Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale Families!

A first grader ran up to me at the end of the day last Friday and exclaimed, “I saw your mom today!” This has become a pretty normal occurrence, that I have come to truly enjoy. My mom, Tina Weldai, is one of our awesome group of library volunteers this year. As an educator, I’m lucky to have grown up with a mom who was a teacher herself, working her whole career in the Malden Public Schools. She started as an ESP, then became an ELL teacher, and then a 1st and 2nd grade teacher for many years before her recent retirement from the Linden School. Now, our falcons are lucky enough to get to know her too as she comes in a few days a week to volunteer in our library reading with classes and helping spark some joy around literacy.

To me, one of the funniest things is that the kids know her schedule much better than I do. She comes in, signs in, and goes right to the library to be with our students. Oftentimes (like the other day) when I hear “I saw your mom today in the library!”, I say back “I didn’t even know she was here!”, and they get a good chuckle out of it. Last Friday, this particular student asked me if I liked it when my mother came to school to read. I told her of course I do, and that I was very proud of her. She very quickly told me, “I don’t think you can be proud of your parents, they have to be proud of you.” I thought about it, and told her that of course I was proud, because she was a great teacher, and loved her students, and now comes to spend some of her time getting to know all of you, too. I then asked her what she might be proud of her mom for. She thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “because she’s my mom, and because she loves me, and because she doesn’t get mad too much, and because she lets me tell her stories…” (the list went on for a bit!).

It was a great reminder for her that even though your parents can be (and often are!) really proud of you, and the person that you’re becoming, it’s good to think about and be proud of your parents and caregivers, too. There are a million things that you do with your kids that they internalize and remember, and really do love to think and talk about. If you think of it over vacation, and are interested in a little morale boost, ask your kids what they’re proud of you for! I bet you’ll love the answers.

Mr. Weldai

A reminder to all families, there is no school next week for February break! School will resume on Monday, February 26th. Have a happy and safe February break!

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...Kara Rock.
  
• I am...a Kindergarten ESP in Ms. Casgrain's classroom.
  
• What I am looking forward to this year is...helping the kids in kindergarten have the best first year at the Forestdale School!
  
• What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...how helpful and supportive everyone in this building is.
  
• Outside of school I enjoy...playing basketball, going to the beach, and going on long walks with my dog Ollie.

Coming up on Thursday, February 29th at 8:15am, the Title 1 department will be hosting their next curriculum open house and caregiver breakfast, rescheduled from the February 13th no-school day. All families and caregivers are invited to learn more about our literacy curriculum, Amplify ELA and Amplify CKLA. We look forward to seeing you there!

Just a reminder, the next PTO meeting will be Wednesday, March 13th 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.

The Spirit Wear sale ends tonight at midnight!! There are a lot of great options this time around, and new colors and styles to choose from. Make sure to get your orders in, ASAP! Online orders can be made at: https://www.forestdalepto.com/form/m/257078

The annual Rock the Walk fundraiser is coming soon! From March 4th through March 22nd, students and families will be able to take part in one of our biggest PTO fundraisers of the year! Information is attached on the flyer, and a celebration is being planned for April 5th. Look for more updates soon!

The spring book fair is coming! From Monday, March 18th through Friday, March 22nd, the Forestdale School will be having a book fair in the library. More information will be coming soon!

On Friday, March 8th, from 5:30 - 7:00pm the PTO will be hosting a sensory night for families! Be on the lookout, more details are on their way.

You're invited to join Malden City Councillor Ari Taylor for a Ward 5 Community Dinner on Sunday, February 25th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm in the Salemwood School Cafeteria! For more information see the attached flyer!

As the School Committee begins the process of identifying the next Superintendent of Schools, Committee Chair Mayor Gary Christenson has appointed Jennifer Spadafora and Sharyn Rose-Zeiberg co-chairs of the search committee. Working with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), they are seeking parent/caregiver volunteers to participate in the process! In order to serve on the committee, you must be able to commit to approximately 4-5 weeknights of candidate screening, interviews and deliberations in March and April. After volunteering, if you are chosen you will be notified of your potential selection by February 25th. Any questions or concerns, please reach out to supersearch@maldenps.org. The volunteer form can be found here: https://shorturl.at/nKLM0

The Malden Public Schools is hosting a job fair! On Saturday, March 9th from 9:00 - 11:00am at the Beebe School (401 Pleasant St. Malden, MA) come meet school principals, the superintendent, and other district team members and hear about current opportunities and preview anticipated openings for the 2024-2025 school year!

Malden Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) held a successful Anti-Bullying Training workshop for Malden Public Schools parents, caregivers and educators. Johanne Pino of Massachusetts Advocates for Children gave a great presentation on the laws and school-wide strategies to prevent bullying of students with disabilities, and took questions for attendees in person and online.

Planning ahead, on Tuesday, March 5 there is an 11am early release day for the Malden Public Schools! There is NO after school programming that day, or early release programming that day, as the buildings are being used as polling places for the state election.

MCAS testing is coming soon! Testing will begin at the end of March, and we are currently working on a building schedule that we will share with families and caregivers in the next family flyer.

Ms. Vanessa Duncan and our STEM class are 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 are two upcoming presentations for families so you can learn more about the process. Virtually on Thursday, March 14th at 6:00pm, and In-Person on Thursday, April 11th, at 6:00pm. Details are on the flyer attached here.

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 seeking candidates for open positions! If you or anyone you know is interested, we have a newly created Special Education position open, and a long term substitute position for middle school ELA. If you'd like to learn more, please feel free to reach out or visit https://maldenps.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx

The February 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 January, students were honored for their Determination - the fourth 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/lARX1

Following the end of quarter 2, the grade 5 team celebrated the students who received Honor Roll and High Honor Roll on their report cards with a donut breakfast! The students enjoyed being recognized for their academic achievements, and had a great time with their special guests - their 4th grade teachers Ms. Kelly Rufo and Ms. Sue Ellis! They are pictured here with 5th grade team members Mr. Joe Ialuna, Ms. Molly Whisler, Ms. Pam Skinner, Ms. Susie Horvitz, and Ms. Claudia McCafferty. The best part was the room was pretty packed - the number of kids continues to grow each quarter!

Students and staff celebrated the 100th day of school in many fun ways all over the building! From dressing like the 80s (80 days left of school!), to wearing their superhero capes, to striking a pose on the runway with their families - we can’t believe over 100 days of school have flown by!

Our 8th graders and Kindergarten buddies got together to create some very loving Valentines! They made some heart wreaths, and heart buddies, and had a great time spending time and connecting with each other. We love to see how wonderful these pairs are together...and we love our amazing teachers for modeling (Mr. Kevin Carpenito, 8th grade, and Ms. Suzanne Millett, Kindergarten)!

Ms. Jessica Brown and our team of middle school ELA teachers recently hosted Superintendent Noriega-Murphy and visitors from the district to highlight and celebrate the great work happening in our classrooms!

The health education teachers across the district were recently able to meet for some professional development with the City of Malden’s Addiction Recovery Resource Specialist Paul Hammersley, Recovery Coach PJ Bell, and Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Wellness Charlie Conefrey to begin to plan for Malden’s Annual Stop the Stigma Day - coming up this year on Wednesday, March 13th!

5th grade students were recently given a chance to do some hands-on learning by a special guest! 7th grade science teacher Ms. Meghan Bowe recently invited the 5th graders to her room to participate in a science experiment learning about chemical and physical changes. In ELA with Ms. Susie Horvitz, the students were reading a lot about chemistry in their text, and the entire 5th grade team was grateful that Ms. Bowe went out of her way to create and facility this great learning experience for our 5th grade falcons so they understood some of these concepts even better!

Special thanks to Mrs. MaryJane McDonagh, an amazing retired Malden Public Schools educator, for the donation of books to our Library! Ms. Tina Weldai, one of our library volunteers, brought them in for Ms. Lillian Wong to catalog into our collection!

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!

This was a last-minute favorite photo! This morning, in preparation for the yearbook coming out at the end of the year, our entire class of 8th grade students gathered together in the lobby for a group picture. It took 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) takes, but they got it! Many of these kids are students who I got to know when they were just 1st graders here, so seeing them as 8th graders - almost ready to move on to what comes next - is pretty amazing!

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