Kennedy Cougars

Dear Kennedy Families and Caregivers,

I hope everyone had a wonderful February break. We are back to school as usual and trucking along into Read Across America month. Here at Kennedy we will be kicking off this fun month of events starting next week. Details are below:

Friday, March 10th – All-school read during homeroom

Independently enjoy a choice reading selection! Need suggestions? Ask our librarian, Miss Murphy!

Read Across America Day, a day to celebrate the joy of reading as a community is upon us! On Friday, March 10, we invite all Natick faculty, students, and staff at the middle school level to spend 20 minutes reading together in homeroom as a middle school community. We ask that students read from 8:00 to 8:20 and that teachers read, too! The hope is that everyone will spend some time celebrating a love of reading!

Here's a link to all the great activities we have planned this month to support Read Across America. Check it out and share with your students. It's going to be GREAT FUN!

Welcome new music teacher, Cara Campanelli:

Please join me in welcoming our newest Kennedy Faculty Member, Cara Campanelli! Cara (picture below) joins us from Boston, and is a passionate music educator with a particular love of chorus and general music. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston College, and continued her studies at UMass Lowell, where she received a graduate degree in Music Education. Cara has most recently taught in BPS while also providing private vocal jazz instruction at Wellesley High School. She loves teaching middle school students, and always enjoys hearing their thoughts and ideas, and especially learning about the music they love.

In addition to her teaching, she has over 15 years of vocal jazz performance experience, singing with a variety of big bands and smaller ensembles across New England. She is excited to meet all the staff, students, and families at Kennedy Middle School!

Middle School Math Information Night at WILSON:

We would like to invite you to the Natick Middle Schools presentation on math placement at the middle school level. This will be held in person on Wednesday March 8, 2023, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Wilson Middle School auditorium. At this presentation, you will learn about our process for placing sixth and seventh-grade students into their appropriate math course for the 2023-2024 school year. For more information about the Natick middle school math program or the middle school math placement process, please visit the middle school math website.

New from Spark Kindness:

Social Justice Parenting: Raising Compassionate, Anti-Racist, and Socially Conscious Children

Tuesday, March 7 at 7pm via Zoom -- For parents, caregivers, and community members of all ages

This program will address how to raise children who work to promote justice, compassion, and belonging for themselves and others. Dr. Traci Baxley will discuss the principles of Social Justice Parenting and offer strategies for implementing these values into your daily life. Simultaneous ASL and Portuguese Language Interpretation will be provided at this event. Register and learn more about this FREE online program and all our upcoming events at www.SPARKKindness.org (see picture below)

The Spongebob Musical:

When a terrible volcano threatens the town of Bikini Bottom, Spongebob and friends must step up to save the day! Armed with imagination, friendship and endless positivity these characters set out to do the seemingly impossible in this musical adventure. Filled with all of the memorable characters from under the sea, and set to songs from more than a dozen famous artists spanning genres from gospel to rock and roll, this show will have you singing and dancing along! This joyous musical journey is perfect for families and children of all ages!

The Spongebob Musical: Youth Edition

Friday March 24th at 7:00pm

Saturday March 25th at 7:00pm

Sunday March 26th at 2:00pm

Tickets $10, available at the door and at the Kennedy front office the week prior to the show

Positivity Project News

This week our school community will be focusing on the Other People Mindset of Supporting Others When They Struggle. This means when other people are struggling, we do our best to help them out.

Supporting other people when they struggle is a critical piece of being human. There are many different approaches to helping people who are struggling. These can include: listening while they describe an event and their feelings about it, taking action to help people in need, or simply just being there and sitting together in silence. Everyone faces tough days and needs support, and this support leads to a chain of prosocial behavior that makes us feel good about ourselves and our group.

To practice and encourage the character strength of OPM - Supporting Others When They Struggle with your child, please visit the Positivity Project’s P2 for Families (password: P2) where together you will watch a video, read a quote and talk about the answers to three questions.

Here is the OPM - Supporting Others When They Struggle parent letter for this week's character strength.

Regards,

Jodie Cohen, Principal

“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal."

~ Steve Maraboli

Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick

Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick

#weR1Kennedy

#hearusROAR

#cougarpride
#positivityinaction

1 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar

• Faculty Meeting - Monday, March 6th - No afternoon clubs or activities
• Middle School Math Information Night at Wilson - Wednesday, March 8th, 6-7:00pm, WMS Auditorium
• Trimester 2 ends - Friday, March 17th
• Trimester 3 begins - Monday, March 20th
• Trimester 3 ends - TBD (depends on last day of school based on snow days)

2 - Grade 8 to 9 Transition to Natick High School Timeline

Here is the link to the Grade 8 to 9 Transition Timeline.

3 - From the Nurses Health Clinic:

If your student tests positive for Covid-19, they must stay home for 5 days. The day they started symptoms is Day 0, the next day is Day 1, then Day 2, etc. They may return to school on Day 6 and must wear a mask for an additional 5 days. A headache, scratchy throat, congestion/runny nose, cough, and/or fever are some of the more common symptoms of Covid-19.

Siblings and close contacts do not need to quarantine and can come to school as long as they are not having symptoms of illness. However, they must wear a mask for 10 days when around others following exposure.

Click for more information from the Massachusetts DPH: Covid-19 Isolation and Exposure Guidance

4 - Information notification letters about math placement

For information about the math placement process, please see the letters below.

22-23 6th to 7th opening placement letter

22-23 7th to 8th opening placement letter

5 - Kennedy Report Card:

Every year, each public school and school district in Massachusetts receives a report card. Just as your child’s report card shows how they are doing in different subjects, the school’s report card is designed to show families how our school is doing in different areas. A link to our school’s report card is available here.

The report card includes multiple measures of a school’s performance – more than just MCAS scores. It represents a new way of looking at school performance, by providing information on student achievement, teacher qualifications, student learning opportunities, and more.

The full parent letter sent home can be found here.

Natick Public Schools is excited to announce our partnership with Paper for on-demand tutoring for NHS students. Paper is a secure, online tutoring service that provides students with unlimited, 24/7 academic support. Whether they’re stuck on homework, studying for a test, or need someone to read and make suggestions to their essays, there will always be experts available online to assist students in over 200 subjects and more than 4 languages.

Paper tutors have been specially trained to conduct expert, academic support in a secure, chat-based platform. With a commitment to helping students learn, they’ll never give students answers, but rather interact with them in an encouraging tone to lead them forward.

This is a free service that we’re providing, so students are encouraged to use it as much as they need, whenever they need. Our teachers also have accounts and will be able to review all student activity to see what they’re working on and provide more targeted instruction as needed.

If you’d like to learn more about Paper you can sign up for a Paper hosted Parent Info Session, available in both English and Spanish.

To see Paper and the help it offers firsthand, we encourage you to login with your students. To get started, simply visit PAPER’s student login page, type your school’s name, and log in via Google using your school credentials

We’re thrilled to offer our students the unlimited, 24/7 support that Paper provides and we can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish together.

Our Kennedy Middle School PTO works hard behind the scenes to support our school in a variety of ways. They are working diligently to bring great activities to our school community. Please check out their website for more information.

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