Dear Burr Families,   

There is lot going on at Burr School and many of you have been involved in either preparing for the events, or supporting your children as they have prepared for them. The cold weather has not slowed us down!

Temperatures in the single digits kept us indoors for several days last week. A lot of our children (and adults) need to get outside to  recharge and refresh for focused teaching and learning, so I am hopeful that the coming weeks will allow us to bundle up and head outdoors. Thank you for sending your children in prepared for outdoor play.

This week is Science and Engineering Week at Burr. Visiting presenters are scheduled to go into classrooms and share their passion for science. The week is a time for us to shine the light on how science and engineering relate to our everyday lives, and to inspire and foster children's interest in them. Burr students love having their family members and friends come into school and the presentations are always well received by them. I would like to thank all of you who will be taking time out of your busy schedules to visit classrooms, and Joanne Kotz and Ted Vahey for their hard work planning and organizing the week. Events such as this enhance the educational experience of all our children and strengthen community connections.

Last week we had the Burr School Winter Concert. Fifth graders showed off their musical prowess on string, wind and percussion instruments and the Fifth Grade Chorus entertained us with a collection of songs illustrating the evolution of music through the ages. Our music teachers, Lauren Tenney, Ted DeColo, and Jeff O'Neil did a wonderful job helping the students prepare for the concert.

I would like to welcome several new staff members and student teachers that have joined us this term:

• Kata Giuliano is a behavior therapist and will be working in Ms. Roberts' second grade classroom.
• Alexandra D'Entremont will be working with students in Mr. Gaita's and Ms. Frail's classrooms as an inclusion aide.
• Lauren Swiercxynski is a co-op student from Northeastern. Lauren will provide classroom support and help with lunchtime supervision.
• Deanna Scott, Jodi Murray and Belinda Cresta-Devine are student teachers from Bridgewater State. Deanna will be working in Ms. Mc Mahon's classroom and Jodi will be in Ms. Fitch's classroom. They will be kindergarten for six weeks and then move to second grade for six weeks. In second grade they will work with Ms. Creeden and Ms. Roberts. Belinda will be in third grade with Ms. Canning.

We are very fortunate to have these aspiring teachers select Burr for their student teaching practicum, and fortunate also that our experienced teachers are so invested in mentoring them. Supervising student teachers can offer great benefits to a veteran teacher's professional growth as they discuss current best practice with their student teachers and reflect upon their own philosophy and teaching techniques. And of course, having additional adults in the classrooms is of great benefit to the students.  

I look forward to seeing many of you at our next PTO meeting on February 5 where we will have Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Fleishman and School Committee members in attendance. They will share information about the future of Newton Schools and answer any  question we may have. I am sure this meeting will be very informative and I encourage you to attend.

Sincerely,

Mindy

Progress Reports will be available online for all families on Monday, February 11.

Access information will be emailed from the district shortly before that date. Students' current performance levels in a variety of academic and social objectives are reported in reference to our grade-level benchmarks. Students who are meeting or are on track to meet year-end benchmarks receive a "3." "4" indicates performance beyond grade-level benchmarks. "2" and "1" indicate varying degrees of required growth toward benchmarks.