Kennedy Cougars

Dear Kennedy Families and Caregivers,

It's hard to believe that we are into the last week of September. Before we know it, costumes will be out and holiday decorations will flood the stores. I don't think I'm quite ready for that just yet.

Open House for grades 5 and 6 was a HUGE success. It was wonderful to see so many families and caregivers in person in our spaces, listening to presentations, asking questions and enjoying a night out to share in our school. Thank you for coming to our event and thank you for sharing your students with us. We are lucky to play a part in their education journey. We look forward to spending an evening with grade 7 and 8 families next Thursday, October 6th!

Along with all our amazing clubs, Kennedy sports is in high gear. I just made the last play of the girls volleyball game on Thursday as they beat Needham (see picture below). Congratulations to the team, Coach Stevens, and Coach Kelly for a great start. #gocougars! Here are more details of sports this past week:

• Girls volleyball defeated Needham 1-2-1
• Girls volleyball defeated Needham 2-3-0
• Field hockey lost to Wellesley 0-1
• Field hockey tied Wilson 1-1
• Boys cross country defeated Needham 20-39
• Girls cross country lost to Needham 19-40

We are looking forward to a FAB-U-LOUS Fall athletic season.

Warm regards,

Jodie Cohen, Principal

Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick

Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick

1 - 5th Grade Vision Screenings are coming to the clinic this October

Kennedy school nurses will be conducting mandated distance vision screenings for all 5th graders in the first two weeks of October. Here is the link to the KMS Parent Notification Letter for Vision Screenings.

2 - Paper online tutoring information for families

Here are a few ways Paper can support you and your students this school year:

• Unlimited 24/7/365 tutoring support — sessions can run for as long as students need!

• Revisions for any typed writing assignments in 24 hours or less!

• Tutoring and writing support in 4 different languages — English, Spanish, French and Mandarin.

To learn more about Paper visit The parent & guardian’s guide to implementing Paper at home. Here you will be able to register for an upcoming parent & guardian info session, available in both English and Spanish, and find resources on how to get started with using Paper with your students right away! If you’d like to speak to a member of the Paper team directly, you can reach them at parents@paper.co

3 - Kennedy Middle School #HASHTAG submission form

Kennedy is looking for that PERFECT hashtag that says who we are and will help us brand our school going forward on all our platforms. If you have a suggestion, please fill out this form to submit your suggestion. Directions on how to submit are on the form. For those students and staff who have already submitted suggestions - THANK YOU! They are awesome!!! Let's keep the suggestions coming in. Anyone in our community may submit - parents, caregivers, students, teachers, staff members, EVERYONE!!! Give it go and submit TODAY!

4 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar

• Wednesday, October 5: No School, Yom Kippur
• Thursday, October 6: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:30 - 8:00pm)
• Thursday, October 20: Picture Day
• Wednesday, October 26: Professional Half Day
• Thursday, November 10: Kennedy annual Veterans Day Breakfast
• Friday, November 11: No School, Veterans Day

5 - **NEW** Staff member of the week - Lacey Kirstein - Reading Interventionist

Lacey Kirstein joined our stellar Reading/Math Specialist team this week as a reading interventionist here at Kennedy Middle School. Below is a little blurb that Lacey wrote to introduce herself to the community:

"My name is Lacey Kirstein and I will be joining the Kennedy Middle School team as a reading interventionist. I am a graduate of Millersville with a BA in social services. I recently graduated from Arcadia University with my Masters in Education of reading and a reading specialist certification. I have spent the last nine and a half years employed with Hatboro-Horsham school district as a teacher's assistant and head teacher for preschool. I am so excited for this opportunity and look forward to meeting everyone!"

We are THRILLED to have you with us, Lacey. Welcome aboard!!

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