Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale families!

From a young age, we teach our kids that feedback is an essential part to growth. Some feedback can be positive, some can provide opportunities for growth. Some feedback is solicited, some is unsolicited. It’s something that we get in our personal life, and in our professional life.

Feedback is a type of communication. We give it, and we get it. What’s important about feedback is what you do with it. As a teacher, I used feedback in the classroom to tweak units that I know didn’t land well with students, and find ways to connect the content with their daily lives and interests. As a principal, I use feedback from families to help guide our staff's professional learning time, as well plan for ways to outreach to families during the school year.

Over the next two weeks, our district is seeking feedback, too! There’s a message below from the district with a link to a survey on perceptions and experiences with school climate in the Malden Public Schools. I am hopeful that you will take a few minutes and take the survey, and that the district leaders will share the results with us so as a building, we can learn and grow from it as well!

Mr. Weldai

Hello Malden Families,

Malden Public Schools (MPS) is interested in understanding perceptions and experiences with school climate.

As such, MPS has partnered with an education market research firm, Hanover Research, to conduct a Climate and Culture Survey from April 1st to April 15th. The survey is intended to collect perceptions and experiences of students (Grades 4-12), parents, and staff to help schools and district leaders ensure that they are continuing to create a supportive and nurturing environments for all. This information will help guide future decisions and improvements.

The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and is available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese. MPS will receive survey results from Hanover Research in aggregate form only (i.e., no personally identifiable information will be collected or reported).

To participate in this survey, click this link or paste the following URL into your browser:

https://hanover-research.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6rRuSIMBX2goJP8

We look forward to hearing from you to help us best serve our school communities!

-Malden Public Schools

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...Jennifer Davidian.
  
• I am...an educational support professional for the intensive learning program, currently working with 5th grade.
  
• What I am looking forward to this year is...to learn more about how to help the kids in the ILP classes.
  
• What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...how friendly, supportive and welcoming everyone has been!
  
• Outside of school I enjoy...spending time with my husband and two sons who always have me going on adventures and seeing the world through their young eyes!

On Thursday, April 4 at 8:15am in the cafeteria, Title 1 will be holding their next morning workshop for caregivers and families. This month, in partnership with Cambridge Health Alliance, Title 1 presents "Supporting Students' Mental Health." Please join us for this informative presentation, and a light breakfast as well!

Just a reminder, the next PTO meeting will be Wednesday, April 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.

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 final update from the PTO is attached here: https://www.forestdalepto.com/newsletter/05701-20240326021815-068077000-1457848138

The Rock The Walk celebration event is this week! Friday, April 5 from 6 - 7:30pm, there will be pizza, a DJ, and we'll be walking some laps together to celebrate the successful fundraiser! A flyer is on its way!

The spring book fair was a great success as well! From Tuesday, March 19 through Friday, March 22, the Forestdale School held our spring book fair in the library. Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who volunteered their time, and to the school staff for their support!

The Harlem Wizards are coming to Malden! Sunday, April 7 at 5:00pm, Malden High Teachers (and some Forestdale teachers, too!) will be playing against the Wizards! Tickets are available at the links below! Be sure to get your tickets early!

Ticket Link: https://pretix.eu/harlemwizards/maldenma04-07-24-05-00pm

Promo video for the event: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/915611733

The MOST Adventure Summer Program registration period is now open! Registration will close on Friday, April 5. Space is limited, and enrollment is on a first come, first served basis. Program information and details are on the flyer attached.

You can register at: https://www.ezchildtrack.com/parentportal/?c=MPSbeforeafterschool

On Wednesday, April 24 from 6 - 7pm at the Salemwood School, please join the Special Education Parent Advisory Council for an informational event on the supports and programs available though the Malden Public Schools Special Education Program. See the attached flyer for more information!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2 is an 11am early release day for the Malden Public Schools! After school programming for MOST and the Malden Rec program (pre-registration required) will be running!

Ms. Vanessa Duncan and our STEM class are still seeking donations! Any water bottles, bottle caps, or paper towel and toilet paper rolls that you are willing to donate can be sent in with your students, or dropped off in the box in the main lobby. Thank you for your consideration!

Attention 8th grade families! Get ready to register for your 9th grade courses at Malden High School! There is one upcoming presentation left for families so you can learn more about the process, in-Person on Thursday, April 11th, at 6:00pm. Details are on the flyer attached here.

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 3 Report Cards will be sent home on Friday, April 12. Keep a look out, and let us know if you need any help accessing your information!

For any students who are celebrating Ramadan and are fasting, we are here to support you! The library has been made available as an alternate space for the lunch period for any students who would prefer not to be in the cafeteria. Please reach out to us if we can support you and your family with any other accommodations during this time.

Believe it or not, it's almost April Vacation! Please make sure to mark your calendars, and remember that April Vacation is the week of Monday, April 15 through Friday April 19. School for students will resume on Monday, April 22.

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 April 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 March, 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/vORT3

In collaboration with Malden Overcoming Addiction (MOA), the City of Malden and Malden Public Schools, Forestdale participated in the 8th Annual “Stop the Stigma Day” on Wednesday, March 13. Forestdale School students have been working with health educators Mr. Joe DelGallo and Ms. Kaitlyn Fazio for the past few weeks to learn more about stigma, and think of ways to spread awareness in our school and community. On the day itself, students were proud to present their work to visitors from MOA, wear their blue ribbons, and be a part of leveraging our collective power to bring positive change to Malden!

8th grade students met with their Kindergarten reading buddies again this month to work on some literacy activities! They read some books together, and worked on some crafts based on what they read. Both sets of students really enjoyed their time together!

Our third grade students were treated to a great presentation on oral health by Ava, Gianna, Sasha and Selma - senior dental hygiene students at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. They gave an interactive demonstration of oral health topics including the importance of tooth brushing, flossing, and proper nutrition intake. The kids truly enjoyed it!

Students in Ms. Suzanne Millett's kindergarten classroom had a great visit from her dad, Mr. Paul Millett, this past month! He taught the students about Irish culture, shared some stories about growing up and being a kid in Ireland, what school and sports were like, and shared some Gaelic with the kids, too!

Music in our schools month was celebrated all March long in room B221! Ms. Kim Barber gave our students exposure and introduction to music and dance from countries all around the world representing our diverse student population. They designed and made their own instruments, composed songs, created collages and art, and reflected on why music was important to them. It was clear from seeing her classroom, and seeing the excitement the kids had talking about what they learned, that they continue to have really meaningful and memorable experiences in Music this year!

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!

Okay, I know this is two pictures - but I couldn’t help it! Kindergarten students recently celebrated the wedding of Q and U, and it was the event of the season! As always, this serves as a great way to teach some grammar and reinforce the spelling pattern of “qu” in a way that’s memorable and fun!

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