We hope everyone had a relaxing February Break. School is back in session this week and the New York Times bestselling author, Kelly Yang, is visiting 6th grade on Tuesday to discuss her soon-to-be-released book, “Finally Heard”. It tells the story of Lina, who gets a phone for the first time. 

200 autographed copies of Kelly Yang's book will be distributed throughout the 6th grade classrooms and the ELA Department to make it accessible to students. It’s described as a “heart pounding novel about social media and the impact on kids”. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of the WMS PTO which brings author visits like these to fruition.

All the best,
Your 2023-2024 PTO Presidents
Katie Sullivan & Annie Oh

Links for information on dates and events that are further out: 

LINK to Wellesley Middle School Events Calendar

LINK to Wellesley Public School Events Calendar  

The rescheduled Performing Arts Department "Step Up Concert" will feature our Wellesley High School Choral Ensembles in conjunction with our 8th Grade Chorus. This will take place at the WHS Auditorium on Tuesday, February 27th at 7pm. No ticket needed. All are welcome.
(Rehearsal will take place on Monday from 2:30-4:30pm)

Dr. Michael Fowlin will speak to the student body during an important assembly on March 5th during the school day. The topic is on diversity, equity and inclusion within our WMS school community. This presentation is funded by our annual PTO budget and coordinated by Mark Ito and Patty Chong. To learn more about keynote speaker Mykee Fowlin, click here. 

We are looking for volunteers to help with the following activities:

• Community Service Day (Volunteers)
• Boston Scavenger Hunt 
• 8th Grade Dance (Set-up, Decorations & Food)
• 8th Grade Luncheon/Ice Cream Social (Chaperones; Set-up)
• Moving up ceremony (Sign, Decor, Teacher Flowers)

We will be having a meeting to begin the planning on Tuesday, March 5 @ 7:30 p.m. on zoom (zoom link will be shared at a later date).

Stay tuned for more information specific to 8th grade events by email this week!

Jarrett is the author and illustrator of the popular “Lunch Lady” graphic novel series and “Hey, Kiddo”, among others. He will be visiting with our 7th grade students during the school day on Friday, March 8th. Please thank ELA Department Head, Ehrin Johnson, and parent coordinator, Tanya Auger, for bringing Mr. Krosoczka to WMS this year with our PTO Creative Arts budget. If you have ideas for an 8th grade author visit, please email us at wmsptoinfo@gmail.com

Save the date of Wednesday, March 13th from 2:30-3:30pm for our next big WMS event for the entire student body. All students are welcome to come to the cafeteria after school for French-themed food and games coordinated by our French Teacher, Rebecca Blouwolff, the World Languages Department, and our fabulous group of parent volunteers led by Event Chair, Catherine Cerio.

With Spring just around the corner, Mini Marathon planning has begun. To commemorate this event, we ask students for t-shirt design ideas. Grade 6 & 7 students typically go with a marathon theme, and grade 8 students usually create a WMS theme, since it will be worn for the marathon as well as other grade 8 activities. Entries should be an original student design on an 8 1⁄2 x 11 inch sheet of paper. The deadline for submissions to the Main Office is Friday, March 8th. If you have any questions, please stop by the office.

THANK YOU to all who joined us on Wednesday, February 14 for the 14th Annual WMS LUNAR NEW YEAR Celebration!

Many thanks to the Lunar New Year Celebration Committee ~ Warisa Angsupanich, Vanessa Bhang, Kara Reinhardt Block, Becca Cahaly, Ceida Chan, Jim Chen, Lara Cohen, Michelle Fang, Jennifer Mong Lee, Douglas Ling, Sharon Nguyen, Regina Ong, and Maggie Tushman ~ for their leadership and support.    

Thank you also to our amazing team of Volunteers ~ Qi An, Tanya Auger, Kristen Toffer Bonnette, Patricia Bruno, Tian Cao, Julie Chan, Hannah Chen, Jie Sha and Fei Chen, Basilis Cheng, Johnny Chou, Chengzhuo Gao, Jie Gao, Yuanyuan Guo, Gitrada Harmon, Tomoe Harrison, Huan Huang, Melissa Johannes, Andrew Kuan, Linshi Li, Shengli Li, Connie Lo, Katherine MacRostie, Sara Recio Mazorra, Adria Michelman, Annie Oh, Tracy Schubert and Jay Smith, Liz Sower, Jessica Staunton, Katie Sullivan, Connie Su, Julianne Tan, Chen Wei, Crystal Wen, David Wong, Jennifer Wound, Yichao Wu, Cao Lan and Zhipeng Yan, Xiliang Yin and Hailei Zhang ~ for donating and/or volunteering for this special event enjoyed by so many!  

Special thanks to all the WMS and WHS Chinese Language students who helped, WHS Key Club Volunteers and to those who performed! Our amazing performers listed here ~ many thanks to all these students ~ 

Many thanks also to Dr. Mark Ito, Ms. Cathi Gordon, Mr. Kevin Hoffman, Ms. Patty Chong, Mr. Tim Eagan, Ms. Jennifer Hannon, Ms. Kate Taylor, Mr. Brian Allieri, Ms. Bernadette Dore and Ms. Adria Michelman ~ our amazing WMS leadership and Staff.  

And, thank you to Katie Sullivan, Annie Oh and the WMS PTO for their ongoing support of this Lunar New Year Celebration.     

With appreciation on behalf of Min Zhou, Mandarin Language Teacher ~ Kara Reinhardt Block, Becca Cahaly, Jim Chen and Jennifer Mong Lee, with our entire parent LNY Celebration Committee.  

And ~ we ALL extend our heartfelt appreciation to Min Zhou for all that she does for her students and the WMS community! We are grateful!

Thank you to all who participated before the break. Oath Pizza will be sending a check for 20% of the proceeds to the WMS PTO and we are so grateful for all of your pizza orders!

We are looking for a volunteer during 6th grade lunch (starting at 11:20am) to stand by the composting station and help kids dispose of their trash properly. We are finding that having a parent stand by the bins increases compliance. That's really all there is to it! 

Our diligent composting club students help out if something lands in the wrong bin by using some super cool grabbers, and the PTO just provided a fresh set. Help us stay green at WMS and check out the sign up here!

If you can stay for 7th grade lunch that's awesome! No worries if not. Sign in at the front office and Mr. Rabinowitz will meet you to show you around. Please check with Patty Chong at the front desk to make sure you have a CORI form on file. 

We know the decision to give your child a cell phone is a big one, at any age. There is a national “Wait Until 8th” campaign which can be found on our new PTO website if you are interested in learning more about it.

We would like to thank WMS mother, Dr. Allie Baker, Child, Adolescent and Perinatal Psychiatrist, for spearheading this initiative.

Discussions are underway to start forming our PTO list of helpers for the 2024/2025 school year. All options are open as we like to have more than one person in each role to help share the workload. 

If you are curious about what’s involved for positions such as president, vice president, communications, social media, treasury, secretary, library, webmaster, and event chairs, we would love to hear from you! 

With so many caregivers at WMS involved already (61 in fact), the time commitment might be less than you would expect. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Katie and Annie at wmsptoinfo@gmail.com and let us know how much time you have to volunteer and where your interests lie. (Many positions are only a couple of hours a month, some larger roles are a few hours a week.) 

Click here to donate to WMS PTO

50 Kingsbury Street
Wellesley, MA 02482