Category Archives: CAS

Grace Lin at LE – 4.12

If you haven’t heard the exciting news yet . . . award-winning, bestselling, beloved author Grace Lin is coming to Lincoln-Eliot this Wednesday, April 12 to present to our students!  She will be speaking to all the grades about her books, which include Newbery Honor Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Caldecott Honor A Big Mooncake for Little Star, and the Ling and Ting early reader series, among many others.

To find out more about Grace and her books, visit her website at https://gracelin.com/

If you would like a book for your child but can’t cover it at this time, please reach out to Fhynita Brinson at the school (brinsonf@newton.k12.ma.us), as we have a number set aside for donations and would love to make sure each kid who wants a book can get one.  Or if you’d like to buy a book after Grace’s visit, we encourage you to support our local bookstore, Newtonville Books, who were so helpful in getting books for all our classrooms and raffle winners!

This Creative Arts and Sciences program is funded by the LE PTO thanks to your contributions and support!

PTO Update — October 3, 2022

Hello families!

It was great to see everyone who made it to our Zoom PTO meeting; thank you for joining us, and thanks especially to Principal Morse and our two teacher representatives, Sarah Jang and Jen Terrazzino, for their updates about the beginning of the school year.

If you missed the meeting, you can review the slideshow below:

September 2022 PTO Meeting Slideshow

Or if you would like to see the recording, please reach out to us at secretary@lepto.org and we would be happy to share it with you!  (We hope to go back to posting the minutes once we have a PTO secretary again — please email us if you’re interested!)

One topic of discussion was that we would love to bring back the Fall Festival this year (mark your calendars for Friday, October 28th!) — but we need volunteers to make it happen!  If you’d like to join the Fall Festival committee or find out more, contact Lanni Isenberg at lanni_harris@yahoo.com.

We were also so happy to welcome our first Creative Arts and Sciences program of the year, a cappella group Ball in the House, to brighten up the kids’ Wednesday with their music!

Thank you for your support of the PTO, which allows us to bring in programs like this.

Upcoming Dates to Note

* Monday, Oct. 3rd:  Curriculum Night, 6-8pm
* Wednesday, Oct. 5th:  Yom Kippur — No School
* Monday, Oct. 10th:  Indigenous Peoples’ Day — No School
* Wednesday, Oct. 12th:  Walk-Roll-Ride to School Day
* Monday, Oct. 17th:  Library Volunteer Meeting, 8:20am
* Friday, Oct. 28th:  Fall Festival!

Have a great Curriculum Night and a wonderful week!

Your Lincoln-Eliot PTO

Upcoming All-School CAS Concert

Coming to Lincoln-Eliot on Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Ball in the House is bringing Totally Vocal to elementary and middle schools this fall/winter.
Based out of Boston, Ball in the House is an R&B/Soul/Pop a cappella group that has performed in venues all over the world and opened for some of the biggest acts in the music industry such as The Beach Boys, The Jonas Brothers, The Temptations, and Fantasia.  Through contemporary and classic cover songs and original works, students will discover how “a cappella” works; how various voice parts fit together; how to beatbox and use rhythm.  From chant through doo wop, students are introduced to songwriting and collaboration.  Ball in the House inspires and encourages students to get involved and stay involved in the arts.

Creative Arts & Sciences programming is funded by your generous contributions to the PTO.  Thank you for your support!

CAS Program – Caterpillar Lab

We were fortunate enough to have The Caterpillar Lab come visit our K-2nd grade classrooms this past week. Check out some of the amazing creatures the students got to observe and learn about.

Without parent volunteers like you, programs like these will not happen next year. Please consider helping the PTO board by being part of the CAS Team (Creative Arts & Science), which consists of booking enrichment programs like this.

Inside Look at Upcoming CAS Programs – How to get involved!

We hope you and your families have been enjoying all the wonderful Creative Arts & Sciences (CAS) programs this year for each grade level, including last week’s onsite The Discovery Museum program for 4th graders.

We have additional CAS programs planned for May and June.

These are exciting and enriching programs all planned by our volunteer parents, Karen Hite and Ronda Morra, with our teachers.  If you would like to learn more on how you can help shape our Creative Arts & Sciences offerings at LE, please feel free to reach out to Karen and Ronda.

With these upcoming events already planned and scheduled, they are a great way to shadow and get an inside look at how CAS works. Come meet the presenters with Karen and Ronda and learn how to get involved next year. Email Karen Hite at kkhite@yahoo.com or Ronda Morra at ronda.billings@gmail.com. We’d love to welcome you!

ANNAWON WEEDON Grade 3

Tuesday May 24
Minimal set-up required, with presenter arriving shortly before 1st program at 9:50

New program! Annawon provides historical information about Wampanoag people and their culture. As a modern-day representative of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, Annawon shares stories, language, clothing, tools, from a uniquely personal perspective. He is funny, engaging, and a great storyteller.

CATERPILLAR LAB Grades K-2

Thursday May 26
Arrival/Set-up Time: 7:30 am
Much-loved 2nd grade program from the past. The programs for K & 1 are new.

WINGMASTERS WORLD OF OWLS Grade 5

Monday, June 13
Arrival/Set-up Time: 8am
Much-loved 5th grade program from the past. This is 1 program for entire grade from 9-10am. Exact location is TBD.

AuthorFest – Nathan Hale visit

Through Creative Arts & Sciences (CAS), we were able to bring in renowned author, Nathan Hale, to visit with 4th grade this past Tuesday, April 12th. It was a high energy presentation with live drawings on the screen! Nathan covered writing, drawing, storytelling, and social studies based on his Hazardous Tales series. The combination of live drawing and storytelling made it a fun, captivating, and educational experience. We even had an exclusive Hazardous Tales story presented – not from any of the books – that can only be heard during a school visit. It’s U.S. History at its silliest and grossest.

https://www.nathanhaleauthor.com/

     

CAS AuthorFest Coming Next Tuesday – 4.12.22

CAS AuthorFest is happening in less than two weeks. Authors and illustrators will be visiting classrooms to promote literacy and share their experience as an artist, a writer, and a reader. Check with our PTO for more information about scheduled visits to our school.
Be sure to attend the after school meet and greet, book sale and signing at Cabot Elementary on Tuesday, April 12 – 3:15 to 5:30 pm. Twenty-one authors and illustrators, who visited K-8 students around the district, will be on-hand to greet students and their families.
This event is open to the public. Newtonville Books will have a selection of books for sale. 20% of proceeds will pay for future CAS/PTO sponsored events.
CAS AuthorFest 2022 is made possible by the hard work of the Creative Arts & Sciences committee, contributions to the PTO, a generous grant from the Newton Schools Foundation, and additional funding from The Village Bank, and Harmony Foundation.

CAS AUTHORFEST – Presales through 3.21

Creative Arts & Sciences AuthorFest is coming!
On April 12, authors and illustrators that presented to K-8 students all over Newton will be gathering at the Cabot Elementary School library for a book sale and signing, meet and greet, between 3:15 – 5:30 PM. The event is open to the public. Newtonville Books will be on hand with a selection of books for sale that students can get signed.
Newtonville Books is taking pre-orders of books now and March 21. If you want to purchase a book in advance, go to:

 

CAS AuthorFest is made possible by parent contributions to the PTO, a generous grant from the Newton Schools Foundation, with additional support from The Village Bank, and Harmony Foundation.

CAS AUTHORFEST is Coming Back to NPS – 4.12.22

Creative Arts & Sciences AuthorFest is coming! On April 12, authors and illustrators that presented to K-8 students all over Newton will be gathering at the Cabot Elementary School library for a book sale and signing, meet and greet, between 3:15 – 5:30 PM. The event is open to the public. Newtonville Books will be on hand with a selection of books for sale that students can get signed.

Newtonville Books is taking pre-orders of books between now and March 21. If you want to purchase a book in advance, go to:

www.newtonvillebooks.com/npsauthorfest

CAS AuthorFest is made possible by a generous grant from the Newton Schools Foundation with additional support from The Village Bank, Harmony Foundation, and parent contributions to the PTO.

February PTO Highlights

February Highlights – Thank You Parents!

February was an incredibly generous month from LE parents and our community:

  • Feb 7th – Movie Night!  What a great showing of families and many new faces for volunteers. You donated $844 through ticket and food sales.  Thank you!
  • Feb 14th – Valentine’s Day Flower Sale!  Thank you, Natalie, for putting the bouquets together and the many volunteers who helped sell/distribute them!  The team raised $570.
  • Feb 27th – Amazon Smiles delivers $84!  Every dollar counts and if you are shopping on Amazon it is super easy to make use of their match.  Email president@lepto.org if you need assistance.
  • Feb 28th – Our PTO co-president, Lauren McMinn, has been working so hard on getting items for our auction, which starts March 23.  Along the way she captured a $1500 donation from The Village Bank!
  • Feb 29th – In January we received $1265 in parent donations to the Annual Fund. In February we received $59 for a total of $6135 in Parent Donations.

The Creative Arts and Sciences program continues to bring outstanding content to our children:

  • Feb 6th – Potato Hill Poetry, Grades 2, 4, 5

60% Towards our Fundraising Goal!

  • The LE PTO spends $36,000/year for our 364 children, about $100 per child.
  • Donate through our website at LEPTO.ORG/DONATE or contact treasurer@lepto.org for more information.