The Starburst

Greetings, Barrows Families,

This past week highlighted the best of what our Barrows community is all about. It started with many hands making lighter work, beautifying the Barrows grounds, lunch served to our students by the Reading Police department, a mini surprise baby shower for Mrs. Duff (still waiting for baby to arrive), our Open House showcasing the excellent learning by our students and Teacher Appreciation Week capped off by a sweet candy bar, DD gift cards, adorable plants, and a delicious BBQ lunch!

Our community, teachers, and students' outpouring of service, appreciation, and hard work is incredible. Thank you to all the parents/guardians who made this week a success. I would also like to thank and acknowledge our dedicated and skilled teachers and staff, who are committed to providing the best education for each child in our school! Barrows is blessed with exceptional educators who love each child that enters our doors! Thank you, Barrows teachers and staff!

Our newsletter is growing longer and longer as we get closer and closer to the last day of school! I have added many more end-of-the-school-year dates below. Be sure to check out all of the updates, all the way to the very end!

I wish a happy Mother's Day to all our moms and those who fill this important role in our children's lives!

Enjoy this gorgeous weekend,

Alissa

Warmly,

Alissa Gallegos

P.S. Math MCAS begins on Monday & Tuesday for 3rd & 4th grades, followed by 5th on Wednesday & Thursday. Please encourage great rest over the weekend and into next week! We encourage everyone to be well rested, fed and on time this week for a successful testing week! Thank you!

2022-2023 School Year

Monday-Tuesday, Mary 15 & 16: Grade 3 & 4 Math MCAS

Wedensday, Thursdsay: Grade 5 Math MCAS

Thursday, May 18th: Fun Run & PTO Ice Cream Social (rain date 5/25)

Monday, May 22nd: Kindergarten Orientation for incoming parents/guardians, 6 pm

Monday & Tuesday, May 22nd & 23rd: Grade 5 Science MCAS

Thursday, May 25th: Kindergarten Screening

Monday, May 29th: Memorial Day, no school

Thursday, June 1st: Field Day (rain date 6/8)

Friday, June 2nd: Grade 3-5 Talent Show Rehearsal

Monday, June 5th: Fifth Grade move up day to Parker

Tuesday, June 6th: Restaurant Night @ Cafe Capri 5-9 pm (dine-in or take out)

Friday, June 9th: Talent Show (students only)

Monday, June 12th: Fifth Grade Fun Day

Tuesday, June 13th: Fifth Grade Celebration, 8:45 am

Friday, June 16th: Last day of School! 11 am dismissal

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

May MCAS DATES! Barrows Grades 3-5 2023 Mathematics and Grade 5 Science and Technolgoy MCAS Assessment dates are noted below. The testing window has been set by DESE. Grades 3, 4 & 5 have 2 days of content area left for Mathematics, and Gr. 5 Science and Technology. Please refrain from vacations or unnecessary absences on these dates.

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.

This is a friendly reminder that students Kindeness Challenges (See below) are due to the office no later than Friday, June 2 in order to earn a certificate at the June 7th assembly!

We are so proud of our kind, Shining Stars and want to recognize their display of caring throughout the school year.

Click here for Mrs. Korwan's May OT Bitmoji Link

There is so much going on as we approach the final months of school. Please take a look at all the PTO updates below so you can mark your calendars as well as volunteer to help out if you have the availability. Big thanks in advance for helping us make the end of the year special for our kids.

JOIN US

Our next PTO meeting will be Wednesday June 14th at 6:30pm. As this will be our last meeting of the school year it will be more of a social event to celebrate the end of the year. Lori Barcikowski will host at her house. We will send an email closer to the meeting with a link to RSVP so we can plan accordingly. As always, reach out to Lori and Meghan with any questions or topics for consideration leading up to the final meeting.

THANKS!

We had another beautiful week showering our Teachers with a candy sweet bar, BBQ luncheon from Blue Ribbon and each teacher received a beautiful succulent with a gift card. Thank you again to all out our Barrow families for helping us make these past 2 weeks a HUGE success. Extra thanks to Brooke Heaney and Sara Fraine for leading the Teacher Appreciation. We couldn't have done it without you two.

A HUGE expression of gratitude to the hard-working families who joined in on the Barrow's Community Service Day. The school looks gorgeous, we even found a family of bunnies living in one of the flower boxes! At least mama bunny chose not to repeat last year's nest location below the playground steps. Special thanks to our Community Service Day Lead – Johanna Chesley!

Now, the plants need to be watered! We could use everyone’s help keeping the plants watered and alive through the remainder of the school year AND over the summer. If possible please sign up to help with a week of watering. You could even share the work for the week with another family. Watering takes about 20 minutes and is fun to do as a family. Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NJDOGCXG4x4zIka9bF2oRNB7ROfTN9CBPCnD7ohwDgc/edit?usp=sharing

ICE CREAM SOCIAL – Thursday May 18th during Fun Run

The PTO is hosting an ice cream (and slush) social to take place during the Fun Run on May 18th. The ice cream social is open to ALL grades so K – 2nd students can enjoy the ice cream and slush while cheering on the 3rd – 5th runners. There is a $1 suggested donation. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to donate toppings and volunteer. There are still a few more volunteers needed to help with scooping/handing out the ice cream between 2:30 – 4:30. You can sign up for a 1 hour shift if you cannot volunteer for the full 2 hours. If you are able to help out please use this signup genius to volunteer.

Please reach out to our Ice Cream Social Lead Margo Smith - margogsmith@gmail.com – with any questions leading up to the event.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS - UPCOMING RESTAURANT NIGHTS

CAPRI! Monday, June 6th: Dine-in or Take Out 5-9pm!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

Sign up to help in the cafeteria during 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 – Link to Sign Up

ONGOING FUNDRAISING

Minted

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.

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, 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

https://www.reading.k12.ma.us/en-US/extended-day-544ef5e6/summer-programs-30e42bcf

We are back for another day of fun at our next District Reading METCO event Saturday May 20th at the Boston Kite Festival. The Kite Festival is a day where our Boston resident families invite our Reading resident families, and RPS staff to Boston take part in one of the cities staple events for a day of fun in the park. The goal for this event is to enrich both the Boston and Reading communities by providing opportunities and support for cross-cultural understanding and appreciation for each other while building build friendships that will last a lifetime. Last year we had a great turnout from both our Reading and Boston communities, and we look forward to the same this year. We recommend all who plan to attend to arrive early as parking fills up fast.

If you are interested in helping with face painting, passing out t-shirts, assemble kites, or with setup/cleanup plase use this sign-up link: Kite Festival 2023 Volunteer Sign up

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

BIg News: NEW SEPAC WEBSITE!

Click here for the NEW, IMPROVED READING SEPAC WEBSITE, an incredible resource for parents/caregivers of all children, especially those with diverse learning profiles. We strongly urge you to visit it soon, and often. Short on time? Here’s a very brief video to give you a sense of what’s there in just over one minute.

UPCOMING EVENTS–OPEN TO ALL!

Final “Spring with SEPAC” event

Film Screening: Anxious Nation

Featuring Lynn Lyons, expert and consultant for RPS Click here for trailer.

Tuesday, May 16. 7pm. RCTV, 557 Main Street, Reading, MA

Spots are filling. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Family meetup at the Boston Kite and Bike Festival

SEPAC will join RPS/Metco at the Boston Kite and Bike Festival

Saturday, May 20. 1-3pm

Click here to connect with us for this event

Social events

End of Year SEPAC Social at Bunratty Tavern. Tuesday, June 20, 7PM. Click to RSVP.

Coming this Summer: Patio Socials and popsicles on the playground! Information coming.

About Reading SEPAC

Email sepacreading@gmail.com to get on our confidential mailing list–your best source of SEPAC information. Visit us at https://sepac.reading.k12.ma.us/

SEPAC WEBPAGE

Join SEPAC's mailing list

Follow SEPAC on Facebook

Follow SEPAC on Instagram

The UPDATED (January-June) link to signup to help in the library is here! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E45ACA62FA0F58-parent

Please make sure you have an up to date CORI on file.

If you would like to know more about volunteering in the library please contact Mrs. Becker @ carina.becker@reading.k12.ma.us . All are welcome to donate their time!

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