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Bridge to Home A weekly publication about Bridge Elementary School by PTA volunteers
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August 6, 2010 Vol. 15, Issue 1
Bridge Elementary School 55 Middleby Road, Lexington, MA 02421 Web Site: http://bridge.lexingtonma.org (781) 861-2510
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Upcoming Events |
2010-2011 SCHOOL YEAR: MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Aug 31, Tue First Day of School: 1/2 Day (Dismissal 12:15 pm)
Aug 31, Tue, 8:45-10:30 am
PTA Welcome Back Breakfast, Bridge Cafeteria
Sign-up for PTA Membership, Room Parents & Committees
September 1, Wed
First full day of school for Grades 1-5 (Dismissal 3:15 pm)
1/2 day for Kindergarten (Dismissal 12:15 pm)
September 2, Thurs
1/2 day for whole school (Dismissal 12:15 pm)
September 3, 6, 9
No School
Sept 15, Wed, 8:30-9:00 am Bridge Classroom Visitation/Open House
Sept 23, Thur, 6:00-7:30 pm
Back to School/Curriculum Night (Parents Only, District-Wide)
Sept 28, Tues, 5:30-7:30 pm Family Pizza Night & World Map Celebration
Sept 30, Thur, 8:45-10:30 am
Newcomer's Breakfast (location TBD)
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More Summer Jokes
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What did the pig say at the beach on a hot summer's day? A: I'm bacon!
Q: Why do dogs sit in the shade? A: Because they don't want to be HOT DOGS!
Q: How do you talk to a shark? A: Long distance !!!
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Next B2H Deadline |
NEXT DEADLINE: Thursday, August 26, 5 PM
Articles must
be approved by Mrs. Colella or be from authorized Bridge School and/ or
PTA sources. Submit by email to Aimee Burstein at [email protected]
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2010-11 Bridge Directory Updates
| Please remember to update your contact information for this fall's Bridge Directory. This can now be easily done through a secure form on our Web site. Click on Update my Bridge Directory information to access the form. Thank you! Questions? Contact Directory Chair, Jane Chang at [email protected]
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Child graduated?
| If you no longer wish to receive B2H, please use the unsubscribe link at the beginning or end of this email (but of course, you are welcome to stay).
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Student Absence Line
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call (781) 861-2510 press 6, then press 1
Parents should call Bridge School by 8:30am when their child is going to be absent or late.
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Get the info!
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Welcome to the new format of Bridge to Home (B2H), your weekly source about Bridge School events, school information, and memos from the principal. Last year's survey results indicated a preference for an email format, so here it is. Over the course of time, we will be working to link more easily to the Bridge website (http://bridge.lexingtonma.org) and also to make it more attractive and user-friendly. If you have any suggestions, please contact Aimee Burstein at [email protected]. We will also be publishing a "quarterly" paper version of B2H.
In addition to B2H, there are two other Internet-based sources of information about the Bridge community and the Lexington Public School system as a whole. The Bridge School List Serve (electronic mailing list) was established
to keep families at Bridge up-to-date with pertinent information about district-wide Lexington Public School events. It
also serves as an emergency contact list that enables the school to
contact parents quickly (for example, health alerts, school closings due
to snow, water main breaks, etc.). You can sign up by emailing our ListServ Chair, Jane Chang, at [email protected].
Finally, a Yahoo group has been set up for parents to share information, ask
questions, and post information (e.g. babysitting, after-school activities, looking for ice skates, etc). To join, either go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bridge_02421/join- OR - send an email to [email protected].
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Summer Welcome
From Principal Meg Colella | I hope that you are all enjoying a
restful and relaxing summer vacation. For those of you who do not know me, I will be the Interim Bridge School
Principal for the 2010-2011 school year. Over the past three years, I have been the Assistant Principal here at
Bridge and have worked closely with the outgoing principal to ensure a smooth
transition into the new school year. There have been many questions and
concerns regarding enrollment, space, and technology. I wanted to update you on these areas. In addition, I will be sending home a
summer letter the second week of August that will include more specific
information regarding the start of the new school year. Enrollment: Currently, our enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year is
507 students (as of August 5, 2010). We have secured 4 sections for each grade level. In addition to our veteran staff, we
are also welcoming Ms. Davis to the Kindergarten Team, Ms. Conway to the Second
Grade Team, and Ms. Hinton to our Fourth Grade Team. Ms. Baranofsky will be moving to first grade and Mr. Nichols
will be moving to third grade. We
have also been very busy hiring Kindergarten Assistants as well as a new
Instructional Assistant. Space:At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, we spent a great
deal of time determining the most efficient use of space at Bridge School. The custodians have been very busy
moving classrooms and offices, as well as painting various rooms. Special Education:The computer lab is in the process of transforming into a
Resource Room. Three special education teachers, who service students in small
groups of 1-5, will share this space. The room is being a painted a cheerful blue, shelving is being
installed, electrical work will be completed, and the teachers are thrilled
that the air conditioning will continue! A Resource Room should be a welcoming environment where students can
work with special education teachers in a quiet setting to have their
individual needs met. We are
confident that we are creating such an environment. The PALS Program will continue to be housed in its current
locations: rooms 102 and 133. Other special education services will continue to be provided in various
office spaces throughout the building that accommodate groups of 1-5 students. ELL: Our ELL classes
will remain in room 120 and 110D. Although Bridge School will greatly miss Ms. Meg Jackson, we are
thrilled to welcome our new full-time ELL teacher, Mrs. Deidre Schadler. Ms. Nebus will also be working with our
ELL students on a part-time basis. Mathematics and Literacy: The literacy department at Bridge is expanding to 3
full-time literacy specialists and one part-time literacy coach (a literacy
coach works with teachers on implementing literacy instruction in the
classroom). Ms. Sharon Kingsbury
and Mr. Dana Robertson (who is transferring from Estabrook School) will share
an office space in room 117 (this room accommodates two groups of 5 students each. Ms. Litchfield and Ms. Laura Broach
(who we welcome to our staff) will share a similar office space located in the
Kindergarten Wing in room 128B. We
have also allocated a special reading resource space to house the resources
that all classroom teachers and specialists share in order to better facilitate
reading instruction. Our two
mathematics specialists, Ms. Kelly and Mrs. Burk (who we are welcoming to
Bridge) will continue to be located in room 122. Technology:Bridge school is acquiring a mobile laptop cart that will
house 25-27 new laptop computers that will be available to all classrooms! Classroom teachers will sign up on a
regular basis to use the laptops in a similar fashion to a computer lab. They will also be available for
teachers, special educators, and specialists to borrow for small group
instruction or centers. The
current computers that are housed in the computer lab will be reallocated to
increase the number of desktop computers for all classrooms. Various teachers are receiving ELMO
Document Readers to replace overhead projectors. It is our hope, that over time, we can acquire even
more. Through a technology grant,
two SmartBoards will be located in a third and fifth grade classroom (we are
awaiting final approval by the School Committee), as well as two Portable
Collaborative Interactive SmartTables that will be housed in Kristen
Baranofsky's first grade classroom and Heather LaBranche's kindergarten room.
The PTA has generously allocated money to purchase an ELMO Document Reader for
their use as well as use by various school personnel. I hope that this information will help to answer your
questions and assure you that the 2010-2011 school year is already off to a
good start. Please look for my
summer welcome letter the second week of August and enjoy the summer! Meg Colella Principal
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Join us at the Welcome Breakfast August 31st
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Every year on the first day of school, the Bridge PTA sponsors a breakfast to welcome parents to Bridge School, to enable them to sign up for the PTA membership, as well as to volunteer to be a Room Parent or a participant in any of the 40+ active PTA Committees. This is a great time to meet the Principal Meg Colella and fellow parents, and to get involved in the thriving Bridge School Community. Please mark your calendar and join us from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m. in the Bridge Cafeteria on August 31, 2010. |
Wishing Meg Colella Well in 2010-2011
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What is the Wishing Well?
We would like to dedicate our new Bridge School Wishing Well
to Meg Colella in honor of her becoming our principal. We all wish her
and the entire Bridge staff well over the summer, and we look forward to this new school year under her capable guidance.
The Bridge School FUNdraising Committee has begun using the wishing
well over the summer to gather "wishes" from the Bridge School staff. We
have asked the Bridge School staff to come up with individual wish lists to drop
into the wishing well. After your class list is sent to you, we will circulate your child's teacher's wish list as well as the staff's wish list. We
will ask for parent volunteers from each classroom to coordinate and update
the wish lists throughout the 2010-2011 academic year. Parents can choose to donate items on the wish list at any time. This will supplement the PTA's Mini-grant and Teacher's Purse programs and will enable parents to directly participate in helping out the school.
Over the next few weeks, if your child is interested in drawing a picture or writing a poem about the wishing well and/or making their wishes for the school known, kindly email or send them to Shannon Amsler, 6 Hampton Road, Lexington, MA 02421. Submitted
pictures or poems may be used in future correspondence with our Bridge School Community.
Please include your child's name and grade as well as your contact information
with your submission.
If you have any
FUNdraising ideas and/or would like to join our committee, please contact me at [email protected]
or (617) 549-3272.
We wish you a fantastic summer. Thank you in advance
for your cooperation in our new addition to Bridge School.
Shannon Amsler FUNdraising Committee
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Early Registration for PTA Membership
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Most parents sign up as PTA members during the Welcome Breakfast on the first day of school. Want to beat the rush? You are welcome to download the 2010-11 PTA Membership Form from the Bridge Website and either mail it with your check payable to the "Bridge School PTA" at 55 Middleby Road, Lexington, MA 02421 or place your form and check (inside an envelope please!) in the PTA Membership Box in the Front Foyer of Bridge School.
PTA Members will receive a confirmation of membership, a membership card, a subscription to the Bridge to Home email, and a complementary Bridge School Directory (published in October).
Questions? Email the Bridge PTA at [email protected].
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Sign up for 2010-2011 PTA Committees!
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We are pleased that over 41 Chairs and Co-Chairs have agreed to manage our nearly 40 Committees. Please consider Chairing, Co-Chairing one of the vacant committees, or joining one of our many committees this year. Below is the list of Committees & Chairs as of today. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in any of these committees, or if we need to make any edits to this list.
There will be another opportunity for parents to sign up for Committees at the PTA Welcome Breakfast on August 31 from 8:30-10:00 a.m. in the Bridge cafeteria. 2010-2011 Bridge PTA Committee
Chairs (as of 7/31/2010) ACT (Arts Created Together), Ami Stix ACT Walk for the Arts, Ami Stix and
Jackie Quint Barnes & Noble Fundraiser, Mary
Ellen Alessandro Big Back Yard, Laurie Curtis Book Fair, Sue Wilner Bridge 02421 Yahoo Group, Jane Chang Bridge to Home Email & Quarterly
Newsletter, Aimee Burstein Communications/Sign Board, Cathy Smith Community Event/Spring Fling Social,
VACANT Community Service, Cindy Lewis &
Susan Morin Eco-Bridge, Marcia Gens Enrollment, Stephanie Mitzenmacher Family Math Night, Stu Jacobson &
Angela Chang Family Word Night, Audrey Roth Fifth Grade Activities, VACANT FUNdraising Initiatives, Shannon Amsler
Gardening, Liza Connolly Hospitality, Ann
Horiatis International Night, Cary Morse Kids Cooking Green, Liza Connolly Library Volunteers, Cary Morse ListServe, Jane Chang Membership, Nikki MacKesy METCO, Deb Savin Morning Car Greeters, JJ Krawczyk Newcomers, Kara Libby & Christie
King Reflections Program, Bruce Rubenstein Room Parents (Playground/Teacher
Appreciation), Stephanie Mitzenmacher Safe Routes to School, Ann Stokes Safe Routes to School Clean-up Crew, Tom Shiple School Directory, Jane Chang School Pictures, Clare Sweeney Science Night, Frank Schapfel Spiritwear Fundraiser, Richa Jain Teacher Pictures, Justine Wirtanen UNICEF, Kris Maeda We Care (Student/Family Crisis), Sue
Kingsbury Website, Devjani Ray & Keith Posey Welcome Breakfast, Jennifer
Pawloski & Susan McNamara Wilson Farms Pie Fundraiser, VACANT
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Sign up now for "One Shot Deal" Volunteering
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So you don't like meetings and don't want to be on a PTA committee, but you'd like to help out somehow? Here's your opportunity! Sign up for "One Shot Deal" volunteering. Examples of special assignments might include creating a poster or baking cookies for an event, helping to paint a classroom, helping with a PTA mailing, distributing B2H quarterly newsletters, or checking in people at an event... Email Suzanne Lau at [email protected] with the following information: Your Name:_________________________________________________ Your Availability [specific dates/morning/midday/afternoon/evening/weekdays/weekends]_________________________________________________ Your Contact Preference [phone#/email#]:__________________________
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2010-2011 PTA Executive Committee Members
CO-PRESIDENTS
Justine Wirtanen
Rebecca Reynolds Moore
CO-VICE PRESIDENTS Victoria Campos Stephanie Mitzenmacher Jean Sabatini
Laura Schroeder Guorong Zhu
TREASURER Tricia Weisberg
SECRETARY Suzanne Lau
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Bridge School Office Staff
PRINCIPAL
Margaret Colella
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
John Harney
ADMINISTRATIVE ASST
Marcia Cavatorta
GUIDANCE
Lucia Gates
NURSE
Diane Celi | |
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