Hathaway Happenings - Home
September 30, 2022
Dear Hathaway Families
Hocus Pocus! Just like that week five has arrived!
This week saw the completion of the first Principal read! I thoroughly enjoyed reading The World Needs More Purple People by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart. The little ones see me in the hallway and say, "You read that purple book and I see it on the counter in the office!" This presents me with a great opportunity to talk about those things that help us to be purple people. We will continue to remind students of them and ask that you keep have conversations with your children. We are well on our way to becoming a purple school!
Here is what it takes to be a purple person!
1. Ask really great questions.
2. Laugh a lot.
3. Use your voice and don't lose your voice.
4. Work super duper hard.
5. Just be the real you!
After a careful review process, Portsmouth School District is excited to offer a rich and robust reading and language arts curriculum for our students for the 2022-2023 school year! Please take a moment to review this letter that explains our new ELA curriculum, Wonders.
Our Community Meeting was a huge success! Showcasing student talents, learning about new books to read, and hearing from our community connection, Judy with Planet Aid all help to create a true sense of community! Grade four students helped us to thank our custodians. We love and appreciate Mr. Mel and Mr. David! Check out the album in the link below.
We will be transitioning our K students to the lunchroom this week. Two classes will learn the rituals and routines on Monday and Tuesday and the other two on Thursday and Friday. Next week all K students will begin eating in the lunchroom beginning on Tuesday.
Monday evening at 6:00 PM in the library we will be hosting our K and 2H parent session with Joan Kelly from Abound Parenting. Joan will also be a presenter at our November PD for the entire faculty and staff. We are well on our way to building strong readers with the help of our families!
Parent conferences will be held between October 11th and the 18th. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have not yet scheduled a conference.
School picture day will be on October 12th. Stay tuned for more information to follow.
As always, thank you for your partnership in education!
This Week's Character Development Quote
Seamus, an Anchored4Life Leader!
4th Grade Chorus Practicing!
We appreciate you, Mr. David!
Judy, from Planet Aid - Don't forget to Donate!
Celebrating our Custodians!
Scenes From Our Community Meeting!
No School
Fun Walk
We are very excited to announce that we will hold our 3rd Annual Hathaway Fun Walk! This event will be our fall fundraiser this year. The Fun Walk will promote healthy choices, encourage school spirit, and raise money for the school!
The Fun Walk will take place on November 1st, so please stay tuned for more details on fundraising and prizes in the coming weeks.
At this time please take a peek at our Fun Walk Letter from our HPTA!
Fun Walk Tshirts
We need your student's t-shirt size for a special Fun Walk t-shirt that will be distributed to each student on the day of the Fun Walk. Please submit your student's t-shirt size by Friday, September 30th.
If you would not like your student to participate in the Hathaway Fun Walk, or you would not like to include your student in online pledging, please opt-out by Friday, September 30th.
If you or anyone you know would like to sponsor the Fun Walk by advertising on the back of the Fun Walk t-shirts, please sign up here by Friday, October 7th. This is a great opportunity to get your business’ name into every Hathaway household and support Hathaway School!
Please reach out to Dana at dmys2105@hotmail.com with any questions.
Planet Aid Bins
Doing some fall cleaning? Swing on by the bins with your items....we earn 5 cents per pound for our Hathaway community! Spread the word and let your friends and family know, too!
HPTA News
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first meeting! Our next meeting is October 19th at 6:00 PM in the library.
The HPTA needs your help to run the many events we arrange
throughout the year. All volunteers DO need to be VIS
approved. The VIS application form can be found on the
Hathaway website.
The HPTA is once again collecting Clement’s Market receipts.
The receipts can be placed in your child’s folder. We recently received a check for nearly $1,300.00! Thank you to all who turned in their receipts!
HPTA Board
HPTA - Hathaway School Volunteering
Welcome to a new year at Hathaway School! Volunteers in Schools (VIS) is the volunteer program in the Portsmouth schools. We hope that the VIS program will provide you an opportunity to become involved in our schools’ activities. In order to participate in any school activity with children including being a room parent, attending class parties, field trips, volunteering at HPTA events, and in the classroom, the following two steps must be completed and completed EVERY year:
Online Application - Step One:
Found here or online at www.portsmouthschoolsri.org under the ‘For Parents’ tab. Then select ‘Volunteers’ and ‘Volunteers Home Page’ from the drop down menu. On the left, click the link for ‘Google Form.’ This must be completed at the start of each new school year. It will put your name on Hathaway’s Volunteer Master List, alerting the VIS Coordinator that you plan to become a volunteer.
* EVERYONE who wants to volunteer must complete this step, even if you received a Volunteer Authorization Form at orientation or have submitted it already
Volunteer Authorization Form - Step Two:
A background check must be completed annually, by law in Rhode Island. You must fill out the authorization form for the background check and have it notarized. It also needs to include a copy of the front and back of your driver’s license, and a $5 check made out to ‘BCI’. Please use a paper clip to secure all documents together, no staples, and return to any Portsmouth School Department Office. The form can be found here as well as in the school office and online at www.portsmouthschoolsri.org under the ‘For Parents’ tab. Then select ‘Volunteers’ and ‘Volunteers Home Page’ from the drop down menu. On the left, click the link for ‘VIS Authorization Form’. It can take up to 2-3 weeks to process once you submit the form.
THESE TWO STEPS MUST BE COMPLETED AND APPROVED BEFORE YOU ARE ABLE TO VOLUNTEER IN THE SCHOOL.
Your school VIS & Room Parent coordinator, Marie Stefanowicz, is your liaison with the school. If you have any questions, or any problems as a volunteer, the coordinator is your first point of contact and can be reached at hathawayvis@gmail.com.School Meals Program
School meals are no longer free to all students for the 2022-2023 school year. Breakfast, lunch, and milk are available to purchase for all Hathaway School students. Students order lunch each morning through their teacher that day. Breakfast can be picked up by students in the cafeteria as they arrive at school.
Full price Breakfast is $1.00 and Lunch is $2.60. If your family qualifies for reduced prices, breakfast is $ 0.30 and lunch is $0.40. Milk is offered for $0.55 as a stand alone item.
Please apply for free or reduced lunch online by visiting this site: https://www.myschoolapps.com. Or, paper applications will be sent home the first week of school.
Payment for breakfast, lunch and/or milk can be made online at www.myschoolbucks.com. A student LASID number will be needed to create and make payments online using your “My School Bucks” account. Here is how you can access your student’s LASID number in ASPEN:
Payment can also be made by sending cash or a check in an envelope to school labeled with your student’s name, teacher’s name, LASID number and amount included. If paying by check, please make it payable to Portsmouth School Department with your child’s LASID number noted on the memo line. Send a separate check for each child in your family as payments cannot be split between accounts. KEEPING YOUR BALANCE PAID IN FULL IS VERY IMPORTANT.
Please refer to the family portal navigation below to access your child's LASID number.
Abound Parenting Newsletter
Hathaway Notification Form
Please complete the Hathaway Notification Form.
Thank you in advance for helping us to keep things organized and safe in our Hathaway community.
Nut Free Facility
Thank you for your support in keeping all of our students safe in our Hathaway community.
Securly Home
Securly Home is an app that allows parents to monitor their child’s Chromebook activity at home and add rules for home use. Please take some time to review the slideshow and recording of the parent meeting that took place on 9/16.
We encourage you to sign up now for Securly Home!
Accessing Aspen
If you are having issues accessing Aspen, you will have to email familyportal@portsmouthschoolsri.org with your child's name, date of birth, grade level, and your name. The system administrators will be able to restore access to your account and make sure that you can login.
Where Can I Find Past Parent Newsletters?
Important Dates
Important Dates
2022-2023
October 5th - Yom Kippur - No School
October 10th - Columbus Day - No School
October 12th - School Picture Day
October 14th - Escobar's Corn Maze
October 19th - Early Release for Students/PD for Staff
October 19th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
November 1st - Fun Walk
November 8th - Staff PD Day/No School
November 11th - Veterans' Day/No School
November 16th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
November 21st - School Picture Make Up Day
November 23rd-November 25th - Thanksgiving Recess/No School
December 14th - Early Release for Students/PD for Staff
December 15th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
December 23rd - December 31st - Holiday Recess/No School
January 18th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
January 27th - Bruins Night, Chorus Sings
February 15th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
March 15th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
April 19th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
May 17th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
June 14th - HPTA Meeting, 6:00 PM, Library
Howard Hathaway Elementary School
Email: littlel@portsmouthschoolsri.org
Website: https://www.portsmouthschoolsri.org/Domain/10
Location: 53 Tallman Avenue, Portsmouth, RI, USA
Phone: (401)683-0500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hathaway.principal/
Twitter: @HathawaySchool