DNA - District News & Announcements

February 2024

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This newsletter is affectionately called the DNA because it's a beautiful collection of unique stories and experiences contributing to the development and function of our school communities. (Also it's an acronym for District News and Announcements ;) )

We hope you enjoy seeing some of these behind the scenes stories and will join your fellow community members at upcoming events!

The Framingham community is invited to the celebration of grade 4-5 Sage students’ independent investigation projects.

UPDATE: The time of this event has been updated! It is now taking place from 6pm - 7:30pm on Wednesday, March 6th (NOT 5pm - 7pm as originally advertised). It still takes place at Walsh Middle School

We are excited for you to see what creative topics and solutions the students have explored this year. Students select a topic of interest then work to solve a problem, produce something creative, or facilitate self growth. iNight is the showcase for their products and solutions. RSVP on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/51E7Vx0cj

If you have feedback on what's working AND what can be improved with FPS Communications - please complete the open surveys! At this time, the following two surveys a open and collecting responses:

School and Class Level Surveys for Caregivers (Deadline, March 2, 2024)

Broad Communication Survey for Staff (Deadline Extended to March 2, 2024)

There is one final Coffee Comms Chat tomorrow from 9:30-11:30am at Andina Cafe. In the month of March, the Media and Communications Manager will attend a variety of FPS hosted events to have informal caregiver conversations and will also organize other in-person and virtual opportunities to meet and chat.

In the meantime, you can always schedule a meeting with Rochelle Santos, Media and Communications Manager for FPS, to share your thoughts and ideas about FPS Communications, please schedule a 30 minute meeting: https://calendly.com/rsantos-2/30min.

In case you missed it, here is the 2024 Communication Survey Series Overview.

Cooler Communities is a school grant program where students and teachers explore and work on projects that address climate change, energy use and conservation. These projects are showcased by students to the community through a fun and informative community event. The goal of Cooler Communities is to bring awareness around these topics that can lead to measurable results and benefits for the students, their communities and the earth.

Save The Date: Framingham Public Schools Department of Community Resource Development will be holding our 3rd annual Cooler Communities Fair!

Saturday, Apr 27, 2024, 10:00 AM

Fuller Middle School, Flagg Drive, Framingham, MA, USA

Learn more: https://www.smore.com/n/4tdxu-cooler-communities-fair

On Tuesday, January 23rd, the Chris Walsh Performing Arts Center at Fuller Middle School was nearly full of incoming Kindergarten caregivers who are embarking on the Kindergarten Registration process. While many were there for the first time, it was nice to see many returning and familiar faces!

For anyone who missed it, you can watch the recording of the presentation in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

If your child's school is not included below, that does not mean they aren't doing wonderful, exciting things! We look forward to sharing even more news and updates in the Good News Network section of future District Newsletters!

Congratulations and good luck to three Hemenway students who are finalists in the MSLA bookmark contest This year's theme is "Every Story Matters."

• Division 1: Mia S., Grade 1
  
• Division 2: Ocean J., Grade 3
  
• Division 3: Anthony Q., Grade 5

Check out their amazing work below! Winners will be announced on March 17 at the MSLA Conference which is taking place in Framingham!

February Edition of the Hap: https://www.smore.com/tj8gd

The Hap is a monthly digital newspaper by and for Framingham High School students - and now for the larger community to enjoy. Please feel free to spread the news!

In This Issue: Things to do for Galentine's Day!, Artist of the Month: Yayoi Kusama, Nzuko Restaurant Review, Oscar Snubs/Nominations, Golden Globes Fiasco, and Guerrilla Girls Spotlight

Congratulations to all of our students, advisors, parent volunteers, and everyone who continues to support great team building and problem-solving with Robotics! Following the recent Southern New England Middle Regional Championships where five WalshBot teams competed with 42 other teams from the region - all teams made it to the elimination rounds and three Walsh teams heading to VEX World Championships in April!

Photo from Walsh Bots on Facebook: What does pure joy look like when you learn your team won Excellence Award Southern New England Middle School Championship? This! Congrats 9791B - Blue Avocados!

• 9791A WalshBots Roboteers - made it to Round of 16.
• 9791B WalshBots Blue Avocados - made it to Quarter Finals and won Excellence Award advancing them to VEX World Championships.
• 9791C WalshBots Cookie Monsterz - made it to Quarter Finals and won Innovate Award advancing them to VEX World Championships.
• 9791E WalshBots Cyberdyne - made it to Round of 16 and won Create Award
• 9791F WalshBots McNuggets - make it to Quarter Finals and won an Amaze Award (VRC/VEXU/VAIRC) and received an invitation to advance to VEX World Championships based on their Robot Skills Challenge ranking.

There is a lot to be proud of in all our students who are in Walsh Robotics Club!

Brophy students from Grade 2 to 5 have been working on developing and strengthening their math skills, in both languages of instruction, in the after-school Math Club. On Tuesday, January 30th the club had their last day celebration where all students enjoyed practicing math skills solving, as a team, different levels and kinds of math problems. Ms. Gardner, Ms. Newcomb, and Mrs. Lillian feel honored to support Brophy’s mathematicians!

Los estudiantes de Brophy de 2do a 5to grado han estado trabajando en el desarrollo y fortalecimiento de sus habilidades matemáticas, en ambos idiomas de instrucción, en el Club de Matemáticas después de clases. El martes 30 de enero el club tuvo su último día y para celebrar todos los estudiantes disfrutaron practicando habilidades matemáticas resolviendo, en equipo, diferentes niveles y tipos de problemas matemáticos. ¡La Srta. Gardner, la Srta. Newcomb y la Sra. Lillian se sienten honradas de apoyar a los matemáticos de Brophy!

Fuller Middle School sixth graders visited kindergarten classrooms at McCarthy Elementary School to practice reading. The sixth grade students practiced reading fluency for two weeks prior to their visit and learned how to present a storybook to a group of young children. This was definitely a fun way to help increase their confidence in reading aloud.

In the culmination of the HMH Into Reading curriculum Module 5, Art Everywhere, Grade 4 students from Barbieri participated in a talent show! Students worked hard throughout Module 5 to answer the Essential Question: How far can you talents take you? To showcase all they learned about the arts, their teachers organized quite a show! Students and teachers showed their dance moves, acrobatics, musical talents, MC skills, artistic abilities, soccer skills, and more!

The annual Nature Mandala workshops, generously funded by the FHS PTBO, happened on February 14, in Ms. Nicodemus', Ms. Rathmell's, and Ms. Maynard's Applied Environmental Science, Environmental Earth Science and AP Environmental Science classes. Pawtucket-based artist Beth Adoette presented her workshop and made available her materials to 5 classes of students, and they made individual and class mandalas.

Thanks to the FHS PTBO for making this possible. The students (and teachers!) appreciated the opportunity to be thoughtful and creative, while deepening their appreciation of nature and each other.

Students from Honors Environmental Earth and AP Environmental Science classes traveled to the New England Aquarium in Boston on February 1st to explore a vast array of marine biodiversity and to learn how human actions are affecting these species. The students were excited to see these aquatic species firsthand and to witness their behavior and beauty up close and personal. Students were tasked with taking photos of different species on a scavenger hunt; some examples of what they had to find were invasive species, species that share a symbiotic relationship, species that are declining due to human activity, and their favorite species at the aquarium. The most loved species were the octopus, sea lions, seals, sea turtle, and jellyfish. This was an extremely valuable experience for all involved! Thank you to the FHS Foundation for providing us with this unique opportunity!

Kudos to the cast, crew, leaders, and advocates at Hemenway Elementary School who prepared an amazing 5th Grade (Class of 2024) production of Willy Wonka Jr. February 9th and 10th!

KINDNESS WEEK - Barbieri celebrated Kindness, Friendship & Love for the entire week of February 12th. Every class began by having guest readers come to read "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" By Carol McCloud. Students then spent the week being "bucket fillers" by writing kind words on every classroom door. Older and younger classes were then matched up with "Kindness Buddies" to read and do projects together. We finished the week strong with Kindness parties and a red/pink spirit day. The whole week filled everyone's bucket right up!

One important way that FHS students can find and create their sense of belonging is by joining after-school clubs. At Framingham High School, there really is something for everyone! Joining an after-school club offers a way to deepen learning, expand interests, discover passion, meet new people, make new friends, and even provide the opportunity to stand out on college applications. Participating in various clubs adds value to the high school experience while creating amazing memories!

Luciane Horcel, the Coordinator for Out-of-School Time Programs at FHS, comes to this position with many years of varied experience, including being a journalist (absolutely passionate about information and communication), a college teacher (she taught for 14 years), and a Director of 4 private schools. She is Brazilian (she says you'll know it when you hear her accent and loud laugh) and was a hostess for a Brazilian Radio Show here in Framingham for two years. Ms. Horcel has been in Massachusetts since 2017 and is new to the OST Coordinator role, though she is very excited about helping the students to learn and experience through the extracurricular programs.

In her role, she hopes to create awareness for the clubs in new ways! Starting in February, Ms. Horcel launched a Club Showcase during lunchtime. She hopes to host a new showcase each month to help increase interest in the various after-school clubs! Visit the FHS website for snapshot of the first featured club with some photos!

The Environmental Awareness Club at Framingham High School is participating in a program called Tree-Plenish whose mission is to empower students to create more sustainable schools by replenishing the environment with the resources they use each year.

With Tree-Plenish, our students will host a community tree-planting event on April 6th based on how much energy FHS uses. Community members can:

• Order a sapling by March 6th: https://tpevents.org/school/4056, or
• Volunteer a team to help plant saplings: https://treeplenish.typeform.com/to/kGfeWapW

The Framingham High School Environmental Awareness Club and Art Department have collaborated to create the installation “A Few Degrees More” that will be open to the public at Project B Gallery in Saxonville Mills starting on March 8th and running through March 21st! Learn about this incredible partnership and how our students are using this to educate our community on four environmental issues impacting Framingham through this student-made video!

Kindness is being nice and considerate towards others.

The Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum is all connected to this theme/trait and is supported with activities during morning meeting, mindfulness, discussions, books, art, team-building, games and more!

Conversation Starters About Kindness:

• Discuss a time someone did something kind for you.
  
• What does kindness look and sound like in a classroom? How about at home?
• How can being kind to others make yourself feel better?
• What kind choices can adults make? How about kids?

Kindness Book List - Read Alouds

• Kindness Is My Super Power: Alicia Ortego (Portuguese) (Spanish)

This book features little Lucas, a boy who learns about kindness and teaches your about good manners and positive behavior in different settings, whether at home, at school, in the store, or on the playground.

• The Invisible Boy: Trudy Ludwig (Bilingual Spanish)

A gentle story that teaches how small acts of kindness can help children feel included and allow them to flourish. A simple act of kindness can transform an invisible boy into a friend.

• How Full Is Your Bucket?: Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer (Portuguese)

In this story Felix begins to see how every interaction in a day either fills or empties his bucket. Felix then realizes that everything he says or does to other people fills or empties their buckets as well.

We are currently still accepting job applications for many open positions for this academic year! Please explore for yourself or share our openings with your professional networks!

Please explore the Careers Page on the FPS website!

School Bus Drivers $25-$31/Hour

• $5,000 Sign-on Bonus for fully licensed school drivers.
• Must be at least 21
• Must have your license for 3 consecutive years
• Must have the ability to pass background checks and drug test

No CDL? No problem. NRT will pay $20 per hour to get your CDL. If completed in 60 days, $500 extra

incentive.

School Van Drivers $19-$20/Hour

7D drivers are needed! No 7D Certificate? They provide PAID training.

• Must be at least 21
• Must have your license for 3 consecutive years
• Must have the ability to pass background checks and drug test

LEARN MORE BY VISITING THE NRT WEBSITE: School Bus Driver-Paid Training- Framingham

The Media and Communications Office continues to refine and improve the submission process. We always appreciate hearing from staff, parents/guardians, and students with events, accolades, shoutouts, and more. Thank you for sharing your bright spots with us!

Submit your good news to the 'Good News' Google Form, which is now accessible in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Submitted content goes into future newsletters and social media posts!