Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale families!

Last week was Educator Appreciation Week! Our school has a lot of wonderful people that make this community special, but it was truly great to see the many ways in which our educators were celebrated. We saw the PTO sponsor snacks and a wonderful luncheon and we had goodies and an ice cream truck stop by. Truly though, it’s the gestures from the students that make the biggest impact.

One of the highlights of the week for me was seeing all the different cards and letters that our students wrote to their teachers, expressing their gratitude and appreciation - each in their own way. The notes are filled with heartfelt messages, drawings, anecdotes, and some simply said “thank you” - but it means the world to us as educators.

I can tell you that some of the things that I treasure the most from my time in the classroom are the cards and notes I received from my students. I have a drawer full of them at home that I will always cherish, and I keep two cards in my school bag with me every day. They’re a great reminder of the impact that we can make - even when you don’t see it in the moment.

Thank you for always supporting and encouraging our educators, and showing them the gratitude they so deserve for putting their whole heart into working with our kids every day. What’s even better, is that you don’t just do it during “appreciation week,” the Forestdale community does it all year long - and it shows.

Mr. Weldai

We have an amazing team of people supporting our students each and every day at the Forestdale School. This year we were able to bring on board a great new group of team members, and each month we'll try to showcase some of our new Falcons here.

• My name is...Jessica Garrity.
  
• I am...a kindergarten ESP.
  
• What I am looking forward to this year is...building relationships with the kids.
  
• What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...how welcoming everyone has been!
  
• Outside of school I enjoy...spending time with my husband, our three kids and two dogs!

The Drama Club is almost ready to debut their spring musical, Beauty and the Beast, Jr.! More details are coming soon, but the shows are scheduled for Thursday, May 30th and Friday, May 31st from 6:00pm - 7:30pm.

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!

There are two dates for our upcoming Spring Band/Instrumental Concerts! Grade 5 will be performing on Thursday, May 30th at 11:30am, and Grades 6, 7, and 8 will be performing on Tuesday, June 4 at 1pm. The performances for families will be in the auditorium!

On Thursday, April 4 in the cafeteria, Title 1 was joined by Cambridge Health Alliance to present a morning workshop for families around "Supporting Students' Mental Health." It was a great presentation, and the families that attended learned a lot and walked away with some great resources to utilize!

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 an absolutely amazing Rock the Walk fundraiser! Together, we raised $37, 350! This is an amazing accomplishment, and we are so grateful to our PTO for running this as well as to each and every one of you for your support. The celebration event was a blast!

Save the date! A spring fling dance for grades K, 1, and 2 is tentatively planned for Friday, May 31st. Details will be coming your way soon!

On Friday, May 10, the PTO hosted their first sensory family fun night! We made slime, blew bubbles, and had a lot of great community partners and resources there and available to families. It was a great night!

Mark your calendars - Field Days are coming!

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

Stay tuned for more details!

Malden's annual Porch Fest is happening all across the city on Saturday, May 18 from 12pm - 7pm. There are lots of great spots to check out! For more information, and for a map of the happenings, please visit www.maldenporchfest.org.

The Harlem Wizards came to town on April 7th, but before their debut at Malden High, they came to the Forestdale gymnasium to wow the K-4 kids with some of their moves! The kids (and a few teachers) had a great time!

There will be two special moving on ceremonies happening on Wednesday, June 12! At 1pm, Kindergarten families will be invited to the auditorium 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!

Special Olympics are coming up on Tuesday, May 28th (rain date of May 29th). Students in our ILP program will be participating at MacDonald Stadium. If you have any questions about this great event, or are interested in learning more, please reach out!

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!

Quarter 4 Report Cards will be sent home on Friday, May 17. Keep a look out, and let us know if you need any help accessing your information!

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 May 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 April, 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/xHQU6

Our 6th and 7th grade students were able to visit Nature's Classroom this year at Camp Cody in Freedom, NH - and it was an amazing experience! Thank you to everyone who helped make this experience possible for our students, and thank you to our amazing staff who went on the trip with the kids!

8th grade students met with their Kindergarten buddies again this month and focused on cooperation, teamwork, and motor skills as they ran the bases, played kickball, and had a really fun visit from Wally and Tessie from the Red Sox! All of the students really enjoyed their time together as usual!

Curious creatures have made a few appearances in the Forestdale School over the past month! 7th grade students had a blast, 4th grade students did too - and our 1st graders have their visit to look forward to in June!

Grade 6 students were joined last week by Ms. Fern Remedi-Brown, a Malden community member, who shared her father's story of his experience during the Holocaust. Our students are beginning their novel study reading Number the Stars, and her visit was a very valuable way for students to begin learning about the Holocaust by hearing the primary source account of Alan Brown, Fern's father, and his courageous life journey. The students learned a lot about history, and were drawn right into the story!

Nationally acclaimed musician and teacher John Kelleher, also known as "Johnny the K," brought his talents and joy to the Forestdale School to empower our 1st graders through interactive music last week! "Johnny the K" put on a great show for our kids inspiring them to believe in themselves, to care about the world around them, and to always be kind. Thank you, "Johnny the K!"

Educator Appreciation Week and National Nurses Week was last week. Our amazing team was celebrated all week long with goodies, frozen treats, a luncheon, and so much more! Special thanks to the Forestdale PTO for being so supporting and generous. We appreciate our educators!

Ms. Lauren McManus's class created some amazing dioramas for their Animals and Habitats literacy unit that they were excited to share for the whole school to see! 1st graders focused their work on the interconnectedness of living things with their physical environment, and had a great time bringing some of their learning to life. The dioramas are still being displayed in the main lobby if have a chance to check them out!

Special Shout-Out to Jenny Johnston, one of our amazing library volunteers (who is also known as Claire, Grace and Marielle's mom!), for the joy she brought to our library windows to celebrate springtime! We know that our volunteers put a lot of love into what they do, and her hard work is appreciated by the Forestdale School community!

There are a lot of wonderful things happening in our classrooms each and every day - and 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!

Last week, our 6th grade team decided to embrace the weather and take the learning outdoors! Ms. Michelle Foley continued to read "Summer of the Mariposas" with the kids while taking advantage of the beautiful day. No matter where they are, they are engaged!

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