Principal Message March 13, 2023
Dear Kennedy Families,
One Trimester to go!!! Kennedy Families we have 12 weeks left in the school year and are ready for the last three months!
We had a busy week last week. Thank you to the families that joined us for the parent information session on Wednesday and also to the many of you that helped us chaperone the dance on Friday. I would also like to give a special thanks to the many families supporting our musical, its performers and our teacher Ms. Rosenbloom all these weeks. Thank you!
Also administration led our monthly grade level culture assemblies announcing our students of the month as well as reviewing school expectations and incentives for the rest of the school year. I think these presentations hit the mark!
Below is the Cougar Connect for the week of March 13th to March 17th
School Board Presentation
Kennedy administration presented their SPSA update to the board on 3/8/2023. It was great meeting with good feedback and questions. Check out the link for more information (Link)
Author Michelle Icard Q & A Session
Thank you to the families that joined us for Ms. Icard's question and answer session last week. If you missed it please use the link to watch the recording (Link)
Check out her website (Link)
Student Store Assistance
Our student store is very popular with our students and teacher but it is very hard to maintain. If you are a parent or guardian who can assist during the day one week a month to help pack and inventory our student store please complete this link and we will contact you. As of February, we have had almost 6,000 purchases made in the student store. (Link)
Powerschool Parent Portal
Real-time grades are in PowerSchool and can be accessed at any time. Families that need support accessing students' grades should contact our Family Center or email Ms. Calderon.
Family Center # 650 482-2110
Ms. Calderon ecalderongarcia@rcsdk8.net
All the best,
Nikolaos Fanourgiakis
Principal
Kennedy Middle School
Kennedy Musical
Come support 80+ Kennedy students in the KMS Drama production of Matilda, Jr. the Musical at the McKinley Theater on March 17, 18 & 19, 2023!
Click here to purchase tickets
Tickets are selling out!!!!
- Friday, March 17th at 7pm
- Saturday, March 18th at 3pm
- Saturday, March 18th at 7pm
- Sunday, March 19th at 1:30pm
MCKINLEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY - THEATER
400 Duane St, Redwood City, CA 94062
Attendance
Attendance is very important, no matter what time of year, as every instructional minute counts. If students are sick, please keep them home. However, when possible, please schedule vacations and appointments when school is not in session. We were able to access data on the number of students leaving school after they arrived and it showed that the majority of students that leave early are because of appointments. (Link)
Parents and guardians should be notifying our office staff when students are absent. Truancy and attendance letters will be sent home to students who have excessive absences. Doctor’s notes are required for three or more consecutive absences.
Parents and guardians of students with 20 or more absences will be notified to set up a meeting to discuss barriers to getting students to school on time. These meetings are meant to discuss how we can work together as a team to ensure that students are at school on time every day.
Conference Week March 20th-24th
Parent Teacher conferences will be this week March 20th-24th
School will be dismissed each day at 1:35 pm and students will be following a modified schedule. (Link)
Conferences that week will begin at 1:50 pm. Students needing a conference will be communicated with by the their teachers the week of March 13th.
For this round of conferences teachers will be scheduling conferences with students that are struggling and with families that request a conference.
If a student and family doesn't receive an invite and still wants to conference please contact the staff member you want to conference with.
i-Ready Round #3
Kennedy School will begin iReady administration this week. Its is the final round of iReady assessments for the 2022-23 school year. As a reminder iReady is a district diagnostic assessment given to all students to determine what grade level content they have learned and what they still need to learn.
Below is the schedule iReady assessment dates for March:
- Math 15-17 Math assessment in Math classes
* Make-ups the week of March 20th -24th
Screenagers: Next Chapter
Film focuses on teens dealing with high stress, anxiety and depression which millions of youth experience. If you would like to watch this film use this link to watch between now and April 1st.
8th Grade Families
Update 3/13:
- 8th Grade Panorama photo is available for purchase. Students received this doc on Friday 3/10. (Link)
- Sequoia Unified AVID Presentations: Sequoia High School has provided some information from students and families interested in AVID. See links.
- Woodside - Sequoia Counselors are meeting with our students March 22nd
- Skate Night April 21st 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm Kennedy Gym
Parent Information Sessions
Kennedy is happy to be hosting a few information sessions in the next few weeks. Below are some upcoming dates:
Thursday, March 23rd 6:00 pm in person in the Kennedy Library Family Information night: Reading Focus
Families are invited to meet and discuss how to support reading performance at home. If you are interested and joining us this link to sign-up (Link)
Thursday March 30th, 6:00 pm Movie: Screenagers Under the Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs and Alcohol in the Digital Age.
Movie is being released March 3rd nationally and we are excited to be sharing it with our community March 30th via zoom. During the showing we will also have a speaker who helped develop the film available for questions. (Link)
Screenagers Movie Website: (Link)
Yosemite Information Meeting 2023-24 School Year
If you are interested in going on this trip next school year. Please complete this short form so our trip director can reach out to you. The trip dates have just ben confirmed for October 29th to November 3rd 2023. (We requested another week but were not guaranteed a spot)
Remember this message is for our current 7th grade student and this trip will be during their 8th grade year. (Link)
Michelle Talvin
Winter Sports (Redwood City Parks and Recreation)
Below is the schedule of practices and games through March and April. If there are any changes we will announce it during morning announcements and coaches will inform families.
Kennedy Soccer Practice Schedule
Game schedules will be added soon
Soccer Coach Contacts below:
- Boys Green (Johan) - johan_lyssand@yahoo.com
- Boys White (Jack) - jbowen311@yahoo.com
- Girls (Charlie) - charleswinmill@hotmail.com
If you have practice questions contact your coaches or Recreation Coordinator Michael Smith msmith@redwoodcity.org
Academic Supports
Kennedy school provides a variety of academic support for students. Some of the academic support are provided in person but there are also many that are online. Attached is a document that provides details of some of these supports. If you have questions please contact me or our family center director Elizabeth Calderon.
Elizabeth Calderon, ecalderongarcia@rcsdk8.net
Nick Fanourgiakis, nfanourgiakis@rcsdk8.net
Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
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Annual Mandarin Speech Contest
CLTAC 47th Annual Mandarin Speech Contest.
Kennedy MI students worked hard outside the classroom to write, edit, memorize and record their speeches in February. These students did an awesome job. Thank you families, students and Ms. Cao for all your work building the MI program at Kennedy.
Below is a link to their speeches!
Tiernan - Laoshi learning Chinese
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Kennedy Middle School Redwood City