The Peirce Weekly

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Thank you to everyone who helped make last week's Spring Picnic so much fun. Special thanks go to the Peirce Teachers' Sunshine Fund for providing the ice cream and Dels and all of the family and staff volunteers. We are especially grateful to Molly Hopper Sandrof, parent to a current Kindergartener and incoming Kindergartener, for jumping in and coordinating all of us! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful school community! If you loved last night and want to be a part of continuing such great traditions, we would love to have your help with the Fall Picnic!

It's hard to believe, but this is the last Peirce Weekly issue of the school year! While PTO meetings have wrapped up, we are still looking for volunteers for next year.

• School Supplies - The Peirce PTO funds school supplies for all Peirce students. We still need a few volunteers to sort supplies and deliver them to the classrooms. Interested? Email Kelly Kemp at kkemp@peircepto.org
• Picture Day Coordinator - Assist current picture day coordinator in planning this year's picture day, with intention to take on the role next year. Duties include working with photography company and school administration to plan and organize picture day and retake day. Interested? Email Sarah Barton at camslamm@gmail.com.

We are also already thinking about next year's event calendar. Below are a few events we have done in the past that need new volunteers if we would like to continue them. Do you have other ideas you are more excited about? We would love to hear about them! PTO community events are only as strong as our volunteers and their enthusiasm!

• Welcome Back to School Picnic - If you enjoyed last week's picnic, this is the event for you! This is the first community event of our school year. In the past it has been held sometime during the first two or three weeks of school, either at Peirce or at the Reservoir Beach. Details for Fall 2024 will be up to whoever decides to coordinate the event!
• Fall Festival - The Fall Festival is usually held in October. Past events have included arts & crafts, fall themed activities and games, cider donuts and popcorn. If we would like this event to continue we need a committee to take over.

Interested? Email peirceschool.pto@gmail.com

Thanks so much to everyone who has stepped up to volunteer this year!

Looking for lunch support over summer vacation? Sign-Ups are OPEN!

Arlington EATS is offering FREE pre-packed bags of groceries full of nutritious and kid-friendly foods for pick-up during summer vacation. Summer Vacation bags will be available for pickup on Thursdays from 4:00pm-6:30pm & Fridays from 9am-11am for 6 weeks!

To sign up, visit arlingtoneats.org or call 339-707-6757 ext. 6. Registration is required.

Please join us in thanking Ed McDonald, of McDonald Contracting for being a Peirce PTO corporate sponsor and supporting our community for a third year! Ed is a Peirce Alum and an active member of this community.

In additional to a full-service contracting company, McDonald Contracting runs UpKeep, an ideal tool for busy families to maintain their home!
UpKeep is a turnkey, customizable home maintenance package. With services ranging from gutter cleaning, servicing of heating and cooling systems, to handyman hours, you can select the services that best suit you and your home! Packages start from just $200 a month, depending on package scope and billing is flexible -- available monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Preventative maintenance is almost always cheaper and less disruptive than damage control when they go wrong, but life can get in the way! Let UpKeep take the hassle out of effective home maintenance!

Services include:

• Handyman sessions in 4-hour increments
• Gutter Cleaning
• Power washing; houses, decks and porches
  
• Windoq washing
• Heating & Cooling Services
• Annual cleaning of external vents, air ducts & drains
• Annual fire extinguisher and blanket maintenance
• Under appliance cleaning
• Caulking

For more information on UpKeep, please visit: www.UpKeepMyHome.com

In addition to their home maintenance services, McDonald Contracting, a general contracting business that offers a wide range of services, including home additions, kitchen remodels, and basement renovations. You can find further information about their services here.

If you are interested in learning more about UpKeep please reach out to Service@McDonaldContractingMA.com or call 781-488-3288.

We are looking for volunteers to help set up and clean up the 5th grade graduation reception which will take place in the Peirce cafeteria this Thursday, June 13th, at 1pm.

Every year, 4th grade parents are solicited to help staff the reception (setting out food, paper goods and tablecloths, cutting and serving cake, helping with clean up) so that 5th grade parents can enjoy the day with their graduate and family. All food, drinks and paper goods will be provided by 5th grade parents. We would love to have 4 parents who can be available from 12:30-3pm on June 13th. Interested volunteers should contact Cris Martin at cris.martin@gmail.com.

Greetings, Peirce families! Peirce is one of the lucky schools in town that has students from Boston who come to Arlington each day as part of the METCO program. A group of residents has formed the Friends of Arlington METCO and we'd love to find new members who would like to help. See below:

Arlington METCO supports more than 70 Boston students attending Arlington schools as a means of voluntary school integration. We have exciting things planned ahead: Field Day, a Bridging Communities dinner, and welcoming new students and families to Arlington and your school. We’d love your occasional help. Join us!

Complete our quick survey by June 19 to tell us how you’d like to be involved!

Saturday, June 15th

Robbins Farm Park (61 Eastern Ave.)

10:00AM-12:00PM

This year's theme is 80's rock music, featuring some great classic rock/pop songs of that decade. The students are hard at work preparing their music for this concert, and we are so excited to bring everyone together for this outdoor end-of-year celebration, it's going to be awesome!

The event will also feature an "Instrument Petting Zoo", in which young children are able to explore and play the various string instruments, food/ice cream trucks that will have food/snacks available for purchase, and a special surprise performance.

Please make sure you have checked out the Lost & Found before the end of the school year. All items left at the end of school will be donated to Cradles & Crayons.

The Arlington Special Education Parent Advisory Council will meet Tuesday, June 11th at 7:30pm on Zoom. The agenda include board elections, an overview of the new IEP form, and a presentation on the TOP soccer program.

Zoom link here

Please join us for our bi-weekly regular meetings held in person at the District Offices in the School Committee Room located at 14 Mill Brook Drive Arlington and online via Zoom or on ACMi at 6:30PM on the following dates:

• Thursday, June 20, 6:30 PM - Regular School Committee Meeting

All members of the school district community have the opportunity to address the School Committee on issues that affect the school district and are within the scope of the Committee's responsibilities during the Public Comment portion of the School Committee Meeting and/or through written correspondence to the Members. For full school committee calendar and more information please visit the School Committee Website. If you have any questions please contact Liz Diggins via email ediggins@arlington.k12.ma.us.

For the most up to date calendar of subcommittee meetings you can look here.

It’s that time of year again, and just like years past we’ll be painting crosswalks across Arlington with rainbows. The dates, times, and locations are:

• East Arlington on Monday, June 10 from 7:00-9:30pm painting the crosswalk at the intersection of Lake Street and Massachusetts Ave.

Click here to sign up to help paint

ON SATURDAY, JUNE 22 we will celebrate LGBTQIA+ Arlington Pride from 12-3pm at Town Hall Gardens. We’ll have our usual swag and information table, Pride rock painting, social activities to meet others in the community, and this year, we’re introducing Community Partner tables to share information on local organizations of interest to the LGBTQIA+ community. (This event will be held RAIN OR SHINE! If it rains, we can move indoors to Town Hall.)

What is Summer Reading for Kids?
Summer Reading at the Robbins Library and Fox Branch Library is a non-competitive program that encourages kids and families to read for fun throughout the summer months.

Who can sign up for Summer Reading for Kids?
Kids 0-14 are welcome to sign up for Summer Reading. If you like reading on your own, reading with a friend or family, reading to your pet/neighbor/sibling OR listening to someone read to you, you will love the Summer Reading Program!

How can I sign up for Summer Reading for Kids?
Use this link for Kids Summer Reading Registration to sign up after June 14. Enter your name, age, and school.

Summer Reading begins on June 15, 2024 and kids can sign up throughout the summer. Children receive a free book for registering for Summer Reading and a 2nd free book after completing 10 hours of reading or listening. Come into either the Robbins Library or Fox Branch Library to collect your book.

Keep track of the time that you read or listen with our Summer Reading Bookmarks. Pick them up when you register or get a new one when you complete 10 hours of reading. Come on into the Robbins or Fox Library.

How can I vote for the End of Summer Movie?
This summer you can vote for one of three “Around the World” movies every time you complete 10 hours of reading. Come into either the Robbins Library or Fox Branch Library to use a marble to vote for Ponyo, Coco, or Raya and the Last Dragon. We’ll announce the winner at the end of the summer and show the movie. Summer Reading ends on August 29, 2024.