Shop with AmazonSmile, Send .05% to Underwood

AmazonSmile helps combine your support for the Underwood PTO with your everyday online shopping. It’s a simple and automatic way for you to support the PTO every time you shop, at no extra cost to you. Underwood will earn 0.5% on eligible purchases! AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.com on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones. When you shop with AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. We invite you to support the Underwood PTO at http://smile.amazon.com/ch/22-2562184. Note: Purchases must be made on smile.amazon.com! FAQs How READ MORE

Happy November from Nurse Carrie

The 2021-2022 school year has been underway for several weeks and I have enjoyed getting to know our new cohort of K – 5th graders. I wanted to reach out to all Underwood families and let you know how we can best partner with each other to meet the health and safety needs of our Underwood students. COVID 19: At Underwood (and throughout NPS) we continue to carry out the health pillars to prevent the spread of COVID 19.  These pillars include mask-wearing of students and staff, frequent handwashing, staying home when sick, high-quality ventilation in our school building, vaccination of staff, and 3 tiered testing of those who have opted in.   At Underwood, 85% of our students have opted in for testing. If your student is a close contact of a positive COVID case from an exposure outside of READ MORE

Underwood-Ward Task Force

As many of you remember, in early 2020 NPS and the School Committee formed an Underwood-Ward Task Force to address the long term future of both Underwood and Ward. As Superintendent Fleishman wrote to the community at the time “…our two oldest elementary schools are now our two smallest elementary schools. Given our commitment to offering a rich menu of program options for students, as well as modern school facilities, we believe it is an opportune time to develop a plan for the future of Underwood and Ward. We are eager to explore the facilities and educational needs of both schools, as well as determine their optimal school community size.”   The task force was charged with presenting options to the School Committee and Superintendent Fleishman on the future of both school buildings by the end of the 2019-20 school year, but the group was READ MORE

Your Membership Dues Support the Underwood Community

Dear Underwood Families,   We hope the start of this academic year feels like a return to our normal lives. NPS is doing a wonderful job of reopening in-person full-time with the continuous testing, masking, and social distancing practices. With vaccines hopefully on the horizon for our kiddos, our children are learning in person again and their social and emotional growth is back on track. We are writing today to ask for your support through an annual contribution to the Underwood PTO. Our goal is to reach annual participation from 50 families and raise $6,000 through this Membership Dues Drive. What Your Donation Makes Possible:  – $25 buys a grocery gift card for a family in our community at the holidays. – $50 provides five new books for our school library. – $100 stocks the Staff Room for Teacher Appreciation Week. – $300 supports one full-time teacher READ MORE

Fun Run 2021

The Underwood Fun Run is back! This year’s fun run will be held on 10/29 during the school day. All Underwood students will have the chance to participate and will receive a t-shirt! The Fun Run will help promote a healthy lifestyle while raising funds for Underwood School. Please help support our Fun Run by registering your child at www.getmovinfundhub.com and using school identifier 5f749d3873f82. Kids and families can create a personalized fundraising page to send to family and friends in order to request online donations. Donations can also be sent by check to the school.  REGISTER NOW

FUEL Food Donation Program – October Donations

For the second year in a row, the Underwood PTO is collecting food donations on an ongoing basis to benefit the FUEL Program, which distributes a weekly bag of food to Newton families, including those in the Underwood community. We invite Underwood families to support our neighbors and fellow Newton residents by contributing non perishable items for distribution. Click here to find the list of accepted items (please do not drop off any items not listed).  Parent volunteers Nicole Peterson and Diane Martel collect donations of the above items at 34 Eldredge Street (blue house directly across the street from the school) or 14 Shornecliffe Road on the front porch. For the month of October, we are encouraging each grade to bring a specific item to ensure a variety of donations – see below. Please direct any questions to Nicole at READ MORE

Letter from Principal Suzie – October 7, 2021

Dear Underwood Families, It is hard to believe we are already in week #5 of the 2021-22 school year. Words cannot describe just how exciting it is to have students back in the building, all five days a week, with school feeling just a bit closer to “normal” than last year. Visiting classrooms everyday, I am able to see first hand the joy students are finding in learning. We value the social emotional development of students and recognize the importance of having each child feel valued and a sense of belonging to the school community. Teachers are doing an outstanding job promoting our CARES values as they build relationships with their new students. You are also doing an AMAZING job! Your trust and support of our staff means more than you know. In addition, thank you for doing your part READ MORE

Letter from The PTO Co-Presidents – October 7th, 2021

Dear Underwood Families, We felt so lucky to be able to hold our Back-to-School Picnic this year after skipping this event last fall. Turnout was incredible and seeing so many families enjoying the DJ, dinner, and each other’s company on the playground was a heart-warming reminder of how much has changed in a year. We are excited for the year ahead at Underwood, and are so appreciative of all Underwood families for engaging with our school and PTO and making our community events a success.  Our Membership Dues Drive is off to a fantastic start and we are already over 25% of the way towards our goal of participation by 50 families. Thank you to everyone who has already made a contribution and let’s keep the momentum going! Thank you to everyone who hosted and attended the Back-to-School Grown-Up Cocktail Parties over the last month! It has been READ MORE

Food Truck Fundraiser: The Chubby Chickpea + Chillwagon on 10/15

Want to support the Underwood community AND not make dinner? Join us on 10/15/21 for two food trucks at Underwood that support the PTO’s initiatives. The Chubby Chickpea and the Chillwagon will be at Underwood from 4-7pm and a portion of proceeds goes directly back to the Underwood PTO. You can pre-order Chubby Chickpea here: https://www.bestfoodtrucks.com/shifts/76464-underwoodelementary-on-2021-10-15?r= and Chillwagon ice cream here: https://www.bestfoodtrucks.com/shifts/76517-underwoodelementary-on-2021-10-15

Health Assessment Tool for Underwood Families ’21-22

Nurse Carrie has provided a helpful tool to help Underwood grown-ups understand how to make the best decision about when to keep their child home, contact their PCP and obtain testing. The information is taken from a document that NPS (with the help of HHS) put out at the beginning of the year but she customized it for Underwood Families. She suggests that families can print it and hang it in an accessible place. Parents are often understandably confused about when they should or should not send their child to school in this age of COVID which we still find ourselves in.  Health Assessment Tool For Underwood Families Does your student have any of the following symptoms? Fever (100F or higher) and/or chills  Cough (not due to other known causes, such as a chronic cough)  Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath  New loss of taste or smell  Muscle aches or body aches  READ MORE

iWalk Day – October 6, 2021

Will you walk, roll, bike or bus this year? Choose what works for your family to celebrate International Walk to School Day this year! Held annually, this event joins together students from over 40 countries. Enjoy our walkable neighborhoods and say hello to the friendly crossing guards on your way to school on the 6th and every day. There will be stickers and bookmarks for the first 100 walkers/bikers/bus riders. Visit www.NewtonSafeRoutes for more information about walking, rolling, biking and taking the bus. On Oct. 6 and every day, practice walking safetly with your family: remember that crossing guards are there to keep your family safe on the way to school. Help them by waiting at the curb and only crossing when instructed. cross carefully at intersections without guards use pedestrian signals and crosswalks contact the city, PTO, or Underwood’s READ MORE

NPS District Update: COVID-19 Testing Sign Up

A note from Principal Suzie: COVID Testing Program – REGISTER NOW! One of the many layers of safety we have put in place in schools this year is COVID testing. I am happy to report that, as of today, nearly 50% of students of our students at Underwood are registered for our COVID testing program. If you have not done so already, I would ask you and your family to strongly consider opting into the testing program in order to meet our goal of 100% participation. In addition to helping to keep our school community healthy, one of the most important reasons to opt into testing is so that your student can stay in school, even if they are identified as a close contact. This new program is called Test and Stay. Test and Stay means unvaccinated asymptomatic close contacts exposed at school can participate in a COVID READ MORE