Dear Bates Families,
Nearly a year ago, we held the first Magnificent Day of Play at Bates. We were inspired to plan our first Magnificent Day of Play after watching the short film
Caine’s Arcade. If you have not yet seen this film, you can watch it here:
Caine’s Arcade. For our Magnificent Day of Play, we invited all students to spend the day building anything they can dream up using cardboard, recycled materials and creativity. It was a huge success!
Since then, we have shared the story of our Magnificent Day of Play with attendees at the Wellesley STEM Expo last spring and in our work with other schools across the district. The success of our Magnificent Day of Play in providing our students with a valuable opportunity to create, collaborate, communicate with others, think critically, persevere, and have fun has inspired other Wellesley schools to have their own Day of Play this year, too.Our second Magnificent Day of Play will be held on
Wednesday, December 9. We will start our planning with students at our Community Meeting on Friday, November 20. We will watch video of last year’s Day of Play and share the amazing book
Going Places by Peter and Paul Reynolds. This book celebrates the joys of new ideas, teamwork and creativity.
We encourage families to help their child prepare for the Magnificent Day of Play by collecting materials that students might use for a project. We also encourage parents to volunteer to support the Magnificent Day of Play on December 9. Volunteers are needed to hand out supplies, assist with cutting cardboard and support problem solving in classrooms. Volunteers are also needed to help clean up. I will circulate a volunteer sign up link via email next week. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 9 from 8:30 – 12:00 and consider volunteering if you are able.
With the change in seasons, our lost and found is beginning to grow. If your child is missing anything, please check the lost and found for any lost items. All found items are currently on display near the school entrance through Wednesday, November 25.
I welcome conversation with Bates families on two topics of particular interest in our community: school safety and supporting social emotional learning at home. Please join me at the upcoming
PTO meeting on Friday, December 4 at 9:00 in the cafeteria or for a
Principal Coffee on Tuesday, December 1 at 6:30 p.m. in the library to discuss these and other topics. Please note the Bates and Sprague communities will host a screening of the film
Most Likely to Succeed on
Thursday, December 3 at 6:00 p.m. in the
Sprague School gym. Please note this change in location.
Finally, I hope you will join us for our annual
Thanksgiving assembly on
Wednesday, November 25 at 11:00 a.m. in the gym.
Warm regards,
Toni Jolley
Upcoming dates:
Friday, November 20 Bates Spirit DayWednesday, November 25 Thanksgiving Assembly 11:00 a.m. Dismissal for Thanksgiving vacationMonday, November 30 No School: Professional DayTuesday, December 2 Principal Coffee 6:30 p.m.Thursday, December 3 Screening of Most Likely to Succeed, 6:00 p.m. in the Sprague Gym
Wednesday, December 9 Magnificent Day of Play
