Hello Families,

Please make sure to check out our calendar below. It is chock full of exciting events on the horizon.

The next big event is the Sunshine Dance on Saturday May 18th. Not only will it include lots of dancing but we will culminate the evening with our famous Basket Raffle! We hope to see you there!

The Art Show is on Thursday May 23rd from 6 to 8. Come see our talented artists!!

Below is a picture of the popsicle ingredients for the popsicles students will receive at the end of Author's Day. Your teacher will be sending home a permission slip that you will need to sign and return if you would like your child to have this item. Please be watching for the permission slip from your classroom teacher(s) (which can also be found here) and complete it promptly.

We had our final fire drill of the year today. Staff and students are to be commended.

Have a great weekend!

Respectfully,

Terri and Jayson

Dear Chelmsford Families,

Our district values your feedback! We are currently surveying The Chelmsford Public Schools families in order to gain insight into your perception of our school and district's effectiveness. We also want to better understand barriers to families accessing our schools and programs. To ensure we continue to provide high quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college and career, we need your feedback. We want to know what you think.

To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our 2024 Family Survey as we did in 2023 as well. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses anonymous. The survey shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete and will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and district as good as they can be.

You may complete the survey online between Wednesday May 8th until Friday June 14th using a computer, tablet, or smartphone by visiting the website below:

https://surveys.panoramaed.com/chelmsfordma/family24/surveys

If you have multiple CPS school-aged children, please feel free to fill out multiple surveys to represent each individual child’s experience. The first question on the survey will be a dropdown to select which school you are filling the survey out for.

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact your building Principal.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Saturday, May 18th

• Sunshine Dance & Basket Raffle, 6-8pm, South Row

Monday, May 20th

• Music Share Week in Music w/ Mrs. Cooper

Tuesday, May 21st

• Kindergarten Screening for incoming Kindergarteners
• K-2 Fire Safety Program

Wednesday, May 22nd

• Kindergarten Screening for incoming Kindergarteners
• ELL Community Fair, 6-7:30pm, McCarthy

Thursday, May 23rd

• Fitness for Cure Event, 8:00am
• Fourth Graders Field Trip to Parker Middle School
• Art Show, 6-8pm

Friday, May 24th

• School Spirit Day - Beach Day
• Rain-Date Fitness for Cure, 8:00AM

May 27th

• No School - Memorial Day

May 28th

• Senior Breakfast & Walk, 8:30am
• Gr. 2 The Butterfly Place Enrichment Program in Cafe

May 29th

• Kindergarten Enrichment - Lights & Color

May 30th

• Authors Day, 9:30am (roughly an hour event) - please check popsicle ingredients below

May 31st

• Grade 3 Engineering Day
• Gr. 4 Movie Night

June 3rd

• Kindness Matters Day - Students & Staff Encouraged to Wear Kindness Shirts and complete a kind act
• Gr. 3 Field Trip to Lexington (Sanborn and Lewis)
• Incoming Kindergarten Student & Family Tours, 10:00AM and 2:00PM
• Tentative Student Council Meeting, 3:30pm (subject to change)
• School Council Dinner

June 4th

• End of Term 2 Kindergarten
• End of Term 3 for Grades 1-4
• Kindergarten Musical (Richman and Patriquin), 2:15-3:00pm, Cafeteria
  
• Unified Games Day
• Tentative Whole School Reward

June 5th

• Gr. 3 Field Trip to Lexington (Krauch, Stagnone, Vasquez)
• Kindergarten Musical (Cassidy and Rigby), 2:15-3:00pm, Cafeteria

June 6th

• Fit Fest, Kindergarten - 9:10-10:05am
• Fit Fest, Grade 1 & 2 - 9:45-11:30am
• Fit Fest, Grade 3 & 4 - 1:15-3:10pm

June 7th

• Rain Date for Fit Fest (same times as above)

• School Spirit Day - Disney Day!

• High Five Friday w/ CPD and CFD

June 10th

• Grade 4 Field Day
• Its Summer Walk to School Day

June 11th

• Rain date for Grade 4 Field Day

• Move Up Day

June 12th

• Grade 4 Moving on Ceremony, Cafeteria, 9:30AM
• Anticipated Last Day of School for Students - Early Release Day - Students dismissed at 11:45am "Bubbles Send Off"
• Grades Available via X2 click here for directions

June 13th

• First Day of Summer Vacation - - See you in August!

Check out the volunteer opportunities and happenings from now to the end of the school year in this weeks newsletter! =)

Dear South Row Families,

Just a friendly reminder that as the weather gets warmer we sweat more and need to shower more often to stay fresh and clean! Please make sure your students are bathing regularly, wearing clean clothes, and airing out their shoes. Thank you!

Here at South Row we are experiencing an increase in strep throat among our students across all grades. We have increased our cleaning and sanitation and teachers are encouraging students to wash their hands frequently.

The CDC has great information on strep, you can find the link to the full article here. I have summarized the key points below.

What causes strep throat?

Strep throat is an infection in the throat and tonsils caused by bacteria called group A Streptococcus (group A strep).

What are the symptoms?

Common symptoms may include:

• Fever

• Pain when swallowing

• Sore throat that can start very quickly and may look red

• Red and swollen tonsils

• White patches or streaks of pus on the tonsils

• Tiny, red spots on the roof of the mouth, called petechiae (pronounced pi-TEE-kee-eye)

• Swollen lymph nodes in the front of the neck

Small Children (usually kindergarten, 1st grade) may experience:

• Headache

• Stomach pain

• Nausea or vomiting

• Rash (scarlet fever)

How does it spread?

Group A strep bacteria often live in the nose and throat. People who are infected spread the bacteria by talking, coughing, or sneezing, which creates respiratory droplets that contain the bacteria.

People can get sick if they:

• Breathe in respiratory droplets that contain the bacteria

• Touch something with those droplets on it and then touch their mouth or nose

• Drink from the same glass or eat from the same plate as a person infected with group A strep bacteria

How can I prevent my child from getting strep?

The best way to keep from getting or spreading group A strep is to wash your hands often. This is especially important after coughing or sneezing and before preparing foods or eating.

To prevent group A strep infections, you should:

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

• Put your used tissue in the wastebasket.

• Cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands, if you don’t have a tissue.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

• Use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available.

You should also wash glasses, utensils, and plates after someone who is sick uses them. These items are safe for others to use once washed.

How is strep throat treated?

Doctors treat strep throat with antibiotics. Benefits of antibiotics include:

• Decreasing how long someone is sick

• Decreasing symptoms (feeling better)

• Preventing the bacteria from spreading to others

• Preventing serious complications like rheumatic fever

Someone with strep throat should start feeling better in just a day or two after starting antibiotics. Call the doctor if you or your child are not feeling better after taking antibiotics for 48 hours.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

Warmly,

Nurse V.

A HUGE "thank you" to everyone who helped make the Sunshine Dance and our Ginormous Basket Raffle a success. We had our committee chairs, classroom raffle coordinators, teachers for sharing information/flyers and helping collect donations, anyone who donated items, anyone who bought raffle tickets, and especially anyone who attended! Another BIG thank you to the raffle planning committee who was able to gift 1 free ticket to each student in the school! (Remember if you can't attend the dance but you won a basket, you can pick it up another time.)

As you are all making your summer plans, please don't forget about our year-round fundraisers so you can keep supporting the PTO even then! Raise Right Gift Cards, Box Tops, Mabel's Labels, and the Hannaford Helps Schools goes into June as well! All of these can be found on the PTO website. South Row PTO: Fundraising Thank you so much for your continued financial support!

Chelmsford Pride Jibbitz! Have you pulled out your summer shoes? The South Row PTO will be proudly selling Chelmsford Pride Jibbitz at the Sunshine Dance on Saturday, May 18th. (1 for $3 or 2 for $5) If you can’t make the dance, but would still love to purchase these adorable shoe charms, they will be available for sale within the Spirit Wear Shop (https://south-row-pto.square.site/shop/2).

It was wonderful meeting so many of you last night at Kindergarten Orientation. We are looking forward to welcoming you and your child(ren) to the South Row family in August 2024.

We want to ensure that you have all the necessary information for your child's transition to Kindergarten. Therefore, we have attached the slideshow from the evening, the recording from the event, and the handouts that were distributed. These resources will provide you with a comprehensive overview of what was discussed.

• Slideshow

• Slideshow and Recording

• Handouts

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Gilbert, Principal

Mr. Ramalho, Assistant Principal

Mrs. O’Neill, Secretary

Mrs. Sepe, Clerk

Nurse Vandevoordt, RN

• Please see the flyer and volunteer forms below.
• At this time, parents/guardians would need to plan to attend to supervise students unless we are able to get enough volunteers to make the event a drop off event. This will not be determined until closer to the date.

Please view the form below to learn about Authors Day and to sign up for volunteers. We need lots of volunteers to make this event possible. Thanks for considering.

Art Show: Click on this link to volunteer to assist Mrs. C with the Art Show. She appreciates your consideration!

Here is the link to our Sign-Up Genius for Engineering Day: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050E4EABA723A2FE3-48547296-2024

And here is the link to our Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2GRBP4VRI0SHE

We welcome you to check out ou Connections Calendar and provide feedback using this link.

Mental Health Awareness Month Ideas for the Classroom and School Community:

Please click on the "button" below to access resources and supports available. Do not hesitate to reach out to any support team member with any questions you may have.

**Please note: We continuously update the button below with new resources as they arise.

This section is comprised of the following items pertaining to food services

• Website
• Breakfast Information
• Tentative Breakfast/Lunch Menus

Dear Parents and Families --

Chelmsford Public Schools is utilizing on-line breakfast ordering again this year for ELEMENTARY STUDENTS ONLY.

Instructions on how to set up an account are below. If you need any help, please reach out to the school nutrition department at: (978) 251-5111

Set Up Your Account Now

Directions to set up your account and order:

1. URL Link: family.onlineordering.linq.com
2. Sign up now: Email, create password.
3. School District: Chelmsford Public Schools
4. Student ID: This can be found on x2- Child’s Student ID Number
5. Last Name: (You can also search and add siblings/family members at this time). Once this is completed, the student’s name should appear on page.

How to order meals

1. School Menu-breakfast online ordering
2. Scroll to day/week you are selecting breakfast (top right of page)
3. Find date, select meal option
4. Add item to cart/Select Add to order
5. Click on shopping cart icon at top right of page
6. Click Check out
7. Select pick up location: Elementary pick-up location classroom
8. Place order

Mrs. Terri Gilbert

Principal

gilbertt@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Mr. Jayson Ramalho, M.Ed.

Assistant Principal

ramalhoj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Email: gilbertt@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/Domain/15
Location: 250 Boston Road, Chelmsford, MA, USA
Phone: 978-251-5177
Facebook: facebook.com/SouthRowElementary
Twitter: @CPSSouthRow

• Mrs. Terri Gilbert, Principal: gilbertt@chelmsford.k12.ma.us, 978-251-5177 ext. 4
• Mr. Jayson Ramalho, Assistant Principal: ramalhoj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us, 978-251-5177 ext. 3
• Mrs. Shannon Vandevoordt, School Nurse: vandevoordts@chelmsford.k12.ma.us, 978-251-5177, ext.2
• Mrs. Debbie O'Neill, Secretary: oneilld@chelmsford.k12.ma.us, 978-251-5177, ext. 0
• Mrs. Kim Sepe, School Clerk: sepek@chelmsford.k12.ma.us, 978-251-5177, ext.0
• Absentee Line: 978-251-5177 ext. 1