Category Archives: Community News

Fall Festival Tickets and Volunteer Signup!

Hello families!

The Fall Festival is coming up on October 27th, and it’s going to be awesome!  Games, raffles, crafts, dancing, and more!  This year you can buy your tickets online (a small fee applies), or buy them with cash or check through your blue folder using this flyer.  ($5 for advance tickets; $8 at the door!)

Your tickets include apple cider, donuts, games, crafts and dancing.  Bring cash to the festival to buy additional food and raffle tickets.  Amazing prizes donated by Village Bank, Down Under Yoga, New Balance and more!

More raffle prize donations needed!  If you know a business you could ask to donate prizes, please e-mail president@lepto.org first to be sure that business hasn’t already been asked, and then use this letter to make your ask.  Please let us know by e-mailing president@lepto.org when you have secured more prizes (or if you have any questions!).  Thank you!

Lots of volunteers needed!  This is one of our biggest and most fun events of the year, and it takes many hands pitching in for small increments of time to make it a HUGE success.  There are so many ways to help:  Welcome families and sell raffle tickets.  Sell slices of pizza and bake sale desserts.  Help children make crafts.  Help set up and decorate for the festival, or help us clean up after it.  Please check out the options by logging in to MySchoolAnywhere and sign up for 1 or more slots today!

Thank you so much — your support and involvement will make the festival a fun and safe time for all students.

Your Fall Festival Planning Committee

Fall Festival: Raffle Prize Donations Appreciated!

Our Fall Festival is coming up on October 27th and we are hoping to make it a fun and rewarding day for our students, families and school.

We are trying out a new fall ‘fun’draising activity.  At the festival, families can pay $10 to ‘pick’ a pumpkin from the patch. Along with the picked pumpkin, families will be able to take home a surprise gift from a local business!

Here’s how we could use your help to make this activity a big success!

Do you have a local store that you frequent? A restaurant your family likes to eat at?  Do you have a connection that you could use to help us?

Please help us secure a gift card to this local store, restaurant, or place by next Friday, October 19th. The next time you visit this store please give them this letter and thank them with all your heart! To show our gratitude for their generosity and support, their name will appear on a sponsor board at the festival.

BEFORE you ask your favorite store, please e-mail president@lepto.org to list out the places you are able to ask, so we may get back to you quickly and confirm we haven’t asked them already — then you will be good to go to ask, and get back to us to confirm the prizes you help secure!

Thank you!
Your 2018 Fall Festival Committee

Families Organizing for Racial Justice Meetings/Info

FORJ (Families Organizing for Racial Justice) is a coalition of school-aged families in Newton coming together to teach our children –- and ourselves –- how to stand up for racial equality. For resources & age appropriate book recommendations: https://forjnewton.com/about/

Each school in the district has a team of parents organizing FORJ, and the Lincoln-Eliot team is looking for more parents who are interested in enhancing our diverse community through this race, culture, and identity work.

L-E FORJ Contact: parent Lanni Isenberg, lanni_harris@yahoo.com (kids: Milo, 1st grade/Ms. Malavase, Lili, 3rd grade/Ms. Crist)

For info on FORJ Newton events, visit FORJNewton on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ FORJNewton/

UPCOMING FORJ MEETINGS
Wednesdays, November 14th and December 12th at 7:30pm, at Angier Elementary School in Waban

Meet Our New ELL Teacher!

This new member of our English Language Learning team is actually returning to Lincoln-Eliot after some time away — welcome back, Ms. Elizabeth Stahl!

Ms. Stahl says:  “I’m happy to return to Lincoln-Eliot’s ELL department.  I have missed this supportive, vibrant community of students, teachers, and families.  While away, I taught Newcomer Literacy at Newton North and also took two extended trips to Asia.  The highlight of my travels was visiting a former Lincoln Eliot family in Guangzhou, China!”

Principal Update 10.8.18

Dear Families,

Thank you to everyone who generously donated gift cards or clothing for our family in need. Below is a note of appreciation from them:

Dear Lincoln-Eliot community,
We are overwhelmed and humbled by your generosity. As you all can imagine, this has been a stressful few weeks in the wake of losing our home. I can only say that I had faith in the power of our community and you proved me right. We are so filled with gratitude for the clothes and other items you provided for our son. One day we hope we can do the same for you.
All our warmest thanks to you and your families.

Please mark the following dates on your calendars:

* Monday, October 8th:  Columbus Day — no school
* Thursday, October 11th:  Flu Clinic at school
* Tuesday, October 23rd and 30th:  Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences
* Thursday, October 25th:  Walk, Bike or Roll to School Day
* Saturday, October 27th:  Lincoln-Eliot Fall Festival, 3:30-6pm

The Flu Clinic at school is happening this Thursday — please see the message below from Nurse Kristen, and please have your flu shot forms in by Tuesday, October 9th!

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Shoo Flu: Get the flu vaccine at school, not the flu!

Seasonal flu vaccination clinics will be held during the school day at the Newton Public Schools beginning in late September. Students in Kindergarten through grade 12 may receive the vaccine.

The Lincoln Eliot Elementary clinic will be on October 11, 2018. Each student to be vaccinated must have a parent/guardian complete two forms:

  1. Consent/Screening form
  2. Vaccine administration record/Insurance form.

Forms are available in the school nurse’s office, or may be downloaded at www.newtonma.gov/flu. You may electronically complete the form, print, sign and return. Forms are due to the School Nurse by October 9, 2018.

Only the flu shot (no nasal spray) will be offered at school this year. The Vaccine Information Statement about the flu shot, and additional information for families including tips on preparing kids for a shot is available at www.newtonma.gov/flu or in the school nurse’s office. There is no cost to receive the vaccine, but insurance information is requested. All students, regardless of insurance status, are invited to receive vaccine with parent permission.

Students are not required to receive flu vaccine; however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the flu vaccine for all people age 6 months and up. There are many places to get a flu vaccine, including at school, your primary health care provider, or community clinics. For additional clinic dates for the whole family, visit www.newtonma.gov/flu.

In addition to vaccination, it is important to practice good hand hygiene and cough etiquette by washing hands often; covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the arm; and staying home when sick.

For more flu prevention tips, talk to the school nurse or check out these websites: www.newtonma.gov/flu and www.cdc.gov/flu

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Have a great long weekend, and we’ll see you back in school on Tuesday!

Principal Morrissey

Save the Date for the Fall Festival: October 27!

Hi everyone!

Thank you for sharing your ideas for the Fall Festival by taking our survey this week.  It was a close vote between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, but the Saturday votes have it!  Our Fall Festival will be on Saturday, October 27 from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m (with a rain date TBA).

The festival will feature games, crafts, music, dancing and much more!  There will be the popular Teacher Treats Raffle plus some new raffles and activities.

Halloween costumes are welcome but not required.  Please remember that costumes worn to the festival should be appropriate for all ages of students at our school, grades K-5, so save the super-scary costumes for Halloween night.  Also, please keep your faces visible — no full face-covering masks — to help everyone have an enjoyable experience at the festival.

As in years past, tickets will be $5 per person in advance, $8 per person at the door.  Raffle tickets and food will also be for sale.

NEW this year: Purchase your Fall Festival tickets online through our Facebook event or directly using Eventbrite. $5 per person for advance purchase tickets includes entry, plus certain games, crafts and refreshments. A small service fee applies. $5 advance tickets may also be purchased by cash or check through the blue folders (more information on how to do that coming soon).

This is a PTO-sponsored event; as a reminder, parents must accompany all students and be present for the entire festival.  As parents, we are 100% responsible for our own children.  Parent volunteers will also staff each activity and raffle at the festival, and handle set-up and clean-up.

More details will be available very soon, including volunteer sign-ups!

Your Fall Festival Planning Committee,
Fellow parents representing each grade level at LE: K-5
Kristin, Lauren, Carolina, Amanda, Jenny, Andrea, Natalie, & Sandra

Paint Nite: Let Us Know You’re In!

Get to know fellow Lincoln-Eliot parents while having fun and raising money for our school!  We’re planning a fun night out with Paint Nite and we’d love to know if you can join us.  We need at least 25 people in order to hold this event, so please click here to say you’re in and choose a date — Thursday, Nov. 8, or Thursday, Nov. 15!

Image result for paint nite

Please complete the form by Monday, October 8.  The cost is $45 per person, plus tax, which includes all painting supplies (and guided instruction to create the painting).  $15 of every ticket sale goes back to our school.  We look forward to painting with you!

Reading Corner: A Book Pick from Ms. Leibowitz

This week we have a book recommendation from our new Wednesday librarian, Ms. Jill Leibowitz.  Her choice is All Are Welcome, a beautiful new picture book by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman.

Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where kids in patkas, hijabs, and yarmulkes play side-by-side with friends in baseball caps. A school where students grow and learn from each other’s traditions and the whole community gathers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

All Are Welcome lets young children know that no matter what, they have a place, they have a space, they are welcome in their school.

A note from Ms. Leibowitz:  “There are many wonderful new picture books to choose from but one title that stands out is All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman. A typical school day provides the backdrop for the story and the vibrant illustrations show students eating their lunch, playing on the playground and learning together.  The lighthearted rhyming text is punctuated by the repetitive phrase “all are welcome here”.

“This book is one to share at home and in our classrooms. My hope is that this crucial message reaches all the students in our school.   All are Welcome is a welcome addition to our library collection.”

Meet LE’s New IT Specialist!

We have a new Instructional Technology Specialist at Lincoln-Eliot this year: Ms. Brenda Doucette — welcome to our school!

Brenda is an Instructional Technology Specialist and authorized Google Education Trainer with over 25 years of teaching experience at all grade levels. She is an adjunct professor at Simmons College in the Assistive Technology Graduate Program. In her role with Newton Public Schools, she works directly with students and supports teachers as they plan and implement effective technology integrations into their curricula. Brenda has also been a facilitator for several online, blended and face-to-face courses for the Newton Public Schools, EDCO and TEC collaboratives. She looks forward to working with the teachers and students at the Lincoln-Eliot School this year.