will be coming home on 4/17/15

Other dates to remember-

April 9, 10, 11 and 12 Shrek the Musical at the High School

April 12 PTA Bowling Event

April 13-17 Reading Week!!

April 20-24 Spring Recess no school

April 22 Puzzle-a-thon event at Wawaloam 9:30-11 AM

May 1 Faculty Lip/Sync/Variety Show 6PM High School

May 2 Sweetheart Dance

May 7 PTA

Have a fantastic weekend, make memories!!

Melissa Marino

Spring Fever!

Dear Wawaloam School Community, 

Hoping everyone had a fantastic week, it is really amazing that we are preparing to send home 3rd quarter report cards in two weeks! We are moving into that home stretch, once April vacation goes by we seem to blink our eyes and the year comes to an end. This year has been incredible! Full day kindergarten, smartboard technology, a computer lab that a whole class can use and our work in the implementation of a Growth Mindset have kept us learning and stretching our brains!! 

Mrs. Donnelly consistently pushes for our addition of PERSEVERANCE as one of our expectations, which we love! When the weather breaks, we will be adding the words PERSEVERANCE and KINDNESS to our Queen Bee outside of our school. I am very proud of the work of our SIT team and our PBIS team for continuing to refine our systems, our work is never "finished" at Wawaloam School because we believe there is always room for improvement and growth. 

I recently read a publication on the subject of bullying and there was a piece of information that I found fascinating in how we can work together to teach a skill that will have a powerful impact! Check out this amazing statistic:

In the world of bullying prevention, the “simpler solution” includes the power of bystanders. Research shows that when a peer bystander intervenes in a bullying situation, the bullying usually stops within 10 seconds. 10 SECONDS. THAT is a powerful intervention worth nurturing! Let us work together as partners to teach this skill and this statistic!!

The article goes on to say:  Let’s be sure to keep our eyes on the importance of relationship building and social emotional skills MORE than entering the slippery slope of “criminalizing” bullying behavior (the person bullying needs our support and guidance too) and thinking the solution lies in ever more structured ways of passing on expectations and norms.  

In one kid-friendly story that I shared, they review how powerful it can be to simply teach children to say, "Stop it!" when bullying behavior is observed. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on this information. 

This past Wednesday, I attended a session on Cyber Safety at New England Institute of Technology. Meghan Martinez, Cyber Terrorism Program Manager for the RI State Police and Leader of the Cyber Disruption Team.  I would encourage you all to become as informed as possible in terms of online safety. They shared some valuable resources for parents and I thought I would pass these websites along to you to review: 

www.netsmartz.org provides tips for families, children, and teens about online safety.             www.netsmartz411.com is parents' and guardians' premier, online resource for answering 

questions about Internet safety, computers, and the Web.

The following sites contain information regarding keeping your child safe online:

McAfee's Internet Safety Plans for the Whole Family                                                                                 

Bright Futures' Safety Tips for Surfing the Internet

Cybersmart Kids' The Risks and How to Deal with Them

Department of Justice's Project Safe Child

ConnectSafely's A Parent's Guide to Facebook

US Health and Human Services' Stop Bullying

We are excited to be participating in the Washington County Coalition for Children "Feelin' Groovy" bookmark contest with our Grade 2 students. The goal is to teach emotional literacy to children and Mrs. Gagner and I have teamed up together to have Wawaloam School participate. I don't know if your children mentioned the Academy Award winning performance she gave to "showing" the children what our different emotions can LOOK LIKE by acting these out. We had so much fun working on this together. We can not enter your child's bookmark if we do not have the permission slip forms returned to school. They will select 1 winner per school to have their entry turned into a printed bookmark that will be shared throughout the state and possibly beyond.

If you have a 2 minutes to spare, check out this adorable cartoon video with a very powerful Growth Mindset message. You have to appreciate the PERSEVERANCE of this sweet little bird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksiob6KVPDw

Reminders: 

PTA  Meeting Thursday at Wawaloam School 6:30 PM
Spring Pictures- Wednesday April 8th (Spring Pictures are Optional)

Report Cards will come home on Friday, April 17th

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Melissa Marino

Book Fair and Eating Greens at Wawaloam

Dear Families,

Did your children come home and tell you about the smoothies we made with spinach this week?? Mrs. Larkin noticed that our food service provider, Aramark, was hosting a Be Healthy, Eat Green theme for Wednesday of this week! She was inspired and approached me about doing something special for the students to get them thinking about trying some green vegetables or other produce that they may have not wanted to try before. We worked together during our presentation and showed the students how they could "eat a rainbow". The recipe we gave them included spinach, pineapple juice and bananas but we encouraged them to be creative with recipes and to feel free to add different fruits or vegetables if they would like. We added strawberries, blueberries, mango, carrots, and blueberries!

We are so excited about the FEEDBACK we received about this because of the potential for children eating their vegetables! ! We saw some pictures of friends making smoothies at home using their new recipe! We also loved the notes from families saying "It's wonderful to see her excited by a green vegetable!!

This week, grade 2 had a very special presentation by the energetic Materials Lab students at U.R.I.! We were all very impressed with their cool experiments they did with mixing solvents, showing us how the colors are created when fireworks are made and a grand finale of making ice cream right before our eyes by using liquid nitrogen!! I simply love when I can step back and witness the excitement on the faces of students! We were very lucky to have this crew troop all the way to Exeter to put on this complimentary, inspiring presentation!!

Here is a link if you want to see them preparing this for the students, listen to that excitement!!!

COPY AND PASTE INTO BROWSER:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5uWKIIFiv8

We also had our Spring Book Fair this week during all Reading classes in the library! A big thank you to all of the volunteers who made this possible. We LOVE having the book fair in the library!!!
The students were all so thrilled to share their purchases!!! Don't forget the FAMILY NIGHT that is tonight at Metcalf with Biomes and the touch tanks!!!


                     

Hopefully, you noticed the reminder notice regarding drop off procedures. Please help us keep our students as safe as possible. We have to stick with this plan, it is the safest way to get our students into the school. We really appreciate your help making this so successful for students!

WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE USED SPORTS EQUIPMENT SALE UNTIL A LATER DATE AND WILL CONTINUE COLLECTING ITEMS THROUGHOUT THE SPRING- KEEP SENDING IN YOUR ITEMS! 


FAMILY MATH NIGHT THURSDAY 5:30-7:30 PM COME HAVE FUN WITH MATH AT WAWALOAM SCHOOL.

APRIL 7  PROUD PAINTER FOR ADULTS - WOOD RIVER INN

APRIL 12 BOYS CHOICE BOWLING EVENT

LOOK AT OUR KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS GETTING AN EARLY START FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Have a fantastic weekend!
Melissa Marino

FUN WITH OUR LOCAL LIBRARIANS!

The sight the students saw when they arrived on Monday Morning!

Thank you Miss Diane and Miss Shannon!

As predicted, there was lots of exciting Dr. Seuss activity around Wawaloam School this week! We were so happy to welcome Miss Diane and Miss Shannon from the Exeter and Louttit Library! We had a lot of fun  finding out all of the places students like to read and presenting the Dr. Seuss book "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut"! 

While I read this classic and silly rhyming story, Miss Diane and Miss Shannon held up ALL kinds of props to go along with it! All of our students received a Dr. Seuss hat (yellow and black stripes for our bees) and the librarians gave everyone a special Dr. Seuss bookmark! The students also had a chance to design their own silly glasses! Some students gave their art to the librarians so it can be displayed in our local libraries!  A special thank you to Mrs. Curry, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Ward for doing these activities with Kindergarten during our snowy day yesterday!!

  

Next week, on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11 our food service provider, Aramark is having an "Eat Green, Wear Green" event to support healthy eating and celebrate foods that are green! The message from Aramark is Wear Something Green-Eat Something Green and Support Healthy Eating! 

Using our Boxtops Funding, Mrs. Larkin and I will be promoting healthy green eating by sharing a smoothie recipe with our students during our weekly meetings next week. This concoction will be comprised of spinach, pineapple juice and bananas! 

Calendar of Events:

March 9-13 PTA in School Book Fair

March 11 7 PM Sweetheart Dance Planning Metcalf Library

March 13- 6-8 PM  Book Fair Family Night with Biomes Touch Tanks Metcalf Cafeteria

March 19  Kindergarten- Grade 2 Math Night at Wawaloam School

April 7  6-9 PM Proud Painter Adults Only Wood River Inn Richmond

April 12 Boys Choice Bowling Event, Kingstown Bowl, North Kingstown

Sign Up Flyers for Boys Choice and Proud Painter will be going home soon! 

A special thank you to our PTA for sponsoring visits from Mystic Aquarium and the Roger Williams Zoomobile this week! The students LOVED these hands on science activities! 

Also thank you to Mrs. Breene, Mrs. Guglielmo, Mrs. Scheff and Mrs. Gagner for their flexibility this week with setting up these programs in their classrooms!! 

CHECK THIS OUT!!   Here is a link to see Mrs. Patty's class checking out a furry ferret!!! 

                                      

                              

Hoping everyone has a fantastic (snow free) weekend!!  We are just a couple of weeks away from the official start of Spring with daylight savings this weekend!

Melissa Marino

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS

Dear Wawaloam Community, 

This community announcement is a sure sign of Spring! 

EWG Girls Softball is now accepting spring registrations for grades K-8, no prior experience is required.  Established in 1982, EWG Girls Softball provides our children a safe, fun and friendly environment to learn and enjoy the game of softball.  Registration forms are now available for print on the Community Announcements page of the EWG District website - let's get ready to PLAY BALL!!

Hopefully this week you received our GROWTH MINDSET FOR PARENTS brochure. This is an outcome from our School Improvement Team. We welcome your feedback and comments and we are always available for questions. 

We are looking forward to a lot of exciting events this upcoming week! 

The PTA has generously made arrangements for all of our classes to have a special presentation connected to our Science Curriculum! 

On Tuesday- Mystic Aquarium will be doing a special presentation for our Grade 1 students all about the seashore.  http://www.mysticaquarium.org/fun-and-learning/teachers-and-school-groups/grades-1-3

On Thursday- the ZOOMOBILE will be here from Roger Williams to talk about animal habitats with our Grade 2 students and on Friday- they will be doing another presentation on animals with our Kindergarten. 

http://www.rwpzoo.org/313/ed-guide

Also- Next week we will celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday! During all of our grade level meetings we will have special guests! Our local librarians will be coming in and we will be reading a Dr. Seuss book and distributing commemorative hats to all of our students! This year we ordered them in yellow and black- to emphasize our PBIS expectations! 

We will gladly accept ANY USED AND IN GOOD CONDITION SPORTING GOODS between now and March 18th! Look high and look low and consider donating items that are causing clutter for a great cause! Send these items in to the Wawaloam School office ASAP. 


Have an outstanding weekend- play outside (even just 15 minutes can make a difference)! 
Melissa Marino
@MelissaMarino9

Happy School Vacation Week!

Happy School Vacation!

OUR ICICLES!!! 

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY XOXOX

Report cards are coming home today with your child. Please take the time to review the progress that your child is making. At Wawaloam School, we celebrate the Growth Mindset- we believe that all children can learn and we have systems in place to monitor the progress of our students and plan for their individual learning needs. In the next paragraph, you will read about an example of how we collaborate to meet the needs of all students, your children may have already told you about this!! They know all about this amazing news!

We are excited to inform the population of Wawaloam School that sometime in the month of March you will notice a new addition to our student body! This one will have four legs and a tail!!! 

Through fundraising and faith, a family in our school has been granted the gift of a very special dog who will be working to help our Kindergarten friend, Lilly Steiner, have the best days possible! 

Her special dog will be here as a working dog and will be able to detect seizure activity in Lilly and will offer a sense of calm and comfort during her school day.This service dog has gone through intense training and has been specially matched to meet her specific needs. 

As a school, we are preparing our student body for this exciting new canine friend. In order to plan for this, we talked about how to behave around this dog and created our  school wide expectations for when you see the dog in our school. There is a short video clip from the Today Show with a student who presently works with a service dog and how the dog helps him.We shared this with all of our students this week and offered the opportunity for students to ask questions.

 http://www.today.com/video/today/53911441#53911441 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY1kcnhL0b0&app=desktop

We believe wholeheartedly in the “whatever it takes” philosophy for all of our students and we are very proud of the opportunity to support Lilly and her family with this outstanding miracle.  A special thank you to the Steiner family for giving us permission to share all of this information with you.

Speaking of meeting the need of children, Lineham Early Childhood Learning Center will be holding an OPEN HOUSE for those interested in the Preschool program. The date for this is March 27 and will be held at 9:15-10:00 for 3 year olds and 1:30-2:15 for 4 year olds. If you would like to attend, you can call 397-3771 to RSVP by March 20th. 

As we end this week and approach our school vacation, I would like to wish all of you a week filled with opportunities to enjoy each other. There are lots of FREE opportunities for making fun memories with your children.

The Exeter library will be open 10-8 Tuesday –Thursday and 10-5 on Friday and Saturday. They are  having a beach party on Saturday, February 21 at 2:00, games, music, limbo, crafts and snacks!

Brainwaves in South County Commons will offer free crafts 10:30-12:00 ages 2-8 Monday through Friday.

The West Greenwich Library will be open 10-4 Monday and Friday and 10-8 Tuesday-Thursday!

The Kettle Pond Nature Center in Ninigret/Charlestown is a little hidden gem. If the weather is decent, you could plan a short hike. On Wednesday they will have a Wild About Reading event. They will read a nature based story and do an activity to go along with the book at 10:30.

Last week I posted all of the opportunities that the Feinstein card offers to you like the Children's Museum and Mystic Aquarium.

Other inexpensive ideas are:

The Roger Williams Zoo is half price admission during the month of February and it is great to see the cold hardy animals in the winter setting.

Audubon Society asri.com  for the full calendar of events but I noticed that on Wednesday you can meet a live owl at the Smithfield location if you register on line. Admission is 14.00 for an adult and 7.00 for a child.

If you are at home, definitely check out Gonoodle.com. The kids will love it and you will LOVE that they are moving around and getting the Wiggles out!

Try to have an unconnected/ TV free day and see how you can plan for ways to stay busy and have fun. You could create a family art project, work on a “big” puzzle, have a family Lego competition, have an indoor picnic right in the family room, make cards or letters for special people like grandparents or elderly neighbors. Do anything that brings you all together, talking and laughing with one another!

Phonics Centers in Kindergarten

 Art in Kindergarten working on Painted Elephants and learning about India

 Rolling Sight Words and Recording the Data

Don't forget to begin to think about SPORTING EQUIPMENT IN GREAT CONDITION THAT COULD BE DONATED FOR OUR SPORTS RE-SALE EVENT! This is a good week to do this! We will start to take donations on Monday February 23. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. 

Have a great week off of school together! 

Melissa Marino

@MelissaMarino9

PS Be sure to check out our updated webpage!  ewg.k12.ri.us/wawaloam/