WEDNESDAY WEEKLY

October 13, 2021

UPCOMING EVENTS October 20 Lunch & Learn: Meeting for Parents of Rising 9-12 Students (current third-graders) Noon Zoom - Register here to receive the link. October 27 Lunch & Learn: Meeting for Parents of Rising 6-9 Students (current kindergartners) Noon Zoom - Register here to receive the link. October 28 Halloween Activities Parades (for Primary and up) will be streamed on Facebook Live See Bloomz for information on classroom activities. October 29 Lead Teacher Professional Day No school - pre-registered child care available. Register by 10/22 to reserve your spot! Full Calendar

NEWS & NOTES

Co-op Program Reminder - Submit Your Hours As we shared last month, the Co-op Program has returned this year with a 10-hour requirement. As you know, we are currently allowing only students, staff and approved contractors into the school building. Therefore, families will be able to complete their hours by attending online parent education programs and supporting our classrooms through activities that can be completed from home. For example, you can already submit co-op hours for: New Families - Entrance Survey & Orientation/Reception Virtual Q&As with Lisa & Sarah Back-to-School Curriculum Nights Virtual classroom visits STEAM Family Nights Other classroom assignments requested by teachers (book order coordinator, homeroom parent, etc.)  Click here to submit your hours today!

COVID-19 Testing: Next Results Due Today - Next Round Due October 27 WMS requires ongoing testing for students and staff, regardless of vaccination status. We are currently requiring testing every other week. All students and staff should have submitted their negative COVID-19 test results by noon today, Wednesday, October 13. If you haven't already done so, please submit yours as soon as possible. Results should be emailed to covidresults@wmsde.org as soon as they become available. Your child will NOT be permitted to attend school tomorrow, October 14, without a negative test. If you are sending a screenshot, please include the date tested. Important: All tests must be conducted on-site at a testing location - no at-home test results will be accepted. Please understand that if no results are forwarded to the nurse, your child will not be permitted to attend school the following day. If your results are forwarded after noon on the due date, you may experience a delay in drop-off the next morning. A last-minute result may delay or prevent your child from attending school; time must be allowed for communication to the staff members conducting screenings in the car line. Due to high volume, some testing locations are taking three or more days to process results. Please plan to test early in the testing window. We highly recommend that you complete your test by the weekend prior to the deadline to ensure your results will be on time. Next Due Date: Wednesday, October 27 (Test on or after 10/20) We are still awaiting further information about hosting onsite COVID testing. We will share details about this as soon as it is available.  As always, you are still welcome to have your child tested more frequently and may forward the results to covidresults@wmsde.org. Click here to find Delaware Curative testing locations near WMS.   Thank you, and please contact the school nurse if you have any questions! Full list of test sites: coronavirus.delaware.gov/testing-events More Information about WMS COVID-19 Testing Requirements

Policies & Procedures  WMS's COVID-19 policies are based on guidelines from the CDC and State of Delaware Department of Education Office of Child Care Licensing. We continue to monitor those sources for information to adjust our policies and practices as needed.

CLASSROOM NEWS - As Seen on Bloomz

Toddler Program

Sensorial Activities in Room 4 Alyssa Ross, Toddler Lead Teacher

Marking Salt Dough We made salt dough in Room 4! The toddlers helped measure ingredients. They poured and mixed together the ingredients, and then felt the squishy texture. It’s a cool math, science and cooking activity. Two of the children even told me, “I have flour at my house. In the kitchen!” Here is a link to the recipe if you'd like to make salt dough at home.

Exploring Gourds It’s autumn! With the new season, there are new colors and textures to explore. The toddlers enjoyed feeling the textures of gourds and looking at their colors and shapes.

Primary (3-6) Program

Peace Week in Room 18 Sarah Williams, Assistant Head of School Last week, the WMS community celebrated Peace Week Delaware in a number of ways. Together with the other Primary classrooms, Room 18 adorned the gardens at the front of the school with peace doves. Each student decorated their own dove with either a drawing or a sentiment about what peace means to them before hanging it out front. On Thursday, we were serenaded by the 6-9 and 9-12 students. They accompanied the song "Light a Candle for Peace" with sign language and even gave us an encore performance. The class also spent some time looking at the idea of peace in two different ways: offering peace to others and creating peace for themselves. This conversation around peace will happen all year long through the lenses of conflict resolution, responsibility, collaboration and emotional regulation. It will also show up in cultural lessons like those that address the fundamental needs of humans. The focus on character development and respectful participation in a group is not a separate curriculum in a Montessori classroom. It is integrated in everything the teachers and students do. This week, we are continuing the idea of peace-making by introducing the Peace Table and a process for resolving minor disagreements

Lower Elementary (6-9) Program

Peace is... (A Poem by the Students of Room 22) Peace is sleeping with my dog. Peace is relaxing. Peace is playing with my friends and being nice to them. Peace is giving someone new shoes if they need them. Peace is laying on my hammock outside on a sunny day. Peace is snuggling with my teddy bear. Peace is helping my neighbor. Peace is reading. Peace is the wind. Peace is having ice cream with my family. Peace is laying in bed with my stuffed animals. Peace is having fun with my brother. Peace is playing with my siblings, reading in my chair, feeding my pet, and not polluting. Peace is looking at clouds. Peace is taking a nap. Peace is snuggling with my snuggle bear. Peace is to read, play, draw, relax, love, run, and nap. Peace is being free in the cool breeze. Peace is me in my house watching it snow the day before Christmas with my cousins. Peace is taking care of the earth. Peace is having fun with your friends and eating with them. Peace is sailing the seven seas. Peace is staying with my mom. Peace is humming when I feel calm. Peace is the wind and peace is the sun and peace is love and the world and life and nature.

Upper Elementary (9-12) Program

Meet the Artist: Completed Projects Allie Colflesh, 9-12 Lead Teacher Two weeks ago, we shared information about the 9-12 students' Meet the Artist projects. Each student selected an artist to research and was also tasked with re-creating a piece of the artist's work. To conclude the project, students created original pieces in a similar style to their selected artists. Here are a few of their creations.

Middle School (7th & 8th Grade) Program

Solar System Models Mandy Balanetsky, Lead Middle School Teacher Last month, our class worked hard to create scale models of the solar system. While I’m sure we have all seen scale models in schools, museums, etc., the students quickly learned that those models were not actually close to scale in both size and distance. They all worked really hard to complete calculations and build creative models. They presented their creations to the 9-12 class, impressing both the students and the teachers!

The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.  Please send submissions to wednesday-weekly@wmsde.org by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.  For more information, contact Noel Dietrich, Director of Advancement & Communications.

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