April 2006 PTO Letter - Spring is Here!

After the long, cold winter it’s great to finally feel the warm sun on our faces! The kids are all headed outdoors to enjoy their spring sports and play with their friends!

The Nixon school is once again actively involved in organizing activities for the METCO students and their cooperating families. On March 2nd, Nixon hosted the annual Nixon/Noyes METCO Family Dinner for METCO families and their Sudbury host families. Good food and good company were enjoyed by all! Monthly play dates involving arts and crafts as well as games are also happening. Special appreciation goes to Patty Greene and Katina Fontes, our METCO co-chairs, for organizing these events and bringing these families together.

Thanks so much to the many parent volunteers and student scientists for their support and dedication to the Nixon Science Fair. We had our biggest turnout yet with over 260 students participating! We can thank our amazing co-chairs, Melissa Rowe and Beth Winograd, for organizing this successful event! We also had a wonderful team of parent volunteers who worked with Melissa and Beth to get the Science Fair off the ground. Many thanks go to these dedicated committee members for spending countless hours coordinating our record number of participants. A big thanks also to all the Nixon teachers and staff members who helped support the Science Fair as well. The participation of so many people in the Nixon community truly made this a special evening for everyone.

March was another busy month with our Educational and Science Enrichment committees. On March 16th, all Nixon students were treated to a fun-filled musical production by Jack Sprat Low-Fat. The play focused on raising students' level of understanding of good eating habits. Also in March, our Nixon 1st graders got busy with Rhythm Kids. This musical program taught kids about the ancient art of drumming and rhythm. Our 2nd graders will go "buggy" when Bugworks visits Nixon on April 27th and 28th. Be sure to ask your kids about this exciting science program using live bugs. In addition, our 5th graders will be participating in a program to learn about early colonists in the Bay area. The costumed colonist will interact with the kids as they teach them how to play early colonist games.

The Nixon community is celebrating Read Across America this spring in a new and exciting way. Our students are participating in Read to Feed, a program of Heifer International. Read to Feed promotes literacy while giving students a way to set off a chain reaction of positive change around the world. Students ask reading sponsors to help raise money to buy gifts of livestock for impoverished families. Families who receive an animal repay the loan by passing on one or more of their animal’s offspring to other families in need. Soon one gift multiplies throughout the community. Encourage your child to pick up a book and happy reading everyone!

B I N G O! Nixon’s fun-filled Bingo Night is fast approaching on Friday, April 7th so hurry and order your tickets! Our fundraising committee has been hard at work organizing this wonderful event and it’s sure to be an entertaining evening for the entire family. Volunteers and donations are still needed so please check the website for further details. Hope to see you all there!

We may only have three more months of school left but they’re jammed packed with lots of interesting PTO sponsored events! Our annual Spring Book Fair will be held May 1st–5th. This is a perfect opportunity to order books for your child’s summer reading. We’re hosting our annual Teacher Appreciation Luncheon on May 10th. The General John’s March, All-School Picnic and Slideshow presentation will be held on June 21st. Additional information will be coming soon about these events, so be sure to check the website in the coming weeks.

Finally, we are looking for volunteers to fill open committee positions on the PTO next year. Please check the Thursday Notices in the coming weeks to see how you can get involved! Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about committee responsibilities, or if you have special skills and wonder how you can help! Being part of the PTO is a terrific way to support your child’s school experience and to work with some great parents and teachers at Nixon School. We have a place for everyone’s interests and talents. Please consider joining us!

Our next PTO meeting is April 6th at 9:15am in the Art Room. We hope that you will join us. Enjoy April vacation with your families and friends!

Tracie Nathin and Deidra Vingers
PTO Co-Chairs

Spectacular Science Fair!

The fourth annual Nixon PTO Science Fair was held on March 22nd and was a great success! With an impressive 264 students participating, we had the highest enrollment ever! Congratulations to all the students for their enthusiasm and scientific spirit! Thanks to all the parents for supporting the kids in such a meaningful way!

Students from Kindergarten through 5th grade turned out to exhibit their science projects. The experiments and displays were superb! From Fizzical Reactions and Potato Electricity to Thirsty Leaves and Mousetrap Cars – we had it all! Each project was visited by a Scientific Reviewer, who asked questions, allowing the children to show off their discoveries and knowledge. In addition, several hundred guests wandered the hallways, admiring and appreciating the imaginative projects. Each young scientist received a certificate and an award to commemorate the event.

The evening was capped off by a fun and challenging Science Trivia led by Rachael Robiner, and Jeff Klofft’s spectacular Slide Show. The drinks, snacks and treats available at the Bake Sale table were much appreciated, too.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered on the night of the Fair, including the Boy Scouts of America; your help enabled us to run a successful event, but more importantly, to give the students and their projects the attention they deserved.

Thank you also to Janet Jennings, Pam Nyangoni and all the library volunteers for devoting library time to the Science Fair. You did a phenomenal job generating excitement and helping kids come up with great project ideas. Also, Betsy Mosher of the Goodnow Library deserves recognition. She generously devoted her time and all the library’s resources to host the first annual, community-wide Science Fair planning day.

Special thanks go to the dedicated members of the Science Fair Committee. This group, working together for the fourth year, deserves recognition for dedicating so much time and effort to make the Science Fair a reality! A HUGE thank you to:

It has been a pleasure working with you. We really couldn’t have done it without you!

Melissa Rowe and Beth Winograd
PTO Science Committee Co-chairs