Kennedy Cougars
Your Weekly Update from Kennedy Middle School
Principal's Message
As the leaves start to turn....
Kennedy's first open house went really well. It was a pleasure seeing all the families eager to learn about their students and their experience in school. I was thrilled to see the smiles on the teachers as they explained their curriculum and the wonderful questions the families had about their child's experiences at Kennedy. Thank you to everyone who attended our grade 5 and 6 evening. We are looking forward to welcoming our grades 7 and 8 families next week.
Attention grade 8 families - Upcoming event at Keefe Tech High School:
Annual Field Trip to Keefe Tech - November 9th
The annual 8th grade field trip to Keefe Tech is scheduled for Thursday, November 9th. The field trip permission form will be passed out to your child in their homeroom early next week. Please complete the Parent/Guardian section and have your child return the form to their homeroom teacher by Friday, October 13th.
Keefe Tech Informational Presentation for Students - October 18th
On October 18th, Keefe Tech’s Director of Guidance/Admissions will be visiting Kennedy to give a brief informational presentation to 8th grade students. Students will then be choosing two programs that they would like to visit during their trip on November 9th.
If you're interested in learning more about Keefe Tech…
There will be a Family Night Open House for interested students and parents at Keefe Tech on Thursday, November 16th from 5:30-8:00pm. Please visit their website for more information.
Mr. Heller, our 8th grade guidance counselor, is available to answer any questions you may have about these events. Please email him at rheller@natickps.org
Kennedy Newsletter updates and where to find helpful information on our website:
Our biweekly Kennedy Newsletter will be sent out every other week this year in the district Engage communication every other week. Did you know, however, that our newsletter is accessible on our website in the NEWS section under the CURRENT tab? You might want to bookmark this page for further school notifications. Another helpful website page is the CLUBS AND SPORTS tab. On this page you will find everything extra-curricular going on at Kennedy. DAILY ANNOUNCEMENTS are also available on our website under the NEWS tab and are read each morning. You can click on this if you want to hear all that is shared at our building each morning.
Laps at Lunch information:
Laps at Lunch is trying something new this year. In the past we’ve asked for a weekly time slot commitment. This year we’ve set up time slots on a Sign-Up genius to get us through November. We’ll create additional sign-ups for Dec – Feb and March – June. Please sign up for the same weekly time slot if that works for you, or for individual times slots if that’s better. The link is below:
Please sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080448ABAD2EAAFF2-kennedy
Kennedy Athletics Update:
It's been a great week of sports this week. Here are the results:
Field hockey lost to Needham 2-0
Volleyball defeated Milton 2-1
Way to go Cougars!!
New from Spark Kindness: (see graphic below)
EVENT LISTING:
How to Prevent and Respond to Cyberbullying
October 3, 2023 at 7pm (via Zoom)
For parents, caregivers, educators, and community members
Expert Dr. Sameer Hinduja shares how parents/caregivers can address the ways youth are using and misusing their phones and other technology with a focus on tools to address cyberbullying, sexting, and unsafe social media practices. ASL, Portuguese, and Spanish language interpretation will be provided at this event. Learn more about this FREE program and register at www.SPARKKindness.org/programs
Kennedy Open Houses:
We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our Kennedy Open Houses coming up. Here is the information:
- Thursday, September 28: Grade 5 & 6 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)
- Thursday, October 5: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)
Each night will start in the auditorium with a few words from the administration (6:00-6:30pm), followed by teacher presentations (6:30 - 8:00). We hope you can make it!
Warm regards,
Jodie Cohen
Lucky Principal of Kennedy
"Connection is why we're here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives."
~ Brene Brown
Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick
Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick
website - kennedy.natickps.org
Girls Volleyball with the BIG "W"!!
Meet Jax, Kennedy's therapy dog
Letters written to Jax this week...
Check out these great pics from around school or on the fields this week...
FOUR Things You Need to Know
1 - Picture retake day
Picture day was a huge success! If you still would like to order pictures, it's not too late. Check out the information posted on our website for details on how to order HERE. If your child missed picture day, don't worry. Kennedy picture retake day has been scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd.
2 - Kennedy Middle School Student Handbook
Here is a link to our newly updated Kennedy Student Handbook. Please take some time to review this handbook with your students. It is chock full of helpful information about our school policies and procedures for students and caregivers.
3 - Sexual Education Health Notification Letter
Here is the LINK to the notification letter. For your convenience, the letter is translated at the top of the document.
4 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar
- Thursday, October 5: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)
Paper - On-Demand Tutoring
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.
Quick Links
Speak Up, Natick!
Send us your questions or ideas via Speak Up, Natick!
Bullying Incident Report
Use this form to report a bullying incident.
Student Support
PowerSchool Support
Technology Support
COVID-19 Updates
View the latest COVID-19 updates from NPS.