Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale families!

This weekend, I was looking at our very first newsletter from earlier this year. The first line was “in the blink of an eye, September has almost flown by!” It seems almost unbelievable that it’s June and we’re counting down the days until summer break.

As I reflect on how quickly this whole year has flown by, the thoughts we shared in September still ring true today. Amazing things have been happening in classrooms all over the building. Students have been learning and growing, and relationships have been flourishing since the day we walked back in last August. There have been challenges we’ve all learned from, and successes we’ve all celebrated. Through it all, a whole lot of joy lived within these walls.

Over the next week and a half we have a few concerts, moving on ceremonies, and classroom celebrations happening to recognize the end of the year. Through it all, we’ve still got a little bit of learning left to do to finish the year off strong, too! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Mr. Weldai

The Spring Concert for grades K, 2, and 4 choral arts/singing will be on Wednesday, June 5th at 1pm. The performance for families will be in the auditorium, and will be recorded and shared with families after the performance as well!

The Spring Band/Instrumental Concerts for grades 6, 7, and 8 will be on Tuesday, June 4th at 1pm. The performances for families will be in the auditorium!

The Malden Public Schools Special Education Parent Advisory Council invites you to participate in a virtual workshop on Wednesday, June 5 at 6pm on "Basic Rights: Evaluation and Eligibility." The registration link and information is in the attached flyer!

Just a reminder, the final PTO meeting will be Wednesday, June 12th at 7pm! Come join this great group and hear about the upcoming events, ways to get involved, and more. The meeting will be held virtually on zoom, and link can be found on the Forestdale PTO Facebook page.

Congratulations to the Forestdale PTO and our Forestdale families on a really fun spring fling and ice cream social last Friday night! It was a beautiful night and the park was bustling. Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped scoop ice cream and hand out pizza as well!

Mark your calendars - Field Days are coming!

• June 6th - Grades 6 and 7
• June 10th - Grade 8
• June 11th - Grades K - 5

Malden Kiwanis is excited to sponsor Bubbles and Books again this year! Come join them on Saturday, June 8th between 1:30pm and 4:30pm. This is a family fun day that is free for all, with books, face painting, slush, bubbles, and more! For more information and event updates please visit https://www.facebook.com/maldenkiwanis.

Malden Recreation and The Great Malden Outdoors have launched an opportunity for 240 kids from Malden to learn to ride a bike for just $5 this summer! Check out the information attached, and register on the website here: https://shorturl.at/ev0GB

There will be two special moving on ceremonies happening on Wednesday, June 12th!

At 1pm, Kindergarten families will be invited to the auditorium (before heading back to their individual classrooms) to celebrate the end of their first year as Forestdale Falcons! Please reach out to your Kindergarten teachers for more information.

At 5pm, 8th grade families will be invited to celebrate the end of their last year as Forestdale Falcons in the gymnasium - this event will be followed by a dinner/dance for our 8th grade students only. For more information please reach out to your 8th grade teachers. We are looking forward to celebrating our students and their amazing year!

The main office has received a number of questions about excused vs. unexcused absences. If you are keeping your student home sick, have an appointment, etc. and would like to have the absence excused, please make sure to write a physical absent note and send it in, or write an email to your student's teacher. The phone call to the office line does not excuse your student's absence, it does however stop the automated absent phone call that comes home based on Aspen/X2. Any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Believe it or not, it's almost Summer Vacation! Class lists for next year will come out over the summertime, which is a change from previous years when you received your next year's homeroom teacher on your final report card. Please be on the lookout for communication from the school during the summertime with plans and updates for next school year!

As we approach the end of the year, please be aware that pick-up time in the afternoon is becoming more and more challenging - both for us, and for our neighbors at Forestdale Park. We are looking at some ways to improve pick-up time, but the double parking in front of parked cards, blocking-in residents and service vehicles at Forestdale Park, and parking in front of handicapped spaces is an issue that we will need to address moving forward.

Please make sure to check backpacks regularly for important notices from the nurse, and from your teachers. While most things are done electronically, a regular backpack check is always a good idea.

**Speaking of backpacks, if anyone still needs one for their student we have extras to give away in the main office. Please don't hesitate to reach out and let us know!

Our lost and found is still going strong! For any students looking, the lost and found is in the cafeteria directly to the right when you walk in. If you're missing something, please encourage your student to come check it out.

The June school lunch menu is pictured below, and the link to the monthly menu can be found here: https://malden.schooldish.com/SchoolMenus/Forestdale?fbclid=IwAR2ZJ0dwZiruvvYiJhtVAk1yngQak5OmO8hyTVKfUV_rzL5gzDOlwP540_k

We were recently able to celebrate our latest group of students-of-the-month! For the month of May, students were honored for their overall PRIDE - a collection of the virtues from our school motto of P.R.I.D.E. (positivity, respect, independence, determination, and excellence). Many of them are pictured here, and a full list of students for this month can be found here: https://shorturl.at/mm3Nl

The Drama Club debuted their spring performance of the musical Beauty and the Beast, Jr. last week to two almost full auditoriums! The students were amazing, and each performance was full of enthusiasm and joy. Special thanks to the dedicated staff members who helped make this happen for our students: Ms. Ashley Bratsis, Ms. Michelle Foley, Ms. Meghan Bowe and Mr. Greg Waite!

Special Olympics were held last week for students across the district and neighboring cities - and they had an amazing time! Students in our ILP program participated in lots of events and games facilitated by staff of the Malden Public Schools, including Forestdale's own Mr. Bill Hanifan, Ms. Kaitlyn Fazio, and Mr. Joe DelGallo. Thank you to all the staff and parents who supported this wonderful event!

Last week, our 5th grade band let by Mr. Greg Waite held a concert just for 5th grade families. The group had the opportunity to try something a little different this year - showing their families what they learned in class from start to finish. They showcased the process of coming into class, setting up their instruments and warming up to play, as well as the product of some music they learned. They did a great job!

We've had a few field trips to the zoo this spring, and there are two more coming up before the year ends! Students have really enjoyed the opportunity to see some of the animals that they have been reading and learning about, and enjoyed the time with their classmates. Here are a couple moments from our Kindergarten trip last week!

5th and 6th graders had a really great time dancing the night away last week at their end-of-the-year dance! From the first song until the last song - they did not stop! Thank you to the team of 5th and 6th grade teachers who helped organize this and stayed to support the students!

Ms. Kelly Rufo's 4th grade class had a lot of fun last week reviewing their math facts in the most creative way possible - by glowing in the dark! I can't help but think that if I was a kid in this classroom I might have enjoyed reviewing my math facts a whole lot more, too!!

Special Shout-Out to Mrs. Susan Famiglietti, who taught 3rd grade at the Forestdale School for many years before her retirement, who came back on Friday night to support her former students performing in Beauty and the Beast, Jr.! I don't know who was more excited - Mrs. Fam, or her students once they saw her!

There are a lot of wonderful things happening in our classrooms each and every day - many of those things get displayed around the building for students and staff to see! I'll try to share some of my favorite snapshots so you can get a chance to see them, too!

8th graders Mackenzie Hartin and Alyssa Lynch have been working in the office with Ms. Megan LoPilato during lunch time all year long. They've been helping parents, working with staff members, and bringing their sunshine to our main office each and every day. We've been so lucky to have them here!

If there's anything that we can do, please don't hesitate to reach out to any member of our main office team. Our phone number is (781) 397-7326, and each of our email addresses are listed below.

• Mr. Adam Weldai, Principal: aweldai@maldenps.org
• Mrs. Karie Carpenito, Assistant Principal: kcarpenito@maldenps.org
• Mr. Kenji Foster, Assistant Principal: kfoster@maldenps.org
• Mrs. Megan LoPilato, Administrative Assistant: mlopilato@maldenps.org