Category Archives: Community News

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.

FORJ Updates and Activities

March is Women’s History Month

Kicking off Women’s History Month, President Biden announced his nomination of the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. And, if appointed, Jackson would join the first Latinx justice Sonia Sotomayor. Diversity on the court – as diversity among our families in our great school – has the potential to bring new ideas and expand thinking and reasoning about decisions.

Bigelow Middle School FORJ 7-Day Anti-Racism Challenge Recap

On March 1st, Bigelow Middle School Principal Chassity Coston joined a group of parents and a few middle school children on Zoom to discuss some of the materials available in the posted 7-Day Anti-Racism Challenge – originally hosted by the Heller School at Brandeis University. We discussed some of the viewable materials (some more accessible to families with kids than others) and talked about what it means to garner generational wealth and the historic and cultural influences on who has access to generational wealth. In our brief hour together, we also discussed the materials on Reparations and “Redlining.” Participants agreed that the video on Redlining was very instructive. And, we looked at a striking map of the Newton Corner area when Redlining first began.The challenge materials remain available online and are parsed out into categories with great prompts to develop thinking and practice to be anti-racist (that’s non-racism in action!).

Check out A Virtual Tour: Women’s Heritage Trail

Visit the City of Boston website: https://www.boston.gov/departments/womens-advancement/womens-history-month to take a tour around Boston featuring women who made an impact. Includes addresses or locations so, when the weather improves, let’s take a walk to see them for ourselves! See https://bwht.org/ for more details about the women and sites.

Next CityWide FORJ Meeting – Thursday, March 10th

Contact Lanni if you’d like to join and learn more!

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.

Survey Participation to Help a Local Springfield College Graduate Student

We ask that families take a few minutes to fill out a survey for a local Springfield College graduate student, Anna Ford.  Your participation will help in her studies on organizational leadership.  Here is more information about Anna’s efforts are below.

My name is Anna Ford and I’m a graduate student at Springfield College studying human services with a concentration in organizational leadership. My master’s thesis takes an in-depth look at youth participation in extracurricular activities in suburban communities. The survey linked below collects both demographic data and information about parent/caregiver preferences as it relates to extracurricular activities for youth. Some survey participants may be contacted for a voluntary follow-up interview.

Link to survey

All information collected as part of this survey is kept confidential.

Specific questions can be sent to me at aford6@springfieldcollege.edu

 

Thank you in advance LEPTO families and community!

Garden City Soccer – Spring Session

Do you have an incoming Kindergartener or current Kindergartener? Please consider signing up for Garden City Soccer!! For each student that participates from Lincoln-Eliot, the PTO receives a small percentage back. It’s a great way to make connections with other families from LE and in Newton. Note: This is NOT the same program as Kindergarten Soccer (which is run by Zervas Elementary).

For next year, consider a volunteer board position to help benefit the LE PTO even more. For more information, click here.

Newton Community Education After School Programs – Still Available at LE

Just a reminder there are still available Newton Community Education after school programs scheduled to run at Lincoln-Eliot this Spring, with a few programs beginning this Friday.

Chinese Club Lincoln Eliot Elementary School Grades: Kindergarten – 5th; 3/4/22 – 5/20/22; 3:05-4:35pm

Chess: Intermediate Lincoln Eliot Elementary School Grades: 1st – 5th; 3/4/22 – 6/17/22; 3:15-4:15pm

Astronaut Adventure Half-Day Lincoln Eliot Elementary School Grades: Kindergarten – 5th; 5/11/22 from 12:20-3pm; $30

Note: the Chess: Beginner Lincoln Eliot Elementary School Grades: Kindergarten – 5th began 2/17 but slots are still available.  With only one class in, you may still be able to sign up for the rest of the class session, which goes through 6/16/22.

If you have an interest in signing up your child, please click on this link to learn more: https://www2.newtoncommunityed.org/lincoln-eliot-elementary-school-win-spr22/

FORJ Events This Week

A reminder of two upcoming FORJ events this week.

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

“How to Talk to Children about Anti-Semitism” on Tuesday, March 1st 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.

() 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.

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