Category Archives: From the PTO

Discounted student Charlie Card

Student Charlie Cards (S-Cards) can be obtained for free from Linda Anderson at Bigelow’s main office. A student card is valid for one year, from Sept. 1st – Aug. 31st. It offers student discounts on the MBTA bus, subway, Ferries, and Commuter Rail, including a $30 monthly T pass (regular cost $90).

The cards work on the subway, too, so are a great way for your tween/teen to get around town on weekends and after school.
*Bigelow: Bus #52, #57, #501 and #503
* North Bus #59, #553, #554, and 556
More bus routes here: https://www.mbta.com/schedules/bus

A monthly pass or up to $10 can be placed on the S-card. Funds can be deposited onto the card on board a bus, at a fare vending machine or at a subway station.

Download information about Bigelow here.

Get involved!

Middle School can be a great experience for parents as well. Get to know the Bigelow community better by getting involved in some of the PTO activities.

Volunteering enriches the school community: every bit of effort helps and any amount of time you can contribute to support our children, the school and our community is invaluable! Check out many opportunities HERE. We have immediate need for:

6th Grade Potluck Host – Consider co-hosting with another parent
8th Grade Activities Committee Chair – Consider co-chairing with another parent
TEN Tables Co-Chair – Una Simmons is the other co-chair
Big Night Chairperson – Consider co-chairing with another parent

These are tried and true Bigelow events that need parental leadership. The PTO has structured ways of running these events and will help you, but we need leaders to be in charge, please consider chairing.

One School, One Book at Bigelow

During the summer of 2019, the Bigelow Community will read Refugee by Alan Gratz. This remarkable book about three different young people – Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud – tells the story of the refugee experience through the eyes of a child.

The Bigelow Library website has resources for students:

Summer Reading Assignments for each grade
Videos about: The Story of the St. Louis, Cuba in the 1990’s, Crisis in Syria – Saja’s Story
References for: History of the Holocaust, Cuban Rafter Phenomenon, Syrian Refugee Crisis
About the author

Calendar for the 2019-2020 School Year

The 2019-2020 Calendar is available on the NPS website, HERE.

As for Bigelow, below are a few dates to get on your calendars looking ahead to next year.

Aug 27 Tue Grade 6 Ice Cream Social (9 – 10am)
Sep 3 Tue First Day of School
Sep 8 Sun METCO Picnic @ Franklin Park
Sep 11 Wed Back to School Picnic @ Burr Park (5:30 – 7pm)
Sep 21 Sat 6th Grade Potluck (7 – 9pm)

For the Grade 6 Parent Potluck – Sat. September 21 – 7:00pm – 9:00pm – we are looking for a 6th grade family to host. If interested please email us at bigelowbulldog@gmail.com

8th Grade Families – Directory information

Newton North High School uses the same online directory software that we use here at Bigelow (MySchoolAnywhere). We will be authorizing them to automatically import graduating students from our account so that no student is overlooked. This would be a great time to log in and make sure your information and share settings are up to date. Just login to: https://www.myschoolanywhere.com/login.a5w

If you still have children at Bigelow next year, you will be able to select which school to view upon logging in. If your child is not moving on to Newton North, please be sure to let the Newton North directory administration know so they can have the PTSO remove your child from the directory. Let us know if you have any other questions about this.

Honor a Bigelow graduate or staff member

Honor a graduate or thank a teacher at the end of this school year by purchasing a book through the Support Our School Library website. This service allows you to choose a book and include a personalized bookplate to honor a student or thank a staff member at Bigelow. In addition, each book is bound in a special way to make it last and processed quickly so students can have it in their hands as soon as possible. Consider donating today to help maintain Bigelow Library’s rich collection of independent reading books. Donations can be made through the end of the school year. Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.

Summer Reminders from the School Nurse

Medication Pick-up: Parents of students who have medication stored in the health room should pick it up by the last day of school, June 18. All medication (pills, epi-pens, inhalers, etc.) not picked up will be discarded. Please plan ahead to pick medication up so it is not wasted! Medication may not be carried home by the student — it must be picked up by an adult. School nurses will not be available after June 18 to return medication to families.

Medication Order Reminder: All medication orders expire at the end of the school year. If you are visiting your child’s health care provider during the summer, consider requesting a new medication order for your child. All medication, prescription or over-the-counter, requires an order. The Medication Permission Form and the Medication Policy are both available online at www.newtonma.gov/schoolhealth

West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease Prevention: Mosquito and tick-borne diseases like West Nile Virus and Lyme disease occur in Newton residents. Take steps to avoid getting sick!

Mosquito repellant not only works for mosquitoes, but helps repel ticks as well. Use a repellant with DEET, and follow label instructions for concentrations appropriate for children.
Avoid being outdoors during peak mosquito hours, particularly once West Nile Virus has been detected in the mosquito population.
Remove containers around your home (tires, kid pools, pots, tarps) that could allow mosquitoes to breed.
Check your body for ticks after being outdoors and remove them immediately to avoid disease transmission.

Shoo the flu! Seasonal influenza vaccine will be offered this fall during the school day to students and employees. The vaccine will be available to all students in Kindergarten through grade 12, by parental consent only. Consent and screening forms will be posted at www.newtonma.gov/flu by early September, in preparation for the fall clinics.

Have a happy and healthy summer!

We need a Directory manager

And volunteers for a few other Bigelow PTO positions! Get involved next year: the Bigelow community depends on the generosity and energy of parent/guardian volunteers to help keep our community informed, connected, and strong. Can you help? See several excellent opportunities HERE. Some important open positions are:

School Directory Manager	Manage online database of parents/students and produce the hardcopy version of the family directory.
Back to school picnic Chair	Help organize the family picnic at Burr Park (September 11, 2019)
Scholarship Fund Chair	Develop the Cyndi Dailey-Smith and Howard B. Smith Scholarship Fund, which provides support for Bigelow students who might not be able to otherwise participate in cultural and curricular enrichment learning opportunities, such as field trips
Nominating Committee Members	Look for new PTO board and committee members. There are 5 members: the chair and 4 feeder schools representatives: Lincoln Eliot, Underwood, Ward and Mason Rice.

Back-to-School Supplies: let’s buy less

The Bigelow school supply lists for next year is available on the school website. The PTO invites you to think about school supplies in a sustainable way, applying the 3 Rs: Rethink, Reduce and Reuse. Our students are already doing that!

We invite all families to reduce your school shopping list by reusing items that are still in good condition. This can save money, will reduce waste and it can be a great opportunity to embrace our sustainable values with our children. There’s a reason reduce & reuse come before recycle – not just because it sounds good, but it’s the order in which we should approach sustainability.

Working with your students when school is over:

Empty backpacks, pencil cases, binders, folders.
Clean everything (a swipe of rubbing alcohol can remove marker and make everything looks like new).
Organize pens, pencils, markers, scissors, calculators, etc.
Take out the used pages of notebooks and evaluate if the notebook can be reused in school or at home.

Then compare the supply list suggested by the school with what you have organized and cleaned. You might find out that there’s very little to buy! A good investment for next year is a reusable water bottle – the classes of 2017 and 2018 have gifted the school with water fountains.

8th Gr. Supply List | 7th Gr. Supply List | 6th Gr. Supply List | World Languages Supply List

Check out more resources:

One School, One Book Program 2019

As part of Bigelow’s One School, One Book Program, staff and students will read Refugee by Alan Gratz this summer. The book tells the story of the refugee experience through the eyes of three young people. Each of their experiences teaches us about the resiliency, courage, and hope of young people fleeing their countries in search of safety and freedom.

Parents are encouraged to read and discuss the book with their child and can refer to the Bigelow Library’s One School, One Book page for support materials and summer reading assignments. In addition, each child will receive a bookmark with their copy of the book that includes three questions students can think about while reading:

Which refugee story in the book do you feel most connected to?
If you had to leave your home tomorrow, how would you feel?
What were Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud hoping for throughout their experiences?

At the start of the new school year, students will participate in small group discussions and activities related to the book in their advisory groups. Discussing these questions with your child will help prepare him/her for the fall activities. To simplify payment for the book, the cost of the book ($5) will be added to the amount for the first field trip in the fall.