Amy Lopes, an outstanding second-grade teacher at South River Elementary, has been named this week’s Educator of the Week! With 25 years of dedicated service at South River, Amy has consistently created a warm and dynamic classroom environment where students feel supported, motivated, and challenged to reach their full potential. She is always looking for ways to make her classroom better for her students.

In addition to her exemplary teaching, Amy is serving as the lab teacher for our new reading program this year. In this role, she has gone above and beyond to assist her fellow second-grade teachers in planning and implementing our new reading program. Her expertise and willingness to collaborate have been invaluable in ensuring that all students receive the high-quality instruction they deserve. Amy’s leadership and commitment to literacy make her an essential part of our school staff. We are incredibly fortunate to have you as part of the South River family.

The Gold Ribbon Awareness Club spearheaded activities across MPSD to raise money for childhood cancer awareness. Thank you to all who have donated to this worthy cause!

It was great to see that this particular kindergarten student was enjoying his relaxing ride home from school. Thank you for your patience as we work to create the best possible transportation, drop-off, and pick-up for all of our schools. We are working closely with our transportation company and Marshfield Police to ensure we adapt to the new start times with safety always being paramount. We are happy to report that although we still need improvements in some areas, our busses, drop-off, and pick-ups are improving. Thank you to everyone who is working to improve this important component of our operations.

During visits to our our wonderful schools, it is apparent what a wonderful job our educators are doing in creating a learning environment that shows connection to our students. Some of what was observed in classrooms and the buildings included:

• Presented materials that make student learning visible
• Systems and structures that make students feel comfortable, included, and which encourage student ownership of learning
• Space for and evidence of multiple grouping models that are appropriate for multiple instructional delivery styles
• The teacher creates an environment with the students that is intellectually and socially safe for learning
• The teacher creates space for student agency, autonomy, and authentic student voice
• The teacher makes efforts to connect with each individual child

It is inspiring to see this in action.

This week, we had great visits at the Granatino Early Elementary Center, South River Elementary School, and Governor Winslow Elementary School, where we engaged in our learning walk work around Deep Student Engagement in the Classroom.

Our Learning Walks this year will revolve around Deep Student Engagement, Task Development, and Learning Environment for Students. The District Leader established look-fors are inspired by Amy Berry and her book Reimagining Student Learning, From Disrupting to Driving. This is a multi-year focus, which will involve all stakeholders.

In a nutshell, we will focus on those elements in the classroom that move students from disrupting to driving learning, while also focusing on the development of strong tasks to engage the students within a culturally responsive climate that promotes inclusion.

These lookfors are being unwrapped at staff meetings across the district.

Thank you to Principal Casey, ELA Coordinator Alberico, FBMS leadership team, staff, students, and the entire FBMS community for today's celebration of the themes of this year's summer reading. It was a great day of project-based learning, and the student voice was wonderful!

Officer Hernon's Criminal Justice class kicked off the 2024/2025 school year with a visit from Chief Tavares and Officer Fitzgerald this week. The Chief and Officer Fitzgerald roleplayed an arrest and took numerous questions from the students. MPD takes great pride in our SRO's and the relationship we've built with the schools over the years. We have been meeting since summer with our new Superintendent, Pat Sullivan, and look forward to a safe and successful school year with many more visits to not only Officer Hernon's class but Officer Crowley in the elementary schools and Officer Cleary in the high school!

Thank you to MHS Guidance and to the over 80 Colleges who attended Tuesday's College Fair at MHS. There are a lot of excited students ready for their future success!

Here our some excellent College Planning Resources from Mrs. Goff, High School Guidance Director, and team from our recent MHS College Planning Night. Thank you, Mrs. Goff and team for these resources.

Our School Nurses work to ensure the health and safety of all students across the district by providing medical care, education, community referrals and resources. We encourage you to reach out to your school nurse for any concerns or changes in your child's medical needs, including behavioral health. School attendance is critical for success and school nurses work with you to ensure that your student can be present each day.

In the coming weeks there are several opportunities to support our students and families who work through medical challenges each and every day, all while doing their very best!

Consider joining Wally at BOSTON COMMON on Saturday, October 5th at 10 a.m....It's going to be an AMAZING day supporting the PAN/PANDAS students and families!! Register/Sponsor/Donate: https://givebutter.com/lookwalk

On Saturday, October 19th at 1pm on the Cape Cod Canal, join the walk to support our Type 1 Diabetic students! Learn more about this and South Shore Action For Hope by clicking here

Our targets for this year are developed from the Strategic Plan and Vision of the Graduate and are informed by on-going data gathering, including my ongoing entry-plan work. As a District, these will be our targets and focus for the year. I realize that this year we will not finish our work in any of these areas, but the goal is to make measurable improvements in all of these areas by the end of the school year.

Family and Community Engagement: All buildings will explore Joyce Epstein’s 6 Dimensions of Family Engagement looking at the communication, community collaboration, learning at home support, parenting support, volunteering, and family input in decision-making in each building.

District and School Culture: Each building will look at the level of voice and choice of staff in each building, types and reasons for celebrations, processes for collaborative decision making, structures for collective responsibilities and governance, and traditions within the school.

Student and Staff Equity Belonging and Wellness: As a district we will be reformulating the Social Emotional Learning, Wellness, and Diversity / Equity / and Inclusion teams as subgroups under one expanded Equity Belonging and Wellness team. This team will include students and families from across the district and will function as ambassadors for the work throughout the district.

Data Driven Decisions: We will continue to build our data structures throughout the district, engage in data dialogues, and analyze and explore data to make needed changes.

Rigorous Curriculum Development: We will be firmly establishing the stages of our district-wide curriculum review cycle and engaging in curriculum adoption, including the new elementary ELA curriculum district-wide.

Financial Stability: We will be looking closely at capital and operational budget priorities and working collaboratively with existing budgets as we firm up our curriculum review cycle.

Efficient and Effective Protocol, Procedure, and System Development (including safety): We will look closely at all our procedures and protocols (at least as many as we can) through a systems thinking lens and make any needed improvements.

Collective Teacher Efficacy (which is another way of saying our ability to work effectively together in teams): This is an important focus for us. Emphasizing the importance of educator collaboration is certainly nothing new; however, through research of John Hattie in New Zealand, we now can confidently say that working well together is the most important initiative in which we can engage to produce strong academic and social emotional achievement for our students. Hattie researched over 1000 meta-analysis, 50,000 quantitative and qualitative student and teacher peer-reviewed research reports, and data covering over 250 Million students world-wide, and found that the largest effect size on student achievement is made through collective teacher efficacy. Schools and districts where educators collaborated best had the highest achievement growth.

Student Voice and Engagement in the Teaching, Learning, and Leading: Also featuring prominently in effect size are strategies that make learning visible and explicit to the students. That brings us to our theme for the year, “Through the Eyes of the Student” and our greatest focus for the year, which is student voice and engagement in the teaching, learning, and leading throughout our schools. There is nothing more paramount and important this year than continuing to foster an environment that places students first and which provides them with a culturally responsive and inclusive environment that promotes student agency and voice.

Massachusetts STEM Week 2024

Mass STEM Week 2024 will take place from October 21–25 and is a statewide collaborative effort organized by the Executive Office of Education and the STEM Advisory Council in partnership with the state’s nine Regional STEM Networks, which plan and coordinate activities with local school communities, community leaders, and business partners. Visit the STEM Week webpage to learn more.
Educators and students are invited to participate in one of the STEM Week 2024 Design Challenges

• Wade Institute for Science Education- Extreme Zoo Makeover: A STEM Approach to Habitat Design
• Kids in Tech - STEM Goes Green: The STEM Challenge
• The STEM Education Center at WPI - "I Am STEM" Lesson Library
• Museum of Science – Environmental Engineering Challenge
• PBLWorks - The Future of Work

Thank you to Aimee McAlpine, Director of Professional Development and On-line Learning, and to everyone who made this week's professional development a big success at the elementary level.

The first English Learner Parent Advisory meeting will be October 17th at 6:30-8:00 in the MES Cafeteria. All multilingual families are encouraged to attend! Email Kate Lyons Mailloux at kmailloux@mpsd.org for more details.

Last week, Senior Charlie Carroll was recognized for his play last Spring as the Boston Globe, Division 2, Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year. Charlie was one of the leaders on our Boys Lacrosse Team this past Spring, that fell in Triple OT in the State Finals to Long Meadow. Congratulations to Charlie Carroll.

The MHS Volleyball Team broke through for their 1st W of the season with a home win against Sandwich, 3-1. The Rams, who had lost the previous day to P/N, 3-2, would not be denied this time around. Arielle Comer, Maddie Whitaker, Kaitlyn Todd and Olivia Kelley all played strong for the Rams in their victory.

The Girls and Boys Cross Country Teams split their meet against Silver Lake with the Girls picking up the victory and the Boys losing a close one. Graham Heinrich and Matt McCabe finished 1st and 2nd for the Boys and Mia LoVuolo led the way for the Girls Team, who again captured the first 7 spots in their Meet.

Girls and Boys Soccer each rebounded with solid victories over Quincy after both losing to Silver Lake earlier in the week. The Girls won 7-0, led by Sarah Foley’s 3 goals while the Boys shutout Quincy, 3-0. Ian Sarabia and Dylan Murphy shared the shutout for the Rams.

The MHS Golf Team swept the week going 4-0. The Golf Team was our 1st Team to qualify for the State Tournament and has been on an impressive run. They currently sit at 10 -3 for the season. JD Ambrose, Justin Ford, Will Noyes and Ben Berain have been just a few of the stars for the Rams this season.

The Football Team improved to 2-1 on the year with a 38-28 victory over B/R. Tor Maas had 4

touchdowns to his credit either running or throwing for the scores in the Rams victory. Jake Brilliant also found the endzone for the Rams again.

The Field Hockey Team fell to one of the best Teams in the State this week, with their shutout loss

against Hingham. Aubrey Finn continued her fine work in net making 17 saves.

Thank you to the MHS Athletic Teams for going Gold in support of Pediatric Cancer Awareness.

Please click on the link to access the Marshfield Public Schools PTO Page. Thank you to the PTO for all of their work in supporting Marshfield Public Schools.

Thank you to the Special Education Parents' Advisory Council (SEPAC) for their excellent work in supporting Marshfield Families. Here is an upcoming event for all families:

Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver

When: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 6:30 pm

Where: MHS Presentation Center

Registration: Here

Learn how to access and get all needed information regarding:

• Daily school work
• Grading & evaluations
• Bus/teacher assignments
• Work flows
• Schedules and more

Presented by the Marshfield Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC).

Please click on the link to access information regarding the MEF. We are thankful for their amazing support.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are excited to invite you to the 6th Annual Dance Camp hosted by the Marshfield High School Dance Team! This camp will allow your student to experience what it’s like to be an MHS Dancer, learn a fun routine, and perform with us during the halftime show at the Homecoming Football Game.

Camp Details:

• Date: Saturday, October 19th
• Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
• Location: MHS Auditorium
• Participants: Grades K-8
• Cost: $30 (includes snack, t-shirt, & entrance to the game)

Performance Details:

• Game Time: 2:00 PM
• Location: Marshfield High School Football Field
• Admission: Parents/guardians must purchase a ticket to the game to accompany their student. Participating students are free (must wear t-shirt).
• Arrival: All participants must arrive by 2:30 PM at the football field gate closest to the high school, wearing their camp t-shirt.
• Performance: Dancers will perform during halftime. After the performance, they will be escorted back to the same gate for pick-up.

Important Information:

• All dancers must be supervised by a parent or guardian during the game.
• In the event of rain, a special performance will take place at 11:30 AM in the high school auditorium.
• Don’t forget to RSVP by October 10th using the QR code provided!

We look forward to seeing your student on the dance floor and celebrating Homecoming with us!

For any questions or further information, please contact Paula Minchello, Dance Team Coach at pminchello@mpsd.org.

Are you, or someone you know, interested in joining our fantastic team of educators? We would love to add you to our dedicated team of Substitute Teachers. We also have a few ESP, SESP & Tutor positions we are still looking to fill. Click the link(s) below to learn more:

Employment Opportunities

Oct 2 - District Wide Early Release

Oct 4 - MHS/FBMS Term 1 Mid Term

Oct 8 - School Committee Meeting (MHS)

Oct 14 - Columbus Day (no school)

Oct 17 - ELPAC English Learner Parent Meeting

Oct 23 - District Wide Early Release

Oct 24 - SEPAC Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver

Nov 5 - No school for students/PD for teachers

Eames Way School

Governor Winslow School

Daniel Webster School

Martinson Elementary School

South River School

Furnace Brook Middle School

Marshfield High School

Marshfield High School Counselor Connection

Marshfield Health & Wellness

Email: psullivan@mpsd.org
Website: www.mpsd.org
Location: 76 South River Street, Marshfield MA 02050
Phone: (781) 834-5000
Twitter: @MarshfieldSuper