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Dear Waters Families,
There is a lot packed into today's update including the school mission, instructional supplies for next year and enrollment/registration information.
Over the past two months of the school year, we have been working on the first step of a two-part process to create a vision for Waters for the next few years. The first step was updating and revising the school mission statement through a student-centered approach. The second step is coming in the fall, when we will be asking parents, staff and the broader community to redevelop our school Continuous Improvement Work Plan or CIWP for 2022-2024.
Every single Waters student provided their input for revising the Waters' mission statement. The students' participation looked a little different at different stages of development. Younger students did scavenger hunts and made t-shirt designs. Older students discussed and responded to questions like, "What does it mean to be a Waters' Wildcat?" or "What could Waters be?".
Once the students shared their voice, the Instructional Leadership Team (Ms. Aguilar, Ms. Berezka, Ms. Frieswyk, Ms. Martin, Ms. Nieves, Ms. Smallwood and Ms. Vecchioni) collected all of the samples of student input and looked for trends and commonalities. Finally, they crafted the revised mission statement:
Waters’ mission is to prepare our students for lifelong success, by providing an inclusive and caring learning environment that emphasizes cultural, artistic and ecological connectedness.
The team also sought to be intentional about the structure of the mission statement. There are three major components.
Waters’ mission is to prepare our students for lifelong success
START WITH THE END GOAL IN MIND
by providing an inclusive and caring learning environment
THE SETTING
that emphasizes cultural, artistic and ecological connectedness.
WHAT IS UNIQELY WATERS'
In short, the school mission is what the students are seeking and the CIWP will be what we as adults will do to make it happen for the students. More specific information for parents and community about focus groups, town halls, etc. for redeveloping the the CIWP will be coming out in coordination with the LSC toward the end of August. We hope to see you there!
Looking toward next school year, Waters is moving away from sending home back-to-school supply lists for individual homerooms. For next school year, supplies and field trips will be wrapped into a single student fee. We will not start collecting the student fee until after July 1. The fee will include instructional supplies (folders, notebooks, etc), online licenses and regular field trips for the school year. The fee will not include personal items like backpacks and water bottles or field trips outside of Chicago. Teachers have already submitted their lists and most of the materials have already arrived.
There are several reasons we have transitioned to this setup. The first is to do everything we can to make sure every student has everything they need, ready to learn the first day of school. Second, ordering through the school helps us leverage CPS contracts that have lower prices than retail and avoid sales tax as well as third party fees, savings we can pass on to families. Finally, it's just one less thing for families to worry about in the lead up to the school year.
Starting on Tuesday, July 5, we have regular office hours for registration. All times for registration are now available on waterselementary.org. For your convenience, we have also posted an electronic copy of the registration forms. However, we cannot accept the forms via email. Please drop off hard copies of your forms at the office during one of the scheduled registration times. Please direct any registration questions to Ms. Mendez. If you have a student new to Waters next year, please make sure to register as soon as possible, as it helps get ready sooner for next year. You DO NOT need to enroll/register if your student finished the school year at Waters.
As a reminder, next school year starts on Monday, August 22 and ends on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The full calendar for next year is available online (English and Español).
The regular weekly "This Week at Waters" will resume on Friday, August 12.
With kindness,
Mr. R.
After two years of virtual and reduced offerings, Chicago SummerDance returns in full force for its 25th year with an incredible array of in-person free dance lessons by professional instructors followed by music and dancing. People of all ages and skill levels are welcome. With 2022 being the “Year of Chicago Dance,” it’s the perfect way to get moving and celebrate the joy of dance. Programming will be offered at SummerDance’s flagship location in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park, as well as more neighborhoods than ever before including Austin, Roseland, Morgan Park, Pullman, Humboldt Park and more. SummerDance takes place on select dates between June 18 – September 17, 2022.
LSC Organizational Meeting - Thursday, July 7 @6:30 PM
Kindergarten Family Meet & Greet - Wednesday, August 10 @5:00 PM
First Day of School for Students - Monday, August 22
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