Mitchell Students Make Visit To Needham Senior Center

Twenty-one students from Mitchell Elementary School, along with principal Dr. Mike Schwinden, paid a visit to seniors at the newly opened Center at the Heights. The students brought handmade cards, posters, and snowflakes to decorate the walls for the Christmas season. 

“Our students haven’t stopped talking about their visit since returning. It was such a special opportunity for us,” said fifth grade teacher Colleen Soldato.

Soldato added that the students were able to sit with the seniors during a pizza lunch and “learned about things they share in common as well as how learning has changed over time.”

Although this was the students’ first visit to the new Senior Center, Mitchell has had a long commitment to building relationships between its students and seniors in the community. This has included visits to Avery Crossings, volunteering, and becoming pen pals.  — Hometown Weekly Staff

Valentines for Soldiers

5th Grade student make Valentine's Day Cards for Deployed Soldiers

Students in Mrs. Soldatos' 5th grade class have been corresponding with deployed soldiers. This pen pal community service project has taught the students the importance of supporting those people who protect our country. They have attracted the attention of COL Brent Cummings who is planning to come to Mitchell next month to thank the students and talk to them in general about the importance and impact of community service. He is planning a fun team building activity for the kids. COL Cummings is currently a fellow at the Fletcher School, Tufts University and lives with his family in Belmont.

Mitchell Student Council

The Mitchell Student Council, under the direction Mrs. Karen Tiberi, has been very busy serving the community this year. In December they raised $250 for animal care at the Medfield Animal Shelter. This donation was matched by a challenges grant, doubling the impact of their hard work. Later in January, they raised $2,764.56 for the Alliance for Children Foundation to help families in Haiti. Working on the home front, they established a Media Center Volunteer Program where 4th and 5th grade students organize books and materials every Monday and Wednesday in the Media Center. Looking ahead this dynamic student council will raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Pennies for Patients is a program to raise money for cancer research.

Local Efforts Yield Big Faraway Results For Needham Students

Teacher Amy Flax (far right) and her fourth grade class pose with LOOSE CHANGE poster,
 collection jar, pencils and ziploc bags at Broadmeadow Elementary School.
(Susan Curtin/Hometown Weekly)

BY SUSAN CURTIN • Wed, Jan 15, 2014

“Loose Change” from a lot of people adds up quickly - $1,500 so far, from the Broadmeadow Elementary School community, to be exact. The money is earmarked for schoolbooks, pencils and other materials at small rural schools in the high mountains of Peru.

The Needham project sprang from two fourth grade teachers, Amy Flax and Sue Nealon, who visited Peru last summer on a trip inspired by Wayland middle-school teacher Daniel Fernandez-Davila. Fernandez-Davila, who hails from Peru, returns each June and treks by horseback to isolated villages – so remote they lack electricity — bringing badly needed supplies (books, pencils, paper, and even construction materials) to help build and provide classroom basics to children there.

When the Meadowbrook teachers saw for themselves the good work being accomplished, they felt compelled to launch a complimentary project in Needham to educate their students about Peru, and provide a service experience, too.

Their project captured the imagination of their fellow fourth grade teachers at Broadmeadow. “Jessica Ohly, Karen Hwang and Heidi Smith were immediately on board and got excited about the project. Our principal Emily Baberman enthusiastically supported us,” explained Flax. “So we went to work.”

The teachers invited Fernandez-Davila to Broadmeadow who gave a presentation to the entire fourth grade. The story of how few school supplies their Peruvian contemporaries had to work with resonated with the kids. In late November, they began labelling collection jars, making posters and going classroom-to-classroom to explain the project and their goal: to send supplies back to Peru by collecting loose change. Students went home with plastic Ziploc bags that said “Loose Change” and as a result, “the money is pouring in!”

The Needham Bank stepped up, too, allowing the teachers to use their change-sorting machines for free. Special education teacher Cathy Lunetta brings pounds of change to the bank each week to turn it into cash for Mr. Fernandez-Davila, who purchases the needed materials. “The Needham Bank has been so generous and kind to us,” explained Flax.

The fundraising efforts run until February 14. For more information about Loose Change, check out the website hatunruna.org. To contribute, contact someone you know at Broadmeadow School, or mail a check to Loose Change c/o Antonia Hieronymus, 15 Reservoir Road, Wayland, MA 01778, and you will receive a receipt with the tax deductible information.
 — Hometown Weekly Correspondent

Hillside Studemts Collect Ffood for the Needham Food Pantry

The third graders at Hillside regularly collect food for the Needham Food Pantry.  During the month of December, Mrs. Dummett's class delivered these items to the Community Council.  They packed and unpacked a van full of twenty five bags of nonperishables! In order to learn about the Needham Community Council and its services.

 The third graders then took a tour of the Community Council given by Sandy Robinson, learning about how the people of Needham help each other out during hard times. Just before the winter break, Mrs. Dummett's and Mrs. Hsu's classes decorated holiday bags to fill with various personal care items.  These items were also donated by Hillside students.  The bags were then delivered to various senior centers in town.