Dear Families,  

It was wonderful to see so many of you on Curriculum Night. It is an important evening when teachers begin to develop partnerships with parents and set the stage for a successful year ahead. The goal of the evening is to give you an overview of the curriculum and to prepare you to support your child throughout the year.

I hope the information you received was clear and helpful, and that you can see the close connections between our school goals and the teachers' curriculum and instructional plans for the students. This year we will continue our work to align the ELA and math curriculum to the Common Core State Standards and to make a transition to a new educator evaluation system. Our School Improvement Plan, which outlines our goals, is posted on the Burr School Website for your information.

Some of you met your child's classroom teacher for the first time on Curriculum Night and I realize that there is not enough time for the teachers to connect in a meaningful way with everyone. Many of our teachers attend the Back to School Picnic, but still feel they would like a little more time to get to know families. To that end, we are considering having an Open House event before school opens next year when families can drop by to visit their new classrooms and meet the teachers. We are always looking for ways to make things even better. If you have any suggestions to improve the opening weeks of school, please share them with me, our PTO Co-Presidents, Jason Wong and Ted Vahey, or with any of our School Council members. The 2012-13 School Council members are:

Marni Caputo - parent (grade 3 & K)

Jaye Schneider - parent (grade 4 & 2)

Sarah Sian - parent (grade 2 & 1)

Lisa Holahan - parent (grade 4, 2, & K)

Lynn Slobodin - community member

Lynette Lawton - grade 3 teacher

Julie Canning - grade 3 teacher

Trevor Glode - grade 4 teacher

Mindy Johal - principal

Our first School Council meeting this year will be on October 10th at 4:30 PM. These meetings are open and anyone can attend. During our first meeting we will be setting the meeting dates for the rest of the school year and we will post them on the Burr calendar for your information.

Now that students have made their initial adjustment into the new school year, I am asking that parents of students in grades 1-5 say goodbye to their children in the morning either at the outside door, or at the first double door by the kindergarten classes. This has been a successful past practice at Burr. Helping students follow morning routines independently is one of our goals, so letting your child enter the classroom with peers and practicing these skills is important. The early morning is an important time for teachers to welcome all the students and get them off to a good start for the day. This is not possible when parents are stopping by to check in or want to have a conversation about their child. Communication is important, so I encourage you to send in a note with your child or email the teacher and he/she can call you at a convenient time. Please also remember that children should not come into the building until 8:20 AM. A supervised Early Morning Program which begins at 7:30 AM is available for your convenience. The program is staffed by two Burr staff members, Kaylan Finn and Amelia Elton.

In these opening weeks of school I have had the pleasure of visiting each classroom to discuss our school's Core Values of Academic Excellence, the Effort and Joy of Learning, a Strong Sense of Community, and Individual Growth and Expression. Children shared excellent age appropriate examples of actions that employ each value. I encourage you to have a conversation with your child to see what he/she understands about our Core Values and the ways that they can work toward these in school. I am sure your personal family values will be mirrored in what we expect at school. Our collective reinforcement and support will demonstrate to the children that these are important principles for us all to uphold.

Our work at school is enhanced ten-fold with your support and a strong home/school partnership makes anything possible.

Sincerely,

Mindy

Every family will receive today in their child's backpack a red envelope announcing the launch of Gift for Burr 2012. Inside you'll find lots of information detailing all of the many ways your donation is so important to our school. Help us get this year's campaign off to a roaring start!

Contributions to the Gift for Burr can be made with a check sent to school in your child's backpack, or by visiting the Gift for Burr website (link to  http://burrpto.org/gift-for-burr/) and clicking

the yellow "Donate" button.

And remember - if your employer has a matching gift program, you can double your gift! Our Tax ID # is 043574938. Just email us for more information.
 

NEW THIS YEAR: Potential rewards to early donors - weekly participation drawings during the month of October! All families who make a contribution by this Friday, October 5th at noon will automatically be entered in next week's live drawing for a fantastic prize - an overnight at the Hotel Indigo. And there are more prizes to come in the following weeks, so the sooner you give, the more chances you'll have to win!

Please e-mail giftforburr@burrpto.org with any questions.

Thank you!

The Gift for Burr Committee

Intro to Newton Special Ed Programs, Oct 16,