This Week @ Gates
September 16, 2018
Upcoming Events

  • Monday, 09/17/2018 - PTO Meeting @ Gates Library
  • Tuesday, 09/18/2018 - Picture Day (ask your teacher)
  • Wednesday, 09/19/2018 - No School (Yom Kippur)
  • Monday, 09/24/2018 - Open House, grades 1,5,2,4
  • Tuesday, 09/25/2018 - Open House, grades K, 3, 6
  • Monday - Friday, 09/24 - 09/28 - Book Fair

PTO Meeting is on Monday
7.30 pm at Gates Library

Everybody is welcome to join.

The Agenda:
  • Welcome and Introduction
  • PTO Budget Update and review and vote
  • Event Update
  • Principal’s Report
  • Open PTO Junior Chair Position
  • Misc Updates
A reminder for the Fun Run shirts

Don't forget to send in your Fun Run T-Shirt order form which is due Monday September 17th! If you can't find a form, please download it HERE or you can email Molly Wald directly! 

Not sure what size to order? Sample sizes are in the office.
Gates PTO Scholastic Book Fair

September 24th through September 28th
What is it? We turn our school library into a book store!
We'll receive a wonderful selection of engaging and affordable books, from Scholastic, for every reading level, and all purchases benefit our school!
Students can purchase books for themselves, their families or their classrooms. Parents are welcome to stop by during the day to purchase early holiday gifts! The book fair will also be open in the evening during the open houses!
September 24: 
6:00-6:45pm - Grades 1 & 5 | 7:00-7:45pm - Grades 2 & 4
September 25: 
6:00-6:45pm - Kindergarten & Grade 3 | 7:00-7:45pm - Grade 6


We need volunteers to help with Children's classroom visits to the fair during school hours. Please SIGN UP if you are willing to help. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Jennine Redmond

Reading for pleasure inside and outside of school has real and long-lasting benefits.

See you at the book fair!
Top 10 Reasons Why the Gates Fun Run is Way Better than the Auction

1. The Gates Fun Run is so much FUN!

2. You can quickly and easily earn money for your school electronically online. Pledging takes no time at all.

3. Not only do children get to participate in a Fun Run, but they will learn about MindSpark—a mystery theme combining S.T.E.A.M. skills (Science, Technology️, Engineering, Arts, & Math) with character building.

4. There are no tickets to buy and no classroom baskets to contribute too. This means less hassle for you!

5. Help build a caring community at Gates school. Join the principal, teachers, students and parents to work together to exceed our financial goal.

6. Don’t miss out on the fun incentives, fitness prizes, and nightly challenges for everyone. Who doesn’t love earning a prize?

7. Don’t worry about a babysitter or your weekend schedule, the Gates Fun Run is Friday morning, October 19th!

8. Your kids will love running, walking, skipping, or dancing around a track—all the while earning money for their school.

9. Every single child will participate in the Gates Fun Run.

10. Come cheer your child on and socialize with your friends on Friday, October 19th during the Fun Run. It is going to be a blast!

Check out the Gates Fun Run website to learn more.
Gather Your Coins for the Upcoming ALL FOR BOOKS Coin Drive. Nickels Dimes Quarters and More!

Help us collect spare change during the All 4 Books Coin Drive from 09/14/18 to 09/26/18 . As part of the Scholastic Book Fair, all money raised goes towards purchasing more books for our Classroom Libraries! That means new books for our kids to share!

The All for Books money we collect also helps readers beyond our school and community. Scholastic Book Fairs® matches monetary donations with a donation of up to $1 million in books from The Scholastic Possible Fund, which distributes books to children in need through organizations such as Kids In Need Foundation, Reader to Reader, Inc., and the National Center for Families Learning.

There will be one Giant Jug near the front office where kids can donate spare change.

Last year we raised over a $1000!!, Spare change really adds up!

Help us beat that goal this year and put more books into our classrooms!
Message from Mrs. Knight

I wanted to share some exciting changes in the Gates art program for the upcoming school year. The Gates art program is transitioning from a more teacher-directed curriculum to a learner-directed, choice-based art curriculum. A Choice-Based Art program means students in art will be introduced to and allowed to choose from a variety of centers like drawing, collage, painting, sculpture, fiber, printmaking, and clay. The goal is to offer a program where students are encouraged to assume creative control of their art and art-making processes within an environment designed to support individual inquiry and the development of artistic behavior. In a choice-based classroom, it is the individual student, not the teacher who defines the project. Teachers instead function as facilitators, mentors, instructors, and motivators depending on the observed need, circumstance, and interest of the students.

This change will mesh seamlessly with my current philosophy of using the Studio Habits of Mind as a framework for learning. I have been sharing this change with students this week and they seem very excited to have more control over their creative voice!

If you'd like to read more about choice-based art and the research behind this style of teaching, the Teaching for Artistic Behavior website is a great resource. Other resources include Studio Thinking from the Start by Hogan, Hetland, Jaquith, Winner (featuring my own teaching practice in the Portraits chapter!)

This will be a year of transition, and as I told the students, a new direction won’t be without its hiccups along the way. I hope you will see the benefit of your child(ren) learning to develop their own creative voice in an authentic learning environment. The major shift in understanding I need from the school community is to appreciate child-directed art, as it may be quite different from what you are used to seeing, which has been largely teacher-directed. I also plan to work on units of study from my past curriculum that I feel are essential for all students to experience on the Monday Specials rotation block (⅓ of the year in Art.)

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Thanks in advance for your support with this change!
Gates Enrichment Classes

Registration is open. Sign up online or by calling AB Community Ed office 978-266-2525. 

Grades 4-6
Tuesday mornings 7:30-8:30 am
 
Grades 4 & 5
Taught by parent Ray Mai
Tuesday mornings 7:30-8:30 am
 
Grades 5 & 6
Taught by parent Ray Mai
Wednesday mornings 7:30-8:30 am
 
Grades 5 & 6
Taught by High School Senior Akshay Gowrishankar
Monday afternoons 3:40-4:40 pm
 
Grades 4-6
Taught by High School Senior Akshay Gowrishankar
Tuesday afternoons 3:40-4:40 pm

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