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June 8, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,

Last Thursday afternoon, I was driving home and began hearing reports of the tornadoes touching down in Western MA. Instinctively, I called my wife and said she should probably get on the road and get home even though the tornadoes were still 90 miles west of Arlington. Once home, I kept the television on quietly over the next several hours and tried not to unnecessarily scare the kids. Behind the scenes, my wife got a bunch of stuff together, and put it down in the basement. Luckily for many of us in Eastern MA, that is all we had to do. Many in Western MA were not as lucky. Seeing weather and destruction that typically you expect in the Plains of Midwest, I like many others was stunned and saddened to see the impact that 100+ mph winds can cause on life and property.

Over the past few days, I have been in touch with Mr. John Foley, Sprague parent. Mr. Foley and Mr. Don Chase, a fellow Sprague parent, grew up in West Springfield and have many family and friends still in the area. As evidenced below in their letter, they are organizing and working hard to support their hometown/Western MA. They recently sent a version of the letter below to their friends, colleagues and extended family members. In keeping with our core values this year of supporting community service initiatives that are school-based as well as local and global in scope, I would ask that if you have a mere minute or two, to please read the missive below.

Beginning tomorrow, Sprague will sponsor a coin drive to support the larger efforts they already have underway. I have spoken with Leslie Del Col, Sprague PTO Community Service Officer, and she will have a big water jug set up in the main lobby. I would love to fill that jug up as much as possible before the school year ends on Monday, June 20th. So, if you can, beginning tomorrow, remind your child(ren) to bring in coins over the final two weeks as we try to support the thousands of students/adults (and the numerous public buildings - schools, hospitals, et al.) impacted by these devastating tornadoes. As always, thanks for your help and the wonderful Sprague spirit you imbue in your children every day.

Below is a letter reprinted with permission:

 
Friends:

We write on behalf of those in need in Western Massachusetts. For us, Western Mass. is not just where we were born and raised, in many ways we still consider it home. While our families are thankfully safe, we cannot help but look at the news reports and feel a responsibility to help our friends and neighbors who have been more directly affected.

We have all seen the news reports: the aerial and ground pictures of lost homes, streets covered with debris, and downed utilities. Those are streets that we roamed in our younger days, and they have been devastated. In our hometown of West Springfield, the tornado left hundreds homeless. In Westfield and Springfield it took out schools where some of our friends and relatives send their children.

We began looking into ways to help. We had a common goal to make sure that money raised not only stayed in Western Mass but was supervised and allocated efficiently. We wanted to make sure that if we reached out to others, we had done our homework. We began doing research and were repeatedly directed to the United Way of Pioneer Valley whose website is www.uwpv.org .

Having spoken with Sarah Tanner, the UWPV Senior V.P. of Resource Development, it is clear that the United Way is playing an absolutely pivotal role in raising and allocating relief funds and other resources. It is also clear that the needs are dramatic. Through United Way agencies at the Red Cross, Salvation Army and local food banks, they have 5 mobile units feeding 6,000 people per day. And the requirements are going to become more dramatic in the coming weeks. The food issue is critical, and medical needs are even more urgent. Those left homeless are without prescriptions and other medical necessities.

The United Way of Pioneer Valley has seeded a Disaster Relief Fund with $25,000 and is partnering with the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts to raise further donations. They are seeking partners to help raise another $100,000. You can donate on-line at www.uwpv.org by just clicking on the button that says DONATE or by sending a check payable to the Tornado Relief Fund and mailing it to:
United Way of Pioneer Valley
Tornado Relief Fund
184 Mill Street
Springfield, MA 01108

To many in this area, the 413 area code is a foreign land because you don't have reason to head west on the Mass Pike. Believe us, these disaster areas are closer than many believe. Put it in these terms--you can be in Springfield faster than you can be in Hyannis or Portland. These folks, in these devastated areas, are in your backyards, and they need help.

Feel free to reach out with questions to John Foley at 617-375-5835 or Sarah Tanner at the United Way of Pioneer Valley at 413-693-0227. Again, the United Way of Pioneer Valley website can be accessed at www.uwpv.org. 
Thank you,
Don Chase      West Springfield, MA
John Foley       West Springfield, MA


Wellesley Elementary Orchestra Kudos:
On Monday night, Brian Hagar-McKee, Sprague Music Teacher, and I attended the Elementary Orchestra performance at WMS. Similar to last week's Band concert, the WPS Elementary Orchestra is an impressive musical force. They performed four pieces: Shoe Symphony, Apollo Suite, Ukranian Folk Songs and the theme from Star Wars.

Sprague performers from Monday night included:

Violin:
Audrey Wang - Grade 2
Tess Goldenthal - 3
Clementine Starck - 3
Grace Annino - 4
Justine Low - 4
Ethan Tabtiang - 4
Nicholas Haggerty - 5
Brandon Hauser-Fang - 5
Julia Himmelberger - 5
Brian Jwa - 5
Nancy Li - 5
Alan Zhang - 5

Mandolin:
Marc DeFontnouvelle - 5

Cello:
Stella Hu - 5

Bass:
Luke Collins - 5

Kudos to all and many, many thanks to Brian for his constant support and tutelage of our students. Additional mention of Marc, Nancy and Luke who also played in the small group called Fiddlin' Around. Think of the music from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". They were great!

Field Day Reminders: Sprague's Field Day will be held on this Monday, June 13th from 9 to 11:30ish. (The rain date will be Tuesday, June 14th and held at the same time.) A couple of reminders: please have your child apply sunscreen before coming to school; be sure to have them bring some form of a water bottle; don a hat if it is sunny; wear sneakers/athletic footwear since they will be running, jumping, et al.; and if they like, wear some type of Sprague apparel and/or Sprague colors. Many thanks to Margaret Flitsch, Sprague Physical Education teacher, and Kathy Lasch, Sprague parent, for all of their leadership prior to Field Day. They still need a few volunteers, sign up here and come watch the fun!

Nick's Pizza Update: I have been working with the WPS Food Service to offer Nick's pizza one more time before the year ends. I am pleased to report that Nick's Pizza will be offered as a lunch option again on Friday, June 10th.

Kudos/Thanks: Huge thanks to Yolanda Tong and Jennett Murphy for all their work on all forms of Sprague email communications this year. In addition, thanks to them for all of their efforts on the enhanced Sprague PTO website that will go live in the weeks to come. Finally, thanks to Yolanda and Michelle Heath for their time and efforts on the forthcoming "Sprague HEART Songs" - Sprague's Literary and Visual Arts Magazine.
 
Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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June 3, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
Just when you think you have seen it all in terms of New England weather, a series of tornadoes rip through Western and Central MA. My thoughts go out to those families impacted by this tragedy.
 
As many are, I am happy to see the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals, but events like today's tornado, puts sports and its fandom in perspective. Nonetheless, good luck to the Bruins as they make a run at their first Cup in 39 years.
 
Last Wednesday, the third grade team and I spent a chunk of the afternoon playing mini-golf with approximately fourteen third grade students. (This was a Sprague PTO Cookie Walk auction item.) Great fun was had by all, several hole-in-ones were made by many students and it ended with my first visit to Truly Yogurt! I will certainly begin scheduling a follow-up visit to sample a little more.
 
Many, many thanks to Bill Johnson, a member of the WPS Technology Support team, and a veteran of 21.5 years in the U.S. Navy. Bill spoke to the Sprague 4th grade last Friday and discussed Memorial Day as well as his time spent serving our country. In addition, Rob Carter, Sprague custodian, was introduced and applauded for his service in the U.S. Army. Thanks to both Bill and Rob for their years of service in support of our country.
 
Finally, last Wednesday night, Mr. Hagar-McKee and I attended the Elementary Band performance at WMS. I have seen some Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) Gold winning bands in my past, but the Wellesley Elementary Band rivaled any of those that night. They sublimely performed four pieces: Regency Fanfare, A Shaker March, Colonel Bogey and The Addams Family Theme.
 
Sprague performers included:
 
Flute
Bridget Annino - Grade 5
Molly Bradach - 5
Elaine Shi - 4

Clarinet
Jennifer Guo - 4
Dylan Hart - 5
Alex Rizika - 4
Kathleen Segal - 4    Alto Sax
Evan Silver - 5
Dylan Yang - 4

Trumpet
Enya Gamble - 5
Izzy Maggioni - 4
Owen Tellalian - 5
Alex Yasan - 5

Trombone
Wyatt Himstead - 5    Tuba
Jane Callaghan - 4

Percussion
Tony Czubarow - 5
Sam Garber - 3
Max Moore - 5
Anna Tellalian - 3
Max Wickersham - 5
Brett Zaorski - 4
Kudos to all and many, many thanks to Henry Platt, Sprague Band Director, and of course Mr. Hagar-McKee for his constant support and tutelage of our students.

Nick's Pizza Update: I have been working with the WPS Food Service to offer Nick's pizza one more time before the year ends. I am pleased to report that Nick's Pizza will be offered as a lunch option again on Friday, June 10th.

Kudos: Following in Ms. Taylor's 2nd grade classroom footsteps, Mrs. Henzel's 4th grade class recently received recognition on behalf of their year-long classroom "green" efforts. Last week, the Wellesley Green School Committee bestowed "Bronze" level GREEN Certification on Mrs. Henzel's classroom. Mrs. Henzel and her students received this for consistently: shutting off their lights when not in the room, employing a "second chance" paper bin, turning off computers/projectors at the end of the day, keeping vents clear and recycling any/all paper/plastics, et al. Great job to 4MH.   
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal 
 

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May 25, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,

My dad has a fondness for the horses that he picked up while tagging along with his father on many summer trips to Suffolk Downs. Grampy, a veteran of WWII, enjoyed a day out at the races, when this truly was considered a day out back in the 50s and 60s. In honor of Grampy, my dad and I annually try to watch all three Triple Crown Horse Races. This past Saturday found us watching the Triple Crown's second leg, The Preakness. My dad had placed a small wager on Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner, and almost won, except that Animal Kingdom began his charge just a little too late.

I bring this up because when the track announcer shouts ". . . AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!", it reminds me of all that happens as we near the end of the school year. There is no other way to put it, but it is oftentimes quite busy as a school year comes to a conclusion (MCAS Round 2, student learning projects at all grade levels, year end data collection for Progress Reports, year end school and PTO events, 5th Grade Farewell Assembly, planning for next year, et al.). Many, many thanks to all the students, staff and parents for their continued support of the Sprague learning community as we head down our own collective stretch.

Congratulations to Thomas Gartley and Julia Jones, 5th grade students, for being selected as Sprague's representatives in the World of Wellesley (WOW) essay winners. All 5th grade students across the district were asked to write an essay about a person of color and/or a moment where they either observed or experienced discrimination. Thomas and Julia wrote essays about Jackie Robinson and Oprah Winfrey respectively. Thanks to all our students, and 5th grade staff who supported them, for taking this assignment seriously and bringing their best effort.

Finally, many thanks to all students and parents for stellar attendance during Round 2 of MCAS. This resulted in very, very few make-up sessions, which allows our staff and students to continue on with all of their other work. This is much appreciated and we thank you for your support of your children/our students.

Kudos: Huge thanks to all of our students who participated in the planning and building of the Sprague float for the Wellesley Parade. Many thanks to our leader Andrea Giroux, Sprague parent, for all of her time and efforts getting this organized in a short, short time frame. Sprague was recognized with a "Best Organizational Float" award and it is proudly hanging in the main lobby at school. Thanks to all other parent volunteers as well.

Ms. Taylor's 2nd grade classroom recently received recognition on behalf of their year-long classroom "green" efforts. Last week, the Wellesley Green School Committee bestowed "Bronze" level GREEN Certification on Ms. Taylor's classroom. Ms. Taylor and her students received this for consistently: shutting off their lights when not in the room, employing a "second chance" paper bin, turning off computers/projectors at the end of the day, keeping vents clear and recycling any/all paper/plastics, et al. Great job to 2KT.
 
Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal 

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May 18, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
Okay, I have had the Bruins on mute for the past twenty minutes and I look up all of sudden and there have been about seven goals scored.  What the heck is going on here?
 
On Sunday, I had the privilege to attend the annual METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) End-of-the-Year celebration at the Boys and Girls Club in Roxbury.  It was a wonderful event which showcased the achievement of all our students from Boston, but most importantly highlighted the nearly thirteen year journey some/many of the Wellesley High School (WHS) seniors have taken since first entering the Wellesley Public Schools (WPS) back in kindergarten.  While sharing where they will be attending college over the next four years, they were also asked to offer three reasons on how to succeed at WPS/WHS.
 
The reasons certainly varied from student to student, but a variation of "work hard at all times," the fact that at least one staff member had established a connection with them somewhere over the last 13 years, and the notion that they had participated in a before/after school activity that cemented a sense of belonging to the WPS community, were consistent responses.  Thanks to all the WPS staff that worked hard and connected with all of these students over the years.  For more information about the Wellesley METCO program or METCO in general, please navigate to  http://www.wellesley.k12.ma.us/pages/programs/METCO/index.html or  http://www.metcoinc.org/.
 
Staffing/Class Section Update:  At the end of last week, I received very good news from the WPS Central Office regarding class sections for the 2011-2012 school year.  Again, I appreciate the painstaking process that they had to undergo in order to balance the needs and class size across nine schools.
 
As I hoped and advocated for, we have been assigned 18 class sections for next year.  As mentioned at several Sprague PTO and Sprague School Council meetings, WPS had anticipated reducing the total number  of elementary classrooms (i.e., across all seven elementary schools) by three sections due to decreased enrollment.  Sprague was originally forecast to decrease by two sections and go from 19 to 17 classrooms.  (In light of these projections, Mrs. Mortarelli's 1/2 class would dissolve as students moved to Grades 2 and 3 respectively.  Additionally, it was thought that we would only have two kindergarten sections due to Sprague's lower census numbers for the 2011-2012 school year.) 
 
Nicely, that will not be the case and we will decrease by just one class - the dissolution of Mrs. Mortarelli's 1/2 class.  (Second grade students will matriculate to Grade 3 as planned.  First grade students will "move up" along with Mrs. Mortarelli as she teaches a Grade 2 class next year.)  As for kindergarten, it helped that we are slightly above our predicted census numbers for next year.  (As some know, in April I took to the streets of the Sprague neighborhood on several occasions to track down the whereabouts of several future kindergarten students/families in order to ensure that we had accurate numbers.)  Additionally, it also helped that we have 9 new first grade students registered for next year.  As a result, it was determined that we will be able to offer a Kindergarten/Grade 1 multi-grade class that will allow us to balance class size in both Kindergarten and 1st grade next year.  Thus, we will have 18 elementary class sections for the 2011-2012 school year as follows:
 
Kindergarten - 2 classrooms
K/1 multi-grade - 1 classroom
1st grade - 3 classrooms
2nd grade - 3 classrooms
3rd grade - 3 classrooms
4th grade - 3 classrooms
5th grade - 3 classrooms.
 
In other related news, Mrs. Bender, Sprague Kindergarten teacher, and Mrs. Gaul, Sprague 1st grade teacher, will be returning in September from their present maternity leaves.  We look forward to their return.  The sublime Mrs. Barrett, Sprague Kindergarten teacher, will be moving to California with her husband as he assumes a new role within the company he works for.  We wish Lindsay (and her husband) the best regarding this life transition and cannot thank her enough for her stellar instruction and caring of our youngest students.  She will be sorely missed!  Finally, with Mrs. Barrett moving, this will ensure, despite decreasing by one section, that all of our current teachers will be back at Sprague next year.  For this, I am extremely pleased as well.
 
Finally, I will send home a more detailed letter to kindergarten and first grade families in the upcoming days to offer more information about next year's K/1 class.
 
Man/Woman's Best Friend FYI:  A parent informed me last week that a rather large dog was left unleashed one day and was running around the fields during dismissal.  Now I have no idea if this dog was a member of the Sprague community or from someone visiting the Sprague fields, but this is a reminder, that when dropping off or picking up child(ren), please make sure that your dog is leashed at all times.  Also, try your best to not have your dog close to and/or near the doors when students first enter/exit.  Thank you for your efforts on this matter and helping all children feel comfortable in/around the school grounds.
 
Lacrosse Sticks/Balls FYI:  Friday, June 17th will be "Bring your Lacrosse Stick/Helmet to School Day."  On that day, I will supervise students on one of the adjacent Sprague fields as they play catch with one another during their respective lunch/recess periods (Grades 1 and 2 - 11:50 to 12:15; Grades K and 3 - 12:25 - 12:45; Grades 4 and 5 - 12:55 - 1:15).  
 
Thanks:  Thanks so much to Sandra Baldinger, Sprague parent, for her leadership on all aspects of the SpragueBook Fair at Wellesley Books last week/weekend.  Many thanks also to Ellen Mandel, Sprague librarian, for her storytelling efforts last Friday as part of this endeavor.


Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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May 11, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
Thank you! Thank you for raising children who care about a cause larger than themselves. The Sprague response to the Wellesley Food Pantry drive was tremendous. Monday, our fifth grade students bagged, lifted and passed hundreds and hundreds of items into the waiting cars of fifth grade parents. These wonderful parent volunteers then drove the items over to the Wellesley Food Pantry. Huge thanks to Leslie Del Col for her leadership of this effort. On behalf of the entire Sprague community, thank you for your collective efforts. It has and will make a difference in the lives of children and families here in Wellesley.

I hope everyone enjoyed the recent Mother's Day weekend. Over the past ten years, I write an email each Sunday night to the staff entitled "Hello (Insert the Week of the School Year)." For a part of this week's "Hello Number Thirty-Three 10-11" staff email, I wrote about my mother in light of Mother's Day. Below is an excerpt:

"Speaking of mothers, my mom, Marcia Dever Goodwin, simply rocks. Born and bred in Southie, specifically Gate of Heaven Parish within Southie. If you are from Southie or Dorchester you always referred to the parish you were from more so than even that you were from Southie. As she describes, she was a child bride, and had four kids by the time she was 27. No different than many moms of that generation. Throughout the 70s and into the early 80s, my mom stayed at home and raised us. In the summer, we never went to camps, day or sleep away. Instead, we piled into the family station wagon (we each got to take one friend with us) and went to Castle Island nearly every single day. Along the way we would pick up my grandmother and Aunt Peg at 4 Story Street (my mom's birth home is always referred to as 4 Story Street) and then spend the entire day swimming, tossing jellyfish at one another and asking her if we could go to Sullivan's (one of the best take-outs in the world, located at the base of Castle Island) for a cheeseburger and fries. Pretty much my entire youth was spent doing two things - playing/studying/reading and watching baseball and going to Castle Island.

By 1982, my mom returned to the workforce and drove down the street every MWF night at 6 p.m. to work at a BayBank check processing center on Main Street in Waltham. She would work those three nights typically until midnight, but on occasion this would often extend to two or three in the morning. This was before computers took over the world and checks were still processed by hand. She did this type of work for 18 years as BayBank was swallowed and merged with one bank after another. This was blood money plain and simple. This was "we need to get these four kids through college" someway/somehow type money. By the mid 1980's, my mom also became the function coordinator of the Robert Treat Paine Estate in the 'ham. The Paine Estate has become the love of her life, but she has worked nearly every weekend between April 1-November 1 for the last 26 years tending to the care and feeding of hundreds and hundreds of brides as well as the four letter word known simply as "mother of the bride".

Thankfully, my mom loves that job and can deal with the occasional challenging bride and "m-o-b". For those two decades (early 80s to early 2000s), my parents worked essentially four jobs (my dad is/was teaching at Waltham High School as well as ran the Ticket Office for the Reagle Players, a theater troupe based in the 'ham) to get the four of us through school. Mind you, all of my siblings and I had plenty of college loans to pay once we got out of school, but we certainly would not have been in the position to attend school if it wasn't for the countless hours and effort our parents put forth day in/day out/year in/year out. Along the way, my mom (and dad) taught us that public service is akin to a vocation. With that notion in hand, I am reminded of a quote by Margaret Chase Smith, former Senator from Maine and at the time of her retirement the longest serving female senator ever, that I have often had up in my classrooms/offices:

"My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought."

Mom - Happy Mother's Day and thanks for instilling in us the value of hard work and going after it each and every day!"

Staffing/Class Section Update: Over the past few weeks, members of the Central Office staff, with input from the school principals, have been crunching the numbers across the nine WPS schools (i.e., the seven elementary schools, the Wellesley Middle School, and Wellesley High School) as they decide upon the number of sections that will be allotted to each school for the 2011-2012 school year. I appreciate the painstaking process that they have to undergo in order to balance the needs and class size across nine schools. I am hoping to have information soon from Central Office regarding the sections for next year and as soon as I do, I will share that information with the larger community.

Know that when I am hired by a school district, I personally promise three items: 1. I will work as hard as possible to ensure that "you don't shortchange a Sprague kid"1. 2. I will advocate ferociously on behalf of Sprague School both in and outside of the building. 3. I will be a team player within the district, knowing that any public school system has to figure out a way to work collaboratively, share its resources and move forward as an entity. Know that during this process, these three core values have guided me.

Lacrosse Sticks/Balls FYI: I have been asked a few times over the course of the year, "Can students bring their lacrosse sticks and balls to school and play with them at recess?" The quick answer is "no". Too much can go wrong with those items during a crowded recess period. Nonetheless, I am always seeking to get to "yes" and figure out a road forward. Thus, one day before the end of the year, I will announce a "Bring your Lacrosse Stick/Helmet to School Day". On that day, I will supervise students on one of the adjacent Sprague fields as they play catch with one another during their respective lunch/recess period. Stay tuned for this date.

Sprague Book Fair at Wellesley Books FYI: In case you haven't heard, the phenomenal Sprague PTO is sponsoring a spring book fair that will take place at Wellesley Books (formerly Wellesley Booksmith). This event will take place between Thursday, May 12th - Sunday, May 15th and will benefit the school library. On Thursday, the PTO meeting will start at 7pm and be followed by a book talk. Additionally, on Friday, May 13th, Ellen Mandel, Sprague's superb librarian, will provide a storytelling hour at the store at 3:30 p.m. Don't miss these great events and support the Sprague PTO/Sprague School at the same time. Thanks so much to Sandra Baldinger, Sprague parent, for her leadership on all aspects of this event.

Thanks: This week is National School Nurses' Appreciation Week. Huge thanks to Sharon Kahn and Marianne MacLean for their hard work on behalf of all 411 Sprague students each and every day.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

1 Paraphrased from a comment that my dad made to Dr. Susan Parrella, Superintendent of Waltham Public Schools, when she noticed that they were the only two cars in the Waltham High School Parking Lot one summer day a few years back. The brief interlude went something like this: Dr Parrella asked: "What are you doing here Steve when you could be doing this in September?" My dad's replied: "You don't shortchange a Waltham kid."

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May 6, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

Dan Hunt is married to my sister Jean and they are the parents of two beautiful children named Hailey and Will. I couldn't have asked for a better brother-in-law. Smart, funny, loves sports, loves my sister and a great family man. Additionally, Dan is a sublime physical education teacher for the Carlisle Public Schools. Prior to that, he taught English at Bedford High School. At the same time, Dan has coached women's college basketball for the past decade, most recently as an Assistant Coach for the nationally ranked Bentley College Falcons. (As an aside, Bentley made the Division III Elite Eight this past spring.)

Dan's older brother and only sibling William "Billy" Hunt worked many years for a company named Euro Brokers. Billy was working in the Euro Brokers' office located in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11th. Billy never made it out of the South Tower that day. He left his loving wife Jen and an 18 month old daughter named Emma behind in this world. Like many younger siblings who are perpetually playing catch up in terms of life's events, Dan followed, looked up to and loved Billy blindly. Even while Dan later outgrew his older brother and starred as a collegiate hoops player, he was still Billy's younger brother. Billy was Dan's hero and that is the way it is when you grow up playing and competing every backyard game known to man with your only sibling.

While doing some work on Sunday night, the news regarding Osama bin Laden came across the television and I placed a call to Dan and Jean. Like many that were impacted directly by the events of 9/11, this latest chapter doesn't necessarily provide closure for Dan, Jean, Dan and Billy's parents - Larry and Diane, Jen and Emma. Rather, it is the end of one chapter, while another most assuredly is now beginning. As this latest chapter takes shape and as we near the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I wish Dan, Jean, Larry, Diane, Jen and Emma a renewed sense of peace. Billy was and will always be someone that epitomized the wonderful qualities of a gentleman: loving son, brother, husband, father, friend, hard-working businessman and active community member. Billy's qualities, actions and memories were and will continue to be everlasting.

Sprague School Supporting the Wellesley Food Pantry FYI: Our support of the Wellesley Food Pantry (WFP) is off to a roaring start. The stage is starting to fill up with a whole host of donated food items. Our drive will continue through Monday, May 9. If at all possible, please contribute to this extremely worthy cause. Many thanks to Laura Brown MacKinnon, Sprague parent and a WFP Coordinator, for her talk at last week's school-wide assembly. She introduced as well as reminded our students and staff that the summer months are often lean ones for the WFP. Thus, we here at Sprague can make a HUGE difference for the over 200 Wellesley families who rely monthly on the WFP. Also, huge thanks to Leslie Del Col, Sprague PTO Community Services Officer, for all her leadership and efforts in this cause. The WFP needs just about everything, so we encourage students to bring the suggested items but we will gladly accept others. Huge thanks to everyone for their support of this endeavor.

Kindergarten: Rice/Spaghetti
1st Graders: Canned fruit
2nd Graders: Canned Vegetables
3rd Graders: Jelly/Jam/Peanut Butter
4th Graders: Pasta Sauce
5th Graders: Canned Meats (SPAM, ham, chicken, turkey, salmon-anything other than tuna)

Dismissal/After School FYI: While trying to not appear too didactic, I have had to intervene occasionally on the playground after school when students have been making poor behavioral choices. To be clear, I welcome all students and families to stay after school and enjoy the playground area. There is no better way to unwind after school. At the same time, when observing "Double D" behaviors (Open Circle terminology for "dangerous and destructive" choices), I will continue to intervene as necessary. Also, please be sure to directly supervise your child while they play after school in/around the playground. There is a coterie of parents that are there every day with their children and they certainly look out for the "Sprague village," but it is unfair to place them in an awkward position of having to intervene on behalf of children not their own. Believe you me, I grew up with a South Boston mother who would call out both me and my buddies all the time whether their parents were around or not. However, I know not all feel comfortable with this approach, nor should they have to feel responsible for children who are not their own. Thanks for reading and heeding.

MCAS Tips: With the Math MCAS approaching in approximately a week, I wanted to share again how teachers were instructing students in order to have them craft effective open responses for various math problems/assignments. In essence, students are asked to take it a step beyond simply solving the problem, but are actually required to explain their mathematical thinking. On Grade 4 and 5 Math tests, students can earn 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 point(s) per open response question. On Grade 3 Math tests, students can earn 0, 1 or 2 point(s) per open response question. There are generally 4 to 5 open responses spread over the two testing sessions. Thanks to the fourth grade team, I have included the information below as a resource for families. Feel free to clip and save this section for future math open writing response assignments that your third through fifth grader might be working on.

Math Open Response Writing Information
A. Read all the directions and information until you understand.
  · Look for words in boldface type, CAPITAL LETTERS, AND/OR italics.
  · Determine how many parts you need to answer. Usually the parts will be labeled a, b, c, etc.
  · Look for key words and verbs (write, explain, draw, etc.).
  · Ask yourself, "What am I being asked to do?"
B. Examine charts, tables, diagrams, pictures, and number sentences.
  · Read all information such as titles, labels, keys, and hints.
  · Use the graph paper on the answer sheet only when you need to or when it helps you(coordinate grid, geometry, etc.)
C. Solve the problem by showing all your work.
  · Label all your work and circle your final answers.
  · Show and explain the answer (sometimes explaining can be in the form of numbers).
D. Check all your work. RE-CHECK all your work. Finally, make sure that you solved each part.

If you have a child(ren) in grades 3, 4 or 5, it is mandatory that they take MCAS. In addition, it is quite a challenge when a student misses an MCAS test and we have to schedule a make-up session. As principal, I would like to thank you personally for your attention to this matter since MCAS administration dominates much of my spring.

Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) Grants FYI: I am very pleased to announce two grants that WEF recently approved that will directly affect student learning and instruction at Sprague. Major congrats and kudos to Margaret Flitsch for writing and receiving a WEF Grant on behalf of the newly created Sprague Community Garden. That is absolutely wonderful and I want to thank Margaret very much for taking the time to write this grant. Finally, the Sprague LEGOS Robotics grant that we submitted was funded nearly in full. I have a call into WEF and need to iron out a few details but we are very, very pleased about this as this will allow all students, K-5, to begin learning and doing LEGOS Robotics as part of some after school clubs next year.

Thanks: Huge thanks to Lisa Moore and Phyllis Theermann for their leadership and efforts that led to a wonderful SEED Fest. I was so impressed with the students, their creativity and scientific ingenuity. Also, many thanks to Leslie Tellalian and Anne Marvan for organizing the Bargain Book Buy.

Many, many thanks to the approximate 20-25 volunteers who moved yards of loam and wood chips all in the name of constructing Sprague's Community Garden last Saturday morning. In case you haven't seen it, Sprague's Community Garden is located near the bus circle on the right when you enter the main entrance. In just 3.5 hours, the garden was formed. Simply amazing. Monumental thanks to Dave and Jane Neilson, Sprague parents, and Margaret Flitsch, Sprague Physical Education teacher, for their leadership, vision, guidance and sweat equity, both prior to as well as during this entire process. Finally, many thanks to Brian Hagar-McKee, Sprague Music Teacher, and Jen Stabnick, Sprague Art Teacher, for spending their Saturday helping with the garden.

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Huge thanks to all Sprague educators who work extremely hard on behalf of 411 Sprague students each and every day. And a Happy Mother's Day this weekend to the ever hardworking moms. 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal 

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April 27, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
I hope that everyone had a relaxing, fun and safe April break. For those who celebrated Easter or Passover, I hope you enjoyed that time with your family and friends.

Very nice to see the Boston sports teams have a strong run over the past ten days. Let's hope it continues tonight with a close out win by the Bruins over the Canadiens (although, as I type this the Canadiens just went up 2-1).

As some may know, Wednesday, April 27 is Administrative Professionals Day. With that in our mind, I want to extend huge thanks to Lennie Becker, Sprague Secretary, and Cheryl Moy, Sprague Office Assistant. Day in and day out, year in and year out, Lennie and Cheryl are the first faces that many of our students see each day at Sprague School. Behind their cheery faces are hearts full of gold as they offer all manner of support to all of the students at Sprague School. I cannot thank them enough for all the support they have offered me each day this year. So, if you are in and around the office tomorrow or over the next few days, be sure to thank Lennie and Cheryl for all they do each day on behalf of the students of Sprague.

Sprague School Supporting the Wellesley Food Pantry FYI: I want to let you know of an assembly that we will be conducting TODAY Wednesday, April 27th at 9 am in the gym. As you might recall, we have had three phases to our community service this year - school, local and global. We have and will continue to work on items at school (e.g., Kindergarten - Playground clean-up in and around their classrooms; 1st grade - Support the efforts to take items to Lost and Found, return "found" items to students if name is in clothing, organize the Lost and Found area; 2nd Grade - Clean-up of larger playground area/tracking outdoor recess items that will be shared by the entire school; Grade 3 - Raising the American flag each morning; Grade 4 - Composting lunch room waste; Grade 5 - Continue to take the lead on all our paper and plastic recycling efforts) and at the global level (e.g., the various Sprague efforts that have supported those living in Haiti and Japan).

We now will turn our attention to our local community in the form of supporting the Wellesley Food Pantry. Thus, at the Wednesday assembly, Laura Brown MacKinnon, a Sprague parent and also a Wellesley Food Pantry Coordinator, will talk and share some information about the Pantry and all it does in town to support families in need. Each grade will then be assigned specific items to bring in over the next two weeks. The goal is to fill the gym stage to its capacity with donated items. Finally, our Grade 5 student leaders will eventually form a human chain from the stage to carline in order to load all of the items into parents' cars to be taken over to the Wellesley Food Pantry.

Below is a wonderful informational note written by Leslie Del Col, Sprague PTO Community Service Officer. I thank you in advance for your generosity shown to those who are needing/requiring support as we near the summer months.

Calling all Sprague students! As we prepare for Sprague's Give Back Day on Friday, May 6th, we are asking Sprague students to help us stock the shelves at The Wellesley Food Pantry. The WFP, founded in 1989, serves over 200 families in our community. In the fall, the Food Pantry benefits from a town wide food drive coordinated by the Boy and Girl Scout Troops in town. As a result, the cupboards need to be stocked for the summer. Let's show them that Sprague has HEART! We will kick off our food drive on Wednesday, April 27 and finish on Friday, May 6. We are asking students to bring the following suggested items listed by grade level. You can "shop" in your own pantry or maybe even add an extra can to the cart when shopping with your parents.

Kindergarten: Rice/Spaghetti
1st Graders: Canned fruit
2nd Graders: Canned Vegetables
3rd Graders: Jelly/Jam/Peanut Butter
4th Graders: Pasta Sauce
5th Graders: Canned Meats (SPAM, ham, chicken, turkey, salmon-anything other than tuna)

The Food Pantry needs just about everything. We encourage students to bring the suggested items but will gladly accept others. If each student at school brings two items, we can contribute over 800 food items to the Food Pantry! No pressure, but Dr. Goodwin has told us that at his former school, the gym stage was completely filled with items for the pantry! Thank you to everyone for contributing to this very worthy cause and caring for others in our community.

Student Placement Parent Input Form: For families with students in grades K-4, an email will be sent shortly regarding Sprague's student placement process as well as a Placement Information Form. (A paper copy will also be provided.) Please take a few minutes to review the letter and certainly feel free to fill out the Placement Information Form. Please have all Placement Information Forms returned to the main office (there will be a folder on the main office counter in which they can be placed) by Friday, May 6.

Save the Date - Sprague Volunteer Tea/Coffee Appreciation Event: The Sprague School would like to formally invite all parent and community volunteers to our Sprague Volunteer Tea/Coffee Appreciation Event. We so appreciate all of the efforts of our parents across the K-5 school. Weather permitting, this event will take place outside on Thursday, June 2 from 8:15 to 8:45 a.m. to the left of the main office doors. If inclement weather, we will move it inside to the atrium. Light refreshments will be served as we thank everyone for their volunteer service to the Sprague School. We look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks: It was great seeing so many Grade 2 parents attend and participate in Math Game morning prior to break. While I was based mainly in Mrs. Lindquist's room, it appeared evident that your children loved having you in their respective classrooms "playing/ doing" math with you. This is wonderful and is something that stays with students for a long time. Thanks for making the effort to get here despite your busy lives. Many thanks to the entire Grade 2 team as well as several other staff guest stars. Finally, huge thanks to Chelsea Bailow, K-2 Math Specialist, for her leadership on all fronts regarding this event.

Upcoming Events: Just a reminder that our Community Garden Kickoff is this Saturday, April 30 at 9 a.m. Huge thanks to the Neilson family for all of their efforts already as well as a coterie of masons they have recruited to make the stepping stones.

Finally, Sprague's annual SEED Fest is set for this Sunday, May 1 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Many thanks to Lisa Moore and Phyllis Theerman for their indomitable leadership on this wonderful event.
 
Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 
P.S. - Cheers to William and Kate on their pending nuptials.

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April 13, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
Despite being an ardent proponent of technology in the classroom, I have always believed that technology never (never!!) replaces a quality educator. However, technology, when used as an instructional and learning tool, and subsequently well placed in the extremely capable hands of a teacher like Jen Lundbohn, is an invaluable resource to have in our battle to help kids learn by any means necessary. While observing Jen teach a fraction lesson last week, she expertly used the SMART Board in a way that heightened her students' level of engagement as well as enhanced their ability to determine equal parts of a whole and order fractions from smallest to largest.

Later in that same week, I observed Patti Weismer, Inclusion Support Services teacher, use the SMART Board to teach a phonics lesson that had students working on initial consonant sounds as well as reordering words to form sentences. Again, through the use of this technology, Patti's students were able to actively engage in the lesson so that it provided multiple access points for them. This is a roundabout of way of saying thanks (huge thanks!!) to the entire Sprague parent community for all of their efforts this past fall/early winter in terms of providing us with the means to obtain SMART Boards for 20 instructional spaces. These efforts make a difference in our classrooms each and every day.

As some may have heard, a few weeks ago the Wellesley School Committee voted to restore the .9 Elementary Art position that was cut early on in the budget process. I wanted to offer a personal thank you to the many Sprague parents who spent time attending meetings as well as advocating both in-front as well as behind-the-scenes in order to restore this cut as well as for the schools' budget in general. As principal, I cannot say enough thanks for these efforts as they have a direct impact on our students/your children's educational experience. Also, the Fiscal Year 2012 budget was recently passed by town meeting. Many thanks to the Wellesley Public Schools (WPS) Superintendent Bella Wong, Ruth Quinn Berdell, WPS Business Manager, all other members of the WPS Central Office Leadership team, Wellesley School Committee, Wellesley Town Meeting members, Wellesley Selectman, Wellesley Advisory Committee and Wellesley Town Manager Hans Larsen, for supporting the schools' budget despite the severe economic challenges faced by many public and private sectors over the past three years. Again, many thanks to all members of the Sprague community for their support of the WPS/Sprague School during this annual process.

As some may have noticed over the past week or so, Sprague has had a truck parked on its campus near the bus circle. During that time, the truck has been transformed from plain white to a sea serpent full of color, support and hope. Johnny Cator, Sprague parent, secured the truck and is eventually getting it to Haiti later in the spring. Since it arrived at Sprague, our third, fourth and fifth graders have been painting it, along with the leadership and guidance of Ms. Stabnick, Sprague Art teacher, Ms. Gillis, Student Teacher in Art, and Mr. Hagar-McKee, Sprague Music Teacher. It looks absolutely incredible. Kudos to all. The truck, along with the nearly $2100 that Sprague raised through Walk to School days as well as a generous gift from our 5th grade students/families, represents an incredible largesse of spirit commonly found here at Sprague. Many thanks to all for their support of this endeavor.

Finally, I am in discussions with Bob Deignan, Interim Food Manager, and Ruth Berdell, School Business Manager, to work out a plan to have Nick's Pizza offered a few more Fridays before the end-of-the-year. For now, this Friday, April 15, will be a Domino's pizza day as we work out the details. I hope to have more information about this shortly after break.

Thanks: Many thanks to the many Grade 5 parents that provided lunch for the staff last Wednesday. It was delish!!

Many thanks to Cecilia Milano, Sprague Elementary alumnus, and Betsy Waisel, Bates Elementary alumnus, for their Children's Hospital fundraiser last Friday in and around the Sprague playground. Sprague third graders Jack Hinchley and Jack Murphy were the winners of the Jolly Ranchers and LEGOs respectively as they accurately predicted the number of these items. In fact, Jack Hinchley actually guessed the exact number of Jolly Ranchers (340, if I recall correctly). Thanks to Cecilia and Betsy for their wonderful idea and congrats to Jack and Jack!

Finally, for those families who celebrate Passover, I would like to wish you well in the week to come.

In addition, to those who celebrate Easter, I would like to wish you well the weekend of the 24th.

I hope you all have a relaxing and fun April vacation.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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April 6, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
As I write this, the Sox supposed juggernaut is 0-3 and are now down 3-1 to the Indians in the top of the sixth.  Despite the Sox $180 million dollar payroll, you still have to play the game and that is what makes the game of baseball compelling to this fan.
 
Growing up, I used to read the Globe Sports section religiously every morning before going to school in order to check the previous night's box score.  (Those that read the Globe Sports pages back in the late 70s, early 80s, you were treated to a Hall of Fame line-up of reporters/columnists including:  Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan, Will McDonough, Ray Fitzgerald, Bud Collins, John Powers and Leigh Montville, et al.).  In my present day living room, I still have the 1978 Baseball Encyclopedia that I pored over every night seemingly for years.
 
As I watched last night's NCAA Championship game between Butler and UCONN, I recalled that my dad took me to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and we watched the epic Bird vs. Magic match-up on a tiny little television in a Cooperstown, NY hotel room.  Sports aren't everything in life, far from it, but they certainly have forged a life-long connection between my dad and me.  Without fail, we call one another during any big moment of a Sox or Patriots game.
 
This twenty-plus year long behavior first started when I was at college and was watching the Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson heavyweight prize fight.  Somehow, Buster Douglas shocked the world that night in Tokyo and knocked out the seemingly invincible Tyson.  Throughout that fight, I was seemingly calling my dad each round as we both couldn't believe that Douglas was hanging in there with Tyson round after round.  When Douglas finally felled Tyson, I called my dad screaming uncontrollably into the phone.
 
Since then, there have been many such calls over the past two decades as the Sox, Patriots and Celtics all rose/returned to prominence.  My dad's love of the Sox was borne of years attending games with my grandfather and cheering Ted Williams, Jackie Jensen, Mel Parnell, et al.  While growing up, my dad and I attended many games and his love became my love as we both admired latter day Sox heroes including Yaz, Tiant, Rice, Lynn and Dewey.  Now, my oldest daughter Kate asks me each morning if the Sox have won (or lost) and whether Youk had any big hits.  Again, the cycle continues.
 
MCAS has concluded and many thanks to all parts of the Sprague community for the support of our Grade 3-5 students during this time.  Special shout out to Grade 5 students for perfect attendance across both of their testing days.  Many thanks for that.
 
Acatemy Awards FYI:  The votes are in and it is time for the fourth annual "Sprague Acatemy Awards".  This event is being conducted on Friday, April 8 at 9 a.m. in the Sprague gym. Ellen Mandel, Sprague librarian, has polled the Sprague students in numerous categories (e.g., Favorite Series, Favorite Book, et al.) and the winners will be announced this Monday.  Many staff will be walking the red carpet in support of Sprague's love of reading.  Parents are welcome to attend this event and can sit in the gym bleachers.
 
Sprague School Council - School Improvement Plan FYI:  Attached below is Sprague's School Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2010-2011.  In reality, this is a plan that will guide the Sprague School Council over the next few years.  The Sprague School Council developed this document and is the ultimate body responsible for overseeing its implementation per the Massachusetts Education Reform regulations implemented in 1993.  After much discussion, we have pared over 30 plus action items to 17.  (I think back to what Doug Reeves, preeminent educational leader, said in the fall when he spoke to WPS staff.  Reeves openly questioned the effectiveness of any district/school/company/organization that had anything over three or four basic goals/objectives.)  We are not there yet, but we are headed in the right direction.  Focusing on just one of these action steps takes much time/energy, but like everything else in life, we will try our best to do the best we can.
 
Many thanks to Sprague School Council members Christina Cooney, Jill Heckman, Lindsay Barrett, Jen Stabnick, Theresa Levy, Sue Maggioni and Catherine Mirick, for their time and effort on this document as well as assisting on other projects (e.g., National School Inclusion weeks, taking the time to read/discuss Stan Davis's Schools Where Everyone Belongs, et al.).  They have been a great group as well as support for the School Council/Sprague School/me this year.     
 
Upcoming Event:  The Wellesley Public Schools Town-Wide Art Show is scheduled for next Tuesday evening (April 12th) at the Wellesley Public Library.  If you have some time, be sure to check it out.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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April 1, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

MCAS has begun and the third and fourth graders are off to a strong start over the first week of testing. Grade 3 finished their testing last Thursday. Congrats to them and many thanks to the great staff who supported our Grade 3 students. Grade 4 completed their English/Language Arts tests Tuesday. All Grade 4 students and staff worked real hard over these sessions. Huge congrats and thanks to them. MCAS concludes as well this week for Grade 5. They have worked hard all year long and are well prepared. Best of luck to them. (MCAS continues in May for Math and Science.)  

April - National Poetry Month FYI: April is National Poetry Month! Sprague will celebrate writing and poetry throughout the month of April inside the classrooms and in our hallways. At last week's HEART Value assembly, we teased several ideas for our students and the information follows below.  

"Poem in Your Pocket Day"  
As a school community, we will celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket day on Thursday, April 14th. Prior to the 14th, Students will select one poem to read/share. The poem should take no longer than 30 seconds to 1 minute to read aloud/share. On National Poem in Your Pocket Day, staff and students will ask one another throughout the day, "What is the poem in your pocket?" Students and staff will then recite their poems aloud to one another. Our goal is to fill the hallways of Sprague with the sounds of poetry all day long! This activity will raise student awareness about poetry and give them the opportunity to practice reading and possibly memorizing a piece and sharing it.  

"The Poet Tree"  
Also in April, students will be asked to either write and/or copy one poem (possibly the same one they use for National Poem in Your Pocket Day) onto a "leaf." The "leaves" of poems will then be hung on a tree that will be constructed by Sprague students with the help of Jen Stabnick, Sprague Art Teacher Extraodinaire. This activity is intended to bring the act of writing in a particular genre or style to the whole school community, culminating in a collective piece of art that will be hung in the office foyer area.  
 
One of the best ways to find a favorite poem is to simply look at lots of poetry books! Both the Sprague library and the Wellesley Free Library have some wonderful resources! Additionally, you may want to look at the following websites:
http://www.poets.org/  
http://www.shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html  
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/  
http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do
 
Many thanks to Ms. Rogers, Sprague Grade 3 teacher, for her help with the aforementioned section as well as her efforts regarding these upcoming events.  

Sprague Alumnus sponsors Children's Hospital Fundraiser: Cecilia Milano, Sprague alumnus, and Betsy Waisel, Bates alumnus, are seeking to support Children's Hospital and have organized a fundraiser that will take place on Friday, April 8 after school in and around the Sprague playground. Cecilia and Betsy are currently freshwomen at WHS. They have penned the following poem to help clarify what they will be doing:  
 
On Friday, April 8th,
Get ready it's gonna be great.
Come out of your classrooms after school,
Take part in an event that's really cool!
Guess the candies in the jar,
Hopefully yours will be up to par.
If Jolly Ranchers aren't for you,
You can always win Legos too.
Pay 50¢ for just one guess,
Or $1 for three to put your skills to the test!
It's a great cause and a lot of fun,
So stop by and guess to be number 1!!  

They go on to write, "Friday, April 8th there will be a fundraiser after school to raise money for Children's Hospital. We are two freshman at Wellesley High School, Betsy Waisel and Cecilia Milano. Our goal is to raise money to buy an iPad for the hospital. These devices help children with speech problems, or those who cannot speak/communicate after surgery. Please come and make a guess at how many pieces are in one of the two jars, either Jolly Ranchers or Legos! It is 50¢ for one guess or $1 for three. All proceeds go to Children's Hospital. Thank you!"  

Thanks to Cecilia and Betsy for their efforts and ingenuity.  

Thanks: Many thanks to Lisa Moore and Phyllis Theermann, Sprague's Mad Scientists, for their wonderful SEED Fest teaser at last Friday's HEART Value meeting. The kids loved watching their quick science experiments and they make a wonderful vanilla ice cream. Be sure to check out any and all information about this year's SEED Fest on Sunday, May 1st. It promises to be another great year.  

Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal 

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March 23, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,
 
Beginning this week with our third and fourth graders and continuing next week with our fifth graders, I will meet and speak with each grade 3-5 classroom. My overall theme is entitled "Bring your 'A' Game." While an undergrad at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, I had the privilege to play both football and baseball. Mind you, I was not a star, in fact far from it. Rather, I simply enjoyed being able to play sports beyond high school at the Division III collegiate level. During my time at Bates, I had a great football coach/teacher named Web Harrison. Coach Harrison was a former Vietnam Veteran (several tours of duty) who commanded our respect and maintained high expectations of his student-athletes at all times. Despite these high expectations, you never wanted to fail him or each other. All he asked was that you give your best every down, every practice, every game, every paper, every final, et al. It was a reminder of the effort he wanted you to exhibit both in the classroom and on the field and it has stuck with me some 23 years after first meeting the man.

During my talks with the students, I will discuss the notion of demonstrating maximum effort during all school days as well as certainly when they are taking their MCAS exams. Often we think much in life might be beyond our locus of control, however effort is something we typically can control. I will gently remind students of this during our conversations. You have raised great children and they will succeed both now and in the future. 

Finally, as it is prior to any school day, it is important for students to receive a good night's sleep as well as enjoy some form of breakfast. On the day your son or daughter takes a test, the administration will begin promptly at 8:45 a.m. Thus, it is vital that your son or daughter comes to school on time. Also, MCAS tests are untimed. Don't hesitate to remind your son or daughter that "getting it done fast" is not the goal of this assessment. Rather, we want all students to do their best and take as much time as they need in order to perform to their maximum potential. Thanks in advance to the entire community for your support of our students during the upcoming weeks. If your son or daughter were to miss an MCAS test, make-ups will be conducted in and around their other testing days. 

Sprague Grass Fields FYI: I received an updated note today from Mike Quinn, Assistant Superintendent of Parks and Trees/Tree Warden for the town. So as not to cause more damage during the upcoming thawing/muddy season, Mike informed the schools, that all grass fields will remain closed for another week (through March 28th) as they try to ready them for the spring athletic season. Thus, the grass field that abuts Sprague will be closed before, during and after school over the next week. If you could, please help me adhere to this request both before and after school. Thanks very much.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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March 16, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,

The impossibly sad images emanating from Japan over the last four days are beyond words. As a principal it feels like I have written a version of that sentence nearly every year for the past decade or so (e.g., Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti Earthquake, et al.) It shouldn't take challenging things like this to make you appreciate what you have, but to be human is to sometimes become complacent. At times, small things that can appear to be big, are in fact really, really small in the ebb and flow of life. 

As I have witnessed in every school that I have ever worked in, our students hear of news like this and reflexively want to help in some way. In the coming days, I will work with both the Sprague staff and the Sprague PTO to coordinate this "H"elpful spirit embodied by our HEART Values. Like every day, but certainly during moments like this, be sure to reach out to loved ones of all sizes and ages. As always, thanks for your support of your children/our students now and in the future. 

I had a chance to take part in my first Massachusetts Children's Book Awards (MCBA) Voting Party last Friday. (During the year, students voluntarily read many of the books from the year's MCBA master list. In addition, they can write a review of the MCBA book. The Sprague MCBA Voting Party is a both a celebration of their accomplishments as well as a chance to vote for their favorite MCBA book.) The students selected Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman as their MCBA favorite. Huge kudos and thanks to Ellen Mandel, Sprague Librarian, and Beth Kauckza, Sprague Library Assistant, and a whole host of Sprague parent volunteers for organizing a wonderful gathering for our fourth and fifth graders.  
Many thanks also to all members of the 4th and 5th grade teams for supporting our students and their reading/writing efforts over this entire year. Some of the work that Ellen Banthin and Bevin Hale, Grade 5 teachers, shared with the group was top, top notch (e.g., various Wordles, book reviews in the guise of a comic book, innovative book covers, et al.). Great, great work by all involved. According to Ellen, the numbers of participating students was up overall. No offense to the arts and sports which all have their shining moments, but it is wonderful to have an event dedicated to the amount of words/pages/books read. Again, great job Ellen, Beth, Sprague staff and Sprague parent volunteers. 

Well, last Thursday night's Open House was simply spectacular. Huge credit goes to the Sprague students, Sprague Staff and the Sprague Assembly Committee for their time and efforts leading up to and during the event. Special thanks to Margaret Flitsch - Physical Education Teacher, Ellen Mandel - Librarian, Brian Hagar-McKee - Music Teacher, Jen Stabnick - Art Teacher, and Alissa Gillis - Student Teacher in Art, for all of their hours of planning, instruction, set up and clean up. They did it all and we owe them a huge amount of thanks! Many thanks to the Sprague community for showing up in such large numbers in support of our students. We look forward to this night and thanks for taking the time to support your child's education. 

Carline Reminder: Please pull all the way up to the front of the building when dropping off during carline in the morning. Thanks for your attention to this detail.  
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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March 9, 2011 
 
Dear Sprague Community,

This Thursday, March 10 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Sprague will be conducting its annual Spring Open House. K-5 students are asked to meet in the gym promptly at 6:30 p.m. From 6:30 to 7:15 p.m., each grade level will perform a dance that is tied to their respective grade level curriculum. Then from 7:15 to 8:00 p.m., parents (and students) are invited to visit their classrooms to view student work. We look forward to this night and thanks for taking the time to support your child's education.

MCAS Tips: Again this year, as we near MCAS in the spring, I will sprinkle what we believe is helpful information for both students and parents regarding the myriad MCAS tests. Our fourth grade teachers have met to discuss their instruction of writing in general and "open response" writing in particular. One outcome of these meetings was that agreement was reached on certain instructional techniques. Feel free to clip and save this section for future open writing response assignments that your third through fifth grader might be working on. I would like to thank the fourth grade team for their hard work and dedication to enhancing student learning, as well as for supplying the information below.
 
Students in grades 3-5 have to answer several Language Arts Open Response Questions on a typical MCAS. They can receive a score of 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 for each Open Response question. 

Skills Needed to Answer an Open Response Question:
Read the question first. CIRCLE the verb (explain, discuss, identify, etc...). Label the number of parts - Sometimes a question has multiples parts.
Read the text with "pencil in hand" and underline information that will help answer the question.
The students should brainstorm first, using the information that they underlined in the text.
To answer the question, the students "echo the question." That is, they use the words from the question to begin their paragraph. To insure they use the question words, have them check off each word from the question as they use it. For example, if the question were "Explain why grizzly bears were in danger of dying out" the student would begin the answer with "There are several reasons why grizzly bears are dying out."
The students answer the question "by using evidence they underlined from the text."
To end the paragraph, they "re-echo" the question. Using the example above, the student could write, "Those are the reasons why grizzly bears are in danger of dying out."
When the students are finished, they need to reread the question and their answer to ensure they actually answered the question and that their answer makes sense. If it does not, they will need to fix their answer or reread the text for more information.

Open Enrollment FYI: Please note that open enrollment requests for the next school year must be submitted no later than May 1, 2011 in order for the district to consider your application for your child to attend an elementary school outside of your neighborhood school district. The receipt of applications by May 1st will allow the district to consider all requests in a timely manner and to plan appropriately at each elementary school for the upcoming school year. Requests made after May 1st may be considered if a family moves from one Wellesley school district to another Wellesley school district after May 1st. Please contact the Student Services Office at 781-446-6210 ext 4529 to request an Open Enrollment Request form. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Waters, Director of Student Services, at the Student Services Office.  
 
Man's/Woman's Best Friend FYI: A gentle reminder that when dropping off or picking up child(ren), please make sure that your dog is leashed at all times. Also, try your best to not have your dog close to and/or near the doors when students first enter/exit. Thank you for your efforts on this matter and helping all children feel comfortable in/around the school grounds.
 
Sprague Grass Fields FYI: I received a note today from Mike Quinn, Assistant Superintendent of Parks and Trees/Tree Warden for the town. Mike oversees all the playing fields for the town of Wellesley. As you might imagine, this winter (Is it over yet?) has taken a toll on the myriad playing fields around town. So as not to cause more damage during the upcoming thawing/muddy season, Mike informed the schools that all grass fields will be closed for the next two weeks (through the week of March 21st) as they try to ready them for the spring athletic season. Thus, the grass field that abuts Sprague will be closed before, during and after school over the next two weeks. Please help me adhere to this request both before and after school. Thanks very much.

Carline FYI: Just a reminder to pull all the way up to the front of the building when dropping off during carline in the morning. Thanks for your attention to this detail.

Kudos: Many thanks to Leslie Del Col for organizing our Haiti coin drive efforts. Sprague could not have raised nearly $1600 dollars without her leadership.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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March 2, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

Over the years, I have heard some version of this old saw a few times, "You know you are getting old(er) when you go to bed healthy and wake up hurt." Such it was on the morning of Friday, February 18th, when I first rose and started to walk around the house and felt sore in several places. Then I recalled that this was a direct result of attempting to run up and down the court for an hour trying to keep up with 5th graders. Adding to the injury was the insult of falling to the relentless 5th graders by one point, 55-54. If you were able to attend the game, I hope you enjoyed yourself.

I cannot thank Todd Himstead and Theresa Levy, Sprague 5th grade parents, enough for their tireless leadership and efforts regarding details, both small and large, for the last few months as we prepared for the game. They took the concept, ran with it and made this the best edition in my ten years of coordinating this type of game. In support of Todd and Theresa (and our students) were a whole team of parents that helped both in front of and behind the scenes leading up to and during the game. Huge thanks to all of them and for fear of leaving a name out, know you have my eternal thanks for taking this idea and making it actually happen. Also, much thanks to the approximately 25 Sprague staff members who sacrificed their body and soul for two halves of (in)glorious basketball. They were all terrific. Finally, thanks to the sublime 5th graders for taking on this challenge, working together as a team, and emerging victorious both in the game and as leaders of our school. 4th Graders, you better be ready!  The staff is already practicing for next year.

Additionally, I want to wholeheartedly thank the entire Sprague community for raising $1579.06 on behalf of the children and families of Haiti as part of Walk to School coin drives. This is amazing!! These monies will go towards the purchase of three tents that will provide an improved living situation for those still impacted by the destruction wrought by the earthquake. With this in mind, I was reminded of the Haitian phrase of "pa za pa" (meaning "step by step"). Considering the challenges that the people of Haiti still endure, one might question how $1579.06 can possibly help in the face of such widespread need. Well, it will. It will make a difference to some family or child and in the end that is one more family/child that can begin to reassemble their lives and try to get back to pre-earthquake normalcy. So, thanks again to the Sprague community for doing our part to help the Haitian people move forward "pa za pa."

I hope everyone enjoyed the February break. March is upon us and there is both a good chunk of the year left as well as a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. As always, we thank you for your support of your children. We are honored to work with them each day.

Spring Open House: On Thursday, March 10 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Sprague will be conducting its annual Spring Open House. Again this year, K-5 students are asked to meet in the gym promptly at 6:30 p.m. From 6:30 to 7:15 p.m., each grade level will perform a dance that is tied into their respective grade level curriculum. Then from 7:15 to 8:00 p.m., parents (and students) are invited to visit their classrooms to view student work. We look forward to this night and thanks for taking the time to support your child's education.

Kudos: Lori Goldenthal, Sprague parent, worked tirelessly to assemble the Sprague Staff Picture/Bio Boards that are now up in the main office lobby area. I cannot thank Lori enough for her attention to detail as well as artistic and creative flair. They look phenomenal and are yet another example of teamwork and community building found within the Sprague School. Lori - Thank you a ton for taking this idea, running with it, and getting it done. Tremendous work!

 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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February 16, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
So, media day has come and gone. The final line from Vegas is in and the 5th grade students are favored by 7 points. ESPN analysts predict that the students' speed and advanced skill set might prove too much for the staff's slight height advantage. Thus, the moment has arrived - we are on the eve of the first 5th Grade Sprague Students vs. Sprague Faculty basketball game. To quote legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer, "Let's get ready to rumble!!!!"
 
The Game will take place tomorrow, 
 
Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 PM  in the
Wellesley Middle School gym.
 
Admission is free and all Sprague students and families are invited to attend, but we are requesting your help in bringing a canned good that will be donated to the Wellesley Food Pantry. Additionally, there will be several items raffled off during halftime, there will be bracelets that can be purchased with all proceeds going to Sprague's support of Haiti, there will be pizza and water for sale, and an opportunity to order Sprague Yearbooks.
 
Many thanks to countless 5th grade parents for all of their help with details both large and small. It has been a total team effort.
 
MCAS Tips:
As we near MCAS in the coming weeks, I will sprinkle what we believe is helpful information for both students and parents regarding the myriad MCAS tests.
 
4th Grade MCAS - Written Composition:
The fourth grade students, as a component of their English/Language Arts MCAS, take the Written Composition test, also known as the Long Comp. (This year the fourth grade students are taking this part of their MCAS on Tuesday, March 22.) Students can receive up to 20 points for their Written Composition. Twelve points are awarded for Topic Development and eight points for Conventions (i.e., grammar, punctuation, et al.) Below is some information that the fourth grade team has both shared and worked on with students over the past months. As always, I would like to thank the fourth grade team for their hard work and dedication to enhancing student learning.
 
The focus of this writing assessment is on the Personal Narrative genre. This assessment is conducted during the course of one day and is untimed for all students. During this assessment, students are asked to organize, draft, revise, edit, and ultimately complete their final draft composition.
 
Sprague School students prepare in a variety of ways for this task. They are directed to draw upon all they have learned in Writer's Workshop with specific emphasis on the Personal Narrative writing they have done. The fourth grade teachers have students focus on writing good leads, adding relevant supporting details to their essay, and through their use of word choice, developing their writer's voice (a writer's personality on paper). Additional strategies like "show and don't tell," snapshots (use of detail), use of short sentences for emphasis, and thought shots (unquoted internal dialogue) help develop a writer's voice in their paper as well. These and other strategies including: writing a strong closing, looking at past MCAS composition papers, analyzing the scoring guide or rubric used - all are resources used to help prepare students to develop their best possible essay on that day.
 
As always, while giving broad lessons on these topics in Writers Workshop, the fourth grade teachers individualize certain special emphasis points that each student needs in order to attain their personal best essay.
 
Kudos:
Many thanks to the Sprague community for supporting Haiti in the form of coins as part of the January and February Walk to School Day. The Sprague community has been extremely generous in its support of this campaign and it is much appreciated.
 
Thanks:
Many thanks to Grade 3 and 4 parents that sponsored last week's staff luncheon. It was sumptuous. Huge thanks to the Sprague PTO for sponsoring last Friday's assembly, George Russell's Clap Your Hands. The kids loved the music and storytelling. Thanks to Elise Rodino, Sprague parent, for organizing and juggling myriad details.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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February 9, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
My sister Liz is a reference librarian at the year old renovated main branch of the Cambridge Public Library located on 449 Broadway (617-349-4030 - www.cambridgema.gov/CPL). (In addition, she is also the head of the Cambridge Librarians Union and fights vigorously to improve the working conditions of all librarians to Dewey Decimal when and how they want.) I digress. If you like libraries, then you need to go check out this building. It is breathtaking. It just reopened last year and won several architectural awards in that time.
 
The children's room (to call it a room is a misnomer, since it is a whole floor) is something I have never seen before in a public library. You have to check it out. Also, within the children's rooms the walls are all glass so you have these great views everywhere you turn. The old side has been renovated as well. This would be an excellent day trip during the upcoming February vacation. In addition, a branch of one of the all-time sandwich shops, Darwin's, is located on Cambridge Street, directly behind the library. Delish sandwiches/soups and desserts. Finally, they sell Lakota cookies (from Lakota Bakery in Arlington Heights - the best cookie shop in America - at least according to me and my expanding waistline) as well.
 
Congratulations to the Bender family (Sprague Kindergarten teacher) on the birth of her daughter Brooke Elizabeth and to the Gaul family (Sprague 1st grade teacher) on the birth of her son Asher Robert. Wishing all family members health and happiness for decades to come.
 
Sprague 2010-2011 Yearbook FYI: The 2010-2011 Sprague Yearbook is feverishly being produced and now is the time to put your order in. For those new to Sprague, this is an all-school yearbook and includes pictures of all classes/grades for the entire year. I have seen past versions and having worked in five different school systems, I put it easily at the top of the list in terms of elementary school yearbooks. The cost right now is $23. The cost will jump to $30 after April 1st. So, if you are interested in ordering the Sprague Yearbook, please contact Sprague parent Karen Haberly at karen.haberly@gmail.com.
 
Parking/Driving Reminders: Recently, it has been brought to my attention that some vehicles on occasion are dropping off students on the Oak Street entrance of the building in and around the crosswalk area. Please refrain from doing this immediately. Students have been seen crawling over the snow banks in some instances and this is extremely dangerous as they could fall back into traffic. Please pull into the parking lot/car line area as this is much safer for all involved.
 
When I am not meeting with staff and or parents in the morning, I am outside in the parking lot/car line area to ensure an orderly drop off experience. For the most part, minus 18 wheelers, it works well, and I appreciate everyone's patience with this extremely snowy winter and the challenges it provides in the parking lot/around the school grounds. Additionally, please do not park in and around the traffic islands as you block access to the traffic lanes.
 
Finally, please do not wait in car line unless you are picking up a student in car line. By this I mean, don't wait in car line and have your child walk over from the playground and have him or her jump in and then drive away. This violates several of our HEART Values (H - Help(ful behavior), A - Accept (the situation) and Appreciate (that we encounter lines many times in life and sometimes we need to simply wait in them), R - Respect and Responsibility (we are a community and need to respect one another and be responsible to and for each other) and T - Teamwork (like almost everything in life, by working together, we can achieve more). I will step off my soapbox now and thanks for reading/listening.
 
Found: We have an iPod Nano and an iTouch in the main office. If you think they might belong to you/your family, check in with Lennie Becker.
 
Sprague 2011 MCAS Testing Dates: I would urge you to keep these dates in mind as you schedule appointments, et al., for your child(ren).
MCAS Testing Schedule 2011
Grade 3    Wed 3/23 and Thur 3/24    Language Arts
Tue 5/10 and Wed 5/11    Math
Grade 4    Tue 3/22 *    Written Composition
Mon 3/28 and Tue 3/29    Language Arts
Mon 5/16 and Tue 5/17    Math
Grade 5    Thur 3/31 and Fri 4/1    Language Arts
Thur 5/12 and Fri 5/13    Math
Thur 5/19 and Fri 5/20    Science
* If students are absent for the test, the state mandated make-up day is Thur 3/31. 
 
Seeking any and all Kindergarteners for 2011-2012: If you are aware of any students in the Sprague neighborhood that might be kindergarten eligible (5 by Sept. 1st) for the next academic year (2011-2012), don't hesitate to check in with them and see if they have contacted Lennie Becker, sublime secretary, here at the Sprague School. We are trying to nail down our numbers for next year and appreciate any help in this area. Thanks! Kindergarten Orientation is slated for March 16, 2011 from 6:45-8 p.m. and will be held in the Ellen Cunniff/Sprague library.
 
Future Event FYI: To quote Lisa Mortarelli, Sprague 1/2 teacher, quoting Mike Krzyzewski, legendary Duke basketball coach, "I think some parents now look at a youngster failing as the final thing. It's a process, and failure is part of the process. I would like it if the teacher and the parents would connect more. I think that used to be, but we're losing a little bit of that right now." At times, we all fail in life. I am no stranger to this. The old maxim of "you learn more about yourself during the tough times, rather than the good times" constantly resonates with me. The Sprague staff is here to help all students learn from their temporary setbacks and then help them dust themselves off and get back in the game. As I said to the staff, it is okay to fail. Learn from it, and move forward. Stay tuned! First annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.
 
Kudos: Many thanks to the Sprague community for supporting Haiti Coins for Change as part of the January Walk to School Day. Just a reminder that we will be doing this again as part of the February Walk to School Day on Friday, February 11. We are certainly accepting coins any time in between as well.
 
Thanks: Huge thanks to Julia dePeyster for providing the staff coffee before battling the traffic as they headed home during last Tuesday's storm. Very, very nice of her to think of us during that time of day. Finally, many thanks to Amy Paladino for helping out with the stuck 18 wheeler on Monday morning on Oak/School Street. Very much appreciated.

Take care,    
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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February 4, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

Well, we are just about two weeks out from the 5th Grade Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game.  Our intrepid 5th grade cub reporter recently conducted another interview with Sprague Faculty Coach Taryn Drake and here is what she had to say about the faculty team's preparation at this point in the year.

The 5th grade cub reporter asked, "Coach Drake, how's the team looking?"
Coach Drake replied, "We are who we are.  What that is...is a bunch of weekend hackers and it is my job to put them in the best position to win this game on Thursday night."
The Cub reporter wryly asked, "Anyone stand out in particular?"
Drake countered, "Well, you know with me, it's always about the effort of the entire team.  Nonetheless, that guy Paul Johnson, veteran Sprague Teaching Assistant, has been shooting the three pretty well.  We have to remind him from time to time that this is not like when he played for the Shepherd Hill High Rams.  The Sprague 5th graders are way beyond what the Tantasqua Warriors had to offer in terms of competition."
Drake went on to mention, "Johnson's game is primarily based upon distributing the ball to our strong scorers like Heon and Lindquist, but the guy appears to have a pretty soft touch around the perimeter.  One drawback with Johnson is that his vertical leap is all of two inches, but he makes up for that with grit, determination and hard work."

So there you have it, hope to see everyone at the Game on Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 pm in the Middle School Gym.  To quote Sue Hanno, Sprague Special Educator, quoting Mike Krzyzewski, legendary Duke basketball coach, "Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need."  The Sprague staff works hard to ensure that they know whatever they need to know in order to help your student grow both as a learner and more importantly, as a person.
Wellesley Friendly Aid Association - Summer Camp FYI:  I recently received a letter from Karen Mondell, Program Administrator, for the Wellesley Friendly Aid Association.  Each year, the Wellesley Friendly Aid Association offers camp scholarships "to children in families at or near the poverty level".  To find out more about this offering, you can access the application via their website at www.wellesleyfriendlyaid.org.  Additionally, we will have hard copies of the application in the main office.
Sprague 2011 MCAS Testing Dates:  Below are the dates Sprague will be administering the myriad 2011 MCAS tests for students in grades 3-5.  I would urge you to mark these dates down and keep these in mind as you schedule appointments, et al., for your children.  If you have a child in grades 3, 4 or 5, it is mandatory that they take MCAS. In addition, it is quite a challenge when a student misses an MCAS test and we have to schedule a make-up session.  As principal, I would like to thank you personally for your attention to this matter since MCAS administration dominates much of my spring.  
 
MCAS Testing Schedule 2011

Grade 3
Wed 3/23 and Thur 3/24
Language Arts
 
Tue 5/10 and Wed 5/11
Math
Grade 4
Tue 3/22  *
Written Composition
 
Mon 3/28 and Tue 3/29
Language Arts
 
Mon 5/16 and Tue 5/17
Math
Grade 5
Thur 3/31 and Fri 4/1
Language Arts
 
Thur 5/12 and Fri 5/13
Math
 
Thur 5/19 and Fri 5/20
Science
 
*If students are absent for the test, the state mandated make-up day is Thursday, March 31.
 
Thanks:  Many, many thanks to Jessica Rosenbloom and a whole host of parents for organizing last Friday's 4th Grade Game Night.  My wife and I came out for a little bit and got hooked into a few rounds of Guesstures.  Great job Jessica and thanks for your support of our 4th grade students.
 
 
Huge thanks to Leslie Del Col, Margaret Lyne, Theresa Levy and Julie Barker for the sandwiches, salad and cookies last Wednesday.  Very kind and generous.  They were sumptuous. Thanks also to Julia dePeyster for the teachers' coffee on a snowy, cold day.
 
Finally, Happy New Year to all members of the Sprague community who celebrated the Chinese New Year on Thursday, February 3.  
 
Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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January 26, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

Well, the wintry mix of snow and ice certainly has been interesting this season. From the looks of it, seems like we are in for another round this Thursday.
 
Growing up in Waltham, we had a relatively long, hilly and creviced driveway. At an early age, I would go out to "help" my dad with the shoveling duties. During those early years, my "help" was largely ineffectual, but I enjoyed the time outside with my dad shoveling and throwing snowballs at one another. (As an aside, one of the crushing blows to my adult ego was when my dad announced at a Thanksgiving dinner a few years back, that in those early "helping" days he would quietly go back outside and reshovel my side of the driveway.) Later, as I grew older, the responsibilities shifted and I took over more and more of the shoveling. By the early 90s, I was no longer at home and my parents started to use a "plow guy." (My mom, in her strong South Boston accent, refers to all people who help them with stuff around the house, no matter their gender, as a "guy." For example, "Time to call the plumber guy," "Get me the number for the tree guy," "We need that roof guy to come out here and look at the guttaaarrss.")
 
With a spate of recent snow days, it has renewed an intermittent tradition of making a guest star appearance back in the 'ham (my family's affectionate name for Waltham) after I have shoveled out in Arlington. My daughters will now often join me for this venture. In particular, my eight-year-old daughter Kate will "help" shovel Nana and Papa's driveway and thus the circle of life continues. I am unsure if I will ever tell her that I have to sneak back out and reshovel her section while she is enjoying a hot cup of cocoa with Nana and Papa. We will have to see how that plays out.
 
Seeking any and all Kindergarteners for 2011-2012: If you are aware of any students in the Sprague neighborhood that might be kindergarten eligible (5 by Sept. 1st), don't hesitate to check in with them and see if they have contacted Lennie Becker, sublime secretary, here at the Sprague School. We are trying to nail down our numbers for next year and appreciate any help in this area. Thanks! Kindergarten Orientation for the 2011-2012 school year is slated for March 16, 2011 from 6:45-8 p.m. and will be held in the Ellen Cunniff/Sprague library.
 
Future Event FYI: To quote Jen Lundbohn, 3rd grade teacher, quoting John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, "Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need." The Sprague staff works hard to ensure that they know whatever they need to know in order to help your student grow both as a learner and more importantly, as a person. Stay tuned! Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.
 
Kudos: Many thanks to the Sprague community for supporting Haiti in the form of coins as part of last week's Walk to School Day. Just a reminder that we will be doing this again as part of the February Walk to School Day on Friday, February 11. We are certainly accepting coins any time in between as well.
 
Next Week's Principal Newsletter FYI: My weekly newsletter will not appear next Wednesday, but rather be embedded in the February HEARTBeat which will come out later that week.
 
Thanks: Once again, many thanks to all members of the Sprague community who have recently been attending School Committee and or Advisory meetings as the budget season heats up. On behalf of the entire staff, we thank you for support of your children and our school both during the day and night! I know from personal experience that it is not easy to get out of the house once you get home and everyone is settled. Additionally, I appreciate your efforts even more so with the type of weather we have been dealing with of late. Thanks a ton!
 
Take care, 
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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January 19, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
First off, I apologize for the delay in this week's newsletter. I have been experiencing some WiFi issues at home over the last few days with my work computer and it has thrown my timing off a little bit. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

I would like to thank the many members of the Sprague community that will be supporting our efforts collecting coins for the Haitian people in light of the horrific earthquake that occurred a little over a year ago. In particular, many thanks to Leslie Del Col, Sprague parent, for her leadership coordinating our various efforts both currently and soon to be underway. As you may notice in the days to come, each classroom has received a water jug that will be used for collecting donations both big and small.

Having read Tracy Kidder's great book Mountains Beyond Mountains a few years ago, it was quite evident that pre-earthquake Haiti faced tremendous poverty, medical, economic and security challenges. These concerns have only increased post-earthquake. It has been reported that Haiti is blessed with the one great thing that cannot be fundraised or purchased - an indomitable reservoir of human spirit. Some have suggested that despite the tremendous loss of life and widespread destruction, Haiti, in the post-earthquake years, possibly finds itself now poised to hit the proverbial reset button and rebuild their country with the full support and attention of the international community. The complexities of such a renaissance are beyond my grasp. Nevertheless, I am very happy that we here at Sprague will do our part to help the children and families of Haiti recover from this great challenge.

When refreshing my memory of Kidder's book, I stumbled into the following anecdote about the meaning of the title.

The title Mountains Beyond Mountains comes from a Haitian proverb and is a metaphor for life's challenges. Once you have scaled one mountain, you reach a place where you can see that there are always more mountains farther away. You will never stop climbing, never be finished. (As retrieved at http://www.enotes.com/mountains-beyond-mountains/ on January 18, 2011.)

We all face our respective "mountains" in life. I thank you for your support as we help the Haitian people continue to recover and begin climbing the mountain again.

Walk to School Update: Rescheduled for tomorrow Thursday, January 20th. Don't forget to bring your coins in order to support Haiti.

Seeking any and all Kindergarteners for 2011-2012: If you are aware of any students in the Sprague neighborhood that might be kindergarten eligible (5 years old by Sept. 1st) for the next academic year (2011-2012), don't hesitate to check in with them and see if they have contacted Lennie Becker, sublime secretary, here at Sprague School. We are trying to nail down our numbers for next year and appreciate any help in this area. Thanks! Kindergarten Orientation for the 2011-2012 school year is slated for March 16, 2011 from 6:45-8 p.m. and will be held in the Ellen Cunniff/Sprague Library.

School Council Update: The Sprague School Council has been meeting monthly and has accomplished several to-dos over the past few months. Their work has included discussing, planning and implementing the Inclusive Schools Week assembly, as well as overhauling the Sprague School Improvement Plan (SIP). We plan to have a final draft of the SIP developed at the completion of our next meeting and will plan to present that in the weeks to follow to the Sprague staff, Sprague PTO, et al.

In addition, we have begun reading Stan Davis's book Schools Where Everyone Belongs. The next portion of this section I am reusing from an email that I wrote to the staff a few weeks back:

"I have read and implemented segments of this book in past schools and found it to be an invaluable resource. Stan is a school counselor in Maine and his book is drawn from his work with real kids not in some artificial university setting. From there, I am sure some structures that the book suggests will be actualized and incorporated into our HEART Values/Open Circle/classroom meetings, et al. Now having been here four months with kids, I do not see bullying per se as being a major issue at Sprague. Nonetheless, there are things that come up everyday where kids make unkind choices towards one another and we want to be on top of it. There are many key points to having a school that kids want to come to each day, but first and foremost a great school is made that way by great teachers/staff. Great teachers/staff know their kids, know the social dynamics in their room/teaching areas, are comfortable touching base with kids when problems occur, know when to put the thumb down and mete out a consequence as necessary, follow-up with parents when appropriate, alert me and/or Elana whenever needing support for any reason, and then circle back to make all kids whole again. This work is not easy, but it is our work, and sometimes our work is not easy. So, thanks for making this a great school, way before I showed up at the door, and I look forward to our continued growth in this and all other areas."

As we complete Stan's book, we will begin incorporating his teachings into the work we do here at Sprague and I will keep you all abreast.

Snow Removal Update and Parking/Driving Reminders: Today, the Wellesley DPW spent considerable time in our parking lot and moved a good deal of snow from several areas that had built up from last week's storm. I appreciate the patience of the Sprague community as well as those who reached out to the DPW/various members of the town leadership on behalf of Sprague. Many, many thanks. Huge thanks to Rob Carter, Sprague custodian, for battling today's ice for several hours early in the morning. Great job Rob!

Reminder not to park or idle in the handicap spots unless you have the required placard/plate. Additionally, please do not park in and around the traffic islands as you block access to the traffic lanes. There are numerous spots available to park in, albeit slightly further back in the parking lot, but please park there to ensure the safety of all students/families. Finally, please drive slowly when entering the school parking area.

Future Event FYI: To quote Amy Glennon, Special Educator, quoting John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." The Sprague staff work hard to ensure that your child does not dwell on what they can't do, but rather learns from all situations, makes the necessary adjustments, and moves forward. Stay tuned! The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.

Kudos: Huge congratulations to all the students who participated in the Sprague Winter Concert. The Sprague Band, Orchestra and 5th grade chorus were phenomenal. Many, many thanks to Brian Hagar-McKee, Sprague Music Teacher, for his wonderful musical leadership. Also, thanks to Mrs. Park for serving as our accompanist.

Congratulations to all the Sprague students who participated in the 9th Annual Sprague/National Geography Bee. The Sprague finalists were: Ethan Tabtiang, Justine Low, Mac Malloy, Isabella Reeve, Olivia Bogiages, Hudson Sewall, Brandon Hauser-Fang, Wyatt Himstead, Samantha Levy, Elise Coakley, Kate Dario and Nick Marvan. All of the kids were stupendous and answered several questions related to historical, cultural and economic geography as well as current events. The Sprague winner was Elise Coakley. Congrats Elise and good luck with the next step in the process, a written test in which the top 100 students then advance to Clark University in Worcester for the state Geography Bee final.

Thanks: Many thanks to all members of the Sprague community who have recently been attending School Committee meetings as the budget season heats up. On behalf of the entire staff, we thank you for support of your children and our school both during the day and night! I know from personal experience that it is not easy to get out of the house once you get home and everyone is settled. Additionally, I appreciate your efforts even more so with the type of weather we have been dealing with of late. Thanks a ton!

 
Take care, 
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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January 12, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday observance next Monday, I circle back to a quote by Dr. King that I have had up in every classroom/office I have ever worked in:
 
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
It is very easy to get caught up in our own doings each and every day.  I am guilty of this all the time.  King's words and actions are a constant reminder that a life spent well is spent well by helping and giving to others.  When it comes down to it, each and every day there is an opportunity to do this no matter what your station is in life.  To quote from Jon Stewart's incredible speech about Bruce Springsteen at last year's Kennedy Center Honors, "Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen, he 'empties that tank,' every time."  As we transition to a new year, it is time again to remember to "empty the tank" in our collective effort to make Sprague a better school each and every day.  Thanks for your help in this worthwhile goal.  Like all "words," it is always much easier said than done, but certainly Dr. King's sentiments remain a worthy goal for all of us.    
 
Finally, it is with pleasure that I will attend the World of Wellesley's annual breakfast in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. next Monday at Sun Life Financial.  This year the Wellesley Friends of METCO will be honored for their support of our students from Boston.  Sprague's own Michelle Heath will be among those recognized.  Many thanks to Michelle for all of her efforts and support of Sprague students.
 
Parking/Driving Reminders:  Recently, it has been brought to my attention that vehicles without handicap placards/plates have been parking/idling in Sprague's myriad handicap spots.  Like any public school/town building, we have several students/families that need to have access to these spots each day.  Simply put, nothing is more frustrating for those who need to use these spots than to find them occupied by those who don't require them.  Moving forward, I request that you do not park/idle in those spots unless you have the required placard/plate.  On behalf of those students/families who use the handicap parking spaces, thanks in advance for your support of this request.
 
Additionally, please do not park in and around the traffic islands as you block access to the traffic lanes.  When walking around the parking lot today, there were numerous spots available to park in, albeit slightly further back in the parking lot. So please park in the proper spaces as to ensure the safety of all students/families.  Finally, please drive slowly when entering the school parking area.  Our students and neighbors appreciate this greatly.
 
Walk to School Update:  The Sprague Walk to School Day has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 20th.  Don't forget to bring your coins in to support Haiti.
 
Haiti Update:  I met with Johnny Cator, Leslie Del Col, Kathleen Kelly and Sabine Guerrero a few weeks ago to discuss next steps in terms of Sprague's support of Haiti as it continues to recover from the devastating earthquake last January.  After meeting with this group, a few action steps were decided upon.  The first step will take place in conjunction with the next two Walk to Sprague School Days on Thursday, January 20 and Friday, February 11.  (These dates were changed recently and represent the "new dates.")  Students will be asked to bring coins to school on these two days and place them into their classroom container.  The money raised from this endeavor will go towards securing more permanent shelter for families and children still impacted by the earthquake.  Additionally, students/families can make and/or will be able to purchase "Combit necklaces" at the 5th Grade Students vs. Faculty basketball game on Thursday, February 17.  As Johnny stated in our meeting, the proceeds from these necklaces, will go to benefit "critical shelter for the kids of Haiti."  Finally, Johnny is open to talk with any Sprague family that is interested in visiting and working in Haiti at some point in the coming months.  He is planning and organizing trips for others in the community as well as those at The Park School in Brookline.  There will be more details to follow about all of these action steps.
 
Sprague Winter Concert Update:  Just a reminder that the Sprague Winter Concert will be held on Friday, January 14 from 9 to 9:45 a.m. in the Sprague gym.  The concert will feature the Sprague Band, Orchestra, and 5th Grade Chorus.  All Sprague parents are invited to attend.
 
5th Grade Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game:  Well, if the staff looks a little fitter recently, it is because we have begun two-a-days in preparation for the first annual game.  A 5th grade cub reporter recently interviewed Sprague Faculty Coach Taryn Drake, 4th grade teacher, and here is what she had to say so far at this point during training camp.
 
Cub reporter asked, "Coach Drake, how's the team looking so far this year?"
Coach Drake replied, "It is what it is.  It's early.  We have some good practices, some tough practices.  We are just trying to get better every day."
Cub reporter wryly offered, "Very Belichickian response by you, Coach Drake."
Drake countered with "Okay, let's get going, next question please."
Cub reporter then pondered, "How is training camp going so far?"
Drake commented, "We are working hard right now and we will bring our 'A' game on the 17th."
When asked about how individual players are progressing during the two-a-days, Drake stated that ". . . the team is looking good so far. . ." but she was sure to caution that ". . . practice cannot replicate game conditions."  However, she did mention, "I am not sure that that Goodwin guy will survive the next round of cuts."
 
So there you have it, hope to see everyone on Thursday, February 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Wellesley Middle School gym. 
 
A reminder that all 5th grade students are invited to play in the game no matter their basketball ability.  Believe you me, the staff's ability to play hoop varies wildly.  The most important goal of this game is to have tremendous fun. 
 
To quote Karen Lindquist, 2nd grade teacher, quoting John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."  The Sprague staff will work hard to ensure that your child attempts to become the best they can be each and every day.  More training camp updates to follow.
 
Schedule FYI:  Due to the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, there will be no school on Monday, January 17th.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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January 5, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,
 
A belated Happy New Year to the Sprague Community. I hope everyone enjoyed the recent break. We are back up and running at school and many things are picking up steam across the building. We sincerely appreciate your support of your children and our school. Happy New Year!

I spent much of the break trekking over to Waltham to visit with my family as my eldest sister was up from Atlanta with her kids. While visiting, I engaged in a week-long debate with my brother-in-law who is a lifelong Falcons fan/season ticket holder. As you can imagine, there was vigorous disagreement about the merits of both teams. Fingers crossed, we will see what happens over the next few weeks to the Pats.

Over break, the plan was to have some of the recently fundraised SMART Boards to be installed and in place when we returned to school. Much to our surprise all 14 remaining classroom SMART Boards were installed. This is simply incredible! Huge thanks to Rob Ford, Director of Technology for Wellesley Public Schools, who made this happen behind the scenes. Despite the fact that he graduated from Bowdoin, I have been very impressed by Rob in our short time working together. Rob is also in his first year working for WPS and I feel very lucky to have landed in Wellesley at the same time with him. He knows his stuff, he communicates constantly and always looks to get to "yes". Many thanks also to Leslie Hunter, ITS Support, for being here over break ensuring that all software upgrades were in place for the SMART Boards as well. The teachers have dived right in and it has been wonderful to see them and students actively using this new instructional tool in just the first two days. I cannot finish this paragraph without again thanking Kathy Ashraf, Sprague parent, for her all of her leadership in terms of this initiative. Without a doubt, this would not have happened without her efforts both in front and behind the scenes. Finally, thanks to you, the Sprague community, for all donations, both small and large, public and private. No matter what the denomination, they made a difference on behalf of instruction and student learning. Thank you immensely!

Heart Value Assembly Update: Just a reminder that our Friday Heart Value Assemblies continue this week on Friday, January 7 in the gym, beginning at 9 a.m. sharp. I have been asked, "Is it okay if parents come to these assemblies?" My reply has been "Yes". The 5th grade students escort the K-4 students to the gym in silence, so just a reminder to model the silence for our young charges. We will not be conducting Heart Value Assemblies each Friday, due to PTO Enrichment activities and other school events. In January, they will be held on Friday, January 7 and Friday, January 28. They last approximately 20-25 minutes. Feel free to stop by.

Haiti Update: I met with Johnny Cator, Leslie Del Col, Kathleen Kelly and Sabine Guerrero a few weeks ago to discuss next steps in terms of Sprague's support of Haiti as it continues to recover from the devastating earthquake last January. After meeting with this group, a few action steps were decided upon. The first step will take place in conjunction with the next two Walk to Sprague School Days on Thursday, January 13 and Friday, February 11. (These dates were changed recently and represent the "new dates".) Students will be asked to bring coins to schools on these two days and place them into their classroom container. The money raised from this endeavor will go towards securing more permanent shelter for families and children still impacted by the earthquake. Additionally, students/families can make and or will be able to purchase "Combit necklaces" at the 5th Grade Students vs. Faculty basketball game on Thursday, February 17. As Johnny stated in our meeting, the proceeds from these necklaces, will go to benefit "critical shelter for the kids of Haiti". Finally, Johnny is open to talk with any Sprague family that is interested in visiting and working in Haiti at some point in the coming months. He is planning and organizing trips for others in the community as well as those at The Park School in Brookline. There will be more details to follow about all of these action steps.

The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball Game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. To quote Brian Hagar-McKee, Sprague Music teacher, quoting John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts." The Sprague staff possesses a deep measure of courage and will support your students both when they "succeed" and or temporarily "fail". Stay tuned!

Gentle Reminders: Please be sure to have your children come prepared for outdoor recess during the winter months (i.e., winter coats, snow pants, hats and gloves). In order to play in the snow, students need to wear the aforementioned items. Certainly we don't go outside when it is extremely cold, but it is very important for students to get some fresh air even during these winter months.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

---

December 22, 2010
Dear Sprague Community,

 

Occasionally, I suggest some book ideas for those who are seeking a good read and /or needing to purchase a gift.  Here are some of my recommendations: 

Lisa Genova, a Waltham High School and Bates classmate of mine, has become what I call the "neurologist novelist."  Two years ago, Lisa published her first novel, Still Alice.  Lisa, a neurologist by training, wrote a riveting novel about Alice Howland, a fictional Harvard professor who contracts early-onset Alzheimer's disease.  Lisa originally self-published her work before it was picked up by Simon & Schuster and went on to become a bestseller.  Lisa's second novel, Left Neglected, comes out right after the New Year and looks like it will be another great read. 

I first read English author Ian McEwan about a decade ago and then quickly read every book he had written up until that point (e.g., The Child in Time, Amsterdam, Atonement, Saturday, et al.).  Now I wait a painstakingly every two years or so for him to write a new one.  He put out Solar earlier this year.  I can't say that it is one of my favorites, but a pretty good McEwan is better than just about anything else out there.  Simply love him as an author. 

Recently reread Adam Gopnick's Paris to the Moon.  Gopnick is a veteran New York writer who spent several years living in Paris and chronicled this time.  In this book are some of the best essays/reflections on parenthood that I have ever read. 

Author and screenwriter Nick Hornby (e.g., High Fidelity,About a Boy) for several years wrote a column in The Believer magazine in which he chronicled what he was reading each month.  His last installment of these columns came out in book form - Shakespeare Wrote for Money.  It includes Hornby's recommendations as well as various musings on life.  If you like Hornby's novels, you will love this collection. 

Finally, over the Thanksgiving break, I was walking on Main Street in Chatham, MA.  There was an author outside the Yellow Umbrella bookstore signing books.  The book jacket caught my eye and soon enough I realized that the author was Sprague parent Christopher Price.  Chris writes for WEEI.com and has an extensive history writing for a variety of newspapers and publications.  He was selling and autographing his most recent book, New England Patriots: The Complete Illustrated History. 

 

There was no doubt that I was going to purchase a copy for my dad for Christmas.  My dad has been a fan of the Pats for their entire 50 year run dating all the way back to when they first played at Harvard Stadium and Fenway Park.  My dad had season tickets throughout the 1970s and I would get to go to one game a year back then with him and his buddies.  I have vivid memories of walking about two miles down Rt. 1 heading towards what was then Schaefer Stadium.  (My dad, like me, hates to pay to park.  He would park underneath an overpass and have us scurry up the embankment and hoof it down Rt. 1 for a few miles to avoid the then exorbitant $5 parking fees in lots closer to the stadium). 

 

Anyways, great reading/writing is always worth a few hours of your life and Chris did a wonderful job capturing the history of the Patriots.  Happy reading!

Heart Value Assembly Update:  Our Heart Value Assemblies continue on  Fridays.  Last week, Tony Czubarow, Sprague 5^th grader, demonstrated his excellence on the marimba.  Great job Tony!  Also, D'Aunte Moore, Eliza Higgins and Teddy Lasch assisted with a wonderful Reader's Theatre rendition of Mo Willem's There is a Bird on Your Head.  The K-4 kids got a big kick out of it.  I have been asked, "Is it okay if parents come to these assemblies?"  My reply has been "Yes."  Our next one is on Friday, January 7 in the gym.  It begins at 9 a.m. sharp.  The 5^th grade students escort the K-4 students to the gym in silence, so just a reminder to model the silence for our young charges.  We will not be conducting Heart Value Assemblies each Friday, due to PTO Enrichment activities and other school events.  Thus, I will attempt to let you know when the Heart Value Assemblies are scheduled.  In January, they will be conducted on Friday, January 7 and Friday, January 28.  They last approximately 20-25 minutes. Feel free to stop by. 

 

Haiti Update:  I met with Johnny Cator, Leslie Del Col, Kathleen Kelly, and Sabine Guerrero a few weeks ago to discuss the next steps in terms of Sprague's support of Haiti as it continues to recover from the devastating earthquake last January.  After meeting with this group, a few action steps were decided upon.  The first step will take place in conjunction with the next two Walk to Sprague School Days on Thursday, January 13 and Friday, February 11.  (These dates were changed recently and represent the "new dates".)  Students will be asked to bring coins to school on these two days and place them into their appropriate grade level container.  The money raised from this endeavor will go towards securing more permanent shelter for families and children still impacted by the earthquake.  Additionally, students/families can make and/or will be able to purchase "Combit necklaces" at the 5^th Grade Students vs. Faculty basketball game on Thursday, February 17.  As Johnny stated in our meeting, the proceeds from these necklaces, will go to benefit "critical shelter for the kids of Haiti."  Finally, Johnny is open to talk with any Sprague family that is interested in visiting and working in Haiti at some point in the coming months.  He is planning and organizing trips for others in the community as well as those at The Park School in Brookline.  There will be more details to follow about all of these action steps. 

 

Future Event FYI:  To quote Moe Henzel, Sprague 4^th grade teacher, quoting John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."  The Sprague staff will make mistakes along the way as we "do" many things to make a better school each and every day for your children.  Sprague 5^th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.  Stay tuned! 

 

Reminder:  The last day of school before the winter break is Thursday, December 23.  This is a full day of school.  School resumes on Monday, January 3^rd.   

 

Finally, I would like to wish Merry Christmas and a Joyous Kwanzaa to those members of the Sprague community celebrating either holiday later this week.

 

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin

Sprague Principal

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December 15, 2010
Dear Sprague Community,
 
A tremendous thank you to the entire Sprague community for the absolutely incredible generosity exhibited during the recently completed Technology fundraising. It is with much excitement that I relay the wonderful news that due to your incredible efforts and largesse, the 14 remaining Sprague K-5 classrooms (and the Ellen Cunniff Library) will be receiving SMART Board technology most likely by the end of February (if not sooner for several/many classrooms). Simply put, this is outstanding. I cannot personally thank Kathy Ashraf, Sprague parent, enough for her leadership regarding all aspects of this initiative. For the next decade plus of Sprague students, the work of Kathy and the generosity of spirit displayed by the entire Sprague community will make a profound impact on student learning.

Sprague School Council/Budget Update: The Sprague School Council has already met three times this year and has been quite busy. Although extremely pleased with the progress we have made in many domains of the school, we realize that we need to constantly improve as well as continue to advocate for the needs of the Sprague School. As principal, I will continue to serve as an "advocate for Sprague." I take this responsibility very seriously, but am mindful that I am one of ten principals/directors, work within a larger school system and accept the realities of public school funding. Nonetheless, I am quite comfortable with the role of advocate and will continue to actively serve as a voice for the needs of Sprague.

As we begin the FY12 budget process, I have made the following recommendations on behalf of the Sprague School to the Wellesley Public Schools Central Office staff. They include:
Increase the level of reading intervention support by .5. Currently, per district design, our reading intervention staff works with Grade 1 students. This request would allow Sprague to have reading intervention teachers to work with students in Grade 2-5 who still require support to achieve proficiency in reading.
Increase the School Psychologist by .2. Currently, our sublime school psychologist Elana Wolkoff works 4 days a week. We are seeking to have school psychologist support all five days of the week. This would allow us more time to support the academic and social-emotional development of all children.
We are at the beginning of this process and will certainly update the Sprague community as we move forward during the FY12 budget cycle.

School-Wide Event FYI: To quote Jill Heckman, Sprague 4th grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible." The Sprague staff is dedicated to making the impossible, possible for your children each and every day. Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. All students and parents are encouraged to come cheer on your favorite teacher (or 5th grader!).

Kudos: Huge thanks to Andrea Doglioli, DD Marcoux and Elizabeth Young for their leadership of last week's Sprague PTO Cookie Walk. Many, many thanks to all members of their Cookie Walk team as well. It was fun for all, sumptuous, and well organized.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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December 8, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

This week is the 10th Annual National Inclusive Schools Week (Dec 6-10). For the last five years, I have celebrated this week in the schools that I have worked in. As reported on the Inclusive Schools website (http://www.inclusiveschools.org/week2010), "Since its inception in 2001, Inclusive Schools Week has celebrated the progress that schools have made in providing a supportive and quality education to an increasingly diverse student population, including students who are marginalized due to disability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference and other factors. The Week also provides an important opportunity for educators, students and parents to discuss what else needs to be done in order to ensure that their schools continue to improve their ability to successfully educate all children. School leaders are encouraged to highlight the accomplishments of students, families, school personnel, and community members in promoting inclusive education for all children."

One of the many reasons I have valued my time thus far at Sprague, is its inclusive nature of all students/families. The Sprague staff, students and community work extremely hard to make Sprague a welcoming place for each and every student/family. Like many things in life, we are not perfect, but will always seek to improve our standing in all areas. We will celebrate and honor our inclusive nature at this week's Heart Value Assembly.

Last Friday's HEART Value Assembly: As I mentioned last week, we conducted our first Heart Value Assembly in the gym. This Heart Value Assembly served several purposes: offered opportunities for us to celebrate/demonstrate Sprague's Heart Values in a weekly community gathering, allowed additional leadership opportunities for our 5th grade students as they led several parts of the Heart Value Assembly and provided a chance for our students to showcase excellence/teamwork in some domain of their school and or life.

Huge thanks to the entire 5th grade who quietly escorted all of the K-4 students to this assembly. In addition, a couple of dozen 5th graders helped with the planning and implementation of the assembly. Kate Fletcher, Luke Guthrie, Kati Guerrero, Emma Majernick, Nick Marvan, and Max Wickersham organized our trivia questions, toured all the K-4 classrooms and then announced the winners. Major kudos to Julia Himmelberger for her wonderful introductory piano playing. Thanks to D'Aunte Moore who led us in the pledge. Some may know that D'Aunte's dad serves in the Armed Forces and has previously been deployed to Iraq. Julia Jones did a sublime job announcing our Heart Value Awards and Shawn Haliday made sure our birthdays were proclaimed proudly. Finally, Burnt Orange (with Wyatt Himstead fingering the keys, Max "The Sham" Wickersham - slappin' the bass, Anna Tellalian - bangin' on the drums, and Sprague alum Piper Higgins - talented singer/guitarist) rocked the Sprague gym. They played AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) that then segued into "Smoke on the Water". Simply put, they rocked!! Huge thanks to them (as well as their parents for helping set up early in the a.m.).

Future Event FYI: To quote Taryn Drake, Sprague 4th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. The Sprague staff is committed to excellence in order to educate your children in the best possible manner. Stay tuned!

Reminders: The Sprague PTO Cookie Walk is being held this Thursday, December 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Sprague Gym/Dining Room/Atrium.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

---

December 3, 2011

Dear Sprague Community,

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day holiday. Time with family and friends is vital to our collective well-being and too often it is competing with the modern day demands of work, activities, appointments, et al.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I watched CNN's "Heroes" special. For the third year in a row, I felt embarrassed by any complaining that I do from time to time over the course of a year. Each of the ten stories was a blow to the solar plexus and uplifting all at the same time. If you have a chance, I strongly urge you to watch this special as it will be replayed several times in the week to come. In addition, you can read blurbs and view video snippets of the ten heroes at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html.

Particular highlights for me included the stories about Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow (A Scotsman who has fed hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves hungry due to war and or natural disaster), Linda Fondren (Initiator of a weight-loss challenge in her hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi that led to her community losing over 15,000 pounds), Narayanan Krishnan (Krishan's motto is "I want to save my people - that is the purpose of my life". He makes and delivers food daily to countless homeless people in India) and Anuradha Koirala (Founder of a home/school in Nepal for those children rescued from modern day slavery). In truth, all ten stories were phenomenal and deserve your attention.

On Monday, the district conducted its annual Professional Development Day. Much credit for the day should go to Dr. Becky McFall, Wellesley Public School's Director of Curriculum. The district was able to secure Dr. Douglas Reeves as its keynote speaker, a foremost educational leader in assessment, the achievement gap and the school transformation process. To land Dr. Reeves, a person most often seen at only the biggest national conferences, was a coup for WPS. This was quite an impressive achievement by Becky.

As always when attending this type of day, you come away informed and energized. Monday was no different. I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Reeves twice that day, first in a smaller group in the early morning and then later as part of his keynote address. In my opinion, he hit it out of the park on both occasions. I had seen Dr. Reeves once before approximately seven years ago. He was wonderful then and did not disappoint again on Monday. Dr. Reeves offered an effective blend of humor, data analysis and real-life anecdotes that kept the audience engaged, challenged and laughing.

One major theme of his talk was that any organization, school, business, employer or employee needs to engage in a continuous feedback process. Throughout his career working for and with school systems, he believes that a culture of "nicety" develops among its members and as a result, feedback, even the most benign, is challenged and/or abandoned altogether. This type of culture is often referred to as "congenial, but not collegial". In collegial cultures, colleagues challenge one another, in a positive manner, to do better. He urged us to develop such a culture in our schools.

One point in particular resonated with some of us. Building upon Malcolm Gladwell's notion that it takes "10,000 hours" to get better at some skill, he sought two members of the faculty "that in a past/present life, were either a professional athlete and/or a musician" to step forward and engage in a brief dialogue. During this conversation with two WPS staff members that fit this bill, it became clear that in their athletic and musical endeavors, feedback from coaches/musical teachers was constant and immediate. Frankly, as most of us know, feedback is constant in those respective fields. He urged us to ensure that this same type of feedback was present for all staff and students. It reminded me of a past conversation that even the great Michael Jordan had a coach.

As we transitioned back to Sprague in the afternoon, we had a strong faculty meeting where we transferred some of our learnings from Dr. Reeves and applied them to our student learning goal work. I can only speak for myself, but I believe Reeves' talk made an immediate impact and at the end of the day, that is all you can really ask for from a professional development opportunity.

HEART Value Assemblies: We will be conducting our first Heart Value Assembly in the gym this Friday from 9 to 9:30 a.m. The Heart Value Assembly will serve several purposes: offer opportunities for us to celebrate/demonstrate Sprague's Heart Values in a weekly community gathering, allow additional leadership opportunities for our 5th grade students, as they will lead parts of each Heart Value Assembly, and provide a chance for our students to showcase excellence in some domain of their life. In addition, we will be awarding that day's Heart Value Awards to our Sprague students "live and in person". In each of my past two principalships, we have organized similar community meetings and they have quickly become cornerstone events. I look forward to our work in this area.

Future Event FYI: To quote Jill Heckman, Sprague 4th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." The Sprague staff is committed to excellence in order to educate your children in the best possible manner. Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the WMS gym. Stay tuned!

Kudos: Congrats to the 5th grade students and staff for all of their work on the Bridge Construction unit.

Finally, I would like to wish Happy Hanukkah to those members of the Sprague community celebrating over the next two weeks.

Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

---

November 24, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,
 
A few weeks back, I watched a Charlie Rose interview with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Eisner was on discussing/hawking his new book, Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed. (The book was co-authored by Aaron Cohen.) For the book, he had interviewed a number of partnerships (e.g., Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger - Berkshire Hathaway, Bill and Melinda Gates - The Gates Foundation, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard - Imagine Entertainment, Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti - Valentino, Joe Torre and Don Zimmer - New York Yankees) that he had deemed to be successful.

What really caught my attention was his reference to a longitudinal study overseen by Harvard researcher George Vaillant that tracked the physical and mental health of approximately 268 men who entered Harvard in the late 1930s. (For more information about the Harvard study, check out the Atlantic Monthly article "What Makes Us Happy?" by Joshua Wolf Shenk. It can be retrieved at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/).

Eisner cited one aspect of the study as being integral to his book about successful partnerships. Four generalized findings from the Harvard study that Eisner believes possibly contributed to the successful partnerships he interviewed included:
Both partners had sustained, positive relationships in their life.
They formed a lasting bond with one or more of their siblings.
They bestowed/worked on behalf of the next generation (e.g., their own children, mentored younger colleagues in their chosen field, et al.).
A trust/lack of envy toward the partner existed.
I have not actively read the Eisner book yet, but the interview and the aforementioned Harvard Study caught my attention and got my wheels spinning. Both the Atlantic Monthly article and the Eisner book might be worth checking out.

Test email FYI: Today, I will be sending a "test" email to the Sprague families from my school email. Typically, as you know, you receive communiqués from the Sprague PTO and/or me via the Sprague PTO email distribution list. On rare occasions, I might need to send a school update message directly to families based upon the school's database tool, Powerschool. Tomorrow's electronic missive will simply be a "Have a Good Thanksgiving!" type test email. No need to respond to it. If you need to update your email with us, please contact Lennie Becker, sublime Sprague secretary. She can be reached at lennie_becker@wellesley.k12.ma.us.

Wellesley Middle School's Turkey Promenade FYI: Today, Wellesley Middle School will conduct its annual Turkey Promenade. Each of the three middle school grades (Grades 6-8) will participate in this activity over the course of three hours. In a course established and overseen by the WMS Physical Education Department, the three grades of students will promenade around the WMS/Sprague neighborhood. Part of the return trip to WMS will find these students walking in and around the sidewalks of Sprague at approximately 8:35, 9:35 and 10:35. In a conversation that I had today with Donna Arcudi, WMS Physical Education Teacher, she reported that the donations made to the WMS Turkey Promenade directly support a women's shelter in Framingham. Donna mentioned that the WMS Turkey Promenade is the external support of this shelter. Many thanks to the WMS staff and students for their generosity and support of this worthy cause.

Future Event FYI: Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. To quote Moe Henzel, Sprague 4th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual." The Sprague staff is committed to working together to educate your children in the best possible manner. Stay tuned!

Reminders: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no school on Thursday, November 25 and Friday, November 26. Finally, there will be no school on Monday, November 29 as staff will be attending a Professional Development training.

Thanks: Huge thanks to the Sprague PTO for all of their help with last week's Blue Ribbon celebration on behalf of our students and staff. Special thanks to Leslie Tellalian for her help with the fabulous Blue Ribbon bookmarks (as well as organizing the staff luncheon) and Anne Marvan for all of her help getting the Blue Ribbon student activity organized. Finally, many thanks to the "creative" parent team behind the myriad Blue Ribbons hung artistically throughout the building. Put simply, they look really cool!

Finally, many thanks to Michelle Heath and Lori Goldenthal for leading us through Sprague Picture Retake Day.

Next Week's Principal Newsletter FYI: My weekly newsletter will not appear next Wednesday, but rather be embedded in the December HEARTBeat which will come out later that week.
We at Sprague would like to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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November 17, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,
 
"Si, se puede!"  Roughly translated it means, "Yes, it can be done".  This was Cesar Chavez's, Co-Founder of the National Farm Workers' Association which later became the United Farm Workers, famous charge to his fellow migrant workers as he led others in the battle for workers' rights from the 1950's until his death in the early 90's.  I write a weekly email to the staff on Sunday nights and oftentimes sign off my email with Chavez's words.
 
Many things/people/issues - real and/or perceived/minutiae/distractions can and do sometimes try to wear you down in this life.  One of the things I have learned about myself is that words matter, but actions matter more.  An example of this occurred this past Saturday morning when a group of incredible people just went at something with their actions and efforts.  There was little to no talking, some strategic background music and a whole lot of teamwork.  Huge thanks to all of these people, from young to old, for their time and efforts reorganizing the Ellen Cunniff Library.  It looks great.  Special thanks to Ellen Mandel, Sprague Librarian, and Jennett Murphy, Sprague Parent, for their leadership of this effort.  You all rock!!
 
I wanted to wish Leanne Hough, Sprague Dining Room Supervisor/Server, best of luck as she transitions to a new endeavor.  Her last day working at Sprague/WPS will be Thursday, November 18.  She has been with us for a few years and is a really, really nice person (living and raising her family in Waltham only made her more immense in my eyes as well).  I have worked with many a food service person over the past 10 years of principaling and some of them have been downright nasty.  Leanne is far from that and in fact she loves working with kids, which you would think should be a prerequisite for the job, but sadly in past places it appeared not to be.  So, on her last day, I will work with the kids to give her a standing "O" as they leave the dining room.  In her place, a gentleman named Yiming Zhang has been hired.  Mr. Zhang has been training for the past few days and will take over officially on Friday.  I wish Mr. Zhang the best as he transitions into this role.
 
Reminder:  I would like to remind all members of the Sprague community to remember to go as slow as possible when entering and exiting the Sprague parking lot via vehicle.  Believe you me, I have been reminded many times by members of my family as well as local law enforcement to drive a little slower in life.  So this is definitely a "pot calling the kettle black" type conversation.  Nonetheless, I try, try, try my best when picking up my own kids to adhere to the "rules/common sense notion" of taking it a little easier in and around school pick up/drop off areas.  In general, compared to my last school, which had a much smaller parking footprint and no ability to have carline lanes, I have been pleased with pick-up and drop-off.  Again, I just wanted to issue a global, gentle reminder to go a little slower when on campus.  Thanks for listening.
 
Blue Ribbon Recognition Event:  Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 17th, we are officially recognizing Sprague's selection as a Blue Ribbon School.  Many, many thanks to Leslie Tellalian, Anne Marvan, Jen Stabnick, Maura Wayman (who took a school wide picture a week back) and other parent volunteers who will help the cause tomorrow.  In the morning for the first half hour, students will use half of an 8 x 11 piece of paper and with the help of a sentence starter already on it (e.g., "I like Sprague because...) will draw/write to that prompt.  By 9 a.m., I will then read a few examples over the loud speaker.  In addition, a crack parent team will make them into chains so that they can be hung around the school in various spots as a symbol of our teamwork and HEART Values.  Additionally, students will receive a Blue Ribbon Bookmark supplied by the PTO.  Later, the staff will enjoy a "Blue Ribbon BBQ" luncheon provided by the Sprague PTO.  A ton of thanks to Leslie, Anne and the Sprague PTO for all of their help with these various components.   
 
Finally, below is an excerpt of an email that I wrote about a month ago to the Sprague Staff and later shared with the parent community via newsletter.  With the day nearly upon us, I wanted to share it one more time.
 
"I have wanted to gather some more information before formally offering my sincere congratulations to the entire staff of the Sprague School, both past and present, upon the announcement that it has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School recipient for the year 2010.
 
There are a total of 132,000 schools across the nation that are eligible for this award.  This year, over 413 schools were eligible for nomination.  A panel reviewed the applications and ultimately selected 254 public and 50 private schools for this wonderful distinction.  (Sprague was one of only five MA elementary schools to receive this distinction for 2010.)  To provide some context, schools are originally nominated by a state's department of education in one of two categories:  "high-performing achievement" and/or "improvement" on state exams.  Sprague was originally nominated for "high achievement".  An extensive application process then needed to be completed.  One could consider this a sort of internal study, in which copious student and learning data needed to be reviewed and provided as well as a thorough review of curriculum and instructional procedures was necessitated.
 
Tonight, I had the pleasure of talking with former Sprague Principal Donna Dankner and offered her a hearty congratulations.  We had a great conversation and plan to talk next week after I have an opportunity to review the packet that was recently sent to the school as well as talk/meet with Supt. Bella Wong.  In November, there is a two day reception in Washington D.C. honoring those schools that received the Blue Ribbon School Recognition.
 
Any great school, public or private, has at its core, a collaborative spirit that results in great things (academically and socially-emotionally) for all of its students.  This work at Sprague began back in 2002 with Ellen Cunniff at the helm and continued through Donna's tenure.  Underlying all of this is a staff, both past and present that is second to none.  In my short time here at Sprague, I have witnessed it daily both in the summer as you prepared for the opening and now as you work directly with our students.  I only hope to continue this tradition of excellence both now and in the future.
 
So, huge congratulations to all.  Great, great work on behalf of the Sprague kids."
 
Future Event FYI:  Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.  To quote Amy Glennon, Sprague Special Educator, quoting Vince Lombardi, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."  The Sprague staff is committed to chasing perfection and achieving excellence.  Stay tuned!
 
Thanks:  Finally, huge thanks to Margaret Flitsch, Sprague Physical Education teacher, for organizing our "Candy for the Troops" efforts.  Sprague kiddoes and families donated a ton of candy to this effort and their generosity was much appreciated.

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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November 10, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

My only living grandparent, Nana Rita, is 93 and lives in Falmouth. My family has visited her with increased frequency as her health is slowly beginning to fail after a majestic run. She and my Grampy (aka Charlie -- I get my middle name Charles from him) retired to Falmouth in the late 1970s. Grampy served in the U.S. Army during WWII. He did not consider his service extraordinary, other than the fact that it seems back then that the extraordinary was ordinary, in terms of the number of men and women willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause greater than themselves. Grampy served for two plus years in France and made it out alive while many of his buddies did not. He scraped together enough money (much of it won playing poker while on various leaves in Paris) to purchase a home in Waltham through the GI Bill and then worked at Goodrich Tire and later in the warehouse of Little, Brown Publishing Company for the rest of his working life.

My grandfather was just an ordinary man who never went to college, but produced two sons who went to college, who then in turn had kids who went on to college and so on. Essentially, he provided a good enough existence for his family -- like so many others of his generation -- to start the ball to rolling, both on a personal and national level, that has led our country, not withstanding its major faults at times, to be a pretty good place to live for the past sixty-five years. Thanks, Grampy. I think of you now more than ever as we approach Veteran's Day.

Finally, many thanks to the many men and women who are currently serving in the Armed Forces.

UNICEF: Huge congratulations to the Sprague community for raising $1160 this year on behalf of UNICEF. As a result of this incredible generosity, Sprague, for the first time, reached the Ambassador level of giving (Schools that raise $1000-$2999). That is absolutely wonderful and I am finding that to be quite typical of the Sprague community. Thanks a ton for considering this worthy cause. Many thanks to Leslie Tellalian for leading and organizing the Sprague efforts this year.

No Waste Lunch Days
The following is a reminder from Phyllis Theerman and Jen Looper, Sprague parents and SEED Co-chairs:  DON'T FORGET EVERY THURSDAY IS NO WASTE LUNCH DAY.
Here are five simple ways to pack a Waste-Free Lunch:
USE REUSABLE carrier (cloth bag, lunchbox)
USE REUSABLE food containers
USE THERMOS for drinks
USE CLOTH NAPKIN to wash and re-use
USE SILVERWARE to wash and re-use
Bring What You'll Eat; Eat What You Bring!
Finally, below is an EPA site with lots of data and ideas in case you need more info: http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/lunch.htm. Thanks for considering.

Mark your calendars: The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball Game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. To quote Heather Heon, Sprague 5th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile." The Sprague staff is committed to having all of our students grow into future leaders. Stay tuned!

There will be NO SCHOOL on the following days
Thursday, November 11 due to the observance of Veteran's Day
Thursday, November 25 and Friday, November 26 due to the Thanksgiving holiday
Monday, November 29 staff will be attending professional development training
Thanks
Many thanks to Ms. Woodward and Mr. Stuntz for participating on the Sprague team as part of the Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) Spelling Bee. As a team, we held on for about 8-10 words (e.g., zephyr, corroborate, archipelago, et al.). The word ginglymus (see definition below) is what took us down in our round. Many thanks to Kathleen and Laurance for their time, efforts and good humor!

A hinge joint (ginglymus) is a bone joint in which the articular surfaces are moulded to each other in such a manner as to permit motion only in one plane-backward and forward-the extent of motion at the same time being considerable.

Many thanks to Maura Wayman for help with the whole school picture last Friday. Thanks for getting us all in order!

Huge thanks to Catherine Mirick, Sue Maggioni and a whole host of parent volunteers for organizing last week's sublime Book Fair.

Finally, thanks to Elise Rodino for being so organized on the Creative Arts front. Much appreciated by the teachers, Lennie and me. Thanks, Elise!

Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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November 5, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

Twice a year the Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) elicits grant requests from Wellesley Public Schools (WPS) staff members. Through their largesse, the WEF provides vital services to the WPS each year through this grant process. In the past districts, I have always written a supportive email/letter to the Grants Committee and did so again recently. Below is said missive. Huge thanks to the WEF for all their support of WPS as well as Sprague.

I just wanted to put a quick plug in for the WEF Grants that are specific to Sprague as well as those that are more district based with Sprague representation. I can only say thanks for your support of the Sprague School in years past. To say it has been well received and impactful would be an understatement. I know there are many competing interests out there in terms of grants but wanted to briefly comment on those the Sprague staff have forwarded to you. All of these are like my children, I couldn't pick one over the other, but wanted to make a case for each. Again, thanks for your support of Sprague and the entire district.
Grant written by Ellen Mandel, Sprague Librarian, and her district-wide colleagues - They have written a superb grant focused on building the librarians' capacity to more effectively teach a plethora of research skills that are required by 21st century learning. The idea of pairing Wellesley Public School librarians with a trained mentor/practitioner is a sound one practiced by the other leading professions in the world (e.g., medicine, scientific research, law, et al.). I wholeheartedly support their grant and know it will positively impact student learning and their instruction.
Grant written by Jen Stabnick, Sprague Art Teacher, and her elementary Art Colleague - This grant launches the WPS Elementary Art Dept. into the 21st century. As noted in their application, the WPS elementary art teachers have judiciously sought out operating funds and WEF grants over the last 10-20 years. As they seek to upgrade their Art Appreciation units it is clear that the use of IPads will help this instructional and student learning process immensely. Technology never replaces the need for great teachers, but effective technology in the hands of great teachers, provides them a wonderful opportunity to supplement their instructional tool box. This grant request allows the Elementary Art staff to take the next step in terms of instructional technology within the Visual Arts domain.
Grant written by Margaret Flitsch, Sprague Physical Education teacher - This grant literally can and does impact every major curriculum area within the Sprague School.
Math - Determining the amount of area required to construct an Edible Garden and Outdoor Classroom, measuring the amount of rain we endure over the course of the year.
Science - Understanding the growing cycle, the impact of the climate on food sources, et al.
Social Studies - Researching and comparing/contrasting early civilizations' farming practices.
Language Arts - Making "text to life" connections with a plethora of children's books, including: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Elhert, The Gardener by Sarah Stewart, Sunflower House by Eve Bunting, City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan and And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson.
Art - Ms. Stabnick, Sprague Art teacher, plans to use the garden as an inspirational outdoor art classroom like the Impressionist Masters - Monet, Renoir, et al.
Enhance Community - All members of our community: students, staff and parents will be involved in the design, construction, planting, harvesting and replanting process.
This type of grant encompasses everything that is good about the partnership inherent in public education.
Grant written by Jayne Byrne, Jen Lundbohn and Alee Rogers, Grade 3 Sprague Teachers and Jackie Hoglund, Instructional Technology Specialist - As discussed in Bernie Trilling's and Charles Fadel's groundbreaking new book entitled 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, technology is not an end point, but rather a tool to be used by both student and staff to "improve learning and innovation skills, build digital literacy skills and life and career skills" (Trillin and Fadel, 2009).

The grant written by the aforementioned Sprague educators is inextricably linked to these lofty goals. The "stand and deliver" teacher model is outdated by at least two decades at this point and it is imperative that we are engaging our students by any means necessary. Getting technology into students' hands (in this case a classroom set of IPads) at the 1:1 level supports the notion that learning consists of active engagement. Students using Edmodo and/or Google docs can write, share and edit individually and/or collaboratively, thus enhancing the quality of the work and the celerity with which they do it.

Additionally, as Howard Gardner first outlined in Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, there are at least 8 different intelligences that a student can possess as their gateway intelligence to a specific content area. The use of technology is another wonderful tool that provides an additional access point for our students and staff. To be blunt, I want all of my teachers to have a full toolbox in which they can dip into and use to tackle the myriad educational challenges facing them and their students. This grant will foster this notion for years to come.
Again, these are Sprague's and the district's children. I love 'em all and simply wanted to add my backing to their candidacy. I wish you well as you debate the merits of these as well as the other grants from across the district.

Moving forward, I will let you know where we land with these grant requests. Again, many thanks to the Sprague staff for their time and efforts writing these grants.

Sprague Library Reorganization: Ellen Mandel, Library Specialist, is requesting volunteers for Saturday November 13 from 9 am - 12 pm to help move books around. We are shifting collections to provide better access for all the students, especially our youngest. The more volunteers, the sooner we can be done. Please contact Jennett Murphy jvmurphy@mac.com if you can spare an hour or more. Thanks for supporting our school.

Thanks: Many thanks to Leslie Tellalian for organizing the UNICEF collection. Huge thanks to Anne Marvan for her help organizing the Halloween Parade last Friday. Many thanks to Catherine Mirick, Sue Maggioni and a whole host of parent volunteers for organizing this week's sublime Book Fair as well as the Family Literacy Night Read Aloud. Special thanks to Jim Bergquist for his acting and singing chops as well as Haig Tellalian for sound system guidance. Great all around! Finally, thanks a ton to the 5th grade parents and students for organizing the bake sale on Voting Day. Well done!
Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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October 27, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

Well, the Yankees lost. I must admit that that fact does make me happy even at my age.

Over the last few months, I have met with several stakeholders to discuss community service efforts at the Sprague School. These have been great conversations that have already led to action and are now leading to even more efforts. Over the past few months these conversations have crystallized our thinking into three tiers of community service initiatives: school, local and global.

At the school level, I have met and discussed the notion of the community service with the School Based Management Team (SBMT). We decided that each grade level would be responsible for a community service school-based effort. This is something I have done at previous schools but never this widespread. To be frank, I am excited for this to begin in the weeks to come. The school-based community service efforts will include:
Kindergarten - Playground clean-up in and around their classrooms
1st grade - Support the efforts to take items to Lost and Found, return "found" items to students if name is in clothing, organize the Lost and Found area
2nd Grade - Clean-up of larger playground area/tracking of outdoor recess items that will be shared by the entire school
Grade 3 - Raising the American flag each morning
Grade 4 - Composting lunch room waste
Grade 5 - Continue to take the lead on all our paper and plastic recycling efforts.
Again, I am excited by these efforts and would like to thank SBMT, the Sprague student body, and the entire Sprague Staff for working on behalf of these efforts.

On the local front, we are seeking to renew our support of the Wellesley Food Pantry. As a result, we request that when you attend school-wide events over the course of the year (e.g., Book Fair Family Night, 5th Grade Staff vs. Student Basketball Game, the late winter/spring Sprague Open House, et al.), that you please bring in canned goods/dry goods in order to support the Wellesley Food Pantry. Leslie Del Col, Sprague Parent and Community Service PTO Officer, will be sending out more information about this in the days to come. I thank you in advance for your generosity shown to those who are needing/requiring support from the Wellesley Food Pantry.

Additionally, our 5th grade students have already exhibited leadership in terms of school and local community service efforts (e.g. Car Wash, soon to begin tutoring/mentoring for our younger Sprague students). In the future, there will be opportunities for 5th graders to volunteer to meet and share time with seniors at the Elizabeth Seaton Home, organize a Bake Sale for next week's election, and provide babysitting services for Sprague families during parent conferences. As some may know, over the past decade numerous high schools have implemented a community service graduation requirement. In a "gentle way" the 5th Grade Activities Parent Committee and I would like to establish the same ethos here at Sprague. In a perfect world, each 5th Grade student would participate in just one of these many community service efforts as a "ticket" to their end-of-the-year trip. Typical of this 5th grade class thus far, they are stepping up and leading the way and I am proud of them already!
 
Finally, on the global front, after meeting with Leslie Del Col, Theresa Levy, Todd Himstead and Libby Silvia, Sprague is going to continue to support rebuilding efforts in Haiti. One of Sprague's own, the Cator family, has been instrumental in their own personal way to help rebuild Haiti. Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Cator took down a "care package" from our 5th grade students. Mr. Cator reports that it was well received. This is just the beginning of our efforts. We will be sending more information about efforts in this area in the weeks to come.

This all dovetails nicely with the upcoming all-school Sprague Assembly (Friday, November 5) featuring our "Teamwork" Heart Value. The above information will be shared with our students and faculty. Also, our students and staff will be thanked for their ongoing efforts and urged to participate in any way possible moving forward.

So, we are not just acting locally and thinking globally. We are acting at school, locally and globally. The time for action is now. Thinking is great and never undervalued, but as I get older by the minute, I am most impressed by those who put aside words, and simply get things done in a constructive manner. Thanks for listening and many thanks to those that have jumped into these efforts with two hands and feet already. They are much appreciated.

UNICEF: Each year, millions of kids across this country go trick-or-treating. Some of those students also take along a UNICEF box to collect coins for those children who live in communities where basic needs (i.e., clean water, comfort from disease carrying mosquitoes, immunizations, ample food/sustenance) are sometimes in short supply. Again this year, your child will receive a UNICEF box that they could bring along when they trick-or-treat. Winchester, the previous community that I worked in, had a longstanding relationship with UNICEF. As a result, each of the five elementary schools often raised $1500-$3000 per school. On the UNICEF website, they list three levels of giving: Delegates - Schools that raise $500-$999; Ambassadors - Schools that raise $1000-$2999; Emissaries - Schools that raise $3000 or more. I would like to personally challenge Sprague to become an Ambassador school this year. The UNICEF boxes will come home with your child(ren) this week. If you participate, all UNICEF boxes should be returned to the Sprague Main Office on Monday, November 3rd. If you would like to write a check, it should be made out to "U.S. Fund for UNICEF". Thanks a ton for considering this worthy cause. Thanks a ton to Leslie Tellalian for organizing the Sprague efforts this year. For more information about UNICEF/Levels of funding, please go to http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/trick-or-treat-for-unicef-community/champions.html.

Book Fair/Family Literacy Night: The Sprague Book Fair is being conducted from Tuesday, November 2 through Thursday, November 4. As you may know, Sprague receives a certain percentage of the proceeds that then allows us to purchase new books for the Sprague library. As always, thanks for your generosity, especially during this continued turbulent economic time. In addition, you are always very kind to purchase additional books for your child's classroom and/or specialist teachers.

This year, I would gently ask that you consider purchasing a book or two for our Literacy Specialist and Reading Intervention Teachers as well as the Sprague library. The Sprague Reading Team literally can never have enough books to use for both instruction as well as "take home and return" purposes (Oftentimes, the Reading Intervention Teachers will have their students take home several "books in a bag" that can be re-read with their parents to practice their fluency.). Thanks so much for your support of the Sprague Book Fair.

Finally, Sprague plans to conduct a Family Literacy Night on Wednesday, November 3rd at 7 p.m. in and around the Atrium/Dining Room. This will be done in conjunction with the Sprague Book Fair. A once-in-a-lifetime Read-Aloud will be conducted by several staff members and a wonderful parent. It promises to be very funny. So, come laugh, buy some books and have some refreshments prepared by our wonderful 5th graders.

Parent Conferences: Hard to believe, but parent-teacher conferences are right around the corner. Teachers offer unique insight into how your child is progressing academically, socially and emotionally within the school setting. I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity and meet with your child's teacher. Parent Conferences will be conducted on Wednesday, October 27, Tuesday, November 2, Wednesday, November 3 and Wednesday, November 10. We welcome all to sign up for a conference. If you have not done so already, please call or email your child's teacher to set up a time.

Upcoming Event: The annual Sprague Halloween Parade is scheduled for Friday, October 29. It will start in the 8:45ish range after we get the kids into school for a few minutes. Many thanks to the Sprague PTO for sponsoring coffee that morning.

Future Event FYI: Mark your calendars. The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym. To quote Bevin Hale, Sprague 5th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." The Sprague staff is committed to working together on behalf of all student and staff endeavors. Stay tuned! 
 
Thanks: Huge thanks to Becca Cahaly, Janet Giesser and Lori Goldenthal for their leadership regarding last week's Teacher Luncheon. It was delicious!  Many thanks to all of the parent volunteers who cooked for the event. This included: Kristina Alessi, Julie Barker, Ingrid Bergquist, Liz Callanan, Elizabeth Carroll, Stephanie Croke, Leslie Del Col, Kristen DiChiaro, Danae Foley, Michele Frost, Wendy Garber, Demetria Gigliotti, Abby Glassenberg, Michelle Heath, Elizabeth Meister, Jennett Murphy, Jodie Poresky, Julie Railston, Andrea Scampini, Lisa Sewell, Jenny Schneider, Shannon Smith, Kara Sullivan, Sandra Thorbjornsen, Antonetta Todorov and Andrea Quinn. If I missed anyone, I owe you my sincere apologies.

Next Week's Principal Newsletter FYI: My weekly newsletter will not appear next Wednesday, but rather be embedded in the November HEARTBeat which will come out later that week.
Take care,

Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal
 

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October 20, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

The Pats pulled out a good victory last Sunday.  We could debate endlessly the merits of the Randy Moss trade, but there is no debating that Deion Branch brought his "A" game last Sunday.  It will be interesting to see where this season does/does not go in the months to come.
The Sprague Book Fair is being conducted from Tuesday, November 2 through Thursday, November 4.  As you may know, Sprague receives a certain percentage of the proceeds that then allows us to purchase new books for the Sprague library.  As always, thanks for your generosity, especially during this continued turbulent economic time.  Finally, you are always very kind to purchase additional books for your child's classroom and or specialist teachers.  This year, I would gently ask that you consider purchasing a book or two for the Sprague library.  The Sprague library literally can never have enough books to use for both instruction as well as for circulation.  Thus, if you are looking to purchase/donate an extra book, the Sprague Library is certainly a worthy recipient.  Thanks so much for your support of the Sprague Book Fair.
 
Parent Conferences:  Hard to believe, but parent-teacher conferences are right around the corner.  Teachers offer unique insight into how your child is progressing academically, socially and emotionally within the school setting.  I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity and meet with your child's teacher.  Parent Conferences will be conducted on Wednesday, October 27; Tuesday, November 2; Wednesday, November 3; and Wednesday, November 10.  We welcome all to sign up for a conference.  If you have not done so already, please call or email your child's teacher to set up a time.

Upcoming Event:  The annual Sprague Halloween Parade is scheduled for Friday, October 29.  It will start in the 8:40ish range after we get the kids into school for a few minutes.
 
Future Event FYI:  Mark your calendars.  To quote the Southwest Airlines ad campaign, "It's on!"  The first annual Sprague 5th Grade Students versus Faculty Basketball game is scheduled for Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley Middle School gym.  To quote Ellen Banthin, Sprague 5th Grade teacher, quoting Vince Lombardi, "The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall."  And yes, a halftime performance to top all halftime performances is in the making.  Stay tuned!
 
Thanks:  Many thanks to Jen Bowman and Lynn Sanville for their leadership regarding last Sunday's Fall Festival.  A great, great event that would not have happened without their guidance and oversight.  As we know, an event that large requires countless additional volunteers and I would like to thank all of you as well.  Also, huge thanks to Bram and Elizabeth Young for diligently setting up the Sprague merchandise tent at these keystone events.  Their efforts should not be forgotten at each of these events.  Finally, thanks to my fellow chili judges Lennie Becker, Sprague Secretary, and Brian Coakley, Sprague parent, for sacrificing their stomachs on behalf of the Sprague cause. 
 
Huge thanks to Sprague staff members Margaret Flitsch, Jen Stabnick, Ellen Mandel and the 3rd grade team for taking the time and effort to apply for Wellesley Education Foundation grants during the fall cycle.  Good luck to them as they are reviewed in the weeks to come.  These take considerable time and effort to complete and they directly benefit Sprague students.  Thanks a ton!
 
Finally, thanks to Lt. Delaney of the Wellesley Fire Department who met with our students last week as part of Fire Safety and Prevention Month.  Lt. Delaney's presentation was excellent and well received by our K-1 students and staff.

Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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October 13, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

I hope everyone enjoyed the Columbus Day weekend.  Lots of rain last week, but the weekend worked out well in terms of mostly sunny, temperate weather.  I ventured to my alma mater Bates College for the first time in over a decade.  Many new buildings have sprouted over the past decade so the campus was both familiar and new at the same time.  My beloved Bobcats were trounced by the Ephmen of Williams, which falls under the old adage "the more things change, the more things stay the same".  My kids were much more interested in visiting the Bates bookstore, L.L. Bean and Ben and Jerry's than revisiting dad's old fogey stories.  It is nice to be young and without a care in the world besides where my next round of ice cream is coming from.   
 
Also, celebrated my dad's 64th birthday last Thursday night.  As I have mentioned a few times in different settings, my dad was my inspiration for entering the profession of education.  As a senior in high school, I actually had my dad as a teacher.  He created and taught a senior year elective called Constitutional Law.  During that year, I witnessed, up close and personal, this master teacher at work.  During this time, the seedlings of what I consider to be "great, effective teaching" began to develop.  It consists of the following basic elements: 
A love of subject matter (e.g., My dad has spent hours researching obscure Constitutional law cases that would provide the pertinent precedents for his next class discussion.)
An ability to engage and foster student relationships built around high learning expectations (e.g., As a teacher and parent, my dad had high expectations, but that was coupled with a deep commitment of "we are in this classroom journey together".  It was not student versus the curriculum and teacher.  Rather, my dad was going to work with you to truly comprehend the material)
An ability to transfer learning to all students (e.g., My dad commonly practiced what is now known as differentiated instruction, offering multiple modes of instruction, so that all students could access the material.) 
Finally, he injected fun into the learning experience that students then translated into a love of learning.  (e.g., Each year during a U.S. History lesson, his class would stage a reenactment of Pickett's charge with his colleague Jack Cox's class in the Waltham High School parking lot.). 
Certainly, there are countless more attributes of good teaching.  Nonetheless, these are the lenses that I have developed over time and I owe a large debt of gratitude to my dad.  Happy 64th Dad!  
 
Sprague School Council FYI:  As some may know, per the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, each school was charged with creating a "school council".  A school council is comprised of parents, teachers, community members and the principal.  The school council serves as an advisory board to the principal and is charged with annually developing and updating a School Improvement Plan.  This year's Sprague School Council members include:  Lindsay Barrett, Kindergarten teacher, Christina Cooney, 1st grade teacher, Jill Heckman, 4th grade teacher, Jen Stabnick, Art teacher, Margaret Lyne, Sprague parent, Sue Maggioni, Sprague parent, Catherine Mirick, Sprague parent, and Brian Spencer, Wellesley Police Department - School Safety Officer.  We will meet each month and as we move forward we will certainly report out from time to time.  I thank all members for their past and present efforts on behalf of the Sprague School Council.
 
Reminders:  The Sprague PTO will host the Fall Festival this Sunday, October 17 from 3 to 5 p.m. in and around the Sprague campus.
 
Thanks:  Many thanks to Jill Heckman, Sprague 4th grade teacher, and Jackie Hoglund, Sprague Instructional Technology Specialist, for presenting SMART Board technology to the Sprague PTO.  Also, thanks a ton to Kathy Ashraf, Sprague parent, for her tireless efforts preparing for this Fall's Technology fundraising initiative.  
 
Many thanks to Lisa Moore, Colette Aufranc, Tina Vasconcelles, Laurie Kelley, and  Ann-Marie Hayden for coordinating a very successful opening Sprague Excellent Adventure Club activity.  Thanks for all of their time and efforts!
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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October 6, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

Throughout this first year as Principal of the Sprague School, there will be events listed on my calendar, but until said event actually occurs, all I have leading up to that point is my "mental model"/perception of that event.  So it was, as I headed into my first Sprague Readers' Breakfast last Friday.   Well, needless to say, any perceptions of what I thought about this event were completely exceeded by its greatness.  There was a palpable excitement in the building that morning due in no small part to the tireless efforts of Ellen Mandel, Sprague Librarian; Katharine Odell, Sprague Literacy Specialist; and Julia DePeyster and Charmaine Hartnett, Sprague parents extraordinaires.  The kids had a wonderful time as the dining room was transformed into a rain forest/jungle of sorts.  Recognitions were received all in the good name of reading as much as possible.  As principal of an elementary school, besides keeping students safe and sound, the number one priority, is to get all students to read to the best of their abilities by the time they leave the Sprague School.  Like any skill in life, you get better at reading, by reading.  Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers talks about the "10,000 hour rule."  In essence, he states that if you want to get good at any skill you must practice/perform it for at least 10,000 hours.  Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, legendary literacy gurus, state that all students entering kindergarten should have had at least 5,000 books read to them between birth and the age of five in order to be school ready.  I cannot stress enough the importance of reading to and with your child no matter what the age.  I know in a personal sense that reading at night with your child can sometimes fall to the bottom of the to-do list, but please try to keep it in the routine despite the hustle and bustle of after school activities, dinner preparedness, brushing of hair/teeth, et al.  Thanks for your efforts in this regard.
Playground Reminders:
 
Ms. Flitsch, Sprague Physical Education teacher, passed along some timely playground reminders that I wanted to share with you.  Thanks to Ms. Flitsch for her time and effort compiling these playground reminders. 
 
General Rules:
No running on or through the playground equipment.
No hanging upside down without using hands.
No climbing or sitting on top of the equipment.
Always use two hands whenever you can while climbing or hanging.
Only 1 person on any piece of equipment at a time (Ex. 1 person on a blue wheel at a time).
Students should not play tag while on the playground equipment itself.
Always land on 2 feet.
A piece of equipment is too big for you if you can't get yourself up on it to use it.
Slide:
Go down the slide feet first on your bottom (not on your belly).
No climbing up the slide.
Move away from the front/bottom of the slide as soon as you can.
Wait until the person in front of you is all the way down before going down the slide yourself.
Swings:
Sit down on the swings (not on your belly, no standing).
Do not jump off of a swing to get off (use your feet as brakes).
Do not twist the chains while sitting on the swing.
Do not walk or run behind or in front of moving swings.
Only 1 person on a swing at a time.
Field:
When playing soccer during school hours, no slide tackling is allowed.
When playing football during school hours, only "two hand" touch is allowed.
 No tackling or roughhousing is permitted.
Reminders:  There will be no school on Monday, October 11 due to the Columbus Day observance.
Thanks:  Huge thanks to Lisa and David Golod, Fran and Gillian Callaghan and Brian and Shanone Coakley, for hosting last Friday night's Grade 3-5 Parent Socials.  I heard much fun was had by all, but this could not have happened without their respective generosity of time and effort.
 
Many thanks to Amanda Curtis, Lorelei King, Sabine Guerrero, Todd Himstead and Walter Wickersham for their leadership and organization of the 5th grade Car Wash.  Special thanks to the sublime Grateful Dads as well as 5th grade student band Burnt Orange.  I was told they did a wonderful version of "Smoke on the Water".  From all reports, the 5th grade kiddoes had fun and worked hard.  Always a good combination.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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October 1, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

It was great to see and meet many of you at last week's Sprague Back to School Night. The support you offer your children and our staff by attending events like this make Sprague a better school. Thanks for your time and attention during a busy Fall season.

I was recently reviewing some notes from a professional development experience that I had in the past year.  On this particular day the keynote speaker was Dr. Ned Hallowell.  Dr. Hallowell is a child and adult psychiatrist and leading expertise on the diagnosing and treatment of children and adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD).  Hallowell blended an effective mix of humor and passion that reaffirmed for many why we chose to work in education.  He reminded us that developing a "connection" with our students is paramount.  As a parent, he reminded many of us that "the first rule of parenting is to enjoy your children".  He stated that we are living in times of "high anxiety" that have contributed to many parents to forget that basic need to connect with their child and not simply view them as a miniature adult.  In a reaction to this, Hallowell discussed a five step feedback loop that he has seen make a dramatic difference in the lives of children he has worked with.  This includes:
developing all manner of connections with your students/children
playing and engaging the imagination of our students/children
instilling a love of work in our students/children
building confidence by allowing them to make progress over time and finally,
recognizing achievement by students/children so they feel connected to their school/family.
Hallowell stressed that no matter what a child's family structure is (two parents intact, two parents - divorced, single parent household, no parents - caring extended family/or non family adult present), as long as a student feels connected and cared for by someone at home and/or at school, then success can still occur. Being new to Sprague, I will dedicate myself to make as many connections as possible this year. I look forward to this work. For more information regarding Dr. Hallowell's work, feel free to peruse www.drhallowell.com.

Congratulations and many thanks to Roberta Maguire for her years of service to Sprague and the Wellesley Public Schools. Tuesday, September 28 is Roberta's last day at Sprague. We thank Roberta immensely for her dedicated years of instruction and support of all students. Best of luck in "retirement" as Roberta plans to stay extremely active in the profession moving forward.

Many thanks to the Sprague community for enthusiastically supporting the Sprague Excellent Adventure After School Club. After piloting a first round in October, we will certainly seek to conduct a second round sometime later in the school year for those students who are on the wait list.

Kudos: Congratulations to Anne Marvan, Sprague Co-President, for writing and submitting a grant to the Shade Foundation. The Shade Foundation just recently awarded their grants and the Sprague playground area will receive some much needed shade at some point over the next year. This is wonderful news and it would not have been done without Anne's efforts. Thank you so much Anne!!

Thanks: Huge thanks to Matt and Dulcey Connon, Karen Haberly and Reed Smith, and Margaret and Emmett Lyne for hosting last Friday night's K-2 Parent Socials. Much fun was had by all, but this could not have happened without their respective generosity of time and effort.

Many thanks to Suzanne Fletcher, Lisa Moore, Ann Marie-Hayden, Sabine Guerrero and Allison Mills for their leadership and organization of the 5th Grade "Under the Stars" Movie Night. From all reports, the 5th grade kiddos had a great time. Thanks to the aforementioned for their support of our 5th grade students.

Finally, Happy Birthday to my oldest daughter Kate who turns 8 on Friday! Woof!!
Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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September 22, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

Below is an excerpt of an email that I recently wrote and shared with the Sprague teaching community. 
 
"I have wanted to gather some more information before formally offering my sincere congratulations to the entire staff of the Sprague School, both past and present, upon the announcement that it has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School recipient for the year 2010. 
 
There are a total of 132,000 schools across the nation that are eligible for this award.  This year, over 413 schools were eligible for nomination.  A panel reviewed the applications and ultimately selected 254 public and 50 private schools for this wonderful distinction.  (Sprague was one of only five MA elementary schools to receive this distinction for 2010.)  To provide some context, schools are originally nominated by a state's department of education in one of two categories:  "high-performing achievement" or "improvement" on state exams.  Sprague was originally nominated for "high achievement".  An extensive application process then needed to be completed.  One could consider this a sort of internal study, in which copious student and learning data needed to be reviewed and provided, as well as a thorough review of curriculum and instructional procedures was necessitated. 
 
Tonight, I had the pleasure of talking with former Sprague Principal Donna Dankner and offered her a hearty congratulations.  We had a great conversation and plan to talk next week after I have an opportunity to review the packet that was recently sent to the school as well as talk/meet with Supt. Bella Wong.  In November, there is a two day reception in Washington D.C. honoring those schools that received the Blue Ribbon School Recognition. 
 
Any great school, public or private, has at its core, a collaborative spirit that results in great things (academically and socially-emotionally) for all of its students.  This work at Sprague began back in 2002 with Ellen Cunniff at the helm and continued through Donna's tenure.  Underlying all of this is a staff, both past and present that is second to none.  In my short time here at Sprague, I have witnessed it daily both in the summer as you prepared for the opening and now as you work directly with our students.  I only hope to continue this tradition of excellence both now and in the future. 
 
So, huge congratulations to all.  Great, great work on behalf of the Sprague kids."
 
In the coming days/weeks, I will work collaboratively with the Sprague PTO and staff to celebrate and acknowledge this impressive achievement. 
 
Sprague Back to School Night:  As many may know, Sprague Back to School Night will be held the evening of Thursday, September 23rd  (Grades K-2- 6:30 - 7:15; Grades 3-5 - 7:15-8:00 p.m.).  The staff looks forward to meeting and discussing the journey we are all taking this year.  At the same time, the specialists (Ms. Stabnick, Ms. Flitsch, Mrs. Mandel and Mr. Hagar-McKee) will be on hand to discuss their respective domains.  In addition, the Student Services team will be rotating throughout the grade level classrooms as well as their respective teaching areas, so be sure to check in with them as necessary.  I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday, September 23rd. 
 
Sprague After School Program Offering:  This year we will be offering an after school opportunity at the Sprague School.  Below is the course we are offering this Fall.  Please read closely and adhere to the registration instructions.  Thanks so much to myriad parent volunteers for their support of this endeavor. 
 
Grades K-5 - Sprague Excellent Adventure Club
This club will feature activities that are both physically and intellectually challenging.  An emphasis will be placed on teamwork and social skill building.  Activities will include:  a scavenger hunt, geocaching/orienteering exercises, team building activities and outdoor games of olde (i.e., Kick the Can, et al.).  This after school offering is geared to be accessible to all. 
Class Dates:  4 Fridays - Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29.
Time:  3:05 to 4:30 PM
Class size:  Maximum of 30 K-5 students
Staff:  Dr. Goodwin and a minimum of five parent volunteers.
Location:  Sprague fields and Sprague classroom space as necessary
Fee:  There is no fee for this after school offering. 
Registration:  If you are interested in having your child(ren) participate in the K-5 Sprague Excellent Adventure Club, please let Lennie Becker, Sprague Secretary, know by Friday, October 1st.  If more than 30 students are interested, students will be placed on a wait list and notified of their status prior to the first session. 
 
Sprague 2011 MCAS Testing Dates:  Below are the dates Sprague will be administering the myriad 2011 MCAS tests for students in grades 3-5.  I would urge you to mark these dates down and keep these in mind as you schedule appointments, et al., for your child(ren).  If you have a child(ren) in grades 3, 4 or 5, it is mandatory that they take MCAS. In addition, it is quite a challenge when a student misses an MCAS test and we have to schedule a make-up session.  As principal, I would like to thank you personally for your attention to this matter since MCAS administration dominates much of my spring. 
 
MCAS Testing Schedule 2011
March/April 2011 - Language Arts (Grades 3, 4 and 5)
Grade 3 LA - Wednesday, March 23; Thursday, March 24.
Grade 4 Written Composition. - Tuesday, March 22.*
Grade 4 LA - Monday, March 28; Tuesday, March 29.
Grade 5 LA - Thursday, March 31; Friday, April 1. 
*If students are absent for the Grade 4 Written Composition, the state mandated make-up day would be Thursday, March 31.
May 2011 - Math (Grades 3, 4, and 5) and Science (Grade 5 only) Testing
Grade 3 Math - Tuesday, May 10; Wednesday, May 11.
Grade 4 Math - Monday, May 16; Tuesday, May 17.
Grade 5 Math - Thursday, May 12; Friday, May 13. 
Grade 5 Science - Thursday, May 19; Friday, May 20.

Environmental Science Volunteers Needed:  Environmental Science Volunteers are needed for Fall/Spring Science Curriculum walks.  Parents, guardians, caretakers and grandparents are all welcome.  Sign-up sheets will be available in the classrooms on Back to School Night.  Here is a brief description of the program.  K-3 parents are needed for fall walks.  In addition, the fourth grade conducts an amazing geology walk in the spring and certainly could use some volunteers as well.  There is a totally new curriculum developed by the Audubon Society based on science investigation methods focused on topics including:  habitats, birds, insects and geology.  An incomparable introduction session delivered by Lisa Moore, Sprague parent and a former science teacher and educator, will be provided in the coming weeks.  Videos of the training exist if you need a refresher.  Come help guide the children in survey-style nature discovery.  Ultimately, your job would be to assist children in asking powerful science questions.  No previous knowledge of nature or environment is necessary.  This is a favorite program throughout the K-5 system and the only program where parents are directly involved in curriculum delivery.
 
Sprague School History FYI:  As part of the New Teacher Orientation, Royall Switzler, Kiwanis Club member, shared the history of all 9 Wellesley Schools.  Being a history major, I was intrigued to hear the individual histories of each school.  Below is the passage he shared at the New Teacher Orientation regarding the Sprague School.  Enjoy! 
 
"The Sprague School has had a complex history of use and now, more than 80 years after it was built, has finally returned to its initial intended use, as a neighborhood school. 
 
In September 1924 an elementary school designed by local residents Paul W. Norton and Ralph H. Hannaford was dedicated to honor Isaac Sprague "in appreciation of his public spirit and contributions to the welfare of the town". 
 
Sprague was a visionary town benefactor.  He gave land which was used for the Wellesley Hills Library, the Friends Aid Society, and the American Legion.  In addition, he donated the fieldstone which created distinctive landmarks that Wellesley cherished today including:  Sprague School, the Hills Library, the Weston Road fire station and the Clock Tower.  He even led the committee that created The Townsman. 
 
Only 13 years after Sprague School was opened, it closed.  Its pupils were sent to Hardy, and in 1940 the school department's administrative offices were moved in.  In 1946 it was reopened again as a school, and the administrators were shipped to the basement of the high school.  Twenty-nine years later it was closed again as a school, and turned over to the Recreation Department, which used it for nearly 25 years. 
 
After a $12 million dollar renovation to house 18 classrooms, Sprague reopened as a school in 2002."
 
Gentle Reminders:  I am very happy that students have the opportunity to bike and or scooter to school.  This was not the case in the last school that I worked at as the town deemed that there was a paucity of "safe routes" to school.  I would like to remind all bikers and scooters to wear a helmet when coming to and from school.  Finally, once you arrive at school, please walk your bike and scooter on school grounds.  I get very nervous about an accident occurring with a person or vehicle so please pay close attention to this directive when biking and or scootering to and from school.  Thank you!
 
Thanks:  Huge thanks to Michelle Heath and Lori Goldenthal for their leadership and stamina over the course of a well-run School Picture Day.  Thanks also to their parent volunteer support team for all of their efforts as well. 
 
Many thanks to Yolanda Tong and the communications support team for all of their efforts but specifically for their help getting those families hosting the upcoming Parent Socials the necessary information (i.e., names, emails, et al) in a timely manner.  A huge undertaking that was done seamlessly to these eyes. 

Next Week's Principal Newsletter FYI:  My weekly newsletter will not appear next Wednesday, but rather be embedded in the October HEARTBeat which will come out later that week. 
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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September 15, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

The Sprague 5th grade students had a fantastic time attending last week's "5th Grade Kick-Off/Retreat".  Our afternoon spent together served as a great team building experience filled with mental and physical challenges posed by numerous games/activities.  Most importantly, it was wonderful to see both staff and students openly cheering for one another for all sorts of minor and major individual and team accomplishments.  Quite simply, it was a great way to kick start the year for our fifth grade leaders as it already provided many heartwarming highlights.  Special thanks to Theresa Levy and Todd Himstead for organizing last week's 5th Grade Kickoff.  Also, many thanks to all the parent drivers and facilitators.  Finally, thanks to the 5th grade team (i.e., Mrs. Banthin, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Heon, Mr. Morrison, Ms. Stabnick, Mrs. Glennon and Ms. Gillis) for their time, efforts and support. 
 
I wanted to offer personal thanks to Leslie Tellalian and Anne Marvan, Sprague PTO Co-Presidents, as well as the entire Sprague community for their kindness and generosity shown toward my family at last Friday's Ice Cream Social.  My daughters, Kate and Celia, wore their new Sprague long sleeve T-shirts with pride all weekend long (No joke!). Also, I love the WPS tie that I was presented.  I certainly need sartorial support in many ways and this smart, new tie will help immensely.
 
Sprague Back to School Night:  As many may know,Sprague Back to School Night will be held the evening of Thursday, September 23rd  (Grades K-2- 6:30 - 7:15; Grades 3-5 - 7:15-8:00 p.m.).  The staff looks forward to meeting and discussing the journey we are all taking this year.  The specialists (Ms. Stabnick, Ms. Flitsch, Mrs. Mandel and Mr. Hagar-Mckee) will be on hand to discuss their respective domains.  I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday, September 23rd. 
 
Sprague 2011 MCAS Testing Dates:  Below are the dates Sprague will be administering the myriad 2011 MCAS tests for students in grades 3-5.  I would urge you to mark these dates down and keep these in mind as you schedule appointments, et al., for your child(ren).  If you have a child(ren) in grades 3, 4 or 5, it is mandatory that they take MCAS. In addition, it is quite a challenge when a student misses an MCAS test and we have to schedule a make-up session. As principal, I would like to thank you personally for your attention to this matter since MCAS administration dominates much of my spring.  
MCAS Testing Schedule 2011
March/April 2011 - Language Arts (Grades 3, 4 and 5)
Grade 3 LA - Wednesday, March 23; Thursday, March 24.
Grade 4 Written Composition. - Tuesday, March 22.*
Grade 4 LA - Monday, March 28; Tuesday, March 29.
Grade 5 LA - Thursday, March 31; Friday, April 1. 
*If students are absent for the Grade 4 Written Composition, the state mandated make-up day would be Thursday, March 31.
May 2011 - Math (Grades 3, 4, and 5) and Science (Grade 5 only) Testing
Grade 3 Math - Tuesday, May 10; Wednesday, May 11.
Grade 4 Math - Monday, May 16; Tuesday, May 17.
Grade 5 Math - Thursday, May 12; Friday, May 13. 
Grade 5 Science - Thursday, May 19; Friday, May 20.
 
Thanks:  Gracious thanks to Suzanne Fletcher and the many "host" families for coordinating last week's Newcomer Picnic.  Great night for both new and veteran Sprague families.  Huge thanks to Lynn Sanville and Jen Bowman for their leadership and efforts overseeing the Ice Cream Social.  Also, thanks to the plethora of "scoopers" that made it such a great "Welcome Back to Sprague" event. 
 
For those families observing Yom Kippur later this week, I wish you well.
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

 Walk to School Dates 2010 - 2011

September 15   Wednesday
October 6          Wednesday    International Walk to School Day
November 2      Tuesday
December 3      Friday
January 7          Friday
February 3        Tuesday
March 1            Tuesday
April 1               Friday
May 4               Wednesday
June 2              Thursday

"Walk to  School" days will happen every month as a way to promote physical activity among our students and families.  Kids can walk, bike, or scooter.  It is lots of fun if groups of neighbors walk together! Families that live too far to walk may park in the Roche Bros parking lot and walk from there or from the lot at the top of Calvin Rd.  All children who walk to school will receive a small "footie" as a prize.  Any students who walk at least 8 of the 10 times during the year will receive a large "footie" in June.  We had great participation last year -- several times almost 3/4 of the student body walked!  Let's see if we can beat that this year.  Mark your calendar for the year!   - Margaret Flitsch

 From the Superintendent

Letter from Superintendent Bella Wong - September 2010 (pdf format)

View the Wellesley Public Schools System Goals 2010-2011 on the WPS site www.wellesley.k12.ma.us

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September 8, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

I hope you all have enjoyed this beautiful Labor Day weekend.  Thankfully Earl did not amount to much and thus property (and the economy) were spared a direct blow.  From this vantage point, it appeared to be a strong opening week for the Sprague School.  Thanks so much to all staff and parents for their support of our Sprague students.  It is very much appreciated by all parties. 
 
On Friday, we had our first school wide assembly of the year.  We discussed Sprague's HEART values.  In particular, we talked about the "T" HEART Value which stands for teamwork.  Borrowing a three-legged stool from Mrs. Henzel, 4th Grade Teacher at Sprague, and with major assistance from Elissa Gillis, student teacher for Ms. Stabnick, Sprague's Art Teacher, we used it as a symbol for our efforts here this year at Sprague. In short, the stool is made up of three legs:  The Sprague Students, The Sprague Staff, and The Sprague Parent Community.  All three of these legs need to be strong and supportive to one another, thus enabling the stool itself (The Sprague School) to be strong for all.  The kids I think (I hope) got the concept.  Feel free to ask them about and reinforce it with them.  Finally, the other major piece of the assembly centered around the notion that every staff member, no matter what their role is, is to be listened to and afforded respect.  To cement this idea, each staff member stated their name, their role within the school and a favorite book they read this summer and or in the past. Thanks to the staff for taking the time to do this as well as huge thanks to the Sprague Assembly Committee - Margaret Flitsch, Ellen Mandel, Brian Hagar-McKee and Jen Stabnick. Their time and efforts spent in pre-planning as well as breaking down cannot go unstated. 
 
Finally, several Sprague staff members returned from maternity leaves over the past year/years.  Alyson Lajeunesse, Speech and Language Pathologist, and Jackie Hoglund, Instructional Technology Specialist, have returned to Sprague and have hit the ground running in their respective roles.  Good luck to them as they juggle their very important roles both at Sprague and on the homefront. 
 
Sprague 2011 MCAS Testing Dates:  Below are the dates Sprague will be administering the myriad 2011 MCAS tests for students in grades 3-5.  I would urge you to mark these dates down and keep these in mind as you schedule appointments, et al., for your child(ren).  If you have a child(ren) in grades 3, 4 or 5, it is mandatory that they take MCAS. In addition, it is quite a challenge when a student misses an MCAS test and we have to schedule a make-up session. As principal, I would like to thank you personally for your attention to this matter since MCAS administration dominates much of my spring. 
 
MCAS Testing Schedule 2011
 
March/April 2011 - Language Arts (Grades 3, 4 and 5) Testing
 Grade 3 LA - Wednesday, March 23; Thursday, March 24.
 Grade 4 Written Composition. - Tuesday, March 22.*
 Grade 4 LA - Monday, March 28; Tuesday, March 29.
 Grade 5 LA - Thursday, March 31; Friday, April 1. 
  * If students are absent for the Grade 4 Written Composition, the state mandated make-up day would be Thursday, March 31.
 
May 2011 - Math (Grades 3, 4, and 5) and Science (Grade 5 only) Testing
 Grade 3 Math - Tuesday, May 10; Wednesday, May 11.
 Grade 4 Math - Monday, May 16; Tuesday, May 17.
 Grade 5 Math - Thursday, May 12; Friday, May 13. 
 Grade 5 Science - Thursday, May 19; Friday, May 20.
 
Upcoming Sprague Events
 
The first Sprague PTO meeting - Tuesday, September 14th at 8:45 am in the Sprague Library.
 
Back to School Night will be held the evening of Thursday, September 23rd - Grades K - 2 from 6:30 - 7:15 pm; Grades 3 - 5 from 7:15 - 8:00 pm.
 
Thanks:  Huge thanks to the many Sprague community members who are assisting Lennie in the office with the mountain of back-to-school forms.  This is hugely helpful to both Lennie and the school as a whole.  Thanks a ton! 
 
For those families observing Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan later this week, I wish you well.  Finally, for any families observing Rosh Hashanah - "Happy New Year". 
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal

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September 1, 2010

Dear Sprague Community,

I hope you all have enjoyed these last days (hours!!) leading up to the start of school.  The staff has been busy preparing for the 2010-2011 academic year and the arrival of your children.  I have seen many of the staff over the past few weeks as they prep their rooms and begin to ready their instruction and curriculum. The building is in great shape. Special thanks to our sublime custodial staff - Scott Grady, Rob Carter, Jack Glorioso and summer helper Wesley Leon.  They have been working extremely hard to have the building ready for both staff and students. Additionally, many thanks to Lennie Becker, Sprague secretary, and Sharon Kahn, Sprague Nurse, for all of their help with items both small and large in preparation for the new year.
 
Last night I had the privilege of attending the Wellesley METCO meeting held at the Jubilee Christian Center in Mattapan.  While there, I got to meet several of our students and families from Boston. This was great and many thanks to Kalise Jacobs, Wellesley METCO Coordinator, and Bill Craft, METCO Elementary Coordinator, for coordinating.  As an aside, I went across the street to Simco's for a delicious hot dog, side of fries and chocolate frappe.  Good stuff.
 
Also, since the summer mailing, we have hired Susan O'Connor as a teaching assistant. 
 
Finally, on the eve of opening day, I wish all a wonderful school year and let me know if there is anything I can do to make the Sprague experience better.  I will certainly try my best to do so. 
 
Opening Schedule FYI:
 
Wednesday, September 1 is a half day.  Dismissal is at noon.

Thursday, September 3 and Friday, September 4 are regular school days with dismissal at 3:05 p.m.

Monday, September 6 - No school due to the observance of Labor Day.

Thursday, September 9 - No school due to the observance of Rosh Hashanah.
 
Upcoming Sprague Events: 

The Sprague PTO hosts an opening coffee/breakfast at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 1. 
 
The first Sprague PTO meeting - Friday, September 14th at 9 a.m. in the Sprague Library. 
 
Back to School Night will be held the evening of Thursday, September 23rd - Grades K-2 from 6:30-7:15; Grades 3-5 - 7:15-8 p.m.
 
Thanks: Finally, huge thanks to countless people for getting this machine known as the Sprague School cranked for the 10-11 school year. In no particular order, many thanks to Leslie Tellalian and Anne Marvan for their leadership in countless ways including this week's Kindergarten/New Family Popsicle Party and subsequent school tour.  Thanks to them also for speaking at the Sprague Faculty meeting on Tuesday morning.  The staff greatly appreciates all the support that the PTO provides us.  Also, a sumptuous thank you to Rebecca Cahaly, Lori Goldenthal, and Janet Giesser for the coordination of today's PTO luncheon.  Special thanks to Colette Aufranc for taking the time to review the PTO budget for the upcoming year.  Kudos to Yolanda Tong and Jennett Murphy for disseminating emails galore keeping us updated about all things Sprague.  I had an opportunity to meet with Karen Haberly and Reed Smith about the 5th grade yearbook/website and thanks to them for their efforts in these respective areas.  Speaking of 5th grade, a ton of thanks to Theresa Levy and Todd Himstead for leading the charge in this domain.  Jen Bowman and Lynn Sanville are planning fun social outings for the Sprague Community and we thank them for this in advance. Suzanne Fletcher (and others) are acting as Host Families for families-new-to-Sprague and we thank them for their magnanimous acts.  Michelle Heath, once again, is serving as the liaison with our students and families from Boston and we thank her for all of her time and efforts in this regard.  Finally, huge thanks to Colleen Conroy and Laurie Diamond (and countless others) who led the Spruce Up Sprague push. The grounds look great and that wouldn't have happened without their leadership and your collective efforts.  Know that this work does not go underappreciated.  Thanks to Kathy Ashraf for all things Tech/Library.  I am looking forward to our work this year in both disciplines.  Finally, if I inadvertently missed anyone in any category, I offer my sincere apologies and thank them for their support, time and efforts this summer and throughout the year. 
 
Take care,
 
Stephen Goodwin
Sprague Principal