Happy September!

We are off to an outstanding start of the 2024-2025 school year and are thrilled to have you and your student(s) here at Fricano! With the excitement of this new school year, please read below for a few updates. Our first two weeks have been great and we look forward to collaborating for a great year ahead!

Sincerely,

Denielle Toth and Taylor Ramsey

Principal and Assistant Principal

Make sure to check out the PTA's sign up for our Helping Hands program. This is a great opportunity to get involved and join in your child's school day through our lunch room. The purpose of Helping Hands is to help ALL Fricano students by assisting in the cafeteria by opening various items, wiping down tables, and getting utensils. We STRONGLY encourage you to sign up for PTA if you plan to volunteer through their Helping Hands program PTA SIGN UP HERE.

The link to the sign up genius is linked below until the end of November. It will be linked on the PTA page as well!

If your student would like to buy breakfast or lunch, please send in money in a well labeled bag or envelope, or put money onto their account through My School Bucks (click for information)

Please contact adepasquale-Glena@starpointcsd.org for your child's student ID to enroll in MySchoolBucks.

If you plan to have your child get breakfast, please discuss this with them prior to school to make the process seamless for them! If you do not want your child to access breakfast at school, please also communicate with your child around these expectations. Thank you for your help with this!

• September 18th: Picture Day!
  
• September 26th: Kindergarten and New family ice cream night 5:15pm-6pm; Family Night Book Fair 6pm-8pm Fricano Yellow Gym
• October 4th : Dismissal Drill; release 15 mins early
• October 4th: PBIS Glow Dance 5-6pm
• October 14th: No School; Columbus Day/ Indigenous Peoples' Day
• October 16th: Unity Day (Wear orange!)

ALL families need to set their DEFAULT plan in Pick Up Patrol. This will allow us to know your child's everyday dismissal (bus, pick up, YMCA, etc.) Thank you in advance for completing this step!

If you are picking your child up, please do not arrive on campus earlier than 2:45pm. Thank you for helping to keep our students safe!

As you know, learning to read is one of the most important skills your child will develop. Reading opens doors to learning, entertainment, and new worlds of imagination.

As we shift to follow the Science of Reading (all the research that tells us how students learn to read) here at Fricano, we know that beginning readers need support in two areas. Our students need explicit teaching in both their Word Recognition (reading and spelling words correctly and fluently) and Language Comprehension (understanding what's read or said to them). UFLI will meet all of the standards and skills our students need for their Word Recognition. We utilize our read alouds and shared reading time to meet Language Comprehension needs.

What to know about UFLI and How Can you Help?

• You will notice your child come home with work that supports their decoding (matching sounds to letters to read).

• You can help your child by:

• Engaging in fun activities like rhyming and clapping out syllables

• Pointing out repeating letter patterns in books or the outside word. "Can starts like cat! /c/ /a/ /t/

• If your child makes a mistake, that's okay! Prompt them to say the correct sound as they blend to read the word

• You can always support your child's language comprehension

• Support your child's language comprehension by reading and talking!

• Reading aloud to your child builds listening skills, vocabulary, and more! 10 minutes a day make a huge difference!

• When children listen to books read aloud they learn more words and hear the model of fluent reading from a family member

• UFLI student work and practice
• At times, your child's teacher may send home in class independent practice for your to see how your child is progressing with the content taught that week. You may also see a home-practice or decodable text sent home. These are ways for you to check in with how your child is doing with the content as well as support their reading skills at home.

Thank you in advance for collaborating with us to support your child's success with reading!

Denielle Toth has been building principal here at Fricano since 2018. Her professional background in rooted as an elementary teacher, as well as an assistant principal at all levels (prek-12) before becoming Fricano's principal. In addition to Mrs. Toth's professional achievements, her greatest accomplishment is her family, who she loves to spend time with each day. She also really enjoys her visits to Orange Cat Coffee!

Taylor Ramsey joined Fricano as the assistant principal in 2022. She has experience as an elementary teacher and leader in many curriculum and program roles over the past 11 years. Miss Ramsey loves to work with students here at Fricano on their love of school and showing expected behaviors to help keep our school safe. Personally, she enjoys spending time with her family, especially in the Finger Lakes at her family's cottage.

Please don't hesitate to call Mrs. Toth or Miss Ramsey at 716-210-2103. We are excited to collaborate with you to help your child(ren) find the most success in the beginning of their school journey!

Website: https://www.starpointcsd.org/fricano
Location: 4363 Mapleton Road, Lockport, NY, USA
Phone: 716-210-2100
Twitter: @FricanoPrimary