Cougar Connect

Dear Kennedy Community,

I hope everyone enjoyed a fun and safe Halloween! It was wonderful to see our students' excitement throughout the week, and I know they appreciated the long weekend with no school on Friday.

As we approach the end of the trimester, students are wrapping up their projects and submitting assignments for final grades. Trimester one ends this Friday, so please encourage your children to reach out to their teachers if they have any outstanding assignments or need support. We’re proud of all the hard work they’ve put in so far and look forward to celebrating their growth and accomplishments!

Thank you for your continued support, and let’s make this last week of the trimester a strong one!

November Podcast

Our Kennedy students created podcasts with school updates for November. Marisa S. and Samson M., 6th-graders, created the English podcast (click here). Our 8th-grade students, Danna L.R. and Osiris S.O., created the Spanish podcast (click here). They are also taking the lead with our November Family Challenge. Get the details below!

End of Trimester 1: November 8

Don't forget! Trimester one will end on November 8. Please check PowerSchool for the most up-to-date information about your student's grades. Students have daily math and reading homework. If students tell you they do not have homework, please ask them to show you their finished assignments. Parents, guardians, and caregivers should check PowerSchool at least once per week to make sure their students are keeping up with assignments. Connect with individual teachers with questions about grades and assignments. Report cards will be mailed home by Friday, November 15.

Attendance

Students need to be at school every day. If students are ill, parents and caregivers should notify Jessica Perez (jpperez@rcsdk8.net), leave a message on the attendance line voicemail 650-482-2409, or use the School Arrivals app to submit the absence.

Please schedule doctor's appointments after school and vacations during scheduled school vacations.

When your student misses school, they miss valuable instruction. It can be difficult to make up assignments for seven different classes, so students become overwhelmed.

Students need to be on time for school. We will be reaching out to families of students who are late to school to determine what supports are needed to ensure students get to school on time. If you need support, please reach out to us.

The Kennedy Office is open Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Liz Avalos, Office Manager: lmavalos@rcsdk8.net

Maritza Gutierrez, Office Assistant (student records, medical notices): mggutierrez@rcsdk8.net

Jessica Perez, Office Assistant (attendance, independent study): jpperez@rcsdk8.net

Have a great week!

Mrs. Leonardo

Marisa S. and Samson M., 6th-graders, created our first-ever student podcast! They are a part of the Photojournalism Club and worked together to create this podcast! I am always so proud when students do things to benefit our school community. Thank you, Ms. Cardona and Ms. Valente, for advising this club on Mondays in Room 532 at lunch.

Hello, Kennedy Community!

Are you looking for ways to volunteer for our school? This link shows you ALL of the available opportunities throughout the entire year: Volunteer Needs

Our next event is the Book Fair, happening Nov. 4-8. Sign up to help here: Book Fair Volunteers

Remember that our Direct Drive is going on and our students depend on our community’s financial help to make their middle school experience the best it can be! We suggest a $500 donation per family. Payments can be made manageable by choosing to donate $50 a month through the school year! Click here to donate: PTO Direct Drive

Kind regards,

Jess Bryski

KMS PTO President

This year, for the first time, WHS Drama is offering a special Fall Play Preview Night for students and their families that attend K-8 or middle schools in the broader community around WHS. Aside from getting the first peek at this amazing show and enjoying a fun evening out, this event will allow prospective students and their families the opportunity to see one of the many fantastic extracurricular programs that WHS has to offer and experience what it is like spending time at Woodside.

This Preview Night will take place on Thursday, November 21, 2024, where all tickets will be $5 on this night only. The start time for this evening’s performance is 6:00 p.m., which is earlier than our regular show so it won’t be too late for students to attend. The run time for this show is 120 minutes (+ a 15-minute intermission). The show should break around 8:15 p.m.

WHS requests that students from our community schools be accompanied by at least one adult.

The Red Ribbon Campaign is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation, reaching millions of young people during Red Ribbon Week, October 23rd - October 31st, each year. On Halloween, Kennedy’s Wellness Club hosted a “Drugs are Spooky” campaign to spread the word about drug prevention. Congratulations to our winner, Daniel Lasso, who participated in our candy guessing jar challenge! He guessed 34, which was the closest answer to the actual number of 33 pieces of candy! Go, Daniel!

Kennedy will be visited by Gennifer Choldenko, author of Al Capone Does My Shirts, One Third Nerd, and Orphan Eleven on November 12th! She will be here in the morning promoting her new book The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman.

Students can get their signed copy if they purchase the book before November 6th (link below for more details).

https://www.hicklebees.com/gennifer-choldenko

Hello BGCP Families,

Welcome to Quarter 2 at BGCP! We wanted to share some updates and changes that are occurring in the program.

This new quarter will feature changes in our program schedule, as well as new enrichments and clubs that are meant to enhance the student experience at the program. We’ve included our NEW program schedule for you to reference.

Daylight Savings:

Along with a new schedule, we’re also changing the release time for our student walkers. As daylight savings is starting, we want to ensure the safety of our students. For this reason, student walkers will be released from the program at 4:45 PM each day (to prevent students from walking home in the dark). If you wish to have students stay until the end of the program and get picked up, please reach out to our BGCP office. The new release time begins MONDAY, OCTOBER 28TH. Our contact information is listed below:

BGCP Office Number: (650)804-9045

BGCP Email: kennedy@bgcp.org

Quarter 2 will run from Monday, October 28th until Friday, December 20th. The new walker release time will continue until the end of daylight savings in March 2025. We looj forward to staying in communication to better serve our students.

Please let us know if you need any additional information from us. We appreciate your support.

8TH-GRADE FAMILIES: We have raised almost $10,000, which is still far from our $27,500 goal to cover all of the 8th-grade activities. The Class of 2025 hoodie is included with your contribution - If you have submitted an order for a hoodie, please make sure also to submit your $100! We are at risk of canceling our graduation field trip to Great America if we don’t raise enough funds.

TO CONTRIBUTE ONLINE TO 8TH-GRADE ACTIVITIES:

https://app.99pledges.com/fund/kennedycougarsclassof2025

8TH-GRADE ACTIVITIES CONTRIBUTION INSTRUCTIONS & FORM:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12HkyLyULf8lgt8O-oH8elnNHDn85toToRaxKxLR9aLg/edit?usp=sharing

• Intramurals Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays at lunch
• Wellness Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Mondays Room 207
• Anime Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Mondays Room 314
  
• Photojournalism Club Mondays Room 532
• Calligraphy/Cursive Writing Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Mondays Room 318

• 6th-Grade Lunch Bunch 6th Grade Lunch Tuesdays and Fridays Room 207
• Chess Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Tuesdays Room 535
• Video Game Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Tuesdays Room 314
  
• GSA Skittles 7/8th Grade Lunch Tuesdays Room 315
  
• Italian Club Tuesdays After School Room 318
• Art Club 6th Grade Lunch Tuesdays Room 104
  
• Art Club 7th/8th Grade Lunch Tuesdays Room 526
• Badminton Club 7th/8th Grade Lunch Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the Gym
• 7/8th-Grade Lunch Bunch Wednesdays Room 207

• Hispanic/Latine Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Wednesdays Room 530

• Book Club in the Kennedy Library Dates/Times TBD
  
• Board Game Club Thursdays in the Kennedy Library
• Origami Club Thursdays 6th Grade lunch in B-8
• Video Game Club 6th Grade Lunch Thursdays Room 102
• Environmental Club 7/8th Grade Lunch Thursdays Room 535

• VinylHeadz (Music Discussion) 7/8th Grade Lunch Fridays Room 528

We encourage every Kennedy student to join and participate in at least one club this school year. Clubs are a great way to make connections, make friends, and create a joyful school environment. Clubs are created by students for students. Students need to find a teacher to advise their club. Clubs generally meet once a week. Students need to listen to the morning announcements for updates.

Link to register for the Family Education Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tgLCJ3s7TayyiBw3UbMb5g#/registration

Thank you for joining us for information about our school musical, Legally Blonde: The Musical Jr. If you were unable to attend the meeting, see the information below:

Google Slide Presentation

Zoom Recording

Link to sign up for tech crew HERE Deadline Feb. 1st

Students can get help with homework and assignments on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays after school in the Kennedy Library from 3:15-4:15 p.m. If students are enrolled in the Boys and Girls Club after school program, they need to sign in first.

Students must be actively working on assignments. Students should not come to Homework Help to hang out or be off task.

We look forward to helping students succeed!

Students can also get support with Tutor.com. This is a free virtual service available to all students. Students can access Tutor.com through Clever using their Chromebooks. Find the logo that looks like th icon to the left. We will teach students about Tutor.com after Goal-Setting Conferences during homeroom.

Brainfuse is one of the most experienced online tutoring companies in the nation. HelpNow is a unique tutoring, homework help, and studying suite designed to assist patrons of all ages succeed. This is a service provided through Redwood City Public Library. Students can access Brainfuse by finding the Redwood City Public Library icon on Clever on their Chromebook. They should look for the icon like the one pictured on the right.

Game schedules can be found here.

LET'S GO, KENNEDY COUGARS!

Boundary Locator

Open Enrollment Transfers

Kennedy High School Information Website

We will host evening events to help Kennedy families with the registration processs. Check back here for updates!

Your students should have homework Monday through Friday. Our English language arts and math teachers will assign homework nightly. Here are the general homework guidelines for each grade level:

6th Grade: 30-45 minutes

7th Grade: 45-60 minutes

8th Grade: 60-75 minutes

These times may vary depending on the assignments and projects, but students should have some math or reading assignment each night. If your student says they do not have homework, please make sure they show you their assignments in Google Classroom. You can also check PowerSchool for grades. If your student says they finished their assignments at school, make them show you their finished work.

If students are finished with their assignments, they can still:

1. Read their independent reading books.

2. Practice reading or math i-Ready or Khan Academy lessons.

3. Review notes from classes to make sure they understand their lessons.

4. Create flashcards for key vocabulary terms and review them.

5. Clean out or organize their backpacks, binders, and folders.

In order to make our handbook for students and families more accessible, we have digitized it. Please know that the information in the handbook will be continually updated to ensure families are informed.

Click to view and save the Kennedy Student & Family Handbook.

We appreciate you thinking of our teachers.

Kennedy's Amazon Wishlist

NOVEMBER

• Staff Development ~ No School Nov. 1
• Principal’s Coffee Nov. 7 Library 8:45-9:45 a.m.
• End of Trimester 1 Nov. 8
• Veterans’ Day ~ No School Nov. 11
• Book Fair Nov. 4-8 Library
• Ruby Bridges “Walk to School Day” Nov. 14 Campus 7:45-8:30 a.m.
• PTO Meeting Nov. 19 Library/Zoom 7:00-8:30 p.m.
• 1st Trimester Honor Breakfast Nov. 20 Gym 7:15-8:30 a.m.
• School Site Council Nov. 20 Library/Zoom 5:00-6:00 p.m.
• ELAC Nov. 21 Library 5:00-6:00 p.m.
• Super Minimum Day (Staff Development) Nov. 25 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
• Minimum Day Nov. 26 Campus 8:30 a.m.-1:50 p.m.
• Thanksgiving Break ~ No School Nov. 27-29

Registration for High School Begins in November

⚽Redwood City PRCS Soccer Registration Opens November 18-February 12⚽

Please click here to view our Calendar of Events. Events are subject to change. Please read the Cougar Connect newsletter for changes.

With a commitment to excellence, Kennedy Middle School engages, encourages, and empowers students in challenging and creative learning opportunities while preparing them for their futures in high school and beyond.

Website: https://www.rcsdk8.net/kennedy
Location: 2521 Goodwin Avenue, Redwood City, CA, USA
Phone: 650.482.2409
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kennedymiddleschool