Please Support the Newton Food Pantry Front Porch Drive: Diapers & Baby Wipes
Many food pantry clients have young children and are in need of diapers and wipes. Please see important details surrounding this critical drive and signup sheet HERE.
Once you signup, all donated diapers/wipes can be dropped off on the front porch of 133 Waban Ave., Waban from May 28th to May 31st. Any questions please email: admin@newtonfoodpantry.org. Thank you for your generous support!
Interested in thanking our crossing guards, bus drivers, and van drivers? Newton Safe Routes to School normally hosts Bus Driver/Crossing Guard Appreciation Day in June each year to thank these important community safety helpers.
This year instead appreciation will be in the form of a photo collage from grateful families all across Newton. If you’d like to participate, make a sign thanking them, hold it up, snap a pic, and email it to newtonsaferoutes@gmail.com by Friday, June 5th. Adults and kids alike are welcome to make signs! Please note that the photo will be shared.
May is National Bike Month. For tips on bike sizing, the ABC’s and helmet fit, visit www.newtonsaferoutes.org.
Are you struggling to pay your rent because you have lost income due to COVID-19?
The City of Newton in partnership with Metro West Collaborative Development is providing three months of rent assistance to qualified individuals and families. Please see the flyer HERE and visit the web page at COVID-19 EMERGENCY HOUSING RELIEF PROGRAM for details and application instructions. The application deadline is June 3, 2020.
This information is also available in Arabic الترجمة العربية ; Chinese 简体中文; Japanese 日本語; Korean 한국어; Portuguese português; Russian русский; Spanish español; Turkish Türk Dili; and Vietnamese Tiếng Việt.
Contact Robyn to begin the process by emailing robyn@metrowestcd.org or calling 617-923-3505 x 5. Translation services available. Applications received after June 3rd will be added to the bottom of the list and considered while funding lasts.
The Newton Public Schools, in collaboration with Newton Health and Human Services, is providing a support phone number for families with children enrolled in our schools. This service is staffed by Newton Public Schools counselors and is designed to support families experiencing food scarcity, housing scarcity, domestic or substance abuse, and other mental health struggles exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The phone number, 617-559-6021, is answered live Monday -Friday from 8:00 am – 3:00 pm and is equipped with voicemail.
Want to help the Newton Food Pantry by doing an at-home craft project?
Consider making and donating cloth face masks that are individually packaged in a ziplock bag for distribution to Food Pantry clients. These mask donations can be dropped off at 36 Metacomet Road or at 61 Ballard Street.
Help them meet their goal of 400 masks!
The Newton Free Library staff have cooked up another exciting week of virtual offerings to help you stay connected and engaged from the comfort of your home.
Calling all Makers and Crafters! Librarians have created an impressive Virtual Makerspace Guide. The guide is broken into sections by age and skill level to get you creating with tools you have at home. The Low Tech section focuses on drawing and fiber arts, the Medium Tech area highlights cooking, gardening, and sewing, and if you’re a High-Tech maker, there are sections on 3-D printing, robotics, and web design. Kids will love the painting, weaving, and puppet projects and tweens and teen audiences can tackle creating personalized Zoom backgrounds, temporary tattoos, and sewing projects.
Virtual Trivia Night. Join on May 14th at 7:00 pm to test your knowledge of books that were made into movies. Library staff will challenge players with questions from a variety of categories on Zoom. One registration per team; the Zoom link will be sent out a few hours before the event.
NEW Adult Events:
Beginner Drawing Studio on May 12th at 6:30 pm. This workshop will help you understand how your brain interprets the world and give you the tools to start drawing fearlessly! Learn new skills and join a community of creative practice. All levels welcome.
Saddle Stitching Booklets: Introduction to Basic Bookbinding on May 13th at 2:00 pm. Learn basic bookbinding as you make simple folded booklets using the saddle stitch with supplies you are likely to have around the house. You’ll see an informational video with step-by-step instructions and be available for questions and support.
Virtual Knitting Circle on May 13th at 6:30 pm. Are you missing your regular knitting circle? Or are you looking for folks to craft with for chat and advice? If so, come join the virtual knitting circle! Whether you’re just starting out, an advanced fiber artist, or somewhere in between, grab your project and come chat.
Generation Zapped Q&A on May 13th at 10:00 am. Learn more about how wireless devices may impact your health by emitting radiation. Watch the movie Generation Zapped anytime before the program on the Library’s Kanopy service, then join the group for a Q&A with Cecelia (Cece) Doucette, Technology Safety Educator and Dr. Judy Tsafrir, a Newton-based holistic adult and child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Registrants will receive an email with the zoom link the day of the event.
Genealogy Resources on May 14th at 11:00 am. Join a brief overview of some online genealogy resources.
Introduction to Citizen Science on May 14th at 12:00 pm. Citizen Science is real science investigation conducted by you the average Citizen! From experiments on the International Space Station to exploring the inhabitants of tide pools there are investigations that will appeal to all ages. Join this workshop to discover how you can become a scientist too! You don’t need a background in science—just interest and enthusiasm!
Don’t Take the Bait – Finding Fact Based News on May 15th at 10:00 am. Learn new strategies to help you sift through what is exaggerated, misleading or completely false to find more accurate information and become better consumers of digital news during coronavirus and in general.
Positive/Negative Space: Drawing for Beginners on May 15th at 2:00 pm. Drawing is a skill anyone can learn. Explore how negative and positive spaces can help shape your drawing skills. Discover some of the tricks and methods taught in art school. All you need is a pencil and paper.
NEW Tween/Teen Events :
Magic the Gathering on Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. Interested in finding a virtual meet up to play Magic: The Gathering after school? Come to Zoom! Moderated by a local Newton South student, please download Magic the Gathering Arena.
Virtual Teen Area on Saturdays at 3:00 pm the Teen Area is going virtual! Use this time to be together at home, ask questions, play games, complete challenges, and craft! This is a librarian-moderated Zoom program hosted for tweens and teens in grades 5-12.
NEW Children’s Events:
Pajama Storytime on May 11th at 7:00 pm. Put on your pajamas and bring your favorite stuffed animal friend to pajama storytime on Zoom! For kids ages 4 and older.
Kids Craft! on Tuesday afternoons, check the Kids Facebook Page for a new DIY craft video for kids age 5-8. The current craft video is creating a nature diary, and on May 12th, they’ll release a video to show you how you can make a cool paper hat!
Kids Poetry Club Do you love discovering new poems? Would you like to listen to a librarian or author reading their favorite poems aloud? Every Thursday you’ll receive the Kids Poetry Club email featuring video links, writing prompts, and reading suggestions for budding young poets. This week we are celebrating the poems from the book Spectacular Science edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins. For kids ages 6-9.
Facebook Challenges for Kids. Each Wednesday and Friday, discover a new activity challenge on the Kids Facebook Page! This Wednesday’s Lego Challenge is Tallest Tower! Friday’s Art Challenge is Simply Silly Collage! Families are encouraged to send a picture of their child’s creation to newtonkids@newtonfreelibrary.net to be shared on the library’s social media. For kids ages 5-8.
Virtual Morning Storytimes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 am. Zoom in for online stories, songs and rhymes for kids 4 and younger.
Wait there’s more! Don’t miss the continuing programming:
Over these past weeks, many parents have developed a deep appreciation for the job that our teachers do each day. Here is a way to say thank you.
By donating to Newton Schools Foundation’s Honor Thy Teacher program in the name of one or more teachers, you can show your appreciation for them AND support your children’s schools.
In recent weeks, NSF directed its resources toward the challenges of COVID-19 with a $85,500 grant for the Newton Public Schools to purchase 300 Chromebooks for students needing access to online learning during school closures. Dollars raised will go to funding grants for promising educational initiatives, professional development and programs that close gaps in opportunity and achievement.
NSF will notify each teacher honored of your gift and share their names with Principals and the Superintendent. A list of honored teachers will appear on the NSF website and in the Newton TAB.
It’s easy to donate online at http://www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org/honor-thy-teacher .
SEL4Newton and Newton Public Schools will be holding an hour-long Zoom Webinar specifically for Elementary School Parents. The panel will address “Parenting in the Time of Corona; How parents can care for the social-emotional needs of their children now and in the coming months”.
A panel of Newton experts will be discussing social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies for parents in this unusual time and with opportunities for you to express your challenges.
To register, click on https://actionnetwork.org/events/sel4newton-webinar-2020-05?source=flyer&
Zoom virtual meeting
May 27th, 7 :00 pm
Join Breathing Room, a FaceBook private group for parents and caregivers of children with special needs. Members may be caring for kids with any kind of special need from subtle to severe.
Cindy Kaplan will be guiding the group with wisdom from Conscious Parenting, her years of yoga practice, and 18 years of experience learning from her daughter, Mira, who has significant special needs. Cindy is a local Conscious Parent and Family Coach with an MA in Psychology. She has been working with parents and families for over 20 years through private practice, workshops, group coaching, and speaking engagements.
No surprise, there will be a deep focus on self-care and learning how to deconstruct generations of patterns and beliefs so that you can free yourselves from guilt, the “shoulds and what ifs”, and ultimately take care of yourselves so that you can truly be the best that you can be for your children.
Please take a look, and share with those you know who could benefit from being a part of a community that will allow them to feel less alone and more whole.
Over these past weeks, many parents have developed a deep appreciation for the job that our teachers do each day. If you are looking for a way to express that appreciation during Teacher Appreciation Week or after, here is a way to say thank you.
By donating to Newton Schools Foundation’s Honor Thy Teacher program in the name of one or more of your children’s teachers, you can show your appreciation for them AND support your children’s schools. NSF will notify each teacher honored of your gift and share their names with Principals and the Superintendent. A list of honored teachers will appear on the NSF website and in the Newton TAB.
Your tax-deductible donation will go towards funding NSF grants for promising educational initiatives, professional development, and programs that close gaps in opportunity and achievement. In furtherance of those goals, in recent weeks NSF directed its resources toward the challenges of COVID-19 with a $85,500 grant for the Newton Public Schools to purchase 300 Chromebooks for students needing access to online learning during school closures.
It’s easy to donate online at http://www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org/honor-thy-teacher or you can mail your donation to Newton Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 590020, Newton Centre, MA 02459. Please be sure to include the names of the teachers and/or staff that you are honoring.
To find out more about the programs NSF funds, visit their website at http://www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org/programs-we-fund.
