Hello Foster Families

Dear Foster's Finest,

I have sent a few letters in the last week so I plan to keep this letter short. Our staff is eager to begin the new year and we all look forward to seeing our students back in action next week. Please follow the instructions sent out to you all about pick-up and drop-off yesterday. Much thought and preparation has gone into this to ensure student and staff safety. All walkers, including kindergarten and grade one, will be dismissed by the Cafeteria and the Presentation Room. We have staff who will be inside the building making sure students are finding their way. All students, including kindergarten, will enter the building in the morning through the front door for this school year. We are not meeting students at the playground on the opening day, so please send them in through the front door.

Wishing you an extra nice holiday weekend!

Mr. Scheufele

All parents/caregivers who have not completed their login to the Aspen Family Portal or any new families will receive an email on Friday, September 1st with login information for setting up their account.

Families who have already completed the process by logging in once already will not receive the email.

If you need help logging in, please email aspenhelp@hinghamschools.org.

If you are interested in becoming a room parent this year please send an email to Anna Mancuso at almancuso16@gmail.com. Please include your child's name and classroom teacher. If more than 2 parents volunteer for the same classroom we will use a lottery system to pull 2 names.

Looking for a place to donate all of your old legos? The K-3 LEGO Club Needs them! The PTO is collecting ANY and ALL Legos starting August 31st. There will be separate boxes for REGULAR and DUPLO Legos in the entryway to Foster. Thanks in advance for your donations and support! Any Questions or if you would like to join the waitlist for K-3 Lego Club Please Contact Missy Sadler, Sadler.Melissa@icloud.com

Parents, Caregivers, Family & Friends of K-3 Lego Club if you’re looking to volunteer to chaperone our Lego Club Days starting Monday September 18th 2:30-4pm, please sign up here: Volunteer Sign-Up

We learned a lot from last year and with our observations and your feedback we've decided to make the following changes:

• Green Team will be the SAME team the whole year long. You register once, you pay once, you're on it the whole school year. Better team building, less administrative hassle, clearer communication for both parents/teachers/school.
• Green Team is newly open for Grade 1-4. $40 per student covers the year.
• Max 36 students.
• Grade 5 can register free of charge as Green Team helpers.
• Observations showed that K students were a bit overwhelmed by this extra hour. We would have loved to provide separate, younger age adapted classes but are lacking volunteers. As to Grade 5, they are having many 5th grade class activities on the early release days - this arrangement gives them the opportunity to come in as a big buddy/helper whenever they have availability.

The link to register is https://forms.gle/N3EwNTTU83d8TtrQ9

Any Questions, Please contact Christin Eigenmann at ceigenmann77@gmail.com

We have had a few phone calls about supply lists. The supply lists are found on the District/School Webpage. Please click here to access the page.

This year, due to State Government Assistance, lunch and breakfast will be served free of charge. The monthly menu will be found on the HPS Website, and students who would like a school lunch will simply order it when they get to school. It should be noted that all school provided lunches are peanut/tree nut free. This year, there will also be a continuing breakfast program (also peanut/tree nut free) for students who wish to partake in that. There will be one “grab and go breakfast” offering daily (please see monthly menu).

Please be aware that there will be charges for second helpings and other things like milk when purchased without a lunch. It is recommended (but not required) that families set up an account with SchoolCafe to pay for any of the extra choices. If you choose not to use this to pay for any extras, families will need to send in a check to the cafeteria. The checks should be made payable to HPS Food Services with your child's full name on the subject line.

Please also know that if any of our families need financial assistance at any time or for any reason during the year, they should contact the school Adjustment Counselor, Jaclyn Duggan, or our Guidance Counselor, Danielle Campbell, who will keep all such requests confidential.

Our school day begins at 8:20, and teachers are officially on duty at 8:10 (before that time, they may be in meetings, conferences, or preparing for the day), so it is very important that children do not arrive until 8:10 as there is no adult supervision available. This is the same start time that we had last year. Dismissal will be at 2:30 P.M.

On your child's first day of school your child will come home with several forms that need to be filled out (emergency contact information, etc.). A swift turn-around of these forms will be greatly appreciated as they are very important for the administration of the school. We really appreciate the time that families put into making sure all of the forms are returned, as we understand how busy the first few days of school can be.

A full listing of our fantastic staff will be on our website in September.

At the spring 2023 Town Meeting, the Town of Hingham approved a ban on selling and distributing non-flavored, non-carbonated water in plastic single-use bottles. Beginning for the 2023-2024 school year, the school’s Food Services will no longer sell single-use plastic water bottles. As we start the school year, students are encouraged to bring their own reusable water bottles to school that can be filled out at a water bubbler or a water-filling station.

The PTO is also selling Yeti Water Bottles. We have hydration stations in the school that cool and filter water. Place your order today while supplies last!

• Electronic Devices: Please be aware that many experts recommend that children not be on Social Media until at least thirteen years of age. That being said, we understand that personal preference prevails in a given family. We just want to make you aware of the fact that we do not allow students to have their own personal devices (like phones and watches as they are impossible for staff to monitor, and interrupt instruction) that can access the internet in the classrooms. If they do bring them to school (at their own risk) they can be off and in their backpacks. We give them lots of digital experiences by integrating learning with school owned IPADS, Chromebooks, and laptops while taking age/grade level into account. The Foster Handbook has further information on this topic.

• Bikes and Scooters: Students should stop riding when they turn onto the sidewalk leading up to the school. We have so many students and parents and traffic in this area during drop off and dismissal that we ask that students do not ride them until they are on the main sidewalks. This has been very helpful at preventing accidents.

• Don't forget to go to the cafeteria on August 31 after visiting your child's classroom to pick up your Free Foster T-Shirt:

  Kindergarten = Red First Grade = Green

  Second Grade = Yellow

  Third Grade = Orange

  Fourth Grade = Purple

  Fifth Grade = Blue

September 5: First Day of School for grades 1-5. No School for Kindergarten.

September 6: Kindergarten Meet and Greet and Group Conferences/ Bus

September 7: First Day of School for Kindergarten.