It has been a really busy couple of weeks. Our staff and students have been working night and day


Wednesday, 12/7,  marked the second of four meets that our EWG math team competed in. The following hard working students voluntarily put themselves through some grueling math problems for FUN (if you can imagine).  Mrs. Borges, the math team adviser is so proud of all the students. As she states, "whether they have scored or not is not important to us-----what is important is their perseverance and faithfulness to the team."  OUTSTANDING job by all of the following:

Julia Borges

Zachary Morelli (8pts)

Daniel Butler(3pts)

Ryan Booth

Lacey Griffin (10pts)

William Hood

Brooke Hopper (3pts)

Jacob Miner

Avery Daigle

Catherine Hood (1pt)

Riordan Mattio

Daniella Mendoza-Cabrera (3pts)

Scott Mitchell (5pts)

Brianna Richards (3pts)

Ian Gray (5pts)

Alex Jedson

Ethan Jedson (1pt)

Chase Studley

We are very lucky to have such a knowledgeable Media Specialist in Mrs. Winner. She presented to a group of adults/colleagues on her state admired program at a her  Planning Family Creative Learning event.  What is FCL? - a workshop series that engages children and their parents to learn together — as designers and inventors — through the use of creative technologies.

EWG hosted two great holiday concerts. One featured Mr. Charest and our band and the other featured Mr. Runner leading our chorus. Both were outstanding and got all of us in the holiday spirit.

Mr. Mastroianni was busy teaching a finance class the in's and out's of how banks make their decisions about lending. Students learned how to establish credit and how important a good credit rating is to their borrowing in the future. 

Some of our superstar support personnel taking our students out to practice their recently mastered skills. 

Please take a moment to visit the Superintendent's blog as well. He has some very interesting information on attendance --http://erinakes.blogspot.com/

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a very restful break.

This holiday season, the best gift you can give your child is a good education. And the best place to get that education is in school. Every day. On time.
• Every year, absences spike in the weeks before and after winter break. It’s time to break that cycle • We know it’s tempting to extend your vacation by a few days on either side of the holiday.
• We recognize that holidays are an important time for reconnecting with families far away and exposing your children to your home and language, whether you grew up in another part of the United States or a different country. The costs of plane tickets often influence when you want to travel. But keep in mind the costs to your children’s education if they miss too much school.
• Just a few missed days here and there, even if they’re excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time and put your child behind in school. This is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school.
• So make sure your child is in school every day, right up until vacation starts. Our teachers will be teaching, and our students will be learning. But it’s harder to teach and it’s harder to learn when too many students are absent.
• If missing school is unavoidable, talk to your children’s teachers in advance to create a plan for making up missed work. But remember, a homework packet cannot make up for the interaction and learning that goes on in the classroom.
• So give your child the gift of attendance and help build a habit of attendance.


Our Superintendent has included some very important information regarding attendance in his blog this week. Please take a moment to check it out.
http://erinakes.blogspot.com/

As we wind down to a time for everyone to spend with family and loved ones, let me share some highlights of some of our upcoming events and recent happenings.

Our Drama group will be 
performing the production
"Clues" on December 1 - 4
in the auditorium. Clues: An Interactive Murder Mystery
Join a zany cast of colorful character for a dinner party where the main course is motive for murder. Our audience will   help solve who done it in this hilarious Clue inspired show. For tickets and more info please visit www.ewgdrama.com It is sure to be a sell out. Check it out!!

Spirit week was fun for the students and a great deal of work for our Student Council and Maddie Quigley, SC President. They did a great job planning a fun filled Pep Rally. Below are just a few pictures of the fun that took place. 

The homecoming dance was also a great success with over 300 students attending. Our homecoming court is pictured below. 

EWG is so proud to have a new chapter of Best Buddies. Best Buddies International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The executive board is pictured below. They hosted a great meet and greet party for the new buddies right in our school cafeteria. 

We are always sad to see our fall sports end. For our seniors it is always and emotional time. Above are the four seniors of the Girl's Volleyball Team. We congratulate all the seniors from our fall sports!!

Winter sports here we come!!

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States. EWG recently participated  as you can see by the Red Ribbon Wall outside our cafeteria. 

New Look to report cards:

The first quarter has closed and the teachers are in the process of posting their grades and providing feedback for the report cards. As a way to provide as much feedback on your students actual progress in their course, the reporting will now look a little different. Please let me try to explain. (This is also more detailed in our district's Grading for Learning Policy #7800)

First, they will receive a traditional grade which is based on performance according to the standards for that class. This is just the typical numerical grade.

Second, they will receive a performance score. These scores are to give you feedback on their level of performance at the time of the rating and not compared to end of course benchmarks.

Third, they may receive content comments. These are provided to help students and parents to understand the student's strengths and weaknesses. They are not required and some teachers may feel you have seen their comments throughout the marking period.

Fourth, they may receive Lerner Quality comments. These give feedback on the qualities that are not really heavily valued in the traditional grade, but are important traits for success as students.

All in all, the new grading and report card is new for our teachers too.  As always, they go out of their way to try to make new things work if it means trying to help you see a clear picture of your students progress. But, it is still a new process for them too. We will reflect upon the report cards at the end of the year to see if any improvements should be made.

Save the Date:

Attention: EWG Parents and Community - The Partnership With Parents Program is hosting the nationally acclaimed documentary entitled, “SCREENAGERS”.  This is a true story about a family who learned about the complex world of social media with their 13 year old daughter and how best to keep her safe and well balanced.  An open discussion will follow the presentation.  Check it out on www.screenagersmovie.com  Please join us on Tue., Dec. 6, 2016 from 6pm - 8pm in the EWG Junior/Senior Library.  Any questions, contact Catherine Murray, Middle School Counselor at 397-6898 x 219 or catherine_murray@ewg.k12.ri.us

District news from our Superintendent:

In addition to the move to full-day kindergarten, our district has experienced a dramatic increase in enrollment at the elementary level over the past few years. As a result, we have been monitoring enrollment trends and our school's space capacity. We are currently in the process of reviewing our needs and exploring potential changes to the grade structure at each of our schools, including the possible (probable) move of grade two to Metcalf Elementary School and the possible move of grade 6 to the Junior High School. Including grade six as part of our middle school (JHS) also has significant programmatic benefits. These changes may be implemented as early as next school year. Stay tuned for further details on our progress, and watch for surveys as we work to gather information from parents to assist us with our planning.

I hope you have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Congratulations to the new NAHS board! President- Julia Borges, Vice president- Brooke Chapman, Secretary- Samantha Lopes, Fundraising- Sydney Anderson, Publicity- Sarah Bresky, web masters- Michaela Bellisle and Deven Pande. 

We are very happy to bring forth our new mission statement and learning expectations. As part of our work to continuously review what we do at EWG High, our staff worked on updating our mission and learning expectations to better reflect what we want for our students when they leave EWG.  They have been accepted by our School Improvement Team and the School Committee recently and we are very happy to share them with you. Beginning next year, and with the class of 2021, a 10 hour community service component will be part of our graduation requirements. We will explain more about the 10 hour requirement going forward. 

Some of our students took a  trip to the RI Convention Center this past Friday (10/14)  to see Body Worlds Vital.  Art and Science came together to see this very interesting exhibition. According to the teacher, the students were incredible- prepared, polite, and enthusiastic. Their maturity and curiosity set them apart from the other two school groups there. They mingled with other viewers, and even answered questions posed by other schools' kids.

Parent conferences are this Thursday 10/20 from 6-8 and Friday 10/21 from 7:30 -11:15.  Please reach out to the teachers if you have not received an appointment. 

**there will be a few groups holding fundraisers in the foyer during conferences. As always, they appreciate your support.

Spirit week is next week!! The order of days is as follows:

Monday is "Merica" day - students wear their red, white and blue

Tuesday is character/hat day

Wednesday is PJ day

Thursday is twin day

Friday is spirit day

*please note - face/body paint is not allowed. Colored face tape works great!! Tuesday is the only day hats are allowed. On all days, faces need to be seen and recognizable. There are no masks allowed.

Registration for Spring 2017 Courses in the Advanced Coursework Network is now open. I am excited to announce they have moved to an online system at ride.gosignmeup.com. Students who visit www.ride.ri.gov/advancedcoursework will be directed to this site when they choose the Spring 2017 registration tab. Both sites include a short video for students to review to get acquainted with the registration process should they need help.  

Enjoy the beautiful week!

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year!

We are back! It has been a very busy and successful opening of school. We welcomed the class of 2020 this year and they are a wonderful group of young men and women. I have been so impressed with how thoughtful, respectful and kind they are. They are a great addition to an already solid group of students.

The sports programs are well underway with students all over the campus after school representing EWG in Tennis, Volleyball, Football, Cross Country and Soccer. We also have a great cheer leading group that is supporting our teams as well. Beyond athletics, we have a host of activities going on too. For example, drama, chess club, music and art programs to name a few.

We are so excited to be forming a chapter of best buddies at EWG this year under the guidance of Mrs. Regan and Mrs. Blake. Best Buddies is an " International  nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)". I am sure you will be hearing more great things about best buddies in the future. 



Below is a picture of Mrs. Wixted's classroom this week in the midst of a fierce math scrabble showdown. Mrs. Wixted is always looking for ways to engage her students and help them review challenging content.

Remember to keep up on upcoming events on twitter as well at @ewghigh. 

Parent conferences are October 20 - 21. More will come in the future. 

September 22 is an early release day. We will be releasing students at 11:37. They will have lunch before release. 

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Happy Teacher Appreciation week and Happy Mother's day. 

Last Friday, April 29, the EWG History Department, took 53 freshmen on a trip to NYC. They toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art, traveled by subway, winded their way through Battery Park and lower Manhattan, visited the September 11th Museum, and ended with dinner and shopping in Times Square. The trip was conceived, designed, and executed by EWG's fine new history teacher

Mary Hartley. Special thanks to her and the History Department for this great opportunity for our students. 

The following is a copy of a press release regarding one of our science classes, Wildlife Management, taught by Mrs. Ward and the exciting opportunities for our students to learn about conservation in a fun and relevant way:

April 22, 2016

For Immediate Release:

Tom Daniels and Everett Thornton of TEAM7x Flyfishing have partnered with the RI DEM’s Aquatic Resources Education, volunteer program, to teach fly fishing basics at Exeter-West Greenwich High School.  Under the direction of teacher Marcy Ward, students in the Wildlife Management course elective will learn the basics of fly tying, fly casting and tips and techniques for fly fishing for trout. Five classes are planned, with actual on-water trout fly fishing as the final session.

“We’re excited to be working with Kim Sullivan and Scott Travers of RI DEM’s aquatic education unit to promote fly fishing among a great group of environmentally conscious students at EWG.  For us, this is a continuation of our no-charge volunteer efforts with private campgrounds and other groups in RI and eastern CT to attract newcomers to fly fishing,” said Tom Daniels of TEAM7x.

“The students are quick learners and did a great job as first-time fly tiers in our initial session, commented Everett Thornton.  “We’ll be working on some advanced fly patterns as we continue, with the class divided between fly casting outside and work on the fly bench.

In our on water session, students will use their own tied flies.”

In addition, TEAM7x covers equipment basics, trout stream anatomy and tips and techniques for new fly fishers.  “Our goal is develop an initial interest in fly fishing which will hopefully lead to a lifelong pursuit,” said Tom.  We practise catch and release, and by nature fly fishers are a strong environmentally conscious group.”

TEAM7x  principals are members of Trout Unlimited, the International Federation of Fly Fishers, the Connecticut Fly Fisherman’s Association, and registered fishing guides in Connecticut.

The Chorus, under the direction of Mr. Runner, also had a very successful trip to Philadelphia this past weekend, 4/29. They were able to share their talents by performing at the Betsy Ross House. They were able to sing the National Anthem as well as other patriotic selections. It was an exciting opportunity for the students.

It is that time of year again!  The EWG greenhouse class will be having its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 7 and May 14 from 8Am to 12 PM. 

As always, the money made goes back into running the class and the greenhouse for next year. 

4" pots are $2.75

4 packs $3.75

Perennials $8.50 each

Hanging baskets $15.00

Jumbo pots  (geraniums, large herbs) $3.75

Annual planters $25.00

Clematis perennials are 15.00 each

Congratulations to the 2016 nominees of the Tri-M Music Honor Society! They will be inducted into our EWG chapter of the society next Tuesday, May 10 @6:30pm in the auditorium.  You may bring any number of guests who wish to attend, and following the induction ceremony, there will be dessert in the library.  This ceremony is held in conjunction with the NAHS (National Art Honor Society) induction, which we host concurrently.  

2016 Tri-M Cohort for Chorus: Lea Fabre HannahTrautz Mia Speciale Kate Reed

2016 Tri-M Cohort:

Sydney Anderson

Austin Caine

Jack Coen

Hillary Gallagher

Benjamin Gurnon

Adam Jencks

Zachary Jesuino

Zachary Lambert

Emilie Maggs

Owen McGale

Joshua Murgo

Francesca Pande

Thomas Ricci

Brianna Richards

Joshua Swanson

Special dates to remember:

May 4, Unified Theater presents: May the Forth Be with You.The play is in the auditorium beginning at 6:30 PM

Honor's Night - May 26
Junior/Senor Prom - May 27
Senior Project Day  - May 27



GRADUATION - June 11 at 1:00 PM at the Ryan Center on the URI Campus


Special thanks to our teachers on this week of celebrating their work with EWG students.


Have a wonderful Mother's Day. 

I  get to see so many great things going on in our classrooms on a daily basis. Recently, I got to catch Mr. Walsh working with his English class on an activity using Google drawing to help them understand Macbeth. 

 Saturday, April 2, 2016, was the annual Model Legislature session at the State House.  The students wrote bills and then presented them to the other students from around the state who make up the Model House of Representatives and Model Senate and try to get them passed.   

Students in the group photo are from left to right: Paul DiPadua, Mitchell Ambrosino, Marcus Simonini, Noah Jussila, Jonny Glendinning, Nathan Santerre, and Sam Van Gyzen.  All the boys are seniors at EWG.  

Some of them had leadership positions for the state.  Marcus Simonini was the Liberal Co-Whip, Noah Jussila was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Nathan Santerre was Chair of the Labor Committee.  

Noah Jussila was awarded the J. Joseph Garrahy Book Award at the event.  He was also the author of one of the 8 bills which passed both the House and the Senate this session.  ("An Act to Establish Comprehensive Sexual Education")

The EWG Sr. and Jr. High Drama students will be presenting The Little Mermaid April 7, 8 and 9 at 7:00 PM and Sunday April 10 at 2:00PM in the auditorium. The students have been working so hard to bring this production to life. Please consider coming out to support the students. It is sure to be a great show. 

Let's hope spring actually starts feeling like spring soon. April vacation is the 18th - 22nd. I hope every has a restful and enjoyable week. 

*** Don't forget to vote for the school department budget at the all day referendum on Monday, 4-11.

Quarter 3 will be ending on April 5, 2016. It is so hard to believe we will be going into the last quarter of our school year. For planning purposes, Graduation is June 11, 2016 at the Ryan Center on the URI campus at 1:00 PM. There are no tickets and plenty of room. Please mark your calendars to come out and celebrate with the class of 2016.


We are so proud of the WWEWG Hockey Team for making it to the championship tournament for Division III Hockey. They made us so proud this year with their amazing play.

Our outdoor adventure club recently went up north skiing. As you can see by their smiles, they had a great time.

Our EWG Unified Basketball Team won their home opener on Wednesday, 3/23. It was an exciting game filled with great plays and great sportsmanship. Their next home game will be next Wednesday, 3/30 at 3:30 PM. Come out and support the team. Great job by coaches Campbell and Boucher!!

Earlier this year Mr. Walsh, an English teacher at the high school applied for and received a grant from the Lindsay Burke Foundation on running a Clothesline Project in the building.  The purpose of the Clothesline Project is to promote awareness of dating violence among teenagers.  The students in his English 10 class are working on a service learning project on promoting school-wide awareness on this issue.  This project also supports the work our faculty is doing on building a culture of respect in the building.

Some of the related project work is described below:

Respect t-shirts hung on clotheslines in foyer  - 

Pledge banner--  students will pledge to show respect to others, themselves, etc during lunch by signing a large red banner.  The banner will eventually be displayed somewhere in the school.

Sidewalk chalk-- Students will use sidewalk chalk to display facts, quotes, messages, (or even hashtags) that promote respect.

 List of Teen Dating Violence Facts--  Advisers will distribute a packet of dating violence facts to their students.    

 Paper/online newsletters-- One group will be creating an online newsletter that will be mailed to faculty and students.  Another group will be creating a (different) paper newsletter that will be available to the school community.

 Respect Easels in the Foyer--A group of students will be setting up easels in the main foyer.  On the easels will be a posters with an area for each grade level.  Students will write down their name and one way they can promote a culture of kindness in the school.

 AM/PM Announcements--One group will share an interesting fact/story during AM or PM announcements.  

What a great project!! I have been able to observe many of the students working on their specific pieces and it is so impressive. 

Hats off to Mr. Walsh!!

While visiting classrooms this week I came across Mrs. Brennan's Creative Writing class. Seeing and hearing the work the students were doing was so impressive and speaks volumes to the quality education our students receive at EWG. I can certainly understand why our students historically do so well on state assessments. They are well prepared and supported for assessments and their post secondary work as a result of the preparation at EWG. 

This Saturday evening (3/5/16) plan on heading over to the West Warwick Ice Rink at 7:30 PM for Senior Night for our hockey team. They will be heading into the playoffs soon. Stay tuned to @ewghigh on twitter for more information. 

Thursday evening is Parent Conferences. Have your children make appointments if you would like to see their teachers. 

We have a great fundraiser going on at the High School. We have partnered with Airbac to help our students with their HEAVY load of books and supplies and have it benefit everyone. If you will be purchasing a new backpack for your students, consider going to www.airbac.com and check out the amazing backpacks we have had tested. They are amazing and really do work. If you use the code ewg, you will save 10% and they make a donation to us. We would love the support and you will love the results our tester told us are "simply amazing."

We will be showing the following brief video in our advisories in the near future. It is very powerful and sends a very clear message regarding the dangers of drugs that can be purchased on the internet. Please feel free to check it out. It is a great video to discuss with your teen. http://www.nbcnews.com/video/deadly-synthetic-drugs-that-can-kill-with-one-dose-627569219850

FYI - http://s3.amazonaws.com/EWGRSDweb/contentweb/CommunityAnnouncements/EWGLL%20Spring%202016%20Registration%20V2...pdf

Think Spring!!

Since my last post, there have been some exciting news around the high school and it wasn't the snow days. We knew it had to arrive eventually, but extending the year is never fun. Let's hope we have seen the last of the snow.

The Rhode Island Alliance for Arts Education recognized the K-12 Visual Arts Department, led by Mrs. Elizabeth Lind, with the 2016 Gift of Art distinction. As a result, EWG will  have 9 works of art become part of the permanent "Gift of Art" collection at the University of Rhode Island Providence Campus. The recognition ceremony will take place May 19, 2016 at 7PM at the providence campus located at 80 Washington Street.  What a great honor!!

Samantha Lopes won the Outstanding Musician Award at the recent Berklee High School Jazz competition in Boston! Marcus Simonini accepted the 5 year award for EWG. 

Our National Honor Society hosted another very successful blood drive to help those in need. This is just one of the volunteer activities the students do throughout the year to help others. I am sure their next project will be equally successful. Stay tuned!!

Enjoy the winter break!!

 

Happy New Year






Once again our Fine Arts Dept. has great news to share. We had students recognized for their work at the State Scholastic Art Competition. Lea Fabre received a Gold Key (Fashion/Lion Mask) , Lara Sernberger a Silver Key (Printmaking) and Sarah Bresky a Silver Key (Drawing/self portrait).  

•  Our student council ran a very successful food drive in December that helped to re-stock our local food bank. Much thanks to the group.

• The district has recently updated the parent resource page to add information about e-cigarettes.  This is a great parent resource and with the addition of more information on vaping and e-cigarettes, it is worth looking at. https://sites.google.com/a/ewg.k12.ri.us/health-wellness-corner/jr-high-art-1/smoking-tobacco-e-cigarettes

Our winter sports teams are in full swing. The athletes in all sports are so much fun to watch. Their record and next home game is as follows:
Boy's Basketball is 6 - 3 with their next home game this Friday, 1/29 at 7PM.
Girl's Basketball is 2 -10 with their next home game on 2/4 at 7 PM.
Wrestling is 3 - 5 with their next meet on 1/28 at 6:30 PM.
Hockey is 2 - 5 with their next home game 2/5 at the West Warwick Arena at 9 PM.
Gymnastics is 3-2 with their next home meet on 1/31 at Aim High Gym Academy at 7 PM.


Our Police Academy students under the direction of Sgt. Petrarca, SRO are hosting a "Parents Night Out" fundraiser that will be the talk of the town. They will babysit your children while you enjoy a night out for Valentines day. See the attached notice. They are filling up their reservation slots, so give Sgt. Petrarca a call at 397-6893 ext 248 to have your children join the fun. There are a limited number of openings available. It will be a win-win for all. You have a nice night out, the children have a great time at the high school and the Academy raises much needed funds.

                                                       

Congratulations to the students and staff of Exeter-West Greenwich High School for being among the top 3 schools on the Rhode Island leaderboard of this academic year’s Vocabulary Bowl!

Leading Rhode Island in word mastery is no easy feat. It means our students have mastered more words by playing Vocabulary.com (6,510, and counting!) since October 1st than most schools in Rhode Island. It is a testament to the emphasis that has been placed on the importance of academic vocabulary that has been impressive, and -- as you know -- will pay dividends in enriching your students’ reading comprehension and overall literacy. Hats off to Mr. Hamlin for leading the charge!!

Enjoy the nice warm winter weather!