Despite the heat we are off to a great start!
The kindergarten students joined us yesterday for the full day resulting in smiles from students and parents. It is wonderful that the entire Wellesley community has supported the full day kindergarten program. A reporter and photographer from the Wellesley Townsman were here on the first day to capture this event. (Check out the paper tomorrow)
A Hardy teacher stopped into the Cafe at Fells corner today. A woman who works there regularly told her that Hardy grade 5 students are outstanding when they come in on Wednesday half days. She was very impressed and has been impressed by their kindness and overall outstanding behavior over the years. Of course we already knew that about our Hardy students, but it is always nice to hear it.
Birthday Celebrations:
Since we no longer have food items in classrooms for celebrations I wanted to share with you a few ideas you can still use if you want to mark the occasion of your child’s birthday in the classroom:
Pencils
Pens
Stickers
Donation to a charity such as: Wellesley Education Fund or other health and education charities. If you make a charity we will announce it in the classroom and add it to the ongoing list of donations.
Classroom book with a name book plate.
One great way to celebrate your child’s special day is with a gift book for the Hardy Library. Parents can find books the library would like to share on the library’s Wellesley Books or Amazon wish lists. A bookplate will be placed in the book and a picture of the donor will be displayed. The books will be featured in the library. These books often are the most-wanted, and children love to open a book to see who donated it! It’s a gift that will be enjoyed over and over by Hardy’s enthusiastic readers.
To find the Wellesley Books list, which is titled HardyElementarySchool, click here or enter this email address in the search box: rogersl@wellesleyps.org.
Click here for the Amazon wish list, which is titled John D. Hardy Elementary School. Hardy also has two other wish lists, one for science and one for math. Be sure to use the Hardy PTO link to get to Amazon so our school will benefit from your purchase. Thanks for sharing the gift of reading!
Your child’s teacher may also have some class specific ideas so please contact your child’s teacher if you would like a few more options. If you have some other ideas please pass them along to me.
Last year the elementary schools across the district expressed concern about children arriving late to school. To help with this, the Hardy School Council developed some guidelines that we hope will help Hardy students arrive on time:
Arrive on Time at Hardy!
Every minute counts in school! We have noticed that over a period of years, the start of the school day has gotten later. As a result, this slightly later start to the day has cost valuable instructional time.
At Hardy, students enter the classroom at 8:30 a.m. and the day begins. When children arrive on time, they begin their day with a positive outlook! Students have responsibilities early in the day:
Unpack materials
Order lunch
Complete classroom responsibilities
Begin morning work to settle into the day
When all children arrive on time, it supports the classroom community.
If your child arrives late to school, it has a negative impact. Morning lessons begin shortly after arrival. When a child comes into school late, the classroom teacher needs to stop teaching, add the child to the attendance list, make sure that he/she has ordered lunch and communicate with the office. This takes away learning time from the whole class.
The School Council has established the following guidelines to support a successful arrival and set a positive tone for the day:
Students may be dropped off at 8:15 a.m.when the playground is monitored by Hardy staff.
The doors at Hardy Road and all other entrances except the front door will be locked at 8:30 a.m.
Students dropped off after 8:30 a.m. will need to be walked into the school and signed in by the adult.
Students will be marked tardy on the attendance record if they arrive after 8:35 a.m.
After 3 tardies, the principal will call the child’s parents
Research has shown that attendance is critical for school success. A student who is 5-10 minutes late every day will miss the equivalent of a week of school.
The entire Hardy staff thanks you in advance for making sure every student learns responsible behavior by arriving to school on time!
Best Regards,
Charlene Cook
Hardy Elementary School Principal