Fisher Family Update

Dear Fisher Families,

The teachers and I would like to congratulate our students for completing their first 5 day week of school! Throughout the first weeks of this school year, the teachers and I have been very impressed with the students’ positive attitudes and perseverance, not only with academics but also socially. Today we celebrated “friendship” and International Dot Day. International Dot Day promotes creativity, courage and collaboration while emphasizing that every individual is unique, special and important. This was a part of our morning announcements and followed by class discussions and relationship building activities. We are proud of the way our school community is coming together this year and look forward to sharing more examples of our students’ teamwork and cooperation with you throughout this year.

It was great to see many of our families Wednesday evening at our first PAC event of the year! Everyone enjoyed the popsicles and reconnecting with friends and families. You'll have another opportunity to network or meet other members of our school community at our upcoming PAC meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 20th at 7pm in the STEM/Library classroom.

Lastly, thank you to those who have volunteered to help us out with lunch/recess supervision. The volunteer sign up form is below and will be available until Monday morning. Please sign up if there is a day that you might be able to join us. All volunteers will be invited to a virtual meeting on Monday, September, 18th at 2:00pm. Thank you!

Please be sure to read through this edition of the Fisher Family Update and mark your calendars for upcoming and fun events.

Brian

September

15 First Day of Hispanic Heritage Month

15 Rosh Hashanah begins (ends 9/17)

20 - Fisher PAC Meeting 7pm - Fisher STEM/Media Classroom

21 International Day of Peace

22 - Early Release - Fisher dismissal at 12:25pm

24 Yom Kippur (ends 9/25)

26-27 Mawlid

26-10/6 Sukkot

October

3 - Fisher School Picture Day

5 - Fisher School Open House/Curriculum Night 6:00-7:30pm

6 - Early Release - Fisher dismissal at 12:25pm

9 - NO SCHOOL - Columbus Day

18 - Fisher PAC 7pm - Fisher STEM/Media Classroom

25 - Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences - 6:00-8:00pm

27 - Early Release - Fisher dismissal at 12:25pm

27 - Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences 1:00pm-3:00pm

November

2 - Elementary Parent/Teacher Conferences - 6:00-8:00pm

Our teachers have many ways to check your child’s reading development and growth, including an early literacy universal screening assessment. Early literacy universal screening assessments are brief tests that provide information about your child’s early reading skills.

Screening makes it possible to see if a student is at risk of developing reading difficulties, including risk of dyslexia. Screening does not diagnose dyslexia or other disabilities, but it does help us understand which students may need additional support to be successful readers. We are required to assess students in grades K-3 at least twice per year consistent with Massachusetts regulation 603 CMR 28.03(1)(f).

Our district uses the screening assessment called iReady. This screening assessment is approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Your child will be assessed two or three times during the school year, depending on grade level. Grades 1-3 will be given the computer adaptive assessment in the Fall. Kindergarten will be given the computer adaptive assessment in the Winter. Assessments given in the Winter and Spring will also include offline literacy task assessments for grades K-3.

The tentative schedule for this school year is shown below.

Screening Assessment Months (Subject to Change)

Kindergarten

1. January
2. May

Grade 1 - Grade 3

1. September

2. January

3. May

Following the screening assessment, a team at our school will review all students’ results. If your child scores significantly below benchmarks, we will contact you to discuss how we can support your child.

Screening is another step that helps students at our school become proficient readers, and we are grateful for the continued support and partnership with the [School Name] families. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Each week will be introducing you to staff that are new to Fisher. This week's highlight is Ms. Romano.

Hi Fisher Families,

I am Miss Romano, I am teaching first grade this year. This is my fourth year teaching, but my first year teaching first grade. I taught 3rd grade for one year and 2nd grade for two in the elementary school I went to as a child. I am so excited to be at Fisher and to continue this great adventure in 1st grade!

When in the classroom I love building connections with my students and building a home away from home for all my students. Teaching is my passion!

When I'm not in the classroom, Italy is my next favorite place to be! My nephew definitely keeps me busy, we spend lots of time together at the beach. Another fun activity that I enjoy doing is making crafts with my Cricut machine!

Looking forward to a great year full of lots of fun and learning!!

This past week of STEM was greatly focused on the themes of teamwork and collaboration. After reading the story If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen, groups of students rose to the challenge of designing and building a school of their wildest dreams. Younger students were inspired by the story The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires to create something magnificent using the limited materials given to them. Keep an eye out in the future for even more amazing things that are happening during STEM this year

It has been great to see the excitement as students enter our second year in the Bridges Math Curriculum. They are enjoying the activities in Number Corner, the daily routine that builds number sense and flexible thinking around numbers and concepts. We have also had a fantastic launch to ST Math. The goal this year is for all students to reach 80% of their journey by mid May, and many of them are already on their way. Students are anxiously awaiting JiJi’s first visit to celebrate what a great start to the year they have had.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind our returning families and share with our new families the link for our Family Math Website which is full of great resources and information to help build your child’s math disposition, conceptual knowledge and basic skills through at home activities. There are so many activities students can do at home to build their math skills from reading books to playing board and card games to even going on a grocery shopping trip and talking about all the different ways they see and use numbers at the store. In future notes, different parts of our website will be highlighted to share more specific examples of things you can do at home. We are looking forward to a great year of mathematical learning and building math confidence in all of our students!

We are looking forward to welcoming parents and guardians to Fisher School's Open House on Thursday, Ocotber 5th, 2023. Teachers will be sharing curriculum expectations along with information specific to the classroom. Parents and guardians will also have time to ask general questions. Any questions specific to a child should be reserved for a more confidential setting. The Open Houses at all of the Walpole Elementary Schools are for Parents and Guardians only. Students, other family members, and guest should not attend. Thank you for your understanding

Schedule:

6:00-6:30 Families with Last Name Beginning with A-L*

6:45-7:15 Families with Last Name Beginning with M-Z*

*If you have more than one child, email the teacher for an exception to the assigned times.

Fifth graders investigating the volume of rectangular prisms in Mrs. Terranova’s class

Getting comfy with a book in Mrs. Winer’s class!

Students in Mrs. McDonald’s Class are learning about the human machine in science. They created paper robotic fingers!

Showing up together matters for REAL because it is an opportunity to:

Build Routines

Increase Engagement

Provide Access to Resources

Support Learning

Thank you for your patience as we familiarize ourselves with your students and their arrival and dismissal plans. If you need to change your plan for dismissal, please send in a note with your student. A follow up phone call to the office is also recommended. Please do not email teachers during the school day with a change in dismissal. Teachers don’t regularly check emails during the day. If a change needs to be made, please call the main office and our secretary will relay the message to your child’s teacher.

Dismissal is delayed in order to determine where individual students need to be at the end of the day (extended day, bus, car, walker, after school activity, etc.) We wait to dismiss until it is confirmed that all students are where they need to be. One group of students that is held are “walkers”. If your child is being dismissed as a walker, you are welcome to walk to Door # 18 (by the Fisher Farms garden), speak with a staff member and leave with your student. Otherwise, walkers will need to wait until it is confirmed that all students are at their proper dismissal location..

If possible, please try to avoid dismissals during lunch/recess.

K - 12:00 - 12:50 - lunch 12:00 - 12:20

1 - 11:30 - 12:20 - lunch 11:30 - 11:50

2 - 11:00 - 11:50 - lunch 11:00 - 11:20

3 - 12:30 - 1:20 - lunch 12:30 - 12:50

4 - 1:00 - 1:50 - lunch 1:00 - 1:20

5 - 1:30 - 2:20 - lunch 1:30 - 1:50

Click HERE to view our arrival and dismissal procedures

Lifetouch will be at Fisher on Tuesday, October 3rd. Please order ahead at mylifetouch.com

Use Picture Day ID: EVTFPQKJ6

Hard copy order forms were sent home this week.

Schools are not at liberty to provide student contact information for outside of school activities. If you would like to provide your child (ren)'s information for others to see please click the link below and complete the form.

Fisher School Friendship Directory

Fisher School is looking for two parent representatives to serve on the Fisher School Council. Our meetings will take place on Tuesday afternoons from 3:45-4:45pm. We will meet every other month starting in October. Please email Brian Bemiss if you are interested or have any questions.

Fisher PAC is so excited to be partnering with Ribpublic BBQ, again, for our first dine around of the year.

Ribpublic BBQ is happy to be donating a portion of all proceeds to Fisher PAC. You can place your orders with the form below for pickup on Sunday, October 1st from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

https://ribpublicbbq.com/product-category/online-food-orders/fisher-elementary-school-fundraiser-oct1/

Pickup is at in Medfield at 28 Pleasant Street, Sunday, October 1st from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Choose from Ribs, Pulled Pork, Smoked Chicken, Corn Bread, Coleslaw or 3 meal deals!

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PRE-ORDERED AND PLACED BY FRIDAY, September 29th AT MIDNIGHT (or before it is sold out).

Quantities are limited, so please place your orders now to help support Fisher PAC and this yummy local business!

You do not have to be a Fisher family to order! Share with your friends and family, let’s support this amazing local business and raise some money too! If you are planning on heading to Main Street Live tonight in Walpole, please check out their food truck and try the amazing food. They will also have a sign with a QR Code Advertising our Fisher PAC fundraiser.

The Walpole Public Schools Music Department is pleased to announce the fall session for our Private Lesson Program for students in grades 4 - 12. If your child is interested in taking private instrument or voice lessons, here is your chance. Lessons are offered in flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone horn, tuba, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, guitar and voice. All lessons are taught by accomplished performers on their respective instruments. Most lessons are currently being taught virtually.

Session 1 will run September 25 to January 26. Registration is open until Monday, September 18th.

For more information, visit:

https://sites.google.com/walpole.k12.ma.us/wpsmusic/private-lesson-program/overview

To register, visit:

https://www.familyid.com/walpole-public-schools/private-music-lessons-2023-2024-session-i

For questions, email:

Tim Fleming (K-12 Music Coordinator) at tfleming@walpole.k12.ma.us