ForWard 6.15.25
From the Co-Presidents:
We cannot believe there are only four and a half more school days! As a reminder, the last day is Monday, June 23rd with pickup at 12:10. We invite you to meet us at the picnic tables by the front of the school at noon. We will have lemonade so that we toast to another fantastic year and the start of summer.
As we all know all too well, the end of the school year is always very busy! We had a fabulous time at the Ward Spring Picnic, and there was a terrific turnout of families, despite the wet and chilly weather! It was joyful to see so many incoming kindergarten families attend as well. Thank you so much to our incredible parent volunteer, Katie Megrian, who organized the entire event and made it possible for us to come together. We also want to thank Alicia Piedalue and Caitlin Cusick for serving pizza. The PTO will host another picnic when we return in September!
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.
We won’t send you newsletters until August, but behind the scenes, we will continue planning for the 2025-26 school year. We wish you all an incredible summer break!
- Elizabeth Loehr + Elizabeth Weinberg, Ward PTO Co-Presidents 2024-26
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:
CAS has wrapped up another successful year. Again, we thank our incredible CAS Chair, Anita He, and our other CAS volunteers, Ceri Evans, Jessica Harkiewicz, and Cuicui Chen, for making these events possible.
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!
Coming Fall 2025: Service Stars Tuesday After-School Program for Grades 1-5!
Service Stars, an educator-run program that facilitates community service projects for kids, is thrilled to launch a new after-school program on Tuesdays during the 2025-26 school year. Each week, students will experience hands-on opportunities to help their community while having fun and working as a team!
Location: 75 Vernon St., Newton Corner
Hours: 3-5:30 (Flexible pick-up and drop-off times!)
Learn more and register here. Space is limited, so sign up soon!
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.
Come to an information session about FIRST LEGO League (FLL), robotics for kids in grades K - 8, hosted by the LigerBots, Newton’s high school robotics team. There will be hands-on STEAM activities for kids while their parents are learning about FLL. There is no need for any prior experience in robotics or FIRST programs, and all are welcome! The event will be at the Newton North High School Film Lecture Hall, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. If you would like to attend — or cannot attend but are interested — please fill out this form. For more info, please email fll@ligerbots.org or check out the LigerBots FLL website page and the FIRST website page describing this year’s FLL challenge.
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