Upcoming Community Events

Please note that these events are not sponsored by Parent Council. JOIN MULTI-ARTS INTERACTIVE ARTS FESTIVAL. Performances & Workshops, Music – Dance – Art – Mime – Creative Writing. Where: Barnes and Noble, Hadley, When: Saturday, May 2nd. 11:00-12:00 for Little Ones, 3:00-6:00 for everyone. Music: Bring your instrument and join us in the performance of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and Haydn's "Toy Symphony." Art: Design & make your own 3-D cardboard dog. Dance: Watch "Las Chicas", a Flamenco dance show. Have a taste of Flamenco in a ten-minutes workshop. Try Funk and Break dance extravaganza. For little ones: Paint your face, learn basic juggling, Entertainment by clowns, mimes, and story tellers. Details - visit www.multi-arts.org. Don’t miss it. See you there! Call for Creative Writers! Multi-Arts invites young writers to submit examples of their work: a poem, short story, comedy routine, play, or a school essay. Selected works will be published in our ONLINE MAGAZINE and read by John Montanari, WCFR host, as a part of the Multi-Arts Interactive Festival at Barnes & Noble, Hadley, on Saturday, May 2, 2009. This interactive festival will include performances & workshops in music, dance, art, mime, and clowns). Multi-Arts inspires youth to explore their creativity and develop a lifelong love of the arts. Learn all about us; visit our website at www.multi-arts.org. Send your work now by clicking the SUBMIT button, or e-mail us at carrubla@gmail.com. Zoobilee! A Live Animal Fair. Come to the Hitchcock Center's new spring event: Zoobilee! A Live Animal Fair. The fun of Hug-a-Bug and Scales 'n Tails all wrapped into one plus more. On Saturday, April 11, from 10am-1pm, come explore our educational and hands-on Live Animal Fair featuring a variety of amphibians, reptiles, insects and more. Crafts and outdoor activities. Pre-registration required; please call 413-256-6006. Book Collection for the League of Women Voters of Amherst’s Book Sale has begun! The annual Spring sale of thousands of used books will take place May 1, 2 and 3 in a large tent on the Amherst Town Common. Donations of books may be dropped off in collection trunks at the League’s sorting and pricing center at 479 West Street (Rt.116), Unit 8. This is at the corner of West Street and Pomeroy Lane. Other drop-off locations are Stop & Shop in Hadley, the UPS Store on University Drive, the Jones Library, North Amherst Library and the Munson Memorial Library in South Amherst. Books must be in good condition and free of mildew. Magazines will not be accepted. The book sale is one of the oldest and largest in New England. For information call 253-0633. 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.

Ongoing Fundraisers: Easy Ways to Help Our School!

Atkins Farms Country Market. Use your Atkins card when you shop at Atkins Farms Country Market, and they will donate a percentage of your purchase to Fort River School. Just show the card when you are checking out. Atkins has provided us with one card per family, which should have come home in an envelope with your youngest Fort River child. There is an expiration date on the card, which is the date that youngest child graduates from Fort River. It's another easy way to earn money for your school! Stop & Shopʼs A+ BonusBucks Program. This program has ended for the year: Fort River has earned $2,198.43!! Please keep in mind that you will have to re-register your card next fall for the next school year. Thanks to everyone who participated. Box Tops For Education. Keep clipping and bringing the Box Tops to the office! Even though have made our last submission for this school year, we will hold all additional box tops clipped this year and over the summer for submission next October. Big Y Education Express. Use your Big Y Express Savings Club card and Fort River can earn points for buying equipment and supplies! Visit the Big Y customer service desk and fill out a form that will link Fort River with your card. Fort River ID # 5947. Target Take Charge of Education. Designate 1% of the value of your purchases to Fort River every time you use your Target REDcard (credit card). Visit www.Target.com/tcoe . Fort River ID 58645. Fort River Roasters by Dean's Beans. Order forms are available here. Next order deadline: March 6th. Please deliver to the Main Office. Cellphones & Ink Jet Cartridges. Protect the environment and raise money for Parent Council by donating used digital cellphones and ink jet cartridges. Please deliver to the Main Office.

Upcoming School Events

"Stress-Buster" Teacher & Staff Appreciation Lunch, Wednesday, Apr. 8. Your donations of food wanted! See below for more information. Grade 1 Event: Reading Night/PJ Party, Monday, April 13, Ft. River library/lobby. 6:30-8pm. School Committee Meeting. Tues., Apr. 14, 7pm. High School Library. School Council Meeting, Thursday, Apr. 16, 7-9pm. Ft. River Principal's Office. Spring Recess. No School, Apr. 20-24. Grade 5 Event: Family Fun-n-Games Evening. Wednesday, April 29, 6:30-8:00pm. At Fort River. (Rain date May 5). Parent Council Meeting, Thursday, May 7th, 8:30-9:30am. Fort River Cafeteria. 4th, 5th & 6th Grade Chorus Concert, Thursday, May 7th, 7:30pm. See below for more info. Kindergarten Event: Family Dance Party, Friday, May 8th, 5-7pm, Ft. River Cafeteria. Grade 3 Event: Potluck and Games at Mill River Park. Friday, May 15th, Time: TBA. Note: Items in teal are sponsored by Fort River Parent Council.

Stress-Buster Lunch for Teachers and Staff--This Coming Wednesday

The "Stress-Buster Teacher & Staff Appreciation Lunch" is being planned for Wednesday, April 8th. We Need Your Help! Fort River Parent Council will be sponsoring a special lunch for teachers & staff in the Staff Lounge on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 & we need your help. The theme for the menu is comfort food so put on your thinking caps on & hit the kitchen! Think mashed potatoes & gravy, macaroni & cheese, tapioca pudding, chocolate, whatever says comfort to you. This has been an especially tough year on the teachers & staff of our school given all the uncertainty in the system at this time. All members of the Ft. River community are invited to contribute food & drink items. You can sign up for your contribution using the BringIt online signup tool (click here--it's easy to use and you can even get an email reminder!) or call Eileen Marasco at 256-3880. We'll be cooking for 90--yes there are approximately 90 teachers & staff at our school--so all contributions are welcome! All food items need to be dropped off at the Staff Lounge by 11:15 the morning of the lunch. We'll have some special surprises for the teachers in appreciation for all the hard work they do for our children every day & some real stress busters will be in store. Anyone who wants to help Eileen put out food or prepare the Staff Lounge the day of the event can be directly in touch with her. Many, many thanks!

School Budget Discussion Meeting is Being Planned

Parent Council is in the process of scheduling a meeting with School Committee representatives to discuss the various proposed cuts to the elementary school budget for the upcoming year. This meeting will most likely take place at Fort River during the week after April vacation. There will also be meetings at all of the other schools. There will be a community meeting as well. The same information will be presented at each meeting, so you can attend any one of them, regardless of where it is being held. I will post all the dates and times when they are made available -- Ann McLaughlin.

Attention 4th Grade Families: Potluck Postponed!!

Catalina Arrubla (4th grade rep.) has informed me that the grade-wide event for the 4th grade, originally schedule for Thursday, April 9th, has been postponed due to the conflict with the beginning of Passover. This event will be rescheduled and I will post the new date as soon as it has been determined!--Thanks, Ann.

Attention 5th Grade Families!

5th Grade Families! Mark your calendars for a 5th grade family fun-n-games evening on Wednesday, April 29th 6:30-8:00pm at Fort River. We're planning on being outside, so if it rains hard, the back-up rain date is Tuesday May 5th. We are looking for parents who would like to help out with game ideas and/or organization. Please contact grade rep Gloria McCann or any of the class room reps (Pam Rietkerk, Sue Cairn, Shubha Tewari, Caroline Goutte) if you can help out.