Weekly Bulletin - October 31, 2014

Weekly News & Pics

Francis Wyman will once again be collecting Treats for Troops.  Please send any left-over candy to the office next week.  We will have a large orange collection bin here.  Our soldiers love the treats, but they also like pictures and letters, too.  

Student Council members conducted a door decorating contest in school this week.  The doors could be Halloween themed and had to display something the students were learning.

                                          

More Halloween Fun!  Mrs. Ruggieri (gorilla) greeted students this morning at drop-off!

THANK YOU to the PTO for a wonderful Halloween Party last Friday night.  It was great to see so many families come out to enjoy the festive evening!  A special thanks goes to Shannon Tedesco, Cheryl Johnson, Lisa DeRosa, Andrea Gray, and Tracey Stevens for coordinating the games, music, raffle, decorations and everything else!

Library volunteer Cathi Myer has been a Francis Wyman volunteer for the past 5 years.  We are all grateful for her dedication and help!!

Amanda Hogue-Lavalle visited Grade 1 this week to talk about special programs at the Burlington Public Library.  

She also visited with our Kindergarten on Friday October 24th

Community News:

The Burlington Food Pantry is looking for donations of TOOTHPASTE and TOOTHBRUSHES. If you can contribute, please place your donations in the Food Pantry Box in the Main Office.The Burlington Food Pantry provides food to approximately 120 needy Burlington families every month.Thanks so much!!!

Weekly Bulletin October 24, 2014

Another busy week of learning activities at Francis Wyman!

Students in Mrs. Goguen's class were busy testing their knowledge of how light waves work and stepping up to the challenge of creating a "light maze".  Great brains working together to solve a problem is always exciting to watch!

Mr. Musselman observes this 3rd grade group and checks whether their light beam passes through each of the pieces of the maze represented in their
 "light challenge".
Be sure to ask the 3rd graders about their new knowledge of how LIGHT works!

A Season for Scary Stories!

1st grade students listened to the well rehearsed "cackles" of Mrs. Jefferson as she read a scary story aloud to her students.  The students closed their eyes and covered their ears in anticipation as they enjoyed every minute of the scary storytelling experience.  This helped students brainstorm and write their own scary stories which they were happy to share with me on Friday morning.

Mrs. McDonald shares her home grown "Big Pumpkin" as she reads this story aloud.  Each student received 2 giant pumpkin seeds to grow their very own giant pumpkins next Spring!

Giant Sunflower Contest Winners!

Alex, Tommy and Scott were the proud winners of the contest sponsored by the Burlington Science Center.  Their individual sunflower plants were twice as tall as each of them and with flowers that were easily bigger than their heads!  All students that participated demonstrated impressive gardening skills.  

Congratulations to the winners and all of the contest participants!

Weekly Bulletin October 17, 2014

School News
Halloween Parade - The FW tradition continues!  The Halloween parade will be held on October 31, 2014. Kindergarten Parade will be at 9:00am - viewing for parents is in the main lobby. Grades 1 - 5 is at 1:30pm - viewing for parents is in the gymnasium.

Our first Used Book Store will be October 29. If your children would like visit the "store", please bring 25 cents or a book to trade.

Francis Wyman School is once again joining other Burlington schools in collecting Halloween Candy for our troops overseas. Over the last few years we have been able to send over 6000lbs of candy to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please join again and donate some of your Halloween candy or pick up an extra bag at the store and help us send a little Halloween cheer overseas! Soldiers love getting cards and letters from kids back home. If 
you would like to send a special message to a soldier overseas, please put your letter in the Orange Collection box along with your candy and we will make sure it gets to a soldier! If you know of a soldier stationed overseas who would like to receive a box, please email their info to treatsforourtroops@gmail.com Thank you!

Community News

Burlington High School Athletic Boosters Annual Craft Fair and Shopping Extravaganza. Sunday, October 18th from 10am to 3pm in the BHS Cafeteria.  Crafters, vendors, bake sale, concession stand, raffles. Free admission. Join us and support the athletes of Burlington !

Join the Burlington PAC at our next event:

Childhood Stress & Anxiety : Causes, Impact & Strategies

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. October 23, Library, Marshall Simonds Middle School

Presented by Joel M. Ristuccia, a certified School Psychologist with over twenty-five years experience working in the public schools. 

Come hear Joel talk about Anxiety in students k-12, why it happens and what you can do about it. 

For more information please contact us at burlingtonspedpac@gmail.com

Zumba Time!

Zumba for Breast Cancer!
Friday, October 17th from 7-8pm
$10 per person in the FW Gym
Email: info@franciswymanpto.org to reserve your spot!

Weekly Bulletin - October 10, 2014

School News:

WANTED:  Parent volunteers for our Used Bookstore. We have the used bookstore once a month.  The commitment is for one hour a month on a Wednesday morning from 7:40-8:40.  You can bring your children with you.  I need parents to help set up the used bookstore in the cafeteria.  We spread the books out on the tables.  Then parents help students trade in books or pay for them.  Finally, we collect all the unsold books and pack them back up in boxes.  If you think you can help please call or email me at school.  I will email you each month seeing if you are available.  Thanks.  

Donna Murphy, Reading Specialist

781-238-6859

dmurphy@bpsk12.org

Pictures of the week:

Thai Exchange Students Visit Francis Wyman
Thanks to the efforts of Katie Bercury, Burlington Social Studies Curriculum Coach, some of our students enjoyed a cultural performance put on by the visiting students from Thailand.  Students performed traditional dances and played musical selections using their unique Thai instruments.  We were glad to have the opportunity to share this time with our 
international guests!

Trinolka, Erin, and  Annabelle, 5th grade students, help share our PIRATE enthusiasm by working with Mrs. Kerr to create an artistic bulletin board display in the front lobby.  The bulletin board will show off amazing work completed throughout all grade levels.

Francis Wyman students and staff are sporting "pink" or "Patriot's" attire this week in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month and our favorite football team.  

Community Announcements:

Special screening of the film A Place at the Table

Join People Helping People with the Burlington Food Pantry, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Presbyterian Church of Burlington for a conversation and special screening of the film A Place at the Table on Thursday October 16 at 6:30pm. The documentary examines the crisis of food security, hunger, obesity and food access in the United States. The film will be screened at the church (335 Cambridge St. Burlington, MA 01803) at 6:30pm and will be immediately followed by a time for questions and discussion about the movie, hunger, food access and obesity in the Burlington area. For more information visit http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/

BCSFDS - Adopt A Class Telethon

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, October 14, 15 and 16th we will be having our 20th Annual Telethon. BHS student volunteers will be calling local residents please make a donation to your child's class or to the BCSFDS endowment fund.  If you do not receive a call you can simply go to our website www.bcsfds.org  and make a donation using a credit/debit card or mail in a donation payable to BCSFDS and put the class in the memo. Our mailing address is BCSFDS c/o Town Hall 29 Center St. Burlington, MA 01803. Thank you for your support.

School Spirit Day Friday, October 10

Go Pink! OR Go Pats! 

We will be having a School Spirit Day this Friday!  Students may choose to participate in the festivities by wearing pink, in honor of breast cancer awareness or wearing red, white, and blue in honor of the New England Patriots.   

Tech Night for Parents and Students- TONIGHT! at MSMS

Weekly Bulletin - October 3, 2014

Welcome October!

We are happy to welcome in Fall with many exciting programs continuing to take place at Francis Wyman School.  The Science Center staff has been busy collaborating with classroom teachers and  working with 2nd grade students taking "tree walks", cracking geodes in 3rd grade, and sharing some animals and explaining their adaptations with 4th graders.  The students got a chance to pet a mighty python and they were all much more enthusiastic than Mrs. McDonald who was careful not to get too close!

Also, 3rd-5th grade students who were interested in taking band lessons received their instruments and began working with Mrs. Gendron this week.  Many future flute, trumpet, saxaphone, and even violin players will be able to say they began their illustrious musical careers here at Francis Wyman School!!

Remember to check your child's school folder today as the iReady Reading and Symphony Math reports for grades 1 - 5 were sent home for your review.  These reports reflect the student's beginning of the year performance and help us to carefully program to meet each student's individual needs.  Assessments will be completed periodically throughout the year to help us monitor student progress at each grade level.  Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher if you have questions or academic concerns.