Husky Highlight

Para traduzir este boletim, clique nele e use o link à direita. (Portuguese)

Para traducir este boletín, haga clic en él y luego use el enlace a la derecha (Spanish)

لترجمة هذه الرسالة من المدرسة ، اضغط عليها ثم استخدم الرابط الموجود على اليمين. (Arabic)

Այս տեղեկագիրը թարգմանելու համար կտտացրեք այն, ապա օգտագործեք աջ կողմում գտնվող հղումը: (Armenian)

Чтобы перевести этот бюллетень, нажмите на него, затем воспользуйтесь ссылкой справа. (Russian)

Bu bülteni çevirmek için üzerine tıklayın ve ardından sağdaki bağlantıyı kullanın (Turkish)

Greetings, Hosmer Families,

Happy snowy Saturday!

New Year Goal Refresh

When you visit our building you will see the an amazing display of student goals for the New Year! Across all grades, students spent time revisiting their Hopes & Dreams for the year and refreshing their goals for the rest of the school year. I've attached some photo's below. Ask your child what goal they set, why they set it, and what steps they are going to take to reach it.

Assessments

Our Multilingual Learners have done a fantastic job over four mornings of testing this week! I'm also seeing some really nice progress in our DIBELS midyear reading data. Go, Hosmer Huskie! This week everyone will take iReady Reading test on Wednesday and the Math test on Thursday. Let's keep up the good work!across the school on January 15th and 16th.

ParentSquare APP

This week you will received information to sign-up for ParentSquare, our new family communication platform. More information is below in a note from Dr. Galdston. We have already started using this, which is how we have sent text messages this year. By registering, you can update your settings so that you can sign permission slips, sign-up for events, etc. It's an amazing platform that will streamline much of our communication and will translate into more languages. Thursday morning from 8:45-9:15, members of our Digital Learning department will be on hand to assist families with sign-up. Feel free to come by if you'd like help.

Movie Night Thank You

Thank you for supporting the PTO by attending the movie night last night. We had a very impressive turn-out and will be looking to make some shifts to next years event to accommodate so many people.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our wonderful school and community.

With a grateful heart,

Ms. Moulton, Principal

• Tuesday, January 7th - Tuesday, January 14th - ACCESS Testing, English Language Learners
• Tuesday, January 7th - Tuesday, January 14th - DIBELS Reading Assessment & Math Screener - All students
• Wednesday, January 15th - iReady Reading Assessment, k-5
• Thursday, January 16th - iReady Math Assessment, k-5
• Thursday, January 16th - ParentSquare Help Session for families 8:45-9:15am
• Monday, January 20th - NO SCHOOL- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Thursday & Friday, January 23rd & 24th - Upstander Training, Grades 4 and 5
• Friday, January 31st - WINTER WARMER!
• Friday, January 31st - Report Cards to be Sent Home with Students

Online registration for Watertown Community Education's 2025 February Vacation Program - Detective Week, being held at the Hosmer Elementary School, opens at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, January 14th! Spaces are limited, please register early. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Click the link to the 2025 February Vacation Week Program Smore Flyer for full details including cost, dates, daily sub-themes, and to access the online Google Form registration link https://secure.smore.com/n/q6cfuz.

Please reach out to Debi Cornelius at debora.cornelius@watertown.k12.ma.us and Jeff Bodner at jeffrey.bodner@watertown.k12.ma.us with any questions regarding the 2025 February Vacation Program.

Hello WPS community,

We are very excited to announce the launch of our brand new school-to-family communications platform: ParentSquare.

ParentSquare is an app and online portal that provides families with a new way to stay connected with your student’s school. This platform will contain all school-related information and notifications in one convenient location.

ParentSquare offers a number of features, including:

• Alerts: School-wide announcements and notifications sent directly to your phone.

• Two-way communication: Parents can send and receive direct messages with teachers and administrators.

• Participation and sign-up capabilities: RSVP for events, schedule conferences, permission slips, and more.

• Secure document delivery: safely and securely receive student-related documents and information.

An email has been sent to you with sign-up information. ParentSquare will be one of the primary forms of communication between your child’s school and you, so it is important that you complete this sign-up.

The sign-up information is also included below.

To sign up for ParentSquare:

1. Download the free ParentSquare app for iOS or Android (available in the App Store or Google Play)

2. Login with your email or phone number registered with Watertown Public Schools

3. Begin exploring the ParentSquare app!

When you are successfully signed up for ParentSquare, please select two key preferences to ensure a smooth user experience.

• Under your account settings, please select your language preferences
• ParentSquare offers more than 100 language options
• Under your account settings, please select your notification preferences
• Select whether you would like to receive non-urgent ParentSquare notifications via email, text, and the ParentSquare app.
• The ParentSquare app also offers two notification settings: instant and digest.
• The instant setting will send you a notification whenever a post is made on ParentSquare
• The digest setting will send you a once-a-day notification gathering all the day’s posts on ParentSquare
• Please note that any urgent notifications will be sent to your phone regardless of your notification preferences.

Staff are ready, willing, and able to help you get started with ParentSquare! We will be holding in-person ParentSquare support events at all three elementary schools this month, in addition to a virtual support session

Cunniff: Friday, January 17th 8-9 am

Hosmer: Thursday, January 16th 8:45-9:15 am

Lowell: Monday, January 13th 8- 9 am

Zoom: Monday, January 13th 6-7:30 pm Zoom Link

All of us at Watertown Public Schools are excited to launch this new platform. Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions.

Thank you,

Dede Galdston, Superintendent of Schools

We are very excited to welcome students, parents/families to the Early Steps Early Childhood Center. While our Preschool and PreKindergarten (PreK) share the goal of preparing 3-5 year olds for kindergarten, more importantly, the experience helps shape students’ view of themselves as successful learners and playful partners, and to realize their individual value within our school community. The fine staff at Early Steps have created a thoughtful, student-centered environment. A few documents to help you learn about Early Steps and upcoming important dates include:

1. Here is the Early Steps Mid-Year Updates presentation from the January 6, 2025 School Committee Meeting. We will present and explain details at the January 14th Early Steps PreK & Preschool Virtual Information Night.

2. Please click this link to read our Early Steps most recent newsletter housing Preschool/PreK information for your planning purposes, including:

• Tuesday, January 14 - Early Steps PreK & Preschool Virtual Information Night:

• Pre Kindergarten (PreK) + Plus Extended Day Information 6:00 - 6:30 ~ Click this Link to Join Zoom Meeting; Student turns 4 by August 31, 2025

• *Preschool 6:30 - 7:00 ~ Click this Link to Join Zoom Meeting; Student turns 3 by August 31, 2025; *Some students are identified with needs during the school year as they turn 3.

• Wednesday, January 22 - Early Steps In-Person Visiting Day @1 Concord St. Watertown ~ 2:45 - 3:45 PM (for parents/guardians of prospective students entering Preschool or PreK in the fall of 2025)

3. Please enjoy the Early Steps Brochure providing more information.

After the January 14th Virtual Information Night on Zoom, if you have further questions, please contact my Admin Assistant, Tricia D’Amelio @ tricia.damelio@watertown.k12.ma.us for assistance.

Hello Hosmer families!

Thank you so much to everyone who attended movie night, and all of the volunteers who helped us to run the event!

Save the Date: February PTO meeting

The February PTO meeting will be Tuesday, February 11 at 6:30pm in the Learning Commons. We are very excited for our February guest speaker, Dr. Deanne Galdston, Superintendent of Watertown Public Schools. This meeting will be a great opportunity to hear from Dr. Galdston and engage with her directly - we hope to see you there!

Get your ticket at https://watertownunitybreakfast.eventbrite.com

World in Watertown is thrilled to invite you to the 25th annual Watertown Unity Breakfast on January 20, 2025 from 8:30-11am!

This year will be in-person at the Hellenic Cultural Center, 25 Bigelow Ave, Watertown.

A hot breakfast from Wicked Bagel will be served at 8:30 am followed by music, roundtable conversations, student essays, and the presentation of the Unity Award.

Every year, the community in Watertown, Massachusetts, comes together on Martin Luther King Day to honor his life and civil right legacy by recommitting to foundational principles of racial, social and economic justice.

All ages are welcome to attend the event! The suggested donation for adult attendees is $10-$25. Youth 18 and under and those experiencing financial difficulty are welcome to attend for free.

Childcare is available for children 2-10 years of age. Please register for childcare as an "add-on." Children are also welcome to attend the main program.

ASL interpretation and CART will be available, sponsored by the Watertown Disability Commission. To request additional accommodations, email worldinwatertowncity@gmail.com.

The Watertown Unity Breakfast is run by World in Watertown and sponsors this year include the Watertown Community Foundation, Watertown Savings Bank, and Point32Health Foundation. Special thanks to the Taxiarchae/Archangels Greek Orthodox Church for the use of their community space and to Wicked Bagel for providing breakfast.

We are excited to be gathering together and celebrating our community. Get more information and watch videos of previous year’s at unitybreakfast.org.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Public School Monitoring (PSM) will conduct an Integrated Monitoring Review of Watertown Public Schools during the week of January 20, 2025. Each school district, charter school, vocational school, and virtual school undergoes an Integrated Monitoring Review every three years. The areas addressed during an Integrated Monitoring Review are organized into two groups, known as Group A Universal Standards and Group B Universal Standards.

Watertown Public Schools will be undergoing a Group A monitoring review that focuses on special education student identification and special education eligibility timelines; Individualized Education Program (IEP) development; programming and support services; procedural requirements for suspensions and equal opportunity.

The process includes interviews with district staff and administrators, a review of student records, policies and procedures, and school building visits. The process may also include parent/caregiver, student and teacher focus group meetings to gather additional information. Interpretation will be provided, if needed.

The Department will send a parent survey, in multiple languages and formats, as needed, to parents /guardians of special education students to gather key information on the special education processes and procedures.

Parents/guardians and other stakeholders may call Talia Higginbotham, Monitoring Review Chairperson, at (781) 338- 3763 to request a telephone interview. If anyone requires an accommodation, such as translation, to participate in an interview, the Department will make the necessary arrangements.

Within approximately 60 business days after the onsite visit, the review chairperson will provide the district with a report that includes information on further actions that may be required. The public can access the report at https://www.doe.mass.edu/psm/tfm/default.html.

The Watertown Free Public Library is seeking community input to guide their 2026–28 Strategic Plan, and all community members are invited to participate in the Library's 2025 user survey! The Watertown Library would love to hear from you and your input is greatly valued! The survey is made available online in English, Portguguese, and Spanish. Paper surveys in English, Español, Português, Kreyol Ayisyen, Русский, 自行车, and العربية are available at the Library’s first floor Circulation Desk. The Library appreciates your participation in helping guide its future!

Find the survey at watertownlib.org/survey.

All 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students will take MCAS on the following dates. PLEASE ensure that students are in school on these days and avoid scheduling trips and appointments.

ELA - 3rd, 4th and 5th grade

• Tuesday, April 1
• Wednesday, April 2

When your child will be absent from school, please complete this Google Form. This is reviewed daily by office staff to ensure that students are safe and accounted for.

Website: www.watertown.k12.ma.us/hosmer
Location: 1 Concord Road, Watertown, MA, USA
Phone: 617-926-7740

Nurses Direct Line: 617-926-7751
Twitter: @HosmerSchool