From the Co-Presidents:

Happy June!!! We are in the final homestretch with just 15 days of school to go! As a reminder, the last school day is Monday, June 23rd. We invite you to join us for a lemonade at the picnic table in front of school, just before pick up, so that we can toast to another fantastic year and the start of a wonderful summer.

A few more call-outs from our calendar:

The Evening of the Arts (Art Show + Music Concert) is Tuesday, June 3rd, from 5:45 to 7:30. We can’t wait to celebrate all our talented artists and musicians. More information is below.
Ward Color Day - Wednesday, June 4. Thank you to all our volunteers who come to make this fun day possible. If you haven’t signed up but would like to join in on the fun, please join us on the field at 8:20 that morning or pop by sometime that school day. *Please send your child to school that day with a water bottle, a shirt in their team color, and comfortable clothing and shoes, as they will spend most of the day outside running around and playing.
End of Year Picnic - Monday, June 9 from 5:30 - 7PM on the field. The PTO will provide cheese pizza and entertainment from Knucklebones. Bring your picnic blanket and some pocket money for the ice cream truck.

Our Ward students had a very busy week! On Wednesday, fifth graders spent the day at Gaining Ground in Concord, a nonprofit farm that donates all the food it grows to those in need by supplying food pantries and meal programs with fresh produce. The children helped to harvest garlic and snap peas, spread compost, and weed garden beds. The children enjoyed being outside, working alongside peers, and giving back to the community. Congratulations to the Fifth Grade Parent Committee and the fifth-grade students whose fundraising made this possible. Thank you to Katie Shearer, our fantastic fifth-grade teachers, and Service Stars for their planning and coordination.

Also on Wednesday, we welcomed next year’s rising kindergarteners to Ward this week for Kindergarten Orientation. The future Dolphins visited the kindergarten classrooms and were given tours by fifth graders. We can’t wait to meet these kids and welcome some new families to Ward in the fall.

First-grade families had their Morning Meet Up and Coffee on Thursday, followed by an EL Celebration. We hope you enjoyed these coffees this year and would love your feedback or thoughts.

Finally, HUGE congratulations to our fabulous Girls on the Run team. They ended their season yesterday with a celebratory 5K starting at Boston Common alongside two thousand other girls from across the state. This enormous milestone was possible thanks to the commitment of our coaches. Thank you to parents Christina DiNardi, Aleksandra Lamont, and Ward teachers Cari MacKenzie and Erin Byrnes for their dedication, time, and commitment. We’d also like to acknowledge the support of Ward teachers Ms. Moore, Ms. Grindrod, and Mr. Tugwell, who ran the 5K as Buddy Runners for their students. Interested in GOTR for next year? We hope to return this special program for another season and would love you and/or girls to be involved.

Finally, we are thrilled to share some exciting news! We warmly welcome three new PTO board members: Jenn Epstein (mom of Wesley in Kindergarten) and Cristina Garcia (mom of Felipe in grade 1 and rising Kindergartener Pato) will be joining as Vice Presidents with a focus on Events + Fundraising; Julia Maggiore (mom to kindergartener, Brandon) will be joining as Secretary. We are really excited about our growing PTO board and the energy and ideas these three will bring!

As we start planning for the 2025-26 school year, we are looking for a few specific volunteer roles*:

Creative Arts and Sciences (CAS) Grade Level Coordinators (1-2)
Mystery Dinner Co-Chair (1) with a focus on design and the website for Mystery Dinner
International Night Co-Chairs (2-3)

*More detailed information for each role is provided below. Please email us directly with any questions.

As always, please email us at copresidents@wardpto.org with your ideas, questions, concerns, or suggestions on how we can help you.

Here’s to a wonderful end to the school year.

- Elizabeth Loehr + Elizabeth Weinberg, Ward PTO Co-Presidents 2024-26

5:45 pm - Visual Arts in Kindergarten Wing

6:15 pm - K-2 Music Performance in the Gym

7:00 pm - 3-5 Music Performance in the Gym

Color Day Information

Color Day is this Wednesday, June 4th.

It’s looking like a warm sunny day. Please make sure to send your child to school with the following:

sunscreen (and extra sunscreen to reapply!)
water bottle - there will be water stations for students to refill them as needed and some spare cups if anyone forgets a water bottle at home.
a shirt in their assigned colors. (Reach out to your child(ren)’s classroom teacher for their color assignment if you need it!)
hat
comfortable clothing and shoes. They will be outside running and playing for most of the day!
an extra change of clothes if they want to change at the end of the day

If you signed up to volunteer, look for an email with more information. If you haven’t signed up but would like to, you can sign up below. And if all spots are filled but you would still like to come and be a part of the fun, just show up! This is a really memorable day for all who participate. We hope to see many of you there.

SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER!

The PTO will provide cheese pizza and entertainment from Knucklebones. Bring your picnic blanket and some pocket money for the ice cream truck. If you have any dietary restrictions, please email us at copresidents@wardpto.org.

We would love some help serving pizza and cleaning up the event afterward. If you can volunteer for this, please sign up. Thank you!

Sign up to help!

NPS Budget Update

TLDR: The Newton School Committee approved a $293 million FY26 school budget, slightly below the Superintendent's original proposal, with additional one-time funding from the City. The budget includes some reductions and delayed programs, but only resulted in 3.0 FTE cuts (digital learning coordinators and part-time visually impaired teacher) instead of 30+ FTEs. Concerns remain for FY27 and beyond, as future budgets may face shortfalls without increased City support, and some financial risks were taken to balance the budget. Kindergarten funding remains uncertain and is still tied to pending legal issues.

We encourage you to read the detailed email from School Committee Chair Chris Brezski, which is available in ParentSquare.

Our community engagement with the School Committee, Mayor, and City Councilors was critical. They heard our collective voices, saw our physical presence at meetings, and read our emails. We will need to continue to engage next year and in future years to avoid being in this position again. Thank you for leaning in with us!

Ward Garden 2024-25

We want to express our gratitude to all the members of our garden committee: Heba Haddad, Christelle Naud, Helene Perennes, Aleksandra Lamont, Domitilla Del Vecchio, and Elizabeth Weinberg, for their hard work planting with students across all grade levels this year. On Thursday, they wrapped up their Planting Days.

Kindergarten: Students planted garlic bulbs in September and will be invited to the garden to harvest garlic scapes when the plants are ready.

1st Grade: Sunflowers

2nd Grade: *New Native butterfly garden and wildflowers

3rd Grade: Three-Sisters Garden

4th Grade: Added annuals, such as basil, parsley, lettuce, and more, to the herb garden

5th Grade: Planted fall daffodils, tulips, and alliums in October.

The Ward community garden is open for everyone to enjoy! We'd like to invite you to help with the wedding during the summer, as your help would be greatly appreciated. Starting in July, you are welcome to harvest from the herb garden. However, please do not disturb the other garden beds, especially the garlic we save for the first graders in the fall. Thank you for your understanding!

Register Now for Kindergarten 2025-26 - Don’t Delay:

Please fill out your kindergarten form as soon as possible! To join the kindergarten class in September 2025, your child must turn five years old on or before August 31, 2025. It is essential that you log on to the REGISTRATION GATEWAY now to register your child for the 2025-26 school year!

Without this information, we cannot include you in all of the related upcoming events and scheduling, and plan for classrooms for the fall!

For more information about the kindergarten registration process, please click HERE. And feel free to contact Ms. Tempesta at 617.559.6450 directly with any questions or concerns.

Upcoming Creative Arts and Sciences (CAS) Programming:

June 6th - 3rd & 5th Grade: Techsploration

Grade Level Creative Arts and Science (CAS) Coordinators (1-2): We are looking for 1-2 volunteers to work with grade level teachers to coordinate and schedule CAS coordinators for the 2025-26 school years. This volunteer position is done over email on your own free time. This is one of the PTOs biggest expenses and brings fun curriculum aligned programs like the Tanglewood Marionettes, Origami, museum visits, and authors visits to each classroom. Please reach out for more information.

International Night Co-Chair - This is another cherished event that happens every other year. We are looking for 2-3 volunteers to help plan and coordinate event. Responsibilities include finding parent volunteers to set up tables for a country they would like to represent, sending email communication, and helping to set up the event. This is a fantastic one to be involved in.
Mystery Dinner Co-Chair: Our fabulous dynamic duo Betsy Blazar and Emily Derr will be coordinating this event next year. Betsy Blazar will be graduating out of Ward at the end of next year so we are looking for another volunteer to be involved and learn from the best!
Attention 5th Grade Parents: Would you like to see some more great events for your Bigelow students in the next school year? Volunteering with the PTO can enhance your student’s middle school experience while meeting other parents and building a stronger school connection.
- It is time to start to planning for the 2025-26 school year! We are actively recruiting for several positions that will be open next year as 8th grade families move on from Bigelow. Now is the ideal time to volunteer as overlap with current volunteers will make for an easy transition. In particular, we would like to identify volunteers for the following:
- President/Co-President Lead and support the team, preside over PTO meetings, serve as primary contact and representative of the PTO.Communications/Website Send weekly PTO newsletters and other communications. Maintain PTO website. **Training available from current volunteer!**
- In addition to the positions highlighted above, there are many other ways to get involved in the PTO. Please email bigelowbulldog@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering or learning more about any of the opportunities to become involved with the Bigelow PTO. Co-volunteers welcome!

Upcoming Event Highlights

Newton’s S.P.A.C.E. (Summer Program for Academic and Creative Endeavors)
Newton’s S.P.A.C.E. is a four-week summer enrichment program run by the Newton Public Schools from July 7th through July 31st. Students entering kindergarten through 9th grade in the Fall of 2025 are eligible to attend. We offer two programs - an upper camp (entering 5th-9th grade) and a lower camp (entering kindergarten- 4th grade).
LOWER CAMP - Campers are assigned to age-appropriate classes taught by two licensed teachers. Teachers create project-based activities that focus on the theme of the lower camp. Last summer, the theme was “Summer Olympics”. Campers learned about the history, countries, cultures, and sports of the Olympics. Lower Campers will also attend various specials throughout the week led by certified staff, which include Physical Education, Yoga/Minfulness, Art and Science classes.
UPPER CAMP - Campers will create their own schedules by choosing from a variety of electives to design their own camp program. Elective choices include studio and digital arts, performing arts, athletics, STEM, music, and language arts classes.
Check out the S.P.A.C.E.website for more information or REGISTER NOW!
Questions? SPACE@newton.k12.ma.us
LigerBoxes: A STEAM Extravaganza with the LigerBots!
Ever wondered how to make magnetic slime, tie-dye milk or a robotic arm? In this fun and engaging class developed and led by members of the LigerBots, Newton's award-winning high school robotics team, get ready to explore chemistry and physics properties, conduct labs with friends, and gain a better understanding of the world we live in all through STEAM activities! Register here!
Students are welcome to join us for one, or both weeks- no prior experience or knowledge is necessary!
Grades 3-6
Angier Elementary School
August 11-15, 2025 from 9:00-12:00 pm
August 18-22, 2025 from 9:00-12:00 pm
Please reach out to Sarah Housman, Summer Program Coordinator at NCE with any questions: housmans@newton.k12.ma.us.
Are you looking for great STEM summer camps for your child(ren) ages 5-18? Do you have a budding engineer or scientist interested in coding, robotics, drones, or rocketry? In collaboration with Brookline Robotics Initiative, a nonprofit founded by BHS students dedicated to promoting STEM education through robotics, the Penguin Coding School and the RoboHub have an exclusive offer for you!

When you register through the QR codes below or these links:
https://penguincodingschool.com/summer-coding-stem-robotics-kids-camp-brookline-massachusetts or https://therobohub.com/summer-camp-brookline/

You will:
Save $200 off each week of camp.
- Help employ students from Brookline and Boston area FIRST Tech Challenge robotics teams to work alongside professional STEM educators so that they too can become future STEM educators.
- Contribute a portion of the tuition to sponsor the high school robotics teams for the upcoming 2025-2026 season and the many STEM outreach events they organize like the recent BrickFest.
- Prepare your child(ren) for amazing robotics/STEM opportunities in elementary, middle and high school, including robotics competition like FIRST LEGO League Challenge.
- Also join us for a workshop on June 8th by the Brookline Robotics Initiative on how to start your own FIRST Lego League robotics team for elementary-middle school students. You do not need robotics background to help your students start a team. We will give you the tools to start.
  
  Thank you!
  
  Brookline Robotics Initiative
  BRI
  http://www.brooklinerobotics.org

Please reach out to us by emailing copresidents@wardpto.org

ForWard 6.1.25