Dear Sprague Community,
This Friday will be a school-wide Comfy Cozy Day to celebrate all of the great work done by Sprague students during the Kindness Olympics.
If you haven’t seen it yet or wish to watch again, here is the link to the Teacher Video, “One Foot in Front of the Other:”
https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=owner:craigk%40wellesleyps.org
To Sprague Parents From Michelle Frost of the Sprague Green Team:
As you know, we began recycling in the Sprague cafeteria last year and since then, have prevented a great deal of our waste from reaching the landfill. We are excited to announce that we are ready to launch the next phase of our waste reduction efforts with the introduction of food donation! Now, students who do not finish the lunch that they have purchased from Food Services can donate it to the Wellesley Food Pantry! This includes food like cheese sticks, yogurt, juice, milk, bags of carrots, apples and pears. We will continue to encourage kids who have brought their lunch to bring home uneaten food so you can see what they were unable to finish.
Food donation has two big benefits; 1) it reduces the amount of waste that is sent to the landfill and 2) it helps those that are food insecure.
But we need your help! Each week, the collected food needs to be picked up from the Sprague cafeteria and transported to the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry accepts food Mondays between 8:45 and 10am. After the food is dropped off, the cooler needs to be brought back to Sprague. Look for the Sign Up Genius email after the vacation if you think you can donate an hour of your time on Mondays,.
Peer Mentoring
The Peer Mentoring program pairs selected Wellesley High School students with interested Sprague students. Once a week, high school mentors come to Sprague to help students with homework and other needs. This is a great opportunity for your child to receive additional help with homework after school on a regular basis! It also allows children to build a positive and supportive relationship with a local high school student.
For Whom: Sprague students
Where and When: At Sprague every Tuesday from 3:05pm to 4:00pm. This program will run from October 23rd-November 20th. These are the scheduled dates for the program: Tuesdays: May 8, 15, 22, 29; June 5.
Note: The program will take place in Ms. Blumenthal’s room (Room 113). Ms. Blumenthal and Ms. Viscomi will be supervising each Tuesday. Your child may bring a snack if they would like.
If you are interested in having your child participate, please email Ms. Blumenthal (blumenthall@wellesleyps.org). Once she knows the exact number of high school students that will be volunteering, she will begin accepting Sprague students. Please watch for a permission slip in your child’s backpack. It will be on a first come, first serve basis.
Pick up will occur at 4:00 p.m. sharp in car line.
Reprint of Safety Message Update:
With so much talk of school safety recently, I’d like to update you on the plans for Sprague. All staff members have received their new ID badges that also provide entry to building. This means that all staff members will be able to open doors with their ID cards, making entry after recess or a walk much easier and safer for all. Previously, we needed to bring keys outside and only 1 or 2 people at a time had the keys. We now have the ability to maintain our doors locked on a schedule that is controlled by a computer system. We are now using the automated system to lock and unlock doors in the morning. The front door will be unlocked until 8:35. If you or your child needs to ring the bell for entry, it means the child is late and will need to come to the office for a tardy slip.
Once all door systems are operational, doors will remain locked after school we well. As has been our practice, the front door will remain locked after school. The office staff will answer the doorbell until 4:00 PM. Any groups that rent space after school (Girl Scouts, after school enrichment classes) will have access to an exterior door and/or parents who pick up after 4:00 will need to wait outdoors. Groups that rent our gym will have gym door access.
We will have a new WCCC entry system with a camera and doorbell at the Atrium entrance. I will let you know once that system is operational.
As a school, we are making plans for any emergency response. We recently had a fire drill. The Fire Dept. came to supervise and let us know how we did. You will be amazed to know that we all made it out of the building in 1 minute and 43 seconds. That’s pretty amazing for close to 400 students and 60 adults. We practice bus evacuation two times per year with all students so they will know how to get out of a bus safely. Even if they do not ride a bus to school, they may be on a field trip at one time or another. Adults have been trained on how to respond in the event of an unwanted adult or intruder in the building. We are currently making plans for an emergency drill which will include our students. These plans are being carefully crafted so as not to scare or upset our young learners, but rather give them a sense of security in knowing what to do in the hopefully, unlikely event they need to take action. Our focus will always be to highlight that the adults are here to take care of the children in the school and that it is important to listen to the adults and keep them safe. When our plans are better defined, I will keep you informed and offer time to come to discuss them prior to any school drill. As always, thank you for your support.
Dates to remember:
April 11: Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
April 12,13: Grade 3 ELA MCAS
April 12: Walk to School Day
April 12: PTO Meeting
April 13: Comfy Cozy Day
April 16-20: School Vacation Week
April 23: School Council at 3:15
April 24: Incoming Kindergarten Parent Info Night at 6:30
April 27: PTO Auction at Wellesley Country Club
June 12: Field Day (raindate is June 14)
June 19: Grade 5 Farewell at 9:00 AM
June 20: Last day of school (12:00 dismissal)