Principal Rae Donovan

Hi FCS Families, 

Our community is truly something special.  It’s a gift that our elementary school can serve as a hub for people with varied strengths, interests and experiences. At FCS, our differences come together to create something stronger than any of us could do alone.  At the heart of it all, we share the same core values: making this community a welcoming, caring place for everyone. We also are all sharing the amazing (and at times challenging) experience of raising children and building families.  Creating a healthy and strong family, or really any community, can be hard, but as we all know, hard things are easier to do together than alone. I know our families' connections and support of one another makes our community as amazing as it is. This was on full display at our recent Harvest Garden Party, where so many came together, made positive connections, and celebrated the bonds we share. Gone are the days of isolation during COVID when we couldn’t be as connected to our school or to each other in person. Now, we have the opportunity to show our children what community truly looks and feels like—one built on kindness, unity, and mutual support. Thank you to everyone who made this event happen and we look forward to many more opportunities to be together as a community. 

Rae

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday, October 9th-

Early Release Day- school ends at 11:30. 

Community Morning will be from 7:55- 8:25. Families are invited to join us for an activity! 

After families leave, students will go on their their first expedition of five Words in the Wild Days that they will attend on each of our five early release days this year. On the last early release day in May we will plan a celebration of this time together. Over the course of the year all students will go to a local farm, the Bixby library, a wilderness hike, the Rokeby museum, and some will stay at the school for a mindfulness retreat.  

October 10th and 11th- NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

UPDATES FROM OUR AMAZING PTO!

Dear FCS Families,

We hope this message finds you well! As part of our mission to foster a strong, vibrant school community, the FCS PTO invites you all to participate in one or more of our many committees. These committees are a vital part of our efforts to enhance the educational experience for our children, support our teachers, and organize engaging school events.

We encourage you to browse the committees and sign up for anything that interests you. Please note that the level of commitment is entirely up to you —whether you can lend a hand occasionally, you end up just reading the emails, or want to be more involved, we welcome your support! You are not locked into any specific time or tasks, and every bit of help makes a difference.


Below is an overview of our PTO committees and what they do here is the link to sign up https://forms.gle/7M9EiL1xgwahZ6WK8:

Events Committee
This committee organizes school-wide events, such as family fun nights, celebrations, and other community-building activities. If you love planning and creating memorable experiences, this is the perfect fit!

Fundraising Committee
The Fundraising Committee works to raise essential funds that directly benefit our students and staff. This may include organizing raffles, casino night, and other fundraising initiatives.

Hospitality Committee
If you enjoy welcoming new families and showing appreciation to our amazing staff, this committee handles teacher appreciation events and other social gatherings.

Communications Committee
The Communications Committee helps keep families and staff informed by managing social media communicating information after meetings, and . This is a great opportunity for those with strong writing or digital communication skills. This group will also organize sign-ups for volunteer opportunities throughout the year.

Artist in Residence Committee
The Artist in Residence program brings local artist into the school to inspire and educate students through various creative projects. If you are passionate about the arts and are willing to help coordinate artists, apply for art grants this one is for you!!

Garden Committee
For those who love nature and wat to contribute time to a greener environment and fresh grown food for our students, the garden committee will assist in maintain the school garden, incorporating garden based events & education, fundraising and more!

We welcome your involvement, whether you have just a few hours to spare or can commit to ongoing participation.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to working together to make this a fantastic school year for everyone!
 

Also a reminder...

We are excited to announce that the FCS PTO is launching our annual Fall Fundraiser—and this year, we’re doing something a little different!

This year’s fundraiser is a fun calendar-based challenge where families can help their children’s classrooms earn amazing party rewards like pizza, popcorn, ice cream, movies, art and more while fundraising! Here’s how it works:

*     Each date on the calendar equals a dollar amount—for example, the 1st = $1, the 2nd day =$2, and so on. The further down the calendar, the bigger the donation.

*      Claim a date and then purchase it.
*      Once a classroom calendar fills up, the class will win a voucher for party of their choice, and the calendar will reset!

*      Classrooms can fill as many calendars as they like —helping your child’s classroom win more than one party is possible! The party type will be chosen by the students, dates will be chosen by the teachers and admins and if they win multiple can be spread across the school year, and the PTO will supply the fun!

*       To participate, simply click on your classrooms link and claim your dates:  (Please share these with family and friends, this is one of the PTOs largest fundraisers of the year)

               Pre-K (Matot)
               Pre-K (Tierney)
               Kindergarten (Rogers)
               Kindergarten (Van Vliet)
               1^st Grade (Pierce)
               1^st Grade (Pudvar)
               2^nd Grade (Gagnon)
               3^rd Grade (Kenney)
               3^rd Grade (Stein)
               4/5^th Grade (Barry)
               4/5^th Grade (Nowak)

*             Here is the link to pay for your dates: FCS PTO PayPal

This is a fun and easy way to donate while directly rewarding the students with something they’ll love! All funds raised will go toward supporting school programs, activities, field trips, and supplies that benefit our kids.

 If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at FCSPTO@gmail.com

Thank you for your continued support in making our school community a great place for all children to thrive! We appreciate your involvement and are excited to see which classes will win their well-deserved parties!

Sincerely,

Ferrisburgh Central School PTO

Hi Families!

Please mark your calendars:

Tuesday, October 1st-

Harvest Garden Party and Fundraiser at 5:30 (No family will turned away but this is a fundraiser so if you can donate, please do!) Invite everyone you know! Here is the RSVP! 

Wednesday, October 9th-

Early Release Day- school ends at 11:30. 

Community Morning will be from 7:55- 8:25. Families are invited to join us for an activity!  Students will go on their their first expedition of five Words in the Wild Days that they will attend on each of our five early release days this year. Over the course of the year we will all go to a local farm, the Bixby library, a wilderness hike, the Rokeby museum, and a mindfulness retreat.   Stay tuned for which trip they will go on when- a permission slip will be headed home this week. 

What an incredible weekend we have had. This month has been beautiful and I hope you have gotten to enjoy the weather. My children and I are still recovering from a cold which has made its way through the school, so this morning when they asked if they could watch a show as they sniffled, I was tempted to say yes. However, I am trying hard to have almost no screentime at home, so I said no. A little while later I saw that they had made a multi-room fort out of all the chairs and couches and end tables in the house. It was pretty impressive. They even filled it with books and stuffies and essentially made a smaller version of the house inside the fort. 

I find that the more I consistently set limits around screen time, the quicker they get to the business of being creative and imaginative and the less protesting they do. More and more research is showing how important it is for all brains to be "bored" sometimes, since that is when we make sense of our world through play and imagination.  

All to say, there are some days I still beg them to watch a little TV to give me a little peace and I firmly believe families have to choose what works best for them.  

Updates from our Wonderful PTO!

Fall Fundraiser

We are excited to announce that the FCS PTO is launching our annual Fall Fundraiser—and this year, we’re doing something a little different!

This year’s fundraiser is a fun calendar-based challenge where families can help their children’s classrooms earn amazing party rewards like pizza, popcorn, ice cream, movies, art and more while fundraising! Here’s how it works:

*             Each date on the calendar equals a dollar amount—for example, the 1st = $1, the 2nd day =$2, and so on. The further down the calendar, the bigger the donation.

*             Claim a date and then purchase it.
*             Once a classroom calendar fills up, the class will win a voucher for party of their choice, and the calendar will reset!

*             Classrooms can fill as many calendars as they like —helping your child’s classroom win more than one party is possible! The party type will be chosen by the students, dates will be chosen by the teachers and admins and if they win multiple can be spread across the school year, and the PTO will supply the fun!

*             To participate, simply click on your classrooms link and claim your dates:  (Please share these with family and friends, this is one of the PTOs largest fundraisers of the year)

               Pre-K (Matot)
               Pre-K (Tierney)
               Kindergarten (Rogers)
               Kindergarten (Van Vliet)
               1^st Grade (Pierce)
               1^st Grade (Pudvar)
               2^nd Grade (Gagnon)
               3^rd Grade (Kenney)
               3^rd Grade (Stein)
               4/5^th Grade (Barry)
               4/5^th Grade (Nowak)

*             Here is the link to pay for your dates: FCS PTO PayPal

This is a fun and easy way to donate while directly rewarding the students with something they’ll love! All funds raised will go toward supporting school programs, activities, field trips, and supplies that benefit our kids.

 If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at FCSPTO@gmail.com

Thank you for your continued support in making our school community a great place for all children to thrive! We appreciate your involvement and are excited to see which classes will win their well-deserved parties!

Sincerely,

Ferrisburgh Central School PTO

 

Hi Families! 

We had another beautiful weekend and I hope you all got outside to enjoy it!  While driving with my kids on Saturday, we listened to a really fun podcast which is made for kids about nature. The episode we we heard was about the tsetse fly (#2) which was absolutely fascinating for the whole family. On Sunday, we took a walk in the woods along Lewis Creek; I think this is my favorite time of year. 

Please mark your calendar for these upcoming dates:

Important Dates

Wednesday, September 25         Open House at 5 pm

Come learn about your child's teacher and what your child will be learning this year! As a friendly reminder, this is not the time to ask specific questions about your child since it is a public eent and we take child privacy seriously. You can always reach out to your child's teacher to learn more about how they are doing. 

Tuesday, October 1st                   Garden Harvest Party and Fundraiser    

There will be live music from Hayley Jane, spaghetti with homemade sauce made from the garden, raffles and activities!  Dinner is sliding scale for all and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.   Please invite your friends and family members- this event is open to anyone! Please RSVP Here!

If you can help with simple cooking tasks before the event, bring baked goods for dessert, provide us connections to local businesses for our raffle, or can help set up or clean up, please email epalin@gmail.com. 

We know everyone is really busy.

This will be one of our biggest events of the year and many hands will make light work. We are going to have a blast putting on this event- which is hopefully going to raise money for our students to go on field trips! We hope you can make it, bring your friends and contribute help or funds- whatever is right for your family. Thank you!

 

Hi Families! 

What a beautiful weekend! We hope you had a great time and got to be outside in the sunshine. It feels so extra special this time of year to enjoy the warm sun when we know that fall is knocking on the door.  We had a great time at Ferrisburgh Day! 

Please mark your calendar for these upcoming dates:

Important Dates

Tuesday, September 17              Lions Club Vision Screening at FCS

Wednesday, September 18         Bus evacuation drill (all students practice getting off the back of the bus as they would in a bus evacuation)

Wednesday, September 25         Open House at 5 pm

 

Infromation about Garden Harvest Party and Fundraiser

We are having a Garden Harvest Party and Fundraiser!! Earlier today I shared that this event would be October 2nd but we have realized there is a conflict so the date is now TBD! I will be in touch ASAP with a new date! 

Stay Tuned!

 

Hi FCS Families! 

We love being back at school with our students. We have countless joyful, delightful and inspiring moments every day with the incredible students of FCS.  

FCS PTO’s Welcome Back Ice Cream Social! Sunday, September 8th, 2024, 1:00PM

Please join us on the FCS playground for free ice cream, activities and great company! 

Harvest Party

We are planning a Community Garden Harvest Dinner for the evening of Wednesday, October 3. If you would like to be involved in the planning or implementation, please email Liz Rudnicki at epalin@gmail.com.

Fusion

Please reach out to Asia at akruse@anwsd.org (and spread the word to others you know) if you can teach a Fusion class at any point this year. This is a great way to support our school (and get paid!) by offering your skills and interests to our kids.  You can teach how to build furniture, do arts and crafts, have a book club, play board games, bake treats (for the staff room?) or share other interests. We want to expand our Fusion offerings this year and take kids into the broader community (Attend plays in Burlington? Go on wilderness hikes?) after school or even on weekends, so please bring us all your fun and exciting ideas! 

Important Dates:

Sunday, September 8              PTO Ice cream Social at 1 pm

Sunday, September 15            Ferrisburgh Day (FCS activity from 11-1)

Wednesday, September 18     PTO Budget Meeting

Wednesday, September 25     Open House at 5pm

Wednesday, October 3            Community Harvest Dinner

Wednesday, October 9            Community Morning Meeting// WILD group Expeditions// Early Release Day (pick up at 11:30) and NO COUGARCARE 

Email Contacts

Email is the best way to reach us (unless it is an emergent/unexpected need such as a change of afterschool plan after 1:30 pm). 

Logistical questions to Kaitie at kflynn@anwsd.org.

Other school-based questions to Rae at rdonovan@anwsd.org.

Class-based questions to teachers (and always feel free to include Rae!)

After School questions to Ashley at abourgeois@anwsd.org. 

PTO questions to fcspto@gmail.com.

Communication to Families

I want to clarify our approach to family communication regarding certain situations. When adults decide to give a student space and privacy inside a classroom, which can happen for various reasons, we may relocate students to another room.

Typically, students don't notice the reason for the change and may assume it's pre-planned. Occasionally, they may understand that a friend is having a tough time and needs privacy. We don't contact families every time this occurs, as it's a normal part of how we support students, protect their dignity, and prioritize safety. However, if something out of the ordinary happens, or if students are notably affected, we will inform families so they can discuss it with their children and reach out to us if they have questions. If a child comes home sharing any discomfort about their day, please feel free to reach out to the teacher and/or Rae. 

Our students all come to school to learn skills and some of our younger students are still learning school skills regarding personal space, communicating considerately and setting boundaries skillfully. Our school counselor, social worker and Rae regularly join classrooms to clearly explain our school routines and support skill building. Student support staff work with students in small groups and one-on-one to teach skills in more targeted and intensive ways.

Regarding home contact after nurse visits, our nurse contacts families if a student is ill or has a significant injury. She does not contact home for minor scrapes, bumps, or complaints. If an injury occurs due to an intentional (or perceived to be intentional) interaction between students, we always send the child to the nurse. If this interaction results in an injury with noted pain or a mark, the nurse will contact the family. Teachers do their best to assess these situations and contact home accordingly. If the student has an emotional response, visible mark, or reported pain that does not meet the level of an injury but does seem notable to the student or teacher, the teacher contacts home. While we strive to communicate before the end of the day when anything occurs, there may be instances when teachers and staff have meetings and coaching obligations until 5 or 6 pm and also instances where the incident can seem minor at the time, but the student later expresses concern at home. We encourage families to share their questions and concerns with teachers or with Rae, so that we can work together to share about your child's experience and support them at school.

Your child's safety and well being is our first priority and through collaborative, consistent and effective communication between teachers, staff and home, we aim to be a supportive home-to-school community for our students.

This week we will have our first fire drill. We do not usually disclose our fire drills but this week we will be teaching our routines to our new and returning students during our Wednesday All School Morning Meeting and practicing a drill together later in the week. Please remind your children of the importance of listening to and following adult directions when there is an alarm sound or adult direction to evacuate. In September, all of our students are also practicing evacuations from their classrooms. We use developmentally appropriate explanations for this drill, such as "a wild animal is in the school and we can't be in the hallway" and we will practice leaving the school through the window or a classroom exterior door.  Practicing for unexpected situations helps our school community build our routines and skills.    

NOTES FROM THE PTO 

Apparel Store:

The 2023-24 apparel items are in stock now for a limited time! We will have new 2024-25 apparel ready in November! If there are any items / images you would like to purchase from last year’s stock, please do so before November.

Feel free to share the store link with family and friends. Let us know if you have any questions. Visit the online store at: Ferrisburgh PTO | SRCD (srcdvt.com)

Donate to the PTO!

Donations can be made through PayPal with this QR code and will go directly to support FCS staff and students.

​

PTO Family Directory – Due September 13, 2024

Each year, the FCS PTO creates a school directory to help families connect with each other. This directory is only shared with families participating in the directory and school staff. Please Complete by Sept. 13th, 2024. If you would like to be in the directory, but have not filled out the form, click here to complete.

Box Tops for Education:

Believe it or not this is still a thing! In just a week, with promotions, 2 people were able to earn $15! Since June those same 2 people have earned $26 total so far! Imagine what we all can do together!

It’s simple, Download the Box Tops for Education app here: https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=F8GS5CF6 Use this referral code F8GS5CF6

When you sign up, you’ll get 25 Bonus Box Tops when you scan your first receipt now through 05/31/2025, while supplies last! The school will also get 25 Bonus Box Tops!

Scan any grocery receipt even if there are no Box Tops, It will give you an entry to a $500 drawing each day. 

Thank you for all you do!

Rae