Dates to Remember
Week of December 12-16 School Store
Tuesday, December 20, 4:30-5:30 Solstice Stroll
Friday, December 23 - Early Release, 11:15 a.m. Winter Recess begins
Monday, December 26-Monday, January 2 - No School Winter Recess
Tuesday, January 3 - Back to School School Resumes
Monday, January 16 - No School Holiday
Dear Cutler Families,
What a beautiful morning! I always love the first snow.
Here is a link to the MCAS schedule for the spring. Though any disruptions in schooling can impact children in various ways, we request that children are present on these days. If a child is sick, there will be scheduled make-ups.
Next Tuesday from 4:30- 5:30 we will display our lanterns for your viewing. This is the darkest night of the year, and we hope we can bring you some beauty, light and cheer! Enjoy time to visit and connect with other Cutler families!
Last Thursday at our All School Meeting, 4th and 5th graders shared poems they had been writing in their classes. Also, a few 4th grade students shared about the Medieval times and 5th grade students shared about Aztec, Inca and Mayas. It’s wonderful to see the kids so engaged in the content they are learning about in class. Our All School Meeting ended with a wonderful performance by our String Jam! They had the audience captivated!
Dear Cutler Families,
It’s hard to believe December is here! While it is an exciting time of year, we understand that some families may be experiencing hardship. In the spirit of the holiday season, the district is collaborating with a group of community members in an effort to provide holiday assistance. We are collecting donations that will be converted into gift cards for distribution to our school families to purchase gifts for the holidays or items to support their household. Please see the attached flyer for more information and ways to make a donation via Venmo.
If you would like to donate a gift card, please drop them at Cutler and to the attention of Ann Creilson. Examples of gift cards that work best are: Amazon, Target, Walmart, Visa, or local businesses.
We will be collecting donations until Wednesday, December 15th.
If you are a family in need of assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at a.creilson@hwschools or 978-468-8475.
In addition, here are some local resources you may find helpful.
Acord serves clients in Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester, Topsfield, and Wenham. They offer weekly food distributions, holiday meal programs, school vacation lunch bags, nutrition education and outreach, and emergency meal assistance. They also partner with local farms to provide fresh produce to their clients every week. They can be reached at 978-468-7424 or acord.director@gmail.com.
The Hamilton Foundation was created to help meet unexpected, urgent, and short-term needs of Hamilton residents due to job loss, death, divorce, or catastrophic illness. It also maintains a directory of over 60 regional social service agencies and refers people to those programs when appropriate. Please call 978-233-1816 and leave a message and someone will return your call.
WISSH assists Wenham residents in need of temporary financial or social service assistance. Their mission is to identify the social service needs of Wenham residents and to coordinate and implement appropriate immediate unmet financial assistance to those in need. You may call WISSH at a confidentially maintained phone number, 978-468-5520 Ext. 9.
Beverly Bootstraps provides critical resources to families and individuals so that they may achieve self-sufficiency. They offer emergency and long-term assistance including access to food, housing stability, adult and youth education, counseling and advocacy. The best way to contact them is to fill out this form and a case manager will reach out to you. You may also call them at 978-927-1561 and a message will be relayed to a case manager for you.
I maintain connections with all of the above organizations. If you need help accessing them or if there are other supports that I might assist you with, please do not hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to help out in any way I can.
Warmly,
Ann Creilson
Cutler School Adjustment Counselor
From Food Services
There will be no more bagels available as an alternative lunch option starting in December. It is not a substantial lunch option and students are/will be able to choose a sun butter and jelly sandwich or a deli sandwich.
Also, the Food Services Department is looking to be more ecofriendly and has partnered with PATH Water! The cafeteria will be selling these reusable water bottles (SpongeBob and Patrick) for $5. There is even space to put a name on the bottle.
To purchase— checks can be made out to HWRSD, cash or your child can use their lunch code.
Wendy Ng, our Nutrition Services Director has partnered with PATH Water to co brand a HW design bottle as well. Wendy has included a QR code on the HW bottles that bring individuals straight to the school lunch menus. These will be available in January 2023.
Review of Materials
Please log into your Aspen Parent Portal (where you go for report cards) to review your data! Once in, under “Start a new Returning Student Registration,” Click "Initiate", then NEXT to follow through the tabs. Instructions for completing the form are included on the first page.
If you have more than one student in the district, you will need to complete the forms for each student.
If you need help getting into Aspen, you can email aspenhelp@hwschools.net.
Thanks for helping us ensure all our information is correct.
Lunch Menus:
Volunteer Opportunities- Every Wednesday morning from 9:00 to 11:00. Come to Cutler on Wednesday mornings to help make materials for our students We will meet in the gallery. Please contact Mary Adamik if you have any questions.
Lost and Found:
Our lost and found is overflowing! Please have your children check the lost and found in the cafeteria. Any unnamed and unclaimed items will be donated Friday, December 16.
From Lynne Nardella, Health Office News
Hi All,
We made it until December. We are now in that busy exciting time of year.
Unfortunately, it is also the busiest time for respiratory viruses.
This year we are seeing an increase in Influenza A and RSV in all age groups. Of course Covid is still around as well. The current variant is causing less severe symptoms but appears to be more contagious.
It is typical for children to have 6 to 8 respiratory or Gastrointestinal viruses per year not all of these require students to stay out of school, but we encourage parents to keep their students home if they are sick!
A Few helpful hints to make it through the winter.
* Keep sick kids home a fever over 100, vomiting diarrhea or a cough that is productive (coughing up phlegm) or causing a wheeze are good reasons to NOT send kids to school.
* Handwashing our kids have gotten very good at this. Encourage your children to wash or use hand sanitizer prior to meals, after trips to the bathroom after coughing or sneezing .
*Cover you coughs and sneezes We try to teach our students to cough and sneeze into their elbows. Reminding them at home can help as well. This will reduce the particles in the air and also keep germs off their hands to reduce the spread that way.
* Don’t share food and drinks. This time of year it is important not to share food or drink to minimize the spread of not only respiratory viruses, but also mono and strep.
* Keep up to date with your child’s immunizations.
I also want to remind you all that I have Covid tests at my office if any of you need them.
I am so appreciative of all of your help and cooperation as always,
Lynne
School Store: School Store will run the week of December 12th! The Store opens at 8:15 in the cafeteria and operates until the bell. There is a $3 max spending limit and small bills are appreciated!
Erasers, keychains, pencils, pens, notebooks, folders, and more are available for sale!
Monday 12/12- K & 1
Tuesday 12/13 -2 & 3
Wednesday 12/14- 4
Thursday 12/15-5
Friday 12/16 - make ups
Cutler Cookie Swap: Each year Cutler families bake a plethora of cookies for the faculty and staff to “swap” in the teacher’s lounge before the holiday break.
We hope that you consider baking (or buying) for this fun and giving holiday event. Cookies/treats can be brought to Cutler on the morning of Monday, December 19th (the day of the swap)
Thank you in advance for your help!
Link to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0f4eaaa82da6f58-cutler
