Welcome to March! Although the weather is typically unpredictable, this month provides us with a consistent schedule of four and a half full-day weeks of instruction. I have already seen some impressive work this week. Ms. Bigda's 8th graders shared their position papers on the impact of violent video games on young minds. If you have an 8th grade student, ask them to share their papers with you at home. The students were able to research and provide evidence to support their positions brilliantly. Their academic future is bright!

Many staff members participated in Ms. Schwartzberg's 7th grade "Shark Tank" presentations this week. Small groups of students shared inventions from Ancient China with guest "Sharks" who decided how many of their copper coins they wanted to invest. I personally invested heavily in a kite project to communicate with the military, a wheel barrel for general work, silk, a compass, and an early model seismometer. Both the "Sharks" and students loved this engaging and informative project!

Our K-5 classrooms are also working hard! I have watched our kindergarteners working on addition and our fifth graders explaining place value. I have read many opinion papers from fifth graders this week as well. The debate for chocolate milk in the cafeteria lives on.

Runkle welcomed Dr. Leonard's new baby girl over the February break. Isla Cartwright Sinclair was born on February 23rd. Emily and her family are overjoyed with their baby girl. Ms. Elaina Heikes has made a smooth transition to teaching 3L. She was able to be here for a few weeks prior to Dr. Leonard's departure which truly made this work.

Lastly, I had a chance to stop by BINGO Night on Friday evening. Once again our PTO hosted another successful event. Thank you to everyone who came out to play. Thank you to Runkle parent, Bob Carney, for running BINGO and making it all so much fun!

Both our Boys and Girls Basketball teams are in the playoffs this Wednesday at BHS. We wish them luck. There is lots of great information below. Let's have a great week!

Donna

1. We have started to work on the 2022-2023 Runkle Yearbook. A link was sent to 8th grade families today (Sunday) to purchase Ad space congratulating your student. Here is the link for a 1/4 ($50) or 1/2 ($100) page Ad: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BTUMUU5VMNL2U Send your picture and message to donna_finnegan@psbma.org directly. There is a firm March 31st deadline and limited space.

2. All 8th graders will receive a yearbook free of charge from the PTO. We will have a link to preorder yearbooks for $30 for all other students by next week.

3. We DO NOT have a date for 8th grade graduation yet. The town will provide us a date in April once the risk of snow days has passed.

4. We have a 7th Grade Field Trip to Kimball's planned for June 12th. Stay tuned for details.

5. We have our 8th Grade Field Trips to celebrate the end of the year planned as well. We will be sending home details regarding cost soon. There will be financial support for any family that needs it. The following events will happen:

Wednesday, May 31st: THE PROM musical in Boston

Tuesday, June 13th: Crabapple White Water Rafting

Thursday, June 15th: Day Trip to Martha's Vineyard

Friday, June 16th: 8th Grade Field Day

Calling all sixth through eighth graders at Runkle! We are seeking talented, curious, silly, adventurous and dramatic team players to audition for the cast of Willy Wonka Jr. The school play will be directed by Zara Lamieux, a talented director from NYU Tisch School of Arts with experience running youth drama festivals and teaching youth acting classes. We are building a cast of up to 24 members and there is room to ensure roles that suit all interested Runkle students.

Auditions will be held on Thursday March 9th at 3 pm, location TBD. Please come prepared to move, no further preparation is needed. All are welcome!