Haggerty Holler: September 12, 2025

Posted on 09/12/2025

WELCOME to the 2025 - 2026 School Year!

Soo Dhawoow! Khosh Amadid! Marhaban! Bienvenidos!
Swagatum! Dahan-mesika! Bienvenue! Anquan danah mahtu!
Svagat! Huānyíng! Pryvet! Irasshaimase!
Välkommen! Fáilte! Atithi tarīkē svīkārya! Fogadtatás!
Hacheli! Willkommen! Καλωσορίζω! Benvenuto!
Eoseo Oshipsio! Chào đón!
Bem-vindo! Shalom! Voghjuyn! Welkom!

I can’t wait to have lots of photos of your beautiful children in the Holler, but I need you to fill out the General Media Release (and A or B if you are willing) in the Annual Forms to have permission. Thanks for your help!

Lissa, Haggerty Family Liaison

New Staff to Haggerty

We're beyond excited to have welcomed 3 S.C.A.L.E. classrooms to Haggerty! S.C.A.L.E. stands for Social Communication Academic Lifeskills Education. We've begun a deep dive into neurodiversity and are really excited to learn from our new students and their caregivers, and educators! Thank you for joining us in this learning and supporting our journey in becoming a better version of Haggerty! Everyone is Different, Everyone Belongs!

S.C.A.L.E. Kindergarten (Room 106)
Katrina Frongillo - Kindergarten Teacher
Barbara Davis - Paraprofessional
Milo Hughson - Paraprofessional
Alyssa Murray - Paraprofessional

S.C.A.L.E. Grade 1st/2nd (Room 108)
Allana Morgan - 1st/2nd Grade Teacher
Kelly Fede - Paraprofessional
Hannah Lien - Paraprofessional
Julia Wenstrom - Paraprofessional

S.C.A.L.E. Grade 3rd/4th (Room 303)
Ty Le - Grade 3rd/4th Teacher
Joohee Lee - Paraprofessional
Sarah Sundstrom - Paraprofessional
Maya Thompson - Paraprofessional

Additional S.C.A.L.E. Staff
Maggie Delong - Occupational Therapist
Georgia Kostopoulos - Physical Therapist
Stephanie York - Speech and Language (& Special Start)
Jim Edgehill - Adapted Physical Education

Additional New Staff Members
Erica Liu - School Psychologist
Beth Walsh - Behavior Specialist
Sally Marmet - Inclusion Specialist
Maddie Eaton - Physical Therapist
Natalie Kulak - Building Substitute
Siobhan Moloney - Building Substitute
Michayra Zapata - SEL Paraprofessional

Library Corner

My name is Brianna Mency, and I am the School Librarian at Haggerty. During our time together, we read, discuss stories, learn library skills, and choose books to take home. It's important for students to be responsible for returning borrowed books. Please inquire about the books your student is borrowing and make a special spot at home for Haggerty library books. Please encourage your child to share their favorite stories and new learnings with you. Your involvement plays a crucial role in their development as enthusiastic and confident readers. If you have any questions or need further information, do not hesitate to reach out. Together, we can ensure that your child's experience in the library is both enjoyable and enriching.

Book Borrowing Guidelines for Grades CPP - 5
Students in grades one through five will have the opportunity to take books home. Once they have established a routine for borrowing and returning books, they can check out additional titles. For the months of September and October, the following borrowing limits apply:

CPP-Kindergarten: Library books remain in the classroom. Students may borrow a maximum of 1 book.
Grades 1-2: Students may borrow a maximum of 1 book.
Grades 3-5: Students are permitted to borrow up to 2 books.

New Book Display: I am excited to share a new book display featuring the latest arrivals in our library! Students are encouraged to explore and discover new favorites by checking out the book displays in the library.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch. You can reach me at [email protected].

Music Corner

Welcome back!

Who is my child’s music teacher?
Shelley Irvin (“Mx. Irvin”) teaches music to preschool-2nd grade including all SCALE classes, and Susie Petrov (“Ms. Susie”) teaches music to 3rd and 4th grade including 3rd & 4th grade SCALE, and preschool.

Where is music class?
Mx. Irvin’s music room is 111, next to the art room. You can see it if you look in the windows on the recess yard.

Ms. Susie’s music class is on the lower level, next to the gym. Sometimes music class takes place in classrooms, and sometimes it takes place on the recess yard!

When does chorus start?
Mx. Irvin also teaches chorus to interested 3rd-5th graders. Permission slips go out this week - please return them by Friday, September 12. Chorus starts on Tuesday, September 23. Chorus will take place in Mx. Irvin’s music room (111) every Tuesday and Wednesday 7:30-8AM.

How do I contact the music teachers?
You can always use ParentSquare, but you can also use email or phone. Shelley Irvin: [email protected] or 617.355.6555 x7945111 Susie Petrov: [email protected]s or 617.504.6485

Each month, Ms. Susie and Mx. Irvin both teach our students about Musician of the Month. For September, our Musician of the Month is the Latino duo Sol y Canto who reside in Cambridge. Sol y Canto is made up of Puerto Rican and Argentinian Rosi and New Mexican Brian Amador. Brian is a guitarist, singer, and composer, while Rosi is a singer and percussionist. You can learn more about them at solycanto.com.

Math Coach’s Corner

Dear Families, Welcome to the new school year at Haggerty! We are so excited to have all the students here! I know many caregivers have questions about how we teach math and how to support your child’s learning. Here are two resources:

See the “Family Support Hub” for lots of information about the curriculum we use In Kindergarten through Grade 5, Illustrative Math.

There is general information on the top. Scroll down and click on your child’s grade to learn more about the content of that grade level. There are information pages and videos for each unit - right now all the classes are working on Unit 1. The information pages are available in many languages besides English: Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Khmer, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Check out the Haggerty Math page for lots more information, ideas, and games!

Mathily yours,

Nili Pearlmutter
Haggerty Math Coach

Literacy Corner (ELA)

Hello Haggerty Families,

Welcome to all of our new families, we are so glad you’re here! You may know that Cambridge Public Schools has made a few changes to our English Language Arts curriculum. We are so excited that across our Cambridge Schools all students are using the same ELA curriculum in each school.

The ELA department offers a CAREGIVER website that includes information about the ELA curriculum in grades CPP-12. There are videos, and some content is available with language translations. Stay tuned for more information on how to support literacy learning at home.

Grade Level	Curriculum
CPP Preschool	Haggerty, Focus on 4’s
Kindergarten	Foundations, Focus on Kindergarden
Kindergarten SCALE	K CKLA & Focus on Kindergarden
Grades 1-5	CKLA: Core Knowledge Language Arts
SCALE Gr.1-4	CKLA: Core Knowledge Language Arts

Here you can see the specific grade level units for all grades. If you have questions about the ELA programming at Haggerty, please feel free to reach out to Suzanne Russell, [email protected], (Literacy Coach) or Patty West, [email protected], (Early Literacy Interventionist).

SEL Corner

Hi all and welcome back!

I'm Aline Kassabian and I am the General Education Social Worker at the Haggerty School! Within this role, I support students and staff in Social Emotional Learning. This includes supporting students experiencing big emotions with their transition back to learning, family and community engagement, SEL coaching, counseling services, data driven interventions, as well as crisis assessment and response.

During WIN (What I Need), a scheduled academic block, students work with me to build empathy, adaptability, self awareness, collaboration, agency and purpose.

I'm so excited to be starting our school year with Wayfinder and having the opportunity to build on all the work our wonderful educators began last year!

To give a Wayfinder quick intro; Wayfinder is our SEL curriculum that we began implementing last year. Wayfinder uses games and fun activities to engage and teach the 6 core skills: Self-awareness, Adaptability, Empathy, Collaboration, Agency, and Purpose. As a school community we have dedicated time to teaching the lessons and having some fun with our students every Monday! Please find below the family letter from Wayfinder.

I look forward to sharing more throughout the year!

Read Family Letter here >>

Friends of Haggerty - FOH

What is Friends of Haggerty (FOH)?
Friends of Haggerty is our private non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation run by a volunteer board made up of caregivers and teachers. Our mission is to raise funds to support initiatives that have been identified by the Haggerty community as valuable to the school. FOH funds are used principally for enrichment and community building programs and activities that would not otherwise be funded by the annual school budget (for example field trips, community events, author & artist visits, and much more). When you see the logo above in the Haggerty Holler, it means that FOH supported that event!

Want to know more or get involved? Please email [email protected] or ask one of the caregivers on the board: Darl Packard, Kristina Vanstrom, Borjan Gagoski, Caroline Logan, Andrew Daley, Chris Cagliuso

Haggerty Running Ragnar Relay for Friends of Haggerty

Did you know that a dedicated group of Haggerty Caregivers are running the Ragnar Race Relay "Reach The Beach" in NH this weekend (Sept 12 and 13) to benefit our Friends of Haggerty?

Our team will take on this 200+ mile long course, stretching from Lancaster, NH, in the White Mountains, all the way to Hampton Beach, NH, because we believe firmly in supporting the public education that is helping to prepare our children to be the leaders of tomorrow. We are running to support The Friends of Haggerty School (FoH), our nonprofit organization that raises money to support enrichment and community-building activities that would not otherwise be funded by the annual school budget. These activities include classroom field trips, buses for field trips, childcare for school events, school visits from authors, artists and musicians, additional books for the library, and so much more! When we lace up our running shoes and strap on our headlamps (did we mention we’ll be running all through the night?), we will be fueled by the support of our community, people like you.

A donation in any amount would bring us closer to our goal of raising $5,000. Can we count on you?

Link to Donate Here - any amount is appreciated! Thank you!!

Haggerty Caregivers on this year's team: Borjan Gagoski, Lepka Gagoski, Andrew Daley, Amanda Prince, Melissa Corbin, Darl Packard, Zac Cardwell, Diego Macias, Laura Alfring, Caroline Logan, and Margo Levine (former Haggerty caregiver). Send them positive thoughts tomorrow as they begin this adventure!

Upcoming Haggerty Events

Haggerty Back to School Night Thursday, September 18 | 5:30 - 7PM

5:30 - 6PM: PIZZA (GYM) - please RSVP so we have enough.
6 - 7PM: Classrooms and School Tour

RSVP here >>

Haggerty School Advisory Council
Friday, September 26 | 8 - 9AM | In-Person and Google Meet
Everyone is welcome, this is an open and public meeting! Please stay tuned for agenda and google meet link. Questions? Please ask Lissa, or your Haggerty caregiver representatives at [email protected]

Haggerty’s Annual International Potluck
Thursday, October 16 | 6 - 7:30PM | Gym & Cafeteria
Cultural Tables, Food, and Entertainment! We need your help! More details & Sign Up to Come!
Sign up here >>

Can you join us for a planning meeting? Tuesday, September 23rd at 8AM (in-person & virtual - stay tuned for more info)

Upcoming Cambridge Preschool Program Events

As we commence the new school year, we wanted to share these important Cambridge Preschool Program (CPP) upcoming events below.

CPP Enrollment Fair
Saturday, September 27 | 10AM - 12PM
The Cambridge Preschool Program (CPP) will be hosting an Enrollment Fair in preparation for the 2026-2027 application opening October 1 to November 14th! Join us for fun activities, children’s entertainment and ice cream.
Learn more here >>

CPP Fall Application Opens
October 1 - November 14, 2025
FREE PRESCHOOL for all Cambridge 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds!
Learn more and apply here >>

Upcoming Community Events

Girls on the Run (Grades: 3-5)
Practice Days & Times: two practices per week, M/W | 4:30-6PM | Danehy Park
First practice: Monday, September 22 | Danehy Park
Celebratory End-of-Season 5k: Sunday, November 16 | Danehy Park
Program fee: $225 (Financial assistance is always available!) Learn more about GOTR here. Register online here.

Resources
Food, Nutrition, & Gardening

It’s back to school time! For many of us, that can mean a shift in work schedules and daily routines. Here are 5 simple ways to practice healthier eating habits as the school year kicks off.
MFM is looking for some volunteers for the Big E State Fair, September 12th-28th. What is the Big E? Only the sixth-largest agricultural fair in the entire country! If you or someone you know is interested, please sign up here.

Mind, Movement, & More
For the month of September, the War Memorial Recreation Center will be offering free Family Swim! Families will have a chance to enjoy the public pool for free this month. See here for more information and the schedule attached below for details on swim times.

Tritogether Tutoring
Free tutoring to children, teens and young adults in foster care.
Learn more here >>

Harmony music tutoring
Run by Harvard undergraduates. FREE, one-on-one instrumental and vocal lessons to K-12 low-income students in the Greater Boston area. Lessons are available either in-person at Harvard or over Zoom. Lessons begin in October. Register online by Saturday, 9/20 at 11:59PM.
Learn more here >>

Cambridge Family Microsoccer Fall Season
Saturday morning soccer for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten-aged girls and boys ages 4-6. The fall 2025 season began on September 6 and will run on Saturdays into November. Register online and learn more at microsoccer.us.

Danehy Park Family Day 2025
Saturday, September 20 | 11AM - 3PM (Rain Date: Sept. 27) | Danehy Park (99 Sherman St.)
Free Event for All Ages! Activities, Arts & Crafts, Children's Amusement Rides, Entertainment, Free Food & Giveaways (while supplies last). Free Shuttle buses will be running throughout Cambridge to provide transportation to and from Danehy Park.
Learn more here >>

Science Club for Girls
Free afterschool in-person and virtual STEM programs for girls and gender-expansive youth from underrepresented communities. Hands-on activities and mentorship from women in STEM. Space is limited. Registering does not guarantee acceptance.
Learn more here >>

Celebremos Puerto Rico
Saturday, September 27 | 1 - 04PM | Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Celebrate Puerto Rico’s rich culture and natural wonders at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture! Join us for a fun-filled day with hands-on art-making and storytelling. Learn about coquí frogs, colorful birds, and glowing bioluminescent bays. Try out cool augmented reality tools to explore ancient Taíno artifacts, and enjoy tasty Puerto Rican food (available for purchase). Advance registration recommended. Learn more here >>

Run Cambridge
Mondays starting September 13 | 3-4PM | Harvard’s Gordon Indoor Track
FREE fun 6-week running program for kids in grades K-8. Led by student-athletes at Harvard University.
Learn more here >>

Cambridge Youth Soccer Fall 2025 Season
Join city-wide soccer teams starting September 13th. Register and learn more here. Financial aid is available at any level for anybody who asks!

Shop4Free Events
Multiple Dates & Times | Central Square Library, 45 Pearl St. Cambridge, MA 02139
Come shop for free fall-winter clothes, accessories, shoes, underwear, and more! Organized by theSpot.
Learn more here >>

Celebrating Disability Pride 2025
Saturday, October 4 | 11AM-2PM | Joan Lorentz Park
A festive event for the whole community that aims to increase visibility, dignity, and inclusion of people with disabilities while raising awareness and reducing stigma. Learn more here >>

Cambridge Basketball Lab Elementary School Program
Sundays, September 28 - November 2 | Baldwin School
Practice key skills at CBL's new 6-week mentorship and basketball skill development program for students from grades 2-5. Learn more here >>

Volunteers Needed – Help Cambridge Kids Sort Their Recycling and Food Waste!

The City of Cambridge is looking for volunteers to help our students learn to sort recycling and food waste after breakfast and lunch. This is a great opportunity to be in the schools! No experience necessary. This can be a long- or short-term commitment, but the most help is needed in September.

Questions? Contact [email protected] or call 617.349.4836.