Florence Sawyer School Happenings

Dear Families,

At FSS this week, we are starting to plan for the Spring(?) Conferences on February 29 and March 8. More information will be coming to you directly this week.

Also this week our eighth grade basketball players will play their final home games tomorrow afternoon. The season will wrap up next week. I want to thank Coach Bob Keene and Coach Greg McClintock for coaching out Girls and Boys Basketball teams. The student-athletes have represented our school exceptionally well throughout the season.

By way of a reminder, our Eighth Grade Activities Committee has rescheduled our Stargazing Night to this Thursday at the Sawyer Wing of the Florence Sawyer School. More information can be found below.

This is also Book Fair Week! Our PTO has set up the book fair in the gym / auditorium hallway for classes to visit throughout the week. The Book Fair will be open through this weekend during rec basketball and the Pinewood Derby. Thank you, PTO for all of your hard work.

Last Tuesday night saw one of the more thrilling Spelling Bees in recent years. Be sure to check out the feature article on the Florence Sawyer School Spelling Bee in this week's, The Item.

Yours in partnership,

Joel Bates,

Principal

We have created the Virtual Backpack as a convenience for our families to capture forms, flyers, calendars, and other information that might have traditionally come home in a backpack.

Included on the Virtual Backpack page is a Community Events and Activities page where you can find non-school sponsored activities such community events, youth sports, community information for families, and other activities for children. We do our best to keep the CAEP updated.

The School Spelling Bee held on January 30th saw some excellent spellers battling for the championship. Tristan Robinson made it to round 9 taking 3rd place. Last year's champ, Liam Durkin, made it to round 15 with Maks Frost. Maks was declared the winner after successfully spelling, lanthanides, in the championship round and will represent Sawyer in the Regional Bee in Lynn, Massachusetts in March.

If you have found that your child may be missing a sweatshirt, jacket, mitten and other various pieces of apparel, we may have it. Please have your child visit the Lost and Found in the Sawyer or Emerson wing lobby. You are welcome to visit as well.

We're excited to share the new NRSD App with you. The app posts the daily lunch as well as the school calendar and a feed where we will share pictures and other information about the goings on at school.

NRSD App for Google Play

NRSD APP for IPhone

K-2 American Sign Language Club (Spring Session-2024)

The K-2 ASL Club Spring Session will be starting on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 before school from 7:45-8:25 in the Emerson Wing Art Room and we will meet students in front of the building starting at 7:40. New members of the Club will learn the basics of ASL and returning students will be building on the skills they’ve learned previously. We will walk any second graders to the Sawyer Wing for the start of school.

Please see the K-2 ASL Club information sheet & permission sheet included in the link below.

If your child would like to participate in the Spring session of K-2 ASL Club, please complete the extracurricular permission slip and students may drop it off in the FSS Office by Friday, February 16th. Please note that we are limited to 15 students.

If you have any questions, please contact Miss Richards (jrichards@nrsd.net) or Mrs. Scudiere (escudiere@nrsd.net).

Spring K-2 ASL Club Information

Dear parents/guardians of FSS’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders!

My name is Jennifer Hubacz and I am the head coach of Girls on The Run for Florence Sawyer School. Girls on the Run is an after-school program for girls in grades 3-5, aimed at helping students make positive social connections, increase physical activity, & learn life skills. Physical activity & social-emotional curriculum are woven into two sessions per week, culminating in a celebratory non-competitive 5k run/walk event. Curriculum themes include: turning negative self-talk into positive self-talk, understanding emotions, standing up for self and others, making and maintaining healthy relationships, and making an impact on the community. No prior running experience is necessary – the program is accessible to all girls regardless of fitness level or physical ability. Stretching & running activities are woven into lessons by trained staff coaches. The program runs on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons at FSS from dismissal until 4:30pm, beginning the week of March 19th through the 5k at Polar Park on June 2nd. FSS staff members Jennifer (Rogers) Hubacz, Stacey Southard, Evelyn Cubero, and Megan Gurley will be leading the program this year. Registration, which includes all fees for the season, is $195. This year, Girls On The Run are running a lottery registration and it will be open starting January 1, 2024 and run until the end of day on February 2, 2024. “Winners” will be announced by the end of day on Monday, February 5, 2024. Participants will be notified by email that they have secured a spot on a team. If there were more than 18 girls registered for the lottery and they did not "win", they will receive an email from Girls On The Run notifying them that they are on the waitlist. You will not be charged until you “win” a spot on February 5, 2024. Please see the attached PDF and links below for more information.

More Information:

https://www.gotr-worc.org/programs

https://www.gotr-worc.org/Our-Organization

Please reach out to Jennifer (Rogers) Hubacz at jhubacz@nrsd.net with any questions or concerns.

Our middle school schedules are located on ArbiterLive. These schedules are subject to change, but this will always be the site with the most up to date schedule.

Sawyer's Got Talent:

Greetings FSS Families!

1. The deadline to register for "Sawyer's Got Talent" has been extended to Friday February 2nd. Sign up on this Google Form.

2. Event Coordinators need 6 to 12 more group acts to ensure this is a successful fundraiser for the 8th grade class. This was a beloved, fun, well attended annual event up until 2020, and we need more student participation to bring this back! In past years, this event has raised several thousand dollars for eight graders to offset the cost of their trip to Washington DC, graduation party, class tee shirts, and more. Group acts can be silly (think kids in shark onesies dancing to Baby Shark) and/or ridiculous (think kids in inflatable dinosaur costumes dancing to Cotton Eye Joe) or coordinated (think Tik Tok dances recreated).....

3. We are seeking one or two parent volunteers from each grade (grades 3 to 8) to help register a group act and recruit kids to their act. Please email sawyersgottalent@gmail.com if you're interested and we can help give you some ideas.

4. If your child is interested in participating but doesn't have a group, they should email sawyersgottalent@gmail.com, or the first practice on Wednesday 1/31 . Event coordinators will facilitate the formation of groups, and help students brainstorm ideas for acts.

5. If your child is interested but has a conflict with practices on Wednesdays, please email sawyersgottalent@gmail.com to make alternate arrangements.

Thank you!

The Sawyer's Got Talent Planning Committee

Join us on Thursday, February 8st at 6:30pm for a spectacular family stargazing event and to support our 8th grade fundraising efforts. We have partnered with Aldrich Astronomical Society to learn about our universe and view the night sky through sophisticated telescopes. In addition, there will be solar system story time for the younger students, planet games, face painting and some prizes raffled off. See the poster below for more details.

Florence Sawyer School Clubs and Activities

NRSD Before and After School Program (Extended Learning)

Nashoba Regional High School Athletics Information

We are excited to have you become a part of the Nashoba Regional High School Interscholastic Athletics Program. Nashoba Athletics is rich in pride and tradition. NRHS offers 50+ teams across 21 sports!

Participating at the high school level requires a greater commitment compared to a club or recreational team. Members of a team are expected to attend all practices and competitions. Weekend practice sessions may vary by sport and should be anticipated. In addition, teams do practice and compete over vacations and many holidays (i.e. Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc.).

Prior to the start of each season, the high school will host a meeting for students and their parent(s)/guardian(s). These pre-season meetings serve as an opportunity for coaches to provide information about their program, team philosophy, expectations, and more.

The athletics office will send out information via email prior to each season, but we wanted to share information ahead of time for all potential incoming ninth graders.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Tania Rich, Director of Athletics, at trich@nrsd.net

NRHS Athletics Site

NRHS Coaches Directory

NRHS Team Schedules - ArbiterLive

Two students at Nashoba Regional High School created a brochure detailing all of the clubs and activities offered at Nashoba. For more information click on the QR code below.

FSS Family Directory is now available!

You can sign up to access the School Directory on the Bolton PTO Website. Directory memberships are $5 and you will be able to customize your directory listing and connect with other FSS Families. Visit https://boltonpto.membershiptoolkit.com/directory to update or create your directory listing!

Help our students while you add some excitement for your family in 2024! Fun Pass Coupons, Discounts, and Deals

Looking for kid-friendly things to do in New England? Buy The Fun Pass coupon book and you will receive incredible savings at family amusement & theme parks, adventure parks, farms & zoos, museums, water parks, scenic railroad tours, whale watches, and active fun like rock climbing, zip lines, ropes courses, trampoline parks and more!

https://breathenh.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/breathenh/neonPage.jsp?pageId=118&

SAVE THE DATE!! Worcester Woo Sox baseball game Friday 6/7 @ 6:45p. More details to follow.

Due to the half day on the first Friday of February, the school store will not be held on February 2nd. However, students will have the opportunity to purchase school store items when they visit the Scholastic Book Fair with their class the week of February 5th.

The Scholastic book fair will be at FSS February 5th-10th! Students will be able to shop with their class during the week and we’ll also have time for families to shop after school on Thursday, 2/8 until 6 pm and on Saturday, 2/10 from 9-12:30.

If you’d prefer not to send your child to school with money, you can set up an ewallet here:

https://account.scholastic.com/my-scholastic/profile/create-ewallet.html?fairID=5461036&sUCN=600061731

You can also ask if your child’s teacher has an ewallet that you can contribute to!

And if you'd like to help out at the fair, you can sign up here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4DAEA722AAFA7-47162101-fssscholastic

Tom Denney Nature Camp at tomdenneynaturecamp.org

A fun outdoor camp in Bolton that kids love because the counselors play the games with them!

July & August from 9–3 weekdays

Before/After care available

Kindergarten – 9th grade campers:

Games and activities in the fields, woods and pond!

Swimming, Kayaking, Arts & Crafts, Laser Tag, Water Gun Fun, Hiking, Tracking, Shelter Building, Campfires to cook hot dogs and marshmallows, Ponding (catch and release frogs and fish), Predator and Prey (an all-camp tag game), The Amazing Race (group challenges), exotic and local animals from Animal Adventures & more!

High Schoolers:

Counselor-in-Training program for fun and also volunteer and leadership hours.

See the website for more details and to register: tomdenneynaturecamp.org

Questions: bcttdnc@gmail.com (best means of communication) or 978-429-3004 (voice mail)

Registration for Bolton Youth Baseball and Softball (BYBS) is now open! Open Registration has now been extended until 2/29/24. 2024 Spring Baseball & Softball Our program is designed to give all children ages 4-12 the opportunity to have fun learning and playing the great American pastime of baseball and softball. Please sign up below at: https://www.boltonyouthbaseball.org/Default.aspx?tabid=2592871 Any questions please feel free to reach out to: Boltonyouthbaseballpresident@gmail.com

March 5th - 12:00p - 9:00p - APEX Family fun
$20 per person includes:

• One round of Laser Tag

• One round of Bumper Cars

• One round of Mini Golf
• One 30-Minute Non-redemption Arcade Card
• Free bowling shoe rentals (bowling lanes extra)
• $5 of each $20 ticket purchased will be donated back to your organization!
• Tickets can be purchased by Venmo (@Danielle-Bradbury-1) or on March 5th at the bowling desk.

Chess Club is open to any child in grades K-12 who has a love for playing chess and to those who want to learn.

Time: 5:30-7:00pm.

Where: Nashoba Regional High School-Cafeteria

When:

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Instruction with Chess Master, Dr. Toth starts at 5:30pm and peer games begin at 6pm.

We kindly request the presence of a parent or caregiver at all times if your child is under 11 years old.

Admission is $2 to cover snacks.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Lisa at landerson5@hotmail.com.

This Month

February 5 - MS Basketball @ Tyngsborough

February 5 - 10 Scholastic Book Fair

February 6 - MS Basketball @ home vs Littleton

February 8 - MS Basketball @ Maynard

February 8 - Stargazing Night at FSS - 6:30pm

February 12 - MS Basketball @ home vs Mountainview

February 14 - MS Basketball @ Luther Burbank MS

February 14 - School Council Meeting

February 19-23 School Vacation

February 29 - Early Release - Student Conferences Pre K - 8

Looking Ahead

March 1 - "Sawyers Got Talent"

March 5 - School Closed - Voting Day

March 8 - Early Release Day - Student Conferences Pre K- 8 only

March 15 - No school students - Full day Professional Development for Staff

Be your best self.

Pave your path.

Impact the world.

Website: https://sawyer.nrsd.net/
Location: 100 Mechanic Street, Bolton, MA, USA
Phone: (978) 779-2821

You can download the App by going to NRSD.net, scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on the App Store or Google Play links.