Falcon Family Flyer

Greetings, Forestdale Families!

I love a good laugh. Truth be told, as a teacher I used humor as much as possible in my classroom. Partially because it’s a big part of who I am and how I was raised, and partially because I think it can play an important part in the actual learning process.

If you’re in for a good Google deep dive one day, take a look at the correlation between laughter and learning, and laughter and relationships. There’s a lot of research out there that humor (used appropriately and positively) increases trust and connectedness between individuals - just like the relationships we see being fostered every day between our students and staff. In many ways the use of humor can show our students that we’re human too, and we recognize that joy and laughter do have a role in their learning community.

There’s also a lot of research out there connecting laughter and brain science/development. Laughter releases endorphins in our brains and works to increase our attention and memory span in the process. Humor can also help activate parts of your brain which strengthen your ability to regulate emotions, to process complex information, to think creatively, and to more quickly recall processed and stored information. In short, laughter can help activate deeper and more meaningful learning.

One thing that has stood out to me since our kids came back on August 30, is that this is a school community grounded in joy and laughter. When I walk through the halls I can hear it from our classrooms, and when I talk to students I can see it in their smiles. The Forestdale School is definitely a community grounded in joy. With all that’s going on in the world around us, being able to see the joy that inspires that learning and wonder in our kids is truly awesome. Thank you for your continued partnership, and for sharing your joyful learners with us each and every day!

Mr. Weldai

We have an amazing team of people supporting our students each and every day at the Forestdale School. This year we were able to bring on board a great new group of team members, and each month we'll try to showcase some of our new Falcons here.

My name is...Lauren Gorse

I am...one of our 4th grade teachers!

What I am looking forward to this year is...watching my students learn and grow!

What I love most about the Forestdale Community so far is...how kind and welcoming everyone is!

Outside of school I enjoy...reading, playing board games, and crafting!

The Title 1 department will be running its next family and caregiver workshop event on Tuesday, October 17th from 6:00 - 7:30pm with a presentation on the Aspen Portal and Literacy Assessment Data. Pizza will be served at 6:00 in the cafeteria, and the presentation will take place at 6:30 in the library.

The Pumpernickel Puppets will provide a free puppet show for children (ages 4+), available during the presentation as well. Hope to see you there!

Tonight, October 11th, at 7:00pm, is the first PTO meeting of the school year! Come join this great group and hear about the upcoming events, ways to get involved, and more. The meeting will be held virtually on zoom, and the login details are below. The full schedule of yearly meetings and events are attached in a link below as well!

PTO Meeting Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79498928963...

Passcode: 247Jin

Come join us this Friday, October 13th from 5:30 - 7:30pm for a showing of the Little Mermaid in the Forestdale School library! You can wear your favorite pajamas, bring a blanket or camping chair, and get comfortable! Pizza, popcorn and water will be provided. The PTO needs a few volunteers to help make sure the event runs smoothly. If you can sign up to help, please do so here: https://forestdalepto.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/119698

The annual pie and cookie dough fundraiser is underway! Between now and October 17th, you can participate in our fundraiser and order some tasty treats! Use the link below to place an order, and set up an account to share with your friends and family! Some items are direct shipping, and the rest will be delivered to the school to be handed out on November 20th. Sign up here: https://my.mcmfundraising.com/signup/HTFQ

Please join Malden SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) on Thursday, October 19 at 7:00pm for a web-based presentation from Engaging Minds. The topic will be: How to Improve Your Students' Executive Function Skills. In this session, caregivers will learn strategies and tools to help improve their students' executive function skills so that they can be on a successful path for this school year and beyond.

To register for this webinar please click on this link: https://engagingmindsonline.zoom.us/.../WN...

We look forward to seeing you there!

Unfortunately, the never-ending rain has put a damper on Public Safety Day! The planned event for this upcoming Saturday has been canceled due to the weather. We look forward to seeing this event back in action next year!

Progress reports for quarter 1 are coming soon! Thursday, October 12th, paper copies of progress reports for students in grades 1-8 will be sent home (no progress reports in Kindergarten). Students in grades 5-8 should also have their progress reports available online through their Aspen portal. The Aspen portal can be accessed at the link below. If you need any help logging into the portal, please contact us and let us know - we can help!

Aspen login: https://ma-malden.myfollett.com/aspen/logon.do

Monday, October 23rd is picture day at Forestdale! Details will be on their way soon, including an individual link for families to sign up for a Lifetouch/Shutterfly portal to order and access school pictures.

Did you know that this year the Malden Public Schools adopted a new standards-based report card for students in grades K-4? If you're interested in learning more before you see the report card itself, please join Mr. Weldai, along with representatives from the working group, to learn a little more about the process, reasoning, and what you can expect to see once report cards come out! We will host a zoom for families and caregivers on Thursday, November 2 from 6:00 - 7:00PM for a brief presentation followed by a question and answer period. We will plan to record the meeting as well so families can watch on their own, in case you can't attend! Zoom link will be sent closer to the meeting date.

We're not wishing any time away, but mark your calendars! The Winter Concert is approaching, and we wanted to make sure families had enough time to plan. On Thursday, December 14th at 10am, Grades 1, 3 and 5 will be hosting a singing performance for families. On Friday, December 15th at 10am, Grades 6, 7 and 8 will be hosting an instrumental performance by the students participating in band for families. Looking forward to hearing the music!

Please make sure to check backpacks regularly for important notices from the nurse, and from your teachers. While most things are done electronically, a regular backpack check is always a good idea.

**Speaking of backpacks, if anyone still needs one for their student we have extras to give away in the main office. Please don't hesitate to reach out and let us know!

We know it hasn't been too long, but our lost and found is already going strong! Take a peek at the images here to see if you recognize any of these items. For any students looking, the lost and found is in the cafeteria.

The October school lunch menu can be seen below, and the link to the monthly menu is here as well: https://malden.schooldish.com/SchoolMenus/Forestdale?fbclid=IwAR2ZJ0dwZiruvvYiJhtVAk1yngQak5OmO8hyTVKfUV_rzL5gzDOlwP540_k

Last week the Forestdale School had a fantastic Scholastic book fair! Huge thank you to our Forestdale School PTO, and our Media Center Specialist Lillian Wong for helping set up, facilitate, and pack up a successful fair. Students throughout the building had a chance to visit the fair during the school day with their classroom, as well as make purchases after school and online from home. We look forward to hosting the fair again!

There are a lot of wonderful things happening in our classrooms each and every day - and many of those things get displayed around the building for students and staff to see! I'll try to share some of my favorite snapshots so you can get a chance to see them, too!

This week I kept thinking about an awesome bulletin board that I saw in Ms. Kayla Connolly's grade 2/3 classroom - talk about seeing growth mindset front and center!

Big thank you to Mike Neville and the City of Malden Water Department who brought out the big machinery to fix the drain outside the main entrance last week. For the first time in years, we might not have "lake Forestdale" outside the main entrance when it rains!

If there's anything that we can do, please don't hesitate to reach out to any member of our main office team. Our phone number is (781) 397-7326, and each of our email addresses are listed below.

• Mr. Adam Weldai, Principal: aweldai@maldenps.org
• Mrs. Karie Carpenito, Assistant Principal: kcarpenito@maldenps.org
• Mr. Kenji Foster, Assistant Principal: kfoster@maldenps.org
• Mrs. Megan LoPilato, Administrative Assistant: mlopilato@maldenps.org