Weekly Bulletin

Good afternoon Parker Families,

We had a terrific week at Parker Middle School with a great deal of excitement surrounding Halloween. I have included some of the pictures I was able to take throughout the day. This week marks the end of the first marking term as grades close today. The kids have been through a huge transition from elementary school to middle school and/or moving over from the McCarthy Middle School as sixth graders. I am happy to report that the students are making new connections and making new friends. We are building a new community and the results are exciting! Term 1 report cards will be made available to parents on November 16. Report cards offer the student and family feedback on the strengths and areas of growth both academically and in terms of study habits and behavior. Grades are important and helping students make the connection between hard work and success is important to be reinforced. The goal is to promote continuous improvement and developing a growth mindset where mistakes are viewed as opportunities to improve.

The week ahead will be a bit disjointed as there is a full day Professional Development Day on Tuesday November 7 and Veteran's Day will be observed on Friday November 10.

Raising Kids in a Digital World

Please find below a very informative webinar on raising children in a digital world. My kids are older now but I wish I had access to this back in the day!

https://cartwheelcare.notion.site/cartwheelcare/Raising-Healthy-Kids-in-a-Digital-World-1f1989b2fcdb4c668911c7894581d717

Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.

A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's the all-in-one workspace for you and your team cartwheelcare.notion.site

Social Emotional learning - Second Step

We will continue with our curriculum this week with Grade 5 focusing on Emotion Management and Grade 6 with a unit on Bullying and Harassment. There is a lesson overview and an activity with which to engage your child if you so desire.

Grade 5

Lesson 10: Making a Change

Summary

In this week’s lesson, your child will practice identifying two changes they could make in a recurring personal situation to manage their strong emotions.

Try This at Home

Ask your child to tell you about a situation at home that causes them to feel strong emotions, like anger or stress. Ask them what they could change about the situation to better manage their emotions. Talk about what you can do to help them implement the change.

Grade 6

Lesson 11: How to Be an Upstander

Summary

In this week’s lesson, your child will learn three “upstander strategies” for responding to bullying. They’ll practice analyzing different bullying situations and choosing an upstander strategy they think would work best for each situation.

Question

Ask your child about the three upstander strategies they learned and which one (or ones) they feel most comfortable with. Let them know they can always come to you if they need someone to talk to.

I hope everyone has a fun and relaxing weekend. Please continue to suggest to your child to read silently for at least 15 minutes a day!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sunday, November 5th - Daylight Savings "Fall Back"

Monday, November 6th - Term 2 begins

Tuesday, November 7th - No School (Prof. Day)
Friday, November 10th - No School (Veteran's Day )
Wednesday, November 15th - Early Release,dismissal @11:10

Friday, November 17th - Picture Retake Day

Wednesday, November 22nd - Early Release,dismissal @11:10
Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th-No School-HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Monday - November 27th - School Reopens

The Parker LOST & FOUND is loaded with sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, hats, notebooks, and tons of other "stuff". Please have your students check it out for any missing items. All items are on the lost and found tables in the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Any unclaimed items will be donated at the end of the calendar year. ~Thank you.

Reminder to Parker Families - BRRR!!! Cold weather is rolling in....Parker students will still be going outside for recess/outside break. Please remember to BUNDLE UP, warm coats, hats and gloves are recommended.

Parent/Guardian of Grade 6 Students,

In accordance with Massachusetts General Law, Chelmsford requires all 6th grade students to have a current physical dated January 2023 or more recent.

Please review with your child’s provider at their next appointment about the requirements for entering grade 7. Mass General Law states that students entering 7th grade have a Tdap or Td booster within the past 5 years, 2 Varicella vaccines, and 2 MMR vaccines and a meningococcal vaccine at age 11 or 12.

Once your child has had their physical, a copy could be mailed to Parker Middle School attention to the School Nurse at 75 Graniteville Road 01824, or fax a copy to the nurses’ confidential fax line at 978-926-0776, or have your student bring a copy to the nurses’ office.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ms. Kamenides, RN and Mrs. Foley, LPN

Our after-school programs will start on Tuesday, October 17th. The Activity Fee is $50 per student. PLEASE CLICK ON LINK My School Bucks or send in cash or check made payable to Chelmsford Public Schools and turn into your child's homeroom teacher. The activity fee allows students to take full advantage of any clubs they wish to attend. The after-school activities run from 2:40-3:40 on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday throughout the year. Students also have the option of taking a late bus home. The routes are posted in the school and will not be posted publicly. We will work with students and the drivers to be sure students take the correct bus home. Since we only have 8 late buses, for both McCarthy and Parker the stops tend to be more spread out than the “regular” bus runs. After activities, students who are not taking a bus will exit the school into the Crooked Spring Road lot and can be picked up there. Please see the attachments below for details and descriptions

Tuesday - November 7th

No Clubs - No School - Professional Day

Wednesday - November 8th

Fitness Room-Ms. Wilson-in the Fitness Room

Intramurals-GYM-Mr. Sullivan/Ms. Clark/Mr. McCarthy-Grade 5 Teams, Packers v 49ers, Bills v. Bengals, Chiefs v Eagles, please check google classroom rea36u2

Homework Club-Ms. Larrabee/Ms. Morse - Library

Yoga Club/Mindfulness-Ms. MacAllister-Room 123

Thursday - November 9th

Art Club - Ms. Annunziata-Room 4 - Grade 5 today

Drama Club-Ms. Robertson/Mr. Chase/Ms. Sparks - Room 230

Festival Band - Mr. Linsner - Band Room

Festival Orchestra - Ms. Tiano - Room 8

Fitness Room-Ms. Wilson-in the Fitness Room

Game Club - Ms. Baker - Room 217

Intramurals-GYM-Mr. Sullivan/Ms. Clark/Mr. McCarthy- Please check google classroom

Jewelry Making - Ms. Lagou-Statholopoulos - Room 240

Happy November Parker Parker Parents!

Thank you to all that participated in our recent Scholastic Book Fair and Pizza, Paperbacks and Pumpkins event. A special thank you to all the parent volunteers that helped to make our book sale and pumpkin night a huge success! Check out the fun activities coming up over the next few weeks.

Dine to Donate: Join your family and friends at The Establishment on Tuesday, November 7th for our first dine to donate of the school year. The Establishment is generously donating 20% of all dine and take out food orders to Chelmsford Middle Schools. Proceeds earned will go towards enrichment activities and community building activities for our students.

UML Riverhawks Hockey Game: Meet all your Middle School friends at UML Riverhawks Hockey game on Friday, November 10th at 7:15 for an evening of college hockey. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to Parker & McCarthy PTO. Ticket information in link below.

https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Parkermiddle/offer

PTO Meeting: Join the Parker and McCarthy PTO members on Monday, November 13th @ 7:00 PM in the McCarthy library. Learn about volunteer opportunities, enrichment activities coming up for our students, teacher appreciation activities and recent purchases for our school. Share your thoughts, suggestions and ideas to make our school the best possible place to learn. All are welcome to attend, light refreshments will be served.

Parker Craft Fair: Parker PTO is proud to present our 3rd Annual Craft Fair on Sunday, December 3rd 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM. Stop by our school and shop over 30 local vendors. This is a GREAT opportunity to get a jump start on your holiday shopping and support local businesses. Adult and student vendors are welcome to join the fun. Table spaces are $30 + one raffle donation for adult vendors and $10 + one raffle donation for student vendors. Click link to sign up: https://givebutter.com/jt6Axk

If you have any questions, please reach out to: PTOparker@gmail.com

As always, thank you for your continued support of our Parker Middle School community!

Parker PTO

To report a Student Absent:

Email: ParkerAttendance@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Please Send Email: Prior to 9am on the day of the absence. Please Include: Child’s name, Grade, and Reason for absence. We encourage you to use the email option when reporting an absence, dismissal, etc. for efficiency.

**PLEASE READ**

We will continue to send automated emails home when students are absent. You will receive the email whether you notified the school or not. In order for an absence to be marked as "Excused", families will need to provide medical documentation.

Thank you for your understanding.

Email: robinsond@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Website: https://parker.chelmsfordschools.org/
Location: 75 Graniteville Road
Phone: 978-251-5133