Did your child walk or roll to school this month? Or take the bus to help reduce the car congestion around our school? If so, thank you for supporting National Walk to School Day this month. If not, there’s still time to make a healthy change this month or next in how your child gets to and from school.

Walking or rolling (biking, scootering, etc.) to school increases your child’s opportunity for physical activity. At least 60 minutes of physical activity per day is recommended for children. Incorporating physical activity into your usual school routine is a great way to become more active. People who are physically active live longer and have a lower risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers.

If you do drive, consider parking a bit away from the school and walking the rest of the way. Students who walk and bike to school arrive awake and alert, with better focus and concentration, which can improve academic performance.

And a heads up for drivers who do queue at school: new “No Idling” signs are making their way to schools throughout Newton. These are a great reminder to turn off your car while waiting to drop off or pick up your student. Turning off your car improves air quality for everyone around you and reduces pollutants that can be particularly harmful for our students with asthma.

Even seemingly small changes like walking a few extra times per month or turning off a vehicle for a few minutes can make a big difference over time.

For more walk to school ideas, visit https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hst/hi5/saferoutes/index.html

From Newton Safe Routes to School  (Facebook page)

• Turn it Off – VIDEO: Vehicle Idling at Schools
• BBC News – VIDEO: How do you breathe less pollution on school run?

Bigelow All-School Dance is coming up next Friday, October 25, 7:00-9:00pm.

Dance tickets are $6 and will be on sale this week and next during lunch in the cafeteria. Students can hang out, play ping pong or other games, and listen and dance to music in the gym. Pizza and snacks will be sold  in the cafeteria.

The dance is open to all Bigelow students in grades 6, 7, and 8. Asking a classmate as a “date” to the dance is unnecessary and discouraged. Students are invited to come and have fun with friends. The theme of this dance is Halloween, and costumes (but no masks) are encouraged!

A few parent chaperones are needed. (Harry Potter “Invisibility Cloaks” costumes optional!) Please email Assistant Principal Lucas Mogensen at mogensenl@newton.k12.ma.us if you are interested in helping out. Parent chaperones help take tickets, sell refreshments, and supervise the hallways; teachers and counselors chaperone inside the gym.

Bigelow dances are for Bigelow students only, and all school rules apply at this event.  The dance ends promptly at 9:00 p.m., and we ask that parents pick up on time at the gym entrance then.  For safety reasons, students are not allowed to walk home, even in a group, without parent accompaniment.

In the next couple of weeks, Bigelow students will have the opportunity to participate in activities related to Refugee (the book they read over the summer) in three different occasions, on the 23, 28 and 30.

The goal of Bigelow’s One School, One Book Program is to create a more inclusive community through participation in a common reading experience as a whole school. Through discussion and advisory activities, staff and students share a common experience of reading and learning together. This program is supported by the Bigelow PTO, thanks to your donations.

Bigelow has prepared a series of great activities for our students. If parents would like more resources to talk to their children about this issue that touches some Bigelow families more closely then others, here are two suggestions:

From the UN Refugee Agency: Teaching about refugees
From the Harvard Graduate School of Education: Migration, Separation, and Trauma
(Note: the resources suggested above are for the adult community)

Bigelow Activities

Wednesday 10/23 Extended Advisory
The students will watch a portion of a video documenting the story of a young Vietnamese boy’s childhood escape from war-torn Vietnam, and his eventual resettlement in Australia.The film won the Audience Award and the 2015 Human Rights and Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia. They will have a discussion afterwards with their advisor and fellow advisory members.

Monday 10/28 Advisory
Students will view a video that explains the difference between a migrant and refugee as defined by the United Nations.  Advisory members will work together to create a working definition of these two words.

Wednesday 10/30 School-Wide Events
The day begins with students participating in an interactive experience in advisory designed to help students gain more insight into the refugee experience. Following this activity, each grade will listen to a guest speaker who will share their experience about moving to America as a refugee or helping newcomers resettle in our community.

• 6th grade speaker: Howard Sholkin. Mr. Sholkin is a trustee of Temple Shalom in Newton and supports the temple’s work assisting families who need to resettle in America due to political unrest in their countries.
• 7th grade speaker:  Adnan Almalky. Mr. Almalky lives in Lowell, MA with his family where he resettled in the United States needing to leave Iraq.
• 8th grade speaker: Joseph Singer. Mr. Singer is the grandfather of one of our former Bigelow graduates who survived the Holocaust and resettled in the United States.

Don’t throw markers in the trash – recycle them!  The Bigelow Green Team recently mailed 650 dry markers to Crayola for recycling.   Join our Green team, and help us make Bigelow a more environmentally friendly school!  Our next meeting is on Monday from 3-4 in room G08.

Note from the Nurse’s Office:

The Bigelow flu clinic will be on Wednesday, November 6, 2019. Each student to be vaccinated must have a parent/guardian complete two forms : 

1. Consent/Screening form
2. Vaccine administration record/Insurance form.

Forms are available in the school nurse’s office, or may be downloaded at www.newtonma.gov/flu. You may electronically complete the form, print, sign and return. Forms are due to the School Nurse by Monday, November 4, 2019.

Only the flu shot (no nasal spray) will be offered at school this year. The Vaccine Information Statement about the flu shot, and additional information for families including tips on preparing kids for a shot is available at www.newtonma.gov/flu or in the school nurse’s office. There is no cost to receive the vaccine, but insurance information is requested. All students, regardless of insurance status, are invited to receive vaccine with parent permission.

Students are not required to receive flu vaccine, however the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends flu vaccine for all people age 6 months and up. There are many places to get a flu vaccine including at school, your primary health care provider or community clinics. For additional clinic dates for the whole family, visit www.newtonma.gov/flu.

In addition to vaccination, it is important to practice good hand hygiene and cough etiquette by washing hands often; covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the arm; and staying home when sick. For more flu prevention tips, talk to the school nurse or check out these websites: www.newtonma.gov/flu and www.cdc.gov/flu

English flu forms 2019.pdf

Classrooms in each grade will be open one morning for parents to visit during this week.   Wednesday, October 16, is open house for Grade 6 classes. The day begins at 8 am with coffee in the library for sixth grade parents, and then parents are welcome to visit seventh grade classes until 11:00 am.  Thursday, October 17, is open house for Grade 7 parents.  Coffee will be served for seventh grade parents at 8 am in the library, and then seventh grade classrooms are open until 10:52 am for parents to visit.  The Grade 8 open house is on Friday, October 18.  Again, coffee will be served at 8 am in the library, and then parents may attend eight grade classes in the morning until 10:52 am.  Please bring a copy of your child’s schedule so that you know which classrooms to visit, and please attend only the classrooms of the grade open on each designated day.