Blizzard Bags – A chance to recoup lost school time?

As we are all enjoying Day 2 of no school this week, has the thought crossed your mind about what would happen if go beyond our allotted number of snow days? Last year, it extended into the last week of June.

A possible solution could be “Blizzard Bags.” These are packets of grade-specific activities that must be completed and submitted to teachers upon resumption of school. They are meant to encourage learning and incorporate learning opportunities outside of the classroom. These bags are not a replacement to snow days, schools that use them intend them to forestall adding on school days after the allotted snow days have been exhausted. This is an example of one school's blizzard bag.

                                                     

Do you like this idea? A few Fort Banks and Cummings parents liked the idea too. Here is what needs to happen before we can do this:

·      Attend the Monday, January 6 School Committee meeting at 6pm and make your support known for a Blizzard Pack during the public comment period.

·      Ask the School Committee and Superintendent if Blizzard Packs would be acceptable to be used to fulfill Department of Education school year requirements if we’ve exhausted our allotted snow days.

Feeling Cooped Up? Snow Day Idea.

As we are all about to spend a second snow day and our fourth day at home, I'd like to share an idea to break the boredom. There can only be so many board games, card games and arts and crafts that a child and parent can do without eventually turning into whining puddles.

Make a boredom jar. Take a jar or in my case, an empty cardboard oats container. Cut up slips of paper.  Write tasks. In my case, I wanted my children to get some chores done too. I made sure that I had an equal number of work tasks as fun tasks.

Here is a list of some of the tasks that went into the jar:

• Do jumping jacks for 60 seconds
• Go brush or pet Chester, our dog
• Call any grandparent
• Empty the missing sock sack and match as many socks as you can
• Pick up all clothes off your bedroom floor and put them away
• Do three sets of wacky jacks (they're jumping jacks that look something like some of the moves from Shirley Temple doing the Good Ship Lollipop routine)
• Remove all toys found in the living room
• Watch one 30 minute TV show
• Play one computer game 
• Give [insert your name] a hug
• Draw picture for Mommy to take to work
• Empty all the waste paper baskets
• Empty the dishwasher
• Turn on music and show me the Dougie. Parents, this is the step by step to the Dougie. Can't dance? These folks might inspire you.
• Read for 30 minutes

Now, it is important that you set some hard rules. You must do the task that you draw. No throwing it back and trying to draw a more interesting one. 

Do you have ideas? Post them to the comments below.

Support for Traffic and Pedestrian Safety - 2/15 Town Council Meeting

One of our Gorman Fort Banks parents, Scott Kinsella, would like you all to be aware that he will be attending the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, February 15. He hopes to make the Council aware of the ongoing issues of traffic and pedestrian safety along Kennedy Drive and request a short term solution as the town pursues an access road. As parents, we are all concerned about the safety of our children. We hope you will have the time to attend to show your support. Below is Mr. Kinsella's request to the PTO:

There is a Town Council meeting tomorrow night at 7.  I feel strongly we present the petition to the Council, along with a packet of information (I will print)...

1)  The Dave Hickey letter sent home in the backpacks in December.

2)  My emails to the Manager from June '10 and the one's from last week.

3) The picture of the truck blocking traffic taken last week (I had 20 color copies made).  I am working on a poster-size one so it can be seen on TV.

The link to the agenda for the meeting is below.  The public comment is at the very beginning (that way we can leave once we've said our piece).  I don't want to do this unless we can get some bodies there and we all stand up together.  I think the situation at the school Friday morning where the firetrucks had trouble getting down the road is a great catalyst for a broader discussion with the council.

http://www.town.winthrop.ma.us/Pages/WinthropMA_Calendar/S02EA5B5C-02EA5B8C.0/doc20110211115542.pdf

My home email is sckinsella@yahoo.com

Let's do this...

Coffee Hour with Mrs. Pearson

Due to today's school closure, the Coffee Hour with Mrs. Pearson is postponed until February 16th from 6:30 to 7:30 in the Multipurpose Room

School is Cancelled! PTO Meeting Rescheduled

School has been cancelled for Wednesday, January 12. Our PTO meeting has been rescheduled to Wednesday, January 19th at 8:30 am.

Have fun and watch out for the snowmen. They know how to stay stone cold in the face of a punch!

see more funny videos

PTO Meeting and Snow

Our PTO meeting is still Wednesday, January 12 at 8:30 am in the cafeteria. But! If Winthrop Schools are delayed or canceled, the meeting will be rescheduled. Please stay tuned to this site for updates.

As a reminder, the Winthrop Public School policy is as follows (click here for the full text):

When extreme weather or emergency conditions develop, the Superintendent can cancel school.

When schools are closed in the morning, they will remain closed all day. Every effort will be made to utilize the Connect Ed Parent/Guardian Notification System in conjunction with the notification to the T.V. and radio stations. The “NO SCHOOL” announcement will be made beginning at 6:30 A.M. over radio and T.V. as follows:
WBZ-TV, Channel 4 WCVB, Channel 5 WHDH, Channel 7
WRKO-AM, 680 WROR-FM, 105.7 WBUR-FM, 90.0
WMJX-FM, 106.7 WFXT (Fox 25)

PLEASE DO NOT CALL FIRE OR POLICE DEPARTMENTS OR THE HOME OF ANY SCHOOL PERSONNEL as this only delays making announcements and ties up the telephone.
Under normal conditions, once school is in session there will not be any early dismissals. This is to protect those children whose parents are not at home. However, parents should have some arrangement by which a child can be supervised if conditions become such that children and teachers must be dismissed. Any parent can, when conditions are bad, come to school and have their child dismissed.

Cookies and Snow

Although it's not supposed to blizzard here in Winthrop, the snowy conditions in the rest of the country have delayed our cookie delivery. Stay tuned to the blog for delivery and pick up time updates.