PARKER WEEKLY BULLETIN

Good afternoon Parker Families:

It was another action-packed week at Parker Middle School. We were fortunate to host Ms. Katie Greer yesterday who led an interactive and informative assembly on Internet Safety. Ms. Greer was adept at relating to the students while mentoring them on safe and best practices. Our children are increasingly dependent on social media, messaging, and gaming. there are some benefits to these but significant risks and unhealthy dependencies also come with it. One challenge Ms. Greer had was for them to carve out a period of time at least once a week where the entire household powers down and engages with one another in a fun interactive activity. Ideally, this could be done everyday but once a week is a start! We are all so busy and tied to technology and scheduled breaks may do us all a world of good.

We also hosted our Sixth Grade Social today. We had over 300 students attend the social where they danced, played games, snacked, and hung out with their friends and classmates. It was wonderful to see the kids have fun in a safe environment. Special thanks go to our amazing PTO and staff volunteers for making this event possible!

Grades for Term 2 closed this week and Report Cards will be made available next week. Today marks the official halfway point of the school year. We are seeing significant progress in so many of our students. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you are concerned about their progress. We are working to develop independent study skills while encouraging the kids to take initiative and ask for help when it is needed. Self-advocacy is such an important skill. Please reinforce that message with your child.

Term 2 PRIDE Awards

We awarded our term 2 PRIDE Awards to those students who exemplified one or more of our core PRIDE values (Perseverance, respect, Integrity, Dedication, and Empathy) consistently throughout the term. Students are nominated by a staff member and receive a certificate with a brief description of how they demonstrated PRIDE. Only students who receive a PRIDE Award are eligible for our highest honor in being enshrined on our PRIDE Wall at the end of the year. Please join me in congratulating our Term 2 PRIDE winners.

Social Emotional Learning - Second Step Curriculum

We continued our SEL Curriculum with Grade Five continuing its unit on Emotion Management and Grade Six continuing their unit on Bullying and Harassment. Below is a brief summary of this week's lesson along with a prompt for further conversation with your child.

Grade 5: What Is Stress?

Summary

In this week’s lesson, your child will identify signs of stress, situations that can cause them to feel stress, and strategies they can use to manage feelings of stress.

Try This at Home

Ask your child what their body feels like when they’re stressed and what things cause them to feel stress. Share your own experiences with stress and what you do to manage it.

Grade 6: How to Be an Upstander

Summary:

In this week’s lesson, your child will learn three “upstander strategies” for responding to bullying. They’ll practice analyzing different bullying situations and choosing an upstander strategy they think would work best for each situation.

Question:

Ask your child about the three upstander strategies they learned and which one (or ones) they feel most comfortable with. Let them know they can always come to you if they need someone to talk to.

Have a great week everyone! Reach out if you need support.

Warm Regards,

Josh

Important Dates:

Thursday, February 6th- Early Release Day-dismissal at 11:10 a.m.

Monday, February 17th through Friday, February 21st - Vacation Week

Monday, February 24th - School Resumes

The Lost and Found racks are chock-full of coats, jackets, sweatshirts, hats, water bottles and much more. Please ask your students to check it out for any lost or missing items. ~ Thank you

Important Walsworth Yearbook Announcement:

Please note that our yearbook company’s website malfunctioned, and any orders received between 1/1/ 25 and 1/15/ 25 have been cancelled. The site mistakenly listed the yearbooks with a cost of $0. If you ordered a yearbook during these dates, please note that your order must be resubmitted. If you paid for extras

( name stamping, supplements, icons, etc.) your method of payment will be credited for these charges.

Those affected by this error will also receive an email from our yearbook advisors reminding you to re-order.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

The site has been fixed, so please visit Yearbook Forever to purchase your yearbook now. No books will be available for sale in June.

Email: ParkerAttendance@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Please Send Email: Prior to 9am on the day of the absence. Please Include: Child’s name, Grade, and Reason for absence. We encourage you to use the email option when reporting an absence, dismissal, etc. for efficiency.

**PLEASE READ**

We will continue to send automated emails home when students are absent. You will receive the email whether you notified the school or not. In order for an absence to be marked as "Excused", families will need to provide medical documentation. Please call the office if you have any questions or need clarification. ~ Thank you for your understanding.

Our after-school programs will start on Tuesday, October 15th. The Activity Fee is $50 per student. To pay PLEASE CLICK ON LINK My School Bucks or send in cash or checks made payable to Chelmsford Public Schools and turn into your child's homeroom teacher. The activity fee allows students to take full advantage of any clubs they wish to attend. The after-school activities run from 2:40-3:40 on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday throughout the year. Students also have the option of taking a late bus home. The routes are posted in the school and will not be posted publicly. We will work with students and the drivers to be sure students take the correct bus home. Since we only have 8 late buses, for both McCarthy and Parker the stops tend to be more spread out than the “regular” bus runs. After activities, students who are not taking a bus will exit the school into the Crooked Spring Road lot and can be picked up there.

See Clubs & Activities BROCHURE here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10fSdKRgUuamin-mEgMJbeLrUcsHo7dLMiSVEMC6RtLU/edit?usp=sharing

Tuesday - January 28th

Art Club - Ms. Annunziata - Room 4 - Grade 6 TODAY

ASL-Ms. Fitzgibbons-VIRTUAL- join google classroom from home code:yqtuwha

Drama-Check google classroom for specific details

Festival Orchestra – Ms. Tiano-Room 8

Homework Club-Ms. Larrabee-Library

Jazz Band - Mr. Linsner - Band Room

Intramurals- Mr. McCarthy-GYM- GRADE 5 TODAY

LIVESMART - Ms. Lyons - Room 102

No Mindfulness & Crafts TODAY

NO RUNNING CLUB TODAY

Yoga- Ms.Macallister-Fitness Room

Wednesday - January 29th

Book Club - Ms. Beaudoin - Room 125

NO Game Club TODAY

Fitness Club - Ms. Fitzgerald - Fitness Room

Power Hour - Ms. Panneton - Room 213B

Thursday - January 30th

Art Club - Ms. Annunziata-Room 4-Grade 5 - Group 5A TODAY

Drama Club -Check google classroom for specific details

Fitness Club - Ms. Currier - Fitness Room

Intramurals - Mr. McCarthy - Grade 6 TODAY

Stand-Up Parker- Ms. Mikk - Conference Room 5

Parker students are invited to create a STEM project for the 1st Annual Parker STEM Fair! This is a fun event intended to nurture the children’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math. There is no judging, but a STEM fair official will visit every project and talk to each child about their topic.

Please see attachment below for more information and details. STEM Fair Registration Form

Reminder to Parker Families - BRRR!!! Cold weather is here. Parker students will still be going outside for recess/outside break. Please remember to BUNDLE UP, warm coats, hats and gloves are recommended.

Parker PTO is working hard to create community building events for our students, families and staff members. Check out a few upcoming activities below:

🏒Riverhawks Hockey -February 7th @ 7:15 PM: UML Riverhawks will be hosting Chelmsford Middle School night Saturday, January 11th. Puck drop is at 6:05 P.M. Meet all your middle school friends at the Tsongas for a great night of hockey. Tickets are $15 each. Click link to order tickets: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Parkermccarthymiddle52/offer

🏀 Harlem Globetrotters: Join Middle School families as we watch the Harlem Globetrotters at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on Monday, February 11th at 7 p.m.! Be prepared to see amazing basketball talent mixed in with crazy comedy, great choreography, and audience participation - great family friendly entertainment! Tickets can be purchased via the following link: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Parkermccarthymiddle8

📅 Calendar Raffle Fundraiser: Parker and McCarthy PTOs are collaborating to create an awesome calendar raffle with amazing prizes. Our theme is: More Teen Time, Less Screen Time. Calendars will be sold February 3rd- February 26th. Raffle tickets are $10 per calendar. Winners will be drawn every day in March. More information to follow in the upcoming weeks.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to Parker PTO at ptoparker@gmail.com.

As always, thank you for your continued support of our school!

Best,

Parker PTO

Dear Parents and Families --

To better estimate the demand for lunches on half days, CPS Nutrition utilizes online lunch ordering for HALF DAYS ONLY.

For the upcoming half day Wednesday 9/18/24 orders must be received by Friday 9/13/24.

2024-2025 CPS Upcoming Half Day/Early Release dates

● 2/6/25

● 3/12/25

● 4/1/25

If you would like your child to have lunch on future half days, the online ordering is open for you to go ahead and select those dates. Set Up Your Account Now

Directions to set up your account and order: 1. URL Link: family.onlineordering.linq.com

2. Sign up now: Email, create password.

3. School District: Chelmsford Public Schools

4. Student ID: This can be found on x2- Child’s student ID number

5. Last Name: (You can also search and add siblings/family members at this time). Once this is completed, the student's name should appear on the page.

How to order meals

1. School Menu-select online lunch ordering (all schools)

2. Scroll to week of half day/early release date (top right of page)

3. Find date, select meal option

4. Add item to cart/Select Add to order

5. Click on shopping cart icon at top right of page

6. Click Check out

7. Select pick up location: Elementary pick-up location classroom. Middle/high school pick up location cafeteria.

8. Place order

Click on the link below to view the January Lunch Menu:

Email: robinsond@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Website: https://parker.chelmsfordschools.org/
Location: 75 Graniteville Road
Phone: 978-251-5133