Kennedy Cougars

I want to take this opportunity to welcome you to our brand new platform for school to community communication. S'more is yet another amazing way that we can keep our families up to date on what is happening here at Kennedy Middle School. Each week, I will be sending home a link, via the district message, for you to connect with our community newsletter. In this newsletter I will be sharing upcoming events, summaries and snip-its about what is going on in classrooms and around school, and highlighting the amazing staff and students who breathe life into our fabulous building. In addition to this newsletter, I will be showcasing and sharing more of what's going on at Kennedy through our various social media platforms - twitter @kennedyMSNatick and Instagram @kennedymsnatick. If you have time, connect and follow us via all our social media platforms. I'm looking forward to sharing our Kennedy Cougar community with you.

This week we have been busy meeting and training our new staff, working together with our Wilson Middle School leadership partners to set the stage for our job alike leadership across the district, and meeting with our building based Team and PLC Leaders to set the stage for our year ahead. We are excited to meet our students, dive into our fabulous curriculum, and share our 2022-23 school year in partnership with you. I can't wait until our students arrive next week.

Enjoy the last few days of summer break.

Warm regards,

Jodie

1 - KENNEDY WEBSITE - check it out!

Our Kennedy Website is a wealth of information. We will be posting this newsletter weekly on the site. Check back there to view current and past newsletters. Our website has other important information such as a list of teams, by grade, supply lists, daily announcements in school, information about clubs, transportation, lunch menus, and more. Take a look and browse our Kennedy Middle School Website.

2 - QUICK REMINDER for first day of school

Our first day of school with students will be Wednesday, August 31st. We are VERY excited to welcome all our returning and new students to school!

3 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar

• Wednesday, August 31: First Day of School

• Monday, September 5: No School (Labor Day)
• Monday, September 12: First day of late buses and extra-curricular activities/sports
• Wednesday, September 21: Early Release, Dismissal at 11:30 am
• Monday, September 26: No School- Rosh Hashanah
• Thursday, September 29: Grade 5 & 6 Open House (6:30 - 8:00pm)
• Wednesday, October 5: No School Yom Kippur
• Thursday, October 6: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:30 - 8:00pm)

4 - TEACHER WEBSITES

Don't forget that all teachers of Natick Public Schools keep a website landing page. Our teacher websites can be found by grade level linked to our Kennedy Website under the TEAMS tab.

5 - PREVIOUS BACK TO SCHOOL NEWSLETTER LINK

Here is the link to the Summer Back to School Newsletter that was sent last week. Please see this letter for important back to school information.

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. 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