Call for Volunteers 2022-23!

Events

• Bowman Field Day
• 5th Grade Moving On Celebration

News

• Maths Team News
• Girls Who Code News
• Bowman Pollinator Garden

Thank You to Everyone for a Great Year!

Call for Volunteers 2022-23!

Dear Bowman Families,

As we wrap up this academic year, we have a special request for volunteer commitments for 2022-2023.  This year, we provided many of the PTO events and school enrichment programs, but have struggled to support other initiatives due to lack of volunteers.  There have been classes this year that could not have Big Backyard and we don’t want students to miss out on activities next year.  There is even a new volunteer opportunity to support the new LPS K-5 math program, Illustrative Mathematics – read below to learn about it!

Did you know?  If adult(s) from each family volunteer just 4 HOURS during the school year we would have all Big Backyards, lunches, and key events (field trips, Field Day, etc.) covered?

• Many of our volunteer positions can be done during flexible hours, such as Spirit Wear Coordination (a total of a few hours of email exchanges) or the Bowman PTO Directory (less than an hour a month in our membership portal).
• Big Backyard for each class is maximum 3 times a year and requires just 1-2 hours of volunteering with no experience required. If each student had an adult volunteer just ONCE per year – all the classes would easily have more than enough volunteers.
• There are only 150 days in a year that we need lunch volunteers! If every family volunteered to cover ONE lunch shift ONE day, we would have lunch volunteer coverage for the entire year!
• Lexington was invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority program for the construction of a new or renovated Lexington High School.  We need individuals to be involved in the process and report back to the Bowman school community about this project.  This is a perfect opportunity to get involved for lower-elementary families, as those students will likely benefit from the new high school.
• In most cases, volunteering needs and scheduling requests (day/time needed) are provided at least 2 weeks in advance (often earlier!) for the above activities.  You can also flexibly pop in for other volunteering opportunities, such as lunch, as your schedule allows.
• Most PTO volunteering for coordinating events and programs can happen during flexible hours and usually just take a few email exchanges and a Signup Genius.

At this time, we ask that all families review our current list of volunteer open positions and fill out this Volunteer Interest Form (Membership Toolkit login required) to let us know your volunteer interests for next school year.  This will determine what PTO programming and events we will be able to have in 2022-2023. 

Currently we have 3 Bowman PTO executive board positions open as we are trying to move to a model where there are two Co-VPs in every position for continuity of knowledge.  We are thankful that our executive board consists of a diverse community and welcome those to volunteer with us from all ethnicities, genders, cultures, and professional backgrounds.  There are no barriers to joining us – there is something for everyone!  Bowman PTO board members and volunteers (just like all Bowman family caregivers) are also working, involved in community initiatives, providing care to other family members, and have other kids outside of Bowman. There is always something that can be done with the time you are able to provide.  Please email us if you would like to join the exec board!

Thank you,

Jackie Anderson, Brandy Hartford, Val Machinist 

Bowman PTO Co-Presidents 2022-23

[email protected]

Events

Bowman Field Day, June 16

If you will be available and are interested in helping out, please click on the link below.  Once directed to the FD Volunteer Sign-up workbook, click on your preferred worksheet tab(s) on the bottom toolbar to enter your contact information.

FD Volunteer Sign-up (UPDATED SIGNUP)  – NEW! We have also added signups to help serve lunch and assist in composting.  Please see the signup.

We also need to borrow some items from families, have a few volunteers bring ice, and especially need help blowing up balloons the night before,  Please sign up here.

Thank you for considering how you can be a part of the 2022 Bowman Field Day!  Bowman PTO is providing lunch for all volunteers!

5th Grade Year-End Events Friday, June 17

5th Grade Moving On Ceremony: 

This will be held this Friday, June 17th from 9:15-10:45am in the Bowman gymnasium.  The ceremony will be followed by refreshments outside (weather permitting). 

5th Grade Social: 

We will be hosting a social on the Bowman Playground for 5th graders and their families this Friday, June 17th from 4:30-6:30pm.   Join us for fun with friends and frozen treats, courtesy of Abbott’s Frozen Custard!

News

Maths Team News

The Bowman Math Teams met weekly before school and have completed their program for the year. We reinforced math concepts that were already being taught, and provided some exposure to competitive math through Continental Math League.

3rd grade: After 3 tests, the team scored 91/108. There were 180+ schools participating in the contest, and Bowman’s score was in the top 15% in the country, and #2 in New England! Congratulations to the entire team for their strong contributions throughout the year:

Aditya W., Alex L., Ava Mae C., Ayaan P., Calder F., Carson L., Catherine M., Charles F., Charlotte V., Elina B., Elise Y., Emma Y., Harnoor K., Insiya S., Irshi B., Jocelyn H., Kazuyoshi M., Kellen B., Liam V., Makar P., Mark D., Maya N., Mousa A., Oliver C., Olivia F., Philippe, Rahul J., Robert T., Ronan P., Sally J., Samaya K., Tessie E., Vittoria V., & William H.

4th grade: After 5 tests, the team scored 180/180. There were 88 schools participating in the contest at the Pythagorean level (the harder of the two levels), and Bowman’s score was among the 8 perfect scores in the country, and was the only perfect score in New England! Congratulations to the entire team for their strong contributions throughout the year:

Ananya I., Anum F., Azim F., Beatrix F., Benjamin M., Chloe L., Chris C., Cindy W., Dhruv I., Esha S., Gus B-G, Harini H., Henry M., Jacqueline R., Kamsi A., Kayla N., Louis L., Luc G., Max Z., Metin T., Micaela C., Navya S., Noura K., Olivia I., Renee M., Sailesh R., Samuel N., Sanav B., Shlok M., Simon B-G, Sriman D., Tyler A., Viola, Vlad B., Yonis G., Zaim F., & Zareen S.

Additionally congratulations to Chris C., Sanav B., Shlok M., & Sriman D. who were national individual champions, each with a perfect score of 30/30 across their 5 tests.

5th grade: After 5 tests, the team scored 168/180. There were 99 schools participating in the contest at the Pythagorean level (the harder of the two levels), and Bowman’s score was #8 in the US and #1 in New England! Congratulations to the entire team for their strong contributions throughout the year:

Ada W., Ahi V., Aiden B., Aiko M., Akshay R., Amoolya N., Amy J., Andrew D., Barrett F., Bashar F., Charvik C., Chloe W., Derek Y., Emma L., Ian K., Jayda L-S, Joey W., John M., Kevin Y., Kian K., Kiernan P., Olivia Z., Omar M., Pavlik S., Sofia G., Tanya P., Timothy C., & Vaani M.

Math team is not possible without substantial help from a large group of volunteers.

Thank you to Andrew, Belle, Burton, Chenhui, Chris, Federico, Geetha, Harold, Hendrick, Hong, Honghua, Hongyi, Hua, Janice, Jing, Kiran, Lakshmi, Lanxun, Mohamed, Paul, Poornima, Rita, Sahar, Saori, Sheldon, Steph, & Ying for helping out with this year’s program!

Hope to see everybody again next year.

Bowman Girls Who Code Club

We are happy and proud to announce that we finished our inaugural year of Bowman Girls Who Code Club! 3rd-5th grade members of the club met weekly on Zoom to read materials and program on Scratch (an online coding platform). They made animations, ecards/videos, games, and so much more! We hope rising 3rd-5th grade girls and non-binary students will join again next year to learn about computer science!

Congratulations to club participants:

• 3rd Grade: Alexa H., Elina B., Elise Y., Insiya S., Irshitha B., Jocelyn H., Luciana V L., Olivia F., Sally J., Samaya K, Tessa M.
• 4th Grade: Anum F., Arianna Y., Chloe L., Esha S., Julia A., Kseniia K., Mikayla N., Nadia S., Olivia I., Sidi W., Sophia W., Viola SF., Zareen S., Anna G.
• 5th Grade: Aiko M., Amoolya N., Audrey Y., Fiorella R., Hannah S., Layla O., Safya S., Yasmine M., Zihan W.

Special thanks to Mrs. Udell, our club “Decision Maker”, and Principal Corduck for their support.

Thanks to parent volunteers Brandy Hartford, Courtney Jones, Jackie Anderson, and Karin Ornstein.

Bowman Pollinator Garden

For several years, Bowman has had a vegetable garden (located opposite the flagpole next to the walker dismissal doors) primarily under the care of 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Barbacano’s class and Bowman head custodian, Mr. Taranto. During the spring, students prepare the gardenand plant vegetables. Over the summer, Mr. Taranto waters, weeds and harvests the produce to prevent it from going to waste. Due to the nature of the growing season and what has historically been planted in the garden, the majority of the “growing” occurs during the summer, when students are not in school. In an effort to continue to provide hands-on, experience, Ms. Barbacano consulted with a garden expert, Trevor Smith from Weston Nurseries, who has recommended we change from a vegetable garden to a “pollinator garden”. 

In May, with the help of parent volunteers and garden expert Trevor Smith, our students got down and dirty planting our pollinator garden! Special thanks to Ms. Barbacano who organized the project and Mr. Taranto for assisting.

See more pictures in our Facebook album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=BowmanLexPTO&set=a.2522934504505501

Thank You to Everyone for a Great Year!

We would like to send a huge Thank You to all volunteers at Bowman this school year.  This was our first year as a PTO (from a PTA) and supported the school in so many new ways.  In the spring, we moved to entirely in-person programs and events – we are so excited we could come together as a community. 

The work of the PTO is made up of hundreds of moving parts and dedicated parents who show up and do the work. Thank you to all of our Room Helpers and caregivers who volunteered for Big Backyard and class field trips. Our students light up with joy when they see the faces of familiar adults helping with class parties, Science Fair, Picture Day, Disco Bingo night, Math Nights, enrichment clubs and so much more. Thank you to all the library volunteers who have consistently helped shelve and check out/in books. Thank you also to all of you who donate gifts to Families in Need.

This past year the PTO brought back and provided new and amazing programs and events. This is work to be proud of and we want to send a special shout out to the caregivers who step up and take the lead on bringing these events to our community. A heartfelt thank you goes to those who took the lead with the following events and programs:

• School Directory: Priti Patel, Monna Gandhi Nanavati, Kessie Avseikova
• Bowman Broadside: Monika Manocha
• Weekly Emails and Community Announcements: Lisa Premerlani
• Social Media: Fatema Sumar
• Site Council: Suman Murali, Tracey Dawson, Gary Van Deurse, Zhechun Zhang
• METCO Family and Friends: Lisa Premerlani, Taleen Gleeson, and Anita Saint Fleur
• Room Helper Coordinator and Insider’s Guide to Bowman: Melinda Nasardinov
• Library Coordinators: Kate Babineau and Meghan Wilson
• School Picture Day: Michele Andronaco
• Families in Need and Food Drive: Radha Badani and Carrie Rose
• Family Math Nights: Taleen Gleeson and Chris Norman
• Math Team: Andrew Bennett, and all of the other parent volunteers helping behind the scenes
• Science Fair: Jo Sun, Megan Haggerty, Belle Chang, and Tania Rolandi
• Passport to the World: Edwin Francois and Jackie Anderson
• Teacher Appreciation Activities: Stephanie Roberts, Janice Patel, and Rita Dulgarian
• SEPAC: Jess Quattrocchi 
• Disco Bingo/Class Basket Raffle: Tracey Dawson, Lakshmi Ramanath, Naveen Chhabra, Brandy Hartford
• Kids Fun Run: Tracey Dawson, Kessie Avseikova, Lakshmi Ramanath, and Brandy Hartford
• End of Year Picnic: Val Machinist and Naveen Chhabra
• Bowman Readathon: Lakshmi Ramanath and Brandy Hartford
• Bowman Fun Run: Lakshmi Ramanath
• Book Fair: Katie Quick
• Spirit Wear: Tish Apstein, Susie Hammond, and Courtney Jones
• Box Tops: Kim Moore
• Amazon Smile: Karin Ornstein
• 5th Grade Activities: Thank you to the group of parents who make this an extra special experience for our students in their final year at Bowman – Karin Ornstein, Tania Rolandi, Heather Yu, Kate Babineau, Seri Latiff, Hodan Gulleth, Anna Angelova, Millie Webster, Katie Quick, Lisa Spitz, and Carrie Rose
• Big Backyard: Geetha Pannerselvam and Shweta Jain
• Wilson Farm Shopping Day: Heather Ford

For those of you who serve on the Executive Committee thank you for your hard work planning, collaborating, and problem solving. This group of parents has spent countless hours reinventing and thinking about how all the pieces fit together to form an enriching and fun calendar of events. All with a sense of humor and good will.

Thank you Anne Norman, Brandy Hartford, and Valerie Machinist for serving as Co-Presidents this year!

And to…

Winnie Tsiang-Pong, Secretary 

Rebecca Xu and Sharon Huang, Co-Treasurers

Lisa Premerlani and Kessie Avseikova, Co-VPs Communications 

Naveen Chhabra, VP Community 

Lakshmi Ramanath, VP Fundraising 

Christine Lanoie, VP Membership 

Taleen Gleeson, VP School Support 

Jackie Anderson, VP Curriculum

Thank you to our teacher liaisons Iris Goldfarb and Joshua Curhan.

Special acknowledgment goes to Jenny Corduck and Edwin Francois for being invaluable partners in all of this work. Your collaborative spirit and gratitude are appreciated by all of us. Jenny, we look forward to continued collaboration.

Thank you to Anne Norman for serving as our co-president these past two years.

Thank you to our Local Business Sponsors

As we wrap up our fundraising activities for the year, we would like to thank and recognize our local business sponsors for the 2021-2022 academic year.

• AOPS Academy
• Chase Plumbing Co., Inc.
• Coppe + Sears – Pediatric Dentistry
• Empow Studios : A special thanks to Empow Studios for offering Bowman families a $50 discount on in-person programs! Don’t forget to use the discount code BOWMAN50 in case you are planning to sign up!
• Kessie Ausiaikova, Realtor at Keller Williams – Boston Northwest
• Penguin Coding School
• Russian School of Mathematics, Lexington

Please email [email protected] with any questions.