On December 5, 2011, there will be a Building Committee Meeting at 8:30 a.m. for a presentation of the playground equipment to be installed on the Druce Street site, followed by a follow up discussion of the roof top structures. As I know that there have been many questions about this issue, I will be sure to update you as any decisions are made.

There is also another Building Committee Meeting scheduled for December 16, 2011 to discuss the parking plan. I know that this is an area of concern both for residents in the immediate Runkle area as well as for the staff members. Please continue to look for updates in the Runkle News.

Related: Boston University Survey of Bullying at Brookline Public Schools

The short iMovie includes footage from two visits to the Druce Street campus this summer:  August 4th and August 25th.  You may have caught a glimpse of the work from the outside as you drove by.  While you tour the inside with this movie, there are a few visual cues that are provided below to let you know where you are in the building:

• The former Kindergarten rooms have an open wall that leads to the courtyard.
• Courtyard has one wall open showing 20% complete and is closed in during the section that shows 33% complete
• The wall where the reinforced concrete is going in is the exterior wall of the new cafeteria
• The Library/Media center has high ceilings and the far wall is split with a purple wall (old library) and the yellow wall (old cafeteria)
• In the 33% portion, you will see that the old gym is being transformed into the multi-purpose room and the area is cleared for the stage.
• In the 20% portion, there is a man scraping off roof tiles to make room for the new Art Room.  In the 33% portion, the Art Room is identified by a yellow wall and is closed in by plastic.
• Portions of the building that were completely gutted previously, you will see now have the steel up ready for the walls to be put up.

The short term goal is to have the exterior up before the cold weather sets in and currently, everything is on target!

Special thanks to the families who created the beautiful Japan-inspired backdrop complete with paper cranes. Thanks also to all of the staff members who were involved behind the scenes over the past month to organize the event as well as setting up and decorating the gym. Micah Mellor also single handedly assembled the stage for the event, which was quite a feat in itself.

Once the stage was set, the students (and some staff members) performed and shared their talents with everyone. It was wonderful to see all of our students shine whether by playing an instrument, singing, dancing, acting, telling jokes, and we even had Runkle’s Dance Crew perform! It was a great event and thanks to all of your support, we raised close to $2000 to benefit Japan’s relief efforts! We will be sending the money to the Japanese Red Cross to allow 100% of the funds to be directed to where it is needed the most in the region. (See Note*) Thank you to everyone who made this event a success!

*Note: Initially the funds raised were going to go to UNICEF, however, as they have received enough donations for their project, the money will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross, which works in concert with the American Red Cross. In this way, we can be sure that the money is directed to where it is needed most in Japan. Once we receive word about how the money was used, it will be reported out to the Runkle Community. Thanks to all who contributed their time, effort, and donations to make this fundraising effort a success.

BOOK FAIR…

Thank you for all of your involvement in last week’s Book Fair!  While we are still in the process of determining this year’s profit, typically, the Spring Book Fair brings in approximately $2,000.  This money along with other funds is used to provide author visits as well as book sets and other specific curriculum-related texts for our library.  There were many selections to choose from and with the new system Scholastic used this year, we will be able to see just what types of selections are preferred by our Runkle Readers.  This will allow us to provide a customized Book Fair through Scholastic next year to help us encourage our students to read even more.  Thank you to all of the organizers, volunteers, and all of our students and families for coming to this year’s Book Fair!

CONCERT…

This Thursday, May 12, 2011, there will be a concert for our fourth and fifth grade musicians.  At 6:30 p.m., our Fourth Grade Chorus and Band will be performing in the Library.  The Fifth Graders will begin playing at 7:30 p.m.  This is a great event to highlight their hard work this year.

MCAS…

This week many of our students will be involved in MCAS testing. While there have been opportunities for students to see what sample questions might be like and to review various test-taking strategies, there are a few simple things that can help our students approach this week with a positive, can-do attitude.  Please remind and encourage your children to do the following:

*Start each day with a healthy breakfast,

*Try to get some exercise in each day…even a short walk can do the trick,

*Be sure to get plenty of rest…at least eight hours,

*Arrive to school on time.

Starting each day well-rested and with the energy of a nutritious breakfast will go a long way to reducing stress that can be associated with taking tests.  Arriving to school each day will also help avoid any last minute rushing around for our students and ensure a calm beginning of the day.

Friday, May 13, 2011…

We will not be holding a K-2 Morning Meeting Assembly on Friday, May 13^th. Instead, our students in K-2 will be involved in a brief run through of the Variety Show and the songs they will sing.  There will not be room in the gym for parents to come and observe at this time.  However, you are invited to join us at the Variety Show on May 19^th at 7:00 p.m. (K-2 performances are first) and you will also have an opportunity to hear the songs from K-2 during the “Sharing” portion of the K-2 Morning Meeting on Friday, May 20, 2011.

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.

Principal

I hope that many of you have had the chance to explore the new website fully.  Special thanks to Paul Smith for redesigning the site making it very user-friendly!  The links to Student Work provide a great opportunity to glimpse at the activities and explorations the students have been involved in at various points in the year.  Special thanks to Jenny Murphy and the classroom teachers for linking the student work to the website for all to see.  Take note of the book reviews from Grade 7, the research on presidents in Grade 1, and the Mystery Mammals exhibit by Grade 3.  There are examples from students in Grades K-7…Grade 8 will be coming soon as well!

This week, we will be holding the annual Spring Book Fair in the Library.  Ms. Gallo-Toth, Diane Ring and Jemelle O’Neill (coordinators) and other parent volunteers set up the Book Fair last Thursday and Friday and it will be unveiled this week allowing our students the opportunity to peruse the collection.  There will be opportunities for students to purchase books throughout the week and there will be an opportunity to buy books after school hours at the Family Night as well.

Katherine Paterson once said, “It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations–something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”  I hope that when you and your children visit the Book Fair this week that your children will find such a book-one that is worthwhile, stretches the imagination, and provides an opportunity to reflect on themselves and their connections to others.

Have a wonderful week…and enjoy a good book!

Sincerely,

Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.
Principal

During the week before break, the Sixth Graders provided us with a glimpse into the past and present through their Living History Museum presentation.  Each and every student did a wonderful job truly embracing the characters of their subjects and showed just how knowledgeable they were by answering questions from the visitors in the museum in character!  Ms. Belle, her colleagues and countless parent supervisors made this a truly memorable experience for everyone…thanks to all for providing this wonderful opportunity!

The day after the Living History Museum, the Library was once again transformed into a theater.  R.E.D. performed its variety show to a roaring, enthusiastic crowd!

Also, on Fri., Apr. 15, Ms. Voros’ class performed a digestion skit during the K-2 Morning Meeting!  Students each played a role and acted out how food is digested and the role that each part, such as the esophagus, stomach, or intestine plays in digestion.

Meanwhile, back on Druce Street, I had another tour of the building. Stay tuned to the website for another short iMovie so that you can track the progress.

There are a number of upcoming events that would be important to put on your calendar as well:

1.   “Let’s Be Honest: Communication in Families that Keeps Kids Healthy” (For 5^th-8^thGrade Parents) -. Join the Heath/Baker communities at Baker on Apr. 28 or the Pierce/Lawrence communities at Lawrence on May 4.  Both sessions are scheduled from 7 to 8:30 pm. To help plan the events, RSVP to June Harris atjharris@brooklinema.gov.

2.  Our Scholastic Book Fair is fast approaching! The Book Fair will take place Mon., May 2 through Fri., May 6.  Details on the Book Fair daily hours will follow soon.  Family Night is Thurs., May 5 from 5pm-7pm. During the week of Apr. 25, students will get a preview of the Book Fair and bring information home that includes the time of their Class Visit.   Please contact Diane Ring ringdi@bc.edu if you are able to volunteer to assist during the Book Fair. Additionally, there will be training for Book Fair Volunteers on Fri., Apr. 29 starting at 9am – more details to come.  Thanks to Teresa and all of our parent volunteers for helping to provide this wonderful opportunity for Runkle!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Sincerely,

Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.
Principal

Reminders

The weather has been more and more inviting as we settle into Spring, which makes it a great time to walk to school or ride your bike if you live close enough to our school.  With the threat of more snow safely behind us for the season, the buses have continued to report to the school in plenty of time to deliver your children to school before 8:00 allowing for timely arrival.  Remember, too, that there are “safe drop off” zones at the corner of Cypress and Walnut.  Please refrain from dropping off students in the middle of the crosswalk on Walnut Street. There is a crossing guard on Walnut Street to help your child walk safely across the street as well.

This Week’s Happenings

Druce Street…Later this week, I will be doing another walk through of the building and will, hopefully, be able to upload a quick iMovie showing the progress on Druce Street over the vacation week!

Living History Museum…On Wednesday, April 13^th, our Sixth Graders will be assuming the role of the person they have been researching under the careful tutelage of Ms. Belle.  A special “Thank you” to all of the parents and teachers who mentored and advised these students for the past few weeks. During the day, the entire school will have an opportunity to wander through the Living History Museum in the Library and ask there remarkable people of history questions about their lives.  That same evening, Sixth Grade parents will have that opportunity as well.  The Sixth Graders have done a remarkable job with this tremendous project and are sure to amaze us all!

Runkle Variety Show… While the actual variety show itself will take place on May 19^th at 7:00 p.m., this week, we will be securing the “acts”.  If your child is interested in participating, please remind them to see one of the following staff members:

Kind.                       Mrs. Paris
Gr. 1                       Ms. Gardner
Gr. 2                       Ms. Kelly
Gr. 3-4                     Mrs. Hahesy
Gr. 5-6                     Dr. Beauchaine
Gr. 7-8                     Mrs. Hollander

I wish each and everyone of you a wonderful Spring Vacation with your family and friends.  May each day be sun-drenched and full of fun!

Sincerely,
Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.

Great work, Everyone!

This week, 2V will be holding an open house as well on March 10, 2011 from 8:00 – 8:30 a.m.

Our 7th and 8th grade Science Teacher Extraordinaire, Chad Pelton, was one of SIX educators to be awarded the National Geographic Grosvenor Teaching Fellowship! Hundreds of teachers apply for this prestigious opportunity-we are all proud that Mr. Pelton has been recognized as a teacher who demonstrates excellence in geographic education.

As a Grosvenor Teaching Fellow, Mr. Pelton will travel on an arctic expedition in June of this year.

Please visit National Geographic to learn more!

This presentation was shared with Eighth Grade families at an earlier meeting this Winter. In this format, there will be a brief presentation of the district’s plan as well as information about Runkle’s implementation of the plan with a Q & A session following.

Upcoming “Coffees”….

• Wednesday, March 23, 2011 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (K-2 Parents/Guardians)
• Tuesday, March 29, 2011 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (3-5 Parents/Guardians)
• Thursday, March 31, 2011 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (6-8 Parents/Guardians)

Reminders will be sent out via ConnectEd.

Our older students will be looking forward to the performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, Runkle’s Winter drama directed by our talented Social Studies teacher, Ms. Hollander!  I have had the opportunity to see our budding thespians in action and I am looking forward to seeing the final production!  You can see Arsenic and Old Lace in the Library on the second floor at the following times:

Thursday, March 10th at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 12th at 7:30 p.m.

Thank you to everyone who attended our first round of grade level coffees!  It was great to see so many of you and I look forward to meeting even more families during the second round of coffees as well.  Please look for the new set of coffee dates in the next edition of the Runkle News!

I would also like to thank the 125 respondents who took the Term II Transition Survey!  I am looking forward to reviewing the responses.  I plan to have a short narrative summary of the results available for review on the website shortly.  Your feedback is very helpful…thank you!

Warmth amidst the winter…

We have had a number of fundraisers this year in addition to the PTO annual fund.  As you will recall, there was a Fall “Yard Sale” to benefit the 8th grade class as they prepare for their trip to New York City in June as well as graduation.  We also had a Karaoke Night for grades 5-8 organized by Ms. Schultz (Thank you, Ms. Schultz!), which raised $500 to offset the cost of the trip as well.  Your support of these events is truly appreciated…thank you!

In addition, we have had a number of student-organized “bake sales” this year such as the one held to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.  On Monday, February 28th, there will be another bake sale in honor of Black History Month and the proceeds will go to the American Negro College Fund.  In this time when the days seem bleakest and when we may feel the need to hold on to all that we have, it is encouraging and uplifting to see our students reaching out to help others.

Sincerely,
Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.

Students in Ms. Paris’s Kindergarten shared their animal research by creating pod casts, which can be viewed by visiting her classroom website.  In conjunction with the instruction of Ms. Gallo-Toth and Ms. Murphy, Ms. Dixon’s First Grade created book reviews.  While they are putting the finishing touches on their podcasts using Garage Band, they will be shared shortly as well.  Students in Ms. Voros’s Second Grade shared their worm research and the illustrations of the Hopi artifacts they had observed on their classroom website as well.  The list can go on and on.  Even our youngest students are making great use of technology in the computer lab and in their classroom and they are able to share their work through the class websites–a great way to keep their parents informed about what is being done in class.

With the upcoming vacation quickly approaching, I wish you all a wonderful break with your family!

Sincerely,

Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.
Principal

The Term II survey link is now active!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PVL28PP

The survey will remain open until 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 21st.  Thank you, in advance, for taking the 5-10 minutes necessary to complete our survey and provide us with your feedback and suggestions!

Sincerely,

Vanessa C. Beauchaine, Ed.D.
Principal

We were the top public school in Brookline and the only one to crack the top 10!

Congratulations to Dan G. who also finished 15th in the individual scores!  We are all proud of our eight students who participated!  CONGRATULATIONS!

Monday, February 14th 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.  Grades 5 and 6

Thursday, February 17th 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Grades 7 and 8.

The next round of Parent Coffees will alternated the time of day.  Coffees for grades K-6 will be held in the evening from 5:30 – 6:30 and the coffee for grades 7-8 will be held in the morning.  We are hoping that alternating these times will help to accommodate all of our busy schedules.

I am hoping to highlight more and more of the student work here and have asked the permission of one of our Eighth Graders to share a poem she has written in conjunction with the “myth” poetry written in Mr. Lown’s class.

A Question

By Maya S.

Sometimes I wonder,
Why I am wearing these wings?
Why am I doing these things
that not for me?

I want to throw off these
heavy,
cumbersome,
choking,
wings,
These expectations
they have for me.

They say that these wings are why
I fly.
And if I try to soar, my wings
may fail me.
Who are they to say
what is flying, what is soaring?
Isn’t the point of life to
break these boundaries?
And be encouraged to?

I don’t care if I take that leap
into the unknown
and my wings fail me.

Because isn’t it better than not taking
that leap,
Just living my life in the same path
Never ripping away my blinders
that are put on me by others
Is that really life?

To me, life is the leap
That moment of risk
I’d rather fall and crash
than never feel anything
at all.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been a number of requests that families have
suggested to improve the current bus routes and reduce the amount of “wait time” for students. I am pleased to report that last Thursday, we were able to make some changes to four different bus routes in an effort to honor those requests.

I would like to thank Mary Murphy who was able to work along with us to provide the following for our students and their families:

• The Beacon, Fisher, and Winthrop AM runs all begin later than previously to shorten the time that students were waiting on the bus before entering the school.
• A stop on the Fisher route, 35 Fisher, was changed to 25 Fisher to provide a better stop for the students to stand safely while they wait for the bus.
• There were many students who were previously on the RUBA bus that were moved to the Beacon bus. This allowed a more even distribution of students across the buses based on who is actually taking the bus as opposed to who we were planning on taking the bus. As a result, we were able to consolidate some of the stops and it has allowed for the buses to arrive slightly earlier on the stops home in the afternoon.

In an effort to make the changes swiftly and provide relief to families in a timely fashion, we utilized the Connect Ed system in order to communicate the changes on Friday morning (October 1st) in advance of the changes, which were in effect as of Monday, October 4th. There were a few email and phone connections that were found to have been sent in error in this regard and for this, I apologize. However, on the whole, this proved to be a very effective method for transmitting an important piece of information quickly.

I would like to thank you for your patience as we continue to streamline our procedures.

Secondly, I would like to thank you for your welcoming calls and emails! I can be easily reached by email vanessa_beauchaine@brookline.k12.ma.us.

I do try to reply to emails in a timely fashion, however, there are times when I may have
many to attend to or when a message may be screened out for some reason. Please feel free to call the school to speak with me if you have something urgent to discuss or if you have not received a response from me.

(Typically, I respond within 24-48 hours to at the very least let you know that I have received your email and that I am in the process of gathering information for you.) I have so enjoyed beginning to get to know some of the Runkle families and I am looking forward to meeting many more of you at the Halloween Fair on October 22nd!