Dear Burr Families,

We only have 10 days of school left before the start of summer vacation! This is such a busy time of year for parents, teachers, and children. We've already had many grade levels host events to celebrate the learning that the children have done this school year and will continue with more this week.  

We had a fabulous Color Day last week that Ms. Michna and Ms. Manion, our P.E. teachers, organized and set up. The children were in high spirits and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. I'd like to thank them both and all of the parent volunteers who helped to make the day a success. 

I'd like to congratulate our fourth and fifth grade band and orchestra members and our Fourth Grade Chorus for a fabulous Spring Concert last week. Many thanks to Ms. Tenney, Mr. DiCarlo, and Mr. O'Neil for preparing the children so well. Ms. Tenney and the fifth graders also recently presented excellent performances of Mary Poppins to our whole school and their families.

As we close out the year with celebration and reflection activities, we are also supporting students' transition to the next grade level and preparing them to move on to the next grade. The fifth graders will visit Day Middle School on Friday and the students in grades K-4 will "Step Up" to meet the teachers at the next grade level on June 17. We hope that these transition visits will help alleviate the anxiety that some children may feel about graduating to the next grade level and build excitement about returning to school in September.

We have completed preliminary class placements for next year. The teachers all put a lot of time and effort into weighing all of the factors that help create an optimal learning environment for each student. I thank you all for respecting the staff's professional judgment about the best possible learning environment for your child next year. The class lists are in draft form until late August because enrollment fluctuates throughout the summer and one student moving in or out of the district can significantly change the makeup of a group.

We will let you know of your child's placement in late August. Class placements, once they are sent out to everyone, are final. Changes cannot be made since they seriously compromise the balance that we work so hard to achieve. The class lists will be emailed, unless you request that we mail a paper copy to you. Consequently, it is important for us to have your most current email address. Today, we will send out an email message to the primary contact address currently listed in our records. This will be the email address that we will use to send out class placements in August. If you do not receive the email, or want placement information sent to a different address, please let us know by emailing the correct address to mindy_johal@newton.k12.ma.us.

Staffing News:

This time of year often brings many changes. This year we have several wonderful staff members who will be making a move to explore other career opportunities next year.

Lauren Tenney will not be returning to Burr in September. Lauren will be moving to New York City to follow her dreams of music performance. She will be missed greatly at Burr. She has done such a stellar job of nurturing a love of music in the children at Burr and developed such wonderful relationships with them and the staff. Of course, we all wish her much success in her music career.

Erica Loucks will be moving to Bowen School to teach 4^th grade in a co-taught classroom. Erica has been at Burr for five years as an inclusion aide and was the long-term substitute in second grade last year. This year, Erica secured a part-time special education teaching position in our learning center and has supported our fourth and fifth grade students.  The position at Bowen School is full-time and will draw upon Erica's expertise in special education and her desire to be a classroom teacher.

Samantha Bracy will be teaching at Underwood School next year. She will be the lead teacher in a special program at Underwood. Samantha and Trevor were a great team in the fourth grade co-taught this year. The reduction of one co-taught classroom at Burr required some staffing adjustments. I am happy that we are able to keep Samantha in Newton.

Tia Marola will be moving to Cabot School where she will be the inclusion facilitator. Tia has been at Burr for five years and done a wonderful job of supporting children with special needs. Prior to Burr, Tia worked at Newton North High School. We wish her much luck in her new position.

Classroom Teachers for Next Year:

Kindergarten:  Ms Frail, Ms. Mc Mahon, Ms. Rudek

First Grade:     Ms. Espinal, Mr. Gaita, Ms. Golden, Ms. Fitch

Second Grade: Ms. Procaccini, Ms. Field, Ms. Roberts

Third Grade:    Ms. Canning, Ms. Collins, Ms. Miller

Fourth Grade:  Mr. Glode & Ms. O'Donnell, Ms. Miller, Ms. Robinson

Fifth Grade:     Ms. Cooley, Ms. Moran, Ms. Harris

I'd like to welcome Jennifer Miller to the fourth grade team. Some of you already know Jen from first and second grade. Jen covered Ms. Espinal's leave last year and is currently covering Ms. Procaccini's maternity leave. Jen has a M.Ed in Elementary Education from Lesley College and has taught in the Needham and Weston Public Schools before coming to Newton.  The interview committee was unanimous in their endorsement to appoint Jen to this position. The bulk of Jen's experience has been at the upper elementary level.  Jen was an inclusion aide in Ms. Collins' third grade classroom until May of this year, so many of the current third graders know her already.

I hope to see many of you at the Burr School Move-a-thon today. Come by and cheer us on as we raise money for our playground and have some fun moving around! Please be sure to attend the last PTO meeting of the year on Wednesday, June 11^th. You will learn more about next year and our plans for the playground.
 

Sincerely,

Mindy  

Planning Ahead:

Early Release Dates for Next Year:10/3, 10/31, 12/5, 2/5 (Wednesday), 3/13, 5/1

Curriculum Night:  9/26/13 

Conference Windows:  10/22-11/5; 3/11-3/21

Report Card Access:  Report Cards will be available to parents through the ParentCONNECT web-based portal on Monday, June 24.    

Grade Level Move-a-thon Times:

Kindergarten:  9:00 - 9:30 AM

Grade One:     9:30 - 10:15 AM

Grade Two:   10:15 - 11:00 AM

Grade Three: 12:45 - 1:45 PM

Grade Four:   11:00 - 12:00 PM

Grade Five:     1:45 - 2:45 PM