6th Grade Car Wash & Bake Sale Success!

Thanks to everyone who joined our 6th Graders on a lovely late April morning for some delicious baked goods or to get their car washed. 

Our student and parent volunteers worked TIRELESSLY ALL MORNING! The 6th Grade team is so appreciative of our generous volunteer families and everyone who came out to support the 6th graders.

We raised over $900 in just three short hours! SIMPLY AMAZING! What a wonderful community!

Family Directory Available

The 2017-2018 Family Directory should have come home with your youngest child's last week. If your family's circumstances require additional copies, we have extras in the Main Office -- just ask Karen or Suzanne for one!

Many thanks to Lydia for the beautiful cover art and to Jose and Stacey for putting this together!

Thank you to our Family Fun Fair and Costume Shop Volunteers!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended the Family Fun Fair last week. There was a wonderful turnout and the 6th graders appreciate all of the support!

The PGO and 6th grade team would like to give a special shout out to Pam R and Liz L for coordinating the evening, and to all of the volunteers who staffed tables and/or donated food items. It was a terrific community building event!

Finally, the first ever Free Halloween Costume Store was a huge success! Thank you to Deb L for the fabulous idea, enormous effort, and enthusiasm to bring this new event to our community! Thanks to all the shoppers and those who donated ... there were some seriously cute costumed little ones walking around at the Family Fun Fair! It is sure to become annual tradition! Thanks to all who contributed costumes and shopped for new ones!

THANK YOU Classroom Parents! Welcome Meeting on October 11 at 5:30pm

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to serve as a Classroom Parent! We are thrilled to have several new volunteers this year and look forward to meeting all of you. Thanks so much to the many parents who have been volunteering in this capacity for years and chose to continue doing so. We are so grateful!

Click here to see who has volunteered in your child's room: https://ftriver.blogspot.com/p/room-parents.html. 

We are still in need of a PGO Volunteer Coordinator to lead the Class Parent group. This can be done from home as it mainly involves forwarding emails. The tasks could even be largely automated through email forwarding. No experience needed - the PGO Board will happily mentor new volunteers.

If it works for your schedule, a great way to meet other volunteers is at our PGO Coffees with the Principal. The first one is this Friday, September 29 at 8:45 am in the library. In addition there will be a Meet & Greet for Classroom Parent Volunteers at 5:30 pm prior to Open House. The PGO Board will provide more details about Classroom Parent roles and answer your questions. Neither of these events are required. Details will be forthcoming via email. In the meantime, please introduce yourself to your child's teacher and let them know that you have volunteered. Contact information for families will be available once the Family Directory is distributed (within the next two weeks).

As a reminder, all volunteers in the ARPS district must have a current CORI on file. Please check with Suzanne in the Main Office to confirm that yours is valid or to complete the application; a valid license is required. The CORI lasts for three years.

Talent Show Thanks!

Thanks to all of the volunteers, talented performers, and bakers/donors who helped make this year's Talent Show another successful school event!

Proceeds benefit the 5th and 6th Grade Classes. The Bake Sale raised $286.75 and donations at the door totaled $458.50. The money raised will be divided among the two grades and used for end of year fields trips. 

Thanks to the 5th and 6th grade teachers for instilling a culture of community and facilitating shared fundraising efforts. Students enthusiastically participate in these events and see their efforts pay off. Special thanks to Shilpa Cunniffe for coordinating the Talent Show year after year. 

The final combined 5th and 6th grade fundraiser is the Tag Sale/Car Wash scheduled for Saturday, April 29. Please spread the word - all are welcome!

Field Day Thanks!

Field Day was super fun this year! Children of all ages worked together on teams to compete on a variety of fun and challenging events.  Students, teachers, staff and parents all worked together to make the new field day a smashing success.  Field Day would not have worked without the support of all our volunteers.  We would like to thank all the parents who volunteered to run our events, to lead a team of students, to set up the fields and to clean up afterwords.  There was such a tremendous outpouring of volunteerism, that we can't thank everyone individually.  We do wish to mention a few folks who really helped us create an event that encouraged teamwork, school spirit, and community building.  Thanks to Monica Colley for supporting and encouraging our many changes to field day this year.  Thanks also to Paula Mangiaratti for her administrative help over the last several weeks.  Thanks to Diana Spaulding for assistance on event planning.  Parents deserving a special thanks for their extra work include:  Ellen Alvord, Matt Schulkind, Michele Spirko, and Traci Hess.

We can't wait until next year!
Tim Farnham and Tammy Schulkind - Field Day Coordinators

Calling all Fort River PGO Volunteers!

Calling All Fort River PGO Volunteers!

Please join us for an end-of the year celebration to honor all of your contributions to the Fort River community on Tuesday, June 5th from 7 - 8 p.m. at 16 Bayberry Lane, Amherst, MA.

Contact Catherine McGraw at 256-4781 or  catherine.fortriver@gmail.com with any questions or for directions.

No RSVP necessary.

Staff & Teacher Appreciation Luncheon - Thanks for your support!

Fort River staff enjoyed a wonderful lunch gathering this week at the Amherst Brewing Company. We had a record 80 staff members in attendance. Thanks to the support of Fort River families, we more than covered the costs of the luncheon and staff were so grateful at the outpouring of generosity of our community. It really shows how much our families care about the staff and teachers of Fort River!

Thank you everyone for your support!  Special thanks to Fran Luddington, Paula Mangiaratti and the front office team, and parents Suzanne Schilling, Sue Borden, Tammy Rahhal, Pam Rietkerk, and Michele Spirko for helping make the day a success.

The Cultural Heritage Fair ROCKED!

WOW!!  The Cultural Heritage Fair ROCKED!

A huge thank you goes out to Reiko Sono and Liz Larson for pulling together this fabulous event. The food was amazing and the performances were top-notch!

There are many people to thank so here goes: Tim Farnham for a stellar job as MC; Peter Michaels for providing sound; Flamenco dancer Amalyah Leader and Catalina Arrubla; Anne White and Francisco Rodriguez for bringing out the music in our kids and members of the 4th and 5th Grade Chorus; Danielle Phillips and the Capacidad drummers; Seiha Krouch, Thyda Ty and Cambodian dancers; Shaolin Kung Fu Center of Hadley; and Iris Berkman and The Valley Dance Project.

Also thanks to the folks who set up the informative Country Tables: Dhandapani Venkataraman, Jiyoung Kim, Shari Abbot, Elizabeth Pretel and Juan Carlos Carpio.

We are so glad so many families attended this event and a big thank you to everyone who brought the most diverse and delicious spread Fort River has ever seen!

Thanks for making Science Night a Great Success!

Thank you to all the people that made last Friday's "Science Night:  The Human Body" such a success!  The gym was full of enthusiastic kids and adults learning and trying out the many hands on displays.  There are so many to thank:

Organizer Sue Borden did a fantastic job pulling the entire night together!  Fort River parents, Kate Atkinson , David Berkman, Sam Borden, Mike Jacques, Paul Jodka, Eugene Kang, Jacqueline Kang, Navneet Marwaha, Carol Richardson, Patrick Schilling, Blake Spirko, Michele Spirko and Shubha Tewari,  Special Thanks to former Fort River parent Janet McGowan, and Fort River alums Caroline Borden, Fernanda Brena, Sadie Logan, Alison McCann, Gina Pryciak, Jessie Rietkirk and Luke Webb who manned the messy but fun casting station, James Borden (the Ears & Hearing loss station),  medical student Jessica Brown, and former Fort River parent Ann Becker who loaned us the CPR mannequins and AED machines.  We would also like to thank Rachel at the Child Life Center on the Pediatric floor at Baystate Medical Center, Kathy in the Baystate Pediatric Endocrine Department, Dr Paul Walker (Allergy & Immunology) and Margot at the Baystate Patient Library for loaning us various models and teaching materials that were used for the evening.

A Very Special Thank You to our Book Closet Volunteers!

THANK YOU to the volunteers who worked over Feb vacation on the Book Closet project. Take a look below at the email from Linda Castronovo (FR Literacy Coach). 

"Fort River has been ABUZZ with excitement about the book closet. Teachers have been coming by and EXCLAIMING about the fantastic job you all did--and continue to do. I have been hugged, thanked, and seen jaw-dropping excitement and disbelief. Teachers are finding and returning books much more easily; I don't think you will ever really know just how much time your work will save us all for a very long time to come!

Thanks especially to Kristen Lynch and the Schneider and Michaels families (kids and grown-ups) who continue to drop in to spend "spare" time working in the closet. The bulk of the work is almost complete (AMAZING!), but there will always be organizational work and up keep to do. Please feel free to stop in ANYTIME!"

Your hard work made a huge difference and will have a lasting impact! THANK YOU!

Thanks for International Fair

Thank you to all the people who made last week's International Fair a huge success! Delicious food, impressive performances, and great community!

A special thank you goes to Rebecca Fricke for coordinating this event and the performances.

Shout outs also go to: Liz Larson, Paula Mangiaratti, FR custodial staff, teachers who attended, Michele Spirko, the performers - the kids and the adults who helped, parents who came early and stayed late to help with set-up and clean-up.

And remember, we are looking for someone to step up and coordinate this event next year as Rebecca will be unable. Please contact Rebecca at rebfricke@gmail.com or Pam Rietkerk at pam.fortriver@gmail.com if you are interested.

FORT RIVER READS!!!

See below for more pictures of the event

THANK YOU


to the many volunteers and guests who made last week's Book Fair and Thursday evening's FORT RIVER READS: Book Event & Community Marketplace a huge success! The Scholastic Book Fair generated a school record of over $8000 in sales. As a result, Scholastic will provide our library with at least $4000 worth of credit towards books and other educational materials!

A round of applause goes to Diane Caraker, Carol Slaughter, and Sue Borden for all their hard work at the Book Fair. Many thanks also go to volunteers: Jon Kurtz, Nancy Stewart, Becky Schneider, Sarah Thompson, Kathy Niedzielski, Frieda Alker, Mark Dooley, Jean MacKimmie, Libby Stanforth, Stacy Simonson, Deb Leonard, Kathryn Mahony, Myles Cunningham, Devaiah Vytla, Shubha Tewari, Becky, Elizabeth & Laura Caraker.

We are proud that our generous Fort River community donated over $400 in teacher requested books. The PGO is also pleased to have provided over $500 in scholarships to our students.



Click on picture for larger view.


THANK YOU to the Thursday evening team!

Shari Abbott, for coordinating the Community Marketplace.
Rolf and Cindy Nelson, for making the most delicious chili and serving it up with a smile!
(Keep an eye out for the Nelsons' new restaurant, the Lumberyard, coming soon to Amherst.)
Kathy Brennan, for cooking up the veggie chili.
Erin Cherewatti, for coordinating and staffing the bake sale.
Ali Wicks-Lim and Maria Polino, for brewing and selling Fort River Roasters (Dean's Beans).
Atkins Farms and Libby Stanforth, for donating the Atkins Apple Cider.
Peter Wolfwood, for managing the Winter Sports Swap.
Chris Felton, Becky Michaels, Kathleen Traphagen, and Alana Atkinson, for helping out where needed!

Thank you also to our Community Marketplace vendors:
Catalina and Ines Arrubla
Diane Caraker
Karen Cardozo
Todd Felton
Rebecca Fricke
Rebecca Guay
Emma Knight
Pam Lewis
Lisa Oram
Lisa Pope
Judy Stern


Many thanks to our vendors for contributions made to the PGO Library fund on this evening!

This event was great fun and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Pam Rietkerk, PGO President & Michele Spirko, PGO Vice President

Thank You

Many thanks to all the parent volunteers for PICTURE DAY last week. The day was smooth and we saw LOTS of smiles from everyone! Thank you Ali Wicks-Lim, Katie Thompson, Audrey O'Connell, Kristen Lynch and Ellie Skinner. And a big Thank You to Carol Slaughter for taking over as Picture Day coordinator!

Thanks for Family Fair Help

Lynn Hayes wanted me to send the following message:

Thanks to all those who helped with the family fair this year. The weather cooperated, the games were loads of fun and the food was delicious. A thank you goes out to all those who brought in food donations and for those who purchased the food.

A special thanks goes out to our volunteers, Carrie Turkot, Chris Felton, Mary Donoghue, Catalina Arrubla, Lisa Harvey, Jan Kelly, Wendy Curtis, Timothy Russell, David Hayes, Molly Patton, Louise Levy, the janitors and all the sixth grade teachers. If I have forgotten to list your name, I'm sorry, there were so many people helping out.

And the PGO thanks Lynn Hayes and Carrie Turkot for volunteering to be coordinators of this fun event!

Thanks to Local Businesses for Their Generous Donations

Fort River would like to thank our local businesses - Hadley Garden Center and Andrew's Greenhouse for donating fall mums and planting soil to help make our building entrance welcoming and beautiful for the first day of school. Hadley Garden Center donated 5 bags of composted soil and Andrew's donated the 8" mums planted in each of the five barrels out front.

The PGO would also like to thank Ruthie and Michael Ireland for soliciting the donations, cleaning up the front of the building, and planting mums in the half-barrel planters out front!

Thanks for Your Help Sprucing Up Fort River!

A MILLION THANKS to all the families who helped out with the Fort River spruce up! The cafeteria looks bright and fresh with new paint; the front sign is free of weeds and has new flowers; and HUGE piles of woodchips have been spread on the playground to make it soft and safe. Our school is looking great and ready for the start of the year!

Thanks to:
Ray and Carol Sharick
Michele Spirko
Dorie Goldman, Eskil and Jakob Skott
Bart, Jessie, and Tate Rietkerk
Chris, Todd, Tim and Liam Felton
Becky, Katie, and Claire Michaels
Nat, Liz, and Catherine Larson
Mike Jacques and Kiran and Alex Marwaha
Eileen, Mark, and Jessie Marasco
Bart and Caroline Hollander
Stephen Poulin
David and Nadav Berkman
Michael and Ruthie Ireland
Carmela Gravante, Milena and Carina Gravante-Gunnells
Becky Caraker
Zaim, Layla and Sahar Elkalai
and thank you to anyone who helped out that we missed on this list!

Your efforts are appreciated!!!
Pam Rietkerk

Parent Council Thanks Book Fair Volunteers

Thanks to everyone who volunteered at last week's Book Fair:

Jan Kelly
Karen Regis
Desiree Bohl
Eileen Marasco
Elayne Berger
Mark Dooley
Jean MacKimmie
Kerry Crosby
Catherine McGraw
Jacqueline Kang
Elizabeth Caraker
Sue Borden
Libby Stanforth

And special thanks to Diane Caraker for organizing the book fair! Our thanks also to Peter Wood for coordinating the Winter Sports and Clothing Swap, as well as to everyone who donated items.

Parent Council Thanks...

Parent Council would like to thank Diane Caraker who put in a lot of work organizing this year's Fall Festival, despite the fact that it eventually got canceled due to H1N1 concerns.

Let's hope for better luck next year!

Family Fair 2009

Wednesday's Family Fair was a success! It was wonderful watching Fort River students enjoying the games and playground, and seeing our community come out and connect with one another for the start of the school year.

A SPECIAL GREAT BIG THANK YOU  to all the 6th graders for doing such a GREAT JOB providing fun and creative games and for serving the food and beverages ! 

And many Thanks to all the others who made this event possible: 
    All the Fort River families who provided the delicious potluck foods and desserts
    6th grade parents - for supporting your children both in setting up games and supervising food service
    6th grade teachers, Mr Lamdin, Ms Simon & Mr Wallace - for organizing their students

The Family Fair earned  $700 that will go toward the 6th grade end of the year events.  Thanks everyone for making it all possible - and for a wonderful evening !

         *Pick up plates  left at the Fair in the Fort River Office