City of Newton needs parent/guardian input on transportation to school

Survey on How Students Get To and From School

The City of Newton and the Safe Routes to School Task Force is collecting data on how children get to and from school and why these choices are made. Your input it critical to help the city to form policies and transportation options in the coming years as well as address current issues.
The survey is designed with specific questions geared towards each school level (elementary, middle and high school).  The survey will take less than 5 minutes for each school you are responding about.  For parents with children at more than one school at the same level  (such as having one child at Day and one at Bigelow), you are invited to complete a second survey for that child.
Please go to :  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tofromschool  to complete the survey.
Responses are anonymous.  Results by school and summary information will be made available to each school to publish.
If you have any questions, concern or other information you would like to share on school transportation, please email Alicia Bowman: pedestrian@newtonma.gov

Cookie Dough Pick up this Thurs March 27

Cookie Dough Pickup is this Thursday. March 27th, 2:45-4:30 p.m. All students who sold cookie dough should report to the cafeteria at the close of school to pick up their orders. Larger orders should be picked up by a parent prior to 4:30. This is the ONLY day for pickup and there is no storage available at the school, so please make arrangements accordingly.

Please contact Lauri Perry at Laurisperry@hotmail.com if you have any questions.  Thank you.

Walk for a great cause!!

MEDA Walk at Newton North!

BOSTON — Sunday April 6, 2014 —  National Eating Disorders Association’s 2nd annual Boston NEDA Walk, themed NEDA Walk. Save a Life, in partnership with the Multiservice Eating Disorder Association will be held on Sunday, April 6 @ 10 a.m. (Registration/check-in begins at 9 a.m.) at Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St, Newton

To pre-register, visit www.nedawalk.org/boston2014 or call 212-575-6200

For more information, contact Brittany Fraser at bfraser@medainc.org

$25 per adult, $15 per student, $10 per child under 12.

The event will be featuring, Erin Gates, editor of the internationally popular design blog, Elements of Style (www.elementsofstyleblog.com) as well as music sensations, The Falk Sisters. This event is sponsored by The Village Bank, Timberline Knolls, and McLean Klarman Eating Disorders Center.

 

Free Clinic on Running Injuries & Prevention, March 24

Boston Marathon® co-medical director Dr. Pierre d’Hemecourt will discuss running injuries and injury prevention on Monday, March 24, from 7-8pm at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center (333 Nahanton Street) in Newton.

Dr. d’Hemecourt, who is also the Director of Primary Care in the Division of Sports Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, will demonstrate how proper techniques, form and strength training can help prevent running injuries and lead to healthier, safer running.

Representatives from Greater Boston Running Company will be on hand
with samples of running shoes that help prevent injuries. The clinic, which is co-presented by The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, is free and open to the entire community.

Latin American Fiesta, Sat. March 29

Doesn’t feel like Spring yet? Take a Dinner-Dance journey through Latin America, and feel like you are on a fabulous, exotic vacation!

On Saturday March 29th , from the 7 – 10pm, Newton Cultural Center at City Hall will host the second annual Latin American Fiesta. You can enjoy a very special ‘date night’ or a ’girls night out,’ eating delicious food catered by Merengue Boston and dancing to lively Latin music performed by Veronica Robles.

The ticket cost of just $35 includes a buffet dinner and a night of entertainment by Veronica Robles, a multitalented media star who sings, dances, produces and hosts television shows. She is sure to get everyone out of their chairs and dancing the night away to the songs and dances from Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru. A wine/beer cash bar is available.

Purchase tickets online. The event proceeds benefit the Newton Food Pantries.

This week is the Newton Youth Summit, March 26th

Comedian Kevin Breel — a 20-year-old activist working in the area of depression and mental health — will speak at Newton’s third annual Youth Summit, Wednesday, March 26th from 6:00 -9:00 pm at the Newton North auditorium.

See Kevin Breel’s TEDx talk, “Confessions of a Depressed Comic” and learn more at his website, www.kevinbreel.com. 

The Summit is open to teens, parents, and other community members and will focus on youth/adult communications, difficult conversations, and the results of the first two Summits.  The Mayor’s Youth Summits are sponsored by the Newton Youth Commission, City of Newton Health and Human Services Department, and The Newton Partnership to focus on challenges and solutions facing Newton teens.

NewPAC planning meeting

Please join an open meeting of the Newton Parent Advisory Council for Special Education (NewtonPAC) with Dr. Judy Levin-Charns, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, and Dr. David Fleishman, Superintendent of the Newton Public Schools. If you have any questions please contact Eileen Sandberg at eileen.sandberg.newtonpac@gmail.com.

Thursday, March 27th,  at 9:00 am
Room 304, Newton Education Center
100 Walnut Street, Newton.

The agenda will be:
Update on the budget initiatives for next year
Brainstorming for PAC meeting topics for 2014-2015

NewPAC presentation on Reading and Language Based Learning Difficulties

Please join the April meeting of the Newton Parent Advisory Council for Special Education, for a presentation on Reading and Language Based Learning Difficulties Steve Wilkins of the Carroll School.

IMPORTANT: Because they anticipate a large turnout for this meeting, please RSVP with the number of people attending to PAC.reading.meeting@gmail.com.

April 8th, 7:30 pm
Room 210 of the Education Center
100 Walnut Street, Newton

Networking and refreshments will begin at 7:15 pm.

Steve Wilkins is Head of School at Carroll, a K/1 – 8 school in Lincoln, MA for children with language based learning difficulties, including dyslexia. With more than 35 years of experience in the field, Steve is passionate about children who learn differently and celebrates their strengths while striving to provide a creative, experiential, outcomes-based curriculum that educates the whole child. Steve and Carroll are actively engaged in important brain science research that is helping educators understand why and how children with dyslexia learn differently. Steve’s talk will lay out the best thinking about how children learn or don’t learn to read, what kinds of interventions are most effective, and cutting edge studies that piloting new curricula to address working memory and other associated learning issues. More than an educator, Steve is a champion for kids who learn differently and what they have to offer the world.

NEWTON HAS TALENT!

When: March 30th, 1:30 to 4:00 pm
Where: Newton North High School
Who: The top ten finalists will perform live in front of a panel of judges, emcee’ed by Matt Siegel, of KISS 108
Why: Fundraiser to support the community service organizations and scholarships given out by the Rotary Club of Newton and a community event.
Website: www.newtonhastalent.com
Tickets: $5 students/$10 adults

Come see and support our own talented Newton residents and students!

Ovations 2014 Gala

The Newton Cultural Alliance, host Ed Harding (WCVB) and awards presenter Congressman Joe Kennedy invite you to Ovations 2014 Gala. Ovations celebrates Newton’s arts, culture and community! This year’s honorees include Newton native and sculptor Nancy Schön, non-profit Historic Newton, and patron WS Development. The ceremony also includes a performance of Alice in Wonderland by the Boston Ballet School and New Philharmonia Orchestra plus a gallery powered by Newton Open Studios.

Tickets begin at $50. See www.newtonculture.org  or call 617-332-4300.

Saturday, April 5th,  7:00 pm
First Baptist Church in Newton Centre