Costumes for a Cause

October 28, 2017
The Gardner News
Doneen Durling 

ASHBURNHAM There were superheroes, gargoyles, princesses, football players, witches, gypsies and cowboys at the annual Halloween Costume Parade Friday, where each student, teacher, and administrator donated a dollar and paraded their garb through the hallways and out the back door of the John R. Briggs Elementary School.

All proceeds were donated to an organization that helps families and children with special needs, and aids in developing programs to address the bullying problem in schools.

Teacher and organizer Kristi DiSalle said, “By making a donation, John R. Briggs is helping Pacer provide opportunities for children and youth with disabilities and also helping Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. The contribution will help keep services free of charge to families.”

According to the website, The Pacer Center is a training and information center for families of children with all disabilities from birth to young adults, across the nation. Parents can find publications, workshops, and other resources to help make decisions about education, vocational training, employment, and other services for their children with disabilities. Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center provides resources designed to benefit all students, including those with disabilities.”

Pacer also provides information, support, workshops and referrals to both families and professionals, provides puppet programs on disability awareness, abuse prevention, and bullying prevention, and also provides programs for Native American, African American, Hispanic/Latino, Somali and Southeast Asian communities. Many of their publications have been translated into Hmong, Somali and Spanish.

Currently, there are more than 6.7 million children with special needs throughout the nation. Pacer does not charge workshop fees to parents of children with disabilities because those parents are already facing high costs as they strive the meet the needs of their son or daughter with a disability.

DiSalle said when asked why she chose Pacer, “When we first started doing the anti-bullying month, I did some research and found Pacer. They are the ones who started Unity Day, which we also do. We use the educational materials they provide, like Spookley the Square Pumpkin, etc., during October for anti-bullying month.”

After the costume parade, students had some time with the School Resource Officers who told them about the importance of Halloween Safety during Trick or Treating this coming Tuesday night 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Ashburnham and Westminster neighborhoods.

Family Veteran's Day Luncheon

The J.R. Briggs Student Council welcomes all students’ family members who are veterans to our Veterans’ Luncheon!

If you are a student’s family member, and a Veteran, we would like to honor you by providing you with lunch! 

The luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 9^th:

Families of 1^st graders at 10:45

2^nd grade lunch starts at 11:10

Kindergarten lunch starts at 11:35

3^rd grade lunch starts at 12:00

5^th grade lunch starts at 12:25

Lastly, 4^th grade lunch starts at 12:50

Each lunch is approx. 25 minutes long.

We all hope to see you there!

Please RSVP to Mrs. DiSalle at

978-827-5750, or email kdisalle@awrsd.org,

by Monday, November 6^th.

Thank you for all you have done!

*The luncheon is for veterans ONLY. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate spouses, unless they are also veterans. No reservations will be accepted after the RSVP date, as the cafeteria must be allowed to prepare for the number of meals they will prepare.

Anti-bullying Puzzle and Display

Take a look at this month's anti-bullying display. 

Students and staff signed puzzle pieces to show that we are all part of making bullying end!

October Events

STAND UP FOR OTHERS WEEK

October 25th is UNITY Day: Make it ORANGE and make it end! Unite against bullying! The JRB community will wear orange to unite against bullying, and classes will read Spookley the Square Pumpkin or another anti-bullying book selected by the classroom teacher. 

Learn more about Spookley here.

Learn more about Unity Day and the Pacer Center here.

KINDNESS WEEK 

Week of October 23rd is Choose Kindness Week

• Positive Post-its — Students write acts of kindness that they perform on post-its that are hung outside the classroom.
• Students read The Monster Who Lost his Mean in Library.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH: DRESS-UP DAY & COSTUME PARADE

Students donate $1.00 and wear a costume to school. The money will be donated to the Pacer Center. By making a donation, we are helping PACER provide opportunities for children and youth with disabilities and also helping PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. The contribution will help keep services free of charge to families.

Below are the guidelines the students heard regarding Dress-Up Day:

• Students can wear their dress-up outfit on the bus but should bring a change of clothes in their bag. Students who do not want to wear their outfit can get changed at school but may have to wait for a while for a free bathroom stall.
• There are no weapons allowed that accompany a dress-up outfit and any weapons that come to school will be held in Mrs. McGrath’s office until the end of the day.
• Please keep scary masks at home and students should not wear their masks on the bus.
• Please, no face painting.
• Any JRB teacher can ask a student to change into their regular clothes if their dress-up outfit interferes with a student’s learning and his/her day-to-day routine.
• Any student that has physical education class with Mr. Berg must bring a change of clothes to prevent damaging his/her “Dress-Up” outfit.
• Please remember that participating in this event is optional and your child can opt not to wear a dress-up outfit.

The “Dress-up Day” parade will occur at 9AM on Friday, October 27th. The students will march out the preschool door at the back of the school and into the doors used for parent pick-up. We will close the back of the school to traffic after preschool drop-off. If you would like to watch the parade, please park your car, walk to the back of the school and stand on the grass on either side of the road.

Dot Day!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Dot Day celebration! 

Here are some of the creations from the students:

Mrs. Fluet's Class

Mrs. Melansen's Class

Mrs. Provost's Class