Fisher Family Update

Dear Fisher Families,

I recently came across the above quote at the Elm Street School. Since then, I've used it to talk to my own kids about comparing themselves and their abilities (academically, socially, athletically etc.) to their friends or classmates. This made a lot of sense to them and seemed to put their minds at ease. We often hear students making comments at school, comparing themselves to others, and this is a very concrete way of discussing individual growth and development. I figured I would pass it along...hope this is helpful.

Please be sure to read through this newsletter to hear about all the exciting things happening and will happen soon at Fisher School

Have a great weekend,

Brian

October

19 Fisher PAC - 7pm Fisher Library

10/24-11/3 - Scholastic Book Fair

26 Parent/Teacher Conferences 6pm-8pm

28 Early Release Day - Dismissal 12:25

28 Parent/Teacher Conferences 1pm-3pm

November

3 Parent/Teacher Conferences 6pm-8pm

11 No School - Veterans' Day

16 Fisher PAC Meeting - 6pm-8pm Fisher Library

16 Lifetouch Picture Make Up/Retake Day

23 Early Release - Thanksgiving Break

24/25 Thanksgiving Break

28 School Resumes

In the next week or so, the Walpole Public Schools will be mailing MCAS results home to families. It is important to understand that the MCAS are one of the many ways we measure student progress across the curriculum. We also use many ongoing assessments in classrooms not only to measure student progress but also to assess the success of our district curriculum. Parent-Teacher Conferences will be taking place over the next two weeks and this is a great opportunity to hear about specific aspects of the grade-level standards that going well for your child and other areas that may be a challenge.

We have seen an uptick in parents/guardians coming to the school for student dismissals. We understand that emergencies arise, however, when possible: If you are dismissing your student early or changing the way they go home, send a written note on the day of dismissal that includes your student’s first and last name. The office prefers a note to an email, there are hundreds of emails that come each day and they are very easy to miss! The teacher will note the dismissal and plan accordingly, and the note goes to the office so we can enter it into our Aspen system. An email sent during the day may be missed by your student’s teacher.

Reminder: Upon entering/exiting Fisher School, please do not hold the door for anybody else to enter. This is a safety concern.

We look forward to having conversations with our students' families in just a few weeks. Our conversations will focus on your student's transition to their new classroom, academic and social emotional progress and our learning goals for the year. Please come to the meeting ready to share about your child's experience so far and some goals you may have for your student this year.

Please choose a date and time from the link below to schedule a 10 minute conference with your student's teacher. The teachers are listed ALPHABETICALLY, you will need to scroll down to find the teacher name you are looking for. Please double check that you are signing up for the correct teacher. A virtual option (zoom call or phone call) will be offered on November 3rd only, the other dates are in person. If you are scheduling conferences for more than one student, please allow time between them to get to the next classroom. This link is under "For Parents" on the Fisher School website.

Fall weather coming makes me think of snuggling up with a good book! This week we are highlighting the section of our Family Math site that shares fun books to read with your children around math. Reading math story books together is an engaging way to show your children that math occurs every day all around us and reinforces classroom learning at home. The Best Children's Books website sorts books by mathematical concept, and suggests grades for each book. Save the site on your phone for reference during your family trips to the library. Math picture books build connections between what happens in our daily lives and how we apply math to situations. They present contexts and story problems, similar to our real life experiences, and encourage us to think of ways to solve them. Read aloud video link bookshelves are posted on the Online Games and Activities page. Enjoy together!

Jennifer Torigian

Elementary Math Specialist/Coach

Walpole Public Schools

We are looking to gather general household items to further enhance our Math instruction and would love your help! Items can be sent in with your child or dropped off at the main office. We greatly appreciate all of your support!

If you are interested in participating, click the grade level list below to sign up.

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Please note the following contact information for Walpole’s Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). Co-Chairs are Sue Pace and Deborah Mulroy. The SEPAC can be reached by email at walpolesepac@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/walpolespedpac. Notices of future events can be found in these e-notes as they are scheduled.

Students were introduced to ALICE training this week, everybody did a great job. Rebel loved meeting all our new Kindergarteners, and looking at these pictures, we think our students felt the same!

Fisher School is looking for subsitute teachers. If you, or somebody you know would like to apply, please click here. Please contact Mr. Bemiss with any questions.

Fisher Scene is fast approaching!!! Fisher Scene is our adult night out fundraiser which is our biggest fundraiser of the year!!! More details on the event will be coming out later!

This year we are asking each grade to create a fun basket to raffle or auction off. Check out your child(ren)'s grade level sign up below to see if you want to contribute! Any questions? Email your grade level coordinator (on the sign up) or FisherSchoolPAC@gmail.com.

Kindergarten: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a49adab2ea6fe3-kindergarten

First: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a45aaab28a4fa7-1stgrade

Second: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4caeaf2babfc1-2ndgrade

Third: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090849acab2ea7fd0-3rdgrade

Fourth: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084eaaa622a5f58-4thgrade
Fifth: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0848a9ab23a20-5thgrade1

Hello Fisher parents! We are preparing for the annual Scholastic Book Fair and could use your help! We would like parent volunteers to come in during the day on Monday October 24th, Tuesday October 25th and Wednesday October 26th to help the students preview the books and make their wish lists. We also need parent volunteers to help during the teacher conference times when other parents come in to purchase books from the Book Fair. We need to cover the evenings of Wednesday October 26th and Thursday November 3rd as well as the afternoon of Friday October 28th. See the provided SignUpGenius below. Please direct any questions you may have to Michaela Stuart, michaelaj84@gmail.com. Thank you all!

ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST HAVE AN ACTIVE CORI ON RECORD

“Next week TUESDAY will be a BONUS DAY with NICKELS WORTH DOUBLE POINTS! So instead of nickels being $0.05, on Tuesday only, they will be worth $0.10!”

Dear Parent/Guardian,

We will be participating in Artsonia again this year. Artsonia is the world's largest collection of student art, published by teachers and students from around the world. Parents and family can view the art online, leave comments and order keepsakes featuring the artwork. In Art class I photograph and publish student art work periodically. Your child’s privacy is protected by not photographing their last name, only their first name and an assigned code. If you would like to participate in the program, please click the following link to submit your email and permission.

https://www.artsonia.com/connect/YCY46B3C

If you are having difficulty connecting with the above code, please visit www.artsonia.com for additional instructions.

I look forward to sharing your child’s artwork with you!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Joanne Hirschfeld

Elementary Art Teacher/Elementary Art Coordinator

Fisher School

If you are interested in sending your child to Daniel Feeney Preschool during the 2023-2024 school year, tours of the preschool will be offered on the following dates:

October 20, 25, and November 9 at 6:00 PM. Additionally, please complete THIS Google Form to indicate your interest. If you would like to learn more about Daniel Feeney, please sign up to receive weekly email updates:

https://lists.walpole.k12.ma.us/mailman/listinfo/feeneynews and/or contact Julie Martin, Director, at jmartin@walpole.k12.ma.us or 508-660-7374 ext. 5681.

HERE is the school calendar for 2022-2023, including start dates, holidays and early dismissal days. This is continually updated over the course of the year if we have snow days.Please note that there are different start dates for Kindergarten students

The four elementary schools rotate start and end times every three years. The 2022-2023 School Year represents year one of the next rotation. For the next 3 years, Boyden and Fisher School will start at 8:55 a.m. and end at 3:25 p.m.

Doors open at 8:45am and the doors will be locked at 8:53. If your child arrives after 8:53 they will be marked as tardy. Instruction/learning begins promptly at 8:55am

We are excited to have our students back at Fisher School! Please see below some guidelines for attendance. Any questions can be emailed to fisher-secretaries@walpole.k12.ma.us

If your student will be absent or tardy for any reason, call 508 660 7234 and press 1 and leave a message as to the reason before school begins at 8:55 am. Our automated absence calls go out at 9:30. If we do not have a reason noted for the absence you will receive an automated phone call and email. This is for your student’s safety, to ensure that all are accounted for.

The front doors will be closed at 8:53 as students are expected to be sitting in their seats at 8:55. If your student is arriving tardy, please ring the front doorbell and you will enter the building to sign your student in. A student must be accompanied by a parent/guardian when arriving. There is a sign in sheet with a column to indicate the reason for the tardy arrival.

Please note: We mark all students having school lunch in Aspen with a “L”. This does not mean the student was marked Late. We use T for tardy.

If you are dismissing your student early or changing the way they go home, send a written note on the day of dismissal that includes your student’s first and last name. The teacher will note the dismissal and plan accordingly, and the note goes to the office so we can enter it into our Aspen system. An email sent during the day may be missed by your student’s teacher.

Please avoid calling with an early dismissal change or a change in the way your student goes home. When this happens we need to call the classroom to let the teacher know and this disrupts learning time.

We cannot change the way a student goes home based on them telling the office or their teacher. We need to hear from a parent/guardian via note or phone call to make that change. If they are scheduled for Extended Day and we do not hear otherwise, we will send them to Extended Day.

Fisher School is looking for a parent reresentative to join our School Council. Meetings are held once a month on Tuesdays from 3:45-5:00pm. If you are interested please contact Brian Bemiss

Arrival/Dismissal procedures will be the same as they were last year. Please click HERE for all details regarding car drop off and pick up. Staff will be outside everyday to assist you student. Please do not exit your vehicle.

If your student is a "walker" at dismissal time.....

• Please do not park in the Fisher parking lot - You could park on Cobb terrace and walk down but the parking lot is not a safe option at dismissal time
• You may walk down to door 18 (by the Fisher Garden) to pick up your student

We are pleased to share that Massachusetts will continue to fund free school meals for all students, regardless of household income, under a one-year expansion of a free federal school lunch program. The state’s budgetary commitment will ensure 400,000 students statewide, who would not otherwise qualify for free school meals, continue to have access to free school lunch and breakfast for the next year.

What does this mean?

All Walpole Public School children will receive free school meals while at school.

Important: We still encourage all families to submit a school meal application if they believe they are income eligible to receive free meals. While your child will receive a free meal regardless of their free or reduced-price meal status, the meal application can qualify your family for additional benefits beyond free school meals.

You can access our on-line meal benefit application here: https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application

This on-line application is available in multiple languages via a drop-down menu "Language" on the toolbar.

Click HERE to view the District's virtual backpack. Inside you will find flyers and notices about upcoming events in and around our community.

Happy Fall!

• Here is a link to the WPS Health Services website. On this site you can find links to forms (ie medication administration, over the counter medication consent forms), medication policies, and information regarding illnesses, concussions and injuries.
• Walpole Pharmacy (699 Main Street) has Flu Vaccines along with COVID vaccines (ages 9+) and boosters available. They accept walk ins for the flu vaccine but require appointments to be made for the COVID vaccines.
• Please pack an extra outfit in your child’s backpack in case of emergencies, this can be stored at the school in their locker or cubbies. Please be mindful of your child wearing appropriate shoes to minimize injuries at recess and PE- sneakers are best.
  

• The Health Office will gladly accept donations of new or gently used clothes of all sizes and gender. We are in need of kids shorts and pants presently. We really appreciate it! Here is the Fisher health office wish list. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/KPFDTT3GDQRG?ref_=wl_share

As always, please feel free to send me an email with any questions or concerns regarding your child.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered up with Linewize by Family Zone, a leading education technology company, to provide our school communities with the highest quality of online safety and digital wellness education. Linewize's global team of experts work together to empower families to navigate the online world with greater ease and confidence. This partnership provides our district with tools, resources, and expert advice on all the latest online safety issues you and your family may be encountering. As members of our school community, you have direct access to our custom-designed Online Safety Hub, where you can access a wide array of research-backed tools and educational materials that will help you implement online safety measures at home.

CLICK HERE to check out the Online Safety Hub

Attention Fisher Parents and Guardians,
The Fisher School PAC is happy to announce that the Friendship Directory is back for the
2022-2023 school year!
We invite you to visit https://fisherpac.membershiptoolkit.com to access the online
directory. Please create or re-activate your account and pay the $5.00 membership fee to
access the directory.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Go to https://fisherpac.membershiptoolkit.com or
scan the qr code. →

2. Click on the Register/Login button:
- Returning users, use your existing user name and
password
- New users, create a new account and fill out your
name, email, and password information
- You will be prompted to verify your email. The link sent to your email will
expire within 2 hours. Please check your spam or junk folder if you do not
see the email right away.
3. Registration process:
- Complete the Parent/Family and Student Information.
- Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences
- Click on the Friendship Directory Access and follow instructions to
complete payment (payment can be made by credit card or PayPal
account)

Once the primary account is set up, the primary user can "invite" other email addresses to
access their family record. This allows the secondary user to have their own login
information and still have access to their family account.
Not only does this help you to connect to your child’s classmates, it also raises money for
them! If you have any questions, please reach out to fisherschoolpac@gmail.com
Thank you!