The Starburst

Greetings, Barrows Families,

We had an awesome week! Thank you to so many of our families who spoke to your children about the importance of showing respect to all of the adults in our building. This week, I saw a big difference in the community spaces during lunch, recess, and at our MLK all-school assembly!

This week I met with our School Council, comprised of parents, teachers, and community members. I had the opportunity to report my progress relating to the entry plan I wrote last summer and what I have learned about our school community in the last 6 months. The level of teamwork between our staff and families (students included) has most impressed me in my five short months here. Everyone is invested and is working together to provide the best education for our Shining Stars.

As you scroll down, you will find new information about:

• Our Attendance Policy in response to the letters that all families received this week
• Our Kindness Club Initiative
• RMHS Winter Clothing Drive
• SEPAC Updates
• Internet Safety Resources (I attended the US Attorney's Internet Safety Webinar this past week. They shared resources and educational videos for me to share with our families. The dangers of the Internet are scary to me, and I hope that all of our Reading students have good experiences on the Internet. However, the statistics are jarring--and our best way to protect our children is by educating ourselves, educating them, being very present in their social media lives, and limiting their use/with safety controls. I have linked all of the resources at the bottom of the Starburst.)

And remember to buy your tickets to the PTO's Parent's Night Out Musical Bingo Fundraiser!

Warmly,

Alissa Gallegos

Since sending the attendance letters home to ALL students at Barrows, we have recieved a number of questions and concerns in regard to our policies. I want to reiterate that these letters served to highlight the importance of school attendance and to verify any errors in our records. We have good attendance at Barrows, but we looking at ways to improve. We also recognize that Covid is still here, our immune systems are rebooting and there are some commitments that must be scheduled during the school day. Please keep sick (contagious) children at home. If you are unsure if you should send your child to school, you are welcome to reach out to Nurse Rose or your healthcare provider. I am attaching a link here with our attendance policy that we are mandated by the state and town to follow: Barrows Attendance Policy

Barrows is working hard to spread kindness around our world. At our Barrows Beliefs assembly we took the kindness pledge that we would complete 25 acts of kindness. Each child is getting a Kindness Club challenge sheet. This is a checklist of things to do that promote kindness. We are asking students to complete at least 25 items from the checklist and return it to school. Students who complete the challenge will be presented with a certificate at our final Barrows Beliefs assembly in June. Checklists can be turned into the office and are due by June 1. Feel free to share pictures of your kindness or if you have any questions reach out to Mrs. Becker - carina.becker@reading.k12.ma.us

2022-2023 School Year

Sunday, January 22nd: Chinese New Year

*Tuesday, January 31st: Kindergarten Registration Night

Wednesday, February 1st: Global Play-Day

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

Friday, February 10th: Restaurant Night at the Mandarin

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

*Kindergarten Registration Night, 6:00-7:00 pm. Drop off your registration form and accompanying documents. Event will be held at Reading Memorial High School. Last names beginning in A-L, 6:00-6:30 pm. Last names beginning in M-Z, 6:30-7:00 pm. You can reach out with questions at any point by emailing RPSStudentRegistration@reading.k12.ma.us

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

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.

Parents Night Out Fundraiser- Musical Bingo presented by Nubingo

Friday February 3rd, 7pm - Buy your tickets now to guarantee your spot at this FUNdraiser.

The goal for this fundraiser is to ensure we can fully meet this school years enrichment goals (inflation has driven up costs across the board - buses/vendors) and also help us finish the school year financially strong so we are all set to kick off next school year.

If you have not been to a Nubingo event get ready to sing your heart out, dance, have a blast playing musical bingo and other fun games along with all your Barrows friends and soon to be new friends. We will even have a table full of Barrows teachers competing with us!

There will also be a silent auction of amazing teacher donated gifts of time with your kids. Including new and returning favorites such as - Tea Party and Cupcakes with the Kindergarten Teachers! Baking Cookies with the 1st grade teachers at Ms Lanzo's House! Crafting party with the 2nd grade teachers! Ice Cream Outing with the 3rd grade teachers! Board Game Party with the 4th grade teachers! Robots & Cookie Extravaganza with Ms Becker! PE Teacher for the Day AND Principal for the Day! Ride to School with Officer Matt and Rusty! Front Row Seats to 5th Grade Graduation Ceremony!

SAVE THE DATE - RESTAURANT NIGHT!

Mark your calendars for the next restaurant night! Mandarin on Friday February 10th.

JOIN US

Our next PTO meeting will be on Wednesday February 8th 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.

Be a Cafeteria Volunteer

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 - Lori Barcikowski: Parent/Guardian Help at Lunch (signupgenius.com)

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.

Click here for the lottery for Swim Buddies, the Burbank YMCA's Adaptive Swim Lesson program. See the attached flyer for SPLASH! the new free adaptive water exercise program at the Burbank YMCA for ages 18+. Both programs are provided at no cost to participants thanks to Town of Reading ARPA funds.

Click here for slides from our January 17th presentation on Special Needs Planning. Attorney Lisa Cukier presented an overview of topics such as wills, guardianship, custody, special needs trusts, and more. Video of this presentation will be coming! We plan to do a more in-depth follow up on specific topics of interest to our parents. Please fill out this brief 2-page survey to let us know what you'd like.

Seeking 3-4 parents to meet with Student Services approximately every other month to hear updates about implementation of recommendations from the recent Program Reviews (SAIL, SOAR, REACH, EMBARK, RISE). Email sepacreading@gmail.com to participate.

Mark Your Calendars!

Bullying: What Parents Need to Know. Virtual Parent Training

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 7pm, via zoom.

Click here to register (you MUST pre-register to get the zoom link)

Parents and professionals are welcome to join this extremely important discussion which will cover the following topics: What is bullying? What are the school’s legal obligations to prevent and address bullying? What are some strategies and tools for dealing with bullying? How to address bullying on the IEP?

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

Please find attached internet safety resources. Each resource has links at the bottom on the sheets subject. You will find many videos in these resources.

https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz/videos

Videos - National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

These differentiated video series present digital safety lessons in a fun and age-appropriate manner. Younger audiences learn with Nettie, Webster, and Clicky, the internet safety robot, while tweens engage with the animated cast of NS High.

www.missingkids.org

Each link has specific videos that you can watch with your children.

Another book I (Mrs. Gallegos) HIGHLY recommend and have read with all of my own children is Good Pictures, Bad Pictures by Jensen & Fox: Good Pictures, Bad Pictures Amazon Link. This isn't a particular comfortable topic for parents, but this book makes it a comfortable conversation between parents and children. It talks about our "thinking" and "feeling" parts of our brain and how we can make good choices by using our thinking brain regularly!

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