What’s new with the Hastings PTO

Principal’s Letter

View this week’s message from Hastings Principal Louise Lipsitz.

Vision & BMI Screening For All Grades

Date: October 16, 17, and 20, 2017
Time: Variable
Location: School Nurse

Vision screening for all grades, Hearing screening for K-3, and growth (height and weight/BMI) for grades 1 and 4 will take place by our nurse team. Please be sure if your child wears glasses they have them for their screen. These screenings are not diagnostic but they do identify students who may need further evaluation. Parents are notified if a screening has an abnormal finding. Questions? Please call Ms. Salitsky, Hastings Nurse at 781-860-5800 x 1 or nsalitsky@lexingtonma.org

Hastings Fifth Grade Is Offering Fall Conference Babysitting

Date: Wednesdays – October 25th and November 1st ;  Thursdays – October 26th and November 2nd
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Hastings Gymnasium

Fifth grade students are great babysitters (parental supervision on site). Help the Hastings 5th grade class make money for their yearbook, pool party and moving on ceremony. There will be basketball, jump rope, storytelling, drawing and much more. No advance sign-up required just show up. Siblings welcome too.

Cost is $5.00 per ½ hour per child, $15.00 family cap

Email with questions. Be sure to check out the Fifth Grade page for volunteer openings.

Hastings Halloween Party – Friday October 27

Date: Friday, October 27, 2017
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Hastings Gymnasium and more

Join us for the Halloween Party on Friday, October 27, 2017 from 6:30-8:30 at Hastings! Hosted by Hastings Fifth Graders, this party will feature games, story telling, pizza and other sweet treats! Bring the family and wear a costume. Admission is $5 per person, or $20 per family.

Fifth grade parents: You and your child are expected to volunteer for this event to make it a success! Choose a timeslot for you and your child via the SignUpGenius forms on the Fifth Grade Activities page. There are many open slots for coordinator positions that need to be filled soon!

PTO Board votes to endorse Yes! campaign

At the PTO Board meetings last week we discussed the upcoming vote (early December, exact date not set yet) to build a new Hastings, Lexington Children’s Place preschool, and fire station. Subsequently, the PTO Board voted with a large majority to endorse the campaign. Individual endorsements are very much welcomed. The campaign could also really use volunteers to write letters to the editor, host lawn signs, participating in calling voters, hold signs in town center, host a coffee…. Just a small amount of your time can make a big difference! Visit www.yes4lex.org/volunteer.html to sign up. Please email contact@yes4lex.org with any questions you may have.

Dining to Benefit Hastings

Get your friends together and head to Not Your Average Joe’s in Burlington any and every Tuesday in October and they will donate 15% of your check to Hastings. Be sure to mention the fundraiser and show the flyer! Email with questions.

Not Your Average Joe’s – 5 Wayside Rd, Burlington MA (Every Tuesday in October) – View flyer
Bertucci’s – 1777 Mass Ave, Lexington MA (Thursday, November 2nd) – View flyer

Please visit http://hastings-pto.org/fundraising for more information.

LEF’s 22nd Annual Trivia BEE!

Date: Thursday, November 9, 2017
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Lexington High School Auditorium

Hastings is returning for another year so come cheer on the BEE a Hastings Hero team at this years Trivia BEE! Lexington Education Foundation’s (LEF) Trivia Bee is a fun Lexington tradition in which three-person teams compete to answer trivia questions about history, sports, popular culture, science, arts, literature and current events.

• Take on the trivia challenge with your own team. Create and name a 3-member team.
• Sponsor a team of teachers, staff or LHS students. School teams from all 9 schools need sponsors.
• Come and cheer on your school’s teams! Watch the Bee’s Master of Ceremonies, Jeff Leonard, quiz “swarms” of teams, and see which team will be named the 2017 “Masters of Trivia!”

Register, sponsor or learn more at LexEdFoundation.org/trivia-bee

Lexington Education Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that brings the community together to support the Lexington Public Schools in fostering innovation in teaching and learning to provide our children a world-class education.

Calling All Box Tops!

The deadline for the fall submission, October 20th, is quickly approaching. Please drop off your Box Tops in the shoebox on the table at the entrance of school. It’s an easy fundraiser for the Hastings PTO, and each Box Top for Education is worth $0.10. Check the bottom of those bulk Costco packages too.

Marker Recycling Program

Hastings now collects old plastic-barrel markers (magic markers, sharpies, dry erase markers,
highlighters, etc.) of all brands from families and teachers/staff as part of the Crayola ColorCycle program! Items are shipped to Crayola (at the company’s expense) and converted into clean-burning transportation fuel and electricity, as well as a wax compound for asphalt. There is a collection bin by the lobby PTA table. Thanks to teacher Jennifer Greenstein for coordinating this program! Here’s a cost-saving eco tip – dried up markers can often be revitalized or turned into water color paint at home (prior to recycling)! Click on the links below for instructions.

Revitalizing Dried Out Markers
Turning Dried Out Markers Into Watercolor Paint

SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND OTHER UPDATES

If you’d like to stay updated on school building projects and other community updates (sports teams, club registration as well as community posts), please join the Hastings Families Google Group at http://bit.ly/HastingsFamilies.

School Committee Meetings

Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Selectman’s Meeting Room, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue.

UPCOMING MONTH’S CALENDAR

View all upcoming events online at hastings-pto.org/pta-calendar/ and save to your Google Calendar.

Bulletin submissions are due on Mondays by 12:00 pm and should be made online.