Worcester Public Schools - From Here, Anywhere... Together

🌟 Hispanic Heritage Month Assembly at Forest Grove Middle School 🌟 The Third Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Assembly at Forest Grove Middle School was a great success with the entire school community coming together to celebrate Hispanic culture. The event featured a keynote speech from Quinsigamond Community College President Dr. Luis Pedraj who spoke about the power of education, taking pride in one's Hispanic heritage and the importance of believing in yourself. There was also tons of student talent on display! The school's orchestra band performed a rendition of "La Bamba". Students also recited poems titled "Somos Herencia" and "Hispanic Heritage Month", written by foreign language teacher Mrs. Rivas. Worcester's Poet Laureate Serenity Jackson aka Lil' Rennie made a guest appearance and got the crowd moving. Jackson returned to Forest Grove, where she was once a student herself, to perform a couple original songs. 🎶🔥 Take a look at some images from a fantastic assembly! 📸

✨🔬STEM Week at Jacob Hiatt Magnet School 🔬✨ Jacob Hiatt students and staff had an amazing time diving into hands-on learning and problem-solving activities during Massachusetts STEM Week! Here's a peek at what each grade worked on: PreK-K-1 & SAIL: Dove into hands-on pumpkin explorations and engaging pumpkin-themed challenges 🎃 Grade 2: Engaged in bread-making inspired by "The Little Red Hen" working in groups to make bread from scratch, grind wheat seeds, examine wheat stalks and even make butter 🥖🧈 Grade 3: Applied their knowledge of force and motion to design ramps to control speed 🚀 Grade 4: Integrated their CKLA unit on "Empires in the Middle Ages" to construct model castles and catapults in teams 🏰 Grade 5: Tackled a water filter design challenge, enhancing their understanding of the water cycle and pollution 🌊 Grade 6: Participated in the Wade Institute’s STEM Design Challenge, Extreme Zoo Makeover, where they redesigned zoo habitats, engineered enrichment items, and created interactive signage to enrich animal exhibits 🦁 Huge shout-out to our Jacob Hiatt scholars for their critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork!💡🙌

🎭✨ Support Burncoat High School Senior Jayden Bordes! ✨🎭 Jayden is competing in "Next On Stage," Broadway's biggest national competition for high school and college students! The winner has a chance to earn a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy College of Performing Arts! 🎤 Watch Jayden's incredible vocal performance of "This is the Moment" at https://buff.ly/48DhMB9 and show your support by voting for him now!

📚✨ Attendance Matters! 🏫 November has 16 school days — let’s make each one count! 🙌 Consistent attendance helps students stay on track, succeed academically, and build great habits. 📝💪 Let’s show up, learn, and thrive together! 🎓🌟

✨ Staff Development Day Highlights! ✨ Today, hundreds of dedicated educators from Worcester Public Schools came together for a day of professional development. Through interactive workshops and teamwork, they focused on enhancing their skills to better support our WPS scholars. Pictured here are some of the Highlights: Special Education Session: Collaboratively developed IEPs with guidance from Special Education staff and Evaluation Team Chairs. Nutrition Team Trainings: The day started with Project Bread chef Sherri presenting a shawarma seasoning blend recipe and a shawarma rice bowl concept. The Burncoat quadrant held a managers meeting, while team members participated in ServSafe classes, CPR/Choke training, and a Managers 101 session for staff with less than 90 days on the job. 👏 A heartfelt thank you to all staff for your dedication to excellence and student achievement!

No School on Tuesday, November 5 Teachers have a professional development on Tuesday, November 5 🗓️ so there will be no school for students! 🏫

Forest Grove Middle School and Worcester East Middle School Face Off in Flag Football Championship 🏈 Forest Grove Middle School and Worcester East Middle School met on the flag football field for a great matchup in the WPS middle school flag football championship. It was a back-and-forth contest, but Forest Grove ultimately came out on top in a 15-13 final score with a last minute defensive play being the difference. Beyond the result, it was great to see our future high school student-athletes showcasing strong sportsmanship and competitive spirit. Both teams gave it there all on the field! Congrats to the teams on an incredible flag football season! Check out a few moments from the championship game 📸

🎃 Trunk or Treat Recap from Worcester Public Schools! 🎃 This past week, schools across Worcester hosted Trunk or Treat events filled with festive costumes, creative trunk displays, and a great sense of community. With the help of our families, staff, and community partners, each event brought plenty of Halloween fun for all! Pictured in this post are festivities from Rice Square School, West Tatnuck School, Union Hill School, and Columbus Park Preparatory Academy! Thank you to everyone who joined in to make these events a success! Check out some of the best highlights and moments from around our schools. 👻🍬

🕒 Fall Back! Set Your Clocks Back an Hour! 🍂 Just a friendly reminder that Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 3, 2024. Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed! Enjoy the extra hour of sleep! 😴💤

🎃 Lincoln Street School Trunk or Treat! 🎃 Students and staff at Lincoln Street School had a blast at our recent Trunk or Treat celebration! 🎉👻 The atmosphere was filled with Halloween spirit, showcasing an array of fun costumes and joyful excitement. A huge thank you to our dedicated staff and the Worcester Police Department 🚓🎉 for organizing the Trunk or Treat in the back of the school! Parents cheered from the front as students proudly marched in their festive outfits. 🎒🧛‍♂️🧙‍♀️ We appreciate everyone who contributed to making this event a memorable success! 🌟🍬

🎃 Costume Parade at Burncoat Street Preparatory School 🎃 Students and staff at Burncoat Street Preparatory School capped off an eventful Halloween with a costume parade around school grounds for families and caregivers! There were all kinds of fun costumes on display including princesses, superheroes, athletes, police officers and so much more. It was a great time seeing everyone dressed up and in good spirits for Halloween! Before the costume parade, students participated in Pumpkin Palooza where they used pumpkins for learning activities. Students weighed pumpkins, tested buoyancy of different sizes and shapes of pumpkins, examined the growing patterns of pumpkins and used adjectives to describe characteristics of pumpkins. Take a look at a few images from a fun-filled Halloween with Burncoat Prep 📸

⭐ Nicholas Lewis, 12th Grade Scholar at Burncoat High School ⭐ “Nick is a valued leader in the Worcester UNITES program. Over the last two years, he has grown as a leader, supporting younger students in their musical and personal growth and leading his peers with integrity and a positive attitude. Nick's patience and encouragement is evident when he is tutoring a student on the saxophone or conducting the ensemble. He is usually the first one to recognize if a student needs a little extra help or inspiration. Nick is creative and fun too! He performs in the BHS Spirit Team, the BHS Band and Symphony Orchestra." ⭐ Do you know a WooStar? We are looking for students and staff who have gone above and beyond to feature on our social media channels. 👉Nominate a student at https://buff.ly/4g5M2aW 👉Nominate a staff member at https://buff.ly/3Mlru0N

Worcester Technical High School Holds Annual ScareCrow Contest!🐦‍⬛ Worcester Tech recently unveiled scarecrows for their upcoming annual scarecrow competition, bringing career technical education programs together, showcasing collaborative efforts that lead to enjoyable creations. Carpentry, early childhood, electrical, and plumbing programs get into the spooky spirit with these amazing scarecrows, pictured in the post!

🎃Francis J. McGrath Elementary School Trunk or Treat! 🎃 Students and staff of Francis J. McGrath Elementary School recently enjoyed a fun trunk or treat experience! There were so many fun costumes and halloween-spirit on display. Shoutout to the amazing parent volunteers, staff, and community partners—WPD, WFD, Environmental Police, WPI Police, WooSox, and even the New England Patriots Cheerleaders –for making this event a huge success!

🧥 Operation Warm Coat Visits West Tatnuck School 🧥 Students at the West Tatnuck School recently had the chance to pick out brand new coats just in time for winter thanks to Operation Warm Coat. Students could select from a variety of sizes and colors with volunteers helping make sure the new coat fits just right. Coats were available for all grades regardless of home income. After making a selection, students visited the "check-out" area where they had their name written inside the coat so they don't lose it. Students signed a thank you card for volunteers as they returned to class. The visit to West Tatnuck is just the latest stop in WPS for Operation Warm Coat having also provided new coats to students at Columbus Park Preparatory Academy and Union Hill School. Operation Warm Coat's mission is to provide warmth, confidence and hope through need-based programs. Coats are manufactured by Operation Warm Coat and distributed to children through TJX. Thank you to Operation Warm Coat and all of the volunteers for making this event possible! Check out some of the smiles and moments from a great day 📸

👟 Inter-High Cross Country Championships at Green Hill Park 👟 It was great to see many of our high schools and student-athletes come together for the Inter-High Cross Country Championships at Green Hill Park! It was a tough 3.1 mile course filled with steep hills, but competitors from across WPS gave it their all and displayed tremendous sportsmanship, cheering on runners from all teams. For the girls race, South High finished in first place to take the city championship while Burncoat came in second. Doherty and Worcester Tech tied for third in the team standings. For the girls individual winners, Chase Sullivan of Burncoat led the group in first place while Regan Maxwell of South High and Avery Corriveqau of Worcester Technical came in second and third place respectively. In the boys race, Burncoat High came in first place for the team competition while South, Worcester Tech and Doherty rounded out the teams. For boys individual winners, Alfonso Huaman of Worcester Tech led the race in first place followed by Griffon Spofford of Burncoat and Isaiah Jacques of South in second and third place respectively. Check out a few images from a great day of cross country! 📸

🚀 STEM Day Highlights at City View Discovery! 🌟 City View Discovery School recently welcomed families for a hands-on STEM Day. Together, they explored the STEAM Lab, checked out the Robotics program, and got creative with science and engineering projects. From building pumpkin walls to designing speaker boxes, every grade brought science to life! Project Highlights: Pre-K: Built a structure to keep Harry the Dirty Dog clean 🐾 Kindergarten: Engineered walls for five pumpkins 🎃 1st Grade: Explored pumpkin products with all five senses 🍂 2nd Grade: Designed & tested hoop gliders 🚀 3rd Grade: Crafted “creepy” carrot gardens after reading "Creepy Carrots" 🥕 4th Grade: Created musical instruments using recycled materials 🎶 5th Grade: Became "food scientists" with Amplify Science 🥄 6th Grade: Constructed speaker boxes to amplify sound 🔊 Bonus Activity: "Photosynthesis in a Bag" with our STEP classes 🌱 Thank you to our dedicated staff and all the families who made this day of learning and discovery an incredible success! Take a look at the photos to catch the excitement in action! 📸✨

Celebrating Excellence at Doherty High Memorial School! 🎉✨ We are thrilled to recognize the following students who have achieved perfect MCAS scores, showcasing their dedication and perseverance as leaders in their academic journeys: • Isabelle Adamsson (English, Math) 📚✏️ • Abdullah Alaloosi (English) 📖 • John Hickey (English) 📖 • Kleri Morcka (English, Math) 📚✏️ • Raphael Otero (English) 📖 • Morgan Sibray (English) 📖 • Nathan Lopez (Math) ➕ • Jorgea Nico (Math) ➕ • Naomi Thompson (Biology) 🔬🌱 These students exemplify academic excellence and have set the bar high with their outstanding performance! We also want to give a special shoutout to two exceptional students from Mass Academy who achieved perfect scores on their Math/English exams—what an impressive accomplishment! 🎓👏 A heartfelt thank you to our devoted teachers, staff, and families for their essential role in our students’ achievements. 🙏💙

🌊💡Hands-On Learning at Broad Meadow Brook!💡🌊 As part of last week’s STEAM Week, Worcester East Middle School Grade 7 scholars in Ms. Alexis Thompson's "Real Math, Real Science" LEAP class took learning outside! 🦆🌿 During their field trip to Broad Meadow Brook, students used rubber duckies to measure brook flow rates and modeled how different surfaces impact watersheds. It’s amazing to see math and science come to life right in nature! 🧑‍🔬🌍✨ Take a look at their adventure! 📸

🎃✨ Pumpkin Drop Physics Lesson at South High Community School! ✨🎃 Students at South High used their Physics Free Fall unit to get further into the Halloween spirit with a fun pumpkin drop lesson! Students recorded video of the drop and then marked the position of the pumpkin at set time intervals. With the information, they were able to create a motion diagram, position vs. time graph, velocity vs. time graph and calculate the acceleration due to gravity of falling objects near Earth's surface. It was a great time for all involved, except for maybe the pumpkins!