Fernwood Family Newsletter #25, 02/21/23

~Tuesday, February 21st, 6:30pm, Fernwood Fund Meeting, Library and email benjaminmstocks@gmail.com for link

~Monday, February 27th, 5:30pm, SEC Meeting, https://meet.google.com/srb-wjae-xko?hs=122&authuser=0 

~Monday, February 27th, 5pm, Music Parents Meeting, Library and https://meet.google.com/fpf-rvca-uuk

~Monday, February 27th through Thursday, March 2nd, Classic Slice Fundraiser, see information below

~Wednesday, March 8th, 5:45pm, PTO Meeting, Library & https://meet.google.com/ukz-rtby-cbe

~Wednesday, March 8th, 6pm PAC Meeting, Fernwood Community Room

~Monday, March 13th & Wednesday, March 15th, 3pm-645pm, Family Teacher Conferences, Sign up Below

~Friday, March 17th & Monday, March 20th, No School

Family Teacher Conferences

Conference days are Monday, March 13th and Wednesday, March 15th from 3-6:45pm.

Please sign up for ONE conference time slot for your K3-6th grade student with your student’s teacher. Conferences will be in person in the classroom. 

If you have more than one child at Fernwood, please consider allowing some “travel time” between your conferences. 

This sign up genius will be available until March 5th. If you need to schedule or reschedule a conference after this point, please contact your child’s teacher.

If your child receives special education support, please also schedule a conference with your child’s special education teacher. 

Conferences are also available with our gym, music and art teacher.  Additionally, conferences are available with our support staff.  Please click on the links to pick a time to meet with these awesome staff members.  

Free childcare will be available in room 9 (near the cafeteria) during conferences.  

 Primary (K3-K5): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-primary2 

Lower Elementary (1st-3rd):   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-lower2 

Upper Elementary (4th-6th): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-upper1   *Ms.Sangita Nayak will be sending a separate link to her families.  

Special Education Teachers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-special5 

Support Staff: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-support4 

Gym, Art, Music: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094DAAAA2DA1FB6-physical 

Secondary (7th-8th): 

Secondary (7th/8th grade) conferences will be on a walk in basis.  No appointments will be scheduled. Families will wait in line to see the teachers with which they would like to meet. You will be able to meet with any of the four teachers your student works with for 5 minutes. The teachers and the content they teach are as follows: Mr. Ray, Sustainability; Ms.Davis, Social Studies; Ms. Zimmers, Math; Mx. Botsford, Language Arts.  

All secondary conferences on March 13 and 15 will be held in the gym.  

Ms. Davis will be attending a conference in March and therefore offering family teacher conferences at a different time.  She will be available for walk-in conferences on Monday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 8th from 3-6:45pm:  Conferences with Ms. Davis will be held in her classroom, room 151.   

Classic Slice Fernwood Family Days

Looking for a delicious meal, a way to support Fernwood PTO and a local family owned business?  Good news, February 27th through March 2nd will be  Classic Slice Fernwood Family Days.  Order any time during these days and 20% of the profits will be donated to Fernwood.  Thank you to Marisa Lange, owner and Fernwood parent for this generous fundraiser.  Classic Slice Flyer

Community Conversation Sessions 

MPS will be hosting quarterly virtual community conversations to strengthen communication and collaboration across the Milwaukee community. We will spend time in breakout rooms holding a discussion with participants. All community conversations will be held virtually from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

• Wednesday March 15, 2023: Multi-Tiered Systems of Support  • Wednesday May 17, 2023: Pre-college and Summer Activities 

Community Conversation flyer.

Participants are encouraged to register in advance and submit any questions they would like to see addressed. Please also reach out to Jenni at navidaj@milwaukee.k12.wi.us if you plan to attend.  

Classroom Placements for 23-24 School Year

Fernwood Montessori has highly trained, qualified teachers and values equity in following the tenets of Montessori.  We know your children well and appreciate your trust in our staff, school and community.  Therefore, we will not be taking parent requests regarding future classroom placements.  

Order Your Yearbook 

It is time to order your 22-23 yearbook.  All yearbook sales will be online only though the Lifetouch website.  Yearbooks are $12.  Yearbook sales will be through pre order only.  We expect yearbooks to be delivered at the end of May.  

To order a yearbook, please go to ybpay.com.  Fernwood’s yearbook ID code is 14852523.   (If you have already ordered a yearbook through Lifetouch for this school year, no need to take any additional action.) 

Thank you to Amanda Lavoe, Fernwood parent, for volunteering to create our yearbook.  

K3 and K4 Fernwood Enrollment!

Online enrollment for new K3 and K4 students will begin in MPS on February 4th and run through March 5th.  The application is online through the MPS website. Enrollment website.   Click “the online application” near the bottom fourth of the page.   

Please share this information with any potential families who are interested in attending Fernwood in the Fall.  Students must be 3 by September 1st, 2023 to be eligible to apply.   

~If your new to Fernwood K3/K4 student has a sibling currently enrolled at Fernwood, a spot is guaranteed.  However, in order to get a spot, an application must be submitted during the application window and the current student’s name should be included in the application.

~Applications can be submitted throughout the application window.  There is no advantage to completing the application on the first day of the process.  

~Current Fernwood students do not need to reapply.  They are automatically re enrolled.

Upcoming Elections

Milwaukee Spring elections will be held on April 4th.  This is during Spring Break for MPS.  If you are going to be out of town for this election, please click on the link to learn more about how to request and submit an absentee ballot.  City of Milwaukee Voter Info

Fernwood Website Calendar

MPS has made some changes to the Fernwood website.   To find out about what events are happening at Fernwood and information about those events, click on CALENDAR in the top blue bar.  A Fernwood calendar will appear.  Click on each event to learn the event details.  Fernwood Website

Thank you PTO

“The PTO funds for books and games for the classroom was such a kind offer. We were able to get more sequels and history books they were interested in. Our inside games were falling to bits and the PTO funds at least got us two games to start with to improve the selection. I plan to use the rest of my funds for classroom needs and am so grateful for this unique offering at Fernwood by parents. Thank you so much, on behalf of your kids who benefit.”   Ms.Sangita Nayak, Upper Elementary Teacher

“Thank you so much for the support with classroom funds again this year. These funds are making classroom celebrations and deeper learning around science possible in our room! It’s so great to teach in a school with such a  supportive team of families.” Ms. Katy Gabor, Upper Elementary Teacher