Week 3: 09/06/21 – 09/10/21

“Schools are not buildings, curriculums, and machines.
Schools are relationships and interactions among people.”

I hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing and enjoyable weekend with friends and family. Here’s our week at a glance:

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, September 6th
NO SCHOOL – LABOR DAY

Tuesday, September 7th
MAP Testing Begins <–click for schedule
Crisis Go – Refresher Training (for those who want it) @ 2:50pm (Cafeteria)
New Teacher/Mentor Meeting @ 4:00pm (3rd Grade Project Space)

Wednesday, September 8th
CPT Meetings

Thursday, September 9th

Friday, September 10th

Week 2: 08/30/21 – 09/03/21

What a great first week (technically 4 days) at Kennedy! Despite the few tears, the smiles and laughs outweighed the few. I appreciate everyone’s help and extra care during arrival. Thank you to ALL staff for going the extra mile to help get our year off to an amazing start. Let’s keep that up this week, as well! This week, we welcome our littlest Kubbies! All extra hands on deck around 8:25am in the PreK hallway near Door 22!!!

As we prepare for our first full week with the students, I hope you will take a few quiet moments to put aside lesson planning, forget about your to-do list, and consider our purpose (as a school, and as individual educators). When we walk in on Monday morning, please remember that you are a difference maker! The small gestures you make to welcome students and show an interest in their lives will have an impact. This year, you will have opportunities to build confidence where it hasn’t existed, develop connections that have never been present, and generate hope with your students. Our classrooms are filled with little ones with a variety of needs, and it’s up to US to make sure they thrive! The only way for that to happen is to build a connection with each student. When we truly know them all as individuals, we can understand them as learners.

“Schools are not buildings, curriculums, and machines.
Schools are relationships and interactions among people.”

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, August 30th
1st Day of PreK

Tuesday, August 31st

Wednesday, September 1st

Thursday, September 2nd
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm

Friday, September 3rd
Bus Evacuation Drill

(09/06) NO SCHOOL – LABOR DAY

Week 38: 05/24/21 – 05/28/21

Congratulations on the completion of the 2020-2021 school year! 
No matter where you are today, be proud of what you’ve accomplished. Please accept our thanks for all the wonderful experiences you provided the children this year and your incredible FLEXIBILITY as we navigated each and every change this school year brought us.

Thank you for always making our Kubbies feel loved, safe, happy and for nurturing their growth. Thank you for being that constant source of LOVE and SUPPORT, even during these very scary, uncertain times. We are confident the children will never forget how you made them feel. They will never forget this time of their lives.

We look forward to our continued work together next year and we are confident that our collective staff will continue to keep our eyes on the children and support each other….we WILL get through this TOGETHER and be STRONGER as a result of our experiences.Have a wonderful summer. Enjoy your time with those you love. You certainly deserve it!

The 20-21 school year — love it, hate it or indifferent to it — should provide us with some critical reflection opportunities. If we’re only using our own experiences to reflect, we’re missing out on hearing students’ voices. What has their experience been like being back in the building? Students provide some of the most insightful observations we need to grow as educators. The questions below are perfect for the last week of school — or generate your own! But before the week is over, I encourage you to engage with your students and get some feedback on what they liked/disliked about being back in the building post-pandemic!

When you were remote learning from home, what did you miss most about being at Kennedy?
What was the hardest thing about remote learning?
What was your favorite thing about remote learning?
What’s your favorite thing about being back in the building?
What new COVID “rules” do you like and want to stay when school resumes in August?
What COVID “rules” do you not like and wish would go away in August?

Keep in mind, the end of the year is not always happy for some of our students, whose only security and love comes from US. Thank you in advance for loving the students and reassuring them that we love them and can’t wait to see them again soon!

For those of you moving on to new adventures, remember that you’re only as good as your last exit…….and for those of us returning, know that students remember the educators that we are the last week of school…..so let’s make sure they remember the best of what we have to offer!!!!!

Here’s our FINAL week at a glance for the 20-21 school year:

Monday, May 24th
V – Video Day
8th Grade Graduation (6:00pm & 7:30pm) Congrats to our 8th grade graduates!

Tuesday, May 25th
W – Walk Day
Fly Up Day @ Kennedy (1:30pm)

Wednesday, May 26th
X – eXchange Day
Last Day for PreK Students (regular day)

Thursday, May 27th
Y – Year End Cleaning
Kindergarten Graduation Celebrations (8:30am, 9:15am, and 10:00am)
PreK Screenings

Friday, May 28th
Z – Zoom Out Day
PreK Screenings
Last Day of School for K-3 Students
1/2 Day: Dismissal at 10:55am
Kindergarten Screenings (afternoon)
Happy Birthday Jaime Takagi 🙂

(05/30) Happy Birthday Tanya Disheva 🙂
(05/31) NO SCHOOL: MEMORIAL DAY

Monday, June 1st
Teacher Institute Day –
PreK Screenings

Week 37: 05/17/21 – 05/21/21

You’ve almost reached the end of the 2020-2021 school year! Remember how this year started? Remember where we were last July? August? September?

We have so much to be grateful for! The school year held so many unknowns. It seems like SO LONG ago ……

Impossible guidelines and insane measures to be as “normal” as possible in the midst of a global pandemic while trying to teach our students, care for our own families, and survive.

We are here. May 17th, 2021.
2 more weeks of school with this group of amazing Kubbies.
And here you are.

Let’s keep going! We’ve got this!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, May 17th
Q- Quiet Day
Aimsweb Benchmarking Begins

Tuesday, May 18th
R – Reading Day

Wednesday, May 19th
S – Sports Day

Thursday, May 20th
Happy Birthday Kimi Klein 🙂
T – Teacher Day

Friday, May 21st
5 Positive Connections by Friday!
U – Under Day

Week 36: 05/10/21 – 05/14/21

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, May 10th
“L” – Write a letter to someone

Tuesday, May 11th
Faculty Meeting (7:20am – Kennedy Cafeteria)
Happy Birthday Alena Craft 🙂
“M” – Music Day

Wednesday, May 12th
CPT Meetings
“N” – Wear Neon Colors

Thursday, May 13th
Happy Birthday John Grobe 🙂
“O” – Outside Day

Friday, May 14th
5 by Friday! Keep making those positive connections with families!
“P” – Pajama Day for kids…… but also
*Surprising our parents with donuts at DROP OFF.
ALL HANDS ON DECK @ 7:30am – meet by the lobby couch!

Week 35: 05/03/21 – 05/07/21

To All the Tired Educators via Pernille Ripp

Because what happened in the past year in education is so much bigger than just learning content. Is so much bigger than just one singular experience. It is about community. About innovating through unforeseen obstacles. About a relentless pursuit of connection, of seeing our own mistakes not as places to rest but places to grow. Of knowing that you did the best you could and that what we did mattered, that what you did mattered.

So celebrate these last few weeks. Revel in the kids and their amazing fortitude. Cherish the times that you still get to have with these incredible kids that you got to call yours for a while. And rest. Rest in the knowledge that you did it. That you worked through it. That you learned lessons you will use for the rest of your teaching career. Rest in the knowledge that there will be more learning and growing in years to come and that we did not get lost, we instead found a new path that we had to forge together and that the content and the skills is still on our path. We may just need a new way to get there.

We hope you all have a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week. You have worked your tails off & then some. You’ve emptied your tank physically & emotionally. You didn’t waiver & you were there for every single child. Thank you for TURNING UP and NEVER GIViNG UP! Each day this week, Donna, Sara & I will be celebrating you…. be sure to stop by your mailboxes and/or the lounge! On Friday, we’d love to treat you all to a Panera boxed lunch, too. Please fill out this Google Form by the end of the day tomorrow!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, May 3rd

Tuesday, May 4th
Happy Birthday Abby Domingo

Wednesday, May 5th
CPT Meetings

Thursday, May 6th
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm (Conference Room)

Friday, May 7th

(05/08) Happy Birthday Jen Mauck 🙂

Week 34: 04/26/21 – 04/30/21

April is Autism Acceptance Month! Kristin shared this link she created that includes two slides filled with tons of resources! Please take some time this week to look through it and use it to facilitate discussions with your students about accepting friends, no matter their differences.

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 26th
“B” – Beach Day

Tuesday, April 27th
“C” – Compliment Day

Wednesday, April 28th
“D” – Dark Day (do an activity with lights out)

Thursday, April 29th
“E” – Exercise Day

Friday, April 30th
“F” – Wear your Favorite Color Day
Vision & Hearing (2nd Grade & SPED students)

(05/02) SP Baseball Opening Day

Week 33: 04/19/21 – 04/23/21

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 19th
Happy Birthday Chris Gonzalez 🙂

Tuesday, April 20th

Wednesday, April 21st
Remind families about the early release Wednesday dismissal time (1:50pm)
CPT Meetings
Happy Birthday Anna Kaminska 🙂 (yellow bus driver)
Happy Administrative Professionals’ Day, Eva, Sue & Mirta

Thursday, April 22nd
Earth Day

Friday, April 23rd
ABC Countdown Begins!

Week 32: 04/12/21 – 04/16/21

BIG week ahead! We can’t wait to welcome an additional 70 Kubbies back to our schoolhouse this week and for five full days! Thank you for being patient with us as we continued to move furniture in and out of your rooms and made roster changes … sometimes daily! We are ready for this week ahead and we know you are too! We have 7 more Mondays and 35 more days with our Kubbies to make an impact! What you do each day matters greatly. Thank you for always connecting with your students and making each minute with them memorable, engaging and purposeful!

SPECIAL THANK YOU’S TO…..

John, Andy, Todd, Jimmy, Zach & Alberto for helping move the furniture in and out of the rooms … sometimes several times … to get each classroom configuration perfect for the number of students!

Thank you to Cindy, Chris, Maria, Marta and Betty for working extra hard to prepare for our students’ return to the cafe! You’ve worked so hard delivering lunches daily to the classrooms & I know this upcoming week will be a big change in how the cafe usually runs. We are grateful for your teamwork and filling the bellies of our Kubbies so they’re ready to learn and grow!

Anna & Jeanne have been nurse rockstars — handling the daily aches and ailments of our students, while communicating with parents of those staying home with ailments — and contact tracing LIKE A BOSS! Thank you for approaching each day with a positive attitude and a calm presence.

Thank you Kennedy family for embracing this final change to our schedules with enthusiasm. Thank you for seeing these next 35 full days of school as an OPPORTUNITY to do amazing things with your students! You’re remarkable.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to Eva, Sue & Mirta for your timely, calm communication with everyone. Thank you for keeping us all in the loop every time a parent changes their mind, requests a transportation change, etc. Thank you!!!!

Please know that Donna, Sara and I are a text away! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if anyone needs anything! We are here to support you and the students. Good luck this week, everyone! YOU’VE GOT THIS!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 12th
Full Days of School Resume (7:55am-2:30pm)

Tuesday, April 13th

Wednesday, April 14th
Early Release – CPT Meetings @ 2:00pm for all teams (2:15pm for PreK)

Thursday, April 15th

Friday, April 16th
5 by Friday! Keep making those positive connections with parents!

(04/17) Washington School Groundbreaking Ceremony @ 1:30pm

Week 31: 04/05/21 – 04/09/21

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 5th
NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, April 6th
Teacher Institute Day – NO STUDENT ATTENDANCE
Agenda

Wednesday, April 7th
School Resumes for Students
Happy Birthday Beata Dering 🙂
Happy Birthday Ivanka Ananieva 🙂
Happy Birthday Mirta Cruz 🙂

Thursday, April 8th
Happy Birthday Sharon Muntova 🙂

Friday, April 9th
5 Positive Connections by Friday!

(04/12) – Students resume Full Days