Jaguar families,

It’s here, the week we see more of our little cherubs. As of the School Committee Meeting on 1/14/21, our Cohort A/C will be coming in on Monday, 1/25 and Tuesday, 1/26 to conduct their in-person learning. On Wednesday we will continue to be remote and deep clean the building.  Our Cohort B/C will be in person Thursday, 1/28 and Friday, 1/29, we can’t wait.   Please have your students’ bus pass and pick up tag numbers ready to go. I know it has been a long time since they have been back in the building but these two items are going to keep the flow of traffic moving smoothly. 

Student and Social Emotional Assistance

As your students transition back to school, our school adjustment counselors have been compiling a great deal of resources to help you and your child navigate this overwhelming time.  Feel free to take a peek at the following links and perouse our Silver Hill Counseling page. 

https://sites.google.com/haverhill-ps.org/silverhillcounseling/home

A very special ‘Shout Out’ to our upcoming Birthdays:

1/18   Paris F. & Sincier F.
1/19   Mason B
1/24   Esther C., Denali M. & Kaylee C
1/25   Evan S & Cameron K
1/26   Avianna S
1/27   Divina C
1/30  Amelia G & Ranvir B.
1/31   Keira W.

Pool Testing

This past week, I have tried to jump on as many google meets as possible but it has been tricky with our district wide Pool Testing being conducted for Cohort C.  Moving ahead, for Cohort A and B students there is attached information you will need if you would like your children to participate in the weekly pool testing.  Shortly, I will be sending out Mr. Gray’s email explaining the pool testing along with the needed consents.  If you are able to print them out, please fill them out and return them to school.  If not, we will be providing the consents here at school on Monday and Thursday for each coinciding Cohort. 

Consent Form 1 -Pool Testing – ALL students and adults – final (1).pdf Consent form 2.pdf 

Consent form 2.pdf 

Pool Testing Consent 1 -Spanish.pdf 

Consent 2- Spanish.pdf 

Pool Consent -Portuguese.pdf 

Consent 2 Portuguese.pdf 

Pool Consent 1 Arabic.pdf 

i-Ready

Along with direct instruction taking place, students will be taking their mid-year i-Ready diagnostic. You and your children may feel anxious or nervous when you hear the words “diagnostic test” or “assessment”. I am writing to let you know the purpose of this assessment is to celebrate what our students have learned, understand what they are ready to learn, make the best use of their learning time (both in person and remote), know progress toward their individual goals, and get new i-Ready lessons that are just right for them.

Please keep in mind that i-Ready is an adaptive test which means that the difficulty changes depending on your child’s answers. Remind your students that they may see questions they don’t know the answer to but to choose the best answer and move on. 

We understand some parents may feel overwhelmed about students taking an assessment the day they return to in person learning. However, after much consideration we felt the diagnostic would be more accurate in person. We also know how difficult remote learning has been for many and felt students would feel more successful taking the diagnostic in person therefore, leading to a more successful outcome. As a school, we have to be cognisant that not all children have the same support for distance learning whatever that reason may be. Again, I would like to stress that this is NOT a high stakes standardized test. This diagnostic is a way to guide instruction and give children the best opportunity for learning from now until June. 

Please see the slides below if you would like more information to share with your student. 

Powerpoint to show students how to get prepared for the next diagnostic (K pages 2-21, grades 1 and 2 pages 22-42 and grades 3-5 pages 43-93)

• iready-getting_students_ready_for_a_subsequent_diagnostic-ppt-grades-k-8-spanish-2020-v3_lk.pptx, 
• iready-getting_students_ready_for_a_subsequent_diagnostic-ppt-grades-k-8-2020-v1 (1).pptx

Stay safe and I hope you all have a great week. 

–Mr. Parker 
Asst. Principal

Dear Silver Hill Families,

We are excited to be implementing our winter i-Ready diagnostic the next couple of weeks! This will be a chance for our students to celebrate their growth and hard work this year. Below, you will find information about the program and how we will be using it in the classroom.

What is i-Ready?

i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.

The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning. 

We will be splitting up the diagnostic into multiple weeks so your child will never be sitting at the computer for longer than 40 minutes. 

i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.

What can I do to help?

To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:

• Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment (HPS provides breakfast)
• Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
• Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will get only about half of the questions correct.
• Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish.

To support your child’s learning in Online Instruction, you can:

• Discuss your child’s progress on their i-Ready lessons.
• Celebrate your child’s learning and growth.
• Encourage them to use i-Ready at home.

Thank you for your continued support and for being a partner in your child’s learning! We look forward to sharing i-Ready information with you. If you have any questions about i-Ready, please do not hesitate to contact us or the school. You can also learn more about i-Ready by visiting i-ReadyCentral.com/FamilyCenter.

Sincerely,

Jessica Todd, Reading Coach 

Tiffany Corcoran, Math Coach

Jaguar families,

Here we go. Week 3 of 2021…  

As of the School Committee Meeting on 1/14/21, there was no change in plan for the Cohort C students to come back as of Tuesday, 1/19/21. Our Cohort A and B will be coming back the week of 1/25/21. Yeee haw! We can’t wait to see you in the halls and working hard in the classrooms.  As of now, I’m sure you have heard the buzz about “Pool Testing”.  The district will be piloting additional pool testing over the next few weeks. Prior to any testing there will be parental consents sent home that will need to be signed if you are willing to move forward with the testing.  No student will be allowed to pool test without signed written consent. 

A very special ‘Shout Out’ to our past January Birthdays:

2nd – Andy C and Andrew S

3rd – Jacob T and Charlotte F

4th – Annaly G and Jaleidys T

5th – Hudson M

6th – Hailey C, Jackson K and Patrick O

7th – Genevie G, Natalie P and Abigail P

8th – Esra B and Jose P

9th – Kaysen M and Kaed V

10th – Coltin G, Rosa L and Noah P

11th – Tianna G

12th – Peyton C and Mckinley

13th – Emma B

14th – Annemarie S, Elias S and Michael S

15th – Alexis X, Angelique X, Noah V and   Luiseira L

16th – Joseph R, Anthony M, Orion D and Ileana G.G.

17th – Alexander P

Hope you all had a great day celebrating you!

iReady Testing

In the upcoming weeks we will be conducting iReady diagnostics and some of the google meets could be interrupted.  Staff will be providing assignments and other creative forms of lessons to ensure learning continues. Your cherubs will be tested in both Math and ELA.  Math will take place the week of Jan. 25 and ELA will be Feb. 1.  On another note, it’s imperative for our students to understand the importance of iReady diagnosis.  We would appreciate it if you would reinforce what our teachers are currently emphasizing, the purpose of why we are doing this.  Without purpose, students may rush or not put forth their best effort. Here are some tips to help students excel, PowerPoint® presentation. You can also use i-Ready Pledge Sheets to encourage effort and engage students before they begin testing.

District wide Attendance Contest 

100% Attendance competition school wide from 1/11/21-2/12/21.

Attendance Winter Contest 2021.pdf 

Student and Social Emotional Assistance

Our school adjustment counselors have been compiling a great deal of resources to help you and your child navigate this time.  Feel free to take a peek at the following links and perouse our Silver Hill Counseling page. 

https://sites.google.com/haverhill-ps.org/silverhillcounseling/home

No School Tomorrow-

1/18/21- Martin Luther King / Civil Rights Day

F & P / Letterland Assessments

F&P reading assessment and letterland assessments have been conducted remotely over the course of the past weeks.

Please reach out to our literacy coach Ms. Todd if you have any questions regarding these assessments- Jessica.Todd@Haverhill-ps.org

Hope you have a great day off tomorrow and stay safe.  We look forward to seeing you soon. 

–Mr. Parker 
Asst. Principal

Hello Jaguar Families,

The start of the 2021 calendar year has been off to an odd start and there have been none like it in history.  Here at Silver Hill, it has been full steam ahead from our teachers, aides and specialists doing their best to shape the little minds in front of them.  Your cherubs are our top priority and I hope they continue to work hard to better their education.  We know there are perplexities with how your cherubs are progressing.  Surely, it is different than in years past and they are not alone.  Almost every student across the country is in the same boat.   They are resilient and strong.  They will bounce back and our little ones will only be stronger for it.  So will we…

The lines of communication are always open here as Silver Hill and we will continue to address any and all concerns you may have.   We understand that many of you are looking forward to getting back into the school and we are too. Please know Mr. Gray and I are doing our best to meet all of your needs. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time.  

Attendance Contest

Attendance Winter Contest 2021.pdf   100% Attendance competition school wide from 1/11/21-2/12/21.

Student and Social Emotional Assistance

Our school adjustment counselors have been compiling a great deal of resources to help you and your child navigate this time.  Feel free to take a peek at the following links and perouse our Silver Hill Counseling page. 

https://sites.google.com/haverhill-ps.org/silverhillcounseling/home

No School –

1/18/21- Martin Luther King / Civil Rights Day

IT / Technology information

Just a heads up, when a student needs to return or swap out a Chromebook, the power cord needs to be returned with it. The district wide IT department is now applying charges to families for missing and/or damaged equipment.  It is becoming harder and harder for us to order extra equipment for students that need it. Also, many students are returning damaged Chromebooks for one reason or another.  Families are now being invoiced between $160-$200 for Chromebook damages and other monetary amounts for missing power cords.

I would encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to get the HPS Device Usage Policy signed and send in the associated $20 equipment insurance for your cherub’s device.  I have done it with my own children at home. This is going to save you money in the long run.  Please turn it into the office as soon as possible. 

 If you are having IT related issues, please reach out to our technology gurus Mrs. Richard- crichard@haverhill-ps.org and Mrs. Zylkuski- lzylkuski@haverhill-ps.org.  

F & P / Letterland Assessments

F&P reading assessment and letterland assessments will be conducted remotely over the course of the next few weeks.

Please reach out to our literacy coach Ms. Todd if you have any questions regarding these assessments- Jessica.Todd@Haverhill-ps.org

Nurse Notes:

All children age 6 months and older must receive the influenza vaccine for the current flu season (2020-2021 school year) by February 28, 2021. Call your pediatrician to ask about getting your child vaccinated.  Additional options may be found at all major pharmacies and urgent care clinics. Mary Connelly, the City of Haverhill’s Health Department Nurse, has a limited supply of doses for uninsured children or those insured by Mass Health and will administer by appointment only: 978-374-2390, ext 3915.  If your child has already been vaccinated, please send documentation to kfetty@haverhill-ps.org, fax to 978-374-3461 or mail a copy to the school.  For more information, visit https://www.mass.gov/news/flu-vaccine-now-required-for-all-massachusetts-school-students-enrolled-in-child-care-pre

Thank you for your donations of gently-used clothing! 

Additionally, thank you for your hard work and as always, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Gray and myself at any time.  
 

–Mr. Parker 
Asst. Principal

1/5/21

Afternoon Jaguar families,

Hope everyone’s week has gotten off to a great start!  I wanted to share the below information I just received from Haverhill Promise to make sure you were aware of this great opportunity!

The contest is open to students in grades Pre-K through 8th grade and entries are due by January 14th. All the details can be found in the website at haverhillpromise.com/postercontest.

We will be selecting one winner from each participating school whose poster will be printed and displayed at their school, and 4 city-wide winners (1 each from Pre-K, K-2nd, 3rd-5th and 6th-8th) who will win a $100 gift card and have their poster design printed and displayed around the city as well as on HC Media’s digital billboard downtown.

This is a great way for your students’ artwork to be celebrated city-wide, and to keep students and their families talking about the importance of School Every Day, No Matter Which Way! 

Thanks for your help, and please let me know if you have any questions,

Jenny Arndt
Campaign Director, Haverhill Promise

Jaguar Families,

So long 2020 … 2021 is finally here – we did it.  I hope you all had a restful and relaxing break.  I can honestly say that this was the first time in a long time, I was totally unplugged.  No Facebook, no Twitter, no emails, no laptop. It felt amazing and it was needed.  Now that my personal battery is charged and my laptop battery is slowly charging, I want to fill you in on what’s going on this week at Silver Hill. 

The following is information from Dr. Marotta and the Haverhill School Committee pertaining to the increase in Covid 19 numbers and the return to in person learning.  

“As you probably know, the rate of COVID-19 infection in our community and throughout our country continues to climb. As of last week, Haverhill was currently at an 11.2% COVID-19 testing positivity rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) indicators and thresholds for risk of transmission of COVID-19 in schools, this places our community at the highest risk level for transmission. Even more concerningly, as we listen to the media and the experts, we hear that infection rates are likely to climb in the short term due to the holidays.  Knowing that Haverhill’s rate of illness was climbing, the School Committee called a meeting last week to discuss and review information related to our return to in-person learning.

At the meeting, the following  revision in our learning plan for the weeks after winter break was approved. The return to school plan is as follows:

• Monday, January 4, 2021 – Remote Learning All Cohorts 
• Tuesday, January 19, 2021 – Cohort C PreK–12: In-person Learning (others continue remote) 
• Monday, January 25, 2021 – Cohort A & B K–8: Hybrid Learning (HHS continues remote) 
• Monday, February 1, 2021 – Haverhill High School Hybrid Learning
• Remote Learning Academy will continue as scheduled”

1/5/21 –  Conferences/Times 

This year, parent/teacher conferences will be held virtually via Google Meet on January 5th, 2021 from 4:00-5:30 PM. You will be receiving emails from your child’s teacher(s) with information about signing up- ( if you haven’t already). Once you have received an appointment link from your child’s teacher(s), you can use those links to sign up for meeting times. 

Please note, that to accommodate as many families as possible, meetings will only be five minutes in length. If you wish to schedule a longer meeting to discuss your child’s progress, please reach out to that teacher individually to set up an alternate meeting time. 

How-To Video

IT issues

All IT related issues please reach out to our superstars Mrs. Richard- crichard@haverhill-ps.org and Mrs. Zylkuski- lzylkuski@haverhill-ps.org.  They have been our go to ladies for the trouble shooting concerns that have popped up.  

F & P / Letterland Assessments

F&P reading assessment and letterland assessments will be conducted remotely over the course of the next few weeks.  Please reach out to our literacy coach Ms. Todd if you have any questions regarding these assessments- Jessica.Todd@Haverhill-ps.org

Nurse Notes:

Vaccines: Update in state policy

The deadline for Massachusetts school students to receive a flu shot has been extended. Flu shots that are required for all students in Massachusetts schools, from child care through colleges, the Department of Public Health announced earlier this year. Students older than 6 months will have to be vaccinated by Feb. 28, unless either a medical or religious exemption is provided. The original date was Dec. 31.  New students entering school before March 31, 2021 must have received a dose of vaccine for the current flu season for entry.  Students who are home-schooled are exempt from the policy, but health officials said students at elementary and secondary schools that are using a remote learning model are not exempt. 

Please send proof of immunization to kfetty@haverhill-ps.org

If you did some cleaning during the winter break, Nurse Fetty kfetty@haverhill-ps.org would greatly appreciate any donations of gently used pants (size 5T and up).  They can be dropped off at the school during school hours. Thank you in advance for this. 

No school -1/19/21- Civil rights day

Thank you and as always, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Gray and myself at any time.  

-Mr. Parker 
Asst. Principal

December 26, 2020

Jaguar Families

To encourage students to attend school daily, whether remote or in-person, Haverhill Public Schools has created an Attendance Department Winter 2021 Contest.   To be entered into the drawing, students will be required to attend school daily between January 4th and February 12, 2021.   All students, whether, remote or in-person are eligible.  Silver Hill Elementary School will have 2 prizes to hand out to the winners of the contest.  Continue attending school young Jaguars to learn and be a winner in our contest!” 

Jaguar Families,

Report Card Information

As you know from my previous emails, grades closed last week and the students are receiving report cards today.  The Haverhill Public Schools has created a portal link video to help with the access to your child’s report cards. You should have received an email from Schoolbrains@haverhill-ps.org with your portal login information when your student started school in the district.  If you are having trouble or difficulties, please reach out to portal support via email: Portalsupport@haverhill-ps.org. 

Please have the following included in any email to Portal Support:

• Full Name
• Full name of child(ren)
• Full email address (be sure to contact Portal Support from this same email)
• Your child(ren)’s Grade Level(s) and School(s)
• Detailed explanation of issue

K – 4 Information

The report cards are going to look similar to last year’s paper copy except they will be online via school brains.   In the link below, please find additional information on the district’s reading assessment. 

Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System information

Grade 5 Report Card Changes

For the 2020/2021 school year, the 5th grade reports cards will look different than in previous years.  To maintain uniformity across the district, Silver Hill will be using a letter grade report card system for fifth graders.  We understand this is a difficult time for families as well as students and educators. Please bear with us as this is the first time we are implementing this new system of report cards. We are more than happy to do our best to accommodate any issues you may have. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions. 

Conferences/Times

This year, parent/teacher conferences will be held virtually via Google Meet on January 5th, 2021 from 4:00-5:30 PM. You will be receiving emails from your child’s teacher(s) with information about signing up. Once you have received an appointment link from your child’s teacher(s), you can use those links to sign up for meeting times. 

Please use the following steps to register for an appointment. How-To Video

1. In the email you received, click the appointment link provided. This will open up a Google Calendar appointment page. 
2. Once in the calendar, if necessary, scroll over to Tuesday, January 5th, to see available appointment slots. 
3. Click on the appointment slot that you want to register for. 
4. A box will appear where you should indicate the following information: your name, your child’s name, and if you require any translation services. 
5. Click “Save” to ensure that your spot is reserved. This will also generate an email to you and the teacher that will include a Google Meet link to be used the night of parent/teacher conferences. 

Please note, that to accommodate as many families as possible, meetings will only be five minutes in length. If you wish to schedule a longer meeting to discuss your child’s progress, please reach out to that teacher individually to set up an alternate meeting time. 

I hope this helps.  

-Mr. Parker 
Asst. Principal

Jaguar families,

We did it.  The last week of our 2020 school year… What a tricky one.  We have almost survived a pandemic, learned about google classroom and remote learning, discovered how teachers are great at juggling in person and remote students, found out how much a pain masks are to wear, understood how far 6 feet is and have become a lot closer to our immediate family.  The children have learned a great deal about themselves.  They have learned what learning style is best for them, where a quiet place at home is, how important it is to mute yourself and that logging in can literally change your life. Please take a min and truly find the good in this year. With all the negativity looming around us, please reflect on your resilience, your patience and most of all the sacrifice we all have made throughout this challenging year. Mr. Gray and I would like to personally thank you for the support and dedication you have shown to us in 2020.  We can only hope our amazing school community continues to become the best part of coming to work each and every day. 

As of last week’s School Committee meeting, the current learning model will continue until 1/4/21 not 1/14/21 as previously stated – unless… it changes again, when it gets voted on at the 12/29/20 SC meeting.  Meeting starts at 7:00 PM.  Stay tuned…

Nurse Notes:

Vaccines:

The flu vaccine is mandatory as of Dec. 31, 2020 for all students.  As of Jan 1, the state mandates students may be excluded from returning to school unless they have proof of vaccination. Please send proof of immunization to kfetty@haverhill-ps.org

https://www.mass.gov/news/flu-vaccine-now-required-for-all-massachusetts-school-students-enrolled-in-child-care-pre

If you were planning to do some cleaning during the winter break, Nurse Fetty kfetty@haverhill-ps.org would greatly appreciate any donations of gently used pants (size 5T and up).  They can be dropped off at the school during school hours. Thank you in advance for this. 

Other Dates and info…

First day of winter – Monday, 12/21 

1/2 day and Report cards issued – Wednesday, 12/23

Winter break: 12/23/20 – 1/4/21

Thank you and have a safe and Happy Holiday season.  Now let’s bring on 2021… 

–Mr. Parker
Asst. Principal

Good morning,

Due to the weather, road conditions and predicted overnight frigid temperatures, the Haverhill Public Schools will be following our Full Remote model today (Friday, 12/18/2020).  Students should log on at their scheduled start time.

Food sites at Hunking, Nettle, JG Whittier, Consentino, Tilton Upper, Tilton Lower and YMCA will be operating between 11 – 1.  The HHS food site will operate from 3-4.  All children in Haverhill regardless of what school they attend are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch at any of our sites.

Thank you and have a great day.