Connect Ed

  Hope you received your Connect Ed message informing families of the cancellation of school due to weather conditions.  We will continue to use this method to notify you of important school and district updates.

Volunteers Needed for Music Night!

Do you like music?  Do you like kids?  Do you like music and kids??  Here’s a chance to experience the sum total of that combination, up close and personal!  If you’d like to spend an evening helping out at the Briggs Holiday Band and Chorus Concert on Thursday, Dec. 15^th (6-8 p.m.), call the school office at 978-827-5750 and let us know.  We’ve got just the opportunity for you!

LOST AND FOUND

We have a very big display of items in the front lobby.  PLEASE come and look!  We can return items if they are labeled with a name.  These items will be donated during the Holiday Break. 

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

  As many of you know, the JRB Holiday concert will be held at Oakmont Regional High School on December 15^th.  This venue allows us a spacious, comfortable environment; we greatly appreciate the ability to hold our concert at this beautiful facility. 

ADMISSION…We are asking every family to help support our December Student Council Project. (see below)

STUDENT COUNCIL

December Project…3 Projects

*Help us support the Leominster Battered Women and Children’s Shelter—we need soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, other toiletries and canned foods.

*We would like to assist the State Police Units.  They are in need of stuffed animals for their cruisers.  Gently used would be great!

 *  Project Paperback…our troops are in need of used paperback books.  Please check your shelves and send them into school. 

Collection Boxes in the lobby and at the concert!

2^nd Grade News…

  During the month of December, the second graders are very busy preparing for the winter holiday.  One unit that is very successful is based on the book The Polar Express written by Chris Van Allsburg.  The story is about a boy that believes in the magic of Christmas and how his faith in the holiday takes him on a magical train ride to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus and select the first gift of Christmas.  As a culminating event to this unit, the second grade classes make candy trains to represent the train in the story.  Some supplies are needed to assemble a train for each child in second grade and the second grade teachers are asking parents to supply these items.  The items needed are rolls of Lifesavers (8-10 candies per roll), Hershey Kisses, packs of gum (5-7 sticks per pack), squares of caramels and round red & white peppermint wheels.  If you are willing to donate any of these items please have your child bring them in by December 19^th.  Thank you for your continued support and cooperation!

NORTH CENTRAL MASS

Sting Youth Lacrosse

Spring Registration

Contact:  Dana Krul, 978-827-7761

John Moorshead, 978-874-1640

If interested in registering for the spring lacrosse league of North Central Massachusetts please pick up registration forms at the Colonial Hotel in Gardner or Cushing Academy Ice Arena Pro Shop in Ashburnham.

Magazine Drive

  Don’t forget our annual magazine drive.  Save those magazine subscriptions to help fund raise for our Student Enrichment fund.

Drive begins:  January 26, 2006 and will end on Monday, February 6, 2006.

FROM THE LIBRARY…

  Thanks so much to everyone form contributing to a very successful Scholastic Book Fair.  Special thanks go to those who volunteered to help set up, take down, and work at the Book Fair.  It was great to see some new faces volunteering.  You are each very much appreciated!

  Funds generated from the Book Fair are used to purchase replacement and new resources for the library, which services the entire school.  Thanks again for all your purchases!

After-School Enrichment Activities…

  Stay tuned!  After the holiday break we will be offering a variety of after school enrichment activities.  Sessions will begin mid-January for six weeks ending late February.  More details to follow!

  Programs to consider:  knitting club, acrylic painting, scrap booking, cross stitching, and making Hawaiian Leis.

  If you have a special skill you wish to share with our students during an after school experience, please contact the JRB Office, 978-827-5750 for more details. 

Boston Coffee Cakes

The orders for the fifth grade Nature’s Classroom fundraiser for Boston Coffee Cakes will be delivered on Tuesday December 20, 2005.  Pick up time is 3:45 to 6:00 p.m. in the main lobby of J. R. Briggs.  Please enter through the Extended Day entrance (main doors will be locked). 

Staying Safe on the Internet………..

Today, with more schools and households than ever having Internet access, it is important for parents to talk with their children about keeping safe while online.  For a list of internet safety tips or for more information, visit www.netsmartz.org.

December –Family Activities

Boston Children’s Museum

  *  Dec. 10 – Kitchen Science; Product Testing

  *  Dec. 17 – Critter Day; Rainforest Reptile Show

Concord Museum

  *  Dec. 1 – Jan 1   Exhibit:  Family Tree

  *  Dec 4, 11, 18   Author and Illustrator Days

New England Wildflower Society

*  Dec. 6-7  Holiday Nature Crafts

Historic Deerfield

*  Dec. 11 – Tea and Revolution

Worcester Art Museum

  Dec. 27-29  Youth December Workshops

  Dec. 31    First Night Worcester:  Arty Gras Festival

Old Sturbridge Village

  Dec. 26- 31  Family Vacation Week

Fitchburg Art Museum

  Dec. 27-29  3-Day Workshops

          Penguin Paradise

          Draw, Paint and Sculpt

          Paper, Paints, and Puzzles

          It’s All About You!

Briggs Web Page

You can find the Briggs At Large newsletter, PTO meeting minutes, and other important school announcements at the school's web site. Our address is: www.awrsd.org/jrb.