March 2019

 

Shop at Wilson Farm

Bowman’s Shop at Wilson Farm Day is on Thursday, March 7th, so mark your calendars! Shop anytime during business hours (9:00AM– 7:00PM) and 20% of your pre-tax spending will be donated back to Bowman. Just remember to bring in a Bowman Shop at Wilson Farm day flyer and present it at the register. We will also be sending an e-mailable version that can be displayed on your smart phone through the room parents. So tell your friends, neighbors and other community members to shop at Wilson’s on March 7th for Bowman!

 

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Family Math Nights Return to Bowman This Winter

Mark your calendars for the last of the Family Math Nights! We have had a successful 4/5 Math Night.

Family Math Nights are a great way for parents and students of all ability levels to experience the fun of math together. We’ll have games, puzzles, brainteasers, and lots of hands-on activities. Challenge your student to a logic game, build a symmetrical pattern, or investigate the volume of 3-D shapes. It’s your choice at Family Math Night!

Plan to attend a Family Math Night with your student this winter. Save the date for an upcoming Family Math Night

March 12th Grades K-1

April 3rd Grades 2-3 (new date). No Signup Needed.

Look for more grade level specific details on the Bowman PTO website, listserv, and through your room parents in the new year. Questions? Contact [email protected].

 

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10th Annual 5th Grade Spaghetti Dinner

Thursday, March 7th

Thanks for your support, the Spaghetti Dinner is sold out!

 

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Bowman Writes

Calling Bowman writers, poets, and artists! It’s time to get your pencils sharpened for your submission for Bowman Writes, a magazine that features articles, poems, stories, editorials, book reviews, comic strips and drawings by students at Bowman School. Any student from any grade may submit an original written piece for the magazine. The deadline to turn in your work is Friday, April 12, 2019.

Rules for the submission include:

1. Only one entry per student.
2. Cover design can be submitted as the only entry or as an additional entry. Drawings for cover design can be in color, and should be drawn on an 8 ½ x 11 piece of unlined paper
3. All drawings other than cover design should be in black and white, drawn on 8 ½ x 11 piece of unlined paper.
4. For editing purposes, electronic submissions are preferred
5. Essays, short stories, articles, book reviews and other written material have a word limit of 1,000 words. Shorter pieces are more than welcome!

Electronic submissions can be sent to [email protected]. Paper submissions can be submitted to class teacher. All submissions should include the following pertinent information to help with compilation, and possible follow up.

• Student name and age
• Grade
• Teacher
• Type of written material (poem, short story, editorial, book review, etc)
• Parent email address and phone number

Please reach out to [email protected] for any further clarifications or questions.

 

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Bowman Variety Show

March 29, 7:00-8:30, Bowman Gymnasium
Calling all Bowman students in grades K-5. Start tuning your instruments, warming up your voices and practicing your dance moves. This year the Variety Show will be at Bowman School. We’re looking for performances in gymnastics.. .dancing… singing… magic… juggling… comedy… storytelling… hula hooping.. .cup stacking… solo… groups…and more.

You will have 90 seconds to show your friends and classmates your amazing talent. Registration will be open from February 25th. Visit the Bowman PTO homepage to sign up. The show can only feature 40 acts, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.

The emcees for the evening will be some of our 5th grade students. Send us an email if your child is interested. The script will be provided in advance and the role can be done with a partner. We are also looking for parent volunteers to help on the night of the show. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are available to help out.

Please note that each act will only have 90 seconds to perform in order to accommodate all the participants.

 

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Class Basket Raffle is coming soon!

The Class Baskets are almost here! Class baskets will be arriving at Bowman the morning of Friday, March 29 and will be on display for you to see through Friday, April 5. That night, they will be auctioned off in the gym during Disco Bingo (you do not need to be present to win). Each class is putting together a creative basket to be raffled off and we can’t wait to see this year’s display!

We will be selling raffle tickets for $1 each. You can buy tickets through the order form that will go home with your child, at the start of Bingo Night, and even in rolling carpool line. We will be outside both before and after school that week with tickets in hand, so have your cash and/or checks ready and we’ll come right to your window to give you your tickets. You can purchase as many tickets as you wish, but don’t forget to write your name and telephone number on each ticket. Then drop the tickets into the bin next to the basket you would like to win!

Between April 1st-April 5th, you can drop in your raffle tickets during the following hours: 8:15-8:45am and 3:15-3:45 pm (12:15-3:30 pm on Thursday) and during the start of Bingo Night.

Be on the lookout for the ticket flyer at the end of the month! All proceeds from ticket sales benefit the PTA. If you have any questions please email [email protected].

 

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PTA Survey Responses

Thanks to everyone who completed our PTA survey. We received 243 Responses between late November 2018 and early January 2019. We are taking the survey results very seriously and we will use what the survey showed us to plan for the next school year.

Here are the results:

In addition to the information from the survey questions, some parents provided written feedback. We have provided some responses here to a few of the topics/issues that came up in that feedback:

Halloween:

Some of you are wondering why Halloween is not celebrated at Bowman. We learned from staff that the last time Halloween was celebrated school-wide at Bowman, over 140 students did not participate for one reason or another. Because of this Bowman has moved away from celebrating Halloween during school hours.

PTA budget, fundraising, and spending:

The Bowman PTO spends about $100 per child per year. This money supports PTA events and goes directly to teachers ​in the form of grants and reimbursements. We give each teacher a check for approximately $200 every year to spend in their classrooms as they see fit. Many teachers spend money out of pocket to prepare their classrooms and the funds that the PTA provides help reimburse them for those expenses.

The PTA needs to do a certain amount of fundraising every year. Annual membership and the classroom baskets raffle are very important to maintaining our financial stability. Additionally, we need to host a fundraiser ​event every couple years to keep us afloat. Next year we will roll out a couple new fundraising activities that we hope will be a good match for Bowman Families. The PTA is an official 501c3 non-profit organization so all your contributions are tax deductible.

PTA funds are different from classroom funds. Every fall parents are asked to contribute a small amount of money to support their specific classroom(s). This money is spent by your room parents on supplies ​and parties for your specific class, as well as gifts for your child’s teachers. Fifth Grade families are also asked to make additional contributions to support programs unique to fifth grade. The school district may also occasionally ask families to pay for a field trip or other programs that are specific for your child and not run by the PTA.

General feedback about the Bowman PTO:

Some feel that the PTA and PTA events are not a good match for their families. A few people mentioned the timing of events or the content of the events themselves as being problematic, but overall we received a lot of positive feedback. Many of you were very generous with your thank yous and appreciative comments.

We heard from many of you that you like the events that we put on, and you understand that lots of parent volunteers are behind the scenes making it all happen. PTA board members and program coordinators are all giving their time and energy to help make Bowman the fantastic school that it is. We are parent volunteers who work closely with our school Principal and Assistant Principal in addition to many teachers and staff in this effort.

If any parent is interested in getting involved with shaping and managing the PTA, that opportunity exists and we welcome your input, your volunteering and your creativity. You can reach out to us directly with your ideas and energy, or come to one of our meetings and join the conversation. This year we’ve added a morning meeting, in addition to our evening meeting, to make things easier for interested parents.

All of our event information is on our web site and emails are sent regularly through various channels to try and keep you up-to-date. The majority of PTA planning happens at the end of the school year (for the upcoming year) and then our calendar and budget get solidified in the Fall. Now is the time to get involved if you would like to help plan the upcoming year’s events. We would love to hear from you!

 

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Box Tops for Education Update

Final numbers are in for the January 2019 Box Tops classroom collection competition, and the winner is…… Mrs. House’s class with 341 boxtops! Congratulations – the Box Top BOT, the Bowman Box Top mascot, will now spend the month of February in Mrs. House’s classroom. Mrs. Durling’s class came in second with 282 and Ms. Perdiz’s class came in third with 152 Box Tops.

As a reminder, you can send your Box Tops into the classroom in a plastic bag, envelope or on a collection sheet once or twice a month. Collection sheets can be found here: Collection Sheets

 

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PTA Open Positions

Please consider volunteering for one of the open PTA positions this school year.

VP Events, Fundraising

Support existing fundraising initiatives such as our Spring Auction, Spirit Wear, Shopping Days, and Class Raffles, while seeking new fundraising opportunities in conjunction with PTA Board. This is a great position for returning or new Bowman parents who are interested in getting involved and who can attend monthly PTA meetings.

Lost & Found Shadow

The Lost & Found is located next to the door leading out to the back playground area. Labeled items are returned to students; unclaimed items are donated to area charities, such as Cradles to Crayons.

 

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Science Fair Thank You

Thank you to all the Bowman student scientists for making the Science Fair such a successful evening! Your curiosity and enthusiasm were evident in all the projects, and it was wonderful to see the student’s interest in and support of each other’s work. Also, a special thank you to the Visiting Scientists for sharing their love of science with the students and for parents Austin Bliss, Carrie Rose, Dani Chedid and Gitanjali Srivastava who helped make the night go smoothly!

The PTA thanks Karla Nash and Mairin Schreiber for organizing and running another successful Science Fair.

 

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Math Team News

The 3rd grade before school math team recently participated in the first Continental Math League competition of the year, and the 4th and 5th grade participated in the third competition of the year. There are 2 levels of competitions of the 4th and 5th grades, and the groups from Bowman are registered with the Pythagorean level, the higher of the two levels. Students had to solve 6 problems in 30 minutes. Problems were designed to test students’ reading comprehension, problem solving skills, and the ability to set up and solve complex and challenging problems.

3rd grade: There were 255 teams from around the United States, 26 of them from New England. The median score for the country was 29/36. The Bowman 3rd grade team had 34/36 points, among the top 53 (21%) of teams in the country and among 2 top teams in New England.

4th grade: There were 140 teams from around the United States competing, 8 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the third test was 24/36. The Bowman 4th grade team had 36/36 points for the third test, and 108/108 points for the 3 tests combined, among top 3 teams in the country and #1 in New England.

5th grade: There were 152 teams from around the United States competing, 8 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the third test was 24/36. The Bowman 5th grade team had 33/36 points for the third test, and 100/108 points for the 3 tests combined, among the top 7 teams in the country and #1 in New England.

Congratulations to everybody on the excellent performance. Every member of each team worked hard, and can take pride in the accomplishment. The fourth competition for the 4th and 5th grade teams and the second competition for the 3rd grade team are in early February.