The Fiske Multicultural Festival brings out our true essence as a community. Come share in our cultural diversity in a celebration of food, artwork, song, and dance on February 4, 2009.

We, as always, rely on Fiske family participation to make this event fun and educational. Please contact Sree Balamurugesh at sreeld.bala@gmail.com if you would like to join our festival team of volunteers.

We need volunteers for:
Decorations on the day of event - noon-3 p.m.
Host Continent Tables - 5:45–7:30 p.m.
Food from your culture, or a culture you enjoy—bring your dish and an ingredients card - 6 p.m.
Artifacts (banners, flags, costumes) to decorate our continent tables—bring them with your name on them - 6 p.m.

Fall is starting to wind down with the last few leaves hanging on tight! We had a number of volunteers out this morning getting the Fiske grounds ready for winter—thanks to all those who helped! And it’s not too late if you want to help with fall clean-up. Kate and a handful of volunteers will be out tomorrow (Sat, Nov 15th) from 1-3pm. It will surely be lots of fun for the whole family. And many thanks to Kate for her tireless effort in beautifying our Fiske gardens and grounds!

Thanks to all who donated clothes, toys and other items and/or volunteered last Saturday at the Cradles to Crayons event, and in particular to Christy Refojo and MaryAnne Ulian for their part in coordinating donations as well as organizing the event. It was a huge success.

In addition to Wendy Beck helping out with the voter traffic and carline on Election Day last week we would also like to thank Deb Condren, Bettina von Goetz, Chris Norcross, Jennifer Madden and Nicole Zinny who also volunteered and kept the kids safe and the cars moving that very busy day at Fiske.

And although our Fiske team was not the winner of the WEF Spelling Bee they gave it a gallant effort – an excellent job by our spelling bee trio of Linda Messore, Kimberly Fox and Sue Chicoski. And congrats to our own Fiske mother Katie Smith Milway who was part of the Green Team which was the winning team.

Hopefully everyone picked up their Sally Foster orders this week. If not, please contact Linda Spear at linda.spear@comcast.net to make arrangements to pick-up your order. And once again a big thanks to Linda for coordinating this fundraiser – we made money for both the PTO and for 5th grade activities. Please continue to keep in mind the scrips cards for your Roche Bros shopping needs – that continues to add significantly to the 5th grade fundraising efforts.

The gradewide socials are now all done – a final thanks to all the hosts including the Malloy, Refojo, Hendrix, Steck, Foster and Gilbert-Bono families. And a big thank you to Laura Hill for coordinating those!

PTO meeting

Just a reminder that our next PTO meeting is Friday, November 21st at 8:30am in the Fiske library. We hope to see you there!
Karen and Sue

Nov. 24(M) School Council meeting, 3:15 p.m.

School pictures have arrived. If your child was absent on picture day or you are dissatisfied with your pictures, retakes will be done this coming Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

For children who were absent on picture day—please request an order form from the office if you are missing your original order. For picture retakes you must send the complete package of school pictures (keep the class picture) to school with your child on Nov. 19th.

Please pick up your Sally Foster orders in the school lobby. Boxes cannot go home on the bus. Please contact Linda Spear with any problems with your order ASAP. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser!

Come see Hara Estroff Marano in an evening event for the Entire Wellesley community on December 9th at 7 pm in the Wellesley High School Auditorium as she discusses “The High Cost of Invasive Parenting”. Admission is free and this event is open to the public.

Read the full article TRUE TALES of PARENTING 2008 in our this week's school bulletin

Just in time for the holidays! The Wellesley Education Foundation’s Red Apple Program is a meaningful way for parents to show teachers their appreciation for a job well done. Through the Red Apple Program, you may honor a special teacher or staff member by making a donation to WEF in his/her name. A thank you card in recognition of your donation will be sent to each educator and staff member you honor. Since 1984, WEF has enhanced, enriched, and supported excellence in our schools through our grants program. Look for information on the Red Apple Program being mailed to your home during the first week of December. Forms are also available on the website at: WellesleyEducationFoundation.org.

Thank you for considering the Red Apple Program.