Good morning, 

Our students are extremely fortunate when it comes to the high energy excursions they partake in during their three years at WMS. A couple of weeks ago, I was driving the “bus,” donated by the Wayland Boosters, supporting the sixth graders on their bike trips to Walden Pond. Just this past week, I went spelunking for the second time in my life, albeit it in the Howe Caverns, with the eighth graders. I missed going on the ropes courses with seventh grade last week, but Ms. Gavron went high flying instead! Through it all, we had unbelievable weather. 

Early Friday morning around 5:45, three buses filled with eighth graders departed the middle school for their caving and geological experience. We stopped off near Mt. Tom where we discovered dinosaur footprints, which were pretty cool. It was wonderful to see the curiosity and knowledge oozing out of all the students as they were taking photos, measuring and hypothesizing. During these stops I learned about the acronym SUNSET, to help describe rocks and fossils. Students were well prepared by their science teachers as they were quick to point out to one another how to apply SUNSET. 

Since we had a beautiful day, my favorite stop was at John Boyd Thacher State Park. As we stood on the Helderberg Plateau, students were hunting to see the Schenectady beds.  We also had a great view of the Hudson Valley! As we made our way down the Indian Ladder Trail, students were inspecting the rondout "waterlime", the upper and lower Manlius, and many other geological formations. 

This year we experienced a very different caving environment. Last year, we were slithering down a tiny hole, getting quite dirty and wet, only to experience a marvelous cave. At Howe Caverns, much to my happiness, we took an elevator down 160 feet. As you can see by the picture, we were still able to search for stalagmites and stalactites, just in a much nicer climate! 

Big kudos to Mr. Battaglia, Ms. Bale and all of the other teachers for putting together a wonderful trip that was both a lot of fun and educational. It is amazing that every year our students get to explore and learn about science this way. 

Warm regards,

George

The progress report module of iParent will close today at 8:00 AM, and will reopen for Q2 progress reports in December. Q1 Report cards will be released on November 20. If you forget your iParent UserID or password, please contact [email protected].

WMS Wellness presents OPERATION GRATITUDE—our 5th annual Halloween candy drive for the troops! Bring your Halloween candy to school & deposit it into your class container. Candy will be collected each morning from 7-7:30 in the front lobby from November 2 to 6. If your class reaches the minimum goal, everyone in the grade gets a recess!

Have a hockey player in 6th, 7th or 8th grade? Register for the WMS hockey team tryouts. The team is a game-only league and plays all home games at NESC with some non-league games at local rinks. The season begins at the end of October through late February/early March.  All players must have a current USA Hockey member id # to tryout and play for the team.  Tryout fee is $50. Please contact Jennifer Bonner at [email protected] if your player is interested in trying out or for more information.

The Wayland High School Mentors in Violence Prevention Club (MVP) will be giving a presentation to Wayland high school and middle school students and parents. Information on healthy relationships, warning signs for an unhealthy relationship, and bystander tactics will be presented. Advice and input from high school seniors will be included. We strongly encourage you and your children to attend! Refreshments will be offered following the presentation!

TEDx is about bringing big ideas to our community to spark connection and deep conversation. If you are interested in speaking or performing, auditions will be held November 7 and 8 at the High School. Audition sign-up HERE.

If your child was absent on picture day, or if you are dissatisfied with your child's portrait and would like to try again, the photographer will return to WMS on November 4. Retake information follows:

• Please have your child return his or her entire undamaged portrait package directly to the photographer on Retake Day.
• Write any suggestions for the photographer on a piece of paper so it shows through the envelope window (for example, indicate what you didn't like about the original photo). 
• Portrait packages will be distributed approximately 3 weeks after Retake Day.

Bring in your warm, gently used, good quality winter coats (in all sizes - babies, toddlers, children, and adult) and place them in the collection bin in the WMS lobby. You can find more information about Coats for Kids HERE.

Principal Gavron has begun a blog, "WMS Windows into the Classroom," through which she and Mr. Benzie will share glimpses into our middle school classrooms.

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