Panera Night Fundraiser

4-8pm Thursday, September 24, Westlake location. Bring this flyer or show an electronic version to the cashier when you place your order

Bradley University Tutoring Program

Bradley Universtiy offers reading tutors through the America Reads program. Tutoring starts September 14th. Get the details and/or apply through their website.

Morning Broadcast

Check out the morning broadcast for your daily updates on birthdays, weather, interesting facts, and more! All brought to you by the Washington staff. Make it a great day!

Distance Learning @ WGMS

Find up to date information on streams, tech issues, how to's, and other resources for distance learning.

SEL

Access from Home

5Essentials Parent Survey now open

The annual 5Essentials survey helps Peoria Public School administrators, school board members and teachers evaluate your student's school culture by soliciting feedback on five factors necessary for a successful school.

Illinois Report Card information for Washington

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released our annual School Report Card on Oct. 30 at www.illinoisreportcard.com. The Report Card shows how well our school is progressing on a wide range of educational goals

Student Pick-up and Drop-off Guidelines

7:05-7:30am and 2:00-2:40pm, CARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE FRONT PARKING LOT and students may only be picked up and dropped off in the North Parking Lot located near the ball fields. For student safety, only buses may drive in the Main Parking Lot during these times. Thank you for your cooperation in helping keep our students safe. After these times, students must enter or exit the building from the foyer near the Office. Students may not wait for rides at the Crossroads or outside, but instead need to stay in the foyer until they see their pick-up person or the Activity bus.

Study Skills

Knowing how to study is an important skill to have. Students who use strategies to understand and remember what they read, such as underlining important parts of the texts or discussing what they read with other people, perform better in class and on tests. One of the biggest differences between top students and everyone else was that when they study, they take practice tests. Only 11 percent of students do this, but they perform better because they are studying in a way that goes beyond memorizing material. Also helpful is to create a study timetable & stick to it-- first include things you like/need to do on your schedule and then work study time in after. This method naturally ensures that you are doing things you like to do every day in addition to studying, so you don’t burn out and give up. These kind of balanced schedules are easier follow. Here are some ideas and strategies to help students learn more:

Betina Fleming Wins PNC Classroom Grant

Washington Gifted School 5th/6th grade teacher Betina Fleming won $1,000 for Curious? Research and Write On!! The grant money will be used to upgrade classroom technology so students can conduct research and process materials for written assignments.

7th Grade Students at Washington Learn from Community Mentors

Washington hosted a variety of community mentors who helped 7th grade students with their cross-curricular research papers on Peoria issues. These generous individuals met with students and explained the ins and outs of various local problems and projects including school safety, transportation and roads, environmental concerns, business development, Peoria Park District initiatives, and funding both for the city and for the school district. After meeting with their experts, students used the information they learned in their Peoria Issue research papers and listed their interviewees as one of their information sources. Thank you to our community mentors: Mr. Cesar Suarez, City of Peoria; Mr. Steve Montez and Mr. Tom Miller, Peoria Park District; Ms. Anna Ghidina, IDOT; Mr. Josh Joseph, Soil and Water Conservation; Ms. Denise Moore, Peoria City Council, Mr.Joe Dulin, City of Peoria; and Ms. Dickerson, Peoria Downtown Development Corporation. They all illustrate how by working together we can make our home of Peoria even better. Thank you for helping our students research and solve a Peoria Issue!

Learning Anywhere and Anytime Process

In the event of inclement weather or emergency situation, Peoria Public Schools has put into effect "Learning Anywhere and Anytime". Students were sent home with letters explaining the process in January 2019. Please emphasize with your student the need to complete assigned work from teachers, whether through teacher websites, learning log, assignment notes, packets, or tasks that every teacher gives to students. These assignments are required to be turned in to each teacher in advance or upon return to school in order to count towards attendance. If work is not turned in, the dates will count as an absence. If you do not have internet access these days, written work is sufficient. Teachers are available on-line between 9:00-2:30 for any clarification or assistance needed. Students who do not check in electronically or do not return their learning logs will be counted as absent. Please click for detailed information.

Dress Code Update

All special "College Colors, spiritwear, or uniform-free" day information will come from the principal. We have reviewed our code, investigated other equivalent schools, received feedback, and assembled a panel of students, parents, staff, and teachers to update the Dress Code. Parents and students, please review the updated Dress Code from the handbook. The updated Dress Code will be effective beginning November 2017. Any violation of the code results in a referral to the principal. Repeated violations will warrant parent contact and loss of privilege/referrals. We have had a lot of confusion and questions about the jean policy at Washington and want to make the policy straightforward. Policy on jeans is as follows: - Jeans are not allowed to be worn at school with the following exceptions: individual picture days in fall and spring, spirit week and designated-free dress days. If in doubt, always clear with home room teacher or principal before jeans are worn. - On the days jeans are acceptable, absolutely no ripped jeans are to be worn. - If jeans are worn on a day that is not listed in exceptions above, students’ parents will be called to bring uniform pants, shorts, or skirt to school for student to change into. - If ripped jeans are worn any school day, parents will be called to bring uniform pants, shorts, or skirts to school for student to change into.

Former Washington Student Opening for lovelytheband!

On March 26, 2019, Peoria's own Blank Stairs will open for lovelytheband at the Monarch Music Hall 8102 N University St, Peoria. This is part of lovelytheband's finding it hard to smile tour. The Blank Stairs are a rock band consisting of 5 high school students from Central Illinois playing an awesome mix of pop and rock tunes. Cami Proctor is a singer/preformer in the Blank Stairs and went to Washington for all four middle school years, participating in Speech, Drama, and more. She is now in high school at Richwoods. The Blank Stairs performed at Washington this year and we were all really impressed!