From the Co-Presidents:

Dear Ward Families,
Congratulations on making it through the first week of school! Whether you're a returning family or new to our community, we know how much effort goes into getting everyone back into the school-year routine—early mornings, packed lunches, drop-offs, and homework (already!). We’re so proud of our students for starting the year strong and so thankful to you, our families, for your support, patience, and enthusiasm. We loved chatting with parents at the PTO/Principal Coffee Meetup on 9/2. It was an excellent opportunity to listen to Mrs. Brogadir and some of Ward’s specialists and support staff. Thank you to all who attended for coming to this mini event!

Thank you to all the families who generously donated school supplies this week! Your voluntary contributions have made a significant difference, enabling our teachers to better stock their classrooms. We are genuinely impressed and deeply grateful for your support.

This is just the beginning of a great year ahead, and we can’t wait to partner with you throughout the journey. Let’s make this school year the best one yet!

Upcoming Events:

The Ward PTO Picnic is TOMORROW - Monday 9/8 from 5:30 PM - 7 PM: Meet us on the field for fun and games from Knucklebones and pizza provided by the PTO. Don’t forget a picnic blanket, water bottle, and some money for treats from the ice cream truck. Continued thanks to Katie Megrian for all her work on this! Look out for a special table that features the work of Ward alumnus, Sebastian Sawicki, who will have a table set up selling keychains, coasters, bookmarks, and magnets featuring the Ward logo. **Please park on the neighboring streets to keep the parking lot accessible for After School and minimize traffic. If you have any dietary restrictions, please email us at copresidents@wardpto.org. If you’re able, we’re looking for a few volunteers to help pass out pizza and assist with clean-up. Sign up here!
Back-to-School Night - Thursday, 9/11, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM: We hope to see you all at Ward for a chance to build community connections, learn about your child(ren)’s classroom, and get an overview of the grade-level curriculum. As a PTO, we’ll share information about our PTO calendar for the upcoming year, give an overview of our finances, and share our goals and some changes for the year. More to come!
4th Annual Fun Run - Wednesday 10/15 from 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM: Support and cheer on students and staff as they run, walk, or stroll around the Ward Field! This is a fun Ward event that everyone looks forward to! We are looking for volunteers to help set up, distribute water, give high-fives, and take photos! We always love seeing so many parents attend this event. Please note that this is no longer a fundraising event due to new NPS regulations.
Ward PTO Meeting with Marc Laredo - Thursday 10/23 from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM: An event you don’t want to miss! We welcome you to this morning's PTO meeting, where you will have the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of our special guest speaker, Marc Laredo, who will most likely be Newton’s next mayor. Let’s turn up as a community to show him how invested we are in our schools and ask the important questions about his priorities for NPS.
4th Grade Potluck - Thursday 10/23 from 6:30 PM to 8 PM: Mark this date on your calendar, 4th-grade families. More information will be made available soon!
Fall Spooktacular - Sunday 10/26, from 2 PM-4 PM: We encourage your kids (and you!) to wear your costumes and meet us on the playground to celebrate together. Interested in participating in this fun event? We will have volunteer opportunities coming soon! Many thanks to 1st and 5th-grade parent Kerry Reynolds for her creativity in bringing this event to life for another year. Please email us at copresidents@wardpto.org if you are interested in helping to plan and organize this event.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Room Parents: Thank all of the parents who have signed up! We are still looking for 1-2 parents per classroom for Colarusso (1C), Kaplan (3K), Moore (4M), and Tugwell (5T). The role will vary depending on the grade level and the specific teacher's needs. General responsibilities include 1) coordinating with the teacher to acquire classroom supplies, 2) organizing and identifying volunteers, 3) sending emails about upcoming PTO events and volunteer opportunities, and 4) coordinating teacher gifts. This is an excellent opportunity to build relationships with teachers and families, as well as to be involved in the PTO. Please sign up here. This is the perfect volunteer opportunity for parents who want to volunteer but cannot physically come in during the school day, as this role can be done via email!
Grade Level Potluck Hosts - We’re seeking one host per grade level for this wonderful Ward tradition. Hosts choose a date, provide a space and paper goods, and send an Evite - your guests do the rest! We will guide you through the entire process. This year, we will combine grades 1 and 3 for a combined potluck to accommodate our smaller cohorts. Last fall, many people enjoyed beautiful outdoor events, so we encourage hosts to set a date soon to take advantage of the September weather. Check out this link to review available dates that account for upcoming holidays and plan around school events. Please email us at copresidents@wardpto.org if you would like to learn more or to sign up!

As we look ahead at the 2025-26 school year, we are looking for a few specific volunteer roles*:

Mystery Dinner Co-Chair (1) with a focus on design and the website for Mystery Dinner
Silent Auction Committee - more to come at Back to School Night!

*More detailed information for each role is provided below. Please feel free to 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. You can also subscribe to our PTO calendar here.

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

Ward Family Fun Night - Boston College Men's Soccer vs. Notre Dame

Friday, October 24th @ 7 PM

Bring the whole crew for an evening of soccer, laughs, and Ward family fun. Join us to connect, cheer, and make some fall memories together! It's a perfect opportunity to come together as a community, enjoy some fall soccer, and connect with fellow Ward families.

Address: 885 Centre Street, Newton, (behind the law school on Boston College's Newton Campus).

Free Entrance and Free Parking. No tickets required. Questions? Email Kevin Woo at wootaiwain@hotmail.com

Girls on the Run is back at Ward! (GOTR)

Girls on the Run, a 3rd-5th-grade after-school running program, has started at Ward successfully! This empowering program uses running and other fun activities to help girls build confidence, connection, and resilience. Registration begins tomorrow, Monday, 9/8!

The 8-week season kicked off last week and culminates with the Girls on the Run Regional Celebratory 5K at Boston Common on November 16th. Ward’s team will join over 180 teams and 2,700 girls from across Eastern Massachusetts for this exciting event!

The team will be coached by Ward parents Aleksandra Lamont, Christopher Lamont, and Alexis Fish! If you have any questions, please reach out to Alexandra at Alessandra.itk@gmail.com or our GOTR coordinator, Teresa Ferguson, at teresa.ferguson@girlsontherun.org for more information. Girls who attend after school are more than welcome to join and will be brought back to after school once practice ends.

We can't wait to see our girls run, grow, and shine this fall!

NCE Class at Ward this Fall

Dungeons & Dragons: Ithreach Adventures

New and returning players welcome! Be a hero and have an adventure in Ithreach, the D&D fantasy setting exclusively created by Roll Models. In our custom-written adventures, players confront evil and save the day while practicing problem-solving, storytelling, empathy, risk-taking and teambuilding skills in a fun and supportive environment. Whether you join for a single adventure or a multi-year story arc, it's sure experience you won’t soon forget!

This fall, NCE will offer a 5-session Dungeons & Dragons class at Ward, starting Thursday, September 18th. This class is for fourth and fifth-graders only. Click here for more information and to register.

Drawing and Painting: Creatures of Worldwide Folk and Legend

Get ready to work with drawing and painting to explore monsters from across time and cultures! Taking inspiration from global stories, traditions, and belief systems, you'll examine a wide range of fantastical creatures. Topics will include Medieval manuscripts, Chinese scroll paintings, Aztec carving, and Greek hybrid beasts. Along the way, you'll strengthen your creativity, deepen your cultural understanding, and create your own imaginative creatures inspired by these sources.

Begins on Wednesday, September 17th. This class is for third - fifth-graders only. Click here for more information and to register.

Financial Assistance: Newton Community Education strives to ensure that all community members have the opportunity to participate in its programs and provides scholarships to as many students as possible. Full and partial scholarships are available with preference to Newton residents and students of Newton Public Schools. Click here for more information on how to apply for financial assistance.

**This is currently the only NCE class being offered at Ward due to low enrollment in previous years. If you are interested in bringing a NCE class to Ward in the winter, we encourage you to look over their course offerings, see if friends would be interested, and email NCE directly to ask if it can be offered at Ward. They usually need a minimum of 4 students to run a class.

Story Starters at Ward and Mason-Rice Elementary Schools!

We are thrilled to share that the Newton Schools Foundation has awarded our school a generous grant to support Story Starters’ Family Conversations program in our school community. NSF is committed to supporting the goals and initiatives of the district focused on academic excellence and educational equity by funding grants that allow teachers to try new approaches in the classroom, professional development, and programs that promote equity for all students.

The Family Conversations program promotes equity for all students by:

Combating internalized racial bias from an early age
Stressing the importance of representation (windows and mirrors) in literacy materials for kids ages 3-8
Teaching families how to define equity and fairness with young children
Improving feelings of positivity among children toward ALL racial identities, including their own

Our award from NSF signals the district’s commitment to this work, and to do it in partnership with families.

Families whose students will be in grades K through 2 this coming fall are encouraged to register at story-starters.org/wardandmasonrice. (Older and younger siblings are also welcome to participate.) Your family enrollment fee covers a set of books to keep at home, as well as the costs to attend two family events with guest authors and two online workshops for parents. There is a sliding scale for enrollment and details are included in the registration form. Both Ward and Story Starters are committed to removing all barriers to participation for families.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs. Brogadir or kari@story-starters.org with any questions.

Who: Ward and Mason-Rice Elementary School families with kids ages 3 to 8 years old. Older and younger siblings welcome!

Location: 2 in-person family programs and 2 evening virtual parent workshops.

Program Dates: Oct 9th - Nov 19th, 2024

Room Parents - please sign up here for this fantastic opportunity to get to support your classroom teacher and be involved in the PTO.
Grade Level Potluck hosts - Please sign up here.
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 from Ward at the end of next year, so we are looking for another volunteer to be involved and learn from the best!
Silent Auction Committee: We’re looking for volunteers to work with PTO Board members Cristina Garcia and Jenn Epstein to help plan and coordinate this online auction.

Upcoming Event Highlights

CUB SCOUTS PACK 210
Who: Boys and girls grades K-5
When: Thursday Sept 18, 6-7:30pm
Where: Carroll Center for the Blind, 770 Centre St in Newton Centre
What: Kick-off Meeting with Reptiles of New England and Frozen treats!

Pack 210 (Friends of Hemlock Gorge) has an exciting year of activities planned including camping, hiking, Pinewood Derby, outdoor activities, community service, overnights, and monthly Den meetings. We are a strong and vibrant Pack; Scouts are encouraged to attend one meeting per month, and we have additional fun events every month for those who would like to participate. Join to learn more at our Kickoff Meeting – we will have an interactive and educational session meeting with scaly friends, followed by parent Q&A and allergy-friendly frozen treats (pls reach out with food allergy questions).

Please email Kevin newtoncubscoutspack210@gmail.com with questions.

Run Your City - Chestnut Hill

Our Mission

Run Chestnut Hill is a non-profit organization that aims to build an inclusive community around the sport of running. We aspire to foster children’s growth into healthy, confident, and inspired individuals.

Our Vision

To build a future where collegiate athletes join with local communities to ensure team sports are accessible to all kids regardless of socioeconomic factors.

Program Structure

Run Chestnut Hill is a 6-week program that occurs in both the fall and the spring. It is completely free and open to kids in grades K-8. Within each season, there are three practices and three race days, alternating between the two throughout the 6 weeks. We are located each Sunday afternoon at Newton South High School outdoor track.

Our program begins on September 4th and will conclude on October 26th. Interested parents can sign their kids up, using this link.

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

ForWard 9.7.25