January 2022

Bowman Broadside

Events

Bowman Read-A-Thon

We hope you enjoyed reading for the 2nd annual Bowman Read-A-Thon over winter break and our theme of 7 Habits of Happy Kids!

Don’t forget to log your reading minutes and submit your donations by the end of day January 5th to win prizes for reading and new books for your class. 

There will be prize drawings and winners will be announced at the All School Meeting on January 12th!

Thank you for participating in this important fundraiser for Bowman!

Family Math Nights Return to Bowman This Winter

Mark your calendars for the return of Family Math Nights! 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, brain teasers, 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 February, March, and April.  Stay tuned for updated dates, or visit the Events page on the Bowman PTO Website.Questions? Contact [email protected].

Big Backyard Winter Signup Links

Winter Big Backyard walks are here. Please sign-up. Note there are no 3rd and 4th grader winter walks scheduled.

Kindergarten

Walk date Jan 20 (Rain date Jan 26)

Kindergarten Sign-up Link

Grade 1

Walk date Jan 27 (Rain date Feb 02)

Grade 1 Sign-up Link

Grade 2

Walk date Feb 3 (Rain date Feb 09)

Grade 2 Sign-up Link

Bowman Girls Who Code

Bowman Girls Who Code Club is continuing strong with usually 25+ students who attend weekly Zoom sessions to learn and create together.  Over the holidays, the students have put together animations using scratch.mit.edu to wish happy holidays and thank Bowman staff.  Feel free to check out the projects here: https://bowmanpto.org/committees/curriculum-enrichment/bowman-girls-who-code/

Thanks to the enthusiastic girls who show up every week and our club facilitators. For questions, please email [email protected].

Earn Cash For Bowman with Box Tops!

Please join the Bowman Community in earning cash for our school by using the Box Tops app. It’s an easy way to make a difference. All you have to do is buy Box Tops participating products (like Cheerios!) and scan your grocery receipt. Box Tops are worth $.10 each and they add up fast! Twice a year, our school receives a check to help pay for whatever we need – equipment, supplies or experiences the kids love!

Download the Box Tops for Education app here: You’re Invited! – Box Tops for Education

Questions?

More FAQ’s can be found here: https://www.boxtops4education.com/How to Earn

Or, contact the Box Tops Coordinator: [email protected]

News

Math Team News

The Bowman Math Teams meet weekly before school (back in-person again!), with 25-35 students from each of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The students participate in the Continental Math League and the first competition for 4th and 5th graders was in November. Students were given 6 problems and had 30 minutes to solve them independently. Each correct answer was worth 1 point and the top 6 scores became the team’s score.

4th grade: There are 75 teams participating in this year’s CML Grade 4 Math at the Pythagorean level (the higher of the 2 levels). Bowman’s team scored 36/36, which means they are tied among the top 9 teams in the country and they are the only perfect team from New England. Congratulations to Dhruv I., Noura K., Sanav B., Shlok M., Sriman D., and Yonis G. who each had a perfect score on their test.

5th grade: There are 88 teams participating in this year’s CML Grade 5 Math at the Pythagorean level (the higher of the 2 levels). Bowman’s team scored 33/36, which put them in the top 31% in the country and #1 in New England. Congratulations to Ada W., Emma L., and Joey W. who each had a perfect score on their test.

Excellent job to both teams! Every member of the team worked hard and can take pride in this accomplishment. The second competition for 4th and 5th grade teams will take place in December and the first competition for 3rd grade will take place in January.

Finally, thank you to the numerous parent volunteers who are helping to prepare lessons, facilitate classes, and grade homeworks and tests.

Volunteer Opportunities and Help Needed

We are looking to fill very important roles below.  

We are also looking for the following volunteers (please see the Bowman PTO Open Volunteer Positions for full details):

  • Science Fair Coordinators 2021-2022
  • Family Math Nights Coordinators 2021-2022
  • Volunteer Coordinators 2021-2022
  • Bowman Writes Magazine volunteer for 2021-2022 (Shadow for 2022-23)
  • Arts/Specials Coordinator 2021-2022
  • Fundraising – Shopping Affiliates Coordinator (Shadow for 2022-23)

If you are interested or want to learn more about what these roles entail, email [email protected] and we would be happy to tell you more!  Most, if not all, of the help with these events can be done from home.  If you are interested in one or more of these roles, the PTO would really appreciate it!  Otherwise, they are at risk of not happening this year.

We are always in need of lunch volunteers!  There are multiple shifts open each week. Please click on this link to Sign Up!  Email [email protected] with any questions. See the Updated Instructions for Composting.

Thank you to everything our volunteers do each and every week!

Bowman Writes 2021-2022

Bowman Writes is a yearly magazine containing poems, essays, short stories, drawings, puzzles, word games, and other original work by Bowman students. This is a school project done in collaboration with parent volunteers. The Bowman Writes team is looking for two volunteers who can help us with compiling, editing and designing the magazine. Bulk of the work will be around April-May, with some time commitment in the beginning of the year for planning purposes. Please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested or have more questions on this very fulfilling initiative.

Science Fair Coordinators 2021-2022

We are looking for 1-2 additional Science Fair volunteers to join the team of existing coordinators. This event is an annual opportunity for students to create and display projects and experiments, working individually or in small groups. Scheduled for Spring, this program is organized by parents/caregivers and also has involvement from visiting scientists. Click here for more information.

Time Commitment: 1-2 hours per week for meetings and planning, during flexible hours. Time commitment may increase to 3-5 hours per week for a few weeks leading up to the Science Fair. Attending the Science Fair events is also strongly encouraged.

Co-Treasurer Shadow (Two-year term 2022-2024)

We are looking for a Treasurer to shadow the remainder of this school year and be one of the treasurers for a two-year term for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 school years. This is a critical role that needs to be filled for the next school year. Responsibilities are split between two people, and you have the opportunity to know a lot about what is going on with the Bowman school community through managing the Bowman PTO’s funds and budget. This is a flexible role that can be done in your own time, and tasks throughout the year include: Managing all PTO funds – deposits, paying vendors and reimbursing volunteers and staff as necessary. Keep up-to-date, detailed and accurate financial reports using Quickbooks software. Develop and track the annual budget.

Generate reports for various committees and for the accountant. Certain annual duties, such as applying for raffle permits, renewing insurance and charitable status, filing IRS forms, etc. 

Time Commitment: 1-2 hours per week writing or depositing checks, managing budgets and expenditures and responding to requests.

Lost and Found

Is your student missing something?  Please check out the Lost and Found at Bowman and help us return these items to their owners!

Shop and Support Bowman!

See our Shop and Support Bowman page for details on all of these programs below.  These small programs add up to hundreds of dollars that go directly into Bowman through curriculum support, classroom and building supplies, student experiences, and so much more! 

  • Amazon Smile: Use Amazon Smile for all your purchases. Amazon will donate 0.5% of all eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the Bowman Elementary School PTO!  Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ch/86-1783422 to select Bowman PTO as your charity of choice and shop.
  • Minted.com: You will get 20% off on your order. Use the code: FUNDRAISEBOWMAN and Bowman PTO will receive 15% of proceeds.
  • Gift Cards: Buy any of 750 popular brand gift cards from ShopWithScrip.com and Bowman earns rewards. Check the weekly email for the code to join. Choose e-gift cards for immediate delivery without fees.

See our Shop and Support Bowman page for more!

Thank You

Bowman Staff Appreciation

Thank you to the Bowman Staff, we hope you had a wonderful holiday, winter break, and new year! 

Thank you to the staff appreciation appreciation team (Stephanie Roberts, Janice Patel and Rita Dulgarian) for organizing our wonderful December staff appreciation event!  Thank you to all of the families who donated yummy treats and goodies for our teachers and staff.

INSERT SOME PICTURES FROM FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2381637535301866&type=3 

Families in Need

Thank you for your heartfelt generosity as we collected gift cards for Second Step as part of our annual Holiday Gift Drive. As a community, we were able to collect $2,225 in donations in the form of gift cards and winter clothes and boots for kids from Second Step’s Amazon wish lists. Thank you to Carrie Rose and Radha Badani for organizing the gift drive!

Reminders

January Submissions

Broadside submissions should be sent to Monika Manocha at [email protected]. The deadline for the February issue is January 22nd.