Kennedy Cougars

Dear Kennedy Families and Caregivers,

This Wednesday Kennedy staff participated in a day of workshops at our school where colleagues shared their passion and expertise in a variety of areas. The sessions offered were engaging and truly meaningful to our educators. Every workshop shared tools, tips, or strategies that were immediately applicable to our students and their educational experience in some way. Check out the variety of topics offered at our sessions below:

• Improv Games for the Classroom
  
• Paper People Puppets
  
• ADHD and the Impact on the Classroom (Resilience Project run session)
  
• Class VR and CoSpaces - A Basic Overview
  
• Screen-Casting and Creating Instructional Videos for Class
  
• Digging Deeper into Math
  
• Exploring Google Read & Write Chrome Extension
  
• Communication Disorders in the Classroom
  
• Co-Teaching in the Classroom
  
• Breaking Barriers: Neurodiversity in School Environments
  
• The Missing Piece: The Science of Reading
  
• Building SEL into Lesson Planning

This was truly a wonderful day of learning from our colleagues. The staff at Kennedy are beyond talented and we were lucky to learn from each other this week. Big shout out to all the staff who volunteered to run workshops. We are truly grateful for your generosity!

Next week is Disability Acceptance Week here at Kennedy (see pic below):

In honor of Disability Acceptance Month, Kennedy will be participating in a week of events. Please share with your student(s). We will also announce at school.

Monday, March 20: Choose to Include Day

Take The Pledge (Spread The Word To End The Word)

We will have a poster for students to sign.

Tuesday, March 21: Rock Your Socks Day

Rock Your Socks Day to support awareness of Down Syndrome

https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/

Wednesday, March 22: Unified Basketball Spirit Day

Show support for our unified basketball team, wear Natick gear!

Thursday, March 23: Assistive Technology Day

“Did you know that 2 million people in the United States use communication devices, also known as “talkers” to help them communicate. Many people right in our own town of Natick also communicate using a talker”

**We will have a student use their talker to give the morning announcement of the day, date and letter day**

Friday, March 24: Wear the Rainbow Day

There’s no correct way to think and learn! Wear the rainbow to celebrate our differences!

Grade 8 End Of Year Activities:

Some families have asked for details about the end of year activities for 8th grade students. We will hold a promotional ceremony on the second to last day of school. The date is to be determined pending any snow days. 8th grade families are invited to attend the ceremony, and it will be held during school hours. We will also hold an 8th grade dance (evening hours) which will occur within the last two weeks of school. On the very last day of school we will hold our traditional 8th grade breakfast with yearbook signing and wonderful send off that includes our final "clap out". Dates and more details on these events will be available after April vacation. We are excited to make this time very special for our 8th graders.

New from Spark Kindness:

Stopping the Cycle of Anger: How to Navigate Anxiety and Big Feelings with Calm and Compassion

Thursday, March 23 at 7pm via Zoom -- For parents, caregivers, educators, and community members of all ages (see photo below)

In this talk, author Renee Jain, MA, will offer practical, supportive techniques to address anger and other intense emotions in ourselves, our children and our teens with more understanding and less screaming. She will discuss how to uncover what's underneath these big feelings and how to empower individuals, parents, and children to shift to more positive response patterns. ASL interpretation will be provided at this event. Register and learn more about this FREE online program and more upcoming events at www.SPARKKindness.org

Upcoming MCAS schedule

A picture of the upcoming MCAS schedule can be found below.

The Spongebob Musical:

Our Kennedy Spring musical is almost here! Check out the poster (pic) below for more details.

Positivity Project News

This week our school community will be focusing on the character strength of LOVE. Love means you value close relationships with others and being close to people.

The character strength of love represents the way we think, feel, and behave towards the people with whom we have close relationships. When one person loves another person, that person: comforts and makes the other feel safe; sacrifices on the other’s behalf; supports the other during struggles; and places the others' needs ahead of their own. If you love a person, that person makes you feel safe and secure. You can be yourself with that person. You miss that person when they are not around.

To practice and encourage the character strength of LOVE 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 LOVE letter for families for this week's character strength.

Athletics Update:

Details on Spring Athletic Registration can be found in the section below.

Upcoming mySAEBRS survey information:

As part of our transformative SEL work in Natick, we are committed to supporting every student’s academic growth as well as their social, emotional and behavioral growth.This year, we are piloting the mySAEBRS Social, Academic, Emotional, Behaviors Risk Screener screening tool with students. The use of the SAEBRS refines and strengthens our efforts to help all of our students be successful by allowing us to take positive and preventative measures as early as possible. Students will be completing the mySAEBRS screener at both middle schools between the window of Monday, March 20th - Friday, April 7th. Please email your school counselor with any questions about the survey.

Grade 5 counselor, Melisa MacDonald - memacdonald@natickps.org

Grade 6 counselor, Kelly Corey - kcorey@natickps.org

Grade 7 counselor, Todd Heller - rheller@natickps.org

Grade 8 counselor, Kelly Morin - kmorin@natickps.org

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

Regards,

Jodie Cohen, Principal

"Love is when another person's happiness is more important than your own."

~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick

Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick

#weR1Kennedy

#hearusROAR

#cougarpride
#positivityinaction

1 - Upcoming Events:

• 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)

• Thursday, April 6: No After School Activities or Late Buses

• Friday, April 7 - Good Friday, No School
• Wednesday, April 12 - Professional Development Day, Early Release 11:30 am
• Monday, April 17-Friday, April 21 - No School (April break)

2 - Spring Athletics Registration:

Kennedy Middle School Spring Athletic Teams

Track & Field (Boys & Girls) and Boys Volleyball Registration
Registration for Track & Field (Boys & Girls) and Boys Volleyball are now open on FamilyID.com. The following will need to be completed in order to participate:

1. Register student-athlete on FamilyID.com. Here are instructions if you haven't created an account on FamilyID (Online Registration Instruction Sheet). Choose "Natick Public School Athletic" and the correct Program (Kennedy Spring Track & Boys Volleyball 2022-2023 Registration for 7th & 8th graders or Kennedy Track & Field Spring 2023 Registration for 6th graders).

2. Upload your child's medical physical on FamilyID. The medical physical date must be within 13 months of the start of the season (after 3/4/2022) in order to participate. If you need a new physical and cannot get an appointment with your child's physician, you may want to consider going to an Urgent Care or Minute Clinic or have your doctor write a note stating the date of your child's upcoming physical and that your child is "healthy and able to participate in sports."

3. The preferred payment method for Athletics at Natick is online at UniPay (Natick Public Schools - Kennedy Middle School). The athletic fee is $225*. You can also pay by check if you prefer with the check made out to "NHS Athletics" and left at Kennedy's office.

4. 7th & 8th grade student-athletes will need to complete three free NFHS courses (Implicit Bias course, Hazing Prevention for Students & Concussion for Students) 1X a calendar year (courses completed spring of 2022 are acceptable). 5th & 6th grade student-athletes will need to complete the NFHS Concussion for Students course 1X a calendar year (courses completed spring of 2022 are acceptable). These are required by MIAA schools and NPS student-athletes at the MS & HS levels. After completing a course, the student-athlete will earn a "completion course certificate." This should be uploaded in the appropriate and designated area during registration on FamilyID. The courses are linked in the registration on FamilyID but here are the links for the courses also: NFHS Implicit Bias Course, NFHS Hazing Prevention for Students & NFHS Concussion for Students. FYI...after visiting the page for the course you will need to order the free courses. You will also need to create an NFHS account (under student-athletes name) if you don't already have one setup.

*The deadline to complete registration is 3/27/2023. Any registrations after 3/27/2023 will have a $25 late fee. Student-athletes cannot participate in spring athletics until this registration process is completed!

Email Mr. Lyth with any questions, dlyth@natickps.org.

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

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

4 - 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

5 - 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

6 - 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