Monday, January 27, 2014

Monday Message

Lowell Happenings
International Night was a great success! Thank you to all who came, volunteered to help, and to Deb Ortiz and Yolyett Hohmann for organizing the event. Here are some pictures from the evening.




Site Council Canceled AGAIN
We have just learned that there is another open meeting in town on the night of our rescheduled site council meeting. This is in violation of open meeting law.  We have a February site council meeting already scheduled for Tuesday, February 25th.

WEF Spelling Bee
The WEF Spelling Bee was held yesterday and it was a wonderful event! Congratulations to all who participated.

Volunteer Opportunities-Give Five Hours!
The PTO is looking for volunteers to donate a small amount of time to secure items for the annual auction fundraiser. This fundraiser provides many important things to our school and without it we will not have assemblies and other important parts of our year. Email Seta Davidian seta.davidian@comcast.net or Noreen Lombard nlmal@comcast.net

Grade 3 Parent Coffee
There will be a grade 3 parent coffee this Thursday at 8:20 am in the Lowell lounge. Topics covered include curriculum, assessment, instruction, social-emotional learning, and more!

PTO Update
Here is a link to the weekly PTO update:
http://eepurl.com/M63GD

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Weekly Message

I have a lot of updates for a very short week!

International Night This Friday
International Night is this Friday from 6-8pm in the Lowell gym and cafeteria.  Please come and bring a dish to share for the potluck, if you like! Families and students will have a chance to visit over 15 different countries with their own "passport". Raffle prizes will be given out and there will be delicious food at the potluck dinner.

Spirit Day
Spirit Day this Friday is an International Spirit Day. Students should make and bring a flag (from any nation they chose) so that it can be used to decorate for International Night.

School Safety Forum
There will be a district school safety forum Thursday night (January 23rd) at 6pm in the Watertown High School lecture hall.

Student Handbooks Online
A new version of the student handbook is up on our website. This version simply has had some wording changes. We thoroughly update handbooks and resend them at the start of each school year.

PTO Update
Here is the link to the PTO weekly message. Please take a moment to read it!


Lowell Happenings
We had our second Caring School Community Buddy meeting last week. Here are some pictures from another successful buddy time!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Homework Club Sign Up Week of January 23rd

Here is the link for next week's homework club sign up. Please note homework club is only on Thursday next week due to the professional development day.

Lowell School Homework Club Sign Up

Monday, January 13, 2014

Monday Message

Lowell Happenings

Last week, we had Odaiko of New England put on an assembly of Japanese Taiko drumming. It was great and our students loved it! The drums were big and loud. Our 4th and 5th grade students are studying Japan and will present what they have learned to students and families in the spring at our World Tour.

No School Next Week
There will be no school on Monday and Tuesday of next week (January 20th and 21st) for Martin Luther King Jr Day and professional development day, respectively.

Grade 3 Parent Coffee
There will be a parent coffee for grade 3 parents on Thursday, January 30th at 8:20 am in the Lowell lounge. Topics covered will include: curriculum, assessment, instruction, social-emotional learning, and more!

Give Five to Thrive
Still looking to give five hours of time to the school or want to go above five hours?
Our second annual International Night is on Friday, January 24th. If you would like to represent your nation of origin at this really great night, please email Deb Ortiz ortiz60@hotmail.com or Yolyett Hohmann yolyett@gmail.com

If you are not able to volunteer or host a table, please come to the event! Bring a dish to share at our potluck!

The PTO is looking for volunteers to help with the annual spring fundraiser.  This is the biggest fundraiser that the Lowell School PTO does and our entire school is dependent on this money. Last years fundraiser raised over $11,000 with that money being used to support the entire school through In-House Enrichments, magazine subscriptions, classroom support, iPad purchases, and more.  Our online auction is set to begin on March 1st and end on March 15th.  We are looking for parents to help us solicit donations.  Any amount of time you can donate is appreciated.  Please contact either Seta Davidian at seta.davidian@comcast.net or Noreen Lombard at nlmal@comcast.net.

Emergency Response Drills
As you know, we conducted another emergency drill last week. We conduct these drills in accordance with our critical incident protocols in collaboration with police and fire.  I want to take the time to define the main types of responses we have to emergencies or critical incidents.

Shelter in Place: Shelter in Place is used any time the hallways may need to be clear of others.  This allows necessary personnel to move about the hallways. An example of this would be if someone was injured and medical professionals needed to move about the school.

Evacuation: This is used if we need to evacuate the building for any reason. This includes our fire drills. We evacuate to the front lawn. We also practice a secondary site evacuation, where we evacuate to the DPW across the street.

Lockdown: This is used during an incident that requires all people in the building to be secured within locked rooms in the building.



Thursday, January 9, 2014

Homework Club Sign Up (Grades 3-5)

Here is the link for next week's homework club.
Lowell Homework Club Sign Up


Lowell School Homework Club

I am pleased to announce that there will be a Homework Club for students in grades 3-5.  The club is designed as a quiet, academic space for students to work on homework, read, and have help from a teacher where needed. The PTO has generously funded this club. 

Who can enroll in the homework club?
 The club is open to all third, fourth, and fifth grade students.  The club is open to 30 students each session.

When will the homework club run?
The club will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:40-3:40 pm. We hope to run the club through April.

Who will teach the club?
Mr Stezzi (grade 4/5 teacher) and Ms Hudon (grade 2) teacher will be the lead homework club teachers. Other teachers from the Lowell may also sub in.

How do I  sign my child up for the club?  Enrollment in the club will be on a first come first serve basis. Every Thursday beginning at 3pm, parents may fill out an electronic form to sign their child up for the following weeks homework club.  The link to the form will be up on my blog (www.mskaplanlowell.blogspot.com) and will also be emailed to parents in grades 3-5. 

How will I know if my child is able to attend homework club?
If you sign your child up for homework club and are one of the first thirty to sign up, then you will receive email notification by Friday to let you know if your child is in homework club the following week.

Why is the sign up on a week-week basis?
We are trying to open up this free opportunity to as many students as possible! We also realize that some afternoons and weeks are busy for families, so we hope the flexibility will allow for ease of scheduling.

How does pick up and drop off change?
It is parents responsibility to let their child’s homeroom teacher know that their child will be attending homework club (an email or written note will suffice) as attendance at the club changes the dismissal plan. All students in homework club must be picked up promptly in the main lobby at 3:40 pm. If your child goes to LEDP, they will transition to LEDP after the club.

When will everything start?
The first sign up will happen this week on Thursday, January 9th.  The homework club will begin on Tuesday, January 14th.

I still have questions!
Please email Ms Kaplan with any further questions. Elizabeth.kaplan@watertown.k12.ma.us

Monday, January 6, 2014

Monday Message

Happy New Year! It was a longer than expected vacation and I hope everyone enjoyed it!  I have a lot to share today, so please take a moment to read.

Lowell Happenings
I am going to add updates each week about good things that have happened in the school that week.
Right before vacation, we had our first Caring School Community Buddy Time. This is a time where students get together with their cross age buddies to do an activity and work together.  It is a really rewarding time for our students to learn from one another and to be more connected within our school community. The next buddy meeting is next Thursday. Ask your student about their buddy!

Give Five to Thrive
Earlier in the year, I asked all parents to make a commitment to give five hours of parental involvement to our school.  Parental involvement can have a positive influence on your child and their academic progress. Please consider giving your five hours! I will include opportunities to give those five hours each week in this update.

Our second annual International Night is on Friday, January 24th. If you would like to represent your nation of origin at this really great night, please email Deb Ortiz ortiz60@hotmail.com or Yolyett Hohmann yolyett@gmail.com

PTO Updates
Many great things happening as usual with our PTO! The PTO is organizing a book drive to boost classroom browsing libraries. Used books in good condition can be dropped off in the front lobby this week.  Books for students ages 4-13, including reference, non-fiction, and chapter books are welcome!
Here is the link for the weekly update
PTO Weekly Update

Upcoming Meetings
PTO will meet on Tuesday, January 14th at 7pm and Site Council will meet on Tuesday, January 21st at 7pm. These are also opportunities for you to get involved.