Florence Sawyer School Happenings

Dear Families,

I want to take a minute to acknowledge the dedication of our PTO and their ongoing efforts to support our students. Over the last several months, PTO planned our Family Bingo Night, held this past Friday. The sold-out crowd seemed to enjoy every minute of the competition thanks in large part to the talent and energy of our "Bingoneer," Dr. Matthew Beyranevand! Thank you, Bingo Chair Sara Brazer and everyone that made the night a success!!! Thank you, families, for joining us for this event!

This week at Florence Sawyer School, we have another exciting event, with our Annual Family Pasta Dinner. You can find information below for our dine-in or take out options. If attending, please remember to park on on right side of Mechanic Street.

Also, in this edition of the Happenings, please find information on;

• Student Council's Food Drive
• Middle School Basketball Registration
• Fall Conference information

Yours in partnership,

Joel Bates,

Principal

The FSS Student Council in partnership with United Way / WHEAT have organized their annual Food Drive. Students are encouraged to bring food and other necessary items which will be donated to WHEAT prior to Thanksgiving. Student Council Grade Level Food Drive Challenge

The Food Drive culminates with the annual Student- Faculty Flag Football Game on November 21

The middle school basketball season will begin on Monday, November 27, 2023. The following information is critical for all winter student-athletes. Please note that before being able to tryout or participate in a winter sport, all student-athletes must have the following on file:

Registration – NEW ONLINE REGISTRATION PLATFORM - FINALFORMS! Click here

We are very excited to announce that Nashoba Athletics has partnered with FinalForms, an online forms and data management service. FinalForms allows you to complete and sign athletic participation forms for your students. The most exciting news is that FinalForms saves data from season-to-season and year-to-year, meaning that you will never need to enter the same information twice!

FinalForms also pre-populates information wherever possible, for each of your students, saving you time. You may review your data at any time to verify it is current. You will be required to sign your forms once per year and after any update.

Click on the Parent Playbook (attached) to get started in FinalForms. If you require any support during the process, scroll to the page bottom-right and click “Get Help”.

Please register at: https://nashoba-ma.finalforms.com/ and follow the prompts to create your account, create your students and sign your forms.

Physical Examinations – Submit a valid physical to the nurses’ office. Physicals are valid for 13 months to the day of the exam – students with expired physicals will be ineligible to participate until a current physical is submitted. We highly encourage all physicals to be emailed to our school nurse Karin Frostholm - Kfrostholm@nrsd.net

Winter User Fees - User fees for middle school sports are $55.00 per student per season. User fees can be paid by check or online through the district's Unipay site. Please do not submit user fees until tryouts are complete and teams have been announced. Winter user fees are due by December 15, 2023.

The online payment center can be found at the following link: https://www.nrsd.net/o/nrsd/page/online-payment-center, alternatively, checks can be made payable to Florence Sawyer School and dropped off in the main office.

Lastly, our middle school schedules are located on ArbiterLive. These schedules are subject to change, but this will always be the site with the most up to date schedule.

The Florence Sawyer School Fall Conferences for grades PreK-8 will be held virtually on Thursday,

November 16, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and Friday, November 17, from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM and in

person appointments will be available Thursday, November 16 from 5:30-8:00 PM. We will be using

the online scheduling tool “pick-A-time” to coordinate appointments with teachers.

This online sign-up feature will be available beginning Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 7:00 PM and

will close at 12:00 PM Wednesday, November 15, 2023. You will use your browser to select which

teachers you would like to meet and when.

The instructions are as follows:

• Go to the FSS website/ Important Updates at http://sawyer.nrsd.net and click on "Parent/Teacher Conference Sign/ Up"

To Register

1. Enter your email address and push "Login/Create Account". If you do not have an email address

please use your first initial and last name@fakemail.com. You will not receive an email

confirmation.

2. Fill in the required fields and register.

3. For each child, enter your child’s student ID which is their first name and last name WITH NO

SPACE BETWEEN THE TWO. This must be the complete first name not a nickname – Thomas

instead of Tom for instance, and their security value, which is their date of birth in this format

m/d/yyyy or 5/3/1992 for May 3, 1992. and push "Add"

To Sign In

If you have previously registered for conferences here, all you need to do is enter your email and

password. The system will know about your appointments and the children you added to your account.

If you have forgotten your password, please contact Deb Helfgott at dhelfgott@nrsd.net or Kirsten Dean

at kdean@nrsd.net and she will update it for you.

Scheduling

1. Each colored square represents an available meeting time. The legend shows you what teacher

corresponds to what color and the times increase as you go down the page. (Note: you will not

see all of the teachers, just the set of teachers that your children have classes with). Click on a

square to book that time.

2. After you set when you want the reminder email to be delivered, click "Create Appointment."

3. Repeat until you have a time with each teacher you'd like to visit with.

4. At any time you can click on "printable schedule" and print the resulting web page to get a hard

copy of your schedule.

5. If you want to make changes to your schedule, you can log in at any time with your email and

password.

6. If you have more than one appointment, they will be hidden. Click on the blue circle to the left

of your name at the top of the screen to show your appointments. There will be links to modify

the time, or cancel the appointment.

If you have any questions please contact Deb Helfgott (dhelfgott@nrsd.net) or Kirsten Dean

(kdean@nrsd.net), Administrative Assistants or call at 978-779-2821.

Please make a note that we have confirmed December 6 for Picture retakes. Retake packages will go out to families some time in November.

We're excited to share the new NRSD App with you. The app posts the daily lunch as well as the school calendar and a feed where we will share pictures and other information about the goings on at school.

NRSD App for Google Play

NRSD APP for IPhone

The Florence Sawyer School Staff serves up a yearly pasta dinner to raise money for the McRell scholarship which is awarded annually to an FSS alum.

FSS Family Pasta Dinner Fundraiser

Cost:

• Adult: $12 each

• Child: $7 each

• If you cannot make it to our event, please consider making a donation!

How do you make reservations?

Send the order form below and a check made to “Bolton Teachers Sunshine Fund” to your child’s teacher

In addition to salad, pasta, and bread; vendors will be here for early holiday shopping!

Please place your order by Tuesday,October 31st!

Co-Advisors: Miss Richards & Mrs. Scudiere

Tuesday mornings, 7:45 – 8:25 (Emerson wing Art Room)

Limited to 15 students

The K-2 ASL Club Fall Session will be starting on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 before school from 7:45-8:25. New members of the Club will learn the basics of ASL and returning students will be building on the skills they’ve learned previously. We will walk any second graders to the Sawyer Wing for the start of school.

The following are the Fall Session Tuesday morning dates:

October 17

October 24

October 31

November 7

November 14

November 21

We will meet students between 7:40-7:50 by the front door of Emerson Wing every Tuesday morning of Club. If school is delayed or cancelled for the day, Club will not meet.

The first meeting of the 2023-24 RAK Club will be on Wednesday, October 18th at 7:45 am in Ms. Scudiere’s Room #160. Interested students in grades 3-8 who wish to continue in or join the club should complete a permission form and return it to Miss Richards by the first meeting.

Drop off for RAK Club: Mrs. Scudiere or Miss Richards will be at the front door of FSS from 7:40-7:50 am to let club members into the building. We ask that students be on time for club.

We will meet Wednesday mornings throughout the school year to organize and plan a variety of new kindness activities leading into Kindness Month currently scheduled in May 2024 (more details to come).

Florence Sawyer School Clubs and Activities

NRSD Before and After School Program (Extended Learning)

Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey in education? Are you interested in supplementing your income, but would like a work schedule that is within your control? Are you interested in a position that matches your child's school day schedule? Florence Sawyer School is thrilled to offer you the opportunity to join our dynamic team of substitute teachers!

📚 Why Choose Florence Sawyer School?

🌟 A Welcoming Community: Join a warm and welcoming community of educators and staff dedicated to creating a positive learning environment for all students.

🌟 Varied Opportunities: Experience teaching in diverse grade levels and subjects, gaining valuable insights into different teaching styles and classroom dynamics.

🌟 Flexibility: Enjoy the flexibility of choosing your assignments and schedule, allowing you to balance work with your other commitments.

🌟 Professional Growth: Build your teaching portfolio and expand your skill set as you collaborate with experienced educators and staff.

🌟 Make a Difference: Have a meaningful impact on the lives of young learners and contribute to their educational journey.

Qualifications:

• 2 Years of College are required for Substitute Teachers.

• Certified Teachers for assignments of eight weeks or more.

For more information, click here.

We have created the Virtual Backpack as a convenience for our families to capture forms, flyers, calendars, and other information that might have traditionally come home in a backpack.

Included on the Virtual Backpack page is a Community Events and Activities page where you can find non-school sponsored activities such community events, youth sports, community information for families, and other activities for children. We do our best to keep the CAEP updated.

School Store Dates for November!

The School Store is back! Students can shop during their lunch period on the first Friday at Florence Sawyer. Most items range from 25 cents to $5, but we also have FSS t-shirts in youth sizes ($15) and tote bags ($20) while supplies last.

Spirit Wear - Items will be delivered the week of November 17th!

Thank you to everyone who purchased items through our 1st spirit wear sale of the year. All your orders are being printed and will be delivered to your child’s classroom/homeroom the week of November 17th.

FSS Family Directory is now available!

You can sign up to access the School Directory on the BoltonPTO Website. Directory memberships are $5 and you will be able to customize your directory listing and connect with other FSS Families. Visit https://boltonpto.membershiptoolkit.com/directory to update or create your directory listing!

Bolton Ski club is open to grades 3-8 from now through December 5th. We ski and board at Wachusett. Please see below for details:

Eligibility: Grades 3-8 (Wachusett rules). 3rd and 4th graders must have previous ski experience or be chaperoned by a parent or guardian. This is extremely important. If your child has not skied before someone needs to be on the mountain with them.

Dates: Six Fridays starting January 5 - February 9 (there are two half days, January 12 and February 2, where kids will get extra time at the mountain). Last year Wachusett implemented a new policy where it is $15 extra per child for the extended days. We will send out more information on this and how to pay for those days once final registrations are in.

Timeframe: 4:00pm - 7:00pm (bring equipment to school and ski clothes to school and home every week). Bus leaves FSS at 3:30 each Friday (except for half days when bus will leave at 12:30 and kids will ski from 1-7)

Transportation: We will be hiring a bus to transport kids to and from Wachusett. The cost will be between $135 and $165 per person (subject to change based on number of buses hired and amount of student per bus) and will be handled separately from the Wachusett sign ups. Seats will be on a first come first serve basis. Once we have one full bus, we will start a wait list until we have enough students to make a second bus feasible. Please sign up early!

Click here for the Bus Registration: Ski Bus Sign up . This is separate from registering for the ski program through Wachusett. You are also welcome to drive your child or groups of children to and from the mountain if preferred.

Volunteering: Ski club is a parent run program and it takes a village to make it run smoothly. We ask each parent to volunteer in some capacity so we can keep this treasured program going strong. We will have a meeting in early December to discuss these opportunities. You don’t have to be a skier to help out, here are some ways you can lend a hand:

• Create communications and tools for chaperones and parents

• Organize and maintain ski club records

• Traffic controller - keep communication going between chaperones, main lodge and parents (ETA for bus arrivals after ski club, etc.)

• Bus Loader: Help the kids and their equipment get loaded and unloaded onto the bus

• Lodge parent - hang out in the lodge to answer any questions, provide support to kids coming and going

• Ski Chaperone - partner up with another skiing parent and ski with a designated group of kids

• Lesson Chaperone: Walk skiers and boarders over to lessons and pick them up afterwards
  
  

Ski Club Registration: Click on the link below for details on cost for ski club and lessons (if applicable),

Ski Club Registration

Access code-BSASC

Lessons: These are 1 hour sessions and are meant for beginner skiers. Wachusett is no longer providing advanced lessons for these programs.

Terrain Park: There is an option to select a terrain park pass for $5. This pass is good all season.

Rentals: Anyone in need of rentals should secure season long rentals rather than rent at the mountain. The logistics of splitting up the group, assigning chaperones, and the very long lines is a big hassle for coordinating and for the kids. Picking up weekly rentals at Wachusett eats up nearly the entire first evening and a chunk of time each week of our already short time on the mountain. Below is a list of local places you can look into:

• R.J. Bradleys-Littleton

• Summit Ski and Snowboard

• Zimmermans-Nashua

• Sport Loft- locations in Acton, Leominster and Boylston

• Ski Barn- Westborough

• Registration Deadline: December 5th

• 
  

Informational Meetings: Two virtual meetings the first week of December to share detailed information about the program. There will be one parent meeting and one chaperone meeting.

We are excited to be taking on the coordination of the Bolton Ski Program and look forward to seeing your kids on the slopes!

Bolton Ski Club

Tonya Melillo and Lauren Larosa

This Month

November 8 - Family Pasta Dinner Scholarship Fundraiser

November 10 - No School

November 15 - Grade seven presentation on Cyber Safety and Bullying

November 16 - Early Dismissal for students - Conferences

November 17 - Full day for Conferences

November 21 - Student Council Food Drive and Student-Faculty Flag Football Game

November 22 - School Closed

November 23 - Thanksgiving
November 24 - School Closed

Next Month

December 1 - Dodgeball Tournament

December 6 - Virtual Family Presentation on Healthy Relationships

December 8 - Early Dismissal for students

December 25 - January 1 - Winter Break

Looking Ahead

Be your best self.

Pave your path.

Impact the world.

Website: https://sawyer.nrsd.net/
Location: 100 Mechanic Street, Bolton, MA, USA
Phone: (978) 779-2821

You can download the App by going to NRSD.net, scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on the App Store or Google Play links.