Parent Council Thanks Playground Volunteers

Parent Council thanks the talented parent volunteers who helped the Playground Committee assemble the new picnic tables at the playground on Saturday, August 23rd. Many thanks to: Nancy Reffsin, Amy Rose, Peter Venman and Alison Donta, Blake and Michele Spirko, Mike Jacques, Patrick Schilling, Jon Kane, Steve Reynolds, Steve Poulin, Mark Marasco, Catherine Sanderson, and Principal Ray Sharick. Also, thanks to Mark Marasco for the great photos!

Of Interest to Fort River Families

Please note that these events are not sponsored by Parent Council. Girl Scout Registration. A registration night for the Girls Scouts will take place on Tuesday, September 23rd, at the Bangs Center in Amherst, room 101 at 5:45 PM. We would like to invite all girls who attend Fort River School. Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, http://www.gscwm.org/. Contact: Anne Duffy, cattlexstudios@verizon.net. Calling all 3rd Grade Girls. Fort River's Brownie Troop 324 will be having a Get Together and Get Organized Round Up at Groff Park on Saturday, September 6th, 1 - 3pm. All 3rd grade girls at Fort River are welcome to come and find out what our Brownies have in store for the coming year. An RSVP is appreciated but not required. If you have questions, please contact Liz Larson at 230-3453 or nateliz.larson@gmail.com. Join in the Adventure and join Cub Scouts. For boys in Grades 1 through 5. Boy Scouting includes boys in grades 6 through 12. Sign up with either: Pack 515, which meets at the Masonic Hall in Amherst (contact: Russell Kosuda; work: 587-6587 or home: 253-1663; email; Russell.Kosuda@McKesson.com) OR Pack 502, which meets at the South Congregational Church in South Amherst. (Contact: Julia Mawson 253-2817 email: JSMQUILTSCOUT@yahoo.com.) Sign up is Tuesday, September 9, 2008 from 5 PM till 8 PM at the Masonic Hall (next to the police station in Amherst on Main Street) for both Pack 502 and 515. Representatives from Troop 500 and Troop 504 will be present if any older brothers are interested. Come and see what Scouting is all about. North Amherst 3rd Annual Harvest Festival, Sunday September 28th. 1 to 6 PM being held at Simple Gifts Farm, Located on North Pleasant Street, North Amherst. Get It On the Map. GIS Viewer Traing Sessions. The Amherst GIS Viewer is a powerful system at gis.amherstma.gov that can be used make custom maps, perform geographic analysis and to gather all kinds of information about any place in Amherst. Please join us for this hour-long public training seminar designed to teach you how to get the most out of the Amherst GIS Viewer. Sessions are currently scheduled for the following dates and times: Monday, September 15th, 10:00-11:00am, Town Room, Amherst Town Hall Thursday, September 25th, 7:00-8:00pm, 1st Floor Meeting Room, Amherst Town Hall Thursday, October 2nd, 7:00-8:00pm, 1st Floor Meeting Room, Amherst Town Hall. Reservations are not required. Feel free to RSVP or just come by. For more information, please contact: Mike Olkin, GIS Administrator, Town of Amherst PH 413-259-3247 FX 413-256-4006 http://gis.amherstma.gov/ See Amherst in 3D: http://gis.amherstma.gov/3D. Make Sure Your Child Doesn't Get Left Inside. The Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club is starting up hikes and other events to get kids outdoors. Our first outing will be a short hike at Buffam Falls in Pelham on Saturday, Sept. 27. The goal is to have at least one kid-friendly event every month of the year. Possibilities include scavenger hunts, building fairy houses, and letter boxing. Anyone interested in attending family events or helping with the program can contact Nancy Weld, Family Programs chair at (413) 256-8728 or at familyprograms@amcberkshire.org. The Sept. 27 event will be a short hike at a slow pace, with plenty of opportunity to throw rocks and sticks into the water and explore nature. We may get a snack, lunch or ice cream afterward. We'll start at 10 a.m. Our second event, on Oct. 12, will be a hike up Rattlesnake Knob which is a smaller peak just east of Mount Norwottuck, part of the Holyoke Range in Amherst. We will meet at 10 a.m. and may gather for lunch afterward. Contact Leader Nancy Weld for more information (413) 256-8728 or at familyprograms@amcberkshire.org. A note from Parent Council. We will publish information about non-Parent Council sponsored events with the following conditions: 1. The event should be of interest to Fort River families. 2. The information should be sent to Ann McLaughlin at damclaughlin@comcast.net in the form of a short description. 3. Contact information (website or name, telephone and/or email address) must be included. We add new information to the blog every Friday during the school year. Please note that we do not accept announcements of items or services for sale (with the exceptions of children's classes/lessons). Inclusion in this section does not imply any guarantees or endorsements by Fort River Parent Council or Fort River School.

More Volunteers Needed!

We urgently need more people to sign up to help assemble 3 picnic tables for the playground this coming Saturday, Aug 23rd (time to be determined based on volunteer availability). So far we’ve had ONLY two volunteers. If we don’t get more volunteers we will have to cancel, and the picnic tables won’t been in before early September. PLEASE contact Catherine Sanderson (casanderson@amherst.edu, tel. 256-4977) ASAP if you can help! Also, please plan on bringing drills and other tools that will be useful. We also have an additional volunteer position open for someone who would like help out with the Staff/Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. This is a great way to say “thank you” to all the people who take care of our kids. This committee finds a restaurant and works with the manager to set a date and menu, sends invitations to all staff asking for menu choices, collects RSVPs and gives meal counts to the restaurant, and keeps in contact with the restaurant to make sure that everything is on track! A Spring Event. We need a co-coordinator to work with Jacquie Juras. Contact Parent Council President Sue Borden at 253-0140 or frpc.sborden@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to volunteer.

Volunteers Needed for 2008-09

We are still in search of some important volunteers for the upcoming school year. Please remember parent council is run entirely by volunteers, and we can't do it all -- we need your help! Please contact our new Parent Council President, Sue Borden, at 253-0140 or frpc.sborden@gmail.com if you have questions and/or are willing to help out. Coordinators are needed for the following events: Cultural Enrichment Committee: This committee notifies teachers of cultural events at U Mass, orders tickets that teachers request, and confirms the date and time of the performance for teachers. Most of the work happens in early fall. Holiday Gift Wrap Sales: This is one of our biggest fundraisers! This committee works with the gift wrap company to select items to sell, distributes brochures to each family, collects order forms and places orders with the company, and distributes orders when they arrive. A Fall event. Beach Party: This is a fun evening social event for families featuring live music, dancing and ethnic foods from around the world (and sometimes colorful tropical clothes and accessories). Committee members advertise the event, decorate the cafeteria in a beach theme, order food, and of course help with set up and clean up. A Spring event. Book Fair: This is a great opportunity for students to purchase quality books at affordable prices (and provides important funding for our school library). This committee contacts the book companies (usually Scholastic and one local book store), makes arrangements to have the books delivered to the school, staffs the book fair, and handles the final payment to the book companies. A co-coordinator is needed to run this event with Diane Caraker. A Fall event. Fort River Lost and Found / Hand Me Downs: This committee maintains the Hand-Me-Down closet (so that items can be found!), and organizes a twice-yearly event in which lost clothes are placed on tables in the lobby to be retrieved by kids/parents. Remaining items are donated to the Survival Center. Coffee With a Principal: This committee organizes a monthly morning coffee with Principal Sharick and/or Vice-Principal Suarez-Werlein. This committee coordinates with the principal’s office to choose dates, publicizes the event, makes coffee, provides light food, and handles set-up and clean-up. Saving Makes “Cents”: This program strives to encourage savings habits and goal setting. Children can open a bank account with Florence Savings Bank and bank weekly in the cafeteria (before school) with help from parent volunteers (or directly at the bank). Only $1.00 is needed to open an account, and any amount can be deposited—and after 10 deposits, the Bank will deposit $1.00 into the account. Coordinator: Barbara Morse (253-9160: bmlmorse@comcast.net). Two weekly volunteers needed. Resource Coordinators are needed for the following committees: Same-sex parent – families Single-parent – families Child with special needs – families English as a second language – families ALANA families: (African-American, Latino(a)/Chicano(a), Asian/Pacific American, and Native American). Room Parents: Room parents are needed for all classrooms. Room parents check in with the teacher monthly to see what is be needed (e.g., snacks for an event, field trip volunteers, etc.), plan a class pot-luck, and assist with planning a grade-wide event. They may organize a class gift in December and/or June. Once again, please contact Fort River Parent Council President Sue Borden at 253-0140 or frpc.sborden@gmail.com, if you would like to take on one of these jobs.

Welcome to Fort River Dessert Party, Tuesday, Aug. 26th 6-7:30 pm.

Parent Council is gearing up for the new year by hosting a “Welcome to Fort River Dessert Party” (with popsicles!) on Tuesday, August 26th, from 6 to 7:30 pm. This is an informal get-together for all the families who will be new to Fort River this year. Invitations to these families have already been mailed out. We'd also love some current families to come and meet the new families, so please bring your kids and plan to socialize! Weather permitting, the party will be held outside on the playground, so park in the lot nearest to the playground (the area straight ahead as you drive into the parking lot) and come around to the back of the school. (If it rains, we will hold the party in the cafeteria located adjacent to the playground, so please also come to the back of the school).

Wecome Back Event for Faculty and Staff -- Donations Needed

A "Welcome Back" event is planned for our incredibly dedicated and fabulous Fort River faculty and staff on Wednesday, August 27. Help is needed! Donations of baked goods, fresh fruit, lunch salads, snacks, and beverages (e.g. juice, flavored creamers for coffee, fancy tea bags!) would be greatly appreciated. Fresh cut flowers from your garden would also be great; lots of families brought flowers in last year and many teachers commented on how lovely all of the arrangements were (any drinking glass, can, recycled bottle, etc., will do for a creative vase!) Let's make this a beautiful morning as the faculty and staff return for the upcomingschool year! Items can be dropped off in the teacher lounge between 8:30 am and 9:30 am, but if these times are not convenient please call me to make other arrangements. Refrigeration is available. Serving dishes can be retrieved on the first day of school. Please respond directly to Michele Spirko if you are able to help or have further suggestions or questions. Email: spirko@pol.net Phone: 253-6412 Thanks so much, and enjoy/cherish these last few weeks of summer with your kids! Sincerely, Michele Spirko (Mom to Colton - 3rd grade)

Request for Volunteers

Principal Ray Sharick is looking for a few volunteers to do some gardening work around the "Fort River" sign. As you may have noticed, the garden area around the sign (as you head down the main driveway toward the school) is overgrown and taking over the sign. It may take some skill to do the trimming. He would like to have this completed prior to the start of school. Anyone who is interested can contact Principal Sharick via email (SharickR@ARPS.org) or by calling the school. Thanks for your help!