Main Office Summer Hours Monday Friday 9am-12:00pm

Week of July 22, 2013

The summertime publication for The Williams School community

The Williams School builds with each child the foundation for academic, moral, and social success. A Williams School student embodies confidence, discipline, integrity, and a love of learning.

Dear Williams School families, As we move past the midway point of our summer break I wanted to take an opportunity to update The Williams School community about our preparations for the 2013-14 school year. While much of this preparation is fairly routine in nature, like ordering supplies, planning for calendar events, and revising policies and procedures, other aspects are significant because they lay the foundation for moving forward. These activities include staffing, the structure of the school day, physical changes and improvements to our facility, and setting the direction of our instructional program.
Staffing

It is a normal part of any organization that personnel occasionally depart through resignation or retirement. Often these departures present a real challenge because the individuals involved have gained great value in our teaching/learning community. However, it is necessary, if the school is to move forward, to find quality individuals to fill these roles. This process also provides some opportunities to bring new thinking and different skills into our classrooms. Thus is the case this year. At the end of the last school year we had several individuals indicate they would not be returning to The Williams School for a variety of reasons. We appreciate each of these individuals for their time and talents in educating our children. In addition, we wish each of them well in their future endeavors. These include: Ellen Johnson 3rd Grade Teacher After 19 years Ms. Johnson decided to retire from teaching. She has agreed to return to The Williams School next fall to serve as our 4th grade teacher during Ms. Chambers maternity leave. MeGan Hill Health and Physical Education Teacher; Coach Ms. Hill is pursuing other career options. Colt Resnick Health and Physical Education Teacher; Coach Mr. Resnick announced his engagement during this past school year. He and his future wife plan to live in the Richmond area near their respective families. He will be teaching in Chesterfield County. Sue Schneider 5th Grade Science Teacher; 3-5 Technology Teacher; Forensics Coach Ms. Schneider decided after many years of teaching to pursue a career in Real Estate. Polly Pereos Gellman K-2 Technology Teacher; Development Assistant Ms. Pereos Gellman accepted a teaching position in another school. Casey Keagan Kindergarten Teacher Ms. Keegan will be moving to the Richmond area where her husband will be attending law school. Ms. Keegan will be teaching in the Chesterfield County. Hector Perez Nutrition Coordinator Mr. Perez is pursuing other employment opportunities.

Through our interview and planning process the following personnel moves and selections have been put in place: Kindergarten Teacher Mattie Hinson will join Laura Mason as a kindergarten teacher for 2013-14. Ms. Hinson is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She specialized in Child Development and Family Services. 3rd Grade Teacher Kate McFall has been engaged to teach 3rd grade for the 2013-14 school year. Ms. McFall is a graduate of Bowling Green University and holds a Masters Degree from Kent State University. Her endorsements are in Early Childhood Education and Reading Specialization. K-5 Technology Teacher, Geometry Teacher, Alumni Director Emily Justensen will be returning to The Williams School faculty and staff full time as the K-5 technology teacher, geometry teacher, and Director of Alumni development efforts. Health and Physical Education Teacher Nancy Keating, who has anchored our Main Office for the past two years, will be moving into the classroom as a Health and Physical Education teacher. Ms. Keating has an earned Masters Degree in Health and Physical Education. She brings with her 27 years of experience teaching Health and PE in the independent school sector. Other personnel selections will be announced as they occur. Schedule A major initiative this summer has been to revamp our middle school instructional schedule. Over the past year we have received a variety of comments and observations from parents, students, and teachers about the daily schedule. Cumulatively these comments created a need to examine how we should use our time to the best advantage of students. To that end we created several goals for our schedule. These include: Maintain and support high academic expectations for all students Provide some extended teaching and learning opportunities in the area of core academics (language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) Reduce the impact of nightly homework on our students without compromising the need to reinforce academic concepts Minimize the number of class transitions students experience during a school day Provide a regular a time each week in which students can receive additional academic help, participate in an enrichment activity, or work on their personal goals Minimize the disruptions to the academic day from co-curricular and extra-curricular activities To meet these goals we will be implementing a modified block schedule for our 6 through 8 grade classes. This schedule will provide 90 minute teaching blocks in key academic courses. This will provide extended periods of time for teachers and students to work together on achieving academic mastery. The majority of resource classes will be placed at the middle and end of the day. This will help protect time in the academics, while also providing flexibility for the resources classes. Many of our classes will only meet every other day. This will allow our students to narrow their efforts to fewer academic challenges in any given day and it will lessen the scope of homework each night. These changes to our middle school schedule should set the stage for increased opportunities and learning for our students and our teachers. Students will be familiarized with the schedule during middle school orientation.

Facility Improvements Every summer all schools take advantage of a little down-time to address physical needs of the school buildings. This is especially important when both of your facilities are over 100 years in age. This year we are working on an array of projects that are a balance between stabilizing the infrastructure, improving student learning spaces, addressing security issues, and supporting the growth of our instructional technology. Specific projects include: Repairing and painting the exterior windows on both 418 and 419 Colonial Avenue Replacing the floor covering in the quad area outside of the 1st through 4th grade classrooms Painting and cleaning up the entrance area of the 419 building Repairing the floor in the kitchen area Providing some safety improvement to the playground area Adding security cameras in some strategic areas Reinforcing and improving locks on exterior doors Expanding the connectivity of our technology system to allow for the growth in use of tablets General painting and repairs throughout the building Instructional Program There is a significant amount of work being done to improve our instructional program. We are using our strong academic base to develop ways to extend learning opportunities for our children. Efforts in this area include: Continued training and collaboration on the use of iPads in the classroom. Integrating 21st century learning attributes into our curriculum. Finding opportunities to better correlate our learning objectives to the National Common Core Standards of Teaching and Learning. Examine our entire program to determine its overall effectiveness. This work is related to this years accreditation visitation and report. I hope the above information is helpful to you and your family. We are all looking forward to greeting you back to another school year at The Williams School on August 26. Best wishes,

Michael Spencer
Summer Reading & Summer Library! Middle School Summer Reading Lists are available on the website and via Renweb. For the most complete overview of choices along with reviews go to my library blog (link below) and view your grades summer reading list page! Have Fun- the choices are great! I will be posting book reviews and updates weekly. Students are welcome to sign in to the blog to respond to posts and share what they are reading. http://thehouseowlhoots.blogspot.com Need a recommendation? Email or text me! bmiller@thewilliamsschool.org or 773-1707

Last Summer Library Day!

Tuesday, July 23rd 9:30-12 noon

Orientation Plan for the 2013-2014 School Year

A successful school year begins when each member of a students school life has a defined role. As pre -service week supplies the orientation for the role of faculty and staff, so does the orientation for students and parents. All kindergarten through eighth grade parents will attend the welcome in the MPR. First through fifth grade parents will be invited to attend a classroom orientation. While parents learn about classroom expectations, students will learn about school safety practices, manners, digital citizenship, library privileges, and lunchroom procedures. After parents complete their orientation, students will return to their classrooms to learn about new materials, routines and expectations. Middle school students (6th-8th) begin the first day of school following an abbreviated schedule. They learn about the organization of their materials, planners, Renweb, digital citizenship, communication, and classroom/school expectations. After visiting classes, students will gather by advisory and board the buses for a trip to Ocean Breeze Water Park. This venue allows for students and teachers to become reacquainted, and serves as a platform for welcoming our 6 th graders and new students to the middle school. Middle school parents are invited back on the evening of Tuesday, September 10th for a parent orientation. We have designed the middle school orientation to occur a few weeks after the first day of school to allow time for our middle school students to convey information home first. This evening orientation gives teachers an opportunity to talk with parents about the classroom specifics, expectations, and to answer any questions. We believe that expectations for a successful school year begin on the first day of school and during orientation. The relationships that form between teachers, students and parents begin on the first day of school and build throughout the school year as we work together to educate the whole child. In an effort to facilitate a successful opening of the school year, we have set up the following orientation schedule: August 22th 5:00 pm - Kindergarten Parent classroom orientation held prior to the New Parent Dinner. August 26th First day of school K-8 Parent Welcome and 1st -5th grade Orientations 8:00 am 1st -8th STUDENTS are dropped off on the playground. Kindergarten students should be dropped off directly to the kindergarten classroom and PARENTS should attend the brief welcome and orientation in the MPR. PARENTS may gather in the MPR for an informal meet-and-greet prior to orientation. 8:15 9:15am 1st -8th STUDENTS are dismissed from the playground to their classrooms. Kindergarten and middle school students will remain in the classroom for the first day of school. PARENTS of students in grades K-8 will gather in the MPR for a brief welcome and orientation. 9:15am (Kindergarten and 6-8 PARENTS may leave) Kindergarten PARENTS already having had their orientation the previous Thursday may leave after the MPR orientation. 6th -8th grade PARENTS may also leave after the MPR orientation. PARENTS will return on Tuesday, September 10 th for a 6:00pm orientation. 9:20- 9:50am (1st 5th PARENTS Classroom Orientation) 1st-5th grade STUDENTS are dismissed from classrooms to attend the student orientation in the MPR. 1st 5th grade PARENTS are dismissed to attend orientation in their childs classroom. PARENTS that only have one orientation to attend may leave at 9:50am. 10:00 10:30 (1st 5th PARENTS Classroom Orientation Repeat performance of 9:20 orientations) 1st-5th grade STUDENTS remain in MPR for the student orientation. 1st 5th grade PARENTS with more than one student may use this time to attend a different orientation

RenWebs ParentsWeb is a private and secure parents portal that will allow parents to view academic information specific to their children, while protecting their childrens information from others. You can see your childs grades, order lunch, view homework assignments as well as other useful school information. You can also communicate with teachers and other school staff online whenever necessary. All you need is an Internet-capable computer. Heres how to access our easy-to-use RenWeb ParentsWeb: Go to Internet Explorer and enter the address www.renweb.com. Click ParentsWeb Login in the red box. Log in as follows: 1. Type WILLIAMS for your School ID. 2. Click the Submit button. 3. Click the First Time Users tab if you have not logged in to RenWeb before. If you have, skip to Step 6. 4. Enter your email address that you provided to the school. 5. Click the New User button. You will receive an email containing your password within 3 minutes (to the email address you entered, which must be the same email address that you provided to the school). 6. Click the Parents tab. 7. Enter the password assigned. 8. Click the Parent Login button. Please contact the main office should you require additional assistance.