Brown Bears

Dear Families,

In the coming weeks, several of our classes will be meeting virutally with our artist in residence, Joe Pimentel. Our wonderful Art teacher, Michelle Parven, was able to secure a grant from NEF and PTO to allow us an artist in residence to come to Brown. He will be working with students to develop sketches for a large mural across the back wall of our front foyer. I'm excited to see what students create with Joe! He will be here the last week of March to bring students' amazing ideas to life.

Joe Pimental Art

Best,

Aidan McCann, Principal

1 - FOOD DRIVE

Our PTO is coordinating a food drive to support the Natick Service Council from Monday, October 17th to Friday, October 28th. All canned or boxed donations can be brought to school and classes will tally how much has been brought in. The focus of this effort is to help our community and educate students about the topic of food insecurity. A large percentage of our community qualifies for free and reduced lunch. This combined with the fact that food prices continue to rise makes the topic all the more relevant, timely and important. Our Literacy Specialist, Susan Kennedy, along with our Library Para, Sarah Eastham, are working on putting together titles of books that address the issue of food insecurity as well as "helping your community."

2 - ADHD AWARENESS MONTH

October is ADHD Awareness month! Please take a moment this month to consider folks in our

community who live with ADHD. Although each person with ADHD is a unique individual, there

are similarities. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects approximately 10% of children according

to the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html). Certainly, we all work to manage

our attention and impulsiveness at times (long meetings come to mind). Our students with

ADHD find that regulating attention is so difficult that it affects their learning, playing, and

development. Executive Functions are also a significant problem and getting things done,

organizing materials and activities, and managing emotions can be difficult. It is important to

remember that our children’s brains are still developing and the prefrontal cortex which

regulates these skills is not fully mature until early adulthood. Parents can expect messy

bedrooms for a while!

Interested in more information about ADHD? Please follow this link.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/documents/adhdfactsheetenglish.pdf

3 - HALLOWEEN

Many families have already asked if we will be continuing with our typical traditions on 10/31. While we have started many conversations here at Brown about this particular day, and we will continue these conversations, we will be having our typical traditions here this year. There are no changes this Fall. This means that students may dress up and there will be a short parade on 10/31 at 9:15 out in the front of the school. Families will be asked to stay on the basketball court if they would like to view the parade. Costumes must follow these guidelines: no masks (we need to be able to see and recognize students), no inflatables, no pretend weapons or blood, no clown costumes, and students must maintain full mobility in case of an emergency.

4 - PICTURE DAY was on October 4th

Picture RETAKES will be on November 21st. Please mark your calendar if your child was absent on October 4th!

5 - PTO EVENTS

I want to point out our PTO events in the section below as there are many optional activities, with some of them taking place this weekend. I want to ensure that all of our families are aware of these community events.

All the best to our families,

Aidan McCann, Principal

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is a volunteer organization made up of parents, teachers and staff with the goal of enriching the educational experience of our children at Brown School. We send out a weekly email newsletter that is separate from this one: please sign up to receive our updates at http://eepurl.com/gCRzwH and follow us at facebook.com/BrownSchoolPto. Questions? Want to volunteer? Contact us anytime at brownptonatick@gmail.com.

Natick Public Schools does not discriminate in employment nor its educational programs, services, and activities based on race, creed, color, age, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, physical and intellectual differences, immigration status, homeless status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Please be aware all electronic communication to and from Natick Public Schools is public record and subject to public disclosure per Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10.

• Title I: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title II
• Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title VI
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title IX
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
• MGL, Ch.76, Section 5: Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 76, Section 5