Messages for Multilingual Families

Email: cmcdonough@walpole.k12.ma.us
Location: 65 Gould Street, Walpole, MA, USA
Phone: 508-660-7234

This weekly update is for parents of our Multilingual Learners at Fisher School, as well as any parents whose families may speak another language in addition to English at home, whether or not your child is in the EAL program. It is my hope to help you stay informed and better able to participate in our Walpole town and school activities. If you know of a family at Fisher School who would appreciate this information who may not be receiving the Multilingual Family Update, please let me know, and I will add them to the email list.

I'm sure the children are enjoying sleeping in a little later now that school is over! For those who are attending the summer programs at Johnson Middle School, they get to enjoy a week before heading back into a very fun classroom! For my students who will be joining me at the Public Library, we will be starting on July 11 for Grades 1-5 and July 12 for Grade 6. Please remember to encourage your child to read a little each day and participate in something math related to exercise their brains and help retain all that information they spent the school year learning! It can be something as simple as playing a card game or helping make a recipe in the kitchen with you! You should be receiving your child's ACCESS testing results and progress reports very soon, if you haven't already. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions! I look forward to seeing my Grade 1-5 students when we return to school on August 30 and meeting the new kindergarten students when they join us September 5!!!

THIS INFORMATION IS FROM THE SCHOOL NUTRITION OFFICE AND THE WALPOLE FOOD PANTRY:

The Walpole Community Food Pantry will continue to help families who would benefit from additional food. Their goal is to support families in the most flexible manner possible by distributing food packages one day a week at our usual distribution site – Walpole High School. THERE IS NO NEED TO PRE-REGISTER. You just need to come to the site to pick up food.

Food packages will be distributed at the Walpole High School (275 Common Street) Wednesday, June 21 and June 28 between the hours of 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The Pantry supports family with a weekly offering of fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, cheese, proteins such as meats and fish, and a box of shelf-stable food with essential non-food items, if requested.

If your family faces a hardship that prevents you from being able to pick up your food packages from the Walpole High School please reach out to the Walpole School Nutrition Department at wpsnutrition@walpole.k12.ma.us to explore alternative options.

Anyone who has an emergency need for food, please email wpsnutrition@walpole.k12.ma.us and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Walpole School Nutrition

Walpole Community Food Pantry

Some of you already received an invitation for your child or children to join our Summer Library Group at the Walpole Public Library. If you did not, it only means that your child was already registered for the summer program at Johnson Middle School or that your child had "graduated" from the ELE program! Any ML student is welcome to join us beginning Tuesday, July 11 (Grades 1 through 5) or Wednesday, July 12 (Grade 6). It will run every Tuesday and Wednesday until August 15 and 16. Children do not need to attend every week. We meet from 10:00 am until noon upstairs in the library. Your child only needs to bring a book to read and summer math activities. If they do not have anything for math, that is not a problem as I have plenty! If they have not yet selected a book to read for the summer, you will be in the perfect location to find one for them! If you do not already have a library card, let me know and I will be happy to assist you, as will the incredible library staff! The library card is free, and I consider it a passport to fun and adventure! If you have not already done so, please complete this Google Form to register your child. https://forms.gle/DbvEvkqGEpAXMK5P7 If you have any questions, please let me know! I hope to see your child or children at the library this summer!!

Summer vacation is a time for students to take a break from all day learning, but that does not mean they should not take a little time each day to exercise their brains! There is an online math link located on the school website for them to access and complete fun activities. Many students love ST Math, and they can continue that at home over the summer. If your child does not have computer access at home, that is not a problem. We can provide a printed copy of activities they can do, too! Please let me know and I will be sure to get a copy of that to you. Exercising their bodies is just as important as exercising their brains, too! Younger children will enjoy the Carolyn Woodward Playground, located in the center of town, near the Public Library. You can also bring them to play at the school playground! Our beautiful Bird Park offers places to walk and play as well. Make it a family adventure!

Each Friday, at 11:00 am, the Barnes & Noble at Walpole Mall holds a free story hour for children. This is a wonderful way for them to practice listening skills as they listen to an entertaining story. This is open to all ages, even preschoolers. Parents should remain with children.

We are seeking families to help maintain our beautiful Fisher Garden during the summer months. This involves a little time on a Saturday morning to help harvest crops and get them ready to bring to the Walpole Farmers Market located in the center of Walpole. Mr. Holmes sent home an email recently with a list of things to do for the garden as well as a link to sign up for a Saturday. You will never be the only person or family there, do not worry! The students helped plant the seeds that they will be harvesting - and they take great pride in this!

If you should receive an automated phone call from the Superintendent's office that you aren't quite sure about, please do not hesitate to contact either the school or me. If it's an early morning announcement, it may be pertaining to either a delay OR a cancellation of school for the day. You want to make sure you understand which it is. Please contact me by email (cmcdonough@walpole.k12.ma.us) or if we are connected with the Talking Points app, use that. I will respond as quickly as possible. I believe emails are also sent, and the announcements are posted on the District website. Hopefully you are able to translate those on your phone or computer. If you have any questions or concerns, Mr. Bemiss and I are more than happy to help!

This year, and hopefully for years to come, all students receive free breakfast and lunch served at school each day. If your family would benefit from additional food at home, the Walpole Food Pantry is available every Wednesday at the high school. It is free, and there is no income requirements. You simply drive to the school and pick up a food package. Because the meals are free, many families have not been completing the federal application for free and reduced lunches. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to complete that form, though.When you do, if you are found eligible, you may also qualify for reduced fees on WiFi for your household, fuel assistance, and free or reduced fees for busing your child to and from school. The form is completed online and is available in many languages. Here is the link: https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application

As you may have heard, the government approved the full funding of breakfast and lunch for all students in our schools for this coming 2023-2024 school year. This is great news, and I'm sure will be helpful to many families. With the rising costs of food, every little bit helps. The breakfast program is undergoing some changes, with new, improved items for students to select. You should have received an email from Maria Hall, the Food Servies Director, earlier this week regarding those changes. There are also lunches available for students to bring home on early release days. Although these meals are provided at no cost to families, it is still recommended that you complete an application for Free and Reduced Lunches, as this information is also used to determine a student's qualification for other benefits such as reduced fee or free bus transportation. This can be done online. See the photo below to see where to go. If you need assistance with this, I am more than happy to help! To get to the link to complete the form, and find other information about the School Meals Program., go to the Walpole Public Schools District Home Page and under the Departments heading, select School Nutrition Program.At the top of the list on the left, you will see Meal Applications. Click on that box and then you will see the link circled in the photo below. Mr. Bemiss, Maria Hall (Food Services Director), and I are happy to help you navigate this form if you need assistance.

We have a number of families who share home languages but who have not had the opportunity to connect with others. It is always helpful to have friends or contacts to reach out to who can explain school and community activities. Your children may know one another at school, and it would be great if parents could make similar connections! If you are interested in connecting with others who speak your home language and are willing to allow me to share your contact information (email address) with others seeking a connection, please contact me at cmcdonough@walpole.k12.ma.us. We have successfully created a group of Brazilian Portuguese speaking families, and have recently had a volunteer to lead a group who speak Hindi and/or Gujarati. We would love to add to that, as well as other languages! Please let us know if you are interested in joining! Another way to connect with families who speak your home language is by coming to the ELPAC meetings. Information about the upcoming meetings will be posted here.

School starting and ending times this year have changed from the past three years. For the next two years, Fisher will begin at 8:55 am and end at 3:25 pm. Early release days will dismiss at 12:25 pm.

While there is not currently an ESL class for adults available here in Walpole, there are two local programs that welcome Walpole residents. The Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood offers individual and small-group instruction.This program is free of charge. For more information contact the following:

General Contact: ext. 227 or 781-769-4599 or lvamml@minlib.net

Norma Logan, MEd - nlogan@minlib.net

Kirstie David, MLIS, kdavid@minlib.net

http://www.norwoodlibrary.org/home/about/contact-us/literacy/

The other location is in Dedham, and is coordinated through Blue Hills Regional High School. These classes are also free of charge. For more information, please visit this website:

https://adulted.bluehills.org/english-for-speakers-of-other-languages/

Massasoit Community College offers a free ESOL program as well. It is open to residents of Stoughton as well as surrounding communities, including Walpole. It is a lottery selection and you must complete the language placement assessment in order to register for the lottery. More information is available here: https://massasoit.edu/corporate-community-education/adult-basic-education/stoughton-esol-program/

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is also offering an online ESOL/ESL course for adults. You may get more information here: https://mwcc.edu/mass-links/

In the meantime, we are working to create a program here in Walpole to help adult speakers of other languages learn English. Parents will be notified when this is available. We are hoping it will not be much longer!

We are in need of parents or community members who are fluent in speaking, reading, and writing a foreign language and would be willing to help translate certain documents or serve as an interpreter for our newer families coming to Walpole from other countries. We especially need people fluent in Arabic, Nepali, Russian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

If you are interested in registering your child for any of the activities offered in Walpole, such as sports or Girl and Boy Scouts, but are not sure how to go about it, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to help reach out to organizations to facilitate this process. If participating would create a financial burden for your family, there are generally scholarships available that we can access to help make participating easier. These social activities are such an important part of a child's development and we cannot encourage participation strongly enough! Registrations usually occur a few months prior to the sport seasons beginning, so please keep that in mind when thinking about signing up.