Burr News

Dear Families,

This month I have enjoyed participating in three different book discussions. Newton administrators read The Corner Office by Adam Bryant, Burr teachers read What Really Matters in Response to Intervention by Richard Allington, and Burr parents and members of the Respect for Human Differences Committee read Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Each of these experiences has left me with an enriched understanding and appreciation, not only of the books' content, but also the wonderful people in each group. It is energizing and inspiring to be a member of a community of parents and educators with such commitment to school improvement. Hearing from colleagues and community members about their learning and what struck them as important in the books was enlightening and helped me to process my own thinking. The shared experience of reading the same book has given us a common language that will anchor future learning and help us set goals together. I hope more of you will join us in reading the next book that is selected.  If you have a book suggestion that our community may find interesting, do share your ideas with our PTO, the RHD Committee, or send me an email. I am looking forward to the next pick!

Burr Modular Classroom: The project continues to be on schedule and the classroom will be available for occupancy in January 2012. Footings have been installed and some work was done inside the building this past Friday and Saturday. The modular is expected to be on site in mid-November.

Community Service at Burr: Our students participated in two wonderful community service projects centered on Halloween. Several students went trick-or-treating for UNICEF and collected over $1,000.  Many thanks to the families, friends, and neighbors who made contributions, and to Ms. Robinson and her fourth grade class for leading and organizing the campaign. Thank you, also, to the families who donated Halloween candy. Two hundred pounds of delicious treats were delivered to the food pantry.

The Ambassadors have also been very busy running bake sales to raise money for worthy causes. They raised $399 at their bake sale at the Auburndale Community Library, and I know the Election Day Bake Sale was also quite successful, too. Our third grade classes are sponsoring a food drive to support the Newton Food Pantry during the holiday season. Third grade students will visit each classroom to encourage donations. The food drive will run from November 17th to December 9th. All of these wonderful community service projects help our children understand the importance of giving back to the community and helping those in need.

End of the first quarter of school: At 45 days into the school year we look at students' attendance and tardiness records and sends letters to families if students have been absent or tardy for 5 days or more. We do this as a reminder of Newton's policy on attendance. The Students' Rights and Responsibilities Handbook states:~ "Regular attendance in school is required by Massachusetts law. If a student is absent for 10 days in a half year period, the student's parent or guardian will be contacted by the principal or principal designee." Students are severely handicapped in their learning and achievement when they have numerous absences or days when they are tardy. Students who are tardy often have a difficult time starting the day in a focused, calm way. If you receive one of these letters, please consider what you can do to improve your child's attendance record. Thank you to the many families who maintain very good attendance records.

Parent Conferences: Most of you have already had a conference with your child's teacher or are scheduled to meet with him/her very soon. It is important that you go home after the conference and share what you have learned with your child. Help him/her set realistic and achievable goals and check in frequently to monitor progress.

Please set clear behavioral expectations. Be sure to let your child know that coming to school prepared to do his/her best is important. If a teacher speaks to you about inappropriate behavior, I ask that you take it seriously. The teachers and I take great efforts to be fair and supportive of all children, so when we need to raise a concern, we have given it much thought and have probably provided several opportunities for the child to correct his/her behavior before involving you. In order for the teachers to meet curriculum standards, the children need to be attentive and engaged. If children are fooling around, calling out, using disrespectful behavior, they lose out on valuable learning time and disrupt the learning environment of others.

One of the wonderful things about the Burr community is the successful partnership between the parents and teachers. Researchers, Henderson and Mapp (2002), report that students whose parents are involved in their schooling are more likely to have academic success, attend school regularly, have better social skills, and show improved behavior. In my experience, the most difficult of situations are manageable when people work together and respect each others contributions and perspectives. I look forward to our continued efforts to meet the needs of each and every child at our school.

I hope to see many of you at the next Parent-Principal Coffee on November 22rd at 8:45 AM. It will be an open discussion format, however, if there topics that you are interested in discussing or hearing about, please don't hesitate to call or send me an email.

Sincerely,

Mindy
Mindy_johal@newton.k12.ma.us

DON'T FORGET
We have early dismissal on
NOVEMBER 23 @ 12:00 PM 

Meeting this Tuesday, November 15 from 5-6:15 pm in the
Burr Library

Burr's RHD Committee is comprised of parents and staff who coordinate and support activities and projects at Burr to help us meet the goal of respecting human differences (socio-economic class, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, language, learning styles, special needs, physical appearance, sexual orientation, etc.) within and beyond our school community.  

Inclusive Schools Week is coming up in early December and we are looking for parents to lend a hand:

Inclusive Schools week is a national celebration of the progress that schools have made in providing a supportive and quality education to an increasingly diverse student population, including students who are marginalized due to disability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference and other factors.
 
The RHD Committee meets about 4 times a year and the focus of Tuesday's meeting will be focused on putting together a plan for this year's Inclusive Schools Week.  We would love an infusion of new energy and ideas as we work on Inclusive Schools Week and other ongoing activities from years past (such as the Burr Family Quilt project, Boston/Newton Burr FriendTrips, the RHD Parent/Teacher bookgroup, and our beloved Burr World Cultures celebrations), as well as explore new initiatives for the future.
 
Burr RHD Committee & Inclusive Schools Week Prep
Tuesday, November 15
5:00 - 6:15 pm in the Burr Library
 
Please contact either Ann Langenfeld (annlangenfeld@gmail.com) or Dana Hanson (danakhanson@gmail.com) if you would like more information about how to join in on this important work at the Burr.  Thanks!  

Community News