Andrea Pendrak, a dedicated and passionate special educator in Marshfield’s Early

Education Program, has been named Educator of the Week! She exudes patience, creativity,

and a deep understanding of child development, particularly in children with diverse learning

needs. Andrea’s classroom is warm and nurturing; she ensures every student feels valued

and supported. Andrea is committed to collaborating with her colleagues to create meaningful lessons that address each student's unique strengths and challenges. She consistently uses fun and engaging sensory-rich teaching methods that foster her students' lifelong love for learning. Andrea is an invaluable asset to our Early Education Program and we are incredibly fortunate to have her working with our youngest learners!

This week, with the help of the Boys and Girls Club, we added a bus that is helping with our number of bus riders, specifically the numbers on the middle and high school route. 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.

As we continue to look at the excellent instruction happening in our district, this week, there were visits and learning walks that took place at Martinson Elementary School, Daniel Webster Pre-school program, and a full Learning Walk with Teaching Learning Alliance (TLA) at South River School.

An important element of great teaching includes allowing students opportunities to assert their voice within the learning environment. The enhancement of student voice in the classroom leads to deep student engagement in the learning and helps students take agency in their educational and life paths.

We can consider the following continuum of student voice provided by educators Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey. Their continuum points to ways that we can move a classroom, school, and District Culture to be as learner driven as possible.

This continuum moves in the following way:

Expression: where students offer opinions, answer questions, and create Personal Learning Profiles

To Consultation: where students provide input and feedback, share their personal learning profiles, and work on that profile with their teachers

To Participation: where students attend activities with a role in decision making and articulate action steps to meet learning goals

To Activism: where students identify problems, generate solutions, and advocate for change inside and outside of school

To Leadership: where students guide groups as leaders of change, co-plan and make decisions, and accept responsibility for their outcomes

Student "Voice and Choice" in the learning is something we are all striving to create. It has been wonderful to see this in action!

Congratulations to MHS Seniors, Meredith and Cooper, for being recognized as Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program!

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.

This past Wednesday was National Custodians Day. Please join me in thanking our amazing custodians for all they do everyday to keep our buildings running smoothly and safely and for being so supportive to our students, staff, and families. We are fortunate to have such wonderful custodians.

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

As part of an ELA lesson on "tools of the job," Sargent Gonsalves spoke to DWS students about the tools of his job on the Marshfield Police. We are so thankful to Officer Gonsalves, as a former Marshfield student, for giving back to the school community.

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.

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.

An overview of the strengths of being bilingual
Being Bilingual Is a Superpower: Multilingual Tips to Support Language and Literacy at Home from Colorin Colorado. Available in multiple languages.

How to read aloud to your child Reading Aloud from Start with a Book. Many of the resources are available in multiple languages.

As the MHS Athletic Teams head into the official midway point of the Fall Seasons, some of our Teams took the time to pay their respect and honor their Teachers and Staff from throughout the District. This week, both the Girls and Boys Soccer Teams dedicated their homes to Faculty and Staff who had impacted their time here in Marshfield. The Girls then went out and won a hard-fought game against Patriot League rival, Plymouth-North, 1-0. Senior Kayla Dipasquale scored the lone goal for the Rams while Freshman Goalie, Emerson Hobbs got the shutout in net for Marshfield. The Boys lost a close game to Hanover in their Teacher Appreciation Game, 2-1. Owen Cregan made it 2-1 in the 2nd Half, but the Rams could not find the equalizer after some great looks. Thank you to both Teams and Coaching Staffs for recognizing our Staff.

The MHS Field Hockey Team held their Senior Game this past week and were able to get the 2-0 win over Pembroke. Aubrey Finn collected another shutout this season and the offense came from Ayva Charlebois and Anna Lang with a goal apiece. The Rams will look to continue their winning ways when they host Carver on Friday afternoon.

The Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams each took home wins this week with their victories over

Plymouth-North on the Road. The Boys won a close one, 31-25 and the Girls continued their unbeaten streak to start the season, winning 40-21. Graham Heinrich, Matt McCabe, Eleanor Angeles-Whitfield, Ava Brunswick and Meredith Miller all had strong Meets for the Rams.

The Boys Golf Team was in an epic match up with Duxbury this week. Duxbury, one of the best Teams in the State this year, had already defeated Marshfield earlier in the year in a close contest. This week the Rams and Dragons once again were matched stroke for stroke at the Country Club. After 9 Holes, the Rams and Dragons top 6 Golfers were tied at 233. The tie breaker came down to the Rams losing to Duxbury by one stroke. A great High School Golf match up.

The Volleyball Team is still battling in each Match. They fell to Plymouth-South this week but continue to prove they are up for every challenge.

The Football Team pulled out the victory on the road in Mansfield in the final 28 seconds with a Davin True 2 yard touchdown run. The Rams were trailing Mansfield 10 – 6 with a little over 2 minutes to play in the 4th Quarter when Marshfield marched down the field to pull out the victory, 13-10.

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).

For over ten years, Marshfield Education Foundation has provided opportunities for enhanced learning by working in partnership with Marshfield’s educators to fund grants that complement the social, emotional and academic development of our students.

As we enter the season of giving, we hope you’ll consider supporting the Marshfield Education Foundation with a donation to our 5th Annual Fall Giving Campaign. Donate Today!

https://givebutter.com/marshfieldfallgiving

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 4 - MHS/FBMS Term 1 Mid Term

Oct 8 - School Committee Meeting (MHS)

Oct 11 - FBMS/MHS Progress Reports (Aspen)

Oct 14 - Columbus Day (no school)

Oct 17 - ELPAC English Learner Parent Meeting (MES)

Oct 23 - District Wide Early Release

Oct 24 - SEPAC Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver

Nov 5 - No school for students/PD for teachers

Nov 6 - Elementary Conferences (afternoon)

Nov 7 - Elementary Conferences (evening)

Nov 8 - MHS/FBMS Term 1 ends

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