News to Use September 27, 2021

Dates to Remember

Cutler School Council Meeting                                                September 28

Coffee for New Families                                                            September 29

Friends of Cutler Zoom Meeting (7:30 pm)                          October 6

Indigenous Peoples Day No School                                        October 11

Family Movie Night                                                                   October 15

Parent-Teacher Conferences                                                   October 26 & November 2

School Picture Makeup Day                                                     November 2

Ice Breaker Night

It was wonderful to see so many families back in the school building for our Cutler Ice Breaker Night. We had a wonderful turnout and could feel such positive energy throughout the building. Thank you to the Friends of Cutler for providing the fabulous ice cream treats.

Cutler School Council

The first School Council meeting will be held this Tuesday from 11:15-12:30. A big thank you to Martha Farrell, Leah Guenther, and Eric Myers for joining Mary Adamik, Allison Goodchild, and Ed Kaufman on the council. Since the meetings are open, others can come as guests if they wish to. Please contact Ed if you are planning to join us.

Ice Breaker Night

Thanks to everyone who came out to Ice Breaker Night! It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces and connect with new and old friends. Here are some FOC updates:

For New to Cutler School Families

Please join us for a New Family Coffee on Wednesday, September 29 at 9am. It will be held outside at the gazebo on the back playground. Come meet our school principals, Rebecca Butler and Ed Kaufman, and learn more about our Cutler community. Coffee and muffins will be provided by Friends of Cutler. We hope to see you there!

Last Call for Volunteers

The Friends of Cutler needs you! All of our events and committees at school are run by volunteers, and we would love to have you join us! Ther is something for everyone. It is a great chance to help the students, teachers, and to meet some new friends! Visit www.friendsofcutler.com and click on the banner on the home page to volunteer. Signups are extended until this Wednesday 9/29.

2021-2022 Elementary School Directory

Each year the Friends of Buker, Cutler, and Winthrop compile a school directory for your convenience. In order to be included, you must complete a new form every year. Once you complete the fields in this form, click on the "submit" button, and your information will be included in the 2021-2022 Elementary School Directory.

**Please click the "submit" button only ONCE**

Questions or concerns? Please contact Allie Moffett at asantalu2@gmail.com. Completion of this electronic form will constitute permission to include your information in the 2021-2022 Elementary School Directory. The directory is intended solely for the personal use of Hamilton-Wenham elementary school students and their families.

News to Use September 20, 2021

Dates to Remember

School Pictures                                                                            September 21

Icebreaker Night                                                                         September 22

Coffee for New Families                                                            September 29

Friends of Cutler Zoom Meeting                                             October 6

Indigenous Peoples Day No School                                        October 11

Parent-Teacher Conferences                                                    October 26 & November 2

School Pictures Tomorrow

As a reminder, school photos will be taken tomorrow, Tuesday, September 21. In addition to individual photos, class pictures will also be taken this year outside weather permitting.

Cutler School Council

The School Council is a part of every school in Massachusetts. It is a group made up of the building principal (in our case at least one), teachers, parents, and potentially community members. The School Council helps to draft the School Improvement Plan and identify the educational needs of the school. It can also serve as a sounding board for new initiatives. Our School Council has 3 spots available for family members.

The council meets 4 times per year (September, December, March, and May/June). We're looking to meet on Tuesdays from 11:15-12:30. The first meeting would be on Tuesday, September 28.

If you are interested in serving on the School Council, please let Ed Kaufman, Co-Interim Principal, e.kaufman@hwschools.net know by the afternoon of Tuesday, September 21. Please include your name and 3-5 sentences about how you would like to represent Cutler families. If w have more than three people interested, we will need to have an election and these blurbs will be a part of the ballot.

Partnerships with parents and the community are an important aspect of strong and compassionate school communities.

Please let Ed know if you have any questions.

Cutler Library

The Cutler Library needs a couple of people willing to help organize the library and shelve returned books. Open times are Tuesday 8:30-3:00. Just 20 minutes of your time would help our books be ready for our students to check out.

Also, it is never too late to return a library book! Please look at home for any Cutler books that can be returned. Please contact Mrs. Hebert, h.hebert@hwschools.net.

For New to Cutler School Families

Please join us for a New Family Coffee on Wednesday, September 29 at 9am. It will be held outside at the gazebo on the back playground. Come meet our school principals, Rebecca Butler and Ed Kaufman, and learn more about our Cutler community Coffee and muffins will be provided by Friends of Cutler. We hope to see you there!

Friends of Cutler Updates

We have made adjustments to the upcoming Friends of Cutler meetings and calendar. The Wednesday, September 15th meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, October 6th at 7:30 pm via Zoom. The Wednesday, October 20th meeting has been canceled (since we will be meeting in early October). Please join us on October 6th to hear from interim principals Rebecca Butler and Ed Kaufman as well as information about the Friends group and upcoming events.

Friends of Cutler Calendar

September 

Icebreaker Evening - Wednesday, 9/22  @ 5-7pm

School Store - TBD

New Family Coffee - Wednesday, 9/29 @ 9am outdoors @ Cutler Gazebo

October

Friends of Cutler Meeting - NEW DATE - Wednesday 10/6 @ 7:30 - VIRTUAL

Movie Night - Friday, 10/15 @ 5:30-7:30PM

School Store Week -TBD

Teacher/Staff Luncheon* (PT conference day) - Tuesday, 10/26

November

Ski, Skate, & Board Consignment Event - Saturday 11/20 & Sunday 11/21 (set up Fri 11/19)

School Store Week-TBD

Teacher/Staff Snack Cart - Tuesday, 11/23

December

Friends of Cutler Meeting- Wednesday, 12/1 @ 7:30 VIRTUAL

School Store Week- TBD

Teacher/Staff Cookie Swap - Tuesday, 12/21

2021-2022 Elementary School Directory

Each year the Friends of Buker, Cutler, and Winthrop compile a school directory for your convenience. In order to be included, you must complete a new form every year. Once you complete the fields in this form, click on the "submit" button, and your information will be included in the 2021-2022 Elementary School Directory.

**Please click the "submit" button only ONCE**

Questions or concerns? Please contact Allie Moffett at asantalu2@gmail.com. Completion of this electronic form will constitute permission to include your information in the 2021-2022 Elementary School Directory. The directory is intended solely for the personal use of Hamilton-Wenham elementary school students and their families.

News to Use September 13, 2021

Dates to Remember

School Pictures                                                                            September 21

Icebreaker Night                                                                         September 22

Coffee for New Families                                                             September 29

Friends of Cutler Zoom Meeting                                             October 6

Indigenous Peoples Day No School                                        October 11

Parent Teacher Conferences                                                     October 26 & November 2

Off and Running

The year is off to a great start.  Many were heard saying in the hallways and outdoors that everyone seemed so happy to be back.  Children have adapted smoothly to schedule adjustments or having lunch outdoors and indoors, depending on the weather.  Kindness, caring, and the joy of learning and making relationship connections have been modeled by the teachers, and the children have joined right in.  New students and staff are feeling welcomed.

Kindergarteners joined in this week and seamlessly transitioned.  Many had never taken a bus ride before, and now are experienced passengers.  They are making new friends, finding their w

Icebreaker Night

Ice Breaker evening is scheduled for September 22 which includes both parents and students.  All teachers will be in attendance and ready to greet students and their families in classrooms from 5-6:15pm. The classrooms will be open for all, with plenty of information to share about the upcoming year. After families visit the classrooms, popsicles will be available on the playground and all are welcome to stay to enjoy the social aspect of the evening. As usual, the popsicles are free and provided by the Friends of Cutler. We sincerely hope that every family will attend.

Arrival Reminders

We want to remind everyone that adult supervision begins on the playground at 8:15 in the morning. If driving your children to school in the morning, please wait until 8:15 to drop them off.

Dismissal Reminders

Car Pickup Procedures - We just want to remind everyone that we will continue to use a single car pickup line along the grass.  Teachers will load 4 cars at a time.  We are asking that each car have an 8.5 x 11 paper sign with the student(s) name to display in the front window.  If you have last year’s signs, please feel free to use them.  If not, we ask that you write your student's last name in a bold dark marker and include first name(s) under the last name so that we can see clearly.  This is very helpful for any teacher who may be helping at car pickup.  

Changes in Dismissal Plans - If your child has a change in their regular dismissal plans, please send a note to the classroom teacher in the morning whenever possible.  We understand that sometimes a change in dismissal plans will occur after the school day has started. In these situations, we ask that you do your best to let us know as early as possible in the day.  If writing an email, please send it to Salina Ponticelli, s.ponticelli@hwschools.net as teachers may not be able to check their emails regularly during the school day.

Buses - 

Please remember:

§  Adult supervision on the playground begins daily at 8:15 am.

§  School begins at 8:25 am.

§ Dismissal is at 2:57 pm. Wednesday dismissal is at 12:45 pm.

Health Office News

I’m reaching out to remind everyone about Weekly COVID Safety Checks starting up next week. This is the same as the pool testing we did last spring (just with a different name).

If you have not signed your child(ren) up for Weekly Safety Checks, you can do so here. Also, this is the letter the superintendent sent out a couple of weeks ago about the program. If you sign up and have multiple children in the district, you will need to complete the form for each child. 

I encourage all families to sign up. This is an important tool we must keep our kids and community safe. 

Additional COVID FAQs

Can my child opt out of Pooled Testing but still have access to the Rapid Antigen Test (for symptoms in school) and the Test and Stay program? 

While the state requires the consent form to present the three COVID testing strategies as a package, we will allow families to opt-out of a single strategy.  If you want to enroll in any part of the testing program, please complete this form and consent to participate in the program. To opt-out of a particular aspect of the program, such as Pooled Testing, please call the nurse at your child's school to let them know. We continue to encourage all students and staff to participate in our Pooled Testing program. This strategy is most effective when all community members partake to keep everyone safe and in school.

Mask Reminders

We would like to ask that students come to school with 1 or 2 extra masks in their backpacks in case a mask breaks or is misplaced.  Also, many students like to change their masks at lunch.     

News to Use, September 2, 2021

 Dates to Remember

Kindergarten Screenings                                                               September 2 and 7
Kindergarten Orientation                                                              September 8
First Day for Kindergarten                                                            September 9
Icebreaker Night                                                                              September 22, 5-7pm

We have had a wonderful first two days of school this week for grades one through five. It is so nice to have students and teachers back together in classrooms. We are looking forward to welcoming our kindergarten students next week.

New staff

We have a handful of new staff members joining us this year, and some familiar faces in new places! Salina Ponticelli is our new secretary who will be helping all of us this year in the office. Lauren Gorse is teaching third grade, Emilie Kershaw is teaching second grade, and Mindy Drinkwater is teaching kindergarten. Heidi Dearborn will be a special education teacher in the language-based classroom. Amanda Ruderman, Linda Breton, and Kathy Small join us as teaching assistants. Mary Adamik will be our instructional coach, working throughout the building and Heidi Hebert is returning as our library/tech teaching assistant. We are so excited to have all of these amazing team players in place as we start the new year.

End of Summer Reminders
If your contact information has changed over the summer, please contact Salina Ponticelli at the Cutler office as soon as possible (s.ponticelli@hwschools.net). We will need updated street and email addresses as well as phone numbers to use in case of emergencies. It is very important that we have multiple emergency contacts to use in case we can't reach parents directly.

Please note that updated bus routes and stops will be posted on the district's website (www.hwschools.net) under the district information tab. If you have any questions, please contact the district at transportation@hwschools.net.

The Absent/Tardy line is 978-468--8472. Please leave a message each day if your child is going to be absent or tardy for school. Lynne Nardella, our school nurse, tracks attendance each morning.

Dismissal Reminders

Car Pickup Procedures - We just want to remind everyone that we will be using a single car pickup line along the grass to start the school year.  Teachers will load 4 cars at a time.  This seemed to work well this week.  We are asking that each car have an 8.5 x 11 paper sign with the student(s) name to display in the front window.  If you have last year’s signs, please feel free to use them.  If not, we ask that you write your student's last name in a bold dark marker and include first name(s) under the last name so that we can see clearly.  This is very helpful for any teacher who may be helping at car pickup.  

Changes in Dismissal Plans - Next week families will be receiving a dismissal plans form for each child. Please complete this form and return it to school at your earliest convenience. If your child has a change in their regular dismissal plans, please send a note to the classroom teacher in the morning whenever possible.  We understand that sometimes a change in dismissal plans will occur after the school day has started. In these situations, we ask that you do your best to let us know as early as possible in the day.  If writing an email, please send it to Salina Ponticelli, s.ponticelli@hwschools.net as teachers may not be able to check their emails regularly during the school day.

Please remember:

§  Adult supervision on the playground begins daily at 8:15 am.

§  School begins at 8:25 am.

§ Dismissal is at 2:57 pm. Wednesday dismissal is at 12:45 pm.

We will be publishing the Cutler School "News to Use" at the start of each week here at cutlerschool.blogspot.com and will email the link each week. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We are all here to help!

Icebreaker Night
Ice Breaker evening is scheduled for September 22 which includes both parents and students.  All teachers will be in attendance and ready to greet students and their families in classrooms from 5-6:45pm. The classrooms will be open for all, with plenty of information to share about the upcoming year. After families visit the classrooms, popsicles will be available on the playground and all are welcome to stay to enjoy the social aspect of the evening. As usual, the popsicles are free and provided by the Friends of Cutler. We sincerely hope that every family will attend.