Dear Burr Families, 

I hope you have all enjoyed the mild weather we have been having. Last week, each day started off a little chilly and then warmed up enough for children to go outside in tee shirts and short sleeves. It looks like we're in for a change. The temperature will be dropping a little by the end of this week and children will need to make an adjustment in their attire so they are comfortable going outside for recess. Most grade levels go outside for recess twice during the school day.

We have had a lot going on these past weeks at Burr and have much planned in the coming weeks. Here are a few notable things:

Parent Principal Coffee

We had a great turnout on Friday for our specialist's curriculum presentations. Ms. Michna, Ms. Tenney, Ms. Mayer, and Ms. Cotton provided an excellent overview of their programs and parents had great questions that helped us all understand and appreciate the wonderful work that is done in the specialist areas. These educators, along with our part-time specialist teachers, Ms. Broder, Ms. Manion, Ms. Johns, are essential contributors in providing a rich, well-rounded experience for the children at Burr. They collaborate regularly with the classroom teachers and their colleagues across the district to ensure that they deliver a program that is well aligned with the state and district guidelines.

Modular Classroom

If you have been by the school lately, you will see that the modular classroom is finished and almost ready for Ms. Rudek's kindergarten class to move in. We are awaiting safety inspections to be done by the fire department before we get the final approval to begin the move.

Morning Arrival

I'd like to remind parents that getting children to school as close to 8:20 AM as possible helps them have a much more positive start to their school day. If children have a few minutes before school to check in with their peers, organize their materials, and settle in before instruction begins, they are better able to focus. I am very impressed that all children in grades 1-5 and several of our k students are saying goodbye to their families and entering their classrooms independently. There are many morning routines that we like children to become accustomed to doing on arrival. These routines help teach them to take responsibility for preparing for their school day. Teachers are also able to check in with each student and be attentive when they are not engaged in conversations with parents.

I would also like to bring to your attention that the school doors are on an electronic timer and will open at 8:20 AM only. So if it is raining or cold, children will be waiting outside. We can no longer let them into the building to wait in the kindergarten hallway. This will be true in all Newton elementary schools.  

Districtwide, the following point of clarification is being made regarding Elementary Start Times as they relate to our morning bell systems.  As we began the school year, you may have noticed there was a change in the district's published start time for elementary school from 8:35 AM to 8:25 AM.  Elementary teachers have always been ready to welcome students to their classrooms beginning at 8:20 AM.  They start instruction and activities upon the arrival of their students, but our practice has been, and continues to be, that the 8:35 time is when all students are expected to be in class.  The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicated to Newton Public Schools that by not publishing our start time as 8:25, we were underreporting our actual instructional hours.  We have now rectified this in our communications.  Thanks for your understanding.

Conferences

It is time for our first round of parent-teacher conferences. Hopefully, most of you have already signed up for a time to meet with your child's classroom teacher.  Fall conferences are a time for you and your child's teacher to discuss initial progress, set goals for the first half of the year, and to talk about anything that is specific to his/her education.  Below are some suggestions for you to think about as you prepare to confer with your child's teacher.  They were taken from publications of the National PTA and National Education Association. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences ~ Ideas for Parents

Getting Ready: Talk to your child before the conference.  Find out what he/she thinks is going well; find out what he/she thinks are areas for improvement, and why.  Ask your child if there is anything he/she would like you to talk about with the teachers.  Make sure your child doesn't worry about the meeting and that he/she knows that this is a typical expectation that the school has to facilitate good communication between parents and teachers.  Help him/her understand that you and the teacher are meeting together to share information and support learning.

Before you come to school, write notes to yourself about:

• your child's life at home, any significant changes or information you feel is important for the teacher to know
• your observations and questions about this year's curriculum
• questions about your child's progress
• ways that you and the school can work together to help your child

 The Conference:Some good questions to ask are: 

• What are my child's strengths and weaknesses as a learner?
• Is my child working up to his or her ability?  How is his/her effort?
• Does my child participate successfully in class discussions and activities?
• How well does my child get along with others?
• How do you evaluate my child's progress?  What standards will he/she be evaluated on for the January report card? 

If the teacher says something you don't quite understand, be sure to ask for an explanation. Ask the teacher for specific suggestions for ways to help your child to improve. This is the most important part of the meeting.  It will become your action plan.  It's a good idea to end the conference by summing up decisions you have made together. If needed, ask to meet again.

After the Conference:  Start immediately on the action plan you and the teacher have worked out together.  Discuss the plan with your child; make sure that he or she knows that you and the teacher care.  To see if the action plan is working, watch your child's behavior and check your child's class work and homework.  (Young children need an adult to oversee their homework.  It's important to look in their backpack every night!)  Stay in regular touch with the teacher to discuss the progress your child is making.  Meeting with your child's teacher should help build strong parent-teacher partnerships - partnerships that are needed if you and your child's teachers are to reach your common goal: helping your child get the best education possible.

Safety Procedure ~ Lockdown Drill

As you know, we have frequent fire drills in our schools so that students can learn to efficiently evacuate the building in a quick and calm manner. This familiarity with the routine should result in a calm and safe evacuation should there ever be a real emergency requiring our students to leave the school quickly. In a similar manner we will have a 'lockdown' practice on Tuesday, October 22nd sometime between 10:00 - 10:15 AM.

While it is very unlikely that we will ever need to go into a lockdown mode at Burr, we do want our students to be prepared. A lockdown requires students to remain in the classroom with their teacher, with the doors locked, window shades drawn, sitting together away from windows or doors. Teachers have prepared the students for this drill. They have explained that if there is a problem outside or in another part of the building, we need to stay in our classrooms to be safe. When students have had questions, teachers have responded in a developmentally appropriate way. Our goal is to practice the lockdown procedure in a way that does not frighten students. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 617 559 9360 or by email: mindy_johal@newton.k12.ma.us.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday at Halloween Family Fun Night.

Sincerely, 

Mindy Johal