Waters Families,
Today is the first day of Registration Office Hours! Registering students as soon as possible helps us plan and prepare sooner for the coming school year. Registration forms are available on the Enrollment & Tours page of the school website and we also have hard copies in the main office.
Below is an overview for the registration office hours for the summer. The hours are also posted on waterselementary.org.
- Week of July 4: Tuesday through Friday, 9 AM - 12 PM
- July 25 - August 9: Monday through Friday, 11 AM - 3 PM
INCOMING STAFF & TRANSITIONS
We have some new staff coming to Waters and one familiar staff member transitioning to a new role! They will introduce themselves when school starts, but here are a few brief sentences about each of them.
- Sylvia Rajska (2nd Grade) - Ms. Rajska is an experienced bilingual Polish teacher that recently taught third grade at Waters for four months to cover a maternity leave. One of the highlights of her time at Waters was the "Wax Museum", where students performed in full costume, as though they were a robotic wax figure of the contemporary or historical figure they studied in their unit on biography.
- Kerrie Rovito (K-8th Technology) - Ms. Rovito will be the second National Board Certified Teacher to join the Waters staff in the past year. She brings a wealth of experience teaching science, technology and engineering as well as designing curriculum. Ms. Rovito also served as the "Green Captain" at her previous school.
- Laura Astudillo (Kindergarten) - Ms. Astudillo has experience in small group in instruction and is also a bilingual Spanish teacher. She has a passion for photography and we are very excited to have her join our Kindergarten team.
- Carrie Frieswyk - Ms. Frieswyk will be transitioning in the role of Case Manager to support our diverse learner students and will also be helping coordinate and support our staff in strengthening our capacity for providing students MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support/Interventions) at Waters. The combination of her experience as a classroom teacher and working directly with diverse learners will be a great asset for Waters' effort in "providing an inclusive and caring learning environment" for our diverse learners.
NEW MASTER SCHEDULE
We have almost finished revising the master schedule to include Technology class for students K-8. One of the features of the new schedule will be that our Art, Drama, Music and Technology teachers will each have time every week built into their schedules to co-teach with our homeroom teachers. The goal of this integration time is to create opportunities to strengthen core subject instruction through the arts and technology, intentionally nurturing "cultural, artistic and ecological connectedness".
FIELD ECOLOGY FOR THE '22-23 SCHOOL YEAR
Waters is planning the same field ecology programming for students for next school year that they received this past year, which includes:
- Field Trips - 3 field trips for each 2nd through 8th Grade homeroom, including one hour of class time in preparation for each field trip per homeroom.
- 160 hours of class time (school-wide) indoors and in the garden, including Kindergarten and 1st Grade as well as special events like Harvest Day.
- Weekly Garden Nights / Garden Days from the beginning of April through the end of October
There are also no plans to reduce the size or repurpose any part of the school garden.
Here is a brief overview of the basics of the Waters' garden space:
RAISED BEDS
There are 56 total raised beds that are surrounded by mulched pathways. Seventeen of the beds are planted directly by and for the the school, the remainder of the beds are used and maintained by a mix of Waters families and community members. The sizes and shapes of the raised beds vary. Most of the beds are rectangular and are 8 ft x 4 ft. Community members and other volunteers water the student beds through the summer when school is not in session. The beds have a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers that may or may not be native. There are also a many types of berries growing on the fences within the garden.
NATIVE PLANT AREAS
These areas are curated to contain only native plant species. They are largely closed to foot traffic to prevent trampling and introduction of invasive plants. There is a path through the native area on the east side of the garden.
GATHERING AREAS
Students use these areas during special events like Harvest Day and to just come out and sit in the garden as they work. The area on the west side of the garden has a fire pit. The small area near the cedar shed is a cement table.
We hope you are having a pleasant and restful summer!
With kindness,
Mr. R
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