Schools

Musicians Wanted to Perform at 5th Annual Watertown MusicFest

By |

Friends of Watertown Music welcomes performers of all ages and all musical styles to perform at our fifth Annual Watertown MusicFest from 5:30-9:30 a.m. on Friday, April 8 at Watertown Middle School, 68 Waverley Ave. MusicFest is a lively and eclectic evening of music with performances on four stages. What makes MusicFest so great is the participation of a variety of performers. Join us! The event is a Fundraiser to support music in the Watertown Public Schools.

Schools

Watertown SEPAC Holding School Vacation Drum Circle Event

By |

A Drum Circle for Watertown SEPAC Families will be held during February Break. 

Watertown SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advocacy Council) sent out the following information:

Come on down to The Meraki Center to pound away on a drum or two! Drumming Circles are a perfect way to make music together no matter your level of musical ability. Enjoy your child(ren) as they have a blast and participate right alongside. Bring your own drum if you have one, or use one of ours. For sensitive folk, this event will be LOUD.

Schools

Watertown Students Could Start to Learning Spanish in Kindergarten

By |

Watertown School officials are working toward starting a program that would start teaching all students Spanish beginning in kindergarten and eventually expanding the program through middle school and high school. On Monday, the School Committee heard a report from a group of 10 administrators and teachers about starting a FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools) program. Initially, the district would hire three teachers and all kindergarten students and those in classes of mixed Pre-K and K would get 30 minutes of Spanish instruction each day at school, said Adam Silverberg, world language curriculum coordinator for the Watertown Public Schools. “The benefit of starting at kindergarten is the young they start the better they are at acquiring language,” Silverberg said. It also lines up well with the curriculum, he said, because kindergarten is when students are learning numbers and letters and beginning to learn to read.

Schools

Sixth Annual Watertown Spelling Bee Raises More than $10,000

By |

The sixth annual Town-wide Spelling Bee on Sunday was a big success, drawing dozens of children and raising thousands of dollars for the Watertown Education Foundation. Watertown’s spelling bee is unlike others, where individual students compete to see who is the best speller. In the Town-wide Spelling Bee three-person teams from Watertown’s three elementary schools showed off their spelling skills. The teams could be made up of students from different schools, but they had to be from the same grade. All teams received a prize, and the winner at each grade level got a special prize.

Schools

Watertown’s Lauren Kelly Helps Northeastern Reach Beanpot Final

By |

Northeastern came back to win the first round of the women’s Beanpot Tournament Tuesday with the help of a goal from Watertown native Lauren Kelly. The Huskies trailed Boston University 1-0 after the first period, but took the lead on Kelly’s goal with 14:47 left in the second period of the game at BU’s Walter Brown Arena, according to the report on GoNU.com. Northeastern won the game 3-2, and will have a tough test in next Tuesday’s final against undefeated and No. 1 ranked Boston College, which beat Harvard 8-0 in the other first round game. The final will be at BU on Feb.

Cunniff School

Cunniff School Taking Drastic Measures to Relieve Crowded Classrooms

By |

Facing classes as large as 28 students, the teachers and staff at Cunniff Elementary School have turned the school’s art and music rooms into classrooms to split off a set of students and relieve crowding at the Westside school. Principal Mena Ciarlone told the School Committee Monday that the Cunniff has experienced unusual mid-year growth, and mostly in the upper grades – third through fifth. “The past two weeks we have noticed an increased enrollment, two stories each week in the upper grades.,” Ciarlone said. “Enrollment became a worry and class sizes were extremely high.” One of the fourth grade classes has 28 students and the other had 26.

Art

Local Gallery Exhibiting the Work of Watertown High Art Students

By |

A Watertown High School art class and a local art gallery will team up to give the students an unusual experience for artists their age – their very own art exhibition. Starting on Feb. 4, ROOM 83 Spring will host the exhibit of works created by the advanced art class at the high school. WHS art teacher Donna Calleja and her class has visited the gallery run by Ellen Wineberg and Cathleen Daley on Spring Street, and they decided to take it a step further. “I’ve been taking the class over there the last year-and-a-half, and last spring (Ellen and Cathleen) said why don’t we see how we can host a high school exhibit,” Calleja said.