Family Photo Mini Session Fundraiser with Lovely Pictures Studio

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Lovely Pictures Studio is offering fun-filled Family Mini sessions at Broad Hill Lavender Farm on June 23 (slots are available between 8am to 11am). A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the PTO.

The mini session is $160 and includes access to the final gallery from where you choose 4 edited HR digital images and print release.

Instructions to book your slot: click to 6/23 on the google calendar and choose the time slot marked "Broad Hill" that works for you. Type your full name on the top field and you will receive a confirmation email.

HHS Senior Class Events

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It’s hard to believe we’re almost at the end of the school year already! This is such an exciting time for our seniors and a very busy few weeks coming up for them and their families.

Take a look below at the upcoming events and please reach out to the High School with any questions.

Junior and Senior Prom - Friday, May 17th

The class is planning for a great Prom night at Lake Pearl Ballroom in Wrentham. Students are required to take buses from HHS to Wrentham and back for the evening.  More information will be available closer to the date, but students must be at the high school parking lot by 4:30 to begin loading the buses for departure. Students must have either a school ID or a license with them.

Futures Day - May 22nd

At HHS, we like to celebrate all futures, be it college, military, gap year, employment, or trade. The senior class officers and School Counseling Department invite students and educators to Wear Your Futures (or past) through a T-shirt or other attire. Stay tuned for more details.

Wednesday, May 22nd - Last Day of Classes/Senior Picnic/Senior Sunset    

Seniors’ last day of classes will be held on Wednesday, May 22nd with the picnic/BBQ held during the last block of the day.

Senior Sunset will be held in the evening on the 22nd.

Completing the full circle of senior events, the senior sunset provides closure to the senior sunrise we held in August. Seniors will meet on the turf in the evening.  

Tuesday, May 28th - Senior Class Trip

On Tuesday, May 28th,  the senior class trip will be held at Supercharged Entertainment - 40 Commerce Blvd, Wrentham, MA 02093.  Further details will be sent out next week.

Wednesday, May 29th  - Mandatory Graduation Rehearsal #1

Seniors are required to attend from 9:00am - 11:00am. We will meet in the auditorium. Thursday, May 30th.  

Wednesday, May 29th - Senior Scholarship Evening 

The annual Senior Scholarship evening will be held in-person in the Auditorium at 7:00 pm.

Thursday, May 30th  - Mandatory Graduation Rehearsal #2

Seniors are required to attend from 9:00am - 11:00am. We will meet in the auditorium.

Friday, May 31st - In-School Graduation/Video Yearbook 

The video yearbook is always a special tradition at HHS and the yearbook editors work hard all year to compile skits, game footage, event footage, interviews and performances that highlight the talent and humor of the senior class. This is shown during In-School Graduation.  This is a a student only event.

Friday, May 31st - Senior Parade Through Elementary and Middle Schools

At the conclusion of the in-school graduation/video yearbook, seniors board buses to the Woodland campus for the annual walkthrough of Placentino, Miller and Adams Middle School. Educators and students line the hallways to cheer on the graduates. A lot of happy tears are shed during this event…both from graduates and former educators.

Sunday, June 2nd - Graduation

We will hold our graduation ceremony for the Class of 2024 outdoors on Kamitian Field with 7 tickets per graduating student. In the event of inclement weather that makes an outdoor event no longer feasible, we will move to the auditorium. If held indoors, fewer tickets will be available to families based on space restrictions. However, we are planning for a beautiful day outdoors. The event will be held at 10:00am regardless of the location in order for families to be able to plan accordingly. More details will be shared very soon.

All Night Grad Party (Not School Sponsored)

Parents should visit the following website for further information:  All Night Grad Party (Not School Sponsored)

In addition, Parents should check the "Friends of Holliston High School Class of 2024" group on FB and students should check the class Instagram and Google Classroom for information on upcoming events. https://www.hollistonclassof24.com/cruise/

Elementary Read-A-Thon Recap & Thank you!

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The Elementary Read-a-thon was a huge success! We set a lofty goal of raising $6K based on last year's profits, not realizing at the time our number from last year included RAMS, as well. A total of 2,721 bookmarks were hung across Placentino and Miller - thanks to our AMAZING weekly volunteers, led by Beth Leach! We raised over $3,500. These funds will go right back to our youngest students for some fun end of year activities.

Thank you everyone who participated, donated and volunteered. While it seems the precipitation has finally weaned our understanding is the indoor recess bins were a huge hit in February and early March when late winter was at its worst. We know these bins will continue to make an impact when outdoor recess isn’t possible.

Please be on the lookout for a survey in the coming weeks about your experience with this year's Read-a-thon as we begin to plan for next year.

Elementary Square One Art Fundraiser - Order by April 10

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Hello Families,

Coming home to you soon is your child's custom catalog for the Square 1 Art fundraiser - featuring their own name and art on the cover, WITH FREE STICKERS OF THEIR ART! 

Get a head start, and order keepsakes and gifts featuring your child's art online NOW, if you like! Simply search for your child's art using Art Search, and enter state, school name, and your student's name. Your student's art and code will appear, and you may order! NEW - *Ship to Home FREE (*Customer pays a small $1.99 processing fee at checkout and order ships to home.)

Order by:  4/10/2024

Upload additional art if you like, using Art Upload!

If you have questions, or need anything at all, contact customer care online.

Thank you for supporting our schools!

Christine Charette

Square 1 Art fundraiser coordinator

Miller & Placentino Elementary

square1art.com/shop

First Elementary Mathapalooza Recap

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Miller & Placentino’s first “Mathapalooza” family-fun STEAM learning night was a HUGE hit! Over 500 students were in attendance - much more including families! Who wouldn’t want to attend after seeing that amazing marketing video the elementary educators put together??

Some of the events included: plush perch, penny polish station, place value bean bag toss game, Zeus on the Loose, pentominos, architects and builders, scooter races, Olympic events and so much more! Students were excited to visit as many stations as they could so that they could get a prize at the end! Another highlight was singing Happy Birthday to Principal Keim! We hope this will be a Holliston tradition for years to come.

A special thank you to Ashley Bouchard and Allison Curley for spearheading the event, and Jess Scalzo and Beth Leach who assisted from the PTO.

2024 Basket Raffle Fundraiser SUCCESS - Thank You to the Holliston Community!

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THANK YOU!  The Basket Raffle Extravaganza was a HUGE success!  While we did not reach our lofty goal of $30K, we did reach our realistic goal of $15K, actually we raised over $18K!!

Thank you for communicating, collecting, putting baskets together, dropping them off, and promoting!  Thank you for purchasing raffle tickets too!

Winners:

  • Barbie - Cynthia Bishop

  • Nerf Basket - Stephanie Vale

  • Taste of Massachusetts - Ashley DeRoy

  • LEGO - Julio Montero

  • Let's Get Physical - Laura Durham

  • High Tech -Jason Adamson

  • Crafty Corner - Maura Sweeney

  • Oh the Places You Will Go - Jennifer Roland

  • Sports Maniac - Melinda Lohan

  • French Experience - Ellen Portal

  • Pot O' Gold - Michelle Isen Smith

Special thanks to our local businesses who provided snacks and treats for the live celebration at Upper Town Hall:

*Candy Cottage

*Corner Market

*Rushford & Sons Brewhouse

*Sweetie's Candy Bus

These funds go directly back to our students, teachers, and staff through grants of supplies and curricular enrichment materials, assemblies with outside speakers like CHALLENGE DAY, field trips, donation towards All Night Graduation Party, annual scholarship for a graduating senior,  light breakfasts, snacks, and treats for teachers and staff on Professional Days, and Wellness Centers for educators. We also grant funds to each school annually to supplement the Parent to Parent program, Outdoor Learning Alliance projects, and social emotional education, to name a few.

Thank you,

Jen Peterson and Stacey Raffi

Basket Raffle Co-Chairs


RAMS Read-A-Thon: March 4-22

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RAMS families, get ready for our second annual read-a-thon hosted by our RAMS Student Leadership Team with Mr. Vendetti! Beginning March 4 and running through March 22, students will be encouraged to read and then record their minutes via a Google doc that will be provided during English classes.  Donations towards the read-a-thon are gratefully appreciated. We have 3 easy ways to make a donation: 

Ski/Snowboard Club Update

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Holliston PTO Ski & Snowboard Club - It’s a wrap for the season and we offer our thanks to the volunteer coordinators, Justin Wing, Elissa Sanford, and Andy Ferland! This year there were close to 300 student participants, 4th through 12th grade and we especially also thank our chaperones who made sure everyone had a great and safe experience. “Well done!”  goes to our students who did their part as well - they respected one another, had fun and honored the rules of the hill and buses.

For planning purposes, the club days will remain in place; Tuesdays for RAMS, Fridays for Miller, and Sundays for the high school. A huge thanks to Justin and Andy who are returning next season and welcome Joanna Westland who has agreed to be the overall coordinator! Without their commitment and enthusiasm this club could not happen. We welcome all chaperones back next season and we are actively looking for a RAMS Coordinator. Thank you again and we will see you next season!

 

We LOVE to Read in February! Elementary Read-A-Thon

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Calling All Book Lovers!

We Love to Read: The Elementary Read-A-Thon is coming up in February! See our flyer for more details about the Read-A-Thon starting February 1st! Please help us make it successful! You can help by:

Preparing Read-A-Thon Materials

Join us at the Holliston Public Library on Wednesday, January 24 in the Gilman Room to papercut, staple, sort, and count materials!  We'll be there from 6-8pm, join us for any amount of time that you can spare!  Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out this past Wednesday--10 of us cut over a thousand bookmarks, stapled 700 to flyers, and have class piles ready for preschool, kindergarten, first, and Montessori!

Help Create Indoor Recess Prize Baskets

We need to create 7 Indoor Recess Prize Baskets (Preschool-Grade 5)!  We're looking for a couple people to take on this project--we're collecting new/gently used games/puzzles/legos/magnatiles/playdoh supplies/etc, and also have a budget to purchase more of these items, drawing materials, and whatever else may make for a fun indoor recess for a class of kids! If you're interested in helping out, email Beth Leach or Jess Scalzo to learn more! 

If you have any new/gently used board games, card games, puzzles (especially 100 pieces), legos, or magnatiles, or new drawing supplies, we're collecting!  We are especially in need of items for Miller aged students to round out our baskets! We also need big bins/baskets to contain our prizes, if you have any laying around! You can drop off to 10 Mill St or send us an email!

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us! 

Beth Leach: beth.allen.leach@gmail.com

Jess Scalzo: scalzo.jessica@gmail.com

Thanks and Happy Reading!

Beth Leach and Jess Scalzo

Elementary Update: Meetings & Read-A-Thon

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New! Operational Elementary PTO Meetings

We will be holding Operational Elementary PTO meetings on the following dates: January 17th, March 27th and May 29th. These meetings will be from 7-8pm at Holliston Public Library, Gilman Room.

We expect the first meeting to be primarily focused on February's read-a-thon and any other general Elementary school topics that need to be worked through. We hope to see you there!

Elementary Read-A-Thon - February

Reading is FUNdamental, so in February 2024 we will bring back the FUN!

Sticking with our normal winter fundraiser, the PTO will host the Elementary Read-a-thon for the month of February but with a renewed focus on READING because we LOVE to READ!

Keep your eyes out for more information on Read-a-thon volunteer opportunities throughout the month of February.

Want to get involved? Email us hollistonpto@gmail.com.

Open Role: Professional Development Day Breakfast Coordinator

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New Position! Professional Development Day Breakfast Coordinator

The PTO is seeking a volunteer to handle the teacher and staff breakfast planning and execution at all schools on Professional Development days.

Time Commitment: 3 to 4 mornings per year

Responsibilities:

  1. Place order with Coffee Haven

  2. Coordinate with Treasurer for snacks from wishlist,

  3. Coordinate with admin assistants at each school to have tables available for coffee and snacks

  4. Set up as needed and coordinate with additional volunteers as need (keep red table cloths and PTO signs from breakfast to breakfast)

Email hollistonpto@gmail.com to inquire!

Open Role: Square One Art Coordinator

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PTO Open Role: Square One Art Coordinator

The PTO is seeking a new volunteer to take over the Square One Art Coordinator role. This person will shadow the current coordinator beginning in 2024, and will take over during the 2024-2025 school year.

Timeframe: March/April

  • Shadow existing coordinator to learn the process

  • Work with Art Teachers to have students create their art

  • Assist as needed with online ordering

Email hollistonpto@gmail.com to inquire!

Coming Soon: Basket Raffle Extravaganza for Holliston's 300th!

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The Holliston PTO is thrilled to host our annual Basket Raffle this year bigger than ever in conjunction with Holliston’s Tricentennial celebrations. Please save these important dates:

  • Friday, March 1, 2024: Online raffle sales and basket viewing will open

  • Wednesday, March 20, 2024:

    • 12-8PM: Live basket viewing in Holliston Upper Town Hall (703 Washington St.)

    • 8-9PM: Live drawing - we would prefer people to pick up baskets by 9PM, but we can deliver baskets on March 21, 2024 as well.

Unlike previous years, we are asking that families in ALL grades (PK-12) participate in creating a basket.

Stay tuned for an email in January with ALL the details!


Holliston Youth & Family Services Webinars: Executive Function Strategies for Creating Successful Students

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Holliston Youth & Family Services has partnered with Engaging Minds to offer 2 webinars on Executive Function Strategies for Creating Successful Students. The first webinar on January 24th will focus on students in grade K-5. The second webinar on January 31st will focus on grades 6-12. Click the image appropriate for student’s grade level below to register.

January 24th - 12pm - Grades K-5

Click the image to register

January 31 - 7pm - Grades 6-12

Click Image to register