Hello, Howard!

Superintendent Bodwell is soliciting family feedback. This survey is completely optional, but I encourage you to complete it. Your feedback is reviewed by our administrative team and informs the decisions we make all year long.

Click here to complete the survey.

I'll be partnering with the West Bridgewater Public Library to host two book clubs this summer - one for students, and one for families. I'm meeting with the Library on Monday to identify dates and times, so keep an eye out for an email with details.

Incoming 4th through 6th grade students will be invited to read Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? by Leslie Connor. Students who sign up in advance will receive a free book to keep! (Thank you, Howard Trustees!)

Parents/Guardians will be invited to read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. To be honest, I'm not much of a non-fiction reader. But everybody keeps telling me how much I need to read this book, so I'm hoping for a little positive peer pressure to get me to commit!

All students and staff had a wonderful time at our whole-school field day on May 28th. We had perfect weather and a ton of fun!

HUGE thanks to:

-Mr. Otto and Ms. Maloney for organizing

-SRO Packard for coordinating the service dog visits

-Parent volunteers who ran each station

And thank you to the PTO for sponsoring the event!

Monday 6/9 - 4th grade, Funtastic Physics (Thanks, PTO!)

Tuesday 6/10 - 6th grade visits War Memorial Park

Wednesday 6/11 - 5th grade auction

Thursday 6/12 - 6th grade celebration at 11:30am

Friday 6/13 - Last day of school. Dismissal at 11:25

All incoming 4th, 5th, and 6th graders are invited to participate in our Summer Reading Challenge! You know how much I love a good celebration, and I can't wait to learn which class I get to party with next fall! Will it be Book Bingo? A Book Carnival? Maybe we'll watch the movie version of a favorite book, or have a book themed treat! You won't know if you don't read! And yes, kids who read with me in our summer book club can count those minutes! Check out the attachment below for all the details from Mrs. Enos!

Need recommendations? Some of my favorite upper elementary authors are:

Laurie Halse Anderson - history buffs with love the Chains series

Katherine Applegate - The One and Only Ivan WILL make you cry

Rob Buyea - check out Carter Avery's Tricky 4th Grade Year

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - try The War that Saved My Life

Gennifer Choldenko - I'll be sharing read aloud chapters of The 10th Mistake of Hank Hooperman. Listening time counts for reading minutes!

Leslie Connor - I loved Waiting for Normal

Barbara Dee - aspiring writers will love Unstuck

Lisa Fipps - Starfish is a wonderfully emotional book in verse

Megan Freeman - Alone is a thrilling book in verse

Alan Gratz - too many good books to name! Refugee is my favorite.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Fish in a Tree is a modern classic.

Gordon Korman - so hard to pick a favorite! Unplugged is great!

Victoria Jamieson - When Stars are Scattered is important history in graphic novel form.

Katharine Marsh - Odder has the cutest. cover. ever.

Jennifer Nielsen writes exciting historical fiction. Try Uprising.

Raina Telgemeier - Smile is the graphic novel that made me love graphic novels.

It’s hard to believe that we are already in June! This year has flown by so quickly, and I have enjoyed taking care of all of the students here at Howard School.

I have been seeing a lot of ticks on students, so I am leaving this informative link for your reference over the summer as well. The best way to prevent tick-borne diseases is through prevention of tick bites. Always check for ticks after outdoor activities to keep everyone safe and healthy!

More specific information can be found on the following websites:

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/

https://www.mass.gov/tick-prevention

If you have any medications in the nurse’s office, please come by to pick them up on or just prior to the final day of school on June 13th. Remember that NO medications are sent home with students. Have a happy, healthy, and safe summer and I look forward to seeing your children back here in the fall!

4th grade students enjoyed learning from author Anna Staniszewski in May.

On Monday, June 9th, Grade 4 students will attend the Funtastic Physics assembly.

We are continuing Module 3 of Wit and Wisdom, titled “The Red Coats are Coming!” Our 4th grade students are diving into Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen! This exciting historical fiction novel follows 13-year-old Samuel as he journeys through the wilderness during the American Revolution to rescue his captured parents.

In Math, grade 4 students have been reviewing concepts taught throughout the school year. Please continue to have your student practice their math facts over the summer!

Students wrapped up their final unit on Westward Expansion by learning about important explorers like Sacajawea.

We will be learning about energy in science. Students will create their own paper circuits that will light up as part of our study of electricity.

As we wrap up our 4th grade year, we are continuing to hold high expectations for all students that align with our PRIDE values. Whether in the classroom, hallways, or during end-of-year activities, we are focused on highlighting student growth and achievements throughout this year. Let’s finish the year strong!

In ELA, students will be working on opinion writing. Students will share what they think or feel about a topic. They will choose their topic, state their opinion clearly, and give reasons and examples to support their opinion.

In math, students will be working on the final topic, which is stepping up to 6th grade.

Students will begin to learn about the causes of the US Civil War.

In June, students will celebrate the growth they have made from September to June.

Incoming 6th grade students will attend the Outdoor Classroom Program April 14 - 17, 2026. Move information will be given in late September.

We finished our Paper Airplane Lab last week and are now reflecting on our last school year at Howard Elementary! Students will be working on reflection slides and writing letters to any staff member who has made a positive impact on their time here at Howard!

We are wrapping up our unit on the mono myth. Students will end the unit and the year by creating an outline of their own mono myth. This will contain all of the elements of the mono myth, from the character archetypes to the plot stages.

Students have completed their integer board game projects and have enjoyed playing their own and their classmates projects.

Students have finished up 6th grade science with a theme park project! Students reviewed the 7 units we covered this year The vocabulary words were used to create a science theme park! They included rides, games, speciality snacks, stores, characters and more! It was a fun way to review the concepts from the year!

We just finished up our Meso & South America Unit! Our projects turned out great! We had a mix of Minecraft, Roblox, and hand built projects to show off our learning. Everyone used their technology responsibly. We had our last test of the year on Thursday. Now we are set to learn about the Caribbean, which is a great way to end the year!!!!

Students will write a What the Howard Means to Me Writing. They will talk about how they have grown and reflect on their Howard School experience.

6th grade will walk to War Memorial Park on Tuesday June 10 (raindate Wednesday June 11).

Student Council just wrapped up another successful year. From theme days, to fundraisers, to planning school dances, to the canned food drive and finally step up presentations for upcoming grades, it was another great year of helping make the Howard a fun community. Student Council will end the year with reps giving presentations to the upcoming grades. These presentations were created by the Student Council reps and will give information and advice to the incoming students about next year.

Thank you so much for a great year! The Little Leo's Club has accomplished a lot! This past month we did WB Clean up day where we cleaned up trash around the school. Our Penny War Winners Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Torres' classes got their Ice Cream Party after MCAS. Popsicles are ready for Penny War our grade level winners. We thanked our volunteers and 6th graders for their years of service.

We had our Last Club Meeting of the Year and it was a Party! Thank you to all of my parent volunteers who helped! Thank you to the Lions Club of West Bridgewater for the Ice Cream Truck and for always supporting us in our endeavors!

We are done with meetings for this year! Our next meeting will be in the fall, look on the Little Leo's Club stream for the meetings announced for September. We usually have an old members meeting the 2nd week of school on Tuesday. We are also looking for Parent Volunteers for next year. Interested Parents can fill out google form sent via paper with a QR code home or posted on google classroom.

Hi, this is Landon and JJ and we interviewed Miss Magnuson and this is what we learned. She went to school at BSC. Her favorite subject was math. She enjoys spending time with her class and has a husband, 2 kids and dogs. When she was young she wanted to be a bus driver and then a teacher. She likes to dance too.

We are Aiden and Anthony and we interviewed Mary Giuffre. She is the principal of the Howard school. She went to Muhlenberg College and American International College. When she was in school, her favorite subject was English, and can you believe that her son is graduating high school! And she is happily married to Jim, and they have 4 kids. The two oldest are identical twins and they are 24. She has a daughter who is 23. She also has another son who will be 18 in June. She has one dog and two cats. The dog is named Lucy, the black cat is named Bruno and and the orange cat is named Pabu. When she was young, Mrs. Giuffre wanted to be President of the U.S .A or an astronaut. She is also known to be the crazy reading lady. Thanks for a great year, Mrs. Giuffre.

We are pleased to introduce you to Officer Packard, the School Resource Officer for West Bridgewater. He grew up in West Bridgewater and has been a police officer for 11 years. He earned both his bachelor and masters degrees in criminal justice from Bridgewater State. He shared that he has two boys, ages 5 and 7, one in preK and one in 1st grade. He says he is 6'4" tall, prefers his coffee hot and black, and doesn't prefer summer over winter or vice versa; he likes fishing, golf, and going to the beach just as much as he likes snowboarding and snowmobiling. When asked his favorite part of the job, he said it was getting to hang out with the kids all day.

Hi! This is Jaxson Raymond and Kepler Langley here and we just interviewed Mrs.Holland and this is what she had to say. First, we asked for her name and she replied with Debbie Holland. Then we asked what school she went to when she was younger and shockingly she said ”I Graduated from The West Bridgewater Middle Senior High School and I also went to Bridgewater State College.” And as all her students know, she loves math and every school year she looks forward to meeting new students and loves learning from her new students. She has been married for 37 years with 3 kids (Carolyn, Derek, Leanne. (Grandkids Teddy, Sadie and Mia) She has no pets. When she was little, she wanted to be a nurse and also a mom. Her favorite show is Only Murderers in the Building and her favorite author is Taylor Jenkins Reid. Her hobbies are sewing, quilting, reading and traveling. Lastly, we asked her if she wanted to add anything that we didn’t ask and she replied that she looks forward to coming to work every day, school, kids and family are all important to her. In conclusion, Mrs. Holland is a wonderful teacher and students should look up to her.

This Alianna and Stacy and we interviewed Mrs. O’Neill. In Mrs. O'Neill's interview, she said she loves her family, she has two girls: Avery and Brooke, and one son: Shane, and her husband Patrick. Her education was at Johnson and Wales University. When she was little, she dreamed of being a teacher, and she made that dream happen, helping all the students succeed. One thing she is excited for this year is the 6th-grade celebration. Some of her talents are baking, and she runs 5Ks. Her Favorite shows are Friends and Golden Girls. Her hobbies are reading. Her favorite subject in school was English.

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment
—and redemption.

Click here to register!