Florence Sawyer School Happenings

Dear Families,

With our break for Thanksgiving upon us, I want to take this opportunity and say how grateful we are at Florence Sawyer School for all of your support and the partnership we share.

We will wrap up this week with one of our favorite whole school events with the Student Council Food Drive and Student-Faculty Flag Football game. You can find information about the Food Drive below.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Break!

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

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

Wreath and Poinsettia Sale

Our annual Wreath and Poinsettia Sale is underway. Support the Florence Sawyer School 8th grade and bring some holiday cheer to your home. Place your orders using this link or the paper form sent home with your student. Orders are due November 27th. Pick up day is Friday, December 1st.

Ornament Painting with Clay Time

Looking for a unique holiday gift? Join us after school on Tuesday, November 28th for some fun painting holiday ornaments with Clay Time. Ornaments are $20 each. Snacks and drinks will be available for sale. Ornaments will be ready for pick up approximately 2 weeks after the event. RSVP for the event using this form here to ensure we bring enough ornaments for all to enjoy.

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 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 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)

Chorus Concert Grades 4 & 5 * December 5 * 7:00PM * FSS Auditorium

Chorus Concert Grades 6 - 8 * December 7 * 7:00 PM * FSS Auditorium

Band Concert Grades 5 -8 * December 14 * 6:30 PM * FSS Auditorium

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.

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

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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

Chess Club is open to any child in grades K-12 who has a love for playing chess and to those who want to learn.

Time: 5:30-7:00pm.

Where: Nashoba Regional High School-Cafeteria

When:

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Instruction with Chess Master, Dr. Toth starts at 5:30pm and peer games begin at 6pm.

We kindly request the presence of a parent or caregiver at all times if your child is under 11 years old.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Lisa at landerson5@hotmail.com.

This Month

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.