Family Newsletter | December 3, 2025
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Dear HES Families,
We hope you enjoyed the snow day! With the weather getting colder and wetter, please remember to send appropriate outdoor gear to school with your child every day. If students want to play in the snow, they must have boots and snow pants.
Students in grades K-5 have been hard at work reading, talking, and writing as part of our new literacy curriculum. In first grade, students read books about kid and adult inventors, learned about how collaboration, perseverance and initiative are integral to the making process, and wrote narratives about becoming makers. As their culminating project for this module, students worked in small groups to accomplish a "maker mission" to make their classroom a better place. Students created games, objects to help organize their classroom, calming tools, and more! For more information about the literacy curriculum, EL, click HERE to see slides from Curriculum Night.
As part of their social studies unit, third graders had the privilege to learn from Darius Coombs, a Mashpee Wampanoag tribal citizen and Cultural Outreach Coordinator for the Mashpee Wampanoag Education Department. Thank you to the PTO for sponsoring this visit and to third grade teacher Reenie Durgin for organizing this important opportunity!
Have a great week!
Rebecca and Hilary
Dr. Rebecca Katsh-Singer, Principal
Mrs. Hilary Sturgis, Assistant Principal
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Upcoming Dates
Friday, December 12: Report Cards Emailed Home
Friday, December 12: Husky Headlines, grades 3-5, 8:00 am
Tuesday, December 23: Half Day, Dismissal at 12:15 pm
Wednesday, December 24-Friday, January 2: NO SCHOOL
Wednesday, January 14: Half Day, Dismissal at 12:15 pm, NO PRE-K
Friday, January 16: Husky Headlines, grades 3-5, 8:00 am
Monday, January 19: NO SCHOOL
Friday, January 30: Husky Headlines, grades 3-5, 8:00 am
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School Announcements
 Nurse Amanda will be out on medical leave until mid-December. During her absence we will have a nurse here every day. We wish Nurse Amanda an easy recovery.
 Dear Community,
Our school has a wonderful system of giving service through our Project 351 Club. The club is a Massachusetts non-profit organization centered around including schools in the state to encourage students to help communities and give service to friends and neighbors in need.
The Project 351 Club includes not only the members, but the entire eighth grade. In fact, everyone can give their service through Project 351. This week, Project 351 has organized students to set up a food drive on behalf of Loaves and Fishes, our neighborhood food pantry.
Eighth grade students set up a series of boxes at the HES and public library entrance and throughout Bromfield Middle School and Bromfield High School classrooms to collect food and personal care donations.
We encourage everyone as a part of this community to have a part in giving service. Please consider leaving non-perishable foods in any of the boxes at HES, Bromfield, or the public library. Non-perishable food is long lasting in its package. For some examples, the most wanted items are Ensure, Coffee, Cocoa (no K cups), Flavored Rice, Albacore Tuna and Light Tuna, Beans (Dry and Canned), Cereal, and holiday-related foods. A complete list is here. All donations are welcome. The goal is to raise 2,000 pounds of food.
All donations will be collected by Project 351 from December 1 to December 12 and sent directly to Loaves and Fishes, which is located in Devens. Even a small effort can change big things, which is why we encourage everyone to please donate to this food drive project.
Sincerely,
Project 351 Club and Bromfield Middle School Class of 2030
 
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Holiday Artisan Fair: Saturday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Painting with Wool: Winter Scene. 2-part class. Wednesdays, Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Open to ages 13+ and youth ages 10-12 with an adult.
Gingerbread Showcase!: Competition and Exhibit. Saturday, Dec. 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. & Sunday, Dec. 14, noon to 4 p.m. Awards reception on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Registration deadline for entries on Monday, Dec. 8. Open to all.
Felt a Reindeer: Friday, Dec. 19, 6:30 to 8:15 pm
 Celebrations Around the World Exhibit
Arm in Arm, in partnership with the Children’s Room in the Harvard Public Library, present the Celebrations Around the World exhibit. Every month from October through May, a holiday celebration from various parts of the world will be honored in the display case located between the holiday books in the Children’s Room. Exhibits will include information and artifacts highlighting cultural decor, apparel, food, and other items significant to the celebration. Community members are encouraged to participate in the exhibit by loaning the library personal items to be used in the display, perusing the various books about the celebration curated by the HPL, and enjoying a grab-n-go craft/activity provided by Arm in Arm. Want your Cultural Celebration on display? Have something to loan the HPL in support of a scheduled display? Please see Children’s Librarian or contact Arm in Arm at arminarm.townofharvard@gmail.com
Schedule of Celebrations Around the World Display
December: חֲנוּכָּה Chanukah (Hanukkah), Jewish festival of lights, December 14-22
January: Carneval (Carnival), Italian holy festival, January 31- February 17
February: 新年 (New Year), Chinese lunar new year - February 17
March: رمضان (Ramadan), Holy ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, February 17 - March 19
April: Великдень, (Orthodox Easter), Holy celebration, April 5
May: 黄金週間 (Golden Week), Japanese celebration period incorporating four national holidays, April 29 - May 6
Click HERE to learn about all the events for children happening at the Harvard Public Library!
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HILDRETH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Dr. Rebecca Katsh-Singer, Principal
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| 27 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard MA, 01451 | (978) 456 - 4145 |
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