The Starburst

Happy New Year, Barrows Families,

I loved my time at home to reconnect with friends and family, but I thrive on routine and was excited to get back to Barrows to be with our students this week. Our teachers focused this week on revisiting goals, setting new ones, and reteaching expectations that create the best learning spaces for each other. We are excited to have six solid school weeks focused on our academic successes.

At our Barrows Belief Assembly on Wednesday, we welcomed Sharon Marrama, grandmother of Connor Wright (of Lynnfield), who started Connor's Kindness Project during the pandemic. As a school community, we will focus on showing kindness to each other. Teachers will send home the student's pledge cards and a list of activities to show kindness next week. The student will work individually and as a class to earn a "certificate" for the Kindness Club.

https://connorskindnessproject.com/kids-kindness-club/#

As usual, there is much new information for the new year in the Starburst! Please be sure to note the PTO & SEPAC updates, Mrs. Korwan's awesome OT bitmoji classroom, and an opportunity for internet safety training shared by Officer Matt,

Please send in your Buy a Bed Dollars-this fundraiser will be ending soon!

Have a great weekend, and I will see everyone back at school on Monday!

Warmly,

Alissa Gallegos

2022-2023 School Year

Wednesday, January 11th: Restaurant Night: Professor's Market (3-6 PM) & PTO Meeting (7 PM)

Monday, January 16th: No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Community Breakfast & Cultural Program @ RMHS 9:30 am

Wednesday, January 18th: Virtual Internet Safety Safety Training for Parents (must register)

Friday, February 3rd: Parents Night-Out, Musical Bingo @ 7PM

February 20-24th: No School, President's Day & February Vacation

School Hours:

Monday-Thursday, 8:15 AM - 2:45 PM

Friday, 8:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Students must be in class by 8:25 to be counted as on-time and present

Reading Public Schools Calendar

I hope to have an update of how many beds we have purchased soon, but I do not think we have met our goal. This weekend maybe a perfect time to earn some money boxing up holiday decorations or shoveling the inch of snow of a neighbors walk.

Children are encouraged to EARN their dollar(s) towards the donation… you assign the “chore” (ie. have your child make his/her bed!), so your child can earn the dollar(s) towards this program.We would love to see photos of your child EARNING their dollar(s). Feel free to submit photos to carina.becker@reading.k12.ma.us.

Thank you for all of your continued support! We appreciate your generosity.

Remember, school lunches are once again free for students in the Commonwealth. We look forward to providing nutritious meals for our students! Be sure to check out the weekly menus, as there are a lot of NEW options! Our new daily options are Bagel & Cream Cheese, Yogurt Parfait with Granola or SunButter & Jelly sandwich (details listed in the menu). Students will not have the option of cereal or pretzels anymore.

Reading Public Schools Food Service/Lunch Menus: http://reading.k12.ma.us/departments/food-services/

DAILY SNACKS in the CLASSROOM

It is the Reading Public School's wellness policy that we are not permitted to provide snacks to our students during the school day. Please send a healthy snack with your child every single day. If you are unsure about the allergies in your classroom, please check with your child's teacher. Teachers are not allowed to provide snacks to our students.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful break and holiday season. Attached is my January OT Bitmoji Classroom with some snow-themed activities you can do at home to build fine motor strength, grasp, bilateral coordination, and motor planning skills. To increase the challenge for your student or incorporate a handwriting component, you can always have them write their name, write the word "snow" or "snowflake," write out the materials needed for each activity, or write the steps taken to complete each task.

The United States Attorney’s Office is hosting a virtual Internet safety presentation for parents the evening of Wednesday, January 18th from 6:30 – 7:30 pm. The presentation, entitled Keeping Kids Safe and Secure Online: A Project Safe Childhood Presentation for Parents will bring awareness to the dangers of the internet, including gaming and social media platforms that predators use to groom children with the intent of exploiting them sexually online or for an in person meeting. The presentation will focus on prevention by educating parents and community members how to help keep children safe online. We will be covering the following topics:

Social Media 101 & Digital Footprint
Cyberbullying
Sexting
Gaming
Victim Support
Protecting Against Online Predation

The presentation is free. Registration is required. The link to register is included on the attached flyer and is also included here:

REGISTRATION DETAILS
Please register at the following link: (via Chrome browser))
Event address for attendees: https://usao.webex.com/usao/onstage/g.php?MTID=ec3d8ccd61ccdd26ee39d8c6ffd5c57aa

Meet virtually with Cisco Webex. Anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Simple, modern video meetings for everyone on the world's most popular and trusted collaboration platform.

usao.webex.com

Password: PSC1
Questions or difficulty registering? Please contact
Karen Legace @ USAMA.PSCOutreach@usdoj.gov<mailto:USAMA.PSCOutreach@usdoj.gov>

RESTAURANT NIGHT! Professor's Market

Ditch the meal planning and head to Professor's Market on Wednesday, January 11 for our next Restaurant Night Fundraiser. From 3pm-6pm purchase ready made meals or sandwiches to benefit Barrows. Be sure to mention you are with the Barrows Restaurant night when checking out.

SAVE THE DATE! Parents Night Out

Friday February 3rd - MUSICAL BINGO!! More details will be communicated soon.

JOIN US

Our next PTO meeting will be on Wednesday January 11th at 7pm (Barrows Library and Zoom). Agenda will be sent in advance of the meeting. ALL parents and caregivers are welcome! Reach out to Lori and Meghan with any questions or topics for consideration. Zoom Link: https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/84241502886

Be a Cafeteria Volunteer

Parents/guardians that are interested can now sign up to help out in the cafeteria during the lunch periods (11:15am - 12:35pm). The cafeteria is fully staffed, but can always use a couple extra hands to help with opening up packages, milk cartons, moving through lunch line efficiently. Please note that all volunteers must have a completed CORI on file prior to volunteering and unfortunately non school aged children will not be allowed to join with the volunteer.

If you are interested in volunteering please use the Sign Up Genius to sign up for the day or days you would like to help out. Lori Barcikowski: Parent/Guardian Help at Lunch

SignUpGenius.com: Free Online Sign Up Forms

ONGOING FUNDRAISING

Minted Fundraiser

The Minted Fundraiser is open the ENTIRE year! You can use the promo code FUNDRAISEBARROWS any time you place an order through Minted and help support the Barrows Elementary PTO. You'll get 20% OFF your ORDER and 15% of every purchase made using our code will be donated back to Barrows.

Amazon Smile

Are you an Amazon shopper? Did you know that through the Amazon Smile program, a percentage of EVERY one of your purchases on Amazon goes directly to the Barrows PTO? Such an easy way to help the PTO.

If you don’t have an Amazon Smile account yet, follow these easy steps:

Set up instructions for orders placed via browser

1. Visit smile.amazon.com

2. Sign into your Amazon account just like you normally would.

3. Under “Accounts & Lists” in the main menu bar, select “Your Account”.

4. Under “Shopping programs and rentals” select “Change your charity”.

5. Enter “Alice M. Barrows PTO ” into the charity search bar.

6. Select Alice M. Barrows PTO .

Set up instructions for orders placed via Amazon app

AmazonSmile: You shop. Amazon gives.

Check that you have the latest version of the Amazon app.

Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device.

Login.

Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings'.

Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to turn Amazon Smile on.

In order for your Amazon order to qualify, it must be made through Amazon Smile. Unfortunately, orders made through regular Amazon won’t qualify. Fortunately, setting up bookmarks and extensions in your browser is easy!

Box Tops

Did you know you no longer need to clip Box Tops and send them into school? Box Tops now offers an app where you scan your receipts! Doing online grocery delivery these days? No problem! Box Tops also offers a way to email your online orders for credit. Find it in the app store or google play store today!

Helpsy Bin

Finally, have you been in purge mode lately? Getting rid of old, stained or ripped clothing? Drop it off in the Helpsy box in the Barrows staff parking lot (after school hours of course) and Barrows will receive a small donation for your items. Clothing, shoes and accessories are all accepted!

Questions about any of these programs or need help troubleshooting the apps? Contact Alison Ethier at alison.ethier@gmail.com

PTO Board

Lori Barcikowski, Co-President

Meghan Dribin, Co-President

Amy Koehler, Treasurer

Alicia Curtin, Secretary

Alison Ethier, Social Media Coordinator

SEPAC works for the understanding of, respect for, and support of all children with special needs in the community.

IMPORTANT! The Department of Elementary and Special Education (DESE) is currently conducting a Special Education and Civil Rights review in Reading. Special Education Family input is critical. Please look for an email survey titled: Public School Monitoring needs your feedback - it was sent on 12/1.

Tuesday, January 17th at 7 pm: Special Needs Planning with Attorney Lisa Cukier
We are very excited to have Lisa Cukier present on Special Needs Planning. Lisa is an accomplished attorney with Burns and Levinson and has deep experience on a variety of topics related to family planning - including topics related to children with special needs. Lisa will be providing tips and strategies throughout the presentation and will also be available for Q & A. This will be an information packed session that will be aimed at all levels of disabilities and we highly encourage you to attend.

*This virtual event is hosted by SEPAC and open to anyone. Zoom: https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/85118571330

For much more information about the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, click here for our latest newsletter.

We encourage you to join SEPAC's mailing list, follow SEPAC on Facebook, and follow SEPAC on Instagram

Thank you,

SEPAC BOARD

SEPAC WEBPAGE

Join SEPAC's mailing list

Follow SEPAC on Facebook

Follow SEPAC on Instagram

From crazy hair to pajama day--Barrows students and staff showed tons of spirit the week before break! Thanks to our Student Council for planning the fun and to our special guests dressed in red on the last day for our sing-along!

Arrival

• Please drive slowly up Edgemont to keep everyone safe; remember, it is one way.
• Do not park in the indented section by the gym. This is the "kiss & go" area for a quick drop-off.
• Doors open at 8:15 and close at 8:25. Your child needs to be in the doors by 8:25 AM. If your child gets to school after the doors have closed, they must come to the front door and be marked tardy.

Dismissal:

• At dismissal time, there is no live pick-up in the driveway except for students who take the bus. Kindergarteners exit the building at 2:40 PM. The rest of the students dismiss at 2:45 PM from the same doors they enter in the morning.

As a safety reminder, the staff parking lot is staff-only. We respectfully ask that caregivers park along the streets. With our students exiting from their external doors in the parking lot, having cars drive in and out is not safe. You need to walk around the school on the blacktop to the back. Thanks for helping us out.

Dogs and Puppies on School Grounds

School Committee policy prohibits dogs on school grounds as much as we all love dogs and puppies and as much fun as it is walking them. If you'd like to walk your dog as part of your pick-up routine, the dog has to stay off school property. If you'd like your child to walk to you on the sidewalk or to the driveway entrances at dismissal so you can wait with your dog, please make that plan with them.

The Town of Reading contracts with William James College to offer a special service for our residents. The William James INTERFACE Referral Service maintains a mental health and wellness referral help line Monday through Friday, 9 am-5 pm, at 888-244-6843 (toll free). This is a free, confidential referral service for individuals across the lifespan living in Reading. Callers are matched with licensed mental health providers from our extensive database. Each referral meets the location, insurance, and specialty needs of the caller. Click here to learn more!

PTO Facebook Link https://www.facebook.com/BarrowsPTO/

Barrows on Twitter: @BarrowsSchool https://twitter.com/BarrowsSchool

Barrows Homepage: http://www.reading.k12.ma.us/barrows/

Reading Public Schools: http://www.reading.k12.ma.us