Kennedy Cougars

Dear Kennedy Families and Caregivers,

Big shout out to Kennedy's PTO for providing a wonderful and delicious Valentine's buffet for our teachers this past Tuesday. Thank you for all you do for our community. We would be lost without you!

This week at school has been a blast. Here at school we had two pep rallies - one for grades 5&6 and one for grades 7&8. Teachers were wrapped in toilet paper for a mummy wrap contest. Uniquely engineered airplanes were flown in our airplane competition. Specialty chorus and the cast from Sponge Bob - The Musical performed. Lots of good old fashioned FUN was had by all. That was followed by our Hoopla faculty game. Today we have winter carnival in grade 8 and 100th day celebrations in grade 5. It's wonderful to see the smiles on the kids faces as we glide into February break!! (see below for pics of this week below)

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.

No gum in school:

Please remind your child(ren) to leave gum at home. We are finding an increased amount of gum stuck to furniture around the building. Gum is not allowed at school. Let's all do our part to keep our beautiful, new building gum free going forward. Thank you!

Coin Drive to support Ukraine:

The Coin Drive to support the United Nations Children's Fund/Ukraine has begun. Students are bringing in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars to support the continued need of Ukraine. All money goes to fund basic needs of children in that country. As you look around Kennedy, you will see many sunflowers adorning the windows as a sign of support. We are also running grade level competitions matching homeroom against homeroom. The homeroom with the most money collected will be designated the winner. In 6th grade math class, students are using the daily data from from the competition to practice up on their percent skills.

Panorama Survey Information:

Natick Public Schools has partnered with Panorama Education to survey families about experiences and perceptions at your child’s school. Please note that this year, you will be able to complete a survey for each child in your household. Responses remain completely confidential, which means no one will see your individual responses.

The results of this survey help school administrators better understand the perceptions of families at your school. Survey data will be used by administrators to identify strengths and areas for growth.

The survey will be emailed to guardians during the day on Monday, Feb 13 and should be in your inbox by end of day. Look for an email from Panorama Education with personal links to a survey for each of your students. Emails could end up in SPAM so if you don't see one be sure to look in SPAM before calling your school with issues.

Upcoming Virtual Workshop - Navigating Teen Depression and Substance Use as a Family:

The relationship between depression and substance use is complicated, and even teenagers get caught in the tangle. Attend this virtual webinar to learn how caring adults can engage in prevention and treatment for adolescent substance use and depression. Register here to join the conversation!

(See picture below)

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

After break our school community will be focusing on the character strength of Kindness. Kindness means you are generous to others and you are never too busy to help out. You enjoy doing good deeds for other people.

Kindness is grounded in the belief of a common humanity in which others are worthy of care, attention, affection, and compassion. Kind people think about the needs and feelings of other people, and then act to help those people. Kind people are selfless. That is why a true act of kindness is distinct from helping another person in order to simply gain something for yourself. An individual with the strength of kindness helps others because it's’ the right thing to do, not because they expect any reciprocal treatment or gain in reputation.

To practice and encourage the character strength of kindness 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 kindness parent letter for this week's character strength.

Athletics Update:

Congrats to the middle school wrestling team who won first place out 36 teams and secured the second team sectional title in Natick Middle School Wrestling History.

The following wrestlers placed in their respective weight classes.

Michael Mortarelli placed 3rd

PJ Ventrone - placed 3rd

Will Magit - placed 4th

Max Mcdonald - placed 5th

Tate Sheriff - placed 5th

Angelo Macchiano - placed 8th

Dominic Jacobs - placed 2nd

Eddie Ventrone - placed 6th

Jaxon Leach - placed 7th

Frankie Macchiano - placed 8th

Congrats to the all the wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament this weekend!

Boys Basketball defeated Bigelow MS 57-47

Congrats to the boys on finishing 9-1 on the season, including winning 9 straight!

Girls Basketball defeated Bieglow MS 46-13

Congrats to the girls on finishing the season UNDEFEATED! They finished with a record of 10-0!

The boys and girls basketball teams finished their season with a combined record 19-1!

Congrats to the staff on winning the HOOPLA (staff vs. student bball game) 71-67. Very close game.

Enjoy the Spring-like weather this weekend!

Regards,

Jodie Cohen, Principal

“It takes courage to be kind."

~ Maya Angelou

Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick

Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick

#weR1Kennedy

#hearusROAR

#cougarpride
#positivityinaction

1 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar

• February Vacation - Monday, February 20th - Friday, February 24th - no school
• Faculty Meeting - Monday, March 6th - No afternoon clubs or activities
• 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

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