Greetings FitzGerald Families!

We had a great "Fitzy Friday" today! Just a reminder that every Friday is "Fitzy Friday" at FitzGerald School! Our whole community is invited to wear blue/yellow, Fitzy Wear, or Spirit Shirts (grade specific color shirts with the Fitzy mascot on the front and school mission statement on the back) to school! We love seeing family members participating as well!

Thank you to the PTO!

Thank you to the PTO for a great first meeting of the school year! We had 40 people in attendance either in person or virtually. I want to thank the Waltham High National Honor Society students who came to support with childcare. The children played games, did some drawing, and had fun with the high school students. We will continue to offer childcare and Spanish speaking translation for each PTO meeting this year. The next meeting is Wednesday November 6th at 6:30pm. We hope to see you there!

Talking Points When Discussing School Emergency Drills With Your Child:

During the Principal Q and A portion of the meeting at PTO this week, a great question came up about ways in which to talk with the students at home about our emergency drills, and, in particular, the ALICE drill, which involves language about what to do in the event of an intruder. Here are some discussion tips to consider bringing into your at home conversations:

• Every school practices emergency drills, not just FitzGerald School.
  
• Our school has locks on the doors, a security person at the front desk, and a police officer at our school every day. We are lucky to have so many great people here to keep us safe at FitzGerald!
• Teachers help us practice what to do if there is an emergency at school.
  
• We have different types of emergency drills: fire drills, ALICE drills, and Bus Evacuation drills.
• We practice how to stay safe in school, just like we practice other skills like reading, writing, math, etc. in school.
• Our most important job during any drill is to stop, look, and listen to the teacher (this is any teacher or staff member that we are with during the day) and follow directions. By listening to our teacher's directions, we are helping Officer John and/or the police officers and fire fighters to do their best job.
• Specifically, for an ALICE drill, we do use the word intruder during our practice conversations because it is part of the language of the practice drill. We talk to the students about what this means by saying that "An intruder is a person that does not belong in our school." We do not elaborate further on this language.
• During our emergency drills, police officers, fire fighters, or other public safety people may come to the school to see the wonderful job we do when we practice our drills.
• We can do a great job practicing staying safe at FitzGerald School!

We hope that the discussion points above are helpful! If your child asks more questions about any of the drills specifically and you would like more talking points to address any concerns your child expresses, please feel free to contact Mrs. Santillo or Ms. Bernard and we are happy to discuss more ways to support the conversation.

SAVE THE DATE:

The FitzGerald Back to School Night will be on Wednesday September 25th from 6:00-7:30pm. This will be a family event, where students will be taking lead on showing their family around the school. We have updated the evening's structure to lessen wait lines and crowds, and we can't wait to bring our community together to learn more about teaching and learning at FitzGerald School! We will be asking (as available) for families with the last name starting with A-K to come from 6:00-6:45pm and for families with the last name starting with L-Z to come from 6:45-7:30pm.

Thank you for your continued partnership! Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Santillo, Principal- jennifersantillo@walthampublicschools.org

Mrs. Lamoly, Assistant Principal- julielamoly@walthampublicschools.org

Would you like to be a guest reader in the library?

If you are interested in being a guest reader during your child’s library time, please email Ms. McKeever, elizabethmckeever@walthampublicschools.org.

Fall Reading Challenge:

To encourage students to read widely and often, the whole school will participate in the Fitzy Football Reading Challenge. All students will receive copies of the challenge on Monday, September 23rd.

See directions and challenges below:

K-2 Challenge and directions in English, Spanish, & Portuguese

Grades 3-5 Directions in English and Spanish

(Additional copies are always available in the library)

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

Wednesday night, we came together for our first PTO meeting of the year. Between our Google Meet and in-person attendees, we had over 40 people join us to discuss our plans for the upcoming school year. We appreciate everyone who joined the meeting. Congrats to Emily Ketchum, the winner of our $75 dollar FitzyWear Store gift card.

We are still on the lookout for two volunteers to join us for the board. We are in search of a Director of Communications and a Director of Finance. Reach out to FitzGeraldPTO@gmail.com or DanStrafford@gmail.com for more information.

Get your walking shoes ready!

Walking Wednesday is back this October. The PTO will be sponsoring four walking Wednesdays beginning on October 2nd and continuing through to Wednesday October 23rd. More details to follow!

FUNDRAISING

⚽ Fall Soccer Shack - Sign-up now to volunteer with us on Saturday, October 5th! We need volunteers to run the concession stand at the soccer shack (located at Veteran's Field). We're also seeking food to sell that day and monetary donations to purchase additional items.

💸 Ongoing Fundraisers - Last night we shared our three ‘passive’ fundraisers that happen throughout the year. We can raise money for FitzGerald by leveraging these sites for the shopping we already do! Take a look…

• Raise Right - Earn money for FitzGerald by purchasing Gift Cards or by Shopping online!

• FitzGerald Elementary Enrollment Code - 1B5L864C89184

• Mabel’s Labels - Lost and Found is already growing at the school, get some labels now before your kids gear ends up there!

• Box Tops - Download the app and begin scanning your receipts today!

🍴Restaurant Nights - What are they? An opportunity to share a meal with family and friends while helping raise funds for the PTO, which directly benefits our school children. We hope to see you there!

Up Next:

Tues, Oct 15 - Bistro 781

Thurs, Nov 14 - Chateau

👕Fitzy Shop - COMING SOON!

EVENTS

TRUNK or TREAT is BACK!!! Mark your calendar for Friday October 25th, 5pm-7pm

Join us for trick or treating from Trunk to trunk, enjoy a costume parade, music, prizes and more!

We are currently looking for a subcommittee to help organize the event. If you are interested please contact the FitzgeraldPTO@gmail.com or Francesca at francescarPTO@gmail.com

If you would like to volunteer the day of the event or donate any items needed please see the volunteers sign up sheet! Thank you for all your support in making this event wonderful for all our Fitzy Community!

Stay tuned for the sign up for our Trunk Hosts!!!

Stay in touch! PTO website – Facebook – Instagram

The FitzGerald School Council is a group that includes parent, staff, and community representatives that discuss items such as budget, School Improvement Plan, etc. Approved meeting minutes are posted in the Fitzy's Flyer office communication.

First Meeting: October 9th

Time: 6:00-6:45pm

Location: Virtual

*Breakfast and Lunch are available for free for all students this school year!

** All students should bring one snack and a water bottle to school each day.

Every Friday is "Fitzy Friday" at FitzGerald! Everyone is invited to wear Fitzy Spirit Wear or the colors blue and/or yellow to school, if they would like to!

Wednesday September 25th- Early Release Day, 1:00pm

Wednesday September 25th- 6:00-7:30pm- FitzGerald Back to School Night (more details on the structure of the event coming next week)

Tuesday October 1st - Initial Picture Day

Thursday October 3rd- No School

Monday October 14th- No School

Wednesday October 23rd- Early Release Day, 1:00pm

Tuesday November 19th - Retake Picture Day

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Clever is an app we use at school that makes it easy for students to access many online learning programs and resources with their Waltham Public Schools Google account. Students can also access Clever at home on a personal device. Click HERE for directions.

Email: jennifersantillo@walthampublicschools.org
Website: https://www.walthampublicschools.org/o/fitzgerald
Location: 138 Beal Road, Waltham, MA, USA
Phone: 781-314-5680