Hello Wheelock!
Are you ready for a great Memorial Day weekend? It's a good time to spend with family and friends! We are excited to look forward to all of the wonderful opportunities for learning, events, and field trips we have planned for our boys and girls in the coming weeks.

As we look ahead, we enthusiastically await the Night of the Arts on June 9th, our last Open Circle assembly on June 13th, and Field Day on June 14th, among other activities!

At our Night of the Arts we will unveil our new cafeteria mural.   Kate Jones and I collaborated with input from Dawn LaVallee our Director of Food Services. The Art Honor Society students created a mural for our cafeteria around healthy foods and vegetables. Ms. Babin, Wheelock Art teacher,  worked with grade 2 students, whose artistic renderings provided inspiration to the high school students as they created the mural.  We chose grade 2 because our current grade 3 students had input into our mural downstairs with Bren Bataclan, mural artist. Don't miss the unveiling; save the date!

Last night I enjoyed attending the MCPE annual meeting. It was great to congratulate so many friends for their great achievements through grants this year. I want to extend warm thanks to Jessica Reilly, who has been Wheelock's MCPE Grant Chair this year. It was truly a pleasure to collaborate with Jessica, an amazing parent, who really gets kids. I also want to welcome Jen Gemski as Wheelock's new MCPE Grant Chair. I look forward to working with Jen. We have already met to discuss our last grant of the year and to plan for next year. For our last grant, I considered the whole child and the need for students to move within the classroom environment. My proposed grant is to allow a group of teachers to pilot standing desks. If you like to learn more about standing desks, click here!

Thank you for all of your support! 

Wheelock Site Council Survey

Thank you to everyone who participated in Wheelock's Site Council Survey.  We sincerely appreciated the feedback, but wish more people had participated. Out of 324 families, we had 114 responses. Please know I presented the results to staff and the Site Council and we are considering your input. Your feedback will not only help inform our School Improvement Plan, but will give us more insight into your thinking about various topics. Thanks again. Here are the results!
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I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Best,
Donna

We had another busy week at Wheelock. Thank you to Sonja Johanson, the Master Gardeners and all of our parent volunteers. This is a great way to help your child's class and one of the many ways to help out at Wheelock. 

Mrs. Murphy's class, hard at work!

 

Important Upcoming Events
Night of the Arts
We are excited for our upcoming Night of the Arts! Mrs. Stover and Ms. Babin have been hard at work with our students. An interactive event, we are excited to try something new.
Field Day
Our physical education teachers, Mr. Slason and Mr. Stevens, are also busy planning this year's Field Day to be held on June 14th with a rain date ofJune 16th.  A little later this year, we feel it is at a better time for our students and staff.
Transition Day
Transition Day will be held on June 22nd. We are looking forward to it!
Good Character Assembly for June - Citizenship - June 13th 2:20 
At this assembly, in addition to our student performance by Mrs. Trikoulis' class and Mrs. Lynn's class we will recognize our Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Contest winners.  

Grade 3 "Summit"
We have a fun activity for the end of lunch every day. Last year, I met with a group of Wheelock third graders who shared some great ideas for our school. We were able to implement some of their suggestions in the building and as lunch activities. I still haven't figured out how to get a pool on the roof, though :)

In any case, it's that time of year, and I will be meeting with our third grade boys and girls soon. Their creative ideas will inform our plans. Teachers will decide how each student from their classes is selected.  We'll let you know the results of our "summit" in a future Flash.

Fundations
Fundations is multisensory, structured language program. Based on the Wilson Reading principles, Wilson Fundations provides research-based resources and strategies necessary to a comprehensive reading, spelling, and handwriting program. The instruction aligns with states’ rigorous standards, including the Common Core State Standards.

As you may know, Memorial School teachers of grade K and 1 have been trained in Fundations and are currently using this program as a component of their literacy program. On June 9th, Wheelock's second grade team will be trained in Fundations also. Next year, Fundations will provide the foundation for our work with phonics and spelling. We will continue to teach writing, guided reading, comprehension instruction, handwriting and many, many opportunities for our students to read a wealth of rich and varied literature genres in their classrooms through the workshop model.  We are very excited to have this training and to continue the consistency begun at the Memorial School with this research-based program.

Technology
We have many exciting plans in the works for next year.  Debby Fromen, our technology integration person is preparing a listing of all of the hardware available to our staff and students so you can take a look at what we have been able to acquire over the past few years. Thanks to MCPE and PTO grants, and our district, Wheelock has a variety of technology options for our children to use both in the classrooms and with their specialists. That information will be available soon.

MCPE Grant
Speaking of grants, I recently submitted a grant for a pilot around alternative seating in the classroom.  Did you happen to see the NBC Evening News clip on standing desks? Standing desks are a great option for all kids to change up how they work during the course of the school day. We provide our students with many, many movement opportunities during the school day, but some students enjoy working in different ways rather than sitting at a desk all day.  This is one more option we'd like to examine. If the pilot is successful, I will propose purchasing more through our regular budget process.  

Mindset Book Club
I may have mentioned a number of Wheelock staff members and I have been reading Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck this year. Today we finished our book. We learned a lot and will be sharing information with our colleagues. Check it out!

Thank You!
Thank you to Jane Barr and all of the parents who helped clean up the Courtyard. It is such a beautiful space. We really appreciated it!

Next week...
Next week I will be sharing the results of the Wheelock Site Council Parent Survey. Be sure to look for it!

See us on Twitter @Wheelockians for the cutest butterfly release photo!

Have a great weekend!
​Donna

Hello Wheelock Families,

Wheelock Site Council Survey
We need your feedback! The Wheelock Survey closes May 13th! Click here_
We are pleased to have completed a successful PARCC administration. Our students did remarkably well, a testament to our teachers' fine preparation for our students' first State testing experience. To celebrate all of our children's hard work, we will hold a grade 3 PARCC celebration and our children will be treated to a movie and a healthy treat on Friday morning. Thank you to all of our staff and families for their support to make this administration a successful event for our students.

While grade 3 was participating in PARCC this week, grade 2 enjoyed one of our favorite assemblies, WingMasters. Take a peek! 
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_WHEELOCK SITE COUNCIL SURVEY
We want your feedback!  
The Wheelock School Site Council Parent Surveys are due by tomorrow, May 13th.We have had only 86 responses to date! Thank you in advance for your participation. Please click on the link to access this short online survey.

THANK YOU!

Thank you, PTO! Wheelock School would like to thank our PTO for granting Wish List items which include folding tables, a bike rack for outside of our school, a storage bin for the courtyard and a much needed Dustbuster for our school.

Flexible Seating for Students
As we reflect on creating optimal learning spaces for our students, how they work is being considered. Take a look! Click_

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES AT WHEELOCK SCHOOL:

• Jump Rope for Heart - Grade 3 - Donations Due: May 16
• Jackson Homestead Field Trips - Grade 2 - June 6, 7, 8 & 13
• Medfield Tour - Grade 3 - June 2, 3, 6, & 9**
• The Noisy Paintbox - June 9
• Field Day - June 14 (Rain Date June 16)

** Classes attending each day TBD

Have a great weekend!
Donna

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Hello Wheelock Families!
I am pleased to share some news with you from this week!

We had another busy week at Wheelock! We welcomed the amazing Mark Rothstein and the Jump Rope for Heart Assembly. Thanks to the PTO, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Slason for arranging this presentation as we work to raise money for the heart association. Click here  _ 

Donation forms are due back May 16th.

Thank you PTO!
Many thanks to Kristen Carew and all of the parents who helped make our Teacher Appreciation Week so great. It was wonderful!
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Wheelock Survey
The Site Council is seeking your input to inform our School Improvement Plan for 2016-2017. Please complete our parent survey by Friday, the 13th. We appreciate your feedback!  Click here  _

Guidance
I am happy to let you know that next year our guidance position will increase from one day per week to two and one half days. Kathy Bockhorst will remain at Wheelock and we are thrilled to offer some added supports to our students.
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Boston Museum of Science
On Friday we enjoyed a visit from Zoe, an enthusiastic member of the Boston Science Museum team. The third grade boys and girls enjoyed an interactive assembly on force and motion. Take a peek!