This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Health and Wellness: Please join us for our first Health and Wellness Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 6th from 7:30am-8:15am in Room 208 (Upper School).
• School Parent Council (SPC): The first School Parent Council (SPC) meeting will take place on Wednesday October 7th from 6pm-8pm in the Lower School Cafeteria. All families are members of the SPC and are encouraged to attend these meetings. Principal Grassa will welcome all families and speak at the start of the first meeting this year.
• Columbus Day: There will be no school on Monday, October 14th in observance of Columbus Day. We hope you enjoy the long weekend!
• Music Donation: Ann DeGeorge, Curley Parent, has secured a large music grant to fund supplies and materials to support our new music teacher Melanie Bourgeault. The Ernie Boch Foundation will be here on Thursday at noon to present Ms. Bourgeault with the materials and to meet students. Thanks to Ann for caring about our students and music education!
• Fall Fling Raffle Ticket Sales: The School Parent Council (SPC) will host the 9th Annual Fall Fling on Friday, October 16th. We need your help selling raffle tickets for the Fall Fling! There are three large prizes that can be won: iPad Mini, Xbox, $300 Bike from Ferris Wheels. Tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. If you are willing to buy or sell tickets please contact Kristin Jurkoic at kjurkoic@yahoo.com. All proceeds go directly toward funding arts programming at the Curley such as Community Music Center and BalletRox.
• Terra Nova Testing: Between September 28 – October 6, 2015, the TerraNova (3rd edition) in Reading and Mathematics will be given in grades 3, 4, and 5 to determine eligibility for AWC. You will receive your child’s results later this fall.
• Open House: Thank you to all the families who came out to our Open House this past Thursday. It was great to see you all and we look forward to a great school year!
• Principal Breakfast: Thank you to all the families who participated in our first principal breakfast of the year! If you have ideas for these monthly meetings please email your thoughts to Leah Barcan at lbarcan@gmail.com.
• BOKS: The Curley Before School Program is pleased to announce that we will be incorporating a physical activity initiative of Reebok and the Reebok Foundation called BOKS. This program is aimed to get elementary school aged children moving in the morning and their brains ready for a day of learning. We were selected as one of 45 Boston public schools to receive funding to run BOKS as part of our before school program for the 2015-2016 school year. The funding covers a BOKS curriculum (which will run 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), BOKS equipment, a BOKS t-shirt for each child, and trinkets as incentives/rewards for students who excel. We have also been selected as a BOKS/Boston Bruins School. This recognition includes participation in a BOKS/Bruins Launch event as well as features in a digital and media print.
• Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB): We are excited to share a new Community Music Center of Boston opportunity taking place in our neighborhood at the Mission Hill School in Jamaica Plain this year. The choral satellite program called Sing It! will have weekly rehearsals on Thursday afternoons from 3:30-4:45 in the Mission Hill School auditorium. This is a community chorus that is open to all members of the local community, including Curley students in grades 4-6. The chorus is also open to motivated and mature 3rd graders who love to sing. The first rehearsal will take place on October 8th and we hope to see you there! Please contact Jennifer or Matt at 617-482-7494 or email Matt at bailin@cmcb.org for information on how to register. Walk-in registrations with payments will also be accepted on our first day. Be sure to ask us about financial aid and payment plan options–our goal is to make this opportunity accessible for all who want to participate. Feel free to forward to your friends and neighbors–the more the merrier!
• Picture Day: School pictures will be taken on October 27th (K-5) & 28th (6-8). More information will be sent home to families. Click here to print your order forms in advance (K-5 here, 6-8 here) and contact Mr. Diaz with any questions ddiaz@bostonpublicschools.org.
• Arrival and Dismissal: Please keep in mind that the doors open at 8:15am and the official school day begins promptly at 8:30am. Please make sure to have your child arrive on time for the start of the day. Dismissal begins at 2:25pm. We are asking all families to remain outside at dismissal. We are also asking families to not release students after 1:45pm. It makes for a hectic dismissal and is disruptive to classroom learning.
• Social Media: For up to date information about the Curley K-8 School please sign up for email alerts by joining the Mailing List. You can also follow Principal Grassa on Twitter @principalgrassa and be sure to always use the hashtag #curleycares when sharing/posting/tweeting information about our school.