From Todd Harrison, Bigelow Principal:

Our planning for the full return of all in-person students, beginning April 28, is now in high gear.  We look forward to having all in-person students back in the building soon!

If you are interested in changing your child’s learning model for this final phase of the school year, you may do so.  You will receive a google form with a personalized link for each middle school child early next week to indicate if you want to make a change.  This form is totally optional.  You only need to return it if you want to change your child’s learning model from distance to in-person, or from in-person to distance.  The deadline to return this optional form is Sunday, April 4.  We will hold an optional information meeting for all parents on Tuesday evening, March 30, about the plan for having all in-person students in the building. More details to come.

There has been a change in the schedule for hiring the next principal of Bigelow Middle School.  The visitation days to Bigelow for the finalists will now occur on March 31 and April 1.  During these two days, parents will have an opportunity to meet the final candidates and to give feedback on them.  Superintendent Fleishman will email you with more information in the next few days.

From NNHS FORJ:

I am writing to you on behalf of the planning committee of Families Organizing for Racial Justice (FORJ) at Newton North. We would like to invite parents whose children will be starting at Newton North next year to attend our general meeting next week, to see the work we do at North, and with the hope that you will join us next year.

The theme of our FORJ NNHS General Meeting on March 24th at 7.30pm will be: ‘RACIAL JUSTICE WORK AT NNHS: WHERE ARE WE NOW? WHERE ARE WE GOING?’

The agenda will include:

• Principal Henry Turner, who will give an overview (including an update on grading and the C.A.R.E fund)
• Kathy Lopes, who will discuss her role as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Newton Public Schools
• Michele Leong, who, along with student representatives, will speak about the Human Rights Council at NNHS
• Special activity led by Renande Loayza, FORJ NNHS Planning Committee

There will be opportunities to ask questions. Please RSVP here to receive the zoom link for the meeting. We also have a website, Instagram feed and Facebook page (links below), if anyone is interested in following us. Thanks so much, and we hope to see you next week!

Samantha

Instagram: @forjnnhs  Facebook: FORJ NNHS Website: FORJ NNHS

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please save the date for the PTO’s biggest fundraiser of the year – Bigelow Big Night Online Auction 2021! The auction goes live beginning May 14, 2021 at 5 pm and will run through May 23, 2021 at 11:59 pm.

Funds raised from this event support many curriculum-enriching programs that are not covered by the public school budget, such as the Creative Arts and Sciences Program, field trip scholarships and special events, classroom supplies, advanced teacher training, the purchase of gym, performing arts and technology items, and more.

Once again, we will not be able to host our in person social event this year due to COVID-19. Typically, we raise a significant amount of money through ticket sales and sponsorships of our social gathering. Therefore, we will rely solely on our auction to raise funds for the PTO so we need your help more than ever!

Can you donate a gift certificate to your favorite restaurant, spa or hair salon?  Or would you be willing to ask a local business for a donation? Do you have tickets to a sporting event or sports memorabilia? Do you have a vacation house getaway you can donate for a weekend or a week? Would you like to donate a wine basket, artwork, an Italian Dinner basket, Lottery Card Wreath,  Game Night Basket?

Additionally, we are incorporating the theme of Ten Tables (canceled also this year due to the pandemic) into our auction. Our goal is to have 12-14 auction items that are each a three course dinner, for 4-6 people. This can be either prepared by you or purchased from a local restaurant, which is a great way to support our local businesses! So far, we have a Lebanese themed dinner, French, and Italian, which all sound fantastic!

Please fill out the form below to let us know what you are able to donate.

In the coming weeks we will share the list of auction items with all information needed to bid.

Thank you very much for your help and support of the Bigelow Middle School – the students, staff and faculty.
 Please feel free to email with any questions.

Warmly,

Alexia Giannakopoulos(alexiag5@yahoo.com) and Ruth Somers (rsomers201@yahoo.com)

Big Night 2021 Co-Chairs

 Big Night Auction Donation Form

From Todd Harrison, Principal:

Due to voting taking place at Bigelow and other schools for the city-wide special election next Tuesday, all Newton elementary and middle schools will be swapping their Tuesday and Wednesday schedules next week on March 16 and 17.

This means that Tuesday’s usual schedule will take place next Wednesday and Wednesday’s usual schedule will take place next Tuesday.  This is for March 16 and 17 ONLY.

Student schedules have been updated in Aspen, and teachers have sent students the correct zoom invitations to their google calendars.

Tuesday, March 16

• All classes are remote
• We follow the usual Wednesday ( day 5) schedule, 8:15am-1:40pm
• Only hybrid A plus or B plus students who are in-person on Wednesdays should come to Bigelow

Wednesday, March 17

• We will follow the usual Tuesday (day 1) schedule. 8:15am-2:50pm
• In-person classes for hybrid A in the morning until 11:30am
• Remote classes for all students in the afternoon , 12:50-2:50pm
• All hybrid A students should come to Bigelow
• Also all hybrid A plus and B plus who attend in-person on Tuesdays should come to Bigelow

The bus schedules will be changed accordingly.

Please contact the main office if you have any questions.

Julie Berry – Adventures with Books
Tuesday, March 16,  9:00am – 10:00am

Where do ideas come from? What six things does every story need? What does “Star Wars” teach about storytelling? Julie Berry provides a nuts-to-bolts program about what it means to be an author, the process of writing, and getting published. She touches on her upbringing and her favorite books at different stages of her life, and how those books shaped her into an author as an adult. In “Adventures with Books” Julie will walk students through the journey of starting out to write, overcoming the creative roadblocks we all face, and finding ways to tap into creativity and see it through to a finished, revised, publication-worthy end. She will talk about where ideas come from, how to brainstorm, and how to start. Best of all, she teaches kids a lesson on story structure, character, motivation, and plot that uses Star Wars as its textbook. With humor, lots of pop culture references, and questions and answers throughout, Julie engages the students and is as passionate about reading as she is about writing.

Julie Berry is the author of the 2020 NCTE Amelia Walden Award and SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner Lovely War. She is also the author of the 2017 Printz Honor and Los Angeles Times Book Prize shortlisted The Passion of Dolssa, the Carnegie and Edgar shortlisted All the Truth That’s in Me, the Odyssey Honor The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, and many others. Her first three picture books, Long Ago, on a Silent Night; Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book; and Happy Right Now, released in 2019. Her newest middle grade fantasy adventure novel, Wishes and Wellingtons, was recently released from Sourcebooks. Julie is a board member of the California School Library Foundation. She holds a BS from Rensselaer in communication and an MFA in creative writing for children and young adults from Vermont College. To learn more about Julie and her work, visit her website at https://www.julieberrybooks.com/.

This CAS program is sponsored by the Bigelow PTO thanks to your contributions!

Ruby Bridges is living history. She was the first African American child to enter the newly desegregated New Orleans school system in 1960.

During Ruby’s virtual program on March 18, 2021 at 1:10 pm, the 8th graders will have the privilege to have a live discussion with Ruby about the civil rights movement in the 1960’s as well as her ongoing commitment to the idea that if all of our children refuse to allow hatred and racism to be passed down to them, social justice for all will be the outcome.

This is a closed session for Bigelow 8th graders.

This CAS program is sponsored by the Bigelow PTO thanks to your contributions!

A message from Newton North High School Vice Principal:

Hello Day/Bigelow 8th Grade Students and Families!

My name is Amy Winston and I am the Vice Principal at NNHS. This is the first of many messages that you will receive from me, this spring, about the transition from 8th to 9th grade.

As we head into March next week, we truly dive into planning for the 2021-2022 school year at NNHS. That planning includes the course registration process for students.

I am writing to ask you to Save the Date of Thursday, March 18th, for a Virtual 8th Grade Student and Family Night. More details, including time and zoom links, will be sent in the weeks ahead. For now, please place this date on your calendar for the evening of 3/18.

One other important date for the family calendar: Friday, 4/16. Not only is this the Friday before April vacation, it is also the day by which ALL student course requests for fall must be finalized.

We are sad that we won’t be able to welcome you to North, in person, in March but we look forward to supporting you to the best of our ability through this transition process.

Thanks so much!

Amy Winston

NNHS Vice Principal

A huge thank you to the Bigelow community for donating $1500 to the Bigelow Cares Fund!

Thanks to your generosity, Bigelow families that are particularly vulnerable now due to the pandemic will be able to receive much needed support from the PTO. A check was given to Todd Harrison this past week which included an additional $500 donation from the PTO.

Since then, we continue to receive donations, which we will continue to send to Mr. Harrison. Please click below if you would like to make a donation:

$20 | $50 | $75

$100 | $150 | $250

Thank you again for your generosity and kindness.

The Bigelow PTO Board