Thank you to all the incredible volunteers who have helped make this spring’s many PTO events possible. Your contributions have truly made a difference.

And there is more to come! May is full of opportunities to connect, learn, celebrate, and support our Bigelow community. Mark your calendars and join us!

• Thursday, May 1st, 9 am Principal Coffee on Tech and Social Media
• Sunday, May 4th, 10 am – 2 pm Newton Serves: Bigelow Grounds Beautification
• Monday, May 5th – Friday, May 9th Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week Luncheons
  • We still need volunteers. Follow link above to sign up and contribute!
• Wednesday, May 7th Walk & Roll First Wednesday!
• Wednesday, May 7th, 7 pm FORJ Film Discussion: Codeswitching: Race and Identity in the Suburban Schoolhouse
• Thursday, May 8th, 8:20 am Superintendent Nolin and School Committee Representative visit Bigelow
• Friday, May 16th, 7:15 pm Bigelow Parent Social at the Social
• Tuesday, May 20th, 7 pm Final PTO Meeting of the 2024-25 school year
  • We still need volunteers for the 2025-26 school year! Please see this form for more information and to express interest in volunteer opportunities.

Wishing everyone an amazing April Break!

Join us TONIGHT, Thursday, April 17th at 7 pm at City Hall!

Your voice matters! Let’s pack the room and show strong community support for the NPS budget!

Please see this link for more information.

In honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 5th – 9th), the Bigelow PTO will host three luncheons for our dedicated teachers and staff.  Each lunch will be catered by families from each grade:

• Monday, May 5th: 6th Grade Families Sign-Up
• Wednesday, May 7th: 7th Grade Families Sign-Up
• Friday, May 9th: 8th Grade Families Sign-Up

Please review sign-up links for each grade above, and deliver your donated item to Bigelow the morning of your grade’s luncheon. 

We are also accepting monetary donations to fund luncheon items. If you would prefer to donate money, the steps are:

1. Venmo @BigelowPTONewton and add note “[Grade] Teacher Appreciation Lunch”.
2. Sign up for an item in the grade-specific SignUpGenius link above. In the comments include “Venmo to Bigelow PTO [$ amount]”.
3. A PTO volunteer will cover that item for you the day of the luncheon. 

This will be our final teacher appreciation event of the year.  Let’s give our Bigelow staff a big thanks for all that they do!

If you have any questions, please contact:

• 6th grade: Mandy Carozza at MandyCarozza112@yahoo.com or Elizabeth Jenkins at elizabethjj@hotmail.com
• 7th grade: Laura Goldworm at lauramandell@yahoo.com
• 8th grade: Margaret Silva at battatm@gmail.com or Cindy Chan at cindy_chan@msn.com

Volunteer for Bigelow SERVES
Sunday, May 4th 10 am to 2 pm

Please join us Sunday, May 4th to help reinvigorate the green areas around Bigelow for NewtonSERVES 2025. The event will run from 10 am to 2 pm and volunteers are welcome to drop in for any amount of time. Every minute of your time helps!

Volunteers are encouraged to preregister HERE.

Please wear work clothes and bring a refillable water bottle. We also request the following items if you have them:

• work/gardening gloves
• yard tools (shovels, rakes, trowels, etc)
• wheelbarrow
• watering can

**Please label any tools you bring so we can be sure they are reunited with you at the end of the event.**

NewtonSERVES is an annual city-wide day of building community through service. NewtonSERVES projects focus on cleaning and improving our parks, school grounds, open space areas, and conservation lands. Please join us, Sunday, May 4th, to build our Bigelow Community while reinvigorating the green areas around the school!

All Bigelow families, friends, and neighbors are welcome!

On Thursday, April 10th, Bigelow 7th graders were invited to watch and participate in the engaging and inspirational performance of the Mayhem Poets. The Mayhem Poets offer timely, youthful, humorous, and hip spoken word poetry that reflects the thoughts, issues, and concerns of young people today. 

“Let’s go see a poetry show.” That is a sentence rarely proclaimed and usually responded to with cringes and excuses. The Mayhem Poets are on a mission to change that. Having been dubbed “an amazing ride” by the New York Times, this mind boggling performance has been described as “The Simpsons meets Malcolm X at a Notorious B.I.G. concert”. These theatre-trained, comedically-gifted, lyrical virtuosos seamlessly blend raw elements of hip hop, theatre, improv and stand-up comedy to tell gut-wrenching truths that leave audiences forever changed.

The Mayhem Poet’s unique approach to spoken word has landed them feature spots on The Today Show and Eyewitness News, after winning 1st place and a grant for 100K in the Microsoft Idea Wins Challenge in 2006. Since then they’ve been touring internationally from legendary venues like Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theatre, and Broadway’s New Victory Theatre; to hundreds of universities and local schools of all grades.

Please see below videos from their performance at Bigelow as well as samples of their events:

Bigelow Video 1
Bigelow Video 2
Video Sample (22 minutes)  (performance/audience participation)
Video Sample – short (audience participation)
Video Sample – short (performance) 

Creative Arts and Sciences (CAS) presentations are made possible by your generous donations to the PTO. Thank you!

Last Friday’s “Tropical Twist” Dance Party and Social was a HUGE success!

Many thanks to Paul Chin for spearheading this amazing event.

Special thanks to Principal Green, Student Council Advisor Mr. Leone, Mr. Mogensen, Bigelow Custodians, and Student Council Members for all their help.

Finally, thank you to the MANY parents who volunteer at the dance: Hai Ly, Rachanee Nelson, Erica O’Toole, Alex & Aparna Rolfe, Eugene Rhee, Mandy Carozza, Dominique Fowler, Alberto Pina, Jordan Wu, Angela Trimmis, Victoria Peake, and Anna & Neil Donnelly.

Tickets to Friday’s much anticipated “Tropical Twist” Dance + Social are now available! Tickets are $10 and include a slice of pizza and a drink. Additional refreshments will be available for purchase at the event.

Pre-Sale Tickets are available via:

• Cash: In school at lunch this week
• Venmo: @BigelowPTONewton
  • Please include student name and “dance” in the note
  • Pre-sale tickets via Venmo will be accepted until 5 pm on Friday, 4/11.

Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door (Cash or Venmo) until 7:55 pm. No Admittance after 7:55 pm.

Parents & Caregivers: It is not too late to sign up to volunteer! We need chaperones to be able to put on this popular event!

A few notes to keep the event running smoothly:

• Students are not allowed to leave the dance by themselves. An adult must be present at pick up.
• This event is open for current Bigelow students only.

On Tuesday evening, the Bigelow PTO held our third PTO meeting of the year via Zoom. We discussed planning for the Bigelow PTO budget and officers, as well as how families can support Newton Public Schools (NPS) by advocating for next year’s NPS budget.

• PTO Planning: We are incredibly grateful for the dozens of Bigelow community members who contributed to PTO events and activities so far this year—and those planning ahead for what’s still to come! Bigelow PTO needs more volunteers for the 2025-26 school year! Please see this form for more information and to express interest in volunteer opportunities. 

• NPS Budget: We encourage all Bigelow families to contact Newton Mayor Fuller (rfuller@newtonma.gov) and their City Councilors to urge them to provide adequate funding for NPS in the upcoming year.

You can view the meeting presentation slides via this link. The presentation includes an overview of PTO events and open PTO volunteer roles, as well as details on easy ways Bigelow families can voice their support for the NPS budget to Newton’s elected officials.

Thank you for being an active part of the Bigelow community!

Please Support our 2024-2025 Yearbook!

To order your copy of our yearbook, CLICK HERE or go to https://ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter our yearbook ID code 14403625.  Then enter your name and grade. Click next and follow the online prompts to complete your order.  Enter your payment directly on the website with a credit card.

All personalized yearbook copies and hardcover upgrades must be placed by Sunday, May 11, 2025.  After this date, our final yearbook order has been placed and the number of available copies left online will be limited to a first-come first serve basis.  Thank you!

Thanks to Bigelow PTO’s amazing volunteers, we enjoyed two awesome community events last weekend!

Ten Tables
Many fellow Bigelow parents gathered together to enjoy food & drinks at the Ten Tables progressive dinner and fundraiser on Saturday night. Huge thank you to Kathy Shields for pulling off this spectacular evening! And a big thank you to our gracious hosts:

• Katherine Liao & Eugene Rhee
• Kathy & Dave Shields
• Mandy & Michael Carozza
• Samantha Morton & Mike Champion
• Rodrigo & Fabiola Canales

Bigelow FORJ at Boston Bowl
On Sunday, many Bigelow families enjoyed an afternoon of bowling and arcade games in Boston. Special thanks to our Bigelow FOJR Team, Jeanne Choe-Arrieta, Angela Brooks, Hai Ly Burk, and Rachanee Nelson, for bringing families together for this event.

We are grateful for our Bigelow Commmunity!

Enjoy some photos from Boston Bowl: