On Friday, March 7th, Bigelow 8th graders will hear the powerful story of the Holocaust survivor Elly Gotz. 

Elly Gotz was born in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, in 1928. At the age of sixteen, Elly hid with his family in an underground bunker in the ghetto of Kovno, preparing to die rather than be found by Nazis. After surviving nearly three years in the ghetto, where thousands from the Jewish community were murdered, Elly and his family refused to be the next victims. In the summer of 1944, Elly and his father were taken to Kaufering, a brutal subcamp of Dachau concentration camp. After liberation, Elly was determined to regain his lost youth and education. The Gotz family moved to Norway, then Zimbabwe, before Elly settled in Toronto in 1964.

In Toronto, Elly established a number of different businesses and achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot, later moving on to glider flying. In 2017, at the age of eighty-nine, he fulfilled another aeronautical dream by going skydiving. Elly has educated thousands of students through his work at the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre.

Elly speaks about his own experience in the Holocaust and draws conclusions leading to his views on tolerance and awareness of political trends.

Creative Arts and Sciences (CAS) presentations are sponsored by your generous donations to the PTO.

We are restarting an old Bigelow tradition of the Ten Tables progressive dinner on Saturday, April 5th!

Ten Tables is a progressive mystery dinner and fundraiser. Everyone first gathers together for an opening appetizers party at the home of a Bigelow family. There you receive your dinner destination. After appetizers, everyone splits up into smaller groups for dinner hosted at a number of other families’ homes.

This promises to be a wonderful night of community-building, and a great way to raise money to support our PTO. If you are interested in hosting either the appetizers gathering or one of the dinners, please send an email to the PTO at bigelowbulldog@gmail.com or contact Kathy Shields at kburdetteshields@yahoo.com.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday, March 4th at 6:30pm in the gym for Bigelow Global Diversity Night!

We have heard from many families and teachers who will host a country/culture table – it’s sure to be a great night for our community!  We have representation from Italy, Peru, Brazil, India, Chile, Uruguay, Lebanon, China, Egypt, US/Southern, Philippines, Venezuela, Vietnam, Argentina & the Dominican Republic! And, it’s not too late to join. We are finalizing country/culture tables on Friday, February 28th, so please sign up sign up to host a table/join a table and/or volunteer by Friday.

Feel free to contact Lanni with any questions or suggestions: lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

The Bigelow Students vs. Staff Basketball Game will be held this Friday, February 28th from 2:45-4 pm in the Bigelow Gym. Concessions will be available. Don’t miss this lively Bigelow tradition!

Please join us for an Ice Skating Fundraiser at Warrior Ice Arena this Friday, February 28, 2025 from 9-9:50 pm. Tickets are $18 (includes skate rental) and will be sold at the event starting at 8:30 pm.

Bigelow caregivers are invited to a panel discussion on April 1 at 7 pm sponsored by the Newton North High School (NNHS) PTSO. Julie Swinehart (NNHS parent and CFO of Fenway Sports Group) will moderate the panelists’ discussion about how parents can help their teens deal with stress, especially as teens transition to high school or prepare for life after high school. 

The Panelists will be Dr Richard Weissbourd (Professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education), Jillian Hall (NNHS College and Career Counselor), Matthew Ford (NNHS School Counselor) and Blayne Lopes (NNHS METCO counselor). 

All parents and caregivers of students at NNHS, Day and Bigelow are invited to attend this event at Newton North High School. More information to follow.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for Bigelow Global Diversity Night! We will see you on Tuesday, March 4th at 6:30pm in the gym.  We have heard from many families and teachers who will host a country/culture table – it’s sure to be a great night for our community!  We have representation from Italy, Peru, Brazil, India, Chile, Uruguay, Lebanon, China, Egypt, US/Southern, Philippines, Venezuela & Vietnam!  And, it’s not too late to join. You can sign up to host a table/join a table and/or volunteer. Feel free to contact Lanni with any questions or suggestions: lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

On February 13th, Bigelow 6th grade students enjoyed a Creative Arts & Sciences (CAS) event with author Gregory Mone. His story-driven presentation took the audience through the entire process of writing a book, from the initial idea or inspiration through the planning, the creative writing, the revisions, and on to the final, finished, published work.  He reviewed some of the more interesting assignments and experiences he’s had as a writer and stressed the importance of becoming an expert in whatever subject a student chooses to write about.

About the author: Mr. Mone is the author or co-author of fifteen published books for young readers, and has written scientific articles for magazines including Popular Science, Atlantic Monthly, Wired and Scientific American. He adapted The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, for young readers, and co-wrote the NYT-bestselling Jack and the Geniuses series of novels with Bill Nye The Science Guy. His recently published titles include the nonfiction Great Big World of Science, with Bill Nye (2020); the middle-grade novel Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion and its sequel, Atlantis: The Brink of War (2021 & 2022); and a revised and updated version of his popular pirate novel, Fish, now re-titled Sea of Gold, and followed by a sequel Sea of Gold: The Duke’s Curse (2023 & 2024). His recently published books have received numerous starred reviews in various journals, including Booklist, Kirkus and School Library Journal, and in 2024 he co-authored two nonfiction technology books for adults with Daniela Rus, the director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. He has also been a featured speaker at the ALA Annual Meeting, BookCon, the NY and San Diego Comic Cons, and other events.

The Creative Arts & Sciences program is made possible by your generous donations to the Bigelow PTO. Thank you!

On Friday, February 14th, Bigelow teachers and staff were treated to a Valentine’s Day treat bar. Special thanks to Laura Goldworm for organizing this event to help show our love for Bigelow’s incredible teachers and staff!