The Peirce Weekly
January 9, 2024
We are still looking for volunteers to help us with our Winter and Spring events. Please email us at peirceschool.pto@gmail.com to let us know if you can help us keep up with our commitment to sustaining the vibrant community events the PTO has worked to create over the years.
We've got a lot of exciting things in store for the upcoming months:
- Peirce Winter Concert - January 18
- Family Literacy Night - January 25
- Parent/Kid Basketball - TBD
- Bingo Night - TBD
- Peirce Multicultural Night - TBD
- Fun Run -TBD
- Spring Picnic -TBD
Whether you're a seasoned PTO pro or a newcomer, your presence and ideas are invaluable, and we can't wait to collaborate and make this year the best one yet!
If you have any suggestions, ideas, or if there's anything specific you'd like to see happening this year, don't hesitate to reach out. We're all ears!
Cheers to a fantastic year ahead!
Kelly, Laura, John & Beth
From Mrs. Nichols:
The elementary librarians are seeking feedback about our school library browsing and borrowing policies to help shape more equitable browsing and borrowing practices across all seven elementary schools. Please take 5-10 minutes to respond to this brief survey by next Wednesday, 1/17.
Who is performing?: 3rd Graders on their recorders, as well as the 4th & 5th Grade Peirce Chorus!
What is happening?: A bunch of music! 3rd Graders will be performing what they have learned so far on the recorders, and 4th and 5th Graders will share their full chorus concert set!
Where is this happening?: In the Peirce gym!
When is it?: Thursday, January 18th at 5pm!
Who is invited?: Parents and families! We cannot wait to see you all and your support that you have given us!
Resolve to Create Less Waste this Year- Learn How at the Next Green Team Meeting!
Come join the Green Team on Friday, January 19th from 2:30-3:30pm (indoor location TBD at Peirce).
The new year is a good time to start new habits. Resolve to make creating less waste a new habit this year! We'll discuss how with a focus on the 5 Rs of Zero Waste: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot.
Sign-up here to join in the fun. All are welcome!
Emily, Jyoti, Alex, and Claire
Join us for a Family Literacy Night on January 25th, from 6-7 pm, where we will delve into the beautiful and powerful world of Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour and Daniel Egnéus.
Student leaders from grades 4-5 will lead engaging discussions with K-3 graders, sharing ideas and impressions of the book.
After the discussions, we will move into the cafeteria to unleash creativity by decorating rocks with paint pens. The painted rocks can be placed around the school or taken home.
Students should bring a small rock to decorate.
All are welcome to join in this literary and artistic celebration.
The Lost & Found is located on the 1st floor by the elevators. We would appreciate it families could label clothes and water bottles to minimize all that has to be donated. We try and take pictures of most items in the lost and found but it does become overwhelming.
Please be sure to check out our google photos for your students lost sweatshirts, water bottles and lunch boxes. The lost and found is already overwhelmed with items.
The public is invited to tour the new Arlington High School from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on Saturday January 20th. Self-guided tours will begin and end from the Mass. Ave. entrance. Accessible parking is available on Schouler Court.
Self-guided tours of the recently completed Phase 2 spaces will include the Library, Forum Stairs, Cafeteria, and Humanities classroom wing. The adjacent new school district offices (which include the new Welcome Center) and the new Menotomy Preschool will also be open to visitors.
Multi-phased construction of the new high school began in 2020 and three-quarters of the new facility is now complete. Phase 3, construction of the athletics wing, began November 2023 and is expected to be complete in December 2024. The final phase of the project will follow with construction of two new athletic fields and site work, including a connection to the Minuteman Bikeway. For more information on the project, visit www.ahsbuilding.org.
All Arlington School Committee meetings are open to the public, and most are held both in person and over Zoom. For additional information on the Arlington School Committee, including its working groups, please visit their website. Agendas and reference material for each meeting will be available at least 48 business hours prior to the meeting and may be viewed on the Committee’s Agendas and Minutes page.
- January 9, 9:15 AM - Arlington School Committee, Budget Subcommittee Meeting - Hybrid
- January 10, 2:00 PM - Arlington School Committee - Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment & Accountability Subcommittee Meeting - Hybrid
- January 11, 6:30 PM - Arlington School Committee Meeting - Hybrid
- January 24, 3:00 PM - Arlington School Committee - Policies and Procedure Subcommittee Meeting
- January 25, 6:30 PM - Arlington School Committee Meeting - Hybrid
4-week softball clinic series for Arlington girls, aged 5 through 14, hosted by AYBSA Softball @ the Arlington Boys & Girls Club, Jan 21, Feb 4, Feb 11, and Mar 3.Clinic sessions for general skills, pitching, and catching. Registration is open for softball winter clinics and Spring registration for all Arlington Youth Baseball and Softball programs: https://aybsaonline.org. For more information, email aybsasoftball@gmail.com
Embark on an enchanting adventure at Belmont World Film’s 21st Family Festival, a 4-day celebration of international culture for children age 3-12 that promises an immersive and rich experience. The majority of films are based on children’s books, such as the US premiere of Julia Donaldson’s Tabby McTate (with the voice of Doctor Who's Jodi Whitaker), a celebration of Weston Woods Studios' 70th anniversary featuring never before seen and classic films based on picture books, a program of short films about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contemporaries (including the premiere of I Am Ruby Bridges), and films based on Mo Willems books.
The festival also features films from around the world in English and multiple languages, including Chinese, Czech, French, Dutch, Norwegian—even sign language. Most films cannot be seen anywhere else in New England. All films with subtitles will be read aloud through headphones, ensuring an inclusive experience for young children and those with difficulty reading.
For the first time ever the festival is screening a film featuring deaf actors, which will be followed by a discussion with an ASL interpreter. The closing film, TOTEM, is about a girl whose Senegalese parents are illegal immigrants in The Netherlands, yet they raised her to believe that she was 100% Dutch. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Ghanaian-American filmmaker Menefese Kudumu-Clavell, who will talk about what it's like to have dual identities. He will also lead a workshop on film camera techniques, especially ones that are unique to foreign films, on Sunday, January 21, from 10 AM-Noon at the Belmont Media Center.
Contact info@belmontworldfilm.org or 617-484-3980 for more information.
Saturday, January 15: Apple Cinemas, 168 Alewife Brook Parkway
Sunday, January 14: West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington StreetMonday, January 15: Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Saturday, January 21: Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington & Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street
January 20-21: Virtual Shorts Programs
Thursday, January 25
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Town Hall Auditorium
Town of Arlington will celebrate our second annual Lunar New Year Celebration on January 25th at 4 pm at the Robbins Memorial Town Hall Auditorium with performances, activities, games and more. Lunar New Year is the most significant celebration of the year in cultures across Asia and is celebrated by millions of people all over the world as welcoming of Spring. Arlington's celebration is presented by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division in collaboration with Enhance Asian Community on Health (EACH), Arlington High School’s Asian American Coalition and Chinese Culture Club, and the APS Mandarin Language Department. We are actively seeking volunteers to help co-create this special celebration, please reach out to Community Engagement Coordinator, Teresa, at tmarzilli@town.arlington.ma.us to get involved!
There is a lot to learn about the Lunar New Year! Did you know that in Vietnamese culture the Lunar New Year is called Tet? Seollal is the name of Korean Lunar New Year where it is customary to hide your shoes lest a ghost steals them and curses you with bad luck! Tibetan culture keeps its own lunar calendar, sometimes Losar (Tibetan New Year) is the same as the Chinese New Year, sometimes it’s a whole month later. According to Chinese legend the fireworks, firecrackers and red clothing and decorations customary of the Lunar New Year is due to the monster Nian who used to attack villagers at the beginning of the new year. Nian was terrified of bright lights, loud noises and the color red, so the villagers used those things to chase him away!