Family Drumming, Patriotic Singing, Recycling, a Road Race and a Fair

Proctor School Fair: Spring is in the air, and is hosting its annual kids fair. According to Alison Cosgrove, the PTO fair chairperson, this year’s theme is Peace, Pride, Proctor.

The fair will run at Proctor School on 26 Jefferson St. in Northborough from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 31.

As always, there will be a variety of fun events and activities planned for the day including games, inflatables, face painting, nail painting, spin art, Frisbee, and a 50/50 raffle. In addition to the popular and fun classroom basket themed raffles, a silent auction will also be held. Two of the hot items ready for your bids include Red Sox tickets and two Celtic tickets with a pass to the Kids Tunnel, where your child has the opportunity to stand on the court and slap the players’ hands as they run out onto the floor.

A fair wouldn’t be a fair without food, and you will not be disappointed as a full café will be open selling pizza, sandwiches, bagels from Bruegger’s Bagels, cotton candy, popcorn, slushies and giant pretzels.

There is no admission fee; you pay for activities, raffles and food as needed.

Drumming Night and Patriotic Singing at Peaslee: Music teachers for and , Allyn Phelps and Katrina Goodwin, received a grant from the Northborough Cultural Council to offer a drumming night on Friday, March 30 at Peaslee and at Zeh on April 27. 

The group that will lead this family event is Rhythm Kids.

“The overall idea is to extend music education beyond the walls of the school and include the families,” said Phelps. “We are really excited about it.”

The individual school’s PTOs also support this event.

Patriotic Singing: Students at Peaslee are also working on The Star Spangled Banner Project, according to Phelps. 

This is “an all school event where students and adults can earn a star to be placed on the front bulletin board. A student has to sing alone and be able to remember all the words to the tune. Again, our premise was to involve the whole school in a project, adults and children working together to create music,” said Phelps. “Adults in the building earned stars by singing to children (who already earned a star), and children earned stars by singing to adults (who have earned a star).

This idea was initiated after music teacher Katrina Goodwin researched information on promoting patriotic singing in school.

As part of the project, a fun experiment is being conducted. “We recorded the whole school singing the tune prior to starting the project,” said Phelps, “and will record it again in April and compare the recordings in music class.”

Zeh School will be working on this project in April or May.

Algonquin Road Race: Get those running shoes ready as the Girls Learn International Club at is sponsoring its first 5K race on Saturday, May 19.

The registration form and additional race information is available on the school’s website.

The race will be officially timed by Central Mass Striders and there will also be a fun one mile run.

A Facebook page has also been created for the event.

The school’s Girls Learn International Club had to come up with an event to raise awareness and funds for girls around the world who are in need of education. This is the first year that the club has been in existence at the school.

Foreign Language teacher Karla Steele and Social Studies teacher Gina Johnston are the advisors for the club and are guiding the girls through the process of organizing and having the 5K.

In addition to benefitting the Girls Learn International Club, proceeds will also be donated to the Algonquin Regional Teachers Association for scholarships. Currently the Association awards two different scholarships; one is for students traveling abroad on school trips and the other is for college bound seniors.

“We are hoping to get 200 plus runners,” said Johnston. “That would be nice.”

Fifth Grade Parent Meeting: There will be a parent only meeting at for all current fifth grade parents. This orientation for parents will be an informational overview as the transition from elementary to middle school begins. The meeting begins at 6:30 pm in the Teaching Center at the middle school.

Electronics Recycling Collection: Empty that basement and garage of all the old electronics and small appliances that have been collecting dust and take them to the Zeh School’s recycling collection on Saturday, March 31 from 9 am to 1 pm. There will be a small fee charged for items you wish to dispose of ranging from $1 for keyboards, $5 for small appliances, to $10 for electronics, televisions and monitors. Cash or checks payable to Zeh School PTO will be accepted. Metech Recylcing is the company being used for this event.

Mark Your Calendars: April 2-A Technology Forum meeting will be held at Algonquin High School at 7-8:30 p.m. to discuss the long term technology planning efforts for Grades pre-K through Grade 12. Opportunities for feedback and volunteering for a technology committee will be available. April 6 – no school due to the observance of Good Friday. April 11-Surprise visits to classrooms from community VIPs who will read to students for Community Reading Day. April 16-20 is spring vacation week.