PEDESTRIAN SAFETY– Over the last year the L-E School Site Council and our Safe Routes
Committee has worked with the Aldermen and the Traffic Commission to make the Jackson Road Drop off safer and to reduce traffic. We now have a LIVE Drop Off in the morning along Jackson Road and traffic flow is ONE way from Jackson onto Capital.
A continued area of concern is pedestrians crossing from Capital directly to the Jackson
Road entrance to the school. There is NO CROSSWALK at that point. Pedestrians are
competing with cars dropping off children and pulling out, cars turning onto Capital, and through traffic continuing down Jackson. Daily, I witness close accidents as L-E families try to cross at this dangerous point and compete with all the traffic. We have been told that the city WILL NOT put a crosswalk in at that intersection due to safety issues with the pedestrian light at Pearl and the crossing guard located at Pearl.
PLEASE take the extra few minutes to walk down to the pedestrian light (and crossing guard) at Pearl. It is important that children learn pedestrian safety. You can help your child by modeling this behavior and insisting they take these safety steps.
THIS THURSDAY IS FAMILY SCIENCE NIGHT!
Come join in the science learning and fun!
Thursday, January 29th 2014 from 5:30-7:00 PM
- Highlight of the evening- Student Presentations. Every student who presents a project will receive a Science Medal.
- New England Aquarium Tide Pool Tank
- Computer Coding Station
- STEM Challenge- Put your technology/engineering thinking cap on!
- The Ligerbots- (Newton North & Newton South High Schools Robotics Club) will bring
their robot! - The Newton North Science Club will host a presentation.
- PIZZA will be sold in the cafeteria. Proceeds to go the our Fifth Grade Camping Trip.
* Students can bring projects to school to set up that afternoon or parents can bring
projects after school to the cafeteria. - PROGRESS REPORTS will be available online for all families on Tuesday, February 3rd.
Access information will be emailed from the district shortly before that date. Students’ current performance levels in a variety of academic and social objectives are reported in reference to our grade-level benchmarks. Students who are meeting or are on track to meet year-end benchmarks receive a “3.” “4” indicates performance beyond grade-level benchmarks. “2” and “1” indicate varying degrees of required growth toward benchmarks. If your family does not have internet access, please call the school and we will print a hard copy for you.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE UPDATE:
The school committee is discussing the need to move elementary school district lines in order to alleviate over crowding in a number of Newton elementary schools. The student assignment planning work is being done this year in order to match the timing of the various school construction projects, as the projects will provide additional classroom space.
Please note that there will be an update on the Student Assignment Process at Monday night’s School Committee meeting on January 26, 2015. As we proceed, we will inform you of future meetings that will be solely devoted to this topic.
The Superintendent and School Committee members will also discuss the Student Assignment Process during the PTO meetings being held in each school during the next few months.
PTO MEETING Monday, Feb. 23rd 8:20-9:15 AM – Meeting with Superintendent David
Fleishman and members of the Newton School Committee for their annual visit to our PTO.
The meeting will include a brief update on district initiatives (e.g. the new PARCC
standardized test and new building plans), followed by an interactive session to answer your
questions and listen to feedback.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS UPCOMING Early Release Dates:
Please note that the following Thursdays will have dismissal at 12:30 for the purpose of professional development and conferences: February 4th (Wednesday), March 12th, and May 7th.
PARCC ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE:
Newton Elementary students will be taking the PARCC Assessment this year instead of the MCAS. For elementary students, this exam replaces the MCAS exams in all areas except Grade 5 Science. For Massachusetts, this is Year 2 of the pilot program for the PARCC assessment. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will vote whether to fully adopt PARCC as the state’s new testing program in fall 2015.
The PARCC Assessment has two components. The first component (called the Performance
Assessment) is administered at the end of March and the second component (called the End of the Year Assessment) is administered in May. Please note the following dates as you are lanning family vacations and appointments: Grade Performance Assessment ELA Performance Assessment Math End of Year Assessment ELA End of Year Assessment Math
Important Recess Reminder: We go outside every day, EVEN IN THE SNOW, unless the
temperature drops below 20 degrees F. Please ensure your children dress appropriately with coats, hats, mittens, and boots.
Food Lunch Balance: Every Tuesday and Friday e-mail notices are sent out from Whitson’s
Food Service notifying families of outstanding balances. If you are not receiving these e-mails, please call the school to let us know. In addition, you can always check your balance and make electronic payments on the “My School Bucks” page on the Newton Public Schools website.
TUESDAY & FRIDAY PIZZA AT L-E…
L-E PIZZA TUESDAYS (12:15-1:00) & FRIDAYS (3:00)
At the Jackson Road Entrance-‐ $2 per slice Pizza is Popular and disappears quickly! Avoid disappointment and pre-‐order your Whole Pizzas by noon -‐-‐ $10.00 each. Email Susanne at susanneg4@hotmail.com to order. Pickup a Pizza or two on Friday nights for dinner! Proceeds benefit the 5th Grade 2015 Graduating Class…we appreciate your support!
FUNDRAISING…
JANUARY SCRIPS ORDER FORMS ARE AVAILABLE AND HAVE BEEN SENT HOME HARD COPY AND ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON-‐LINE. When you purchase SCRIPS Gift cards you receive the
full value of each card and the school receives a percentage from the company.
Get Your Taxes Done and Raise Money for Lincoln-Eliot!
Shaul Berechman, a Senior Tax-Advisor with 12 years experience with H&R Block, is donating
to the PTO the higher of $10 or 10% ($5 for returns costing less than $70) of tax preparation fees from members of the LE community. Personal US income-tax only please (no foreign countries, corporations, estates, partnerships, gifts,etc.) Last year we raised $175 for L-E!
You can call him at home: 617-332-1690, or make an appointment directly with his office at 617-254-6207.
Amazon.com Shoppers:
With the upcoming holiday season, don’t forget to access amazon.com through the PTO website. Our school receives up to 10% of all purchases simply purchased through this
link.
Don’t forget to bring in your Box Tops, Coke Points and your Labels for Education labels into
school. This is an easy way to raise money for programs at L-‐E. Drop off boxes are located
near the Main Office. Check for labels on the following products: BIC, Campbells, Dannon,
Emerald, Glad, Pace, Pepperidge Farm, Pop Secret, Post, Prego, Spaghettios, Swanson, V8 Beverages, and Wolfgang Puck! With your support, office supplies were just ordered for Donna McLoughlin!
STOP AND SHOP:
Thank you to Diane Collins for organizing our Stop & Shop A+ Rewards Program. The total
to date that L-‐E families has earned is $1,334.95! This is a wonderful source of revenue
for L-‐E since it comes from dollars our families spend anyone on weekly groceries. If you have not yet signed up your card please register. If you are not sure if your current registration is activated please re-‐register. Just log on to www.Stopandshop.com/aplus
to register online. Our school ID is 05887. Or, dial 1-‐877-‐275-‐2758 to register your card over the telephone. Ask family members to register too and select Lincoln-‐Eliot!
DONOR’S CHOOSE:
Ms. Blanchard, Learning Center Teacher, has a new Donor’s Choose Project. Project Cost: $543.00 Funding Left to GO:$118.00 Almost there!
Description: My wish is that my Learning Center room will represent another place for positive learning and growth development. A classroom rug will bring some color and excitement to the small, concrete room. My students try to overcome some of the hardest academic challenges therefore, they should be given a space to learn that displays a sense
of comfort. Funding this project will make my students not only feel more accepted in the school, but be able to work in a positive place for learning. I want my students to be accepting of their differences and embrace their differences. You can support Ms. Blanchard by helping to fund her project at:
http://www.donorschoose.org/profile/teacher.html?teacher=522996&verify=-‐1368213929&active=true
COMMUNITY NEWS…
Please check out the new Community Directory at https://lepto.org/business-‐directory for all community events and services.
NEWTON EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS is a student-run program at Newton South High School for 4th and 5th graders in Newton public schools. Every year, a group of dedicated high school students teach classes to the elementary students for five Saturdays between February and April. There are classes for everything, from arts and crafts classes to sports and cooking classes.
This program has been running for ver 20 years, and we would love to continue the program this year and involve even more students than last year. In addition, our program donates all proceeds to a different charity every year, and we are going to be donating to the Make-A-Wish Foundation this year go to: http://newtonws.wix.com/homepage
for more information Please sign up for this great program by sending a check for $50.00 to Newton Educational Workshops and mailing it to:
Newton Educational Workshops
140 Brandeis Road
Newton, Massachusetts 02459
PJ STORY TIME WITH NEWTON COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:
Wednesday, January 28, 2015, 6:30 PM
AT NewTV, 23 Needham Street. Children (ages 3 – 7) come in pajamas to hear stories. Mayor Setti Warren will be a guest reader. For the first time, the story time will be taped at NewTV and aired on the Newton channel. Please call Beverly at 617.559.2062 to confirm your attendance.