Late September Update (9/25/23)

Family-Teacher Conferences

Family-Teacher Conferences will occur on October 4th, 5th, and 6th. You may have already or will soon receive communication from your child’s teacher about signing up.   If your child has a sibling at Cutler and you’d like to coordinate their schedule to accommodate times between classrooms, please note that in your response to their teachers. For flexibility reasons, some teachers may also offer an online conference (Zoom/Google Meet) if you are interested. 

Book Fair

The Book Fair will be occurring next week, with families able to shop during family-teacher conferences on October 5th from 3:30-7:00 and October 6th from 8:00-12:00.  Students will be allowed to attend the fair during their Library Unified Arts time on October 3rd, 4th, and 5th. A modified schedule will be shared soon to enable students who would not typically have the library when the book fair is open.  If you want your child to participate, please send money with them on that day. 

NHDI

On Friday, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders received a flyer for the year-long New Hampshire Dance Institute (NHDI)  program. On Tuesday, September 26th, Cutler will have our sample class for our NHDI year-long program.  The NHDI year-long program meets once a week on Tuesdays during school from approximately 1:20-2  If your child is interested, they will be allowed to join the sample class on Tuesday.  There is no commitment to joining after the sample class, but please discuss this with your child if you want to try NHDI! 

i-Ready

The fall i-Ready Diagnostic will take place this and next week for all students at Cutler.  The i-Ready Diagnostic is an online, adaptive assessment and learning tool that adjusts questions to suit your student’s needs. Each item a student sees is individualized 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 questions.

The purpose of i-Ready is not to give your student a score or grade but to determine how best to support your student’s learning. You will receive an i-Ready report of your child’s diagnostic results at Family-Teacher conferences. Throughout the year, teachers utilize data from i-Ready to help plan their instruction and offer ways to use the i-Ready personalized instruction tools to improve student skills and knowledge.

Dear Cutler School Students and Families,

We are so glad to have had a positive start at Cutler. During our first week, staff and students emphasized learning the routines and expectations for being a successful member of the Cutler community while also making sure we leave space for a bit of fun!   I am honored to have gotten a chance to visit every classroom during the first week and see students and educators working together. We truly have a warm and welcoming school community that wants to grow!

We had our annual Cardinal Day, where we proactively taught and practiced expectations for success throughout the day and building, such as in transitions between classes, hallways, lunch arrival and dismissal, and busses. Students learn to demonstrate citizenship, safety, respect, and responsibility throughout the day. Thanks especially to our Lead Teachers, Megan Neurock and Alyssa Collyer, for helping to organize, and Occupational Therapist Kris Kleine for serving as our fantastic DJ for our school-wide lunch and dance party! 

Meet the Principal - September 12th, 6:30-7:30
I look forward to working with students, staff, and families as Principal of Cutler. Our community believes our students only succeed when families and educators work together. With that in mind, I look forward to sharing my thoughts and hearing your input at our first "Meet the Principal" event, scheduled for September 12th from 6:30-7:30.  You can join via Zoom (or in person at Cutler).    Though not required, Please RSVP so we can have an attendance estimate and choose the appropriate room in the building to meet.  Children are, of course, welcome to attend, but we will not be able to offer childcare at this time. 

This Year's Theme: "No Blaming, Just Growing"
This year's theme at Cutler is "No Blaming, Just Growing."  This theme, which applies to adults and students alike, was emphasized at our first school-wide assembly, will be reinforced throughout the year, and impacts all parts of our school community. It affects interactions with classmates and adults and encourages personal responsibility for learning. It also focuses on continuously improving rather than accepting temporary failure as permanent.  Mistakes - as we discussed, are not only inevitable but also INVALUABLE. Just like learning how to ride a bike and initially falling a lot, mistakes teach us what to do differently in the future and how to get better. 

Student Input

As I told students and staff, over the next two weeks, I plan on visiting every classroom to get student input on these four questions:

1. What is good about Cutler?

2. What could be better about Cutler?

3. How could students make Cutler better?

4. How could adults make Cutler better? 

You may help your students prepare for these questions by asking them at home to discuss what they might want to give for answers.   Students in all grades will discuss and answer with their teacher and Mr. Gottheimer. 5th and 6th grade students will be given the extra opportunity and practice to consider and respond via a Google form directly. 

C.S.R.R. - Citizenship, Safety, Respect, and Responsibility

This work relates to our ongoing motto at Cutler of Citizenship, Safety, Respect, and Responsibility (CSRR).  Students demonstrate an ability to show empathy for the feelings and safety of others while also taking on personal responsibility to be the best they can be as students and people.

Families may wish to reinforce these ideas of personal responsibility, empathy, and continuously growing, not blaming, at home. With your help, students will continue to have opportunities to be responsible members of their families and community.

Dropoff and Dismissal

As we, our bus drivers, and other schools adjust to new buses and routes, dropoff and dismissal have been pretty smooth so far!  Just a reminder that students should not arrive before 8:10. Parent drop-off occurs at the back of the school  "West Street" entrance. Please do not drop off or park at the front of the school.

Staying in Touch 

Thank you for being a partner with Cutler Educators! To ensure you are getting all the critical information and in case of emergencies, keep your emails and phone numbers accurate by telling us of any changes by emailing administrative assistant Ms. Fisk or calling (603) 352-3383. Please do not hesitate to contact me throughout the year with any questions or concerns.  Our updated 2023-2024 Family Guide for Elementary Families is now posted and available from the Cutler Website.   

Please also stay in touch at our Cutler Facebook Page, where we share timely news, fun photos, and videos of our students!

Sincerely,

--

Brett Gottheimer

Principal

Cutler Elementary School

(603) 352-3383

bgottheimer@mrsd.org