If you have been watching the news, you know about the the winter weather/blizzard warnings in place for the beginning of this week.  Just a reminder that if the Newton Public Schools close for the day, we are closed as well.  Snow is supposed to start snowing Monday afternoon. As of right now we plan to be open, but there is always a chance that the weather could change again and that Plowshares could close their sites early.  We are asking families to have back up plans for pick up in case of an early closure.  

We will contact families first by email for any changes in the Plowshares program day.  Please reply to us that you received the messages. Any families we can not contact by email, we will call.  Our main office will also put cancellations/early closings on Channel 7 Boston.  By visiting their website, you can sign up for closing alerts on your phone for Plowshares and the Newton Public Schools.

Registration for the 2015 Newton Little League Spring Season is now OPEN!  Register your son or daughter today at www.NewtonLLBaseball.org.

‘Newton Little League’ is a new name, but based on the same great experience that children have enjoyed for decades in Newton North, Newton Central and Newton West Little Leagues!  Whether beginners or advanced players, all eligible children will be placed on a team. 

Majors players (Ages 10,11,12) must register and attend the Feb. 7 tryout, even if they played on a Majors team last year.

See website for information on tryouts and younger player evaluations, as well as ‘early bird’ and family discounts.

Please spread the word and

WELCOME TO NEWTON LITTLE LEAGUE!

Newton Cultural Affairs Offices and Newton Chinese Language School will host this year’s Chinese New Year Celebration at City Hall.
Chinese New Year Celebration!
Newton Cultural Affairs Offices and Newton Chinese Language School invite you to join this delightful day of events:
Saturday, February 7, 10am – 3pm
Newton Cultural Center at City hall

• 10am – 1pm Chinese painting and art exhibition
• 10am – 1pm Kids’ crafts and games
• 11am – 2pm Chinese Dim sum for sale*
• 11am- 12 pm Chinese painting demo
• 12pm – 1pm Chinese instrument demo
• 1pm- 3pm Performance

Free admission. Please bring an item for the Newton Food Pantries.
*We recommend preordering the Dim Sum for $12/box, as quantity is limited. http://www.newtonchineseschool.org/2015CNY-Celebration.php

John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton has begun a new partnership with Newton Community Education. The LEGO ROBOTICS and GIRLS ANATOMY ACADEMY programs offered below will take place at the Boys & Girls Club and they represent the Club’s first step towards a renewed focus on Education at the Club.

We know that asking you to register through a third party and pay a fee represents a change from the normal way the Club does things. Although these high quality programs are offered at an additional fee, we hope that you will find that the engaging, innovative subject matter is more than worth the cost. Thee classes are offered at a fee of $255 per 12 week experience. If you are interested, please register through Newton Community Education by following the, tested, working links below.

If you would like to sign up your child for the classes, but cannot afford to pay the fee, contact Les Whitham, Program Director at lwhitham@newtonbcgc.com.   Financial Aid is available to those who qualify.

Thank you,

David Sellers
Executive Director
John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton
675 Watertown Street | Newton, MA 02460
P: 617.630.2066

E: dsellers@newtonbgc.com

Citizen Speak:
The city is going to review the traffic/crossing light at the end of Capital Street and see if it should be moved to the end of Pearl. This will support L-E students and families who need to cross Watertown Street and will be helpful during the winter months because Pearl Street sidewalks are plowed for students whereas the sidewalks in Capital are not plowed.

Principal Updates:
Building Update: The window in the Music Room that has been broken for several years has been fixed.  Our school has 2 new computer carts, one Mac Air laptops and one Chrome Book. In the future, we are hoping for funding for one additional cart so the school can have easy access to a cart on each floor. In addition, the school has 3 new printers.
L-E will add a third section to the 5th grade next year. This will make our school full with three sections at each grade level. Preschool classes will be move to a different facility. L-E is currently the only school that houses pre-school classes.
A new reading support program called the Lesley Literary Initiative (LLI) has begun at L-E for students with below average language ability. L-E is piloting the program in first grade and will most likely be added to the second grade next year.
We are looking for help at two upcoming events:  RafflePalooza and Newton Serves. More detail will becoming soon.

PARCC Assessment
L-E will be giving the students the PARCC Assessment. The school decided to join this year as a pilot.  The results of this test will not affect the school’s Level 1 status. Students will take a timed, paper and pencil test for English and Math that intends to test critical thinking skills and assess college readiness. Interested Parents can go to the PARCC website and view practice test samples.
http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/

Site Council
The L-E Site Council met with the Alderman to review building issues. There is a flooding problem on the playground near the entrance of the playground near the path. L-E plans to have Parks and Recreation here to see the playground when it is icy and muddy in the hope of fixing drainage issues. The current ice expands to the spot where the children enter the playground and where they line up. The danger of the ice can keep kids from going out to recess.

Fund Raising
The L-E PTO gets a fair amount of support from programs like Scrips, Stop and Shop, and Amazon. The group discussed more ways for parents to shop online that benefit parents. Much of this information is already on the website but we intend to add a dedicated page to the site for on-line shopping and fundraising options.

SUPPORT FOR L-E TRAFFIC SAFETY…

CHANGE IN PARKING METERS: On January 22nd the Traffic Council will be meeting and there are two items that may be of interest to L-E Parents. Item #TC63-14 is a request to change the time limit on the meters located in Nonantum (all meters in Nonantum currently have a 1-hour limit) to meters with a mix of a two-hour and a twelve-hour time limit.

MOVE THE CROSSING LIGHT ON WATERTOWN ST. TO PEARL STREET INTERSECTION.
If you would like to send a letter of support to move the crossing light from Capital St to Pearl St, you can send a letter of support to Dave Koses (dkoses@newtonma.gov), Bill Paille
(wpaille@newtonma.gov), or to one of the Ward 1 Aldermen – Alison Leary, Jay Ciccone or Scott
Lennon.
Main reasons why MOVING THE CROSSING LIGHT TO WATERTOWN AND PEARL is safer for L-E
families:

1. Kids are crossing at Pearl Street now as it is the main thru way from Nonantum to L-E. With no light and no guard, cars often run right thru the cross walk.
2. The guard for crossing Jackson is at Pearl so families have to walk back and forth. Cross Watertown at Capital and cross Jackson at Pearl. We DO NOT want families crossing Jackson at Capitol. There is no crosswalk, no guard, and lots of drivers either dropping off kids or trying to pull around cars that are dropping off kids. This is very, very dangerous for pedestrians. L-E wants families approaching the school from Pearl and crossing at Pearl. The Pearl Street entrance is the main entrance to the school and the doors open at the same time there as they do at Jackson.
3. The city allows each school a limited number of routes for snow clearing during snow storms. Pearl street is our route. Right now families need to choose between safe crossing at Capital or safe sidewalks on Pearl.

Juniors/IM registration is now open for the spring 2015 NGS soccer season.

(This message does not apply to players currently registered for our travel program.)

Register Now

Registration Deadlines – Register by the deadline to avoid a late fee and wait list placement, and to have a friend request considered.

• K & Grade 1 Programs: Please register by February 28.
• Grade 2 – 9 Programs: Please register by February 15.

IMPORTANT Note about Uniforms:  The uniform for all girls playing in the Juniors/Intramural program is a reversible (orange on one side, white on the other) NGS intramural jersey.  Players may wear any color soccer shorts, socks, and shin guards; these items can be purchased on your own from any retailer.

The jersey ordering process for all grades (K-8) for the upcoming spring 2015 season has changed; you will now order your intramural jersey via the new NGS Online Store (more merchandise will be available in the fall).  Jerseys cost $25 and are available in sizes Youth Small – Adult Large.  Your order will be shipped directly to you from our vendor, generally within 7-10 days.  However, please place your order at least two weeks before the season begins to ensure that your player has a jersey for the first game.

Because these are custom orders, no returns or refunds are accepted.  We suggest that you confirm the size before placing an order.  Sample sizes will be available to try on at Lapels Dry Cleaners located at 319 Walnut Street in Newtonville (617-527-6700).

To order a new IM jersey please click on the following link: Order IM Jersey.  You only need to order a jersey if your daughter doesn’t have one or if her current jersey no longer fits.

We hope you are as excited as we are about the new streamlined process and hope it will launch us into another successful and fun soccer season.  If you have any questions about the new process please email the registrar at registrar@newtongirlssoccer.org.  Any questions about the product or your order should be directed to num1source@aol.com.

Sibling Discounts: NGS provides a $20 discount per-child for additional children in the same family.  However, our online registration system will only automatically apply the sibling discount if you register two or more children in the same NGS program (e.g., both in travel, both in IM 3-9, both in J2, etc.) at the same time.  If your children play in different NGS programs, email registrar@newtongirlssoccer.org BEFORE you register so that we can provide a $20 discount code.  We cannot apply the discount after you have already registered and paid.

Scholarship Requests: Send scholarship requests to the NGS President, Mac Blythe, president@newtongirlssoccer.org.

Coaching:  If you would like to be a parent coach (J1, J2, and IM 3-9 programs only), please be sure to sign up as a volunteer when you register your daughter(s).  It is a rewarding experience and you’ll receive a considerable amount of support.

Other Helpful Information:

• Girls that played Travel in the fall DO NOT need to register for the spring season.  Occasionally, we have openings on travel teams in the spring.  Typically, we will announce travel team openings in March.
• For IM programs, every girl registered by the deadline is guaranteed a spot on a team.  Girls that register after the deadline will be put on a wait list.
• In order to honor friend requests (J2 and IM 3-9 programs only), they must be mutual and registrations must be received by the deadline.

Please email me at registrar@newtongirlssoccer.org with any questions.  The NGS Website is also an incredibly useful resource (and it never sleeps).

There will not be pizza for sale on Friday at Lincoln-Eliot.

Saturday, February 7, 10am – 3pm
Newton City Hall, 1000 Commonwealth Avenue
The Newton Chinese Language School and the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs invite you to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a day of free activities, art exhibitions, kid’s crafts and games, and Chinese instrument performances. There are delicious Dim Sum boxes for sale, but as quantity is limited, we recommend pre-ordering them at www.newtonchineseschool.org. Admission for the Celebration is free; please bring a non-perishable food item for the Newton Food pantries.

DONOR’S CHOOSE:
Ms. Blanchard, Learning Center Teacher, has a new Donor’s Choose Project.
Project Cost: $433.00
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, 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

Registration for new and returning players for Newton SouthEast Little League’s Spring 2015 season is now open. NSELL runs several programs in the spring, including T-bal (kindergarten and younger), Farm (1st and 2nd Grade), Minors (AA and AAA), and Majors.

NSELL is open to any player who attends any school in our district (even if they reside in a different district). Please visit the

NSELL website (https://leagueathletics.com/Default.asp?org=newtoneastll.org) for additional details about the programs or click HERE (https://leagueathletics.com/Registration/Default.asp?org=newtoneastll.org) to register.

If you have any questions or comments, please use the online feedback form (https://leagueathletics.com/Support/BF6.asp?n=35860&org=newtoneastll.org)to send them to the league.