Author Archives: LEPTO Admin

Ultimate Frisbee for Elementary, Middle and High School – April 24 – Jun 19

There’s now an Ultimate Frisbee BUDA program for nearly Grades 1 through high school in Newton. Programs meet on Sundays, and will be returning to Newton North this season. Note that the 6-8 program will also have a recommended practice session one evening per week.

All programs will run from April 24 to June 19, 2022. There will be no formal program on Memorial Day Weekend, May 29.

Contact Burt Granofsky, BUDA Newton Youth Ultimate, if you have any questions: burt.granofsky@buda.org

Principal / PTO Update 2.20.22

Hi LE Families,

Just a reminder of new protocols for the at-home COVID testing program. If you have signed up you received another round of at home tests this week. We want to make sure you have tests for vacation week as well as for testing prior to the return to school. We recommend that you use one of the tests on Sunday, February 27, 2022 (prior to returning to school on Monday.) Please use the second test on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. More details can be found here: COVID Testing Webpage.

After vacation, you will receive at home test on a bi-weekly basis. Our weekly testing day will remain Tuesday. Please test your child at home each Tuesday morning. Only positive results need to be reported to the school. You will complete this form to report a positive result: Form – Positive Result from At-Home Antigen Test.

Have a great February vacation and we will see you back on Monday, February 28th!

Principal Morrissey & the PTO

Volunteers Needed!

We are looking forward to 3 of our biggest events for the remainder of the year. Whether you’re new and looking to learn more or a seasoned veteran, we need your help.

The Science Fair is completely PTO run and will not happen without amazing volunteers like yourself! Last year it was completely virtual. This year, it will be up to you on whether to keep it virtual or try to plan something outside.

The Fun Run is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. No experience necessary! We are looking for parents who would like to observe this year in order to help run parts of it next year.

Juneteenth is our newest event, debuting last year. It was such a great hit and we’d like to make it an annual tradition.

If you’d like to join any of these committees, please sign up using this form https://forms.gle/ULnSCRjCDLbRc5bv6 or simply email secretary@lepto.org

FORJ Updates and Activities

Check out these upcoming FORJ events with our Newton Community.

“Racism Not Race”: An Author talk with Joseph L. Graves, Jr. and Alan H. Goodman on Wednesday, February 23^rd at 7PM presented by Newton Free Library. Register here.

Bigelow Middle School FORJ 7-Day Anti-Racism Challenge – FAMILY EDUCATION and REFLECTION RIGHT AFTER FEBRUARY VACATION

As we are all learning about what we can do to build anti racist schools, community, world — we hope you can join us for a week long school-wide learning activity, called the 7-Day Anti-Racism Equity Challenge, originally sponsored by Brandeis University. The purpose of the week is to engage in reflection and practical thinking on how to integrate racial equity into our work and daily habits — for ourselves, our families, and our school. The 7 Day Challenge will take place (all on your own time) during Black History Month – February 21-27, 2022. Each activity takes no more than 15 minutes to complete.

Then, join us a ZOOM conversation March 1^st as a school community to reflect on what we are learning. Contact Lanni for information on the conversation and the challenge readings, videos and prompts: lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

Racial Representation in Pop Culture (e.g., “The Falcon & the Winter Soldier”) on Monday, February 28^th at 8PM presented at the Burr FORJ February Meeting. Register here.

“How to Talk to Children about Anti-Semitism” on Tuesday, March 1^st at 7:30PM presented by Hadassah Northeast, Lappin Foundation, Temple Emanuel and Holocaust Legacy Foundation. Deborah Gilboa, MD, attending family physician and parenting and resilience expert, will outline a framework for addressing antisemitism with children. “Dr. G.” will provide context for introducing and reacting to antisemitism, as well as an algorithm for talking to kids about any scary or difficult issue. Dr. G. will also give strategies for meeting children where they are and answering their questions as they come up, while strengthening their resilience and building your relationship with them. Register here.

FAMILIES ORGANIZING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE (FORJ) is a group of diverse Newton families helping our children learn about issues of power and inequality and how to stand up for racial justice. We seek to generate understanding and curiosity about differences in our society, and to work together towards racial equity.

For more information about FORJ, contact Lincoln-Eliot FORJ PTO Liaison Lanni Isenberg, lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

Black History Month Assembly Recap

The month of February is dedicated to honoring the sacrifices and celebrating the achievements and contributions of Black Americans to the history of the United States. During this time, many educators seek resources to share with their students. This year, Lincoln-Eliot’s Assembly Team came together to create the “Heroes Among Us” project – not only to celebrate African Americans in our community – but to bring stories from the Newton and Boston communities into our classrooms every day during the month of February.

“Heroes Among Us” is a series of short videos made by community members, families, and friends from the Lincoln-Eliot, Newton, and Boston communities. These videos provide an opportunity to amplify the voices of African Americans in our community and to share their stories and perspectives. Each day in February, students hear from different community members – from lawyers, to doctors, to firefighters, engineers, and more – who share a little bit about themselves and what Black History Month means to them. These videos have brought both students and staff together in new and meaningful ways. In addition, over the last few days before vacation the school community engaged in a read aloud of Change Sings by author and poet Amanda Gorman, and classrooms came together for a school-wide culminating activity.

Each class also created a “Wordsplash” reflection after completing the assembly this past week. Here are two:

Educators and students both agree that this month’s assembly has been a powerful celebration in honor of Black History Month. Thank you to all who participated and to the Assembly Team for their work honoring the “Heroes Among Us”.

LE Snack Bar

We were able to provide the teachers with a little boost before the break by setting up the LE Snack Bar on Wednesday. Thank you teachers and staff for all of your amazing work. We appreciate it!

Thank you from the Haitian Project

We received this beautiful note of thanks from the Haitian Project. Thank you to all who donated school supplies to make this a success.

Principal / PTO Update 2.13.22

Hi LE Families,

We have a fun week ahead of us with LE Spirit Week (February 14 – February 18)! Please check out the schedule below as we encourage all students to participate throughout next week.

A reminder that February Vacation Week is coming up and there is no school February 21 – February 25.

Have a wonderful week,

Principal Morrissey & the PTO

Volunteers Needed for Spring Events!

We are looking forward to 3 of our biggest events for the remainder of the year. Whether you’re new and looking to learn more or a seasoned veteran, we need your help.

The Fun Run is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. No experience necessary! We are looking for parents who would like to observe this year in order to help run parts of it next year.

Juneteenth is our newest event, debuting last year. It was such a great hit and we’d like to make it an annual tradition.

If you’d like to join any of these committees, please sign up using this form https://forms.gle/ULnSCRjCDLbRc5bv6 or simply email secretary@lepto.org

FORJ Updates

February 10^th FORJ CityWide Meeting Recap

What a treat to hear from JoAnne Bland, Founder of Foot Soldiers Park! She leads thousands of visitors on tours of Selma each year, and in January 2020 met several Newton students on a trip organized by their synagogue, Temple Shalom of Newton. She was a child when her family members participated in the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, AL to demonstrate for voting rights. Ms. Bland is personally working to impress upon everybody the importance of every person’s role in the path to civil rights for all. The three students who joined the panel talked about their own transformed thinking from their visit with Ms. Bland to the historic sites in Selma, including the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In the discussion, Ms. Bland and the students talked about the need to continue to talk about peoples’ experiences before Civil Rights legislation was passed and about the work still to be done. Ms. Bland visits schools in Alabama to tell the students about her experiences and hopes for a time when there will be featured stories about figures in Black History every day of the year.

Check out these upcoming FORJ events with our Newton Community

“Racism Not Race”: An Author talk with Joseph L. Graves, Jr. and Alan H. Goodman on Wednesday, February 23^rd at 7PM presented by Newton Free Library. Register here.

Racial Representation in Pop Culture (e.g., “The Falcon & the Winter Soldier”) on Monday, February 28^th at 8PM presented at the Burr FORJ February Meeting. Register here.

“How to Talk to Children about Anti-Semitism” on Tuesday, March 1^st at 7:30PM presented by Hadassah Northeast, Lappin Foundation, Temple Emanuel and Holocaust Legacy Foundation. Deborah Gilboa, MD, attending family physician and parenting and resilience expert, will outline a framework for addressing antisemitism with children. “Dr. G.” will provide context for introducing and reacting to antisemitism, as well as an algorithm for talking to kids about any scary or difficult issue. Dr. G. will also give strategies for meeting children where they are and answering their questions as they come up, while strengthening their resilience and building your relationship with them. Register here.