Hardy Elementary Newsletter

Fifth Grade students welcome visitors for a writing celebration on Wednesday. Students demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of the rainforest and the characters in the The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. Our students' writing was truly impressive. Additionally, they engaged with visitors answering questions about their writing, the text, and the rainforest.

Our educator run assembly committee has planned this event. Students are invited to dress as their favorite book character on March 27th. The below message is from the assembly committee:

To ring in Literacy Month, we will be celebrating at our whole school assembly on Thursday March 27th at 8:30am by dressing up as our favorite Book Characters! Kids are encouraged to get creative in representing their favorite character (headbands, props, nametags, etc).

Progress Reports will be live in PowerSchool on March 28th by the end of the school day.

We are providing these dates in advance in hopes that students will get some solid sleep, have some breakfast and arrive on time to school on MCAS days. Testing will begin promptly at 8:45. Students who arrive after 8:45 on their assigned testing days will test on a make up day.

Students in grades 3, 4, and 5 will take MCAS on the following dates:

Grade 3

English Language Arts: 4/7 & 4/10

Math: 5/5 & 5/8

Grade 4

English Language Arts: 3/24 & 3/25

Math: 4/29 & 5/1

Grade 5

English Language Arts: 4/1 & 4/3

Science Technology Engineering: 5/12 & 5/13

Math: 5/19 & 5/20

Peggy Tsatsoulis is the MCAS coordinator for the Hardy School this year.

We have several upcoming field trips. We are grateful for PTO funding for these enrichment opportunities.

Kindergarten - Robot Visit at Hardy, April 4th

Grade 1 - Stone Zoo, April 14th

School Wide - Animal Adventure Assembly at Hardy

Grade 5 - Edward M. Kennedy Institute, May 1st

Grade 3, Connors and Gregg - Jason Russell House, May 15th

Grade 3, Doherty and Vecchione - Jason Russell House, May 16th

Grade 2 - Museum of Science - May 16th

Grade 5 - Boston Duck Tours - June 5th

Please join us for the Hardy Art Show on Wednesday, 16th. Student Art Work will be displayed along the ground floor hallway. Three dimensional art work will be displayed on the top floor.

Chorus Concert - Tuesday, May 20th, 6-7 p.m.

Whole School Concert - Friday, May 23rd, 9-11 a.m.

This flyer is available at Mass.gov. It includes information that educators may reference to protect student rights at school. This flyer is for families, and it includes information about student rights regarding access to education and protection of information.

An excerpt from the family flyer is below:

Under federal law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), school districts cannot disclose to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents personally identifiable information about students and their families without a parent or guardian’s specific, informed consent or a judicial order. Schools cannot provide ICE access to your child while in school without a judicial warrant. A judicial warrant is different from an administrative warrant from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security. A judicial warrant must be signed by a judge or court magistrate. Parents and families may opt out of including some or all of their child’s information in the school directory at any time during the school year. Find out the categories of information that are included in your school’s directory. Ask about your school’s policies on sharing directory information with third parties.

If you have any concerns or questions, please reach out to Mary Bellerose to set up an appointment with Gretchen Saunders.

The Hardy School Council met on Thursday morning. We discussed designing multiple opportunities to engage with families and receive feedback on the Hardy School experience. We will work on designing a survey and opportunities for meetings with family that will inform our approaches for the next school year. School Council will meet one more time to review our progress on our School Improvement Plan.

Lost and Found: please stop by to look through. Here’s the link to view pictures.

The next PTO meeting will be on April 9th from 6:30-8 p.m. More information may be found on the PTO web site.

I hope to see many caregivers at the Hardy Centennial Silent Auction at Donut Villa. Proceeds will support teacher wishlists and the Hardy School.

Check out the Hardy PTO Website for information on how you can join PTO, support the Hardy School, find out about upcoming fun events.

Friday, April 18th - Good Friday

Monday-Friday, April 21st - 25th - April Break

Monday, May 26th - Memorial Day

Principal: Gretchen Saunders - gsaunders@arlington.k12.ma.us

Assistant Principal: Peggy Tsatsoulis - ptsatsoulis@arlington.k12.ma.us

Administrative Assistant: Mary Bellerose -mbellerose@arlington.k12.ma.us

Main Office Number - 781-316-3783