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!