Greetings Wayland Middle School Caregivers,
We enjoyed a wonderful first week back after December break. Our classrooms are settled, routines are strong, and students are ready to build on skills and knowledge that they have already developed under the instruction and guidance of the WMS staff. The upcoming weeks offer a wonderful opportunity for productive learning, goal setting, and academic progress.
Please join me in celebrating our Bright Sides.
Congratulations to our orchestra director, Whitney Tandon, and all of our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade musicians for their captivating performances before a full house on Wednesday evening. In Susan Memoli's words, "the music selections were the perfect level of challenge with accessibility that allowed students to grow and shine". Also, many thanks to our student authors who confidently introduced each song of the evening. Well done!
Congratulations to our soloists Simeng Chen, Justin Chiu, Ellie Frenzel, Austin Na, Marlow Santmire, Jack Seidensticker, Keerthana Sunkari, Andrew Yang, Eling Yerdibi, Leo Chen, and Sam McHugh.
On December 10th, Wayland Middle School staff members joined Wayland High School staff members for Part I of a two-part series on Executive Functioning facilitated by Ms. Sarah Ward, an internationally recognized expert on executive function skills. In this professional development, we learned the importance of developing our students’ ability to make a mental image of what a task looks like when done and to do future thinking related to “what do I look like doing this task” in space and time. This imaging is critical to the development of “if-then” thinking (ie: if I have to leave for volleyball practice in an hour, then I can do __________ before leaving) and also supports students’ self-directed talk (“I’m going to…, I will…” ). In today’s newsletter and in upcoming newsletters, I will share strategies that you can use at home to support your student’s executive function. This information is provided to assist those students who could benefit from additional structure and visual cues. Please see the section entitled Executive Function at Home below.
We, along with the entire middle school staff, are committed to supporting your student’s journey of becoming an increasingly self-directed learner by strengthening their executive function skills. Please know that our doors are always open. Whether you have questions, concerns, or simply want to share in the excitement of the school year, we encourage you to reach out.
Deborah, Courtney, and Rebecca
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