Hello Foster Families
Hello Foster's Finest,
I am happy to announce that recess was back on the basketball court and the playground today. We are staying off the grass area until the drilling rigs are a little further away. The noise continues to be a little high in the grassy area, so out of an abundance of caution, we will remain off of the grass at least for the next week. Thank you to our amazing staff for supporting recess and making it work for our students.
We have had wonderful PTO volunteers working to get the Boosterthon going. This has been in the works for over a year, and has been delayed by the construction. It's here now and coming soon! Please make sure to register your child to participate. The classes that reach full participation will have some prizes coming their way. This is a big fundraising activity designed to support the enrichments that the PTO funds throughout the year. Every little bit helps, so please sign-up and participate.
We have almost 200 families who have completed the Family Portal Update. If you have not done so, please follow the direction that were emailed back when school began. Updating your contacts, as well as permissions for photographs, are very important for us so that we can reach you when a child is sick or to ensure we are not publishing pictures of students when parents do not want them published.
Student MCAS reports are in for our current 4th and 5th graders. They will be sent out next week and hopefully in your hands between around September 14th-16th. Mrs. Newell will be our guest weekly update author next week! It must be the weekend, because I see rain in the forecast! Stay dry!
Wishing you a great weekend!
Mr. Scheufele
Aspen Reminder
IMPORTANT: Families, please take a moment as soon as possible to complete important beginning of year documents via the Aspen Family Portal. These documents include the following:
Review of Contact Information
School Handbook Acknowledgement
Technology Acceptable Use
Student Photo Release Opt Out
Release of Student Data Notice
Find instructions for the "Parent Permission Workflow" HERE. If you need help with Aspen Family login, please email aspenhelp@hinghamschools.org
Naming of New Elementary School Building
The new elementary school that will replace the current Foster School is set to open next fall. We are excited to see the building continue to take shape as construction is well underway. At this time, we are welcoming the community to share their suggestions for names of the new building.
We will complete two rounds of surveys. The first survey collects suggested names. The results will be shared with the School Committee later this fall. After narrowing down the names, we will provide the community with an additional opportunity to provide feedback on the names remaining.
Once a name has been identified, the School Committee submits a warrant article to the Select Board to be considered for a vote at the Spring Town Meeting. Town bylaw states that naming a municipal building requires approval at Town Meeting.
The survey will be open through the end of October. See link: hinghamschools.org/survey
Thank you for your participation in this exciting process!
Spelling Bee
The Hingham Education Foundation is excited to announce the return of their beloved annual Spelling Bee on Sunday, November 5th. This is a fun-filled, community event for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders that helps fund grants for the Hingham Public Schools.
Online registration will be open via the HEF website starting October 2nd and until each grade reaches capacity (30 teams max per grade). This event has become very popular so be sure and register as soon as possible!
Important Information:
One parent captain will register the entire hive on the HEF website
You must have a ‘hive’ name to register so give that a thought prior to registration!
Each team or “hive” consists of three students who attend a Hingham public elementary school
Each hive costs $90 to register ($30 per student). Credit Card only.
Eye Glass Donations
We have a box for collecting eyeglasses in our main lobby. Please see the note below. These projects supported by Lion's Club International are extremely beneficial for families that cannot afford eye glasses. Having participated in running this in the Lion's Club that I belonged in, I can only say how impactful this project is on people's lives. Please consider supporting this if you can.
"Dear Staff, Families and Students,
Lions International is hoping you will help their efforts to collect gently used eyewear, in particular there is a need for youth eyewear! All donated glasses are taken to the New England College of Optometry in Boston where they are cleaned, repaired, if necessary, and categorized: men, women, children and organized by prescription strength. The donated eyewear is then distributed domestically and internationally by VOSH International (Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity) to people in need and in conjunction with much needed eye examinations and eyecare. Please visit VOSH.org for an explicit depiction.
Thank you!
Dr. Hilary W. Williams"
School Calendars
Check out these instructions to download any HPS calendar on your phone. You can subscribe to any school, athletics, or fine arts calendar!
If you're ready to go, please visit hinghamschools.org/calendar.
The PTO Has so much to share this week please make sure you read everything!
Mark your Calendars for future PTO Meetings:
11/16 - 7 pm PTO MTG – Foster Library
1/9 - 8:30 am PTO MTG – Foster Presentation Room
3/13 - 7 pm PTO MTG – Foster Library
5/10 - 9 am PTO MTG – Foster Presentation Room
6/6 - PTO END OF YEAR THANK YOU 7pm Location TBD
Our FOSTER FUN RUN REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
Please make sure you register your kid (s) ASAP so they can participate!
Register on MYBOOSTER.COM
The Foster's Fun Run is a 13-day program kicking off now and culminating with the Fun Run on 10/18. During the week leading up to the run students will focus on a different theme each day at school learning how to become a World Changer (Find a Need, Write a Plan, Rally a Team, Launch It Now & Grit It Out). Students who wish to participate can work to get pledges for how many minutes they can run and receive awards/prizes for achieving milestones. At the end of the week students who want to participate will run up to 35 minutes to high-energy music. Special accommodations will be made for any student who may require them. The Fun Run will take place in the grassy area behind the playground during school hours. Look out for more information in the coming weeks. For now, mark your calendars with these key dates!
● How to become a “World Changer” kick off at School - 10/06/2023
● Fun Run Day - 10/18/2023
Questions? Visit the FAQ or feel free to reach out to Meg Tomasello (mgrier77@yahoo.com) for more information.
K-3 LEGO CLUB Weekly Highlights
Boats That Float!
The kids were challenged with creating a Lego boat that would hold the most minifigures without sinking. There were a lot of pre-made boats already in the bins, but many were surprised to learn not all of them floated well. There was also a lot of discovering that to get more people on the boat they had to be well balanced! Thank you Macy Gelfand and all of our Lego Volunteers for making this happen!
***We currently have 19 kids in K-3 on the waitlist that we could easily run a second Lego club if someone could volunteer to lead it and recruit weekly volunteers to help supervise. Macy would be happy to share her weekly plan with whoever wanted to take on the 2nd club. It would just have to take place on a different day than Monday’s in order to access the Library & Legos. Please reach out to Sadler.Melissa@icloud.com if you are up for the challenge***4th/5th Grade Robotics Club
Well, it was the best session yet! The teams began to learn about sensors. Robots need sensors to function autonomously and this week our engineers learned how to code the sensors. This is a critical step in our progress towards programming a robot to function autonomously. We are VERY excited and happy engineers this week. Mr. Riser and Mr. Scheufele enjoyed the energy in the room.
Hingham Helps Hawaii
FOSTERS MINI-PHOTO SESSIONS ARE BACK!
THERE ARE ONLY 2 SLOTS LEFT! Thank you to everyone that has already signed up! Please don’t forget to venmo $55 to @Foster-PTO & write “photos” in order to secure your booking!
Library Volunteers
Do you love to be around books?
Sign up to volunteer at the Foster library. Mrs. Quinlivan is in need of helpers to come in throughout the year to help kids find books, organize books, return them to the shelves, and catalog new books. No prior experience is required but you will need to have a CORI on file. This is a great low commitment way to volunteer! You may come in as little or as much as you’d like and even arrange to be there when your child’s class has library day!
If you are interested, email: maryelizabethwing@gmail.com
Our PUMPKIN CONTEST IS BACK!
For the month of October kids who want to participate are welcome to decorate their best pumpkin and place it in the enclosed triangle on top of the rocks at the front of the school. The top 2 winners will receive a special prize from the PTO. Check out last year's winners - Brennick Way’s “Pennywise” & Bella Primo’s “Minion”!
Green Team
Slash the Trash
Green Volunteers help our students during two lunches
Foster's Finest is doing an excellent job sorting their trash after lunch. A big thank you to all the great green volunteers & to our paraeducators for encouraging & helping with this important effort going forward! Less trash means less waste sent to the landfill or the incinerator. Saving uneaten items means less food waste.
How to sort after lunch?
Look at your plate:
What can you save? Keep it & pack it into your lunch box or backpack for later.
Note to caregivers: students are encouraged to save uneaten or unopened food items like nutrigrain bars, goldfish, full apples, fruits in a sealable container etc. Thank you very much for regularly checking your student's backpack for items which you can still use in your household.
Fruits & Veggie scraps go to the red compost bin. Only scraps, not full fruits which can be saved (see 1.)
Trays to trays. The lunch trays are compostable, so keep them out of the trash. Each week, a High School student picks up all trays from all the HPS schools & drives them to the compost area of the Hingham transfer station.
First Green Team Class - Carbon dioxide is a master in trapping heat
The Green Team had an amazing start this week. Thank you very much to the amazing 5th grade & parent helpers for making this happen. So much learned & so many creative ideas drawn or built during this first class! We can't wait for the next Green Team Class on Early Release Wednesday, November 1st.
Our planet earth
What we learned:
We learned that 'Earthy' (our planet earth stuffy) is protected by a blanket (the atmosphere) from the cold from outer space.
Greenhouse gases (gases that can trap heat like carbon dioxide & methane) help trap the right amount of heat for us.
Together we explored what happens if there are too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - or if an extra blanket is wrapped around 'Earthy'.
And an exciting experiment showed us why Carbon Dioxide is called a Green House Gas - it was the one capturing the most heat.
A Big Thank you to our PTO Green Team: Christin Eigenmann, Hailey Crean & Allison Hall
FOSTER’S FINEST 1ST ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
FOSTER’S FINEST 1ST ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT UPDATE
WE ARE SOLD OUT! SEE YOU ON THE LINKS FRIDAY OCT 20th!
We are still looking for hole sponsors ($250 per hole)
Save The Date: Foster’s 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat
Date: Friday October 27th, 2023
Time: 4:00-5:30pm
Location: Foster Playground & Adjacent Parking Lot
The Themes are starting to roll in, Foster’s Finest is gearing up for Trunk or Treat!
A Message from the 5th Grade Committee
Upcoming 5th Grade Half Day Events:
November 1st - Pickles, 1-2:30pm
December 6th - Time TBD
Charity Focused Collaboration with St John's Parish, Hingham Food Pantry and Harbor House
February 7th - TA Fitness, 1-2:30pm
March 6th - South Shore Bowling, 1-2:30pm
STAY INFORMED
FOR ALL THINGS PTO FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Foster PTO on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095302822577
@Foster_pto_02043 on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/foster_pto_02043?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Check out our website too: www.fosterpto.com