Fisher Family Update

Dear Fisher Families,

It was great to see all our students after the February break. They came back reenergized and ready to share stories of their travels or how they enjoyed taking it easy at home. The teachers and staff also returned refreshed and ready to begin a critical, seven week stretch of uninterrupted (hopefully!) teaching and learning. The expectations have increased since the Term I report card was shared and the learning goals for the grade level and your child will be shared at the upcoming parent/teacher conferences. If you haven’t signed up for a conference please contact your child’s teacher or the main office and we will be happy to help you schedule a time to meet. This will be a very busy time of the school year and I encourage you to check the backpack and your emails for updates from your child’s classroom, the school and district.

Thank you and have a great weekend,

Brian

The links for our spring parent/teacher conferences are open and will close at 4pm, 2 days before the conference date you selected. Please contact the office if you have any difficulty signing up for the time you'd prefer.

March 8th (evening)

March 10th (afternoon)

March 16th (evening/virtual)

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

8 Parent/Teacher Conferences 6-8pm

10 Early Release - Dismissal at 12:25pm

10 Parent/Teacher Conferences 1:15-3:15

15 PAC Meeting 7pm

16 Parent/Teacher Conferences 6-8pm

31 Early Release - Dismissal at 12:25pm

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!

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

Thank you,

Fisher School counselors

Visit our website for more information and resources

WPS has partnered with Linewize by Family Zone, a leading education technology company, to provide our school communities with the highest quality of online safety and digital wellness education. We are so excited to have this opportunity to invite you to our district’s live parent webinar with psychologist and Linewize’s Director of Community Engagement, Teodora Pavkovic.

A renowned online safety and digital wellness expert, Teodora will be walking you through our district’s Online Safety Hub and showing you exactly how to use it as a key resource for any of your digital parenting questions.

During this session you will also learn:

• The 8 key online safety risks children face today

• Practical strategies to reduce these risks

• The ABC approach to setting up your home for online safety

Teodora will dedicate the last segment of her presentation to your live questions.

We will host two sessions, focusing on elementary and middle school students. If you can't attend, the sessions will also be recorded for later viewing.

• Monday, March 13, 2023 at 7pm (best for elementary school families) Registration link

• Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 7pm (best for middle school families) Registration link

• (A session for high school families will be scheduled soon.)

Please use the Registration links above to register and join us live for this important event. If you would like to send Teodora your questions in advance, please contact Tom Reeve (treeve@walpole.k12.ma.us).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Does your child enjoy math puzzles and games? Would you like some fun ways for your child to practice skills and concepts they are learning in school? Here are just a few of our favorite places to find math puzzles and games that build number sense, practice computational skills, and build math thinking. MashUpMath has fun videos to help explain concepts, plus puzzles like Which One Doesn’t Belong?, 2 Truths and a Lie, and Logic Puzzles involving all four basic operations. Greg Tang’s Math Games are highly engaging, and help to strengthen concepts and build fluency in playful formats. These puzzles and games along with the many resources on our Family Math Site on the Students’ Online Games & Activities page can provide engaging, fun practice for your child whenever you are looking for a little extra.

Kindergarten students are learning about polar bears in Art Class! After reading “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” by Bill Martin and Eric Carle, students learned to use chalk to create furry texture as well as explore shape to create a close up view of a polar bear! This lesson connects Visual Art and English Language Arts.

Pumpernickel Puppets!

Fisher alumnus, Jack Souza, returned to Kindergarten to teach the students all about dinosaurs! Great presentation Jack!

This week in STEM, we celebrated Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s birthday by completing STEM challenges inspired by the story “The Cat in the Hat .'' Older students were tasked with designing and building traps to help Sally and her brother catch Thing One and Thing Two. Younger students completed cup stacking challenges using cups that looked like the Cat’s hat.

Thank you so much for the incredible support so far for our Rally Against Cancer! 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 beginning next week. Each student and family is invited to look around (under couch cushions, on the floor, under car seats, in jacket pockets, etc.) for spare change or to perform a chore at home, and raise money to contribute to a jar in their classroom. Another option is to donate the money received from refunding bottles. One of the ideas we are trying to demonstrate to students is that many small donations add up to make a big difference. Student Council representatives will collect the money weekly from each classroom. On March 31st, they will make 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.

In early March, we hope to have our annual, and very popular, coffee cake fundraiser, working with My Grandma’s of New England, a local company. Watch for more information regarding this.

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.

There may be an opportunity drawing for some pretty spectacular items, too. We are currently working with the Jimmy Fund on that to see if we can make that happen!!! Stay tuned for updates.

Our initial goal is to reach $5,000 for Rally. We are already halfway there! We’re thinking bigger, though, and will increase that goal when we hit the $5000. With just a little bit of support from every 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 goal of this class is to provide an opportunity for children with special needs to participate in structured, non-competitive activities, focusing on physical fitness, music, and other fun activities. The program is run by two Registered Behavioral Technicians who work with children in a sub-separate program in local elementary schools.

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