“Explore Japan” cultural enrichment summer program

“Explore Japan” is a  two-week day program coming to Milton High School (for girls) and Pierce Middle School in Milton (for boys)  this summer, from July 24th through August 13th.

In Explore Japan, local students join visiting students from Japan and learn about each others respective cultures in a fun environment.  

The program includes arts and crafts projects, sports and martial arts, cuisine, music, pop culture and much more.  Each afternoon, the entire group embarks on field trips to area sights and activities.

For any family who can host one of the visiting Japanese students for this program, their child can attend the full program free of charge.  Hosting is easy, fun, and a great experience for the entire family.

For more information, visit the Explore Japan website or call (781) 828-2800.

Spontaneous Generation: Improv at Newton North, April 3-6

Newton North’s award-winning theatre troupe, Theatre Ink, presents “Spontaneous Generation.” Relying on audience participation and the cunning of the actors, Spon Gen is one show you will not want to miss. Wake the kids! Call the neighbors! Summon the spirits!

7:30pm on April 3,4,5,& 6
The Little Theatre at Newton North High School
457 Walnut Street, Newtonville
Tickets: $7.00

From the moment the first bacterium crawled onto the felsic shore and called itself man, Mother Earth has called on one troupe to be the guiding light for the despairing masses: SPONTANEOUS GENERATION! Back with four action-packed shows and combining short-form and long-form improvisation into one unique and hilarious thrill ride that will have you sneezing with laughter from start to finish. 

Tickets ($7 each) can be purchased via the Theatre Ink website.

Jazz, Hip Hop & Creative Dance Class for 3-5 year olds

Dancers will learn the basic elements of Jazz Dance and Hip Hop set to today’s popular music. Along with dance technique instruction, they’ll be given the opportunity to  creatively express themselves through open-ended movement.  The class will include stretching exercises, progressions across the floor and sequences of age-appropriate choreography that will build week to week.

Ages 3 to 5 yrs
8 Fridays, 1:30pm-2:15pm (April 12, 19, May 3,10,17,31, June 7, 14)
Waban Library Center, 1608 Beacon Street
Grace Noyes-Instructor
Cost:  $96

This fun, lively 45-minute class is offered to students who danced with us last season as well as new students.

Register online at the Waban Library Center’s website.

Public safety meeting in Chestnut Hill, April 4

The CHESTNUT HILL ASSOCIATION invites the public, those who live in Chestnut Hill and those who don’t, to attend a presentation and discussion on public safety on Thursday, April 4 at 7:00 P.M. in the Parish Hall, behind the Church of the Redeemer, 379 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill (Doors open at 6:30).

A presentation will be made by a representative of the Newton Police Department, who will be ready to answer our questions and advise us on ways to be safer at home and away from home.

Please park behind the Church (off Suffolk Road) or on Suffolk Road, Kingsbury Road, or Reservoir Avenue, all of which are off Hammond Street.

The presentation will end about 8:00 p.m. Please feel free to invite your neighbors and friends who are interested. No charge for admission.

Great deals at Mason-Rice online auction, March 14-27

Mason-Rice PTO is holding an online auction from March 14-27, offering great deals on summer camps, fitness studios, local restaurants, sports items, and more.

To review items and place a bid, go to the Mason-Rice auction site on BiddingForGood.

  • Get a deal on a summer camps, including Babson, Camp Cody, Fessenden, James Bede Soccer.
  • Get in Shape – Change Your Body Bootcamp, Get In Shape For Woman, One to One Bodyscapes and more
  • Treat Yourself to a Night Out – 51 Lincoln, Aquitaine, Legal Seafoods, Lumiere, Terry O’Reilly’s and more.
  • Sport Items – Tickets, Autographed Bruins Jersey and more
  • Other items – a Remote Car Starter, a Hipstitch Birthday Party,  Walt Disney World Hopper Passes and many more!

Parenting Your Teen Through a Jewish Lens

Is parenting a teen a new adventure for you? Join other parents for an eight-week series of evening conversations and learn to:

· Help your teen make wise choices
· Give you and your teen second chances
· Distill practical wisdom from ancient and contemporary Jewish sources

This program is based on Jewish wisdom but open for all faiths and traditions. The instructor Cheryl Harris, MA, EdM, is a professional psychologist and works at a public school.

Classes meet Wednesdays from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. at Hebrew College, Newton Centre,
beginning April 3, 2013.

Tuition:  $155 per person; $250 per couple
Scholarships are available.
For more information, contact Raylea Pemstein via email or phone at 617-559-8708

Final Open House for Highlands After School before 4/12 deadline

The Newton Highlands After-School Program, just for middle school children, is hosting an Open House for interested families. This is the last open house before the April 12 enrollment deadline.

Saturday, April 6 from 5:00-6:00 P.M.
Brigham House, 20 Hartford Street, Newton Highlands.

This is a terrific opportunity for parents of 5th graders to learn more about the program as they plan for the next school year. The Highlands After School Program offers  a safe, supervised, enrichment program that meets the developmental and recreational needs of the middle schooler. The program strives to provide support and foster independence in all students.

Please join us and see the wonderful space that is the home base of this terrific program. For more information please contact: Rochelle Acker (director) by phone at 617-999-4617 or email.

 

Take Only Photos, Leave Only Footprints, April 12

Women Working for Oceans and the New England Aquarium invite you to a photographic journey and ocean-friendly luncheon on April 12.

“Take Only Photos, Leave Only Footprints” is the story of humanity’s waste and nature’s resilience as told through a photographer’s lens and a scientist’s research in Kiribati, a remote island nation and marine protected area in the South Pacific.

Tuesday, April 12, 2013 at 11:30am
Simons IMAX Theatre in the New England Aquarium, Central Wharf, Boston
$60 includes a vegetarian lunch

Sign up online at the Women Working for Oceans website.

Newton’s Latin American Festival, March 23

Newton’s 1st annual Latin American Fiesta, Saturday March 23, at the Newton Cultural Center will bring together the sights smells, music, rhythms, foods, dances, games and arts & crafts of many of the 23 countries comprising Latin America.

3-5pm — children’s activities
5:30-9pm — dinner, music, dancing for the whole family

The gala Fiesta begins with primarily kids’ activities from 3pm – 5pm. The children will create beautiful crafts indigenous to different Latin American countries, such as bark painting from Mexico and molas from Panama. They will make musical ‘instruments’ and join in a ‘batukada’ (parade) through the Cultural Center.

The fun for the kids ends with a pinata, but begins for the whole family with music, dancing and delicious Latin American food from 5:30pm – 9pm. Bring your dancing shoes and join in the rhythms of salsa, merengue and bolero music of Brazil, Cape Verde, Venezuela and Columbia.

Artists featured are: Rosalba Dancers, Cruzamente with Tal Shaolm-Kobi, Entre Amigos and the Mauro Tortolero Band. There is beautiful jewelry for sale, created from the Tagua nuts from Colombia by Maria Olga Mizrahi’s Baloka Jewelry, and handmade leather goods by Alvaro Lucena.

Admission is free, but please bring a non-perishable food item for the Newton Food Pantries. The Latin American Fiesta is co-sponsored by the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs and Newton Community Pride and its sponsors. More info is online.