Johnson Jaguars

Dear Johnson Families,

We are at the last weekend in October and nearing the completion of “Self-Awareness,” the first of five units of study in the Everyday Speech curriculum.

Self-Awareness is a measure of how accurately learners can recognize their feelings and thoughts and learn to understand how those influence their behavior. Among the objectives of this first unit are:

- students will recognize that emotions are temporary and change.

- Students will recognize that emotions can affect their behavior.

Some tips for families at home:

- Help your child understand that feelings dissipate with time by asking, "How do you think you'll feel about this problem tomorrow or next week?”

- Model talking about your own feelings and how they have changed over the course of the day.

When you use specific words to describe your own feelings of excitement, frustration, happiness, sadness, or nervousness it can help students to better identify or name their own feelings.

Perhaps, you are worried that using specific language to describe your emotions will teach your student to be afraid or concerned. However, it can actually make it safer to talk about feelings and lead students to use more positive strategies for coping and resilience.

We are all working on becoming more skilled at stating our feelings and pairing the words with coping strategies.

I want to acknowledge and thank our school counselor Laura Loftus for her excellent work in leading this important Social Emotional Learning effort with our students and teachers. Below, I have shared photos of two bulletin boards that she created in our hallways to provide visual displays with examples of this work with students.

Best regards,

John

SPIRIT DAY PARADE! MONDAY, OCTOBER 31ST - 2:15PM

We are happy to keep our Spirit Day Parade alive. This event is optional to all students at Johnson. If you plan to participate in the parade, please be sure to review these guidelines so that we can ensure a fun and inclusive parade. If you have any questions about what is acceptable, please reach out to Principal Jordan (jjordan@natickps.org) before October 31. Our parade will be led by our first grade students and each grade will follow in order (2nd, 3rd, 4th). For safety reasons NO MASKS will be allowed to be worn. Students will exit the back door and parade up and around the school for all to see. Classes will pause for a photo on the front steps nearest the playground.

The parade will begin at 2:15 pm. Caregivers and family members are invited to line up along the parade route from the back of the building to the hard top at the front of the building. All students that are participating will exit the back doors and re enter the building in the front at the auditorium door.

If students do not want to participate they may join each other in the library for an activity facilitated by one of our staff. Or, sometimes students will walk in the parade and not wear a costume. These options are available for any student. Please let your classroom teacher know if your student will participate in either of these options. Upon completion of the parade, classes return to their rooms and get ready for dismissal. We look forward to a festive parade and hope you can join us.

Picture packages from COFFEE POND have arrived and were sent home earlier this week. If you have any questions or concerns please contact COFFEE POND directly – They have Customer Care staff ready to handle any and all questions.

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR THE BEST WAY TO CONTACT COFFEE POND.

Parents w/questions (late orders; missing orders, refunds etc.) should contact our dedicated Lifeguards:

By phone:

1-800-632-2323 ext "0"

By Email:

Lifeguards@coffeepond.com

By US Mail:

Lifeguards

Coffee Pond Productions, Inc.

3 Speen Street, Suite 200

Framingham, MA 01701

A reminder - some parents ordered a digital sharing file (and no prints)…in those instances, your photograph has been e-mailed to the address that you provided to Coffee Pond. Again, if you have any questions, the Customer Care department would be happy to assist you.

• ALL 3rd and 4th grade students are invited to perform at Natick’s Veterans Day Ceremony. (There is a parade marching at 9:30AM, but The Peacemakers are not in it.)
  
  
• Good Weather Plan: Please arrive at the Morse Institute Library by 10:00AM*. Mrs. Conaway and Mrs. D’Antonio will meet students. We will stay together throughout the ceremony and when it concludes, we will dismiss students to their grownups.
  
  
• Bad Weather Plan: Please arrive at the Community Senior Center, 117 East Central Street, by 9:30AM*.

*We will perform rain or shine!

• September 1 - October 30: Paw print campaign
• Wednesday, November 2nd - Early Release PK and Elementary ONLY!
• Friday, November 4th - Picture re-take Day
• Friday, November 11th - Schools closed in observance of Veteran's Day
• Wednesday, November 16th - Early Release - CONFERENCES, PRE-K, Elementary, Middle ONLY
• Wednesday, November 23rd - Early Release Day - THANKSGIVING - 12:15 pm Dismissal
• Thursday and Friday Nov. 24 & Nov. 25 - School Closed for Thanksgiving
• Monday, November 28th - ALL SCHOOLS CLOSED - District wide Professional Development!

1 - Breakfast and Lunch is free to all students this school year. Even though meals are free to students all year, we ask that you do fill out an application because you may qualify families for additional supports.

Complete your Free and Reduced Meal application today.

2 - REMINDER FOR PARENTS WHO WANT TO VOLUNTEER - Volunteer--CORI Checks

If you want to volunteer in schools, you must have a CORI check conducted and you must go into the building with identification (drivers license or passport) to do this. Click here for description of what a CORI check is and does. Without a CORI check, you cannot volunteer in the school. Here is the form to fill out for a CORI.

3 - FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

We have a range of financial supports available in the Natick Public Schools. This includes assistance with school fees, such as the bus and picture day, scholarships for programs such as the Book Fair and connections to community resources that may be helpful. If you are interested in these programs, please contact Laura Loftus, our school counselors, to have a private conversation. Her email is lloftus@natickps.org.

HELP WANTED FOR JOHNSON'S YEARBOOK

The Johnson 2022-23 yearbook is going to be a community-wide effort again. We need folks to collect content and we need a committee to pull it all together.

Will you take pictures or help organize them? Super! Do you want to work with Coffee Pond’s design software to actually assemble the yearbook? Awesome! Drop an email to annehunsicker@gmail.com so we can assemble the world’s greatest yearbook team.

If you’ve already got some photos you’d like to submit, please send them to annehunsicker@gmail.com with “Yearbook – name of event” in the subject line.

Johnson Elementary Parent Teacher Organization
Sign Up for PTO Emails
Mark Your Calendar with Johnson PTO Events!

Thank you to Keri Clark, Memorial School PTO President and the Memorial School PTO for including the Johnson Community with their upcoming events. Please take a look and feel free to attend any of these Memorial PTO sponsored events.

Natick Public Schools does not discriminate in employment nor its educational programs, services, and activities based on race, creed, color, age, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, physical and intellectual differences, immigration status, homeless status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Please be aware all electronic communication to and from Natick Public Schools is public record and subject to public disclosure per Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10.

• Title I: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title II
• Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title VI
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title IX
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
• MGL, Ch.76, Section 5: Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 76, Section 5