Consider making and donating cloth face masks that are individually packaged in a ziplock bag for distribution to our clients. These mask donations can be dropped off at 36 Metacomet Road or at 61 Ballard Street.
Help us meet our goal of 400 masks!
Consider making and donating cloth face masks that are individually packaged in a ziplock bag for distribution to our clients. These mask donations can be dropped off at 36 Metacomet Road or at 61 Ballard Street.
Help us meet our goal of 400 masks!
“Dear Bigelow families,
As you are aware, the coronavirus is a pandemic that is affecting millions of families. This means that doctors and nurses have to work long shifts to take care of patients. I felt that I should support all of those who are working so hard to keep everyone safe. So my brother and I made a GoFundMe to help the doctors and nurses of Massachusetts General Hospital.
We are playing piano and cello duets to comfort everyone who are still suffering from the coronavirus in hospitals and homes; to comfort those who are recovering from the virus; to comfort those who are grieving for their lost ones; and to inspire those in financial hardships. We hope that through our music, people find strength to endure these difficult times.
Please donate at this link: because.massgeneral.org/siblingcovid19relief. Every donation will make a difference. Together we will overcome the coronavirus!
Thank you,
Elizabeth and Ethan Qian-Tsuchida”
Did you know that the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton is offering fifteen virtual programs completely free of charge to all Newton kids in grades kindergarten through twelve? Sign up is quick and easy and can be achieved at www.newtonbgc.com.
Here are this week’s featured programs:
MyFuture.net is a digital platform where kids can participate in some of the best activities the web has to offer when it comes to STEM, leadership and the arts. Weekly suggested activities arrive via Facebook and email and participants explore as desired. Anyone who registers and lists the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club as their host organization are entered into a raffle to earn a $100 Visa Gift Card.
Story Time on Mondays and Fridays at 2:00 PM is a perfect way for parents to earn themselves a short reprieve form providing 24 hour quarantine care. Bluejeans.com sessions hosted by members of the Club’s staff and volunteers feature classic tales suitable for kids in grades K-2, and younger!
Elementary School girls are invited to take part in Chat Attack, a free girls empowerment group hosted on bluejeans.com on Fridays at 3:30 PM. Kids can stay in touch with their friends and caring adult mentors as they explore a prearranged activity set designed to build self-esteem and to bring out the “superpowers” that we all possess.
Riddle Me This offers a weekly brain challenge posted on Thursdays at 1:00 PM on Facebook. It is sure to keep everyone guessing and extra points are awarded for fast thinking.
Dear Friends,
By now you’ve received loads of information from Superintendent David Fleishman, from the principals and the teachers regarding the NPS Distance Learning Plan. It’s a lot of information to process and we’ve heard from numerous parents and guardians who have shared feedback. During the Monday April 6th meeting, David Fleishman and the NPS administrative team offered us a “window into their thinking” for creating this plan and why the team believes it is the best solution for shifting instruction to an online model. We strongly encourage you to watch the recorded broadcast to hear directly from the team. Alternatively, you may review the Distance Learning Report to the School Committee.
The School Committee would like to provide you a window into our support for the district’s plan and will share some answers to commonly asked questions before we conclude the update with Monday’s Consent Agenda.
Last, we understand your anxiety and concern. We share your fears, your frustrations, and that sense of loss for our normal routines and traditional activities. We need your help to make this work because what the students need now, more than anything, is to maintain connection with each other and their teachers. We appreciate your help making this distance learning plan work for our children in a way that faithfully upholds our values of excellence and equity.
Consent Agenda
We hope you found this guide useful. You can access all SC meeting documents via the NPS website (www.newton.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee). As always, we are very happy to answer any questions and listen to your feedback. Please feel free to contact us via the email address below.
Sincerely,
The Newton School Committee
My name is Arman Tendulkar, and I am a sophomore at Newton South High School. I, along with my friends Jasper Datta, Enya, and Esme Kamadoli from Newton South, Zach Yusaf from the Hackley School, and Sean Lee from Dwight-Englewood created Prep Time Debate Camp. Prep Time Debate Camp is for middle-school students who want to improve their public speaking skills or want to learn about high school Public Forum Debate. PFD is a form of debate in which two teams of two argue for or against a resolution (for example, Resolved: The United States should provide universal healthcare for all).
The camp will be at least 8 hours of direct online instruction on a platform known as Zoom across four weeks, meeting as a group, two times a week for 1 hour each. The staff will consist of high school debaters from different backgrounds across the Northeast, teaching Middle Schoolers the fundamentals of debate such as researching, writing cases, and learning overall how a debate round works. Concepts like public speaking, research skills, and articulation can be very useful in job interviews, leadership activities, or anytime you need to captivate an audience.
If you are at all interested in the camp, please fill out this survey, and remember, by filling it out, you are in no way committing to the camp. After seeing how many people want to participate, we will send out an email with the final logistics, such as timings, the number of middle schoolers in a group. On a final note, all the optional donation we get will be given the Boston Debate League to help children access formal clothing and to help send them to tournaments once COVID-19 is over.
Here is the link to the survey if you wish to sign up: https://forms.gle/eHHaHqStDjDp3m7RA
Thank you, and stay safe! Best Wishes,
Arman Tendulkar
Parents or guardians with problems relating to their children are welcome to call Parents Helping Parents at any time. Trained volunteer counselors offer a way to relieve stress in a non-judgmental and sympathetic environment. Parents Helping Parents offer support to anyone seeking help, no matter how big or small.
Parental Stress Line: 1-800-632-8188
Click this link to join a meeting by computer or smartphone: https://zoom.us/j/8678605296
Or dial in by phone : +1 1646-558-8656 then input the meeting id 8678605296#
More at Parents Helping Parents
Project Driveway is a group of students from a variety of schools in the Greater Boston area such as Brookline High School, Newton South High School, Needham High School, and more. With school out and not much to do, we decided to invest our time and energy into giving back to the amazing communities during this time of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing many elderly and immunocompromised residents to be a lot more vulnerable than they previously have been, and that makes it a lot more difficult for them to get the groceries we need. Us teenagers are significantly less susceptible to the coronavirus so we can go and get the specific groceries that others need. Our volunteers will go to grocery stores around the area, pick up groceries, and bring them right to the driveways of those in need. We all follow strict sanitization guidelines which can be viewed here in order to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure that the people we deliver food to stay safe.
More here: Project Driveway
Provided by Newton STEM. Sign up for the Newton STEM newsletter HERE.
Green Newton School Connections is advocating for more Climate Education in Newton schools.
We invite all NPS teachers, from grades K-12, from every subject area, to answer this 5-minute survey. We hope to better understand what is already being taught in the district and what can be done to strengthen climate literacy and justice for our students.
Please spread the word, ask colleagues and teachers to respond. Thank you!
Climate Education Survey Link: https://forms.gle/64BYNz92yVVHixmy6
4th Annual Yard Sign Design Contest Distracted Driving February 25, 2020 – May 1st, 2020 (deadline extended due to COVID-19)
Given Governor Baker’s recent signing of the Hands-Free Driving Bill , the Safe Routes to School Yard Sign Contest theme will be “Distracted Driving.”. Click here for complete contest information as well as entry submission.
The Massachusetts Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program’s Yard Sign Design Contest is a way for students to use their creativity to help promote safe roads for cyclists and pedestrians in their communities. Students create and submit a design for a yard sign that brings awareness to distracted driving, focus their designs on eliminating distracted driving, especially in and around school zones.