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Bridge to Home
Vol. 10, Issue 37
A weekly publication of
UPCOMING
EVENTS
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Date/Time |
Event |
For whom? |
Information |
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Tuesday June
27 |
Last Day of School ½ Day |
All Grades |
Enjoy the summer! |
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**************** |
For
School Year |
2006--2007 |
*********************** |
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Wednesday September
6 |
First Day of School |
All Elementary Grades |
½ day with Kindergarten
pick-up at |
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Wednesday September
6 |
PTA Back to School Breakfast |
All Interested |
Meet and mingle with
friends and sign up for PTA committees in the Bridge Cafeteria. |
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Thursday September
7 |
Second Day of School |
All Grades |
½ day with Kindergarten
pick-up at |
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Wednesday September
13 |
PTA General Meeting |
All Interested |
Save the date—more
information coming in September. |
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Thursday September
21 |
Back to School Night |
All Grades |
Save the date—more
information coming in September. |
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
So you want to get involved in the Bridge PTA. Here is
your chance. We have a few committee
chair positions available:
METCO- Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity
Program- An educational integration program providing opportunities for urban
minority students to attend school in suburban school systems and for suburban
students and staff to interact and benefit from a multicultural learning
environment . Families in
NEWCOMERS- A program for families who are new to Bridge.
Help new parents and children feel comfortable at Bridge.
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL- The main goal is to decrease car congestion
around the school by promoting walking, biking, bus riding and
carpooling. SR2S also works in cooperation with the town Sidewalk
Committee to improve walking and biking routes to Bridge.
UNICEF- Promotes and organizes collection of spare change on Halloween night for Bridge’s contribution to this organization which supports kids in need around the world.
If you are interested in chairing any of these committees please contact Sue Wilner @ w.wilners5@verizon.net or call (781) 860-9829.
BRIDGE PTA
2005-2006 YEAR-END REPORT
Whew! It has been an incredibly busy year at
Bridge. There was so much energy, so
much enthusiasm! Through your financial
generosity and hours and hours of volunteer time, we have been able to fund and
run many programs to enhance our children’s educational experience and support
our diverse community. This year we
raised approximately $29,000, enabling us to provide Bridge teachers and staff
with materials, funds and training; parent education; school-wide events;
programs; communications; and support to communities beyond Bridge. Here’s a look at the many things that we
accomplished this year.
Community
Dinner--sold out event with more than 450
attending, a Carnivale theme and lots of dancing; Lowell Spinners Summer
Outing; First Day of School Welcome
Breakfast; Reception for Newcomers; LEF Bridge Trivia Team
Communications
Bridge
to Home Newsletter; Bridge Email Listserve;
Community Outreach
Community
Service—conducted more than 8 projects in
addition to the
Hurricane
Katrina Disaster Relief—contributed
$2,000 to help rebuild Bay
Coats
for Kids—collected 200 coats for those in
need
Bridge
International Cookbook—superb collection
of recipes from our diverse community with proceeds going to Oxfam.
UNICEF Collection
Events
ACT
and Walk for the Arts—over 172 walkers
braved the rain, raising $8,543 to support ACT programming (e.g., Sun Ergos
theatre and dance, Mother Goose, PB&J, Pumpernickel Puppets, Mr. Magnet,
Character Actors and Storytellers, etc.).
International
Festival—twenty-one countries were represented this year with more than 450
people attending. Well over 100 children
dressed in ethnic costumes and entertainment ranged from Irish step, Armenian,
and Indian dancing to Arabic drumming to Chinese Yoyo. Proceeds benefited the Ethiopian Books for
Children and Educational Foundation.
Science
Night 2006: Planet Earth—200 students attended and enjoyed exploring
12 activities.
Family
Math Nights; Staff Appreciation Luncheon; Teacher Appreciation Breakfasts;
Volunteer Appreciation Coffee; Library Book Fair; Chinese Shadow Puppets
Fundraising
Gift
Wrap ($7,300); Family Apple Picking ($3,700); Membership & Donations
($12,000); Target Credit Card Rewards ($300); Staples Ink Cartridge and Toner
Collection ($300); Spiritwear Clothing ($3,100); School Pictures ($2,400);
Wilson Pie Sale and Wilson Day; Bridge School Rocks the Planet Backpacks &
Papa Gino’s Night (supporting 5th grade activities)
Parent Education
Q
& A with Bridge Experts and PTA Committee Fair; Meet New LPS Superintendent
of Schools Dr. Paul Ash; Risky Youth Behavior Discussion; School and Town
Budget Discussion; Bringing Out the Best in Your Child—Open Circle Seminar;
Budget and Override Discussion
Programs
Safe
Routes to School Program—this new program
made great strides in changing the habits of how families transported their
children to and from school. Walking was
up and car counts dropped from 200 to 130, with some days getting as low as
93. The EPA awarded the committee’s work
with a Merit Award for the
State/National
Reflections Art Program—11 entries moved on to the state level.
YES—after school science program for 4th
graders culminating in a rocket launch.
Morning
Drop Off Volunteer Coordination; METCO Friends and Family
Big
Backyard Science Program—this year it
included a 4th grade geology trip to Whipple Hill.
School & Classroom Funding
Staff
Mini Grant Program—contributed more than
$3,700 for educational projects or items.
Classroom
Playground Bins—purchased $1,000 worth of
playground equipment to refurbish and replenish classroom bins.
Funded
Library Books—awarded $800 for new books.
Purchased
New Laminator
Established
Principal’s Discretionary Fund—contributed
$5,000 to help purchase new projection screen and language arts materials.
Teachers
and Principals Purse—contributed $6,000 to help teachers and
Principal Manfredi purchase classroom/school supplies.
Fifth
Grade Activity Funding
Outdoor
Sign Holder—a new outdoor kiosk will hold
posters. It’s under construction!
Purchased
New PTA Photocopier
It’s because of you that we
are such an active and caring community, and we thank you for all your
financial support and hard work. We wish
you a restful and fun summer holiday.
--The 2005-2006 Bridge PTA
Executive Board
Sue Wilner, Lisa Boehm, Lori
Johnson, Tanya Morrisett, Lesley Benson, Jill Hai, Susan Kaftan,
LETTER FROM THE
PRINCIPAL
Dear Parents,
It's hard to believe but this is it...our final week of school. We've had
a great year at Bridge and a lot of learning and growth has taken place. There
will be some changes that I'd like to tell you about for next year.
Many of you already know that Michelle Theodore, the Speech and Language
Pathologist for the primary grades is expecting twins and is taking a year's
maternity leave. Heather Raab will be her replacement. She has a BS
in Communication Disorders from the
MS in speech Language Pathology from Northeastern. She has taught in
Shannon Dungan has been at Bridge for the past three years and is moving
to
During this past winter, Dr. Ash made a promise to the Bridge community
that if it was at all possible, he would find a way to add a teacher to ease
the over enrollment of students at Bridge. That is just what is
happening here next year at fourth grade. The new teacher for this class
will be David Pittman. David has a BA from UMass at
I want to thank all of you for the tremendous emotional, financial and
communal support you've given to our school. We couldn't function in the
positive way that we do without such wonderful parents and grandparents. Have a wonderful summer. Stay safe and
we'll see you all in September.
Sincerely,
MORNING DROP-OFF VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR NEXT
FALL
A big THANK-YOU to all of the morning drop-off volunteers who braved all sorts
of weather to help out this year. A few new volunteers are needed for
next fall. Only a half-hour of your time (
BridgeDropOff@hotmail.com or call
JJ (781-863-2009) if you can help.
JOIN THE WALK FOR THE ARTS FESTIVAL AND ACT
TEAMS
Help bring art and art
related programs to
At this point, just a couple
families have offered to help care for them over the summer. They will be unmanageable next fall without your
support. You can sign up for a specific week or come as your schedule
permits. If you are interested in
pulling a weed or two this summer for the good of
SCHOOL DIRECTORY UPDATES
Everyone should have received a Bridge School Directory
update form in their child's backpack last Friday. Please check that we
have your correct information and return the forms to your child's current
teacher by the end of school. Don’t forget to put your child’s name
on the form! Also, please welcome our
new Directory chair, Karyn Marks. If you have any questions or comments
about the directory, please contact Karyn at karyn531@rcn.com or
781.652.0282.
NEW FOR 2006-2007—COMMUNICATION VIA EMAIL
During the 06-07 school year the PTA will begin shifting our primary method of
communication from backpack fliers to emails. Our first goal is to start
delivering Bridge To Home through email and the website, and only making enough
paper copies to accommodate those without internet access. This will save
a significant amount money and time, but in order for it to work, we need to
get as many people as we can on the Bridge e-mail list. Any e-mail
addresses that you supply for the Bridge School Directory will be listed in the
directory as well as added to our Bridge e-mail list so that you will receive
up to date information about school events and emergency notifications.
If you do not wish to have your e-mail address added to the Bridge e-mail list,
then check the appropriate box on the directory update form.
ENJOY SOME DRAMA THIS SUMMER!
LEXINGTON YOUTH SUMMER THEATRE’S 26TH PRODUCTION!
Lexington Youth Summer
Theatre Presents the Laurents and Sondheim musical “ANYONE CAN WHISTLE.” The cast includes Bridge third-grader Lilly
Bokun! All proceeds benefit children’s
charities. Performances will be held at
Cary Hall in
CALLING ALL ACTORS—YOUNG AND OLD!
The Lexington Players summer production is the familiar
children’s classic Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, written
by Roald Dahl. Auditions for will be July 10 & 11,