💙 HMF Weekly Update – Hammer Needs You 💙
Hammer Families,
It’s hard to believe we only have TWO WEEKS of school left. This year has been emotional, exciting, challenging, inspiring, and unforgettable all at once — and through all of it, our families have continued to show up for Hammer in incredible ways.
From volunteering at events, advocating for our students, supporting our teachers, fundraising, donating supplies, helping in classrooms, and simply being present and engaged — thank you. Truly. This community works because of the people in it, and we are so grateful for all of you.
We’re looking forward to finishing this school year strong together. 💙
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🌟 HMF Leadership Opportunity – We Need You!
As we prepare for the transition to the 2026–2027 school year and our new campus, we are continuing our search for a parent volunteer to step into the role of:
🎭 Assemblies & Field Trips Coordinator
This role is absolutely crucial to maintaining the incredible enrichment experiences our students receive at Hammer.
Nina has done an unbelievable job in this position and has worked incredibly hard to streamline and organize the process. Whoever steps into this role would NOT be coming in blind — you would have guidance, files, systems, and support from both Nina and the HMF team.
This position helps bring:
🚌 Field trips
🎤 Assemblies
🎨 Educational enrichment opportunities
✨ Memorable student experiences
to life for our students.
We truly need someone willing to help us carry this important work forward into next year.
📧 If you are interested, please reach out to:
[contact@hammerfoundation.org](mailto:contact@hammerfoundation.org)
We’ve also had some additional interest in helping with Events (which is amazing!), but we can always use more volunteers there as well. If you love planning, organizing, decorating, or building community — we’d love to talk with you.
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🍦🍕 Walk-a-Thon Rewards Are Coming!
Thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of our Hammer families, we not only hit our Walk-a-Thon fundraising goal — we EXCEEDED it! 🎉
Because of your support, students now get to enjoy:
🍦 Walk-a-Thon Ice Cream & Dance Party
🍕 Walk-a-Thon Pizza Party
Thank you for helping make these celebrations possible while also supporting future programs like:
🎶 Starting Arts
🎭 Assemblies
🚌 Field Trips
🍎 Teacher & classroom supplies
These experiences follow us to Gardner and help ensure our students continue receiving the engaging, joyful educational experience Hammer is known for.
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🏫 Gardner Community Tour – May 19 | 4:30–5:30 PM
This week, members of HMF and SSC had the opportunity to tour the Gardner campus, and we are excited to begin sharing more information with families.
We hope you’ll join us for the official:
📍 Hammer Community Tour of Gardner Elementary
📅 May 19 | 4:30–5:30 PM
📍 501 Illinois Avenue
This will be a chance to:
• Walk the campus
• See classrooms and learning spaces
• Learn about after-school programs
• Explore where students will learn, eat, play, and grow
One piece of exciting news:
✨ It is very likely we will maintain our current school schedule (9:05–3:00). We know that consistency matters greatly to families, and we are grateful for that continuity.
We are also excited that our new campus will include additional staffing and support resources including:
💙 A full-time health aide
💙 Nurse support
💙 Librarian services
💙 Campus supervisors
💙 Custodial staff
💙 Special Education and Speech services
…and more.
In fact, we plan to introduce several of our new team members during the event.
While transitions are never easy, seeing the campus and learning more about the opportunities ahead helped many of us begin envisioning what the next chapter of Hammer can become.
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🎓 5th Grade Promotion – May 28
We are excited to celebrate our promoting 5th grade class of 2025–2026 on:
📅 Thursday, May 28
🕔 5:00–6:00 PM
Please come out and help us celebrate this important milestone for our amazing students.
A huge thank you to the HMF and all parent volunteers helping make this event special.
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📘 Galammer Yearbook Signing Event
📅 May 29 | 1:00–2:30 PM
The last day of school is May 29, with students dismissed at 1:00 PM.
At 1:15 PM, we will host a Galammer Yearbook Signing Event. Students accompanied by a parent or guardian are welcome to participate.
As Mr. Bingham shared:
While we are preparing to wrap up the school year, there is still much to accomplish. Our students deserve every moment they can get with their incredible teachers and school community.
Let’s finish strong together. 💙
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📅 Important Dates
• Student Walk-a-Thon Ice Cream/Dance Party – May 15 (Second Recess)
• Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast – May 19, 8:15–10:00 AM
• Gardner Community Tour – May 19, 4:30–5:30 PM
• Student Walk-a-Thon Pizza Party – May 22
• Student Magic Show Assembly – May 22
• Galammer Field Day – May 26
• Galammer Spirit Week – May 26–29
• Galammer 5th Grade Picnic – May 27, 1:00–3:00 PM
• 5th Grade Promotion – May 28, 5:00–6:00 PM
• Last Day of School – May 29 @ 1:00 PM
• Galammer Yearbook Signing Event – May 29, 1:00–2:30 PM
💙 We are better together.