Dear Fifth Grade Families,
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you and your fifth grader to the Putnam Avenue Upper School. We are excited to get to know all of you and all that you have to offer our diverse community, as well as for you to learn more about who we are and what we are all about. The transition from fifth to sixth grade is both exciting and challenging, so we have organized a number of activities in order to help you and your child prepare for this milestone. These activities began on January 17th, 2019, when we hosted the rising fifth grade students for a special screening of this year’s Putnam Ave. musical,
Peter Pan.
During the
first week of May, the Putnam Ave. team will visit all of the students at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Kennedy-Longfellow, and Morse schools. At this time your student will meet the Head of School (Mirko Chardin), the 6th Grade Teacher Leader (Christopher Godfrey), and members of our Counseling Team (Matt Perry, Joanne Edouard). This visit provides the opportunity for us to introduce ourselves, review our core values and vision, share about our outside of school opportunities, and provide students with an overview of what they can expect next year -- the schedule, lockers, courses, etc. The highlight of this time, though, is our current students who hail from each of the elementary schools and who answer questions and share about their experience at Putnam Ave. Overall, this experience ensures that when your student arrives at Putnam Ave. there will already be a few familiar faces in the crowd!
Next, on
May 29th, 2019, all of the fifth grade students will visit with our sixth grade team and current sixth grade students during the school day at Putnam Ave. We have an exciting day planned for the students so that they can get a feel for what it is like to be a sixth grader at Putnam Ave., as well as to start to build a community of students coming from different schools. That same day (May 29th) we will also host an evening event for all of the parents and guardians of our incoming sixth graders, from 6 - 7PM at Putnam Ave. During this time, we will share an overview of and a short presentation about the rigorous, district-aligned curriculum that we offer our students. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers, as well as for parents and guardians to get to know one another.
We truly look forward to working with you, your children, and their current schools to ensure a smooth and thoughtful transition. If you have any questions or concerns, please call our front office at 617.349.7780.
Sincerely,
Mirko Chardin
Founding Head of School
Chris Godfrey
Sixth Grade Team Leader
Mathieu Perry
School Adjustment Counselor
Joanne Edouard
Guidance Counselor