Fun family 5K Run or Walk for a great cause!

Fun family 5K Run or Walk for a great cause!

Join us at the Fit Together 5K on Sunday, October 4^th. This event celebrates each person’s ability to be healthy regardless of fitness level or mental, physical, or intellectual challenges. All proceeds from this family-friendly event will support Fit Together, a unique wellness center in Hadley where people with emotional, cognitive, and physical disabilities transform their lives through exercise and good nutrition.

Every participant will get a free t-shirt and a $7 gift certificate to Bueno y Sano. Great prizes including restaurant gift certificates, gym memberships and massages will be raffled. The race starts on the Hadley Town Common at 10:00 a.m., rain or shine, with day-of registration beginning at 9:00.

Family rate and scholarships available. For more information, please go to: www.fit-together.org or call 584-1508

APPLE HARVEST FESTIVAL

Amherst A Better Chance
38th Annual Fall Foliage Walk
Oct 17, 2009
9AM Registration on Amherst Town Common
10:30 Walk begins
11:45-1:45 Barbecue and Activities
For more information call (413)687-3383
or visit www.amherstabetterchance.org

Mark's Meadow Open House

Hi everyone!!!

Just a reminder that Mark's Meadow will have Open House the Wednesday night from 6-8. Please remember to bring your Stop & Shop and Big Y cards so we can sign you up for the year!!

Also make sure you check the classroom directories in each class. We want to make sure there are no mistakes so we can get them out to you very quickly.

Amherst's 250th Anniversary Parade: We need your help!!!

Amherst Education Foundation 15th Annual Trivia Bee

CREATE A TEAM AND JOIN THE FUN

Each year, community members gather to show how many trivial details they have kept in their brains, on a variety of topics! It's that time of year, yet again.

The Amherst Education Foundation is busy working to organize our Annual Trivia Bee fundraiser. We invite you to sponsor a team. A donation to sponsor a team is only $175.00 which assists us in funding grants that directly benefit the students in the Amherst, Leverett, Pelham, and Shutesbury schools.

The AEF’s mission is to support our public schools in providing a challenging and enriching educational experience that maximizes the learning potential of every student and prepares them to succeed in the 21^st century.

We can provide you with a copy of the Trivia Bee rules if you are interested in sponsoring a team from your business or we have a number of individuals who would be happy to have you sponsor them. A number of the teachers and local trivia buffs love to compete in the contest and your sponsorship makes all the difference.

We look forward to having you and your team join us on Thursday, October 29^th, 2009 at 7:00 PM at the Amherst Middle School auditorium for a fun night of trivia, prizes, and refreshments! All payments are due by October 1^st, 2009 and can be mailed to:

Amherst Education Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 2237
Amherst, MA 01004

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Becky Demling at 413-230-3306 or beckydemling@yahoo.com. You can also use the above handy document to enter right away.

Wednesday Sept 16, 2009 Whole Foods 5% to Farm to School

Dear Friend,

 

If you sometimes shop at Whole Foods in Hadley, please consider shopping there Wednesday Sept. 16.  The store will be donating 5% of the day's sales to the Mass. Farm to School Project, to help support Mass. Harvest for Students Week this month.  Thanks so much to Anne Walsh-Sullivan at Whole Foods for making this generous gesture! 

 

We've come a long way: 205 public school districts in Mass. reported they preferentially purchased locally grown foods for their student meals during the last school year, and more than 60 local farms sold directly to schools and colleges.  But we still have plenty of work to do, including getting the Amherst schools on board.  It seems like Amherst is sliding backwards as many other districts are moving ahead. 

 

The Amherst school food service director reports she isn't preferentially serving local foods anymore and "can't" buy from local farmers, only approved vendors.  We're doing worse now than when Chartwells was buying token amounts from Czajkowski Farm in Hadley.  Atkins Farm has indicated they would like to sell peaches, pears, apples from their orchards to the school district and they've been told it's not possible, because they're not approved vendors.  I don't think the current superintendent is aware of previous efforts to improve the school meals by using fresh locally grown items.

 

We've not yet raised all the funds we need to meet this year's budget, so any help you can offer is much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 Kelly Erwin, former WW parent

http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/

Interview with Dr. Alberto Rodriguez

Clare Bertrand, Crocker Farm parent and member of the Crocker Farm PGO, has shared a questionnaire filled out by our new school superintendent. We have posted it here for your information.

SPOTLIGHT on our new Superintendent: Alberto Rodriguez

What you want us to call you:

Alberto or Dr. Rodriguez
Where did you graduate high school?

Coral Gables Senior High School, Coral Gables, Florida
Best memory from high school:

My friends
What was your favorite subject in school?

History
Tell us about your family:

I have been married to my best friend, Maria, for over 23 years and we have two daughters, Madison and Danielle. They are 20 and 19 years old, respectively, and are both in college.
What are you reading right now?

Primal Teen. It tells us a lot about the adolescent brain and how it works. It explains a great deal about why adolescents do the things they do.
And what would you recommend to read?

Millennials Rising: The Next Generation by Neil Howe, William Strauss and R.J. Matson. This gives educators and the general lay public an insight into this transformational generation.
What is your favorite movie?

I have many, but I’ll name a few: The Godfather (I), Jaws (I), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
What do you consider comfort food?

Italian food
What is one thing you miss from your home in Florida?

My family, friends and house
How would you describe your leadership style?

There are several aspects of it: Facilitative, Distributive, and Delegative
What is one thing that really sets you off?

When adults lie.
What is one thing that you really love about education?

When a child’s life is turned around because of an outstanding teacher or a successful program.
If you were the US Education Czar, what big idea would you introduce?

It’s not a big idea—just replicate and fully-fund programs and initiatives that work and discontinue those that don’t work. Additionally, fully-fund early childhood education to the extent that all children have access to quality Pre-K.
How do you relax?

Reading, traveling and spending time with my family
Do you have a favorite sport?

Baseball
Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Eating food that I shouldn’t eat.
What surprises you the most about Amherst so far?

How such a liberal community can be so resistant to change.
If we want to talk with you, what is the best way?

Through my fantastic assistant, Debbie Westmoreland. westmorelandD@arps.org

Tonight! Join the fun & help paint our parade banner!

Wondering about the Amherst 250th Parade on Sunday September 27, 2009 at 1:00 pm?  Yes, you can be part of it!

Thanks to parent Becky Demling from Crocker Farm, families from Crocker Farm, Fort River, Mark’s Meadow and Wildwood schools are helping organize a walking float to celebrate the impact the town Libraries have on all children’s lives!

Tonight (Wednesday Sept 9) at the Back to School Potluck please plan to help paint our Mark's Meadow banner!  And find out more how you can march for Mark's Meadow!  The parade will be filmed so you'll be a part of Amherst history!

See Alisa Brewer tonight at the potluck for more info!

Back to School Potluck

Hi everyone!!! It's that time of year again! All the kids are back to school and it is time to come together and celebrate!! We will be having our Back to School Potluck Wednesday Sept. 9 from 5:30-7PM. As a suggestion, we are asking families of students from different grade levels to bring certain kinds of dishes so we have plenty to share:
K-2 Appetizers
2-4 Main dish
5-6 Dessert

If you have children in more than one grade, please bring what you can. The PGG will provide drinks and paper goods. Also, if you could come a little early to help set-up or stay late to clean up, that would be most appreciated!!!

Thanks everyone and WELCOME BACK!!!