May 2019

 

Teacher Appreciation Week

May 6 – 10

Thanks to all of our wonderful teachers and supporting staff at Bowman! Please join us in appreciating and celebrating them.

We have a very exciting Teacher Appreciation week planned:

Monday – Potluck Breakfast

Tuesday – Tea Time packs

Wednesday – Snack Station

Thursday – Potluck Lunch

Friday – Goody Bags

We invite parents to show their appreciation by helping assemble goodie bags or providing potluck items. We need your help to support our Bowman team!

PleaseSIGN UP to help now!

For questions, contact [email protected].

 

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Passport To The World

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Passport To The World has been a Bowman tradition where we have the opportunity to celebrate and learn from each other’s identities, culture and traditions. Everyone is invited to attend!

World Pavilion 5:00-6:30 PM – Cafeteria

Featuring booths to showcase families’ cultures, traditional dress, pictures, maps and other treasures. (Please, NO food at booths) Sign up by May 10th to host a booth

International Potluck 5:00-6:30 PM – Outdoor Shade Structure

Try some dishes from around the world, and bring a dish to share from your home. Please bring a card identifying your dish with a list of all ingredients (for food allergies). Compostable napkins, utensils, plates and cups will be provided by the PTA Green Team. (Rain location: Inside hallways)

Evening Performance 6:45-7:30 PM – Gymnasium

With music, dance, or skits from your family’s heritage. Only 10 acts will be featured, so sign up early! (Please note that performances MUST be limited to 3 minutes each) Performers may sign up by May 10th

Parent Volunteers are always needed for a successful night! Please sign up here

 

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Redistricting Information

Wondering where to find information about elementary and middle school redistricting? All the latest information is available on the LPS district website (alsohere). This includes a detailed project timeline (or a brief version), a list of working & advisory group members and advisory group meeting materials to date. LPS will continue to post all new information here throughout the redistricting process.

 

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Box Top For Education

Final numbers are in for the Mar 2019 Box Tops classroom collection competition, and the winner is…… Mr. Swanton’s class with 175 Box Tops! Congratulations – the Box Top BOT, the Bowman Box Top mascot, will now spend the month of April in Mr. Swanton’s classroom. Ms. Kearns class came in second with 168 and Mr. Bruff’s class came in third with 103 Box Tops

 

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Many Thanks!

Class Basket Raffle

Once again, the class basket raffle was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who participated and helped us raise around $6,000 for the PTA! We couldn’t have done it without the room parents who imagined and put together such creative baskets, and without the support of families and staff who purchased tickets. Thank you also to all of the students for your enthusiasm and participation during the week leading up to Disco Bingo and during Disco Bingo itself. Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s baskets-we hope you are enjoying them!

The PTA would like to thank Joanne Cheng, Courtney Lauriat, and Deepa Salman for another fantastic job of coordinating the baskets and the raffle! After chairing for a number of years, the Basket Raffle chairs are moving on, so if you’d like to help coordinate this easy fundraiser that so many students are so excited about each year, email [email protected].

Gamin’ And Groovin’

Bowman’s gym was filled April 5th with funky fashion and spare change for Disco Bingo Night. Students showed off their dance skills and had a great time calling out ‘BINGO’. A big thank you to organizer Alexa Elliot and our mystery callers, Ms. Day, Ms. Corduck, and our crossing guard David Hadley. Thank you as well to our parent volunteer judges and MCs, Theresa Minogue, Jodi Goodwin, Kavita Ravi, Sandy Schwartz, Gary VanDeurse, Justine Cohen, and David Alexanderian.

It All Adds Up To Fun

Family Math Nights in January, March and April offered a time for students and parents to enjoy a playful evening of hands-on mathematical exploration. Whether you were stumped by the brain-teasers, tried a new approach with the equations, or solved the puzzles in a snap, it was great to do it together. Thank you to Kavita Ravi, Judy Perry, Taleen Gleeson, Chloe Bui, Sarah Carter, and Lauren Avery for organizing and making the numbers fun! Thanks also to the Bowman custodial staff for their support and to the LHS students who volunteered.

Our Earth Thanks You!

Thank you Bowman community for your participation in our Earth Week activities! The PTA Green Team was so impressed with the level of participation, we should all be proud and keep up the fantastic work. Some highlights from the week:

• Mr. Curhan’s class collected and counted over 1400 old markers for recycling and we had hundreds more old pens and mechanical pencils that we will send to Terracycle. Thank you, Mr. Curhan!
• Tuesday morning there were over 235 lbs of textiles dropped off, we had to ask Baystate Textiles to come empty the bin in the parking lot so we could fit everything! Remember, you can recycle your textiles year-round (Accepted items).
• David Hadley, one of our Crossing Guards, remarked that Wednesday had the most walkers he’s seen since his time working at Bowman!
• Recycling plastic bags and plastic film (including bread bags, dry cleaning bags, and more) is something we can continue to do everyday by dropping them off at our local grocery stores (Stop & Shop, Star Market, Market Basket and Whole Foods, in the bottle redemption section). We even started collecting from Bowman’s kitchen. Thank you Cathy from Whitson’s!

We also need to thank our Student Council teachers and students for help getting the word out and Ms. Corduck and the office staff for accommodating and assisting our setup and collections!

While we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, every day is an opportunity to choose to REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE/COMPOST.

Stop and Shop Program

The 2018-2019 school year Stop and Shop program concluded on March 16th. Thank all those who participated this year and made it happen and a success. Existing participants do not have to re-register for the new 2019-2020 school year and NEW participants registration starts in August, 2019. As soon as we receive more information, we will share with you. Again, a BIG thank you to all those who participated this year and we will not be able to do it without YOU! The PTA would also like to thank Sharon Huang for running the Stop and Shop Program.

 

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Math Team News

The 3rd grade before school math team recently participated in the third and last Continental Math League competition of the year, and the 4th and 5th grade participated in the fifth and last competition of the year. There are 2 levels of competitions for 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 328 teams from around the United States competing, 37 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the three tests was 85/108. The Bowman 3rd grade team had 100/108 points for the 3 tests combined, among top 14% teams in the country and among the top 4 teams in New England.

4th grade: There were 144 teams from around the United States competing in the Pythagorean higher level of the 4th grade competitions, 8 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the five tests was 133/180. The Bowman 4th grade team had 180/180 points for the 5 tests combined, a perfect score. They are United States Champions.

5th grade: There were 156 teams from around the United States competing in the Pythagorean higher level of the 5th grade competitions, 9 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the five tests was 126/180. The Bowman 5th grade team had 169/180 points for the 5 tests combined, among the top 10 teams in the country, or top 6.5%. They are #1 team in New England, which makes them Regional Champions.

Congratulations to everybody on the excellent performance. Every member of each team worked hard, and can take pride in the accomplishment.

 

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Behind The Scenes – Our Bowman Volunteers

Lisa Premerlani – Bowman PTO Co-Treasurer and METCO Coordinator

I volunteer with the Bowman PTO as the Co-Treasurer and Coordinator of the METCO Family Friends program. I started attending PTA meetings at the end of my son’s Kindergarten year after being a Room Parent that year. My sons Joseph and Henry are now in grades 4 and 1. I like the PTA because it helps me feel connected to my kids, learn about what they are doing at Bowman, meet their teachers, and enrich their school community with extra programming and supplies they wouldn’t otherwise get. Also, I’ve met some wonderful friends through the Bowman PTO!

Courtney Lauriat – Bowman PTO Secretary and Class Basket Raffle Coordinator

I volunteer with the Bowman PTO because I believe education is a partnership between school and home. I have a 6th grader (Caroline) who went through Bowman and a current 4th grader (Sophie), so I have been around a long time and have had the opportunity to serve in many capacities with the PTA-as a room parent, library volunteer, 5th grade activities chair, Raffle Basket chair, VP Fundraising, and Secretary. In each of my roles I’ve been able to connect with the students, staff and families at Bowman. I love volunteering because I think it models for our students the importance of giving back, allows me to see what is happening firsthand, to make connections between school and home, and gives me the opportunity to support various initiatives which better the school environment for everyone.