End of Year Message

Lowell Families,

As the 2012-2013 school year ends this week, I feel so grateful to be a part of this wonderful community for a second year.  We have been through much and accomplished even more this year. I have taken time to reflect on the past year and wanted to share some of my reflections with you here.

The tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut in December forced us to look very carefully at our school security.  We were able to make some important changes, but overall we learned that our school IS very secure. Our Critical Incident Team met frequently this year to review and revise protocols and meet with the district wide crisis team to share information and collaborate.  We were dealing again with tragedy in April in the wake of the Boston marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt in Watertown. Again, our schools responded well and we took time to take care of each other.  The strength of the Watertown community was clear and truly amazing to see.

Although we dealt with tragedy, we accomplished much this year at the Lowell school. In looking at our school improvement plan with School Site Council it was clear that we are moving forward with our goals.  This year, teachers across the district collaborated with coordinators and administrators to begin the curriculum mapping process. The result, drafts of English Language Arts and Mathematics curriculum maps the are aligned to the Common Core State Standards, will be published in the coming months.  This is a huge step forward to having cohesive, clear, aligned, and engaging curriculum at all grade levels.  We continued our social-emotional learning by launching a cross-age buddies program. Students had an amazing year working with their buddies! This year we experienced true examples of parental involvement to improve student achievement.  Our first International Night in many years was a huge success! The Lowell School Learning Garden was built and the plants look amazing! The Lowell community is made up of incredible students, staff, AND parents!

Looking forward to next year, we will continue to move forward with the curriculum mapping process to improve our curriculum at all grade levels.  We will work, through professional development, to improve instruction to meet the needs of all learners.  In terms of school culture and community, we will continue our buddy program but will hopefully launch a school wide service initiative as well.  I hope to explore more opportunities for student leadership as well.  Next year, I will ask all families to think about how they can give a small amount of time throughout the year so that they can be involved in our school.  There are many and varying opportunities to become involved!

It has been a busy and successful year. I wish you all a restful summer.  I will be working here at the Lowell for most of the summer, but will be taking a vacation abroad at the beginning of July.  I will be entirely offline (a first for me) but will be available in mid July.  Please email or call if you need anything! You can expect placement letters with your student's class assignment for the 2013-2014 school year to come home at the beginning of August.

Thank you for all of your support this year! I am so lucky to work at the Lowell school!

Ms Kaplan


REMINDER
The last day of school for students in grades 1-5 is this Friday and it is an EARLY RELEASE DAY. Dismissal is at 12:15 and lunch will be served.

Monday Message

The school year is almost over and end of year events are in full swing. My Monday Message next week will be an end of the year letter to all of you!

Visiting School
With all of the wonderful opportunities to come in to school (breakfasts, performances, etc..) please remember our security protocols when visiting the building.
-Wait to be buzzed in through main entrance.
-Check in to main office to receive a visitors badge.
-ONLY exit the building through the main doors.

Last Day Reminder
The last day of school for preK and kindergarten is Tuesday, June 25th. The last day for grades 1-5 is Friday, June 28th. It is an EARLY RELEASE DAY. Progress reports will go home with students on the last day.

Next School Year
The calendar for next year is up on the district website. The link:
http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/asset/pdf/FY14_calendar.pdf

Monday Message

It was great to see so many of you at the PTO picnic and garden ribbon cutting. I have fully recovered from being "dunked"!

If you are moving...
Please stop in to pick up a transfer form so that we may get your student's records to their new school in a timely fashion.

If you live out of Lowell district...
All families who do not live in the Lowell district (live in either Hosmer or Cunniff districts) MUST fill out an out of district transfer request form for their student/s EACH SCHOOL YEAR.  If you have yet to fill out this form, please pick one up and submit it to my office as soon as possible.

Current grade three parents...
Are invited to a parent coffee this Thursday, June 13th at 8:20 am in the Lowell lounge. I will be discussing the transition to fourth grade.

Monday Message

I hope you enjoyed the summer-like weather this weekend! There are some fun events this week.

End of Year Picnic and Garden Ribbon Cutting
The PTO End of Year Picnic and Lowell Learning Garden Ribbon Cutting will be this Thursday from 2:30-5:00 on the Lowell lawn. The garden event will be at 2:45. We hope to see many families there!

Course Selection
Parents of fifth graders can expect course selection sheets (for next year) to come home today.  All information and instructions are included!




Looking back on last week, we had another very successful school wide "Buddy Time" on Thursday.  Our Caring School Community Buddies got together to do a variety of different things. I have included some pictures below. Enjoy!

PreK and Mrs Buonomo's class talk about butterflies!

Grade 3 and kindergarten buddies plan to do some gardening!

Putting seedlings they grew in the ground!