Early Steps Weekly Newsletter September 1, 2025

Posted Date: 9/01/25 (5:27 PM)

Early Steps Updates

Weekly Newsletter

Hello School Community

Welcome to this week's edition of the Early Steps Newsletter! We're excited to share the latest happenings and updates from our school community to keep you informed and engaged.

School News and Updates

Dear Early Steps Families:

We are thrilled to welcome your children, our students, to Early Steps classrooms as they begin their school year on Tuesday, September 9, 2025!

Your child’s teacher will be sending a welcome letter with more details before Wednesday, September 3, 2025. In the meantime, I’ve included important information below about our arrival and dismissal procedures to help you prepare.

Monday, September 8, 2025 will be a gentle start, with students arriving in small groups for 30-minute visits throughout the day. This staggered schedule helps ease the transition. That said, as with any new school year, we anticipate a bit of a learning curve during the first few days. Thank you in advance for your patience! By the second week, we expect arrival and dismissal routines to run smoothly.

Early Steps includes six satellite PreK classrooms located across our district, two each at Cunniff, Hosmer, and Lowell Schools. Families in those classrooms will also receive newsletters from the respective principals:

Julia MacEwan at Cunniff School
Erin Moulton at Hosmer School
Stacy Phelan at Lowell School

Please be sure to read these communications carefully. Some will contain important building-specific information, while others will include updates related to Early Steps—such as curriculum highlights, instructional updates, research insights, and classroom photos.

Below, you’ll find helpful information to support a smooth start and transition into your child’s early childhood learning experiences.

Classroom Assignments and School Visiting Day

You should have received an email with information on your child's teacher, class assignment, and basic information about Early Steps as well as information about School Visiting Day on September 8.

If you did not, and believe that you should have, please notify our Administrative Assistant, Tricia D'Amelio @ tricia.damelio@watertown.k12.ma.us.

Arrival Procedure

Please Note: Our Cunniff School and Lowell School PreK students/families will follow the directions provided by their school's principals. The information provided below is for those students attending at Early Steps and Hosmer School.

The following procedures are created to maintain an orderly and safe environment during arrival and dismissal. Please carefully read the details below.

DROP OFF/Arrival

Drop off starts at either 7:50AM or 8:20AM, depending on the start time of your child’s day, and the locations are different.

For students in our classrooms that begin at 8:00AM:

Our Drop & Go begins at 7:50 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. and can be accessed from Winthrop St. off of Mt. Auburn St.
The drop off queue is from the stop sign at the corner of Hancock St. and Chauncey St. and along the right hand side of Hancock Street.
We ask families to please pull up to the next available spot in the drop off queue. This drop off area is for PRESCHOOL/PREK students ONLY. Students/siblings attending the Hosmer are to be dropped off according to the Hosmer drop off plans.
Please turn on your hazard lights to signal that your child requires assistance.The purpose is to let staff know that your child is in the car and needs to be brought into the building.
Procedure: At drop off, a staff member will help your child out of the car and bring them into their classroom. PLEASE REMAIN IN THE CAR. This helps to move the drop off line along. Drop and Go ends at 8:00 a.m.
In summary, kindly remain in your car. Please tie shoes, zip zippers, pack your child’s backpacks, and give a quick 'see you later' kiss before you arrive at the drop-off point.

If you anticipate that your child may have a difficult time transitioning from the car, we respectfully ask that you park on Mt. Auburn Street and walk your child down to a staff member in front of the school.

For students in our Hosmer PreK classrooms that begin at 8:30AM:

The drop off time begins at 8:20 for PreK students.
Procedure: Families are to legally park on Concord St. or Mt. Auburn St. and walk their child to the front door of the school. Staff will meet you there to walk your child to their class.
There is NO ACCESS to the Preschool from Winthrop St. during the school day other than the early Drop and Go at 7:50 or for buses, as the sign reads "while school is in session between 8:00a.m.- 1:30 p.m." Hancock St. is one way "while school is in session" as well.

It is very important that children arrive at school on time. When children arrive late it disrupts their morning school routine. We understand that this may happen occasionally however we ask that this is not a regular occurrence. Late is considered arriving after 8:05AM, for our Early Steps students and 8:35AM for our Cunniff, Hosmer, and Lowell PreK students.

Dismissal Procedures

DISMISSAL

Your child’s teacher will inform you of the meeting location for dismissal. It is either the playground area or the front door of the school. Dismissal starts at the end time of your child’s scheduled day.

Procedure: Families are asked to legally park along either Concord St. or Mt. Auburn St. and walk to meet your child at their designated meeting location.
Please do not block driveways or double park on Winthrop Street.
Please note that parking on the right side of Hancock Street is 'live parking'. This space is reserved for the buses at the Hosmer dismissal. Please do not park in this area for longer than 10 minutes.

LATE DROP OFF or EARLY DISMISSAL

Procedure: If your child will be late for school, or being dismissed early, park on either Concord St. or Mt. Auburn St. and walk your child to the main entrance of the preschool. Ring the doorbell to be let into the building and enter the main office to sign your child in or out of school.
If you know that your child is going to be late or dismissed early, please inform your child’s teacher. You may also call the main office (617-926-7765 ) and a message can be relayed to your child’s teacher.
There is NO ACCESS to the Preschool from Winthrop St. during the school day other than the early Drop and Go @7:50 or for buses, as the sign reads "while school is in session between 7:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m." Hancock St. is one way "while school is in session" as well.

Thank you in advance for abiding by these procedures.

Message from Nurse Reynolds

Hello Early Steps Families.

We are excited to welcome students back for a healthy, safe, and fun school year!

As we begin our school year, we are asking parents of students who have a medical diagnosis and need medication to be given during school hours to please drop off medication directly in the nurse’s office. Please DO NOT have children bring these medications to school themselves.

If your child requires rescue medications (ie. for an allergy, asthma, or seizures) please bring:

Rescue medications (including benadryl or zyrtec if applicable for allergies as we do not stock these at school). Don’t forget to check expiration dates!
An emergency action plan from your child’s pediatrician.

If your child takes daily medications to be given while in school please bring:

The medication in the original prescription bottle.
Doctors’ orders that outline the medication, dose, time, and any other instructions for administration.

Please note that new action plans and doctors orders are required every school year, so these should be dated after June 2025.

I look forward to working with you and your student’s this school year! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

----

Kaitlyn Reynolds, RN, BSN

Early Steps Preschool Nurse

Watertown Public Schools

(857)371-2228 x34824

Tuition Reminder

Tuition payments are due on or before the first of every month - September through June.

Caregivers have the following options for making a payment:

Online through ParentSquare
Drop off payment at the drop box at the Phillips building or at Early Steps at Hosmer. If paying by check, please make a check payable to "Town of Watertown" and include your child’s name on the memo line.
Mail check to Early Steps School attn: Tricia D’Amelio. If paying by check, please make a check payable to "Town of Watertown" and include your child’s name on the memo line.

Parents/Caregivers will receive an email with an invoice attached approximately 10 days prior to the start of school.

Tuition Costs:

3-days a week 8:00AM - 12:00PM - $425/month

5-days a week 8:00AM - 1:00PM - $885/month

5-days a week 8:00AM - 12:00PM - $707/month

For more information, contact: Administrative Assistant, Tricia D’Amelio @ Tricia.DAmelio@watertown.k12.ma.us

School Supplies

No School Supply Lists - We've Got You Covered!

Good news! There’s no need to worry about school supply shopping this year. Since the pandemic, our District has been providing all necessary materials for students, and we’re happy to continue this practice across all three elementary schools.

We hope this makes the back-to-school season a little easier for you and your family!

All your student will need to bring is:

A backpack
A water bottle

That’s it! We’re looking forward to a great year ahead!

Important Reminders

Upcoming Events

WPS 2025 - 2026 School Year Calendar

Upcoming Dates:

Monday, September 8, 2025 - Classroom Visiting Day
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 - First Day of School
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - Early Release, dismissal at 11:30 AM
Thursday, September 18, 2025 - Open House - evening

Registration Information

All students must be registered for enrollment.

For information, or if you have registration questions, please contact:

Registrar, Terri Stafford

terri.stafford@watertown.k12.ma.us

Watertown Public Schools

@Phillips Building, Third Floor

30 Common St.

Watertown, Ma. 02472

617-972-4216 X 37291

Fax 617-923-1234

Necessary Registration Documents:

Copy of student birth certificate
Registering parent/guardian with official identification
Health: Copy of yearly physical and updated immunizations document (U.S.physician)
School records or report cards - if applicable (if records from their previous school were not already transferred)
2 Proofs of residence: one from each column below