Dear Morse School students and families,
I hope that you have enjoyed a wonderful summer break! It is amazing to think that there are only three days left before our 1st-5th graders return to school on Tuesday, September 4th! To prepare for the coming year, our custodial team has been hard at work cleaning our school building and our teachers have been busy setting up their classrooms. We are all so excited to welcome you back next week!
As we look ahead to Tuesday’s return, I wanted to share a couple of quick updates:
Playground Project Update
If you have walked or driven by the Morse School during the month of August, you have probably seen many people busy at work. In fact, many different teams of workers have been doing lots of different things to make our sidewalks safer and our green spaces and play spaces more fun and accessible. Unfortunately, the work was slowed down a bit this summer with some unexpected delays (many of our new playground structures have come on planes and boats from Germany, for instance, and even one missing part can prevent teams from getting them properly assembled!). City workers have also needed to do some unexpected tree work, including removing an old Maple Tree from the front of our auditorium that the City Arborist deemed to be diseased and in failing health. His recommendation was for this tree to be removed to avoid safety risk. The good news is that the City Arborist plans to install a total of (12) new street and back of sidewalk trees this fall. When all of the tree and playground work is finished, we are going to have amazing spaces for our students to enjoy!
Primary Election Voting
On Tuesday, our children will be treated to a civics lesson and an up-close look at our democratic process, as the Morse School will be serving as a polling station for primary election voting. Of course, this will likely make opening day a little unusual! However, all members of our team – from our Cambridge Police partners to our custodial staff to our teachers and staff – will be working together to make sure that we get the school year off to a safe and smooth start!
Save the Date!
Finally, I wanted to make sure that you have a couple of September dates on your calendar:
Friday 9/7 | 5:30-7:30PM – Back to School Picnic at Old Morse Park. Please come re-connect with other Morse School families at this fun, informal community event!
Tuesday 9/11 | 6:30 - 8PM – Friends of Morse meeting in the Morse School Library. Come learn more about the Friends of Morse and about ways that you can contribute to community events and student learning experiences over the coming year. I also look forward to sharing Morse School updates and answering your questions as the school year gets underway!
Wednesday 9/26 | 6 - 8PM – Back to School Curriculum Night – Come meet your child(ren)’s teachers and learn more about the big ideas and curriculum goals that will guide teaching and learning at our school this year!
Finally, to get off to a great start, we ask that you make sure your child gets a good night sleep on Monday evening (the first day can be exciting, but overwhelming!). Please also be sure to complete the
CPS forms you received in the mail and send them back in your child’s backpack. These forms include important information we need in order to ensure the safety of all of our students.
Thank you and best wishes for a great last weekend of summer and we’ll see you back on Tuesday!
Chad Leith