Dear Fisher Families,

The English Language Arts portion of the MCAS testing begins next week. Please remind your students that it is very important for them to get a good night's sleep, eat a healthy breakfast and be to school on time. If your child is not feeling well on the day of the tests, please keep your student home. We will schedule a make-up session for him/her when they return. We present the MCAS to our students as an opportunity for them to "show what they know" and the only expectation we have is that they give their best effort! Our students are always prepared for the tests and as a result they typically perform very well. This is a credit to ALL our teachers and staff, Kindergarten through Grade 5. We also thank our families for the support you’ve given us and your student over the years. We couldn't have done it without your help! MCAS will pick up again in May with the Math tests for grades 3-5 and the Science tests for Grade 5.

Please be sure to take a look at the MCAS dates below and read through this edition of the Fisher Family Update for upcoming dates and events.

Enjoy the weekend,

Brian

Check out Fisher School’s new podcast! You can search “Fisher School” on Spotify or you can use this link. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe!

March

28 MCAS - Gr. 5 ELA Session 1

29 MCAS - Gr. 5 ELA Session 2

30 MCAS - Gr. 4 ELA Session 1

31 Early Release - Dismissal at 12:25pm

April

4 MCAS - Gr. 4 ELA Session 2

5 MCAS - Gr. 3 ELA Session 1

6 MCAS - Gr. 3 ELA Session 2

7 NO SCHOOL

17-24 NO SCHOOL - April Break

26 Fisher PAC Meeting 7pm

May

1 Town Meeting 7pm

2 MCAS - Gr. 5 Math Session 1

3 MCAS - Gr. 5 Math Session 2

3 District Art Show 6-8pm at the Walpole Library

4 MCAS - Gr. 4 Math Session 1

5 MCAS - Gr. 4 Math Session 2

9 MCAS - Gr. 3 Math Session 1

10 MCAS - Gr. 3 Math Session 2

11 MCAS - Gr. 5 Science and Technology Session 1

12 Early Release - Dismissal at 12:25pm

12 Fisher Carnival

16 MCAS - Gr. 5 Science Session 2

17 Kindergarten Orientation 7pm

24 Fisher PAC 7pm

29 No School - Memorial Day

Please click on the virtual backpack for the newest and latest information about sign ups, fundraisers and upcoming events in and around our community.

In SWIM (Show respect, Work cooperatively, Integrity first, Make good decisions)lessons this month:

Kindergarten will be revisiting the Zones of Regulation. These lessons will help remind students how important it is to identify and understand their emotions as we head into the second half of the school year!

First through fifth grade will be discussing how they can use their Power to Choose to have a positive impact on their community and themselves. Students will learn to use this Power to Choose to stand up for others and themselves, solve problems, and to be honest and responsible throughout their days. The goal of these lessons is to encourage students to have confidence in their decision making skills and in their ability to make the right choices for themselves.

During the month of March, Fisher School will be focusing on practicing Gratitude, as

well. Classes will be talking about what gratitude is and ways that they can show an Attitude of

Gratitude at Fisher School and beyond!

Visit our website for more information and resources

Please do not hesitate to reach out to a counselor at any time!

Youth Art Month (YAM) is celebrated nationally each March to bring awareness to the fact that Visual Art Education is a viable factor in the total education curriculum that develops citizens of a global society. Each year the MAEA holds a statewide virtual exhibit. This year Art teachers from public, private and independent schools located in over 50 different Massachusetts cities and towns submitted over 500 student works of art!

I am very proud to announce that the following students have been selected to the MAEA (Mass. Art Education Assoc.) 2023 Youth Art Month Virtual Exhibit: Ethan Saulog (Kindergarten), Sylvie McClelland (Grade 1), Evelyn Kennedy (Grade 2), Alexandra Zozula (Grade 3), Ahana Farswani (Grade 4) and Anjali Rangana (Grade 5).

Please see the invitation below and visit massarted.com/youth-art-month to view this spectacular exhibit!

Congratulations to our Fisher artists!

Fisher PAC is so excited to be partnering with Ribpublic BBQ for a special Fisher meal deal and they have generously offered to donate a portion of their proceeds back to Fisher school!

This is a pre-order event, order now for pickup on Sunday, April 2nd from 4-6pm at Ribpublic's Medfield location at 26 Park Street. Just 10 minutes from Fisher School!

Place your orders with the form below BY FRIDAY, March 31st AT MIDNIGHT or until they sell out!

https://ribpublicbbq.com/product-category/online-food-orders/fisher-elementary-school-pac-fundraiser-sunday-april-2nd/?fbclid=IwAR09TcXigZTZKmPLoHRMiXlaIsdLrcw3Q6ILx7yGKMn6rwGisz8yaz0H32g

Choose from Ribs, Pulled Pork, Smoked Chicken, Corn Bread, Coleslaw or 3 meal deals!

You do not have to be a Fisher family to order! Share with your friends and family, let's support this amazing local business and raise some money too! If you have any questions, please contact Kristi McPhee at kcebelak@aol.com

One of the most important components of our Bridges math curriculum is Number Corner. The students look forward to the revealing of the new calendar grid cards each month to see what the new focus and patterns are going to be, or what they will be collecting in Calendar Collector activities. Number Corner is a time each day when the focus is on building Number Sense. What is number sense and how can you support the development of it at home? Number sense is a person’s ability to compose and decompose numbers, compute mentally using a variety of strategies, make reasonable estimates, reason with numbers, and understand quantities and the magnitude of numbers. It begins with learning to count and seeing the patterns in our number system and grows to being able to look at a more complex problem and find the most efficient way to solve it based on the numbers. Below are some links with quick activities to help build number sense at home in your daily activities.

• Quick Number Sense activities for in the car, while waiting to pick up a sibling, cooking dinner, or waiting for a meal at a restaurant.

• 12 Activities to Build Number Sense

• What is Number Sense

In addition, you can find activities created by our math curriculum's publisher, The Math Learning Center, on the free Math at Home site. Activities are sorted by grade level, and each "set" correlates with a Bridges Unit of study. For example, Set 5 has activities related to the learning targets in Unit 5 in school.

This site is linked for you on our Family Math site on the Bridges Math at Home button on both the Parent/Caregiver and Student pages.

Enjoy playing with and exploring numbers and number relationships together, while helping to build strong number sense and flexible thinking in your budding mathematicians at home!

Walpole Public Schools invites families to attend ELPAC to discuss opportunities for the educational success of students who are currently or were formerly in the English Learner Education (ELE) program. It is also a time to network with other families as we continue to build collaborative partnerships.

Wednesday - March 29, 2023

Walpole High School Media Center

6:00 - 7:00 P.M.

Jiji came to celebrate Fisher’s ongoing success in our schoolwide March MATHness Tournament. So far, Fisher School has solved 832, 025 puzzles this school year. Can we reach one million before our last day in June? Jiji believes we can! Keep up the great work!

Third graders in Mrs. Bernotas’ class demonstrate the length of a chain that is 1,000 links long!

During this week in STEM, some students welcomed the First Day of Spring by creating beautiful flowers using Brain Flakes. Some students also celebrated the beauty and uniqueness of their names after reading the story That's Not My Name by Anoosha Syed. These students were challenged and successfully built each individual letter of their name using Brain Flakes.

Making hats to survive the sun on a deserted island in science class!

Enjoying the warmer weather! We took some extra minutes at the end of the day to enjoy the beautiful weather yesterday. Happy kids and teacher swinging away!

The Battle of the Books winners, The Reading Minions, enjoyed a special snack on Thursday to celebrate their big win!

The 20 Book Club, students who read all TWENTY books during the Battle of the Books were lucky to have a special snack with Mr. Bemiss today!

Dear Fisher Family,

Thank you so much for the incredible support so far for our Rally Against Cancer! Between our Fisher School activities and the contributions of our teammate, Laurie Higgins, we have reached the $10,000.00 level!

The Green Monster Wall of Honor is filling up with baseballs. There is still plenty of room for more! Remember to stop by and see the names and photos of all the amazing loved ones who have been honored and remembered. The “wall” is in the hallway leading to the auditorium. If you need another form, please send me an email and I can send one home or email you a copy to print. Checks should be made payable to “The Jimmy Fund.”

Our “Change for a Cure” campaign is in its final week. To date, the students have brought in over $1800!!!! On Friday, March 24th they made the final collection and the class that has averaged the most money collected per student will receive authentic Jimmy Fund Rally baseball caps to wear. Should we raise the most money of any school participating in the rally this year, and win the visit from a member of the Red Sox team, the winning class will also receive VIP (front row) seating for the assembly and a Meet and Greet with that player, including photos and autographs! Thank you for your support.

Our My Grandma’s Coffee Cake fundraiser was a HUGE success, thanks to all the families who participated! We sold 289 coffee cakes and will be able to send a donation of more than $1000 to the Jimmy Fund from just this fundraiser! We are hoping for a pre-Easter delivery date. Stay tuned! Congratulations to the Caminero, Ferullo, Tse, Villeneuve, and Wright families who were all prize winners for those who sold 15 or more coffee cakes!

One of the most important ways you can help is by joining our Fisher’s Finest team online. To show your support, please visit our team’s official fundraising page, http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/fishersfinest2023, and click on the red “JOIN TEAM” button located on the right side of the page. If every family in the school joined with a minimum $5 gift, we would be able to provide Dana-Farber with enough money to provide treatment and support to countless families battling cancer. After you’ve joined the team, you can also create your own personal fundraising page. Please share this with your family and friends, inviting them to make a gift to the Jimmy Fund as well. The more people who join, the bigger the team, and the more money we can raise to help find a cure for cancer.

Thursday, March 30th - Red Sox Opening Day, students and staff are encouraged to wear their Red Sox shirts, caps, etc., or Red Sox colors, red, white, and blue, to school to show their support for both the Red Sox and Fisher’s Finest.

Our initial goal was to reach $5,000 for Rally. We have already reached and exceeded that goal! We’re thinking bigger, though, and have increased our goal to $14,000! With just a little bit of support from each family, we can certainly reach and hopefully exceed even a “stretch goal”! As we have stated previously, we certainly don’t expect families to participate in every fundraising event – we want to provide you with some choices and hope we provide something for everyone! If you have any questions, please contact team coach Carolyn McDonough. Thanks for your support!

Carolyn McDonough

cmcdonough@walpole.k12.ma.us

The Walpole Cultural Council is pleased to announce the return of Walpole Writes, a town-wide writing contest open to all residents of Walpole (as well as non-resident students of Walpole schools). Writers of all ages (elementary school through adult) may submit entries in the categories of short story and poem. First, second, and third-place winners will be publicly announced in each age group and category. We are planning to create a publication of the entries. The contest is open through April 26 and winners will be announced in May. To submit an entry, please complete this form, uploading your entry by April 26. Winners will be recognized at a celebration at Walpole Public Library on Thursday, June 22.

Walpole Cultural Council Seeks New Members

If you are a Walpole resident who values the arts, consider volunteering to participate in the Walpole Cultural Council! The Council has two vacant seats.

Each year, the Walpole Cultural Council reviews grant requests and allocates funds to community based arts, science and humanities projects. The Cultural Council also plans and manages a town-wide writing contest, Walpole Writes, now in its third year.

The Walpole Cultural Council meets one evening per month. To apply to be part of the Walpole Cultural Council, please complete this form: https://www.walpole-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1381/f/uploads/application_to_committee_0.pdf.Forms can be emailed to Aoife Kelly at akelly@walpole-ma.gov.

Join the Walpole Cultural Council Email List

Dear Friends of Music Supporters,

Walpole Friends of Music has supported music in our schools for many years. It has made a difference for many students and your work is what made this possible. Unfortunately, the current board has found that there is not enough support for them to continue in their positions. We are considering taking steps to dissolve the organization. Before doing so, we want to check to see if there is anyone else willing to take on the task of running the program and working to build it back up to a functioning booster group.

Please let us know within 2 weeks (by April 3) if that is something you would be interested in. The board will meet to take a vote on dissolution on April 4.

Thanks and best regards,

Maria Miles

Tina Schmottlach

Sarah Pompeo

Congratulations to Fisher Alum, Swara Sonchattra, on being selected as Walpole’s ambassador for Project 351. Please support Swara and her town-wide clothing drive to support the charity, Cradles to Crayons. All details can be found in the flyer below.

Happy March!

• If your child has an EpiPen prescribed, they will need to have an unexpired one in the health office in order to attend a field trip. Please make sure your orders are up to date.
• Please remember if your child is ill with a fever (greater than 100F) they need to remain at home for 24 hours without the use of an antipyretic (Tylenol, Motrin, fever reducing medication) per WPS Policy.
• If your child has a viral stomach illness with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, please keep them home for an additional 24 hours after symptoms have subsided.
• Please make sure you have notified the health office if your child is recovering from an injury that requires any accommodations or restrictions with a doctor's note.
• If your child has been diagnosed with an infection requiring antibiotic treatment such as Strep Throat, Conjunctivitis, Impetigo, etc. they must be treated with the antibiotic for at least 24 hours before returning to school.
• In addition, for Conjunctivitis, your child's eyes must be free of drainage. For Impetigo, lesions may not be oozing
• Here is a link to the WPS Health Services website. On this site you can find links to forms (i.e. medication administration, over the counter medication consent forms), medication policies, and information regarding illnesses, concussions and injuries.
• 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.
  

• Here is the Fisher health office wish list.

Please send a note in the morning with your student, it is the best way to inform all who need to know. Teachers are unable to check their emails during instruction time and the office needs to interrupt important learning time with messages. We do understand emergencies arise, however, whenever possible, please send a note.

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.

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

Please be aware that we are required to see you in the office with your CORI form. We need to ascertain that whoever we are checking is in fact the correct person. We will take a copy of your license while you are here. Also, please try to avoid arrival and dismissal times if possible when you are coming in.

If you are interested or think that you will be later this year, please complete the "Volunteer Contract" and the CORI form below. The contract has some general "agreements'' that we need all volunteers to abide by and we appreciate your cooperation. We know the students really enjoy seeing their adults involved in the school and we hope you sign up to join us.

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.

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