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Haggerty School Movie Nights!
Thanks to the City of Cambridge, and Tom Cusick at the Recreation Department, our Haggerty community had two fun Friday nights at the Movies! On October 1st, the 2nd through 5th grade families gathered their blankets and beach chairs on the Haggerty Playground and watched MegaMind. We had a great turnout! And on October 8th, the JK, Kindergarten and 1st grade families gathered for a series of Pixar Movie “shorts”. The enormous movie screen was awesome - and it was so wonderful to all be together! Stay tuned for more community events!
  
Music Corner
 Hello, Families!
In JK-2 music, we have been listening to our October Musician of the Month, Joni Mitchell. The iconic folksinger and songwriter hails from Canada and has earned nine Grammy Awards. We've listened to many of her songs, including Night in the City, Big Yellow Taxi, Amelia, Dry Cleaner from Des Moines, Circle Game, and Chelsea Morning. You can find those songs on our MOTM Spotify playlist. I was thrilled to hear how many families had heard of Buena Vista Social Club - I wonder how many families listen to Joni Mitchell.
Chorus has gotten off to a beautiful start! Mr. Ferrari and I are loving working with your children. 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are showing up bright and early to sing on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7:30. Ask your child about tuna made from bumblebees (!) and if it's important to launder their black socks. ;)
Until next time!
Shelley / Mx. Irvin
Tech Tidbits by Kevin McGonegal
 Greetings Haggerty Families! Here is just a quick update from your Instructional Technology Specialist:
Our tech is humming along at Haggerty! In our classrooms grades 2 to 5, we have adopted a 1:1 model, as each classroom has been outfitted with a cart of Chromebooks. In JK-1, each classroom has been provided with 12 new "touch-screen" Chromebooks, as we begin to phase out the iPads we've been using at these grade levels for the past several years. All homerooms now have updated Epson Brightlink Interactive whiteboards, which provide our teachers with virtually limitless opportunities to teach with rich multimedia resources.
This year, I am teaching technology classes to our youngest students, grades JK-2, and I see each classroom once a week on my Haggerty days which are Wednesday mornings and all day Thursdays and Fridays (I split my time between Haggerty and the Fletcher Maynard Academy).
So far this year, we have focused on our school technology expectations, digital citizenship, computer orientation, and at grades 1 and 2, learning how to login to our Google Accounts and our Classlink Launchpads to access apps such as Typing Club and Raz Kids. In all grades, we will soon be working on coding activities as we begin to develop our knowledge of computational thinking and computer science.
In JK and K, we are about to launch "Quickcard" technology, which will allow our youngest students to login to their Chromebooks and Classlink Launchpads accounts by simply holding a unique QR code in front of the Chromebook's camera. This will greatly simplify the login process for our youngest learners, and we can't wait for the rollout!
More to come soon... Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions about technology at Haggerty.
VLUS Triad White Caregivers working toward Anti-Racism
Please join a monthly affinity group for VLUS Triad White Caregivers Working Toward Anti-Racism. The affinity group will read and discuss various texts throughout the year in order to address our own unconscious biases and to take an active role in fighting white supremacy in our schools, communities, and ourselves.
There will be reading to complete before each session, and families are strongly encouraged to make a commitment to attend as many sessions as possible.
VLUS Triad White Caregivers Working Toward Anti-Racism (Session 1) Thursday, November 4, 2021 | 6:45-8PM
Topic: Why do white people need to talk about race
Text (Read BEFORE the session): Angela Watson's "10 Things Every White Teacher Should Know When Talking About Race."
Facilitator: Sarah Foleno, VLUS Literacy Coach
Haggerty's Race Matters Courageous Conversations - Needs your help!
The Race Matters Courageous Conversations is a parent-run group that meets several times a year. We have group discussions (based on readings, or videos) and guest speakers to explore race and racism. See our mission statement below.
Last year, we joined Vassal Lane Upper School for a book club for white caregivers to discuss the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. We also joined a planning group with Tobin and Graham and Parks, and Vassal Lane to plan events for this upcoming school year.
I am looking for caregivers to help with planning and coordinating our events for this year. If you are interested in helping out or want to learn more, please contact me.
Race Matters Mission Statement
Our mission is to explore, through dialogue, racism and its impact on our kids today, in school and at home; to explore our own personal beliefs around race; to explore ways to talk about race related issues with our kids in an age-appropriate way; and to get ideas on practical steps we can take as individuals to confront racism and to take this conversation beyond the theoretical to action. We strive to make this work and our group as welcoming and as safe as possible, by building relationships, listening and asking questions. We trust the wisdom of the community to guide us in this process.
Friends of Haggerty
Did you know your Amazon purchases can benefit Haggerty students?
When you sign up for the Amazon Smile program, Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase to Friends of Haggerty. That is a huge help for our enrichment programs, field trips, and more. All you have to do is go to smile.amazon.com and choose Friends of Haggerty as your charity. Then every time you shop, start at smile.amazon.com. And, now you can use Smile through the Amazon app, too. All the instructions you need are here.
Are you curious about FoH and what we do? Come join us (on Zoom) on the first Monday of every month at 7:30PM! You can come just to learn more about what we do, or to find out how you can help make amazing enrichment opportunities happen for Haggerty kids. To get info about how to join the meeting, email Suzanne.
 Building Community Together (my new name for the PTO)
Thursday, October 28 | 8:15AM, Zoom
Let’s brainstorm new ways to get to know each other in our shared Haggerty community!
Preschool Lottery Accepting Applications
October 1-31, The Department of Human Service Programs is accepting applications to the DHSP Preschool Lottery for enrollment in the 2022-2023 school year, which begins in September 2022. Children are considered age-eligible for preschool between the ages of 2 years 9 months and 4 years 5 months.
To enter the child’s date of birth needs to be between April 1, 2018 – December 1, 2019.
For more information and multilingual resources, visit this link >>
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