Birch Meadow Newsflash
September 9, 2022
Notes From Dr. Burnham
What a fantastic feeling to have students back in the building! Their smiling faces the first few days have said it all. A few quick notes for you this week:
*I’m excited that we will be hosting our Birch Meadow Curriculum Night on September 14th from 5:30-6:30 PM. The event will be a drop-in style event so you are free to come at any point and visit not only student grade-level classrooms but our specialists as well. This event is parent / caregiver only and not intended for students. Please be aware that this is not a Conference Night and will not be conducive to have conversations about individual student concerns with teachers. Look for our PTO table and fill out a CORI form while you are here if you are considering volunteering this year at the school!
*Please consider signing up to serve as a METCO “Found Family.” The Found Family Program aims to connect METCO students with families living in Reading to expand their social network and sense of belonging to the school. The Found Family program will feature scheduled social events that include families from Boston and Reading. The events will be organized by school PTOs, school staff, district METCO Director, and Friends of Reading METCO. Events will be held in both Boston and Reading. We hope students and families will connect and form friendships that extend outside school and Found Family social events. Having more than one Found Family is perfectly ok. In fact, we encourage it! We want to create groups of friends and parents. The only commitment we ask is that you make an effort to attend school or district Found Family events when we have one. This could be once a month or once every other month. These events are organized play dates for the children, and sometimes they will be cultural learning events. As the kids run off and play, the adults will have time to socialize. Being a Found Family just means that a Boston resident student and a Reading Resident student have developed a friendship, and like all kids they will ask for play dates, birthday invites, and sleep overs. Being a Found Family helps our Boston resident students and families build support and participate in after school activities. This can include a place to go while waiting for practice, a place to stay after a game or concert, or a place to hang out before a school event. You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/6L2JGniJo3VATjAs6
*Please remember to send your student to school with a snack whenever possible.
-Dr. B
A message from the Birch Meadow PTO:
WELCOME Birch students, families, and staff to the 2022-2023 school year! Whether you are a returning or a brand-new Birchie Bear, we are so excited and happy to welcome you to a new school year! We thank Dr. Burnham and the entire Birch Meadow staff for making the first few days so positive and welcoming, and we're so grateful to our Kindergarten and First Grade Play Date team for organizing four FUN play dates to meet and greet our youngest Birchie families!
Our PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) has several fun activities already planned for the fall, and we welcome new and returning volunteers! Please read on for PTO events, updates, and volunteer opportunities, and please reach out to BirchMeadowPTO@gmail.com if you have questions/suggestions or would like to volunteer!
Birch Meadow fall Open House on Wednesday, September 14th: please visit the PTO table (in the main lobby) to meet members of this year's PTO board and learn more about what the PTO does and how to be part of the fun!
Tuesday, September 20th from 7:30 - 8:30 PM, all Birchie parents/caregivers and staff members are welcome to our first PTO GENERAL MEETING of 2022-2023! This meeting will take place over Zoom and a Zoom link will be emailed early that week.
Please stay tuned for details about our first-ever TURKEY TROT ("fun run") fall fundraiser!
Room Parent Communication Waiver:
Your 2021/2022 Room Parents would like to send you occasional emails for important school updates. Every school year, we are required to request information from parents, separate from registration packets. Please take a moment to fill out this brief form to share/not share your email address:
Volunteer Opportunities
Room Parent Volunteer Opportunity: Teachers are in need of room parents to help with PTO communications and to also help organize a handful of classroom-related activities. If you are interested, please sign up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D4DA5AF23A4F94-20222023
Trunk-Or-Treat Volunteers:
Boo! Do you love Halloween and all things spooky?! Please consider organizing/volunteering for our 2nd annual TRUNK OR TREAT! This event will take place outdoors during the weekend leading up to Halloween. Please reach out to BirchMeadowPTO@gmail.com for more information and to volunteer!
Staff Appreciation, Staff Sunshine, and Staff Spotlight volunteers: each year, the PTO plans tried-and-true AND new surprises to treat, honor, and celebrate our well-deserving and devoted Birch Meadow staff. Please contact BirchMeadowPTO@gmail.com if you'd like to help plan staff luncheons, to welcome new staff and celebrate and acknowledge the significant events in our staff members' lives (babies, weddings, etc.), and to get to know staff members and feature them in our weekly "Staff Spotlight" newsflash feature!
Library Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are needed for K-3 library classes! Volunteer duties include checking books in and out of our library system (it's easy!), reshelving books that are returned and sometimes helping out students with basic computer skills. You can view the sign-up sheet for more information and to sign up! Click HERE to access the online Sign Up Genius.
Understanding Disabilities - Reading's own comprehensive disability awareness curriculum:
If you are new to Reading, you may not have heard of Understanding Disabilities ("UD"), a uniquely Reading disability awareness curriculum for students in grades K-8. At this Sunday's Fall Street Faire (in downtown Reading from 12-5 PM), Understanding Disabilities will sell raffle tickets for a variety of awesome prizes! Raffle ticket sales will benefit UD, and you can also purchase raffle tickets online at https://givebutter.com/UDatStreetFaire2022 . For every $5.00 donation to UD, you receive one raffle ticket, AND you can help Birch Meadow win a prize, too! To learn more about Understanding Disabilities, please visit www.understandingdisabilities.org/.
Girls on the Run
Hello Birch Meadow families!
Girls on the Run in coming to Birch Meadow again this fall! In this email you will find: what is Girls on the Run, when it will happen, and how to register.
WHAT: Girls on the Run is a carefully designed social emotional curriculum that uses running and group activities to foster body positivity, self-confidence, and healthy social/physical habits for girls grades 4-5. You can read more about this amazing organization and their incredible impact at https://www.girlsontherun.org/ - this year, GOTR will be coached by Katherine Breen, Allison Kramer, and myself.
WHEN: Our Birch Meadow GOTR season will begin on Monday, September 26th, and practices will be every Monday and Wednesday from 3-4:30. The season is 16 sessions long, with a celebratory 3-mile run/walk to finish off our season on November 20th. It is important for continuity that girls be available to attend both Monday and Wednesday practices throughout the season.
HOW TO REGISTER: You can register your girl here: https://www.pinwheel.us/register/index/GOTRGBFall2022GirlReg?sid=dfc32e35edac43cab9ac5271d105d8eb
It is important to note that registration is on a first-come first-serve basis, but we try to squeeze as many girls onto our team as physically possible. GOTR does have a registration fee of $225, however there are scholarships available to help cover this fee if need be (more info on this is included upon registration).
Before our first week of practice, we will send out a full season calendar - including some rescheduled practices (due to Monday holidays) and some extra fun things. Girls on the Run is growing through Reading Public Schools, and we are so excited! Please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments or concerns.
Happy running!
Walk to School Wednesday is Back!
We are looking for 2-3 5th grade helpers to hand out stickers or stamps to kids walking to school for Walk to School Wednesday! This will take place one Wednesday per month from September through November, plus again in the Spring. Each location has a crossing guard. Helpers will ask children if they would like a stamp or a sticker (provided by PTO) for walking to school.
Please click the link below to sign up. Thank you!
School Library News
Scholastic Book Fair!
The book fair is next week in the library! Most classes will visit during their regularly scheduled library time. We will also be open during Open House night on Wednesday, September 14th so be sure to stop by the library! Information about the book fair including your student's day, payment information, and a sneak peek at some book titles should go home this week. You can also click HERE to view a slide with this information as well. If you are not familiar with Scholastic's e-wallet, be sure to check out the link on the slide. You can set up an e-wallet for your child online (basically like a gift card) which eliminates the need for sending in cash or checks with your student. All profit from the book fair goes directly to the library for the purchase of new books and materials!
Click below to learn more:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lVmnOxMWWLXnNHhRVJ89G93Yt88-TWFjvhrm2GgsGpM/edit?usp=sharing
New Social Media Pages
The current PTO board experienced some trouble accessing the previous Facebook page and Instagram handle log-in information, so we have created a NEW PTO Facebook page and NEW PTO Instagram handle!
Please "like" our new "Birch Meadow Elementary PTO" Facebook page and follow our new Instagram: @birch_meadow_pto
We will no longer post to the previous pages - please follow these new ones for updates, Staff Spotlights, photos, and more!
Visit the Birch Meadow School Store
Birch Meadow PTO
Email: BirchMeadowPTO@gmail.com
Website: https://www.reading.k12.ma.us/birchmeadow/
Location: 27 Arthur B Lord Drive, Reading, MA, USA
Phone: 781-944-2335
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BirchMeadowElementarySchoolPTO/
Twitter: @birch_meadow