McGovern News!

Thank you to all families who were able to engage in our recent conferences. I hope the additions of our allied arts, special education, reading support and ELL teachers helped you connect with multiple teachers that your child sees. Creating a strong home-school partnership is a top priority for us and conferences is just one way to help do that. Please stay connected to your child's teacher(s) throughout the school year and especially if you have questions.

We have a short week coming up. There is an early release day on Wednesday with dismissal at 12:00 PM. Additionally, all preschool students will be dismissed at 11:30 and there is no PM program. I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. I am truly grateful for our Medway community.

Best,

Amy McDonald, Principal

Students in kindergarten and first grade spend a lot of time learning common words. You may have heard these called sight word, high frequency words, trick words, and/or heart words. There are a lot of names to describe these types of words.

To help parents better understand this, Mrs. Holt our Curriculum and Instructional Coach has made a video to give you information and an at home strategy to try. You can find the information and video here. Helping your child to learn these words at home will certainly improve their reading and writing. If you have questions about what words to practice or how to help at home, please reach out to your child's teacher or Mrs. Holt!

REMINDER!

Dismissal is at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, November 23, 2022. All preschool classes will be dismissed at 11:30 and there is no PM preschool on Wednesday. There is no school on Thursday or Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. School will resume on Monday, November 28, 2022.

Mrs. Holt and I held our first coffee hour last week, thank you to families who were able to attend one of the sessions. We reviewed beginning of year data and our myView curriculum. You can find a copy of the presentation here. Please keep in mind the data that was presented is already "old" and students, in many cases, have moved categories. It is important for us to know our starting point and to compare that to other years. If you have any questions about the presentation, do not hesitate to reach out.

Our next coffee hour will be on December 12th from either 9:00-10:00 am or 4:00-5:00 pm and our focus will be on math. We will of course leave time for general updates and questions from families.

Please mark your calendars for upcoming coffee hours this year:

January 23, 2023

March 13, 2023

May 8, 2023

I hope to see families at our coffee hours this year!

If you are a one-person household and make less than $40,951 per year or a two-person household and make less than $53,551 per year, you may qualify for home fuel assistance. A full eligibility and benefits chart can be found here. Medway Outreach Workers Marcia Lombardo and Kim Cookson are happy to help you apply for fuel assistance or answer any questions. They can be reached at 508 533 3210 or mlombardo@townofmedway.org. Please note if adults in your household are not U.S. citizens, but a child in the home is a citizen, you can still apply for fuel assistance.

Thank you for your assistance in keeping Pokéman cards at home. I have not heard that this has interrupted learning, so I very much appreciate your partnership in keeping these at home. This, of course, includes the bus.

For families who have children who ride the bus, I thought it would be helpful to share our bus expectations with you so you can reinforce them at home. The school bus is an extension of the school, so our same rules apply. I called specific buses to the cafeteria for a "bus chat" to remind students about our rules and expectations on the bus. Any help from home would be appreciated. Thank you!

Retakes will take place on Thursday, December 8th (this was previously scheduled as Tuesday, November 8th).

Please click here to view the Geskus Families FAQ's for our upcoming picture day.

Student attendance can be one of the biggest predictors of student success and challenges. On Monday we will send home attendance letters to any student who has 5 or more absences. Below is a link to the elementary student handbook which outlines the Elementary attendance policy.

Elementary School Handbook pages 16-17

During the 2022-2023 school year, all students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has provided money to do this for one year through the State budget.

We do need your help to ensure that families and our district receive all the financial resources for which it qualifies. Please fill out and submit the application for free and reduced price school meals. When a family qualifies by completing this form it provides additional support both locally and through the state. In addition, financial support to the Medway Public Schools is impacted based on the number of students who qualify for free or reduced priced meals.

The information you provide is confidential. We follow strict federal rules to keep your information private.

Our Fall Brochure continues to offer many one-night adult enrichment and wellness classes through December. Call a friend and enjoy an evening out at our Paint & Sip Event at the Thayer House or create the following - Sea Glass Trees, Autumn Candle Centerpieces, Holiday Boxwood Trees, Messages From Spirit, Divination Tools 101, Holiday Wreath with the Community Farm, Jewelry Making for Parent & Child, plus much more!

At least 4 families in Medway have been helped by Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston over the years. The Jackson family, the Davis family, the Fagerson family, and most recently the MacLeod family this summer. All at no cost thanks to the incredible Shriners Hospital!

Shriners hospital collects can tabs for money. If you would like to join us in thanking Shriners Hospital on behalf of these families you can collect can tabs and drop them at the fire station or police station. If you have a student at McGovern School you can have them bring them to school to drop in a container in our main office. Thank you for your support!

Did you know there are several ways to follow us on social media? Please see below for our links. Please also note that we will not be interacting with our Facebook page, as it is a place for us to post information. As always, if you have any questions regarding your child and/or the school, please reach out to your child's teacher, the front office, or administration.

McGovern Elementary School: Twitter: @McGovernElem

Facebook: @mcgovernelem

Instagram: @mcgovernelem

Children need healthy meals to learn. Medway Public Schools offers healthy meals every school day. During the 2022-2023 school year, all students will receive free breakfast and lunch at school. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has provided money to do this for one year through the State budget. We need your help to ensure our district receives all the financial resources for which it qualifies. Please fill out and submit the application for free and reduced price school meals. If many families fill out and return this form, we will get more money from the federal government for free school meals now and in the future. We will also get more money for other school programs. Filling out this form also helps our community provide free summer meals to all kids, and free meals to kids in childcare. The information you provide is confidential. We follow strict federal rules to keep your information private.

MPS requests that all guardians complete the Online Registration process, better known as the “beginning of year packet”, within the Parent Portal. Please complete the application by September 30, 2022. Completing the online registration ensures we have the most accurate and up to date information for your child(ren) and helps us stay in touch with families. To access the Online Registration Process, please login to the Parent Portal via a computer. This is the URL address https://medwayma.infinitecampus.org/campus/portal/medway.jsp then choose MORE > Online Registration from the left menu. Follow the prompts to review and confirm the information we have on file. Please note that it may be difficult to complete the forms via a smartphone. Guardians without a portal account can email parent@medwayschools.org for an activation code.

November 23: Early Release Day, 12:00 PM (K and 1); 11:30 ALL preschool, no PM classes

November 24/25: No School, Thanksgiving Recess

November 30: School Site Council, 3:20 pm

December 2: Arena Day, No Preschool Classes

December 7: Equity Steering Committee, 5:30 PM

December 8: Picture Retake Day

December 12: Principal's Coffee Hour; 9-10 and 4-5

December 23: Early Release, 12:00 PM

December 24-Jan 1: Vacation

January 3: School Resumes

January 6: Arena Day, No Preschool Classes

Please click the following links for directions on how to translate the newsletter.

Here is the link for the master directions in English.

Here is the link for Spanish.

Here is the link for French.

Here is the link for Russian.

Here is the link for Arabic

Here is the link for Portuguese.

Here is the link for Chinese (traditional).

Here is the link for Tamil.

Here is the link for Telugu.

Haga clic en los siguientes enlaces para obtener instrucciones sobre cómo traducir el boletín.

Aquí está el enlace para español.

Here is the link for Spanish.

Veuillez cliquer sur les liens suivants pour savoir comment traduire le bulletin d'information.

Voici le lien pour le français.

Here is the link for French.

Пожалуйста, нажмите следующие ссылки для получения инструкций о том, как перевести информационный бюллетень.

Вот ссылка на русский.

Here is the link for Russian.

Clique nos links a seguir para obter instruções sobre como traduzir o boletim informativo.

Aqui está o link para o espanhol.

Here is the link for Portuguese.

單擊以下鏈接以獲取有關如何翻譯時事通訊的說明。

這是西班牙語的鏈接。

Here is the link for Chinese (traditional).

செய்திமடலை எவ்வாறு மொழிபெயர்ப்பது என்பது குறித்த வழிமுறைகளுக்கு பின்வரும் இணைப்புகளைக் கிளிக் செய்யவும்.

ஸ்பானிஷ் மொழிக்கான இணைப்பு இதோ.

Here is the link for Tamil.

వార్తాలేఖను ఎలా అనువదించాలో సూచనల కోసం క్రింది లింక్‌లపై క్లిక్ చేయండి.

స్పానిష్ కోసం ఇక్కడ లింక్ ఉంది.

Here is the link for Telugu.

انقر فوق الروابط التالية للحصول على إرشادات حول كيفية ترجمة النشرة الإخبارية.

هنا هو الرابط

Here is the link for Arabic