Get a head start on college essays this summer

Summer is a great time for rising seniors to begin work on their college essays. Jane Hirschhorn is a writing coach with more than 20 years of experience, and she guides students toward crafting compelling, authentic essays.

Her students have been accepted to a wide range of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, including those that are the most selective.

For more information, please contact Jane at jane@jbhtutoring.com. For a complete list of the schools where Jane’s students have been accepted and to learn more about Jane,
please visit her website jbhtutoring.com.

SAT/ACT Tutor available

Sam Frank, Yale graduate and a resident of Newton, is available to tutor high school students in their homes for the SAT and ACT.

Please call or email either to arrange a preview session (free of charge for all prospective clients) or to ask questions about test prep, the college application process, SAT subject tests, differences between the SAT and ACT, etc.

Sam’s tutoring rate is $150.00 per hour. Until September 1st, pay the reduced rate of $100.00 per hour for Newton residents. For families in need, he’s happy to discuss your circumstances for possible additional discounts.

Contact Sam at 413- 717-7466 or samuel.e.frank@gmail.com

Newton Girls Soccer

Did you know that more than 1300 girls and 250 volunteers participate in Newton Girls Soccer each season?!?! For 40 years, they have occupied a special place not only in our city but in the world of youth soccer, as one of the only programs focusing exclusively on the needs of girls. NGS strives to give each player the opportunity to learn and play soccer in a supportive and rewarding environment that emphasizes fun, individual skills development, teamwork and sportsmanship, all at a level that fits her interest and ability.

Registration is now open for the Newton Girls Soccer Fall 2018 Juniors and City Soccer Programs. The NGS Juniors and City programs offer a recreation-focused soccer experience that emphasizes fun, health and exercise. Programs are open to girls entering Kindergarten through 9th grade who live in or attend school in Newton. Players of all skill levels are welcome to register.

For additional details and registration instructions, please click to review the Fall 2018 Juniors/City Program Overview or visit http://newtongirlssoccer.org/home/register/.

The 10-week fall season starts on September 8th and ends November 10th. Games are played on Saturdays; players in Grade 2 and up also have one practice per week. The
registration fee is $180.00 for the season. If you register before August 1st, you’ll receive a $50.00 early registration discount. Late registrations are accepted, but players must be registered by August 1st to be guaranteed a spot on a team.

As a community-based program, each team includes a mix of girls from multiple neighboring schools. However, we honor one mutual friend request per player for girls registered by August 1st and make every effort to place players on a team with at least one schoolmate.

Please join us today to celebrate the 2017-2018 School Year

All are invited to our last meeting of the year, when we are going to celebrate the 2017-2018 school year with light refreshments and good talks! We would love to see you there!

This is a great time for rising 8th grade parents to learn about all of the 8th grade activities next year and how they can get involved. Rising 6th grade parents will have the opportunity to get to know their new PTO and what we do for the school and the students.

We will present the 2018/19 budget and show how the PTO uses all the money raised by our community. The incoming leadership will be brought forward for a vote of Bigelow parents, guardians, teachers and staff. More information here.

PTO Get Together
Monday, June 11th 2018, from 7pm to 8pm
Bigelow Library

Hope to see you all there!

Back-to-School Supplies at Bigelow – getting green

The end of the year is around the corner and we are all thinking about summer, yeah! However, before we all go, the PTO would like to invite you to start thinking about school supplies – in a more sustainable way.

This year the PTO will NOT organize the back-to-school supply kit program. Instead, we invite you to try to reduce your school shopping list by reusing items that are still in good conditions. 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.

This is our suggestion. 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 things look 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.
When the school supply list arrives, compare the list with what you have organized and cleaned. You might find out that there’s very little to buy!

Here are a few resources:

Mr. Livingston’s BIG Bigelow Final Concert

Dear Bigelow Families,
After 40 years in NPS, Mr Livingston is retiring. We want to make this as special as possible for him. Two options:

1) Share a memory of Mr Livingston for his memory book. Was it Ghost Chickens in the Sky? How to extricate a pick from inside a guitar? Watching him demo the double bass? What memory of Mr L makes YOU smile? Submit a memory of Mr L to the email livingstonparty@gmail.com! Please do so by next Wednesday, June 13.

2) Wednesday, June 13 at 7: Mr Livingston’s Big Finale Concert! At Bigelow in the gym, reception to follow. RSVP HERE.

PLEASE share this event with Newton friends – Mr L has taught in 7 schools for 40 years, so you never know who had him! Your quick note or presence at his concert will be the gift of a lifetime to the man whose presence in school was a gift to so many people.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFdjXB_lS7Tj0wbeKRcYgb67QVep8oHvunSoseMn9-wLTISg/viewform

Calling all 7th and 6th grade parents and friends!

Chaperones needed for the 8th Grade Dance, on June 21st. It is a tradition at Bigelow for 7th grade parents and guardians (6th grade parents are welcome as well) to chaperone the 8th grade year-end dance. This year the dance will be on Thursday, June 21st, from 7-10 in the Bigelow Cafeteria. We have two shifts available (7-8:30 pm and 8:30-10 pm) and need four people per shift. If you are interested in volunteering please email the PTO at bigelowbulldog@gmail.com. Thank you!

Newton Firefighters want to help extinguish hunger in Newton!

From June 8th to June 22nd, Newton Firefighters will be holding a food drive on behalf of the three food pantries in Newton; the Centre Street Food Pantry, the Newton Food Pantry and the Arabic Baptist Church, which together serve more than 1,000 families a month in our community.

Please donate canned or packaged non-perishable food items (that are not opened or expired) and toiletries (standard size) to your local fire station. Let’s support the Newton Firefighters in their fight to end hunger in our neighborhoods!

Be part of the SOLUTION for opioid epidemic – Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet

Misuse of prescription drugs is a common way for teens and adults to start down the road of addiction. The most typical place young people get access to prescription drugs is their home medicine cabinet. A few simple steps can have a significant impact on limiting unsafe access to these powerful drugs:

Immediately and safely dispose of any unused medication (for more information on disposing of medication, see www.newtonma.gov/newtonpath)
Secure all prescription drugs that are currently being used in a lock box or other inaccessible location.
Track all prescriptions, including counting pills to ensure they are not being taken inappropriately.
Talk to your kids about never taking any drugs that are not prescribed specifically for them by their health care provider.
Talk to your health care provider about limiting prescriptions of opioids and seeking alternative strategies for pain management when possible.

Honor Thy Teacher Campaign

Don’t miss your chance to thank teachers and staff who made a difference to your child this year! Making a donation to Newton Schools Foundation’s Honor Thy Teacher program is a great way to do this. Look for a flyer in your child’s backpack or if you have children in the upper grades, you will have already received a letter by mail.

To donate online and to find out more about the programs NSF funds, go to www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org. Donations are tax-deductible and go toward enhancing educational excellence, including teachers’ professional development, initiatives to close the achievement gap, and new curricula and learning opportunities throughout Newton’s schools. Teachers, as well as their Principal and the Superintendent, will be notified of this honor, and if you donate by July 31st their names will appear in a special notification in the Newton TAB.