*A Few Reminders*

*Sweatshirt orders turned in if you haven't already done so. They will need to be turned in no later than November 13th.
*The Mother and Son Camp Out this Friday night the 6th from 6:30 till 8:00 PM. It sounds like a lot of fun so we hope to see all of you there!
*November PTA Meeting will be held the 12th at 11:00 AM at the school.
*PTA Cards were sent home if you didn't receive one you can email me at krisreidemt@yahoo.com and I will make sure you get one.
*Reflections are DUE November 13th.

A BIG THANK YOU!!

We wanted to say THANK YOU to Jodi Riley, Angela Davis, Laura Jones, Jacque Burke, Louisa Jochim, and all the ladies that helped with the book fair. They did an awesome job and put in a lot of time!! The book fair was a huge success and our teachers were very excited with the new books they received for their classrooms! GREAT JOB LADIES!!!

Breaking the Addiction

Red Ribbon Week
October 19th - 23rd

Monday, October 19th:
Wear your favorite team jersey &
Show us who you are cheering for.
And get 30 minutes of EXERCISE
Or maybe even more.....

Tuesday, October 20th:
Come dressed as a nerd
And stay away from drinks full of SUGAR
"Think Before you Drink!"

Wednesday, October 21st:
Wear a HAT....What's that?.....
A Hat, a Crazy, Fun, Colorful HAT!!!
:Keep your lid on and don't get High on Sugar"

Thursday, October 22nd:
Come dressed as your favorite decade
As we flashback to a time,
When there was NO TV or VIDEO GAMES
And fun was free, didn't cost a dime

Friday, October 23rd:
Sleep is important,
It helps start your days,
Get 8 hours of sleep tonight
And come dressed in your PJ'S

Saturday, October 24th:
We will be having a Family Fitness Day from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. at the school. We will be having a fun run as well as some exciting Exercise classes. So, come and CELEBRATE FITNESS and HEALTHY ADDICTIONS with the Rees Eagles.

Book Fair

Jodi Riley and Angela Davis have sent out information regarding the book fair as an attachment to their email. Please take time to look at your email and then respond if you are able to help. Thanks so much!

*PTA MEETING CANCLED*

Just a quick update on tonight's PTA meeting. We have had some scheduling conflicts and have had to cancel tonight's meeting. We will be voting on minutes at our November meeting, we will be doing this months meeting by email so watch for that, and if you will reply to all listed then we will be able to make sure everyone is informed and is up to date on all comments or concerns. A few things to remember: we are trying to increase our membership so if all of us will ask 1 person we know to join we could double our membership, we will also be sending out order forms for hoodies and sweatshirts so watch for them. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to seeing you at Novembers meeting.

*PTA MEETING*

Just a quick reminder about October's PTA Meeting. It will be held tonight at the school Thursday October 8th at 7:00 P.M. We hope this will give those who work or have other obligations during the day a chance to attend. Hope to see you there!

Green Ribbon Week!!!

This week is Green Ribbon Week. We have been SO grateful to Keri Marziale, Heather Hunt, Stephanie Duvall, Cami Moos, Nancy Lee and anyone else who has volunteered to make this week awesome!!! We have had a poster contest, fabulously decorated halls, and LOTS of fun!!!
Monday: Walk to School, Don't be Lazy. Make sure that your hair looks CRAZY!
Students were encouraged to walk to school. Local community heroes were at the crosswalks to give safety tips to the students as they passed. The students were treated to a breakfast of granola bars, apples and water when they reached the school. Our Student Council was on hand early in the morning to pass out water bottles to each kid and parent who walked to school. Each class voted on one person with the craziest hair, and they were sent to the office for a little treat.
Tuesday: Picture yourself safe. Dress your best.
Today was picture day at Rees. The students dressed in their best dress for the photos. Each student was given a green wristband with the theme R.E.E.S. safe kids. (R.E.E.S. stands for Rees Eagles Excel in Safety)
Wednesday: Be Careful when your Feet hit the Street.
Wearing mismatched socks and shoes will help remind the kids to be safe each time they walk to school. PTA members will be handing out suckers to those wearing mismatched socks and shoes.
Thursday: If you're safe and you know it, wear your green.
Thursday will be the final day of our Safety Week. We will be wearing as much green as possible. We will have an assembly with Jace Brinkerhoff and we will announce the winning class for penny wars. We will also announce when they will get to dunk Mr. Larsen and other teachers who are daring enough to take the plunge!!!

Book Fair

Jodi Riley asked me to publish this. If you can help her, please contact her asap. Thanks!!

I want to get volunteers organized and on their assignment asap so that we can have a FABULOUS book fair.I would like to use 3 or more people on each assignment that way I can include everyone who would like to help that way they can sign up for whatever and then I can call people and fill in the rest.

I need people for:
Newsletter and Publicity
Reward Activity
Decorations
Teachers wish lists
Getting volunteers to man the book fair
Grandparents day

I might have a couple more categories after I get my planning kit, but for right now this all I can think of.

PTA Minutes September 10th, 2009

Suzee Anderson brought the meeting to order. She welcomed everyone and welcomed Sarai Memmot who was representing Mr. Larsen. She passed around a sheet to sign and to put all volunteer hours on. If you have any volunteer hours and were unable to attend that day you can email them to Kristina Reid , her email is krisreidemt@yahoo.com we need to turn these in by Sept. 20th.

Kristina Reid went over July's PTA minutes. A copy was given to all to review.

Suzee discussed the order of school t-shirts and hoped they would be here next week. She then thanked Nancy Lee for her awesome idea “Penny Wars” and Tanya Melton said how much we have raised $759.50 so far. Nancy and Suzee will be sending out a letter to all parents explaining our hopes for Penny Wars, these will go out by Monday. We then discussed other options we had if we needed to hold a fundraiser. We talked about Sally Foster, Cherry Dale, or Cookie Dough. It was brought up that Sally Foster always makes really good money. A motion was made by Kristina Reid to vote for Sally Foster as their fundraiser for the year and was seconded by Keri Marziale. Vote was placed, all was unanimous, motion passed. It was also mentioned that the Book Fair was not a fundraiser, that this was a way to earn our teachers books for their classrooms.

Sarai Memmott told everyone if they were customers of Direct T.V. they will donate $50.00 to your school. So if you are a Direct T.V. customer please call them!

Keri Marziale talked about GREEN Ribbon week and all the events that will take place. The theme this year is REES(Rees Eagles Excel in Safety). Monday will be Crazy Hair day and students are encouraged to walk to school. Tuesday will be Picture Day so wear your best clothes. Wednesday will be Mix Match Socks and Shoes Day. Thursday will be Wear All Green. Friday No School. She talked about the Pledge sheets that will be sent home this week. She said that the Utah County Health Department had donated helmets for all the winners of the poster contest.

Suzee then talked about school picture day and asked for volunteers to help with this event, both positions were filled. She then talked about Vision Screening and passed out a sign up sheet for this. It will be held Thursday Sept 17th from 9-11 anyone who can help please call or email Suzee or Kristina.
She reminded everyone of the box top website which is boxtops4education.com. She also reminded everyone about the Room Mother Meeting today at 3:30. The theme for this years reflections was announced the theme will be “BEAUTY IS” Audra Hatch is in charge of this and it will begin Oct 8th. A copy of all PTA members and what committee they were on was passed out to all. If you would like a copy you can get one from Kristina. She then talked about the money PTA would donate to the teachers this year, explained it had to be used this year and that there was an increase from last year, it was also mentioned it was voted on at Back to School Night. Lastly she discussed that our PR person for the year was Sadie Oldham and if we had any events or items for the paper we should contact her.

Sarai Memmott then thanked everyone from Mr. Larsen and from her as well.
Suzie also thanked everyone for all their help.

Stephanie Duvall made a motion to close the meeting and Nancy Lee seconded it. Meeting was closed.




Those in Attendance were:

Suzee Anderson
Sarai Memmott
Kristina Reid
Nancy Lee
Stephanie Duvall
Keri Marziale
Jodi Riley
Dani Hallows
Laura Jones
Cami Moos
Anita Hales
Kim McGill
Tammy Taylor
Tanya Melton

PTA Meeting

We will be having a board meeting tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. We will meet in the Northeast vestibule just outside of Mr. Mendenhall's room. Hope to see you all there!

PTA Bonus

Often times I have wondered what benefit being a "card carrying member" of the PTA is.  Well, yesterday I found out.  I went to Rod Works to purchase some items for my bedroom wall.  As I was checking out, I saw a sign that offered 10% off the total purchase if you were a member of the PTA.  However, you had to have your current card to prove it.  I was so happy....I went back and purchased some other things I had my eye on.  So, if you love Rod Works, like I do, hurry down there.  But remember to take your PTA card!  Oh, and it only lasts this month.

Penny Wars Started

So, if you haven't already heard, we are in the middle of Penny Wars. This will run from August 27 - September 18. We will announce the winning class at the Green Ribbon Week assembly on September 24. Here are the rules:

There are eight HUGE jars placed near the office. Each jar will represent a grade level from Kindergarten to Multi-Age. Kids in each grade level are encouraged to bring pennies from home to put in their grade’s jar. Each penny will be an added point for that team. The team with the most pennies wins. BUT, there is one catch. Kids can also bring silver coins to put in other grade level jars. The silver coins will count AGAINST that team. For example, a nickel is minus 5 points, a dime is minus 10 points, a quarter is minus 25 points. Another catch, to offset the negative points, paper bills will be counted as positive points. So $1.00 is plus 100 points, $5.00 is plus 500 points, $10.00 is plus 1,000 points.

Each week we will total the jars and post those totals on Monday. The winning grade level will have the opportunity to dunk Mr. Larsen in a dunk tank and maybe some teachers?!?! Please encourage your child to bring spare change from home to help their team win Penny Wars! Thanks so much!!!!

Proposed Budget

Here is our proposed budget for 2009-2010. We will be voting on whether to accept it, or modify it at Back To School night, this Thursday. Please, if you have any problems, please come that night and we can discuss them. Otherwise, this is what our year looks like:

Rees Elementary Proposed PTA Budget
2009-2010

Income
Balance carried forward 3642.92
Box Tops 1700.00
Community Donations 800.00
Cookbook Sales 500.00
Cream of Weber Milk Caps 150.00
Parent Child Activities 100.00
Penny War Fund-raiser 6000.00
PTA Membership Dues 650.00
Sales Tax Refund 100.00
Silent Auction 3000.00
Rees Eagle Hoodies & T-shirts 3000.00
Proposed Total 19,642.92

Expenditures
Art Grant (Box Tops) 1700.00
Book Fair Expenses 40.00
Box Tops Expenses 60.00
District Matching Funds 2000.00
Fund-raiser Supplies 300.00
Health & Safety 400.00
Incentives for Excellence 2175.00
It Pays to Read 150.00
Kindergarten Registration Books 150.00
Local & National PTA Dues 550.00
Miscellaneous 500.00
Parent/Child Activities 800.00
PTA Leadership Training 150.00
Rees Eagle Hoodies & T-shirts 3000.00
Silent Auction 150.00
Student Birthday Table 400.00
Teacher Appreciation 800.00
Teacher Birthday Treats 250.00
Track Meet & Field Day Treats 50.00
Wilderness School Lunch 200.00
Total 13,825.00

Off to a good start!!

HUGE thanks to Kim McGill, Tammy Taylor and Tracy Wiley!!! They put together a yummy breakfast for the teachers on Monday. It was AMAZING! The teachers were so impressed and very grateful. Mr. Roberts sent home a thank you card to me. Thanks ladies.
Also, today at the school I ran into Tammy Dennison, Marnie Meredith and Sarah Blair getting the bulletin board up and going. Thanks so much ladies. It is GREAT to have such wonderful people to work with!
Keri Marziale, Cami Moos, Heather Hunt and Stephanie Duvall have been diligently working on our plans for Green Ribbon Week. I am so excited! If we can just get Cozmo to show up on time, all will be good!!! I do know that Keri is wanting to have a few members of the community, like an ambulance worker, a fireman, a police officer, a city council member, a railroad worker, etc. to be placed at various intersections on the walk to school day. If you know anyone that might be willing to do this, please contact Keri.
We are getting ready to kick off our penny wars. Watch for information to be coming home about this. We are SO excited. Thanks again Nancy Lee for the awesome idea.
I can't say thank you enough, ladies. You are an amazing group to work with. Thanks for your hard work!
Kristina sent an email out about the budget. If you could, please look at this and reply as soon as you can. We need to have our budget put together for our back to school night, which will be held on Thursday, August 27. Thanks!

Thank you!

Things went SO smoothly for registration. Thank you so very much to all those who helped out. Also, thanks to those who signed up to be a member of the PTA. Welcome! So, we sold all but about 25 t-shirts! YIPPEE!!!! We sold out of many sizes and had to put in another order. Those should be back before school starts. Can you believe it is so soon? Well, enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Finalizing Registration

I just sent out an email to everyone about tomorrow's registration schedule. Please check your email. If you did not receive an email, please send me your email address and I will check and see if there is a problem. My email is sanders@sfcn.org. Also, we have almost all the shifts filled. If you can work from 7:30 - 9:30 or from 2:00 - 4:00 or from 6:00 - 8:00, please contact me ASAP! Thanks so much for all your work ladies! You are the best!

Notes from PTA Meeting on July 17, 2009

We were excited to have our first PTA meeting this past Friday. We talked about school registration and our need to have A LOT of help this day. Mr. Larsen explained how the school only has a few days to turn in their numbers into the district. Because of this, it is EXTREMELY important to have as close to an accurate count as possible. He has asked for three helpers to be at the school for two hour shifts during the day to work with a member of the office staff handing out the information packets. The shifts are 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. (filled), 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. (need 1), 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. (need 3) and 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. (need 1). Also, Mr. Larsen asked to have 2 people come in starting at 2:00 p.m. to call people who haven't registered to see if they are planning on attending Rees. We need to fill these shifts too. We need 2 people from 2:00 - 4:00, 2 people from 4:00 - 6:00 and 1 person from 6:00 - 8:00. If you are able to help, please contact Suzee or Kristina or even leave a comment here on the blog.
We also talked about there being no formal Open House this year at Rees. Because teachers only have two days to get ready for school this year, they are not feeling like there is enough time to have a formal open house. You are welcome to come to the school and walk around, however, it will all be really casual. Any Kindergarten children will need to have assessments during these two days before school starts.
Because of not having a formal Open House, we have moved Back to School Night up. It will be held on August 27 at 6:30 p.m. This will give you an opportunity to meet with your child's teacher and find out expectations for the year. It also is a chance to sign up to be a parent helper.
We talked about days for the book fair, safety week and school pictures. We also decided to try something new this year for meeting times. We are going to meet in September at 11:00 a.m., then in October at 7:00 p.m., then we will alternate these times throughout the year. This seems like a good way to get everyone to be able to attend meetings. This way, those that work, can hopefully still attend some meetings. We really want everyone to feel included and a part of the PTA. So, this seems like a good idea. We will try it and see how it works.
We also talked about the bench for Mr. Watkins. The one that was ordered, came to the school and was EXTREMELY flimsy. We decided to return it. We are now trying to figure out what to do. It was suggested to put a plaque in the ground without a bench. There were a few people who had contacts that they were checking into to see if we might be able to find someone who would donate a cement bench or even donate the cement to put the plaque in. If you ladies find anyone who could do this, please let us know!
As we were closing the meeting, we discussed fund raising. Because we currently do not have anyone over fundraising, I don't know what to do. I don't want to organize a fund raiser without input, so I expressed my hesitancy in doing so. There was a GREAT idea brought up about having a Penny War between the classes. It was a fantastic idea and we all decided to give it a try. How this works is: In a centrally located area, we will set up numerous jars with each class' name on them. The students are encouraged to bring pennies to fill up their jars. However, students can also bring silver coins (nickels, dimes or quarters) and deposit them in OTHER classes jars. The silver coins count against the penny totals. We will let this run for two weeks, rewarding the class that wins the penny war with a sno-cone party! What an exciting idea and a great way to raise money for the school!! We plan on doing this the last week of September and the first week of October. More details will come. However, if anyone wants to purchase a container of cheese balls from Costco or Sams club, we would love to have the container to fill with coins! :) Actually, we are looking to collect a bunch of plastic container to fill. Thank you so much to all of you for your help and input. I really look forward to this year and to having a lot of new and fun things at Rees. Please know that we are open to talk to and to bounce ideas off of. We are excited to help!

PTA Minutes July 17th 2009

Suzee Anderson brought the meeting to order. She welcomed everyone and had each person introduce themselves and had them tell which committee they were going to be helping on.

Suzee went over this years calendar and events. The topics discussed were Health and Safety Week, Teacher Breakfast, Schedule for Registration, Back to School Night, T-Shirts, Our Blog, Keeping track of PTA Hours, Book Fair, Safety Week, School Pictures, when we will hold PTA Meetings, Budget turned in for Audit, Rod Watkins Memorial Bench, Father Daughter, and Mother Son.

Nancy Lee talked about holding a penny war, and explained how it would work.

Mr. Larsen thanked everyone for being a part of PTA and expressed what a wonderful feeling we have here at REES. He talked about each grade and the new teachers who were joining this year. He discussed that there would be no Open House this year due to budget cuts.

Suzee asked for all email addresses and talked about PTA Cards. She thanked everyone for there help and the meeting was closed.



In Attendance Were:

Suzee Anderson
Kristina Reid
Nyla Allen
Mike Larsen
Nancy Lee
Anita Hales
Angela Davis
Tammy Taylor
Adrienne Prestwich
Jennifer McQueen
Miranda Hjorth
Marnie Meredith

PTA Calendar 2009-2010

Tenative 2009-2010 Schedule

July
30 Registration

August
17 Teacher Breakfast
19 1st Day of School
26 1st Day of Kindergarten
27 Back to School Night
Teacher Birthday Treat

September
21-24 Green Ribbon Safety Week
22 Picture Day
24 Teacher Birthday Treat

October
8 Reflections Kick Off
19-23 Red Ribbon Week
23-29 Book Fair
28 Picture Make-up day
29 SEP Dinner
Teacher Birthday Treat
30 No School

November
6 Parent Child Activity
13 Reflections Due
24 Teacher Birthday Treat
for Nov. and Dec.

December
7-18 Box Tops Collection Weeks

January
14 SEP Dinner
15 No School
28 Teacher Birthday Treat

February
1-12 Box Tops Weeks
5 Parent Child Activity
10 Spring Pictures
25 Teacher Birthday Treat

March
1-5 Book Fair
2 Family Reading Night
16 Kindergarten Reg.
18 SEP Dinner
19 No School
25 Teacher Birthday Treat

April
5-9 Spring Break
19-23 Teacher Appreciation
29 Teacher Birthday Treat
30 Jump-a-thon

May
??? Track Meets
14 School Carnival
20 Teacher Birthday Treat
21 Kindergarten Grad.

New School Year

It's time to get ready for the new school year. Does that mean summer is almost over? :( I met with Mr. Larsen this past week and discussed plans for the upcoming year. I am SO excited!!! To kick off the year, we will have our first PTA meeting on Friday July 17 at 11:00 a.m. Please plan now on attending. We have a lot to discuss. Lets make this 2009-2010 year a great one at Rees! We need your help doing this. See you soon.

Huge Thanks!

We really felt the carnival / silent auction was a success. We are so lucky to have a school where the principal, secretaries and teachers are so dedicated! We received such support for every member of the faculty during the silent auction! We were able to raise $2444.00 for the PTA. This makes us JUMP FOR JOY! Thanks so much to those who helped with the auction. Many people got donations from their employers. Many people helped in too many ways to list. VERY big thanks to Keri and Tanya for all of their hard work!

School Carnival - Silent Auction - Balloon Launch

We are SO excited for Monday night. It should be great weather and a great time to bring your families out to the school carnival! Exciting! This year, the PTA will be helping by manning the food booth. There should be some YUMMY food, so come hungry! Also, the PTA has gathered donations from around the community for the silent auction. They have over 50 gift baskets to auction off! YAY!!! Remember to visit the stage area and look over these items. All the proceeds from the auction go directly to benefit the students of Rees Elementary.

We also are funding the balloon launch in memory of Jayden Cartright, a kindergartner, who passed away last December. In the northeast vestibule. the students will be able to, free of charge, write a little note, memory or happy thought and attach it to a balloon. At 8:00 p.m. we will gather in the playground area and launch the balloons all at once. It should be a great event. We look forward to seeing everyone on Monday night!!

Rees PTA Board 2009-2010

I have heard from the following individuals about serving on the board for 2009-2010. If you were on the board last year, and are still willing to serve in your position, please contact me. As you can see, there are still a lot of openings. Please, if you would like to help us out by serving on the board, contact Suzee or leave a comment. We are always looking for new people!

President: Suzee Anderson
Secretary: Kristina Reid
Treasurer: Tanya Melton
Principal: Mike Larsen
Teacher Rep: Sarai Memmott
Teacher Birthdays: Miranda Hjorth
Birthday Reps: Tammy Dennison, Marnie Meredith, Sarah Blair
Book Fair: Jodi Riley, Angela Davis, Jessica Peteson
Box Tops: Addie Draper, Anita Hales, Jennifer Mills
Community Involvement: (need 1 - 2 people)
Fundraising: (need 2 - 3 people) Nancy Lee
Health & Safety: Keri Marziale, Nancy Lee, Suzee Anderson, Kristina Reid
Newsletter: Jackie Olsen
Parent Child Activities: Nyla Allen, Adrienne Prestwich, Jennifer McQueen, Shandy Crow
Public Relations: Kristie McMurdie
Newspaper Correspondent: Sadie Oldham
Teacher Appreciation: Kim McGill, Tammy Taylor, Heather Hunt, Tracy Wiley
Reflections: Audra Hatch, Dani Hallows, (need 3 more people)
Silent Auction: (need 1 - 2 people)

Welcome

I thought that it might be a good idea to have a place where everyone could visit to receive information about our PTA. I am so excited for the upcoming year!! I am extremely grateful for all that the members of the PTA have done this year. I look forward to working with you in 2009-2010. I hope you know that I am always looking for new ideas and new ways of doing things. I firmly believe that it will take all of us to make Rees PTA the best that it can be! I am hoping that everyone will feel welcome and a part of the Rees PTA. Please, if there is anything that I can do to help you, don't hesitate to contact me. The school will have my phone number. Again, thank you so much for your help and all that you do to make Rees Elementary the best! We have so many wonderful parents that volunteer countless hours. THANKS!!!