W E D N E S D A Y  W E E K L Y
June 8, 2016
In this Issue


Upcoming Events

June 8
Deadline to Register for Pre-Camp Child-Care
Learn More
 
June 10
Last Day of School

Graduation Ceremony
9:30 a.m., Gym
All are welcome! 
Learn More 

June 13-17
Pre-Camp Child-Care Week
Pre-register for child-care and/or check out our pre-camp specialty programs.
  
June 20-24
Camp Montessori
Week 1
Honoring the Class of 2016
Message from Head of School
Lisa A. Lalama
 
For more from Lisa, visit our Montessori Message blog.
Friday is a day our sixth-graders have been waiting for...it's graduation day! Each year, our community gathers in the gym to honor the young men and women who will be moving on to middle school. Some of our graduates have been with us since they were toddlers while others  joined us just a few years ago. They have learned so much and have even more to look forward to. 

If you have never attended a WMS graduation, please try to find the time to join us on Friday at 9:30 a.m. Not only will you have the opportunity to wish the class well, you will also see what lies ahead for your children. You will discover what this class of graduates has gained from their experience at WMS. You will hear from a WMS alumnae and hear about the ways in which WMS has influenced her life.

Although it is the last day of the school year and bittersweet to be sure, it is uplifting and utterly amazing to hear from our graduates and have this chance to see for yourself the benefits of a WMS education. We hope to see you there.

 
 
Co-op Cornercoop
WMS Parent Co-op -  Thanks

"We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are a part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity."
- Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential
 
Thank you to all of the families who fulfilled their Co-op obligation and worked on behalf of the WMS students, as they were growing and learning this year. When children observe their families volunteering in and supporting their school, they learn to value the process of education, to appreciate the learning that occurs here and to feel connected to their school community. 

Your work in Co-op made the students' school days so much richer - whether it meant there were well-cared for pets to observe in class, special foods for community celebrations, or presentations on a variety of professions, studies or travels. From field trips to Field Days, the WMS parents make everything possible. There are too many ways that you have contributed to highlight here, but each hour counted and made a difference.

The generosity you showed in sharing your time, your expertise and your goodwill translated in to a very successful year for the WMS students. For that, the WMS teachers and staff are deeply grateful. 
News & NotesNews
Congratulations, Retirees!

Cathy Simon-Cord, Lead Primary Teacher - 30 years of service
Elizabeth Varley, School Librarian - 23 years of service
Nell Loder, Assistant Primary Teacher - 12 years of service

Cathy, Elizabeth and Nell have touched the lives of countless children during their tenure at WMS, and we know they look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with their families as retirees. If you see them in the hallways, please join us in congratulating them!
Coming this Summer... Facilities Improvements

Thanks to funds raised through the Marie M. Dugan Fund for the Future Comprehensive Campaign, a variety of improvements will be made to our building this summer. Next week, construction will begin on our lobby area. 

Please look for an email, early next week, that will provide information regarding alternate entrances and other important details for those of you who plan to visit us this summer. We thank you in advance for your patience - we can't wait to show you the improvements when you return this fall!
Summer Reading 
by Instructional Support Specialist Amy Sacia

Are you ready for the summer?  Hanging out on the beach, relaxing with your friends, going on vacations with family - it is such a wonderful time of year.  When you are thinking about this summer, make sure you include time for reading with your children. 

Kids often wonder why they should read over the summer because it seems like school work. In fact, reading is the cheapest and easiest way to take a vacation to another place, meet fascinating people and open your mind to new ideas. Looking for ways to include reading in your busy summer?  Here are some ideas.
  • Utilize the library and bookstore summer reading programs.
  • Make reading part of the daily routine. Bring books to the pool for the safety break, keep some books in the car to read when you're stuck in beach traffic, spend time reading out loud at bedtime... the possibilities are endless.
  • Read a variety of texts! Comics, magazines, newspapers, picture books, chapter books... they all count!
  • Have a favorite movie or TV show that is based on a book? Read the book and chat about the differences between the two interpretations.
  • Start a family book club with your reader! Have conversations about the characters, predict what might happen next and make connections to your own experiences.
  • Going on a vacation? Find a few books about the location. Going to the beach? Find a book about seashells or ocean animals. Playing lots of sports? Find the biography of your favorite player.
  • Listen to audiobooks! For emerging readers, let them follow along in the hard or digital copy of the book. This helps them make the connection between the words and the text.
  • Start a journal to chronicle the exciting and mundane events that happen throughout the summer.  Your family can also use the journal as a communication log to pass back and forth during time away from each other.
Reading over the summer helps children maintain their hard-earned literacy skills.  When children spend time practicing these skills over the summer, they are more likely to enter the next year with less effects from the "summer slide."  Interested in more ideas or looking for book recommendations?  Check out www.readingrockets.org and www.bookopolis.com.
campnewsCamp Montessori News

Every ending signals a new beginning, and as we get ready to wrap up the school year, the Camp Montessori staff is swinging into gear! Forty-five teachers and counselors met last week for inspiration, collaboration and celebration of the wonderful summer we're going to have with the children. Teams of staffers worked together to build physical representations of the parts of camp that are most important to them, and then they explained their creations to the team at the next table.  Creativity, laughter and enthusiasm pervaded all of our activities as we caught up with old friends and got to know new ones. Each staff member set a personal goal, and we committed to help one another meet our personal and all-camp goals.
 
Camp Montessori is about working and playing together.  Let the fun begin!
 
Important Enrollment Information:
  • Three Specialty Camp programs have been canceled: Art History Master Class (Week 1), Lego Circus (Week 2), and Olympic Camp (Week 4).
  • Other specialty camps maybe be canceled if they do not have sufficient enrollment, so if you are planning to sign your child up, don't wait!
  • The Tiger and Meerkat Traditional Camp groups (rising first- through fourth-graders) are full or almost full every week.
  • NEW THIS YEAR: Enrollment will close the Tuesday prior to each week - so there can be no last-minute registrations this year.  Make sure to plan ahead if you are still considering some camp weeks! 
  • Registration for pre-camp child-care (June 13-17) closes today, so please email Cass or register through the extended day portion of the WMS website if your child will attend.  Check out our Precamp Specialty Programs too! Space is limited!
Rocky's Reading Challenge
Take Me Out to the Ballgame - Rocky's Reading Challenge Reminder
 
For those students who participated in Rocky's Reading Challenge, don't forget that WMS's designated game day is Wednesday, June 15. First pitch is at 6:45 p.m., and the Blue Rocks will face the Winston-Salem Dash. Looking forward to seeing all of our participating readers and their families there!
Today's LearnersLearner
Trash Talk in Room 20
by Lead 6-9 Teachers Melissa Connelly & Carol Wiswall
 
As we stared at the pile of trash, one thing was immediately apparent: We make a lot of trash. Our 6-9 class had just put all of the trash we had made in just one day on a mat in the middle of our meeting area. As we pictured this volume of trash multiplying over weeks and months, we knew we had to make some changes. But what could we do?

The children categorized each of the trash items and created a massive pie graph in order to analyze our biggest problem areas. We had a surprisingly high percentage of paper towels. One of our student engineers studied how the towels are packaged to fold together and invented a rubber band system that would only allow one towel to come out at a time. Food waste was also a big issue, so we asked the 9-12 students about composting and joined in their efforts. "It's a cycle!" several children realized as over time they watched food scraps decompose into usable soil to create more food in the 9-12 garden. We saw a lot of recyclables in our pile. We were pretty confused about what could be recycled -  plus, we were curious about what happens to recyclables once they are collected. We took a trip to the Delaware Recycling Center and learned how the recycled materials are weighed, sorted and sold to companies who reuse the items in new ways. 
 
This gave us a lot more clarity on how we could recycle and compost better at school. Each day we weighed the trash, celebrated our triumphs and looked for solutions to our challenges. Could we use water bottles instead of so many cups? How could we make sure the pizza boxes were put in the recycling bin? What could we reuse in new ways instead of throwing it out? The weight of our daily trash reduced little by little.

But we knew this wasn't enough. Surely, we weren't the only people who could learn how to reduce their trash contribution. The children decided they would create commercials to share with families and others about ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. They wrote impassioned speeches, pulled out the iPads and found images of landfills, and took beautiful photos of the natural outdoor space at school they cared so much about. They filmed and edited green screen public service announcements with those photos in the background. They asked all of us to become more aware of what we are putting in the trash and educated us on ways we can all be better at reducing our contribution to the landfill.

Hopefully, the lessons shared by these children will make all of us pause before putting something in the trash. Is there any way that item could be reused, reduced or recycled instead of adding to our earth's landfills?
Tomorrow's Leadersleaders
Stay Tuned!

Watch for our special graduation edition of Wednesday Weekly, coming to your inbox next week. The newsletter will feature a recap of graduation festivities and information about our newest alumni - the WMS Class of 2016!
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 Communications.
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