There’s no such thing as bad weather—only bad clothing! Show your New England resilience by joining classmates and students across Massachusetts in celebrating Winter Walk, Roll, Bike and Bus Day on Wednesday, February the 2nd.
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/NewtonSafeRoutes
Website: www.NewtonSafeRoutes.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/NewtonSafe/status/1483866693810204673
All ski trips are cancelled. Refunds will be issued. Expect an email from Meghan Litten with more information shortly.
Student info meeting after school Friday February 4, 2:45-3:30
Parent info meeting on Zoom Monday February 7, 7:30: https://newton-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/2830156482
All information will also be posted on the drama website, www.bigelowdrama.weebly.com
From the NPS COVID Testing Team:
The Newton Public Schools is shifting its testing strategy away from pooled testing (PCR) and toward at-home weekly rapid antigen tests. This new weekly at-home rapid antigen test is for ALL students PreK-12+ (vaccinated and unvaccinated.)
We expect the new testing program to be implemented the week of February 7, 2022. Below is specific information you will need in order for your student to participate in the new at-home testing program:
In addition to the weekly at-home rapid antigen testing program, we will continue in-school symptomatic testing for students and staff that develop symptoms during the school day. We will discontinue the Test and Stay testing program and contact tracing. Please be vigilant in checking your student for symptoms, conducting the daily health assessment (link), and staying home when sick.
All testing information can be found here: NPS COVID Testing Webpage.
A special thank you to Bigelow parent, Igor Tsurikhin, for helping the PTO file its tax return. Thank you Igor!
Join the Bigelow PTO Virtual Family Trivia Night!
All ages are invited to join us for the second annual Bigelow PTO Virtual Family Trivia Night! Emceed on Zoom by local trivia host James Marohn (Games with James), there will be dozens of challenging questions in a variety of general knowledge categories!
On Saturday, February 5 at 7:30pm, order your dinner from Blue Ribbon BBQ, 20% from the sales during our Trivia Night will go to the Bigelow PTO, meet-up with your teammates, and compete against other teams for the title of “Bigelow Trivia Champs”! This a fun opportunity to socialize with other Bigelow families, teachers and staff, as well as show off some of your random, obscure knowledge! Plus prizes for the top two teams and to the team with the “Best Bigelow Spirit.”
All are welcome! Register your team name and participants by clicking here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDmbiApE9ao9_dtBWtrXQnG_CdbgOZ4EuMCyyCTCNfY_4lqQ/viewform
The Bigelow PTO annual online auction will kickstart the last week of March 2022.
If you have some time to spare and want to make a difference in the Bigelow community, we need you! We’re looking for volunteers to reach out to businesses for donations to the auction as well as volunteers to help the Online Auction Committee assist with the auction process.
Kick-start 2022 by volunteering your time to help strengthen our Bigelow Community.
If you would like to volunteer or have donations, please reach out to Alexia Giannakopoulos at alexiag5@yahoo.com
The English Language Parent Advisory Council will hold its next meeting on Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.
ELPAC supports ELL families districtwide and collaborates with schools and districts to improve the ELL programming.
Meetings are held every other month. Interpreters and/or same language groups are provided with RSVP by January 31, 2022. The February 3, 2022 meeting topics are: Newton Free Library Resources & ACCESS Testing.
RSVP to the meeting here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjxQInxlKSYX_TVwVp5Dr6B4jKC0BBOqXxixNPI91VayV5pw/viewform
Once you RSVP, you will be sent a Zoom link to attend the meeting virtually.
Attached please find translated invitations. Email invitations have also been sent to ELL families from the district ELL office.
Be sure to use Amazon Smile when shopping on Amazon on your computer and phone! Please update your Amazon settings and earn money for Bigelow when you do your regular shopping. Choose Bigelow Middle School Parent- Teacher Organization Inc.
For everyone’s safety, do not park on the left side of Vernon when droppping off or picking up. Also many people also need to be reminded to not cut the line and block people who were respectfully waiting for their turn to drop their child off.
Please find a reminder below of the 7 School Pick-Up and Drop-Off Line Rules as stated in the very humorous 2018 article “The 7 rules parents must not break in the school drop-off line“ by Sarah Maizes:
“Rule #1: Do NOT get out of your car. Ever. Not to “quickly grab” your kid, wave “come on” to your child over the playground fence, or just say “hi” to your friend in line behind you to tell her how much fun you had at Girl’s Night Out. Stay in your car. And when the car in front of you moves, you move.
Rule #2: Put down the cellphone. Don’t text or type emails. Waiting for your kid in your empty (and wonderfully quiet) car seems like the perfect opportunity to catch up on work – but it’s also a distraction. People on their phones don’t notice the car in front of them has moved, and as we learned in Rule #1, you know what to do next. More importantly, it’s dangerous. People on their phones don’t see children darting out between cars to the parents breaking rule #3.
Rule #3: Don’t double park. Maybe you’re thinking “I’ll just pull up alongside this nice lady here and my kid can run out in front of her and jump in.” No. “But I see my kid right there!” Good. Then you can wave at them to meet you at the end of the line when you circle back around the block. Plus, it’s illegal.
Rule #4: DON’T cut the line. It doesn’t matter that there is a gap the size of the one in Lauren Hutton’s smile in front of that BMW ten cars up. We’re all waiting for them to get off their phone and move up (pop quiz: “What do you do when the car in front of you moves?”). Zipping into that gap is like cutting the line at a cupcake shop. You wouldn’t pull that $#*% at Sprinkles, would you?
Rule #5: Leave the PDA at home. You love your little one and want to send him on his way to school with a kiss. That’s lovely. You’re cute. But if little Johnny won’t get out of the car or he’s not ready to say “goodbye,” go park your car and walk him in. Even better? Install an ejector seat. People are waiting, folks.
Rule #6: The rules of the car drop-off lane apply to everybody no matter what kind of car you drive. So move your Maserati to the back of the line, dude. You’re giving the 1 percent a bad name.
Rule #7: Move swiftly. Once your kids locate you, get them into the car and get going. Don’t sit there in line and have the “how was your day?” discussion with them.
In short, a little politeness goes a long way in the car lane (and beyond). Remember, being behind the wheel of a car doesn’t make you invisible. We see you. We all see you. Including our children. So let’s try to set a good example. Now put the phone down… the car in front of you just moved up.”