Hi Aiken Families,

We hope you all enjoyed a nice weekend. We apologize for the eblast delay, the site had some issues.

  21 days until spring. We all made it through the winter! And so thankful we have managed to continue to keep our kids in full time. Thank you to the teachers and staff for continuing to be the superhero's our kids need.

Almost there, I hear the birds chirping.

Do you ever wonder where some of the funds raised by the PTO goes?

Among many other things, we contribute to several, important West Harford foundations.

The safe grade celebrations for both Hall and Conard High Schools

and

The Foundation for West Hartford Public Schools . This foundation gives WH teachers the opportunity to submit grant requests, while awarding over $20,000 in grants yearly. This year they received  51 applications for the special grant cycle. Although they initially committed $20,210 to this cycle, they awarded a total of $32,837 for 28 grant programs. HOW AMAZING!!!!

Bellow are the grant summaries for Aiken

Aiken

Alexander M. and Catherine Maus Wright Grant: Masterclass for String Players
Angelica Ansbacher, Lead Teacher

String students in grades 4 and 5 will have the opportunity to perform for and receive feedback from professional string musicians (a violinist, a cellist and a bassist) via Google Meets during their lesson. These professionals will be able to provide greater insight into key string concepts: instrument position, bow technique and note reading. At the end of the lesson, the professionals will perform and provide question and answer time for the students.

Heather Congdon Memorial Grant: First Grade Science
Catherine Woods, Lead Teacher & Daniela Sturm, Lisa Horan

Local science centers in Connecticut have created virtual programs that directly correspond to the West Hartford Science curriculum and the National Science Standards. Students in the first grade at Aiken will participate in three of these virtual programs beginning in February and finishing in April. These programs will produce an excitement for learning and a much-needed change to classroom instruction during this unprecedented year. During the first program, students will see how vibrations make sound, see how it moves, and hear a sonic boom.  Then they will also experience a live multimedia interactive show on the Life of Plants that will  include real-time, explanation-based demonstrations and handouts for students to follow along during the show or participate in live games. The third program, Animal Adaptations & Habitats, will introduce students to the Wildlife Sanctuary animals and explore the unique ways they have adapted to meet their specific needs. Students will compare similarities and differences between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.

Thank you to all Aiken families who participated in the read-a-thon. As a school we read a total of 110,840 minutes. There was a total of $5,130 in donations.  Mrs. Mlodzinski will announce the winning class with the most minutes read.

Aikens Cookbook

 Lets celebrate the amazing diversity we have at Aiken.

Do you have a recipe your family has enjoyed? A recipe unique to your background, one passed down from generations?

We would love to share it!

Please send in your recipe so we can create a special cookbook for Aiken.

Fill out the form below for your chance to be in the first Aiken Community Cookbook. Pictures are welcome and encouraged.  Submit the  attached form back to tina_provenzano@icloud.com

Be on the look out for our next fundraiser.

Pottery DIY Kits from the Claypen 

PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE

As you probably know, parent/teacher conferences are coming up next month.  Even though these will still be virtual the PTO is hoping to show our support and appreciation to our teachers by providing some snacks/breakfasts/lunches throughout the week.  If you are able to contribute to this effort, please Venmo @Abiah-Ruel  (Aiken PTO Co Vice-President) and write your child’s grade(s) in the subject line – you can also send in cash or check made out to Aiken PTO and send it into the office.  We are asking that all contributions be sent in by March 1^st.  Thanks so much for your continued support of Aiken School!

Aikens Got Talent

We are now accepting video auditions to the third annual Aiken’s Got Talent show!  Last year’s virtual show was a hit, and we can’t wait to see the talent that is on display this year!  Please submit all videos to Abiah Ruel at abiahruel@gmail.com by March 31.  The Talent Show will, again, be virtual and we plan to put it out sometime in May.  Please keep in mind that, in the interest of time, all talent show submissions cannot exceed 2 minutes.  Please feel free to email Abiah with any questions.

Community of Concern

The joint Hall/Conard/Sedgwick/King Philip PTO committee, in partnership with YWCA New Britain, presents an Internet safety educational program for families, “Keeping Children Safe Online”: YWCA three-part online series, starting on March 1 (Social Media), March 2 (Gaming), and March 3 (Pop Culture). Each part is a one-hour live program from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  For more information. See the YWCA flyer below.

 Registration is required. Click here for registration.

You can sign up for all three parts or for any part which you would like to attend.   

 For questions, contact: prevention@ywcanewbritain.org or whcommunityofconcern@gmail.com

Black History Month

SAVE THESE DATES

March 8th to March  12th. 

Conference week. Dismissal EACH day will be 2:00.

 March 18th. 

School Pictures

March 30

Clay pen orders due

 April 2.

No School Good Friday

 April 12 to April16th.

  No School Spring Break

 May 6.

Barre Event. See attached flyer

Have a great week Aiken,

Amy and Sabrina