Author Archives: Bigelow PTO

Frozen Cookie Dough Order Pick-Up this Wednesday, March 27, 2013 – mark your calendar!!!!

First a big thank you to all the students and parents who sent in their orders for cookie dough. We sold over $5,000 worth of Cookie Dough raising just over $2,000 for the Cyndi Daily-Smith and Howard B. Smith Scholarship Fund!

All orders for the frozen cookie dough must be picked up in the school cafeteria this Wednesday, March 27, 2013, between 2:45 and 4:30 pm. Small orders can be taken home by the students, larger ones need to be picked up by an adult. Please make arrangements accordingly!

Any orders which do not get picked up will remain at the school until the next day. After that, they will be donated (the school will be closed on Friday). Please make sure that your orders get picked up on Wednesday. Thank you!

And thank you for participating in this fundraiser!

Any questions: Berit Ramseier at 617-795-0866 / bramseier@gmail.com, or Marian McDonagh at (617) 332-5504 / mcdonaghfive@verizon.net.

 

Public safety meeting in Chestnut Hill, April 4

The CHESTNUT HILL ASSOCIATION invites the public, those who live in Chestnut Hill and those who don’t, to attend a presentation and discussion on public safety on Thursday, April 4 at 7:00 P.M. in the Parish Hall, behind the Church of the Redeemer, 379 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill (Doors open at 6:30).

A presentation will be made by a representative of the Newton Police Department, who will be ready to answer our questions and advise us on ways to be safer at home and away from home.

Please park behind the Church (off Suffolk Road) or on Suffolk Road, Kingsbury Road, or Reservoir Avenue, all of which are off Hammond Street.

The presentation will end about 8:00 p.m. Please feel free to invite your neighbors and friends who are interested. No charge for admission.

Great deals at Mason-Rice online auction, March 14-27

Mason-Rice PTO is holding an online auction from March 14-27, offering great deals on summer camps, fitness studios, local restaurants, sports items, and more.

To review items and place a bid, go to the Mason-Rice auction site on BiddingForGood.

  • Get a deal on a summer camps, including Babson, Camp Cody, Fessenden, James Bede Soccer.
  • Get in Shape – Change Your Body Bootcamp, Get In Shape For Woman, One to One Bodyscapes and more
  • Treat Yourself to a Night Out – 51 Lincoln, Aquitaine, Legal Seafoods, Lumiere, Terry O’Reilly’s and more.
  • Sport Items – Tickets, Autographed Bruins Jersey and more
  • Other items – a Remote Car Starter, a Hipstitch Birthday Party,  Walt Disney World Hopper Passes and many more!

Parenting Your Teen Through a Jewish Lens

Is parenting a teen a new adventure for you? Join other parents for an eight-week series of evening conversations and learn to:

· Help your teen make wise choices
· Give you and your teen second chances
· Distill practical wisdom from ancient and contemporary Jewish sources

This program is based on Jewish wisdom but open for all faiths and traditions. The instructor Cheryl Harris, MA, EdM, is a professional psychologist and works at a public school.

Classes meet Wednesdays from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. at Hebrew College, Newton Centre,
beginning April 3, 2013.

Tuition:  $155 per person; $250 per couple
Scholarships are available.
For more information, contact Raylea Pemstein via email or phone at 617-559-8708

Final Open House for Highlands After School before 4/12 deadline

The Newton Highlands After-School Program, just for middle school children, is hosting an Open House for interested families. This is the last open house before the April 12 enrollment deadline.

Saturday, April 6 from 5:00-6:00 P.M.
Brigham House, 20 Hartford Street, Newton Highlands.

This is a terrific opportunity for parents of 5th graders to learn more about the program as they plan for the next school year. The Highlands After School Program offers  a safe, supervised, enrichment program that meets the developmental and recreational needs of the middle schooler. The program strives to provide support and foster independence in all students.

Please join us and see the wonderful space that is the home base of this terrific program. For more information please contact: Rochelle Acker (director) by phone at 617-999-4617 or email.

 

Take Only Photos, Leave Only Footprints, April 12

Women Working for Oceans and the New England Aquarium invite you to a photographic journey and ocean-friendly luncheon on April 12.

“Take Only Photos, Leave Only Footprints” is the story of humanity’s waste and nature’s resilience as told through a photographer’s lens and a scientist’s research in Kiribati, a remote island nation and marine protected area in the South Pacific.

Tuesday, April 12, 2013 at 11:30am
Simons IMAX Theatre in the New England Aquarium, Central Wharf, Boston
$60 includes a vegetarian lunch

Sign up online at the Women Working for Oceans website.

The Override was approved by voters on March 12th

The following letter was originally sent on March 13th directly from Dr. Fleishman.  If you did not receive it then, please check your Parent Connect to ensure your correct email is registered.  

Dear Newton Community:

As many of you already know, all three override questions were approved by Newton voters yesterday.  I know I speak for our entire system when I say we are grateful to the Newton residents for their support of the Newton Public Schools.  

I am truly excited for the opportunities that the override will provide to our students and staff.  It will allow us to immediately add educators at all levels to serve our growing population and begin to address both our facilities and space needs.  Below are some examples of what the benefits will be to our students:

  • Additional teachers and staff at the elementary, middle and high school levels will be added to serve our growing population and to reduce some existing large classes at several schools.  
  • Three brand new or fully renovated elementary schools (Angier, Cabot and Zervas) will provide not only top-notch facilities but badly needed classroom space.  In the fall of 2014, Angier students will move to a newly renovated Carr School, where they will spend two years before returning to a brand new Angier School.  We will have more details on both Cabot and Zervas in the near future.  
  • Brand new modular classrooms will be added this fall at several elementary schools, including Bowen, Mason-Rice, Horace Mann and Burr.  These classrooms will ensure that there will be reasonable class sizes at the elementary level.

It was a great pleasure answering many questions from parents and community members during the numerous town and school meetings that we held over the past several months.  Newton is a city full of highly engaged citizens and I appreciate the value that is placed on public education.  I also want to extend a special thanks to the Mayor and School Committee for their tireless efforts during the override process.

Next Monday night, March 18, 2013, I will be presenting the specifics of the proposed FY14 budget to the School Committee which will include more details of how we intend to use the override funding.  We will be certain to provide more information on the budget in the coming days and welcome your input during the process.

Sincerely,

David Fleishman
Superintendent of Schools
Newton Public Schools 100 Walnut Street Newton, MA 02460 

 

Thanks for making the bake sale a success!

Many thanks to all of you who provided baked goods and/or volunteered for the Bigelow Election Day bake sale. The sale raised $730 that will go to the Cyndi Dailey Smith Scholarship Fund. Thank you to Joanne Gatnick, Lori Seuch, Laura DeDominicis, Sally Brickell, Mindy Peckler, Becky Manley, Carena Cremin, Marian McDonagh, Vicki Ritterband, Liz Hoffman, Leah Arteaga, Beth Porter, Leslie Williams, Chris Kjellson, Andrea Newman, Liz Haas, Barbara Joseph, Rachel Boloyan, Donna Manley, Angela Pitter-Wright, Wendy Kritzer and others who provided items. Your time and efforts are much appreciated and helped make this fundraiser a success. Thank you.
Julie Bourgoin
PTO vice president

Newton’s Latin American Festival, March 23

Newton’s 1st annual Latin American Fiesta, Saturday March 23, at the Newton Cultural Center will bring together the sights smells, music, rhythms, foods, dances, games and arts & crafts of many of the 23 countries comprising Latin America.

3-5pm — children’s activities
5:30-9pm — dinner, music, dancing for the whole family

The gala Fiesta begins with primarily kids’ activities from 3pm – 5pm. The children will create beautiful crafts indigenous to different Latin American countries, such as bark painting from Mexico and molas from Panama. They will make musical ‘instruments’ and join in a ‘batukada’ (parade) through the Cultural Center.

The fun for the kids ends with a pinata, but begins for the whole family with music, dancing and delicious Latin American food from 5:30pm – 9pm. Bring your dancing shoes and join in the rhythms of salsa, merengue and bolero music of Brazil, Cape Verde, Venezuela and Columbia.

Artists featured are: Rosalba Dancers, Cruzamente with Tal Shaolm-Kobi, Entre Amigos and the Mauro Tortolero Band. There is beautiful jewelry for sale, created from the Tagua nuts from Colombia by Maria Olga Mizrahi’s Baloka Jewelry, and handmade leather goods by Alvaro Lucena.

Admission is free, but please bring a non-perishable food item for the Newton Food Pantries. The Latin American Fiesta is co-sponsored by the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs and Newton Community Pride and its sponsors. More info is online.