Dear Families, 

I hope everyone has recovered from last week! With the Red Sox winning the World Series and Halloween falling on the same week, keeping the focus on academics was a little more challenging. However, our skillful teachers used this excitement to their advantage. Topic selection during Writer's Workshop was a little easier for some of our reluctant writers and using strategies to 'show not tell' when crafting a scene seemed to have more purpose. We even had a couple of creative student performances inspired by these special events. 

The Burr annual Halloween Family Fun Night (a popular topic for writing pieces last week) was a fabulous event! The lobby, gym, and cafetorium were transformed for spooky adventures and Halloween activities. There were pirates, princesses, goblins, fairies, witches, and tiny muscle-bound super heroes swarming all over the place. It was so nice to see everyone was having a great time. I'd like to extend a special thank you to Stephanie Mamis who is the brains and womanpower behind this event. She recruited several great helpers (the BOO Crew: Marlene Gibson, Susandra Ma and Louisa Hunt), who are in training to take over as she moves on to middle school with her youngest child graduating from Burr this year. This is true of several key volunteers who have taken on the planning and organization of the many special community building events that we have at Burr each year. They will be moving on and will need to pass the planning information and responsibilities on to others. I encourage parents with children in the younger grades to become active participants in the PTO so that we can continue to have these great experiences for our students and families. Please check in with our PTO Co-Presidents, Jason Wong and Jaye Schneider, to find out where the help is needed. 
Building News: The modular classroom is finally open for occupancy. Mr. Tobin moved Ms. Rudek's furniture and supplies into the classroom at the end of the school day on Friday. She stayed late to set up so the room was ready for her students this morning. It will take her a week or so to be completely set up and I will arrange to send some extra helping hands her way during the week. Ms. Cotton and Ms. Broder will begin setting up the art room this week and should be ready to have classes there by Monday, November 11th. I'd like to thank everyone for being patient as we have waited for the  modular to be completed. 

Confidentiality Reminder: We love to have parents and family members volunteer to help out at Burr. Many of you join us for field trips or class activities throughout the school year. I ask that everyone remain mindful of confidentiality as it relates to observation of children in the school. We welcome parent volunteers with the expectation that students' names, personal information, and observations about students' performance in the classroom will not be discussed with others. We appreciate everyone's help in keeping our school as emotionally and physically safe as possible for everyone.

I hope to see many of you at our next Parent-Principal Coffee on November 12th. The topic will be ELA and Math assessment and how it is used to support students at Burr. 

Thank you for reading.

Mindy  

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Please support the Burr PTO by purchasing a pie from Mike's Pastry of Boston. You can order a Ricotta, Cherry, Apple, Custard, Lemon or Blueberry pie for Thanksgiving! They will be distributed at Burr on Wednesday, November 27 from 12:15-1:15pm in the Cafetorium. Please see attached order form and click here to volunteer for this event.

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This year, the 5th grade teachers are encouraging 5th graders to take part in a variety of leadership projects that will be available throughout the year called the 5th Grade "Youth Action Committee." One project is a "green" initiative called the B.L.O.P. (Burr Loves Our Planet) Project. Over 30 students have already volunteered to be a part of this project! The B.L.O.P. project involves educating the school, specifically on better recycling during lunch, and finding ways to produce less trash each day by reducing and reusing materials. The group will be organizing an All School Meeting presentation, promoting and selling water bottles and BLOP t-shirts, volunteering during lunches to help with recycling, in addition to getting involved in catalog reduction.

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Our first BLOP Friday was a huge success last week! The students looked great in their green outfits. If you missed it, you'll be glad to hear that Burr Loves Our Planet (BLOP) products will again be on sale this Thursday before school.

T-shirts will be $10 and new water bottles $5 each (see below).

So look for the highly motivated 5th graders selling these Green Goodies before school. Buy a T-shirt that promotes eco-friendly practices, a reusable water bottle that cuts down on plastic waste... or both! We have plenty of Small and Extra-Small sizes!

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