Category: News

Back to school means it’s time to update your family profile in the Underwood Directory, hosted on the Membership Toolkit site.✏️https://underwoodschoolpto.membershiptoolkit.com/✏️Please take a moment to log in and update your info, including your child’s teacher! This helps us make sure you are getting all the info you need for the year!❤️Let us know if you have any questions – and THANKS!

Our first PTO Community Meeting will be held virtually on October 4, 2022 at 7:30 pm.  We will discuss what the PTO does, introduce our PTO Board Members, and vote to approve Members at Large and this year’s budget. Topic: PTO Quarterly Community MeetingTime: Oct 4, 2022 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/86304410835?pwd=aXZkTlE1c09GbDl3THU0UTkyalJJdz09 Meeting ID: 863 0441 0835Passcode: 245378One tap mobile+13017158592,,86304410835#,,,,*245378# US (Washington DC)+13092053325,,86304410835#,,,,*245378# US Dial by your location        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)        +1 309 205 3325 US        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 646 931 3860 US        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)        +1 386 347 5053 US        +1 564 217 READ MORE

On Thursday, September 29, parents and guardians are invited to join the Underwood teachers and staff for Underwood Curriculum Night. Families are welcome to enter our school building and visit their child’s classroom on Curriculum Night. This event is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about your child’s curriculum and activities during the school day.  Classroom teachers will offer two identical back-to-back presentations in their classroom so that families with more than one child can attend presentations in each of their child’s classroom. Presentations are: 6:15pm – 6:45pm:    First Session  6:55pm – 7:25 pm:   Second Session6:20pm – 7:20pm:    Specialists, Special Educators, Service Providers, UASP & Principal in the gym (“Stations” set up so families can find and speak with specialists about curriculum and programming)  It is important to remember that Curriculum Night is a time for general questions READ MORE

Parent involvement is the key to any great school. It’s also a lot of fun as well as a wonderful way to make friends. Many volunteer positions require very little of your time and effort but offer a big payoff to our children and their school. Please contact the Underwood PTO at underwoodpto@gmail.com for further details on any of these open positions. Thank you for your continued involvement in making Underwood a vibrant community! We have open volunteer roles for every level of time commitment – both in person and completely virtual! Our Open Roles for the 22-23 school year include:  Carnival Co-Chairs – The Carnival is our most beloved Underwood tradition! The Co-Chairs execute the Carnival plan and oversee the various activity captains.  Families Organizing for Racial Justice Liaison (Virtual) –  The FORJ liaison serves as the bridge between Underwood FORJ activities and specific school READ MORE

Dear Underwood Families,   Welcome back to school!  We hope your family had a happy and healthy summer and we are so excited to welcome our entire Underwood community back for the 2022-23 school year! We are looking forward to working with you and getting to know you this year through our roles with the PTO Board.   As Underwood parents or guardians, you are all automatically members of the PTO!  Your willingness to participate and volunteer as you are able, given your unique family and work commitments, is paramount to the success, strength, and energy of our PTO and community. Our PTO Board and Committees are comprised of volunteers working throughout the year to organize and execute a wide range of fundraisers, community-building opportunities, and enrichment programming and we are so appreciative of every minute the parent community at Underwood dedicates READ MORE

Monday, September 12th – 8:30 – 9:30am   Join us for a casual meet-and-greet outside Underwood with Principal Talukdar and other Underwood parents and guardians! The Principal’s Coffee is a great opportunity to ask questions in an informal setting and meet other parents at the start of the year.  No RSVP needed!

The school supply lists for all Underwood classes are now available! Please note that only Grade 1 classrooms have separate lists. Kindergarten Grade 1 Ms. Brown Ms. Tucker Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5

The Underwood PTO is excited to launch our family mentorinitiative to welcome new families to the Underwood community.The goal of the program is to offer an additional resource toprovide answers and guidance in the navigation of joining a newschool. This program is 100% optional. Participating new families will bematched with volunteer returning families. The PTO will facilitateintroductions via email. Matched families are encouraged toconnect via email or in-person to answer questions, offer advice,or make introductions to other Underwood friends. If you are interested in participating, please complete theapplicable form below. We will make an effort to match withfamilies entering the same grade. NEW FAMILY REGISTRATION FORM RETURNING FAMILY REGISTRATION FORM

Dear Underwood Families, Did you hear we’re having a carnival next week?! Just kidding! I know we’ve been in touch a lot about volunteering but for those who haven’t had the chance to experience the Underwood Spring Carnival, it is an enormous 100% volunteer run event and requires a small time commitment from nearly every Underwood family to make it happen. This is the only event all year when we ask for this level of family participation, and we promise it will be worth it when you see how happy it makes our students! We still need about 35 more volunteers: Sign up here! We look forward to seeing you next Friday, June 3rd from 3-7pm. The carnival is open to the public, so tell your non-Underwood friends, too! Virtual PTO Meeting – Wednesday, June 1 7:30pm Join us for READ MORE

1. What is your name? Jared Frank Owen 2. What is your role at Underwood? I teach Physical Education, Health, and Wellness 3. Where did you grow up? I grew up in a tiny town of about 2,000 people about 10 miles south of the Canadian border named Colebrook, NH.  4. What is your favorite Underwood tradition? It is very hard for me to choose just one. Color Day is very special to me because I plan and organize it and I love to finish out the year with a special day. I have also always really loved the spring auction where a student is “Mr. Owen for the Day.” 5. Do you have a favorite Spring activity? Golf! But, that is my favorite activity in any season. 6. Please share one piece of advice with the Underwood community. Let’s help “guide” our children towards a physical identity of READ MORE

Dear Underwood families, Many of you are already aware that the 2022-2023 Newton Public Schools budget proposal consists of substantial cuts to the entire district to cover a $4 million budget gap caused by Covid-related dips in tax revenue and increases in costs. We want to make sure all families are aware of how these proposed cuts will specifically impact both the Underwood and Bigelow communities, as our students will eventually move on to Bigelow Middle School. You can find the proposed 2022-23 budget and Superintendent’s presentation from March 23rd here and watch the budget review that took place on Monday, March 28th here. The 2022-2023 proposed budget would require that: Underwood Elementary School reduce its 5th grade by one classroom due to enrollment numbers and eliminate its math interventionist position due to budget cuts. This would mean the loss READ MORE