PGO Meeting on May 23 at 9am

General PGO Meeting

Wednesday, May 23
9 - 10 am

Please join the PGO Board for our monthly meeting. All current Fort River parents and guardians are welcome! Parents of registered Kindergarteners or other newly enrolled students may also attend. Sign in at the Main Office to get directions to our meeting location.

New officers will be elected for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. Please come if you'd like to be more involved in your child's school. Co-Officers can be appointed to a single position so that responsibilities are able to be shared. Budget, fundraising, grant proposals, and volunteer needs will also be discussed. The current Secretary, Treasurer, and Communications person (blog + social media + emails) are stepping down due to student graduations.

Small children are always welcome! We REALLY need more volunteers and help! Thanks for considering! 

Amherst Education Foundation Announces 2018-2019 Excellence Grants

Heading into its 25th year, the Amherst Education Foundation announces its Excellence Grants for the 2018-19 academic year.  Totaling $29,000.00, the grants are spread across the Amherst Elementary Schools, the Amherst Regional Middle School, and the Amherst Regional High School.

Of particular interest to elementary families is the winning proposal from Jennifer Reese, Elementary Science and Garden Coordinator:

ELEMENTARY GARDEN-BASED LEARNING 

Grantee: Jennifer Reese, Elementary Science and Garden Coordinator

Grant Amount: $5,000.00

Schools: Wildwood, Fort River, and Crocker Farm

Description: Garden educator Leila Tunnell will lead all second grade students in year-round garden-based learning at school and on field trips to Brookfield Farm.  Each elementary school will create universally accessible raised beds.  The curriculum will build on lessons individual teachers have used in kindergarten and first grade and will provide second graders with the opportunity to learn about our local ecosystem, food sources, collaboration, and problem solving.

Read about the other grantees here: https://www.amhersteducationfoundation.org/grants/

AEF Celebrates Champions for Our Schools on March 17

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Join Amherst Education Foundation as we honor the nine principals of our school districts: Mark Jackson, David Slovin, Patty Bode, Diane Chamberlain, Nick Yaffe, Derek Shea, Lisa Desjarlais, Margot Lacey, and Jackie Mendonsa!

All nine principals will be in attendance. Come celebrate the leaders of our high schools, middle school, and elementary schools.

We hope you will join us for dinner, festivities, trivia, and more:

March 17

6-9pm

Student Union Ballroom at UMass

Here is the link to ticket sales: http://bit.ly/2DZZkra

All proceeds from the event will support AEF funded grants to educators at ARHS, ARMS, Summit Academy, and in the Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury Elementary Schools.

Annual Fund Drive Ongoing - Help Us Meet our Goals!

Thanks to everyone who gave so generously in November and December to our Annual Fund Drive! Many families across all grades have joined together to contribute financially to our wonderful school community. The Fort River staff utilizes your donations to enhance instruction offered to all students. The PGO Board is still receiving grant requests from teachers for special classroom materials, educational trips, and featured guest visits for the current school year. Every dollar helps - no amount is too small!

The PGO depends on donations to the Annual Fund to cover about 30% of the annual budget. If you are able to help, please use PayPal on the PGO blog or send a check into the Main Office made out to "Fort River PGO." Thanks!

Art Grant Photo Permission Forms Due Now

important message from Art Teacher, Ms. Singer ...

Dear families:

I am excited to share that we have applied for the Champion Creatively Alive Children grant from Crayola! This grant provides $2,500 to support teachers and families in bringing art into their curricula and households (stay tuned for grant-funded programming later in the year!). 

In order to get the grant, we need one last photo permission form for each student, as we are required to provide pictures of our young artists at work and/or their art works during the grant-sponsored activities. Even though Fort River has its own photo release forms, Crayola requires that families complete their particular form. It is very short though! 

I have given copies of the form to each classroom teacher, so your child will be bringing home the form for you to sign and return. PLEASE DO THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE - FORMS MUST BE RETURNED TO SCHOOL BY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9TH! But if you can send it back tomorrow, even better! Ask your child for the copy of the form that we sent home. It's two sided - English and Spanish. Misplaced your form? Click here for a copy.

Please email Nicole Singer (art teacher) with any questions about the grant: singern@arps.org

Thank you!

OFF THE SHELF - Library News

OFF THE SHELF - Library News (Copied from the January Administrative Newsletter)

In January, local author Molly Burnham (The Teddy Mars series) came to Fort River and spent time with students in the 3rd-6th grades.

In the weeks before, Mrs. Gage read aloud from Teddy Mars,#1: Almost a World Record Breaker to most of the 3-6 graders and many of our students read the whole book on their own. Molly Burnham was the very best author visitor in my many years at Fort River. She was generous and specific in sharing how she finds and develops her ideas for her characters and plots. Molly Burnham literally taught the students how “WONDERING” about a certain picture, person or an object (like a rock with patterned scratches) can lead to a whole story and developed characters. Ask your children about the pigeon story, a real World War I event. Or ask about the picture of the rock with scratches.

Molly Burnham also spent time asking the students questions to get them engaged in discussions of what school is like, what writing is like for them and also about their favorite books.

From Molly’s website, (www.mollybburnham.com):

"Teddy Mars Awarded Funniest Kids’ Book of 2016!

Ridiculously proud to have been awarded the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, an international professional organization for writers and illustrators of children’s literature!”

Many of our students wrote Molly letters and here are just a few quotations from them:

“We can’t wait for your next book to come out!”

“…your visit was funny and helpful at the same time.”

“You have inspired me to write more often. And I have decided to make some of my stories based on my own life.”

“I am very glad you told us the story of you and your sister and the story of the pigeon.”

“I am excited to get to writing.”

“I also liked the picture of the rock that made us think about what is it supposed to be?”

We are all grateful for the grant we (all three elementary schools) received for this visit from the Amherst Integrated Arts Initiative, with John Bechtold’s and Mike Morris’s support.

Fran Ludington, Librarian, ludingtonf@arps.org   413-362-1215

Anne Gage, Library Paraeducator

Gift Ideas from the Amherst Education Foundation

Are you trying to figure out how to thank your children’s teachers for their wonderful work this holiday season? Here’s a great way to give a gift that teachers appreciate and is an easy way to remain in compliance with the law that forbids public employees from receiving gifts valued at more than $50. AEF’S THANK A TEACHER/STARS IN OUR SCHOOLS!

Contribute to the Amherst Education Foundation in a teacher’s name and they will get the gift that keeps on giving: money that comes back to the schools in the form of excellence grants. The teacher will receive a card from AEF indicating that you supported AEF in their honor. Click here Thanking a Teacher through our Stars in Our Schools; or go to www.amhersteducationfoundation.org and click on “Stars in Our Schools”.

How is AEF helping the elementary schools? AEF grants are funding the following programs: 

• Math coaches are receiving training to help underperforming kids in grades 3-6! 

• Students with special needs district-wide have much-needed laptop computers! 

• Music teachers are bringing visiting artists to the schools!

Thank you and happy holidays,

The Board of Amherst Education Foundation

Ethan Clotfelter, Becky Michaels, Clare Bertrand, Meg Robertson, Isabella Dell’olio, Rick Hood, Michael Hutton-Woodland, Sue Kelly, Ken Leblond, Sovann-Malis Loeung, Amanda Rivera Lopez, Susan Kennedy Marx, Jennifer Mendelsohn, Adelia Pope, Megan Rosa, Amanda Seaman, Sudha Setty, Jen Veshia

The Jones Library needs your help

The children's room of the Jones Library is applying for a Mind in the Making grant. This grant would help establish or enhance play spaces for 0-6 year old patrons. "These play spaces are aimed at early learning and social interaction among children and their caregivers." BUT! In order to strengthen the Jones's application, the library needs testimonials from the community, capturing how well-loved the Jones is. Any anecdotes you have about using the children's room with your own families that will help convey the warmth and support we all feel at the Jones would be so welcome. If you can write just a simple, one paragraph email to help the Jones as they apply for this grant, that would be completely wonderful. Please email it to Mia Cabana, Head of Youth Services Librarian, by the close of business Thursday, April 7th.

Spring update from Amherst Education Foundation

Spring is a busy time at AEF! Did you know that they have received 14 grant applications and have over $30,000 to allocate? This is all thanks to incredibly generous donors from our community. Read about an ARMS Grantee below …

2015-2016 AEF Grantee Spotlight

Music Education at Amherst Regional Middle School  AEF grant purchases 21 iPads and music education software to expand music education at ARMS to reach all middle schoolers and support Music Choral/Classroom Music Teacher David Ranen and Instrumental Teacher Ben Peterson.  Mr. Ranen demonstrating the "Storybook Soundtrack Project" to AEF Co-President Diana Spurgin. If in fact “music hath charms”, as Shakespeare wrote long ago, then every student at the ARMS is charmed, indeed, thanks in part to the 2015-16 AEF Excellence Grant awarded to ARMS. The grant purchased 21 iPads and music education software to support two of the three new music courses at ARMS, taught to both 7th and 8th graders by David Ranen and Ben Peterson.  “The new music classes are attended by students who have chosen not to be in one of the three vocal or instrumental ensembles,” Ranen said. “Now they have a choice: Introduction to Music, Introduction to Songwriting, or Introduction to World Percussion. So now, every student at ARMS is involved in music in some way.”  Introduction to Music: The topics run from the music of the Civil Rights Movement to playing guitar to studying the structure of a song before performing it “garage-band style.” This spring, Ranen said, students will be selecting a children’s book and will “record themselves reading the book, and ultimately make a soundtrack that will fit the story, using things that they have made or borrowed.”  Songwriting/Music Theory: Peterson explained, “We’ve been using the iPads primarily to access online notation software. In one project, students wrote a haiku online and then instrumentalized it, giving it percussion, then notating it and learning how to share it, as well as how to access and share things over the internet.”  Both instructors emphasize that the iPads represent some students’ first real access to the internet other than using school computers, so not only are they learning about music, they are learning how to activate an account, set up a password, and learning “what we think of as basic elements of using the internet.”  “Having not had iPads before,” states Mr. Ranen, “we’re just exploring the possibilities and scraping the surface of what is going to become a really great program.”  The Amherst Education Foundation salutes the innovation and creativity that these instructors are generating and is proud to have been a partner in the new curriculum’s inception.

Learn more about AEF here:

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=7c033d09b9965cb2e21f8e152&id=9643c41be3

Or visit them at http://www.amhersteducationfoundation.org