November Newsletter

🥾Now-11/06 - Community Closet Donation Drive

🧁11/03 - NO SCHOOL (Election Day)/ 5th Grade Bake Sale at Brackett

👋 11/03 - 5th Grade Committee Intro/Kick-Off Meeting @ 7PM

🍎 11/04 & 11/05 - 11:30 AM Early Dismissal (Conferences)

🎃 11/05 - Great Pumpkin Rescue

🍂 11/05 - Green Team - Winter Garden Prep @ 11:30 AM

☕ 11/06 - PTO Community Morning Meeting & Coffee @ 7:45-9:00 AM

🍎 11/09 - Evening Conferences @ 6-8 PM

⭐ 11/11 - NO SCHOOL (Veterans Day)

🍞 11/12-11/24 - Fall Food Drive

🔭 11/14 - Astronomy Night @ 6:30 PM (Robbins Farm Park - meet by the dog statue)

🎲 11/16 - 4th and 5th Grade Family Math Night @ 6-7:30 PM

🌎 11/20 - Culture & Creativity Night/Winter Swap @ 6:30-8pm

🦃 11/25 - 11:30 AM Early Dismissal

🍗11/26-11/27 - NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving)

📖 11/30-12/04 - Book Fair

🧮 Every Friday - Math Mornings (Grades 3-5) @ 7:20 AM

🌈 Every Tuesday - Rainbow Alliance @ 2:35 PM

Ready to make a difference? Our community events need your helping hands to succeed. Check out what's coming up and sign up for a volunteer shift today!

Give your jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins and decorative gourds a second life!

• Drop off pumpkins on November 5th between drop off and 10am
• Pumpkins and gourds of any size will be accepted
• Please remove any candles or tea lights
• No bling or paint allowed! If you can remove those parts, Black Earth Compost can accept the rest

Why are we doing this?:

• The Arlington Public Schools is committed to reducing our environmental impact.

• APS students from preschool through 12th grade compost their food waste at lunch.

• Pumpkins can not go in yard waste as they are considered food waste. They are heavy and water-filled and we do not want them going in the trash to be incinerated and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

• Composting pumpkins allows them to be naturally processed and support new plant growth in orchards, farms, and gardens.

The PTO will be having its first Community Meeting on Friday, November 6th @ 7:45 AM in the cafeteria. We'll have coffee starting at 7:45am and then around 8am, we'll do a quick overview of the budget and upcoming events, then open it up to discussion. We hope that you can stop by to grab some coffee and chat for a bit!

Join the PTO STEM Committee as we gaze at the night sky at Astronomy Night on Saturday, November 14, 6:30 p.m. at Robbins Farm Park by the dog statue (rain/cloud date: Sunday, November 15, 6:30 p.m.)

We should have good views of Saturn and the moon. If the skies are dark enough, we’ll even try to glimpse some brighter deep sky objects (Nebulas etc).

The STEM Committee will bring the telescopes; you just bring your excitement for the stars!

Fourth and fifth graders, with an adult sidekick, are invited to a free, hands-on evening of mathematical exploration! Enjoy dozens of engaging, logic-based puzzles, games, and activities designed to be fun for everyone, no matter their math background. No sign-up is required—just come and enjoy between 6:00-7:30pm!

Get a preview of Family Math Night with these pre-game puzzles:

• 4th Grade "Appetizer" Puzzles
• 5th Grade "Appetizer" Puzzles

Come celebrate Brackett's cultural diversity - language of origin, ability, family structure, ethnicity, and more. Families share their cultures and traditions at "museum tables" and with cuisine from around the world - come check out this beloved Brackett event!

Learn more HERE and sign up below to get involved!

On Thursday, November 5th at 11:30am, come join the Green Team at pick up to make markers for the plants in the garden, collect leaves to tuck the garden in for the winter and make “leave the leaves” signs to teach our community about the ecological importance of leaves!

Donate gently used, freshly cleaned gloves, hats, coats, scarves, and boots from November 9th-13th. Then shop the swap on 11/18, 11/19 and during Culture and Creativity Night on 11/20. All Brackett families can shop for the winter gear they need. All leftovers go to the community closet at the high school.

Get ready! Our annual Brackett Book Fair is just around the corner. It’s a wonderful chance to build your child’s home library with books they’ll love to read again and again, while supporting our school library at the same time.

Why it matters: More than ever, we need to get students reading. Studies prove that children with more books at home develop stronger reading skills and complete more years of education overall. Every purchase at the Book Fair helps fund new books and repairs for the Brackett Library, which saw over 22,000 checkouts last year! Our students are reading, and they need your support to keep our shelves full of exciting, high-quality books.

Featuring:
✨ Bestselling series and favorite characters Books for every age and interest
✨ Literacy Night and late-night shopping hours on Wednesday, December 2nd, a festive family evening with literacy activities
✨ A chance to give back, because volunteers make it all possible!

Want to help make the magic happen? Volunteers help students choose books, run the registers, and keep the shelves stocked. It’s a fun and easy way to be part of the excitement, and kids love seeing their grown-ups at school. Sign up here or email literacy@brackettpto.org with questions.

Some books at the library are so popular that we just can’t keep them on the shelves! If you have copies of any of these gathering dust at home, we’d love to give them a new life:

• Dogman

• Investigators

• Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales

• I Survived (graphic novel editions)

• Wings of Fire (graphic novel editions)

Donations can be brought directly to the library. Thank you!

Do you have a passion, a hobby, or a life experience to share? Help bring the EL Language Arts curriculum to life by visiting our students! The curriculum is a knowledge-building program that helps kids read, write, think, and connect with the world through topics like Birds’ Amazing Bodies, Poetry, Poets, and Becoming Writers, Stories of Human Rights, Trees Are Alive, and many more.

Browse the topic list here and sign up for any topic, even if it’s not your child’s grade. Email literacy@brackettpto.org with questions or to volunteer.

Want a peek into the school day? Join us in the library! You’re welcome to come in during any class time, and it doesn’t have to be your child’s class. Volunteers help with:

• Checking in and shelving books

• Helping students find books and check out

• Reading to students

• Organizing shelves and choosing books for display

• Assisting with classroom activities

Sign up to come in during a library class or before school starts in the morning.

Arlington PTOs are teaming up to collect items for the Family Welcome & Resource Center and Arlington EATS (the Welcome and Resource Center is also looking for volunteers here) and Brackett's collection item is WINTER BOOTS (please see flyer for other ways you can help). Any donations can be dropped off in the labeled bin in Brackett's front hallway/office.

The Fifth Grade Committee is getting up and running - here's a quick rundown of what's coming up (with more details and Google Meet info here):

• Kick/Off Intro Meeting coming up on November 3rd at 7 PM
• Election Day Bake Sale - November 3rd - sign ups and info here
• Culture & Creativity Night Bake Sale - November 20th - sign ups and info here

Did you know that up to 20 students per day visit the front office to get a snack?

The snack program at our school, supported by Arlington EATS, makes sure that kids have access to nourishing snacks throughout the school day. Research shows that students who are consistently hungry are more likely to have developmental and educational issues. Giving kids snacks allows them to concentrate on learning - not on their hunger.

Our goal is to provide snacks to any child who needs one so that there is no stigma attached to being hungry. With this as our guiding principle, we know we will feed kids who simply forgot their snack, are growing, are extra hungry or are from a family that is simply struggling to put food on the table. Once they have enough to eat, then they can get back to the work of being a student.

With that in mind, we ask that:

1. If it is possible for you, please provide a snack for your child, knowing that if you forget one day, we have you covered!

2. If you find your kiddo is ignoring the snack you send from home, take a minute to explain to them that those snacks are only if they forgot theirs or are extra hungry.

3. If you have the ability, we ask that you help support our snack program so that we can always have enough for all children. Stay tuned for future opportunities to support this important program.

Our Snack Ambassador is Zoe Tarshis. Please email with any questions.

Many thanks,

Zoe Tarshis: Zoe.Tarshis@gmail.com

P.S. If you’re interested in supporting Arlington EATS please consider joining the Brackett Crickets for the Turkey Trot on November 8.

Two of Brackett's favorite events, the Glow Dance and June Fair, are in the planning stages and could use your help! Meet some great people (there will be a few meetings at someone's house) and help plan these amazing events!

Reach out to Lindsay at lindsay.kotlarchyk@gmail.com to help with the Glow Dance and Kate at kmgiere@gmail.com to help with June Fair

We had a great day with families hanging out, the weather cooperating and the perfect amount of donuts and cider! Thank you for supporting the PTO, which makes community events like this possible.

The STEM Team had a busy month - awing students (and adults) with homemade bottle rockets at Robbins, sharing hands-on activities and demonstrations during Chemistry Week and putting together engaging puzzles and games for 2nd and 3rd graders at Math Night. Thank you to all the parent volunteers for organizing these events and sharing their love of STEM subjects with our students! Reach out to STEM@brackettpto.org if you'd like to get involved.

Getting ahead on your year-end cards? Use our special code at Minted.com. You save 20% and Minted donates 10% of each purchase to the PTO. Use code FUNDRAISEBRACKETT at checkout.

Too much Halloween candy? Arlington Orthodontics is running its annual candy buy back program - they will pay you $2/pound (max $10) and make a matching donation to the Brackett PTO.

When: Friday, November 6th, 9am-5pm; Saturday, November 7th, 8am-1pm

Where: Arlington Orthodontics, 800 Mass Ave. (right next to Whole Foods)

AHS Class of 2029 student council is planning a Fall Festival on November 7th. The event details are below and if you'd like to become a vendor, please sign up here.

Does your student need help in math? Math Mentors is a student-led club at Arlington High School offering free one-on-one math support for K–12 APS students. Mentors can help with homework, prepare for tests, and review specific math topics. Tutoring sessions can take place either in-person or virtually. Students are paired with a tutor based on math level and availability to ensure effective support. Fill out a short sign-up form (https://tinyurl.com/2m7ehru2) to get matched with a mentor. Check out our website (https://tinyurl.com/ytkd4tzy) to learn more!