From the Co-Presidents:

Dear Ward Families,

Wow—can you believe how quickly the first two months of school have passed? It’s been an incredible start to the year, and we are so grateful to everyone who contributes to making our school community special. SO MANY events happened this month that brought our community together and would not have been possible without the help of numerous volunteers.

Thanks to Kevin Woo for organizing the Ward Family Night at the BC soccer game last Friday.
Thanks to Kerry Reynolds and Jaclyn Rubin and the twenty-four other volunteers (!!) who planned, organized, and facilitated yet another amazing Fall Spooktacular.
Thanks to Cristina Garcia and Jenn Epstein for leading the Fun Run this year, and to the many volunteers who came together to set up, clean up, and cheer on our kids. It’s always so heartwarming to see the energy of our students and staff as they run, walk, and move around Ward Field.
As we wrap up Fall Potluck Season, we’d also like to thank our latest hosts - Brent and Lauren Gilbert who hosted for Kindergarten and Ishani Ganguli and Nikhil Sahni who hosted the 4th grade potluck. Thank you so much to everyone who hosted potlucks this year!
And finally, thank you to Sara O’Connor, our Garden Committee Chair, for planting daffodil bulbs with the 5th graders! This is a newer tradition that the Garden Committee has been organizing for several years now, and we love seeing the pops of yellow color in the Spring!

There’s still a lot of excitement ahead, including our first-ever online auction (details below) and the upcoming launch of our spirit store. We can’t wait to continue the fun and create more great memories together! We are happy to share that our PTO meeting with Marc Laredo has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 4th at 8:30 am. Please save the date!

And the fun isn’t over yet! We’ve got more exciting events on the horizon, so read on to find out what’s coming up and how you can get involved.

Upcoming Events and Volunteer Opportunities

Ward Movie Night - Monday 11/3 at 5:30: Please join us for this fantastic community event and fifth grade fundraiser. You can buy your tickets here - 100% of proceeds from the tickets and the concessions sold day of will go to the fifth grade class fund. The fifth grade is responsible for raising money to cover the cost of graduation, an end of year party, and a class gift. Your support of this event goes a long way towards helping our fifth grade class have a fantastic end to their Ward years! This is a community event, if you would like financial assistance or have any questions about the event, please reach out to our Betsy Blazar at betsyblazar@gmail.com.
NPS Community Math Night - Wednesday 11/12, from 6:30PM to 7:30PM at Brown Middle School Auditorium. Topics will include: Curriculum Review Update, Overview of our Math Pathways, What Will the Student Math Experience Look Like?, and Q & A Session.
Ward Library Volunteers - our wonderful librarians are looking for help shelving books in the library every Monday and Thursday from 10-10:30AM. Please sign up here!
PTO Meeting with Special Guest Marc Laredo - Thursday 12/4, from 8:30AM to 9:30AM. 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 - a mayoral candidate and the current City Council President. 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.
Online Silent Auction - Sunday 12/7 - 12/14. See below for more information!!

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

We’re excited to announce Ward’s Online Silent Auction, happening December 7–14!

This brand-new event will bring our community together in a fun, easy, and meaningful way to support our school — all from the comfort of home.

The auction will include two exciting parts:

Traditional Auction Items – Bid on fabulous prizes, and the highest bidder wins! Think sports tickets, unique items from local businesses (maybe yours?), or a gift basket.
Buy It Now Experiences – These are special events or gatherings hosted by Ward families and community members — for both kids and adults! A set number of tickets will be available at a fixed price, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. Think a movie night for kids of a particular grade, a backyard BBQ, seasonal celebrations, or a wine tasting.

The always-popular Teacher and Staff Experiences — like Principal for the Day and Ice Cream Sundae Parties— will now be available as either a traditional auction item or a Buy It Now Experience.

We’d love your help making this inaugural event a success!

Do you own or have connections to a local business that could donate an item or service?
Would you like to host an experience or gathering?
Perhaps you have a talent (such as bread making, flower arranging, or photography) that you could share as an experience of some kind?
Do you know someone who might be interested in getting involved? Please spread the word!

All proceeds directly support Ward School students and programs.

Auction Dates: December 7–14, All Online!

Questions or donations? Contact auctions@wardpto.org.

Fundraising Update:

Wow, Ward! We’ve raised $24,519 towards our goal of $40,000. We are beyond grateful for everyone who has donated and feel so lucky to be a part of a community who really shows up - not just with your donations but also at events, to volunteer, and to support one another. Thank you for all the ways in which you contribute to making our school the vibrant, supportive and caring community it is.

If you would still like to contribute, donations can be made in the following ways:

Check: These should be written to "Ward PTO" and can then be put in an envelope labeled "Ward PTO". Feel free to drop them off in the office yourself or send them in with your child.
PayPal: here!
Venmo: here!

Thank you for your continued support!

The Fall Spooktacular Recap!

We are extremely grateful for our wonderful community and events like the Spooktacular truly highlight how special our school is! We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the amazing volunteers who arrived early to help set up and those who manned the various stations for games, creative art tables, sack races, karaoke, face painting, temporary tattoos, and our donut and apple cider stand. This entire event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our incredible parents, Kerry Reynolds and Jaclyn Rubin for their leadership and incredible energy!

Fresh milk, Fresh Funds

Modern Milkman delivers farm-fresh, A2A2 milk and groceries from local farms and makers straight to your doorstep, in eco-friendly, return-and-reuse glass bottles. For every Ward parent or friend who signs up for weekly deliveries, Modern Milkman will donate $75 to Ward Elementary’s school fund. Each person who signs up also gets 20% off their first 4 weeks using code WARD20 at checkout. Help spread the word using this referral link here or the QR code, and support your school. This offer runs from now until November 30th."

Referral Link

5th Grade Food Drive Fundraiser - Success!

A special thanks to our teachers for raising awareness about food insecurity with the 5th graders, and to Susan for helping with the logistics. We really appreciate your partnership with this food drive. The Newton Food Pantry is preparing for an influx of need next week, when the government shutdown will start affecting SNAP benefits, and they are very grateful for our contribution.

In 2024, the Newton Food Pantry served over 2500 Newton residents through supplemental food assistance, distributing more than 85,500 bags of groceries and personal care items to 1,050 households. Learn more about this amazing organization here.

Please Join Us for an Outdoor Movie Under the Stars! Tomorrow,
Monday, November 3, 2025

Please join us for an outdoor movie under the stars! It isn’t too late to purchase tickets!
When: Monday, November 3 (there is no school Tuesday, November 4!)

Tickets: $10 per person or $40 per family - please purchase ahead at here!

Time: 5:00pm: Concessions and Pizza; 5:30pm: Movie begins

Details: Wear your pajamas! Dress warmly!
Bring blankets and lawn chairs!
Open to all Ward Families and Neighbors/Guests
Pizza & concessions will be available for purchase night of!

100% of the proceeds will benefit the graduating fifth-grade class activities. This is a community event, if you would like financial assistance please reach out to our Ward Cares coordinator Keren Wainger at Keren.Wainger@gmail.com.

Ward School Garden Meet Ups!

Thursdays and Fridays (around pick-up) | 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

Come check out the garden, learn about the Weed of the Week, and help with whatever needs to be done! It's absolutely a "drop in when you can" activity, not a drop-off activity. Every kid needs a responsible grown-up with them.

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

After-School & Weekends with NCE

Newton Community Education is offering fun and engaging programs for students this season, including Buildwave, Weird Science Television, Cinema Kitchen, Dungeons & Dragons, Comics & Digital Animation, Kangaroo Math, and Winter Swimming & Diving Lessons. If a club has already started, give us a call—we’ll do our best to include your child.

We're excited to announce the launch of Special Early Release Afternoon Programming at Bowen, Burr and Mason-Rice! Starting on October 28th, each club runs from 12:15-4:00pm and features STEAM related fun and activities.

Click here to learn more and register!

If NCE is not yet at your school, email Sarah Housman at housmans@newton.k12.ma.us and we'll work with you to get clubs started!

Get playing with Newton Athletic Association (NAA) Basketball!

NAA is a volunteer-run non-profit that runs youth basketball leagues in partnership with Newton Community Education. Registration is now open for the upcoming season!

There are separate basketball leagues for each grade from 3 to 9. Open to all skill levels, this is a great way for kids to learn the game, build confidence, and have fun with their peers.