1/13/12 Community Announcements

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with another set of announcements.

Today we were rainbow colored as we celebrated diversity, unity, and the life of Martin Luther King in annual MLK assembly. We heard four eighth grade Martin Luther King essay contest winners, our runners-up Soleen Ghahraman, Sawyer Ames, and Zoe Papastoitsis, and our winner this year, Rachel Quinlivan. I invite all of you to Watertown's Martin Luther King Day Unity Breakfast, Monday January 16th, 9:00 a.m., at the Hellenic Cultural Center on Bigelow Avenue. I believe that adults are $10 and children 12 and under are free. At the breakfast, Rachel will be reading her essay along with the tenth and twelfth grade winners of the contest. Hope to see you there!

There is no school on Monday January 16th for the Martin Luther King holiday and no school for students on Tuesday January 17th, as teachers have a professional day.

The first set of progress reports for the winter term either are being distributed to students today or will be distributed next week Wednesday. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your students' academics, please contact your child's teacher for any specific issues or your child's guidance counselor for more general issues.

Eighth grade students receieved a letter from me today to take home to you announcing that our annual Washington Trip has been put on hold for the time being and that the parent information night on Wednesday January 18th has been canceled. Please read the letter for more details. We will be posting the letter on our web site early next week. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the status of the Washington Trip, please contact me. I'll be happy to talk with you.

That's all the announcements I have for today. Enjoy the long weekend and I hope to see some of you at the Unity Breakfast!

 

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with set of weekly announcements for the New Year. Happy New Year everyone!

Our Coats for Kids Drive is ending tomorrow, Friday January 6th. This is your last chance to bring in gently used coats, so if you have any extra coats in your closets, please bring them in tomorrow.

Our winter after school clubs will be starting next week, the week of January 9th. Some clubs include art club, computer programming club, dance, floor hockey, games, volleyball, the life is good club, community explorers club, and a brand new theatre club sponsored by the New Reperatory Theatre called "Tell Your Story." These clubs are free with the one time activity fee that many of you have already paid for in the fall. Spaces are filling up and are on a first-come first-serve basis. If you missed the notice that went home before the holidays, you can have your child pick one up in the main office or download a copy from our web site.

Now that the weather is colder and snow is on the way, please allow the 10 minutes extra time for the slower driving and taking the ice off the windshield and make sure you drop off your children on time to school. Students are expected to come to school at 7:30 and be seated in their homerooms by 7:40. Thanks to you, we have had fewer tardy students than we had in the past, but our on-time attendance record has been slipping recently. Also, please do not drop off students on Waverley Avenue or in the school driveway at the time busses are arriving. Use Bemis Street instead.

Thank you and have a great beginning to the New Year!

 

12/16/11 Community Announcements

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with a few end-of-the-week announcements. We have a busy week next week filled with honor roll breakfasts and the geography bee.

If your child is eligible for the honor roll (all A's and B's from the fall term report card) or the high honor roll (all A's), they will be attending their grade's honor roll breakfast, and families are invited as well. The sixth grade honor roll breakfast is Monday December 19th, seventh grade is Tuesday December 20th, and eighth grade is Wednesday December 21st. All honor roll breakfasts start at 7:45 when students receive their certificates in the auditorium. Then students and families receive breakfast treats donated by the PTO in the cafeteria afterwards. We hope you can come!

We had the geography bee preliminaries and eight students got a perfect score. The final two seats will be filled in a run-off on Monday among all students who got one question wrong. The finals of the geography bee is on Friday December 23rd, 8:00 a.m., in the auditorium. It should be a fantastic event!

We will be sending home a list of winter clubs and after school activities midweek next week. Registration will happen from Wednesday December 21st through Friday January 6th. Clubs start Monday January 9th. Many clubs fill up quickly, so register early to claim a spot!

That's it for the announcements this week, and I believe our next set of announcements will happen in 2012! Everyone, please have a joyous holiday season and best wishes in the new year!

 

WMS Community Announcements: 11/30/11

Hello Watertown families, this is Mr. Carter with your end-of-November announcements. Can you believe that we are almost one-third of the way through the year?

Tonight is holiday shopping night, 6:00 - 9:00 in the cafeteria, sponsored by the PTO. Come and take a look at the holdiay gifts offered by a number of vendors, and take a look at some our student performances from a number of our community organizations. I'll see you there!

Tomorrow, December 1st, is our first Bags to School drive for the year. If you have extra clothing or other textiles, including drapes, sheets, handbags, and shoes, please donate them to the school. Bring them to the cafeteria before school starts. Don't forget save your coats for the Coats for Kids drive!

Friday December 2nd, 7:00, is our second school dance! Tickets are $6.00 and will be on sale during lunches this week. No tickets will be sold at the door. If you bring in a gently worn coat for the Coats for Kids drive at the night of the dance, we will give you a free pizza slice and soda! The dance ends promptly at 10:00. Please be sure that your child has a ride home, and don't be late! Just like before, this dance is made possible with help from the Watertown Boys and Girls Club, the PTO, and the student council.

Middle school yearbooks will go on sale Monday December 5th and will be sold on a first-come, first serve basis until Tuesday December 20th. The cost of each yearbook is $25. Your child will be bringing home a purple flyer that has the yearbook order form on it. There will be extra order forms available in the office and online on our web site.

Friday marks the end of the fall term and students will be starting winter term classes on Monday December 5th. Most classes will be staying the same, but some specials and enrichment classes will be different. Students will be receiving their winter term schedules on Monday. Fall term report cards will be mailed on Friday December 9th.

Tuesday December 6th, 7:00, in the auditorium, is our Winter Concert. Our band, orchestra, and chorus members have been working hard to put on a great show! Don't miss it!

That's all the announcements for this week! Wishing you a happy, not-too-stressful holiday season!

 

WMS Community Announcements -- 11/22/11

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with another set of announcements.

First, I want to remind you that we have an early release day tomorrow before the Thanksgiving holiday. It's an earlier than usual early release day. Students will be dismissed at 11:30 and we will not be serving lunch.

We have a busy week the week after Thanksgiving. Wednesday November 30th from 6:00 to 9:00 is holiday shopping night. We will have many vendors selling their wares and a number of student performances. Come get some of your shopping done and support our PTO.

On Thursday December 1st, the PTO is running our first bags to school drive for the year. This is where you can bring in old clothes, shoes, handbags, linens, drapes, and other textiles into the cafeteria at the beginning of the day. It's a triple-win situation: you are able to clean out your closets and basements, the PTO gets money for every pound of textiles we donate, and the textiles get recycled or donated to families and communities in need. Remember, however, to save your gently used coats for the Coats for Kids drive!

Friday December 2nd is the end of the fall term and also the night of our second school dance! Tickets will be going on sale during lunch on Tuesday November 29th. Report cards will be mailed on Friday December 9th.

The Winter Concert is Tuesday December 6th, 7:00, in the auditorium. Save the date!

That's all the announcements I have for this week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and maybe I will see you at the annual Thanksgiving football game at the new Victory Field!


 

WMS Community Announcements --

November 10, 2011

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with a rather long set of weekly announcements. They're all important so stay with me, please. If the phone message gets too long, you can always go to the web site. Announcements are usually posted the day after.

We have a crazy November schedule filled with holidays and half-days for conferences. This Friday is Veterans day and we have no school. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday November 16th, 17th, and 18th, are early release days for parent conferences. Students will be dismissed at 11:45. We have another early release day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, November 23rd.

Next week is also very busy with evening events. On Wednesday November 16th, our PTO is holding our annual Turkey Shoot, 7:00 in the auditorium. Come and win a whole Thanksgiving dinner! We will be raffling off turkeys, pies, cider, and all the fixings for Thanksgiving, as well as some very nifty prizes sponsored by local businesses. It's a great event and an important fundraiser for the PTO. Please come and show your support! Invite your friends and family! The Turkey Shoot is for adults only.

Students will be performing our school muscial, Oklahoma!, on Thursday and Friday evenings, November 17th and 18th, 7:00, in the auditorium. I promise you, you will be in for a treat! Students are working very hard and everything is coming together to produce what may be our best show ever! Tickets are $5.00. And please invite as many people as you can. We want to pack the house!

Next week, teachers will be holding conferences on Monday and Tuesday evening and Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoon. During the fall, we try to see as many parents as possible in the limited time that we have. As a result, sometimes the appointments are very short. If you find that you do not have a conference scheduled for next week, or if you find that the conference that you had was not adequate for your needs, please contact your child's guidance counselor. We hold parent-teacher conferences all throughout the year, not just during conference weeks, and we will be able to schedule a conference with you and your child's teachers.

Every year, our school delivers Thanksgiving baskets filled with turkeys and other items to local families in need and to international families who may be celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time in the United States. Homerooms are asking for donations, and students have already donation forms. We will be collecting non-perishable items on Friday morning, November 18th, and perishable items on Monday November 21st. If you don't have items to donate, we also take donations by check that will be used to round out all the Thanksgiving baskets that each homeroom makes. Thank you very much for your support!

Our Coats for Kids drive is in full swing. We have collected almost 200 coats so far, but we have a long way to go to reach last year's total. If you have gently used coats that you no longer wear, please donate them to the school. The drive ends right at the beginning of January, so there is still time for your donations.

That's all the announcements I have for today. Enjoy the long weekend, everyone!

 

Hello Watertown Middle School families, this is Mr. Carter with your weekly announcements.

Week of October 26, 2011

Today we practiced our annual lockdown drill in collaboration with the Watertown Police Department. We did a great job: students were quiet and the building was quickly and effectively secured.

Our next PTO meeting is tomorrow at 7:15 in the middle school library. It's an important meeting as the PTO is right in the middle of the fundraising season. There's a lot to be done, but many hands make light work. Don't worry if you missed the PTO meeting last time, you are still invited to come and participate!

This final announcement is for sixth grade parents only. Today we sent out a letter with children talking about the anti-bullying movie they are going to see, "Let's Get Real," on Friday morning, October 28th. The voices of “Let’s Get Real” are middle school students who speak in their own words about racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment and more. The students in the film examine bullying and teasing from a wide range of perspectives: from the youth who are targeted, to the students who pick on them, to those who find the courage to intervene. We showed some exerpts from "Let's Get Real" at the end of Back-to-School Night. If you would like to preview "Let's Get Real," we will be showing it in the library two times for interested parents and guardians. The first showing will be Wednesday evening, 6:30, right before the PTO meeting. The second showing will Thursday morning at 8:00.

That's all the announcements I have this week! Take care, everyone.