Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale Families!

Happy 2024! On behalf of the entire Forestdale staff, we hope you had a wonderful and restful winter break. Whatever you celebrated - whether it was Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Yule, or something else - we hope you celebrated it well! We had a very busy December here at Forestdale and are excited to welcome everyone back to start January together. We’ve got a winter and spring full of learning and fun planned for our students, and can’t wait to get started.

The week before break, I asked an 8th grader what their New Year’s resolution was. I was initially surprised that they didn’t really know what I was talking about, and had one of those “Am I dating myself?” moments! So for fun that day, I asked a few more 8th graders, a few 5th graders, and a few 1st graders the same question. Only a handful of them had even heard of “New Year’s resolutions.” When I was explaining what they were, one student in particular responded with something that made me feel even better though. She said, “So it’s basically like the goals we set all year long but just in January?”

One thing this group of students has that I never had consistently when I was a student is the presence of goal setting in many aspects of their classrooms. They see their data, and are able to monitor it. They watch their grades in real time, and can keep track of it. They know what assignments they are missing, and if they choose to, can keep up with all of it. Setting consistent and achievable goals isn’t something they need to think of as a “once a year” occurrence - they do it all year long.

There’s a bulletin board outside the main office that Ms. Jen Guerrero, our wonderful social work intern put together with our social workers Ms. Danielle Bertazzoni and Ms. Kim Spinale. The headline reads: “We Are Goal Getters,” and so far there are a few of the goals listed that students have set for themselves in their social groups. They range from things like “I will learn to stick up for myself,” to “I will get organized by the end of January,” to “I will get better at gaming.” All great goals, for all different parts of their lives (in and out of school!). What matters the most though is that they set them, and they’re already thinking about how to achieve them. Clearly, it doesn’t just have to be the new year for goal setting to be alive and well with the Forestdale falcons.

Looking forward to a great new year with you all!

Mr. Weldai

THANK YOU for your support of the fall food and clothing drive, to benefit the Bread of Life in Malden! We were able to collect hundreds of items, all thanks to the initiative of Ms. Kim Barber, our amazing music teacher. Here she is just before break with some of the items we collected!

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...Erin Gannon
  
• I am...the 7th Grade Student Support Teacher
  
• What I am looking forward to this year is...watching the 7th graders grow and the Nature's Classroom trip!
  
• What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...the strong sense of community and the ways adults in this building know and care about all of our Forestdale kids.
  
• Outside of school I enjoy...spending time with my kids and making art.

• My name is...Stefanie Gertz
  
• I am...the 7th Grade ELA teacher
  
• What I am looking forward to this year is...getting to know everyone during my first year in Malden!
  
• What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...how supportive and welcoming everyone is!
  
• Outside of school I enjoy...spending time with my dog, Bucky or playing video games with friends!

Coming up on Thursday, January 25th at 6pm, the Title 1 department will be hosting their next family event - a Zumba night in the cafeteria! Be on the lookout for a flyer and more information coming your way soon.

Just a reminder, the next PTO meeting will be Wednesday, January 10th 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.

On Friday, December 8th the PTO held a very successful gingerbread cookie decorating event in conjunction with the craft fair! Vendors from our own community as well as from the greater community came in to showcase their products, and we had a lot of engagement from families and community members alike. Thank you for all your support!

The Forestdale PTO will be hosting a Winter Ball for students in grades 3-4 on Friday, January 19th. More information will be coming your way soon!

We just got back from break, but February break is approaching! From January 3 through January 6, on a first come, first served basis, MPS students in grades K-6 are able to register for a February Vacation Program which will run Tuesday - Friday, February 20-23, from 8:00am - 4:00pm at the Salemwood School.

This program is open to all K-6 MPS students, even though it is housed at the Salemwood during break! Details are in the attached flyer.

Monday, January 15th from 2pm - 4pm, there will be a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Malden featuring speakers, performers, and more! Flyer is attached here.

ACCESS testing begins this Thursday, January 4th and continues through early February. This is a test that is used to assess our multilingual learner students' progress in building English language fluency. Our fantastic ELL team (Ms. Melissa Katz, Ms. Lisa Sheridan, Ms. Francia Cordia, Ms. Arianna Mathews and Ms. Lauren Beltran) have been working diligently to prepare for the assessment with our students, and if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out!

On Monday, January 15th there is no school in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Planning ahead, on Tuesday, February 6 there is an 11am early release day for the Malden Public Schools!

Our next Parent/Caregiver conferences are coming up next month! Tuesday, February 13, from 4:00 - 5:30pm here in the building. Your awesome teams of teachers will be reaching out next month, but we wanted to make sure the date was in our calendar ahead of time!

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 Forestdale School is still seeking a candidate for an open position! If you or anyone you know is interested, we have a newly created Special Education position open. If you'd like to learn more, please feel free to reach out or visit https://maldenps.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

The January 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

Right before break, we were able to celebrate our latest group of students-of-the-month! For the month of December, students were honored for their independence - the third virtue 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/vwzBN

On Friday, December 8th, 3rd grade students led by Ms. Barber and their teachers were invited to Forestdale Park Assisted Living next door to sing holiday songs with the senior residents. The kids represented Forestdale admirably, and the residents had a great time!

On Thursday, December 14th, Ms. Kim Barber led our 1st, 3rd and 5th graders in two performances for our annual winter choral concert! The students practiced for weeks and were amazing for both the crowd of parents and guardians, and their peers later that afternoon! We were also very fortunate that Urban Media Arts (UMA, formerly Malden Access TV, MATV) came by for the afternoon performance to film it for families. The link to the performance is below!

On Friday, December 15th, Mr. Greg Waite led our 6th, 7th and 8th graders in two fantastic instrumental performances for the annual winter band concert! The students showcased their talents, and both families in the morning and students in the afternoon were able to see the kids go through the whole process of getting their instruments ready, tuning up, and performing their work. It was great!

Our 4th graders spent time in December learning tools and strategies for approaching poetry, and reading and interpreting both formal and free verse poems. They were then able to use their knowledge to write some original poetry. Ms. Kelly Rufo’s class practiced reciting their poetry to each other in their very own poetry cafe as well. I’m not sure what was better - the original poetry, or the way the students supported each other through the writing and (sometimes nerve-wracking!) performing process.

Maldonian James Norris is the Founder and President of Handi Capable Fitness and author of “Feeling Left Out,” and “Feeling Accepted: Coast to Coast,” the first two in a series of 4 books he is currently writing. In his own style, James provides us with a message of hope that everyone deserves to live a life they are proud of and that no challenge can stop you from doing the amazing things you want to. In December, James came to visit our 2nd grade students, and every student was provided with a copy of his newest book, “Feeling Accepted: Coast to Coast.” We were excited to host James here at Forestdale!

On Wednesday, December 13th, the Forestdale Drama Club presented "Skitmania: Take 2!" It was a night of songs, skits and a lot of laughs showcasing the talents and camaraderie of the Drama Club! It was a great way to have some fun and raise some funds for their Spring production of "Beauty and the Beast Jr." coming this May!

On Thursday, December 20th, the Polar Express left Forestdale station - with the original conductor on board to welcome all ticketed passengers! We were very excited to welcome back Principal Don Concannon to lead this beloved tradition!

December's activity with our Kindergarten and 8th grade buddies was a holiday themed STEM challenge - building a gingerbread house! Students had a great time working with their partners and adjusting and readjusting their structures hoping to construct something that not just looks good, but stands on it's own, too!

This December, the building was both festive and competitive as Ms. Kendra Rocca and the 8th grade class sponsored the annual holiday door decorating contest! Before break, Mayor Gary Christenson, Superintendent Ligia Noriega-Murphy, and State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian came by to tour and judge the doors (with 8th graders Kyla, Rose, and Andrew). The top 3 winners are pictured below, and a full album of doors can be found at the link below, too!

In December, our amazing literacy coach Ms. Kathleen Bracken led winter literacy data meetings for each of our teaching teams in K through 8 to look at student data, growth, and action plan for the coming months now that the winter benchmark assessments (DIBELS and iREADY) are complete. Our educators put a lot of thought into each and every student and progress monitoring for their individual growth!

7th graders in Ms. Amy Despres and Ms. Erin Gannon's classes applied their understanding of proportional relationships and percentages to plan a *pretend* trip to Disney in Math class! They learned to apply tax to a total sale, how to calculate how much it would cost to drive given the price of gas and the miles per gallon of a car, and they even calculated and compared the emissions of flying versus driving to Florida. They also learned how expensive it can be to travel! Students came up with creative ways to save money like camping instead of staying in a hotel and eating instant noodles for every meal. They did a great job of managing a multi-step project using real world information, and had a lot of fun!

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!

I was walking by the library before December break, and saw Ms. Lillian Wong reading to a Kindergarten class, and stopped in to listen for a few minutes! For the past few years, our library was only used one day a week, thanks to Mr. Stephen Nedell being here part time and keeping it going. Now, we're able to have students and staff in the library any day of the week and it's great to see it active so often!

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