Tag Archives: elem

Nursery School Openings for 2014-15 in Newton

The nonsectarian Second Church Nursery School  at 60 Highland St., West Newton has a limited number of openings for 2014-15. The school has been operating continuously since 1934 and currently offers both morning preschool classes and extended afternoon sessions. Children are grouped developmentally to promote growth and enhance social, cognitive and motor skills to help them become happy and independent people.

Interested parents should contact Director Susan Benes at617-527-4770 or email her at se***********************@*****st.net. For more info about the school and Ms. Benes, visit www.2ndchurch.org.

Kesher Newton after-school program open house, Mar. 23

Are you looking for Jewish learning for your child? Kesher Newton now enrolling for Fall, 2014.

Open House, Sunday, March 23th, 10:00 am – noon.

Kesher Newton is an after-school program that offers a hands on and in-depth approach to Jewish learning for students in grades K-11.

Kesher Newton is now located on Hammond Pond Parkway, convenient to Newton, Brookline, and the surrounding communities. Housed inside the building of Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Kesher’s warm and inviting new space accommodates its expanding student base and its many family activities.

Kesher Newton is a nationally-recognized alternative to traditional Hebrew School, where children learn Jewish culture and Hebrew language in a spirited, camp-like environment.  Kesher’s innovative curriculum challenges students intellectually, while fostering Jewish commitment, joy of learning, and active community participation.

Kesher Newton is an independent pluralistic community that is welcoming to all.

For more information and to schedule a tour, contact Kesher Newton at 617-244-5390 or via email.

Summer Learning Camps and Classes

The Chyten Center in Newton is offering a series of hands-on, real-life learning camps and classes for elementary and middle-school this summer.

Younger programs (Grades 2-5) include:
Shark Tank Jr. (Create your own business, just like on the TV show!)
Imagination Authors (Write your own novel and have it fully published)
Team Titans (Run your own baseball team and learn math in the process!)
The Literature Circle (Learn how to comprehend and analyze great children’s literature)
Discover My World (Do online research, learn Google Earth and design a “World’s Fair” with Legos)
Kids Career Time (Study, roleplay and experience five adult professions: Doctor, lawyer, architect, journalist and mayor)

Older programs (ages 11-14) include:
Writing Masters: The Muckrakers (Be part of a real newsroom and publish an online and print newspaper)
Vocabulary Masters: Drama Dictionary (Create an online video dictionary of advanced English vocabulary)

For more information visit TheChytenCenter.com/esteem or call 617-559-9936.
Now Enrolling for Summer Classes, Space is Limited

School Committee Budget Meetings schedule

The School Committee meetings for FY2015 Budget presentation and discussions are scheduled as follows:

Thursday, March 13 – Superintendent’s Budget Presentation (part of a regular meeting)

Monday, March 17 – Budget discussion of regular education, teaching and learning, professional development and technology

Thursday, March 20 – Budget discussion of student services, ELL, Career and Tech Ed and all non-instructional areas

Monday, March 24 – Continued budget discussion and straw vote

Monday, March 31 – Public hearing on the budget

Monday, April 7 – Final vote (part of regular meeting)

Meetings convene at 7:00 pm in Room 210, Education Center, 100 Walnut St.  For additional information, please visit the School Committee website.

Email messages sent to sc*************@***********ma.us will be forwarded to the entire School Committee. To reach individual members, find their individual email addresses here.

The committee can also be contacted by mail at: Chair, Newton School Committee, 100 Walnut Street, Newton MA 02460. Telephone messages can be taken at 617-559-6110.

Youth Services Updates/Info/Opportunities

Many of you have already heard about the Executive Function workshop for parents and teachers run by Engaging Minds Learning and Tutoring Center. This is completely FREE and several schools have already booked dates for the program. If your school PTO has not yet scheduled pleased consider helping to pick dates, times and locations as well as help advertise to parents. Please let Youth Services know if your school is interested in hosting a workshop by contacting 617-796-1436 or jo*****@******ma.gov.

The 60 minute workshop includes:

  • Explanation of the term “executive function” and why these skills are important in school and in other aspects of education in today’s fast paced world.
  • Tips and strategies geared towards parents and teachers in order to help strengthen students’ skills.
  • Real life applications and take home toolkits to maintain effective learning

Openings on the Youth Commission: the Newton Youth Commission is a volunteer body of high school students and adults working together to empower youth. The commission is made up of a group of seven voting members ages 13-19 from all over the city who are appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the Board of Aldermen. Commissioners learn about civic engagement and connect with city officials.

The Newton Youth Commission has current openings for young adults interested in getting involved in their community. Please visit www.newtonma.gov/youth for an application or contact the Director of Youth Services at 617-796-1436 or jo*****@******ma.gov.

An Advisory Board to the Youth Commission is also appointed by the Mayor, with the advice of the youth commission. The advisory board is a group of twenty youth and adults selected to represent youth agencies, police, schools, health, recreation and other public or private organizations concerned with youth. Adults interested in applying for the Advisory Board should submit a resume and youth interested in applying should submit an application but specify on the application that they would like to be considered for the Advisory Board. Applications can be found at www.newtonma.gov/youth .

Looking for Lego ambassadors

Think your child has what it takes to become one of Boston’s inaugural Lego ambassadors?
From now until March 14th, LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston will be accepting applications from children ages 5 to 12 to participate on a team to help LEGOLAND become the best attraction of its kind. As part of the application, children must include a video or photo and written response explaining what makes them the biggest Lego fan and why they should be part of the panel. They should also show something they built with Lego bricks. LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston will be accepting applications for its junior construction panel from now until March 14th. The 12 winners will be announced on their Facebook page on March 17th. For contest rules and to apply, visit the LEGOLAND’s website.

Letter from the Superintendent

February 2014
Dear Newton Families,

As most of you know, students in Massachusetts have been taking MCAS exams since 1998. MCAS was designed to assess students’ progress towards meeting standards established through the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. I am writing to let you know that MCAS will very likely be phased out in a few years and replaced by a different type of assessment. These new assessments known as PARCC, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, align to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which were adopted as Massachusetts state standards by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in July 2011.

PARCC is a consortium of 18 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English Language Arts and Mathematics. We have been told Continue reading →

Register Now for Newton Community Farm Spring Programs

The 2014 spring educational programs at Newton Community Farm are now open for registration.

Choose from a range of garden-focused classes as well as how to keep chickens here in Newton.

For families and youngsters, our popular Farm Sprout program returns as does “Ready Set Grow”, our family gardening program.

Pre-registration is required. For more information and to register, visit the NCF’s website at www.newtoncommunityfarm.org/education