Fiske School Calendar
March & April 2017
| March 14-Tu | Fiske 2017/18 Kindergarten Parent/Guardian Orientation Night, 6-7 p.m. |
| March 16-Th | PTO meeting, 7-8 p.m. |
| March 20-23 | Best Books Book Fair at Fiske |
| March 21-Tu | METCO late day |
| March 22-W | Literacy Night, Fiske Reads! from 6-7:30 p.m. |
| March 23-Th | Gr.5 Parent/Guardian Orientation Evening at WMS, 6:30–9 p.m. |
| March 24-F | Gr. 4 Field Trip to Lowell Mills |
| March 29-W | Principal Coffee, 8:30-9:30 a.m. |
| March 29-W | Parent/Teacher Conferences in the afternoon |
| March 30-Th | School Council meeting, 7:30-8:15 a.m. |
| March 30-F | Creative Arts program Gr.5: MythMasters |
| March 30-F | Creative Arts program Gr.2: N.E. Aquarium Tidepool visits classrooms |
| April 3-M | Creative Arts program Gr.2: Motoko, storyteller visit |
| April 4-Tu | Noon Dismissal for all elementary students—no lunch served |
| April 4-Tu | Parent/Teacher Conferences in the afternoon |
| April 5-W | Fiske Revue performance @ 10:30 a.m. for students Fiske Revue performance @ 6 p.m. for families |
| April 5-W | Parent/Teacher Conferences in the afternoon |
| April 12-W | PTO hosts Teacher Luncheon |
| April 14-F | Good Friday—NO SCHOOL |
| April 17-21 | April Vacation—NO SCHOOL |
| April 24-M | Gr.4 Arbor Day program |
| April 26-W | Grit community discussion in library, 8:45-9:45 a.m. |
| April 27-Th | School Council meeting, 7:30-8:14 a.m. |
| April 27-Th | Grit community discussion in library, 6-7 p.m. |
| April 27-Th | Gr.5 Parent/Guardian Hale Information Night at WMS, 7 p.m. |
| April 28-F | Creative Arts Gr.1: LINX performance for Gr.1 parents/guardians |
| April 29-F | Hale Reservation tour for Gr.5 families, 9:30-11 a.m. |
Fiske Family Bulletin
Fiske School News
1.Kindergarten Registration for 2017/18
We are excited to announce that Kindergarten Registration for children who will be 5 years old on or before August 31, 2017 is now in process. Registration packets have been mailed to families based on the Town census data and should have been received by January 31st. If you did not receive a packet in the mail, it is available online at the Wellesley Public Schools’ website: www.wellesleyps.org – under the “Families” tab or you may pick up a packet at the WPS Central Office at 40 Kingsbury Street. For more information, please call the District Registrar, Nancy Costigliola at 781.446.6210 ext. 5600.
2.Fiske’s MCAS Testing Dates
ELA testing
Gr.3—April 10, 12, 13
Gr.4—April 10, 12, 13
Gr.5—April 25, 26, 27
Math testing
Gr.3—May 8, 9
Gr.4—May 15, 16
Gr.5—May 9, 11
Science
Gr.5—May 15, 16
3.Fitness & Health Thanks You
A huge thank you for all of your support in coming out to the Fitness and Health Open Houses this past month. It was great seeing you jumping with your children in class, watching a lot of wonderful smiles and hearing the laughter between families as you made your way through all of the crazy jumping stations. I am so grateful for your support of our program.
Great News! We have raised almost $3000.00 for the American Heart Association. Our Jump Rope for Heart celebration is a wonderful way to teach our students about how to be heart healthy and how to be thankful for the healthy hearts that we have. We are extending our fundraising period to end on Thursday, March 9th. Each child who makes a donation will be given a raffle ticket. On Friday, March 10th I will be raffling off many donated gifts from the American Heart Association. Such items are: a recess bag for a secondary and a primary class, a mystery box, t-shirts, a lanyard with 6 of the zoo crew figurines, soccer ball, short and long jump ropes. Students will be able to share these prizes with their classmates to enhance their recess experiences. Families are finding the easiest way to sign up and donate is online. Go to heart.org/jump and you can join the Fiske Team.
Thank you for doing your part to save a heart. Take care and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Christina Gerst
Fiske Fitness and Health
781-446-6265 x2238
gerstc@wellesleyps.org
4.Fiske Spirit Wear & Gear Ordering Instructions Below!
All of the Fiske Spirit Wear & Gear is now live online! Parents/Guardians can go online, place orders and pay online via PayPal.
Go to…
www.thefiskepto.com
Then click “shop”
Next click “Fiske spirit gear”
Thank you and enjoy!
5.From the WPS District Website
As we approach the winter months, it seems appropriate to review our procedures for school closures, delayed openings, and the early dismissal of students that may result from severe weather. It’s important to note that the safety of our students and staff is paramount as we make decisions for the District in response to weather that can be difficult to predict and/ or change quickly as is so often the case in New England.
- Decision-Making Process
When severe weather is forecast, we remain in close contact with other Town Departments such as the Department of Public Works and Wellesley Police Department to assess the conditions of roads and sidewalks and to coordinate activity. Similarly, local superintendents check in with each other to compare conditions across the area. More than likely, a final decision to close school or have a delayed opening will not be made until the early morning hours, typically by 5AM. There are times when an early release of school may be required in the event, for example, of a storm intensifying mid-day that would make our regular dismissal hazardous. In that case, we would base the early dismissal time on the amount of time needed for our buses to complete their routes at all grade levels. All buses will run their regular routes based on an adjusted delayed opening or early dismissal time. Any time hazardous weather is in the forecast, we encourage parents and staff to plan in advance for child-care coverage to ensure they are prepared for any contingency. - Communications
We recognize that timely communications are essential when planning for severe weather. Our school notification system, SchoolMessenger, has proven to be invaluable in disseminating both emergency and non-emergency messages to our parents and staff. Once a closure or delayed opening decision is made, we will use SchoolMessenger to broadcast that message out to our community via phone and email in a process that takes only a few minutes. It’s important to note that SchoolMessenger draws from contact information that parents/guardians provide to WPS at the start of each school year. Knowing that phone numbers and email addresses can change, we ask that parents confirm their emergency contact information during the next two weeks. At your earliest convenience, please log on to the parent portal at: https://wellesley.powerschool.com/public/ and click on the SchoolMessenger Update tab on the left side bar. If you would like to revise your information, enter your changes and click submit. To clear an item completely, enter “ “ in the update field. Please note: Revisions made to your contact information affect all notifications you receive, not solely school delay/closure announcements and will take effect at 11:30 pm on the night of the change. Because severe weather can sometimes mean the loss of power and/or phone service, an emergency message through SchoolMessenger will be sent to families and staff via email, and the home/cell numbers provided to WPS. While this may result in families receiving multiple messages in the early morning hours, we hope everyone appreciates the necessity of this redundancy. In addition to SchoolMessenger, emergency notifications will also be posted on the District Website: https://wellesleyps.org/ and sent to the local media.