Hello Hardy Parents: Friends of Wellesley: This week in your child’s PE class, Mr. Guzzi talked to them about our mini-marathon at Hardy. Flyers came home via backpacks. The children will be running/walking in support of two of our teachers, Ms. Rogers and Ms. Lipari, who have been training through this brutal winter to run the Boston Marathon on behalf of Friends of Wellesley METCO Inc. We are so proud of their efforts and excited to show our support for them next week. World Language at the Elementary Schools: At the last town meeting the WPS FY16 budget was approved. A pilot for a world language program at the elementary level was included in that budget. Two schools, Hardy and Sprague, will be involved in the pilot next year. World language was one of four district initiatives included in the WPS strategic plan developed with input from the Wellesley community. The planning for world language started last year with the support of Helena Curtain, a national expert in the field. While Hardy became involved in the planning of the pilot this winter a great deal of work has already been invested in the success of the program. Hardy and Sprague each have a team of teachers actively working on the committee. We have spent time collaborating with Helena Curtain, making visits to schools already implementing world language programs and beginning to develop curriculum and instructional models. We will be hiring a teacher and a coordinator within the next few weeks. The language has not yet been decided but that too will be determined very soon. We will be holding a parent information night very soon so parents can learn more about the pilot and how this program will benefit our students. As soon as a date is set I will send out an email. Art Show: Congratulations to all the students and to Ms. Gillis for a very successful Art Show at the Wellesley Free Library. If you missed the premiere it’s not too late to stop in and admire the talents of Wellesley children. A stroll through the halls of Hardy also provide many opportunities to see the incredible art work of our students. Hardy Bus: In the fall I had a conversation with our students who ride the bus and discussed how proud I was of their behavior. I also gave them a few reminders about Hardy bus expectations. I will be doing that again and encouraging our bus students to show RISE behavior and support one another. If there should ever be a situation that you feel could use some attention please do not hesitate to give me a call. I want to make sure that all of our students are safe and enjoying their ride to and from school. Fells: Many of our 5th grade students visit the Fells on the half days. Last year I visited the 5th grade classrooms and reminded them to be safe crossing the street, to care for the community by picking up litter and show RISE behavior. I plan to visit the classrooms again to encourage them to keep up the positive RISE behavior. PARCC & MCAS: Districts across the state had the choice to administer PARCC, Partnership for the Assessment of College and Careers, or MCAS this year and Wellesley selected MCAS. You may have heard that a final decision will be made by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in November of 2015. To assist in the decision making process, the state is holding public forums across the commonwealth regarding which one to adopted. You can learn more about PARCC on the DESE website. Parent-teacher conferences are just about complete. Thank you so much for meeting with our teachers and sharing in the success of your children and setting new goals for the rest of the year. Classroom configurations: Due to enrollment figures this year, art and music shared a classroom resulting in some of their classes being provided in homerooms. While the number of sections at each grade level for next year have not been determined at this time, current enrollment figures point to the need to have art and music classes within homerooms. Our art and music teachers are amazing professionals and provided outstanding instruction to your children this year in homerooms. If they need to again provide instruction in homerooms versus a dedicated art and/or music room they will. I will keep you updated. Spring is here! Regardless of what the calendar says we still have some snow on the ground. I recommend that you continue to send in boots so the children can run and play on the fields since they are still very wet. MCAS Schedule for May: Grade 3 Math: Tuesday, May 12 and Thursday, May 14 Grade 4 Math: Tuesday, May 5 and Thursday May 14 Grade 5 Math: Monday, May 4 and Thursday, May 7 Grade 5 Science: Tuesday, May 12 and Friday, May 15 Parent Book Group: Lisa Goodman and I will hold our Parent Book Group on April 28th from 6:30-7:30 in either the Hardy library or my office. We are reading the book The Parents We Mean to Be by Richard Weissbourd. Planning ahead, the next book will be The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. The meeting will take place sometime in May. Happy Spring! Charlene Cook, Principal
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