Announcements
May 14th - 18th
Greenwood Health & Science Fair
Thursday, May 17th 2012
6:30pm – Potluck starts
7:00 to 8:00pm – Science project viewing and judging
8:00pm – Ceremony
8:30 – Fair ends
Featuring:
Tours of the NEW Greenwood Garden
Pacific Science Center’s Wellness and Nutrition Program
Cascade Bicycle Club
Information Packet to aid in building your presenation is found here.
April 30th - May 4th
MSP Testing this week for 3rd and 5th graders.
View the new Health and Science Fair newsletter.
This is a great resource for your science project.
Click here
April 23rd - 27th
Spring has sprung--and with it, our school garden is springing to life! Come join us this Saturday, April 28th, as we break ground for our highly anticipated school garden. The garden will be an inviting space for learning and gathering, comprising an 'outdoor classroom' with benches, six raised beds, compost spinners, worm bins, and more.
Please join us on Saturday by bringing your green thumb, your ideas, and a little elbow grease! Gardening tools will be supplied. There will be two work party sessions—feel free to participate in one, or better yet, both! Kids welcome and encouraged to participate.
- 9:00 AM Ground breaking
- 9:30 AM Community meeting & refreshments
- 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM First work party session
- 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Break
- 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Second work party session
Hope to see you there!
Love to Play Games?
Free Game Night
Friday, April 27 from 6:30 to 8 pm
Want to spend an evening playing with your kid? The PTA and Connect is sponsoring a family game night on Friday, April 27.
Blue Highway Games will provide a great variety of new and old board games for all ages that evening. Play an old favorite, try out some games from around the world, or see the best new games.
Volunteers Needed to be lead each game that evening.
This is a great volunteer opportunity:
All play…..no work.
Please contact Nancey at nancey@numeriklab.com for more info.
Spring Clubs registration deadline was Friday April 13! Go here to register
1. The PTA Budget Process at Greenwood Elementary
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There is no better way to help shape PTA policy than to come to our budget meetings. This year's meetings are
The process works this way: 1) contact the Budget Committee at treasurer, anytime between now until the first meeting with your budget request, everyone is welcome to make suggestions at this point - we especially encourage the school's staff and teachers to come forward, but suggestions from families are most welcome. People who bring forward a suggestion for the budget should list: -exactly what amount of money they want in the budget to support the suggestion -exactly what that money will provide -if you anticipate any income such as fundraising or grants, aside from Jog A Thon, Auction or General Fund, to offset the costs you are asking for. 2) the Budget Committee will record all the suggestions for budget items - everything from money for field trips and tutors to money for teacher grants to money for clubs scholarships, PE equipment, library books and the like. 3) the members of the Budget Committee will also be reaching out to people that we anticipate having a similar ask to the prior year, to avoid a long, drawn out first meeting.
Since the process is short and focused, we require that all suggestions come forward by the first meeting. If you have a suggestion, please email your suggestion to treasurer, with as much detail as possible, and we will do our best to represent your idea well. We recommend that you send someone to the meeting whom you know will speak for the idea and provide additional details, but this is not required.
Once we have all the suggestions, we assign a priority to each one. Normally we rank each idea from 1-4 by show of hands. This has been an effective, non-contentious way to quickly prioritize all suggestions. Normally, this activity is complete by the end of the first meeting, but it can carry over to the second.
Then we forecast expected revenues from our funding sources - Jog-A-Thon, Auction and Fund Drive, as well as any anticipated grant money or other income.
We see how far down the priority list we can get with the funding we have projected. Sometimes, in order to fund more line items, we will decrease the allotted funds for some items. Sometimes we adjust funding projections too, though we are generally conservative on these projections.
Once we are done with the rebalancing of funding lines and spending lines, we have a balanced budget that we present to the next General Meeting. That budget works as our blueprint for the following year - if, for example, you would like to see the PTA pay for a new mural for the wall along NW 81st St, bring that idea with an estimate of costs to the budget meeting on the 8th. If we don't fund it now, it won't happen next year. |
Our next Free Family Fun night will be Game Night on Friday evening, April 27 from 6:30 to 8. Blue Highway Games will be bringing a variety of great games for kids and families to play together.
We need adult volunteers to man each table. This would involve coming at 5:30 to “master” your game and then sharing the rules with the players that evening. This is a great volunteer opportunity: all play…..no work. Please contact Nancey at nancey@numeriklab.com for more info.
3. Garden Work Party April 28th
The next work party to prepare for establishing a garden at Greenwood is Saturday April 28th. Kids are welcome to join in the fun. The basic plan for the day is laid out below.
9:30 School and Community Meeting to welcome the community and provide update on the garden construction.
10-1 Get the garden area ready to install the garden beds. This will include removal of sod, clean up of the area and then laying down mulch so we're ready to build the beds in the coming weeks.
1-3 Level the ground and spread wood chips.
4. Science Fair
Save the date! The Science Fair is Thursday May 17th from 6:30 - 8:30. More information to come.
Join the Budget Committee.
We need 2-3 people who would be interested in volunteering to participate with the treasurers on the budget committee. The committee would be the frontline in gathering information on asks/needs from the Greenwood Community for next years budget in preparation for the budget meetings. The estimated time commitment between now and the end of May would be about 8 hours between phone calls, emails, meetings etc. If you are interested or would like more information please email Jessica and Heather at treasurer@greenwoodpta.org.
Hurry, hurry, hurry! Less than two weeks left to donate to your classroom auction basket!!
Classroom Auction Baskets need your help, now! Please bring donated or procured items to your classroom by Thursday, March 15th. (Remember, all donations are tax deductible.) Questions? Contact Heather (hgs@u.washington.edu)
Basket Themes
Baker: Family Baking and Cooking
Buschman: Rainy day activities
Dunker-Olson: Movie night
Fraser: Sports
Lommers: LEGO-mania
Maahs: Science 101
Miller: Arts and crafts
Raichle: Jokes, gags, and magic tricks
Schmidt: Birdwatching
Schumacher: Coffee Break
Shook: Taking a hike
Spiz: Winter/Summer Fun
Tougher: Quilting
Wilson: Coffee, tea, chocolate
It’s not too late! Girls in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade can register for our amazing Girls on the Run program. It’s NOT just a running club and to find out more go to www.girlsrun.org OR call Ms. Bastasch (206 252-1427). Girls on the Run starts Tuesday, March 6th. They meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:10 to 4:30. Registration forms are available in the gym and scholarships are available so all girls can participate.
Nominating Greenwood PTA Board of Directors
Do you know a parent that would do a great job as PTA board member for the 2012-2013 school year? Are you interested yourself? Now is the time to let us know. There are positions both large and small, and it is a great way to get involved. Please send an email to nominatingcommittee@greenwoodpta.org by March 18th.
CONGRATULATIONS: Asha Reichenbach - Age 6 - 1st Grade - Mr. Lommers - Greenwood Elementary School
Grand Prize Winner: Video
January 31st - February 14th
Thank you to Phinney Ridge Starbucks!
Want to learn more about the Seattle Council PTSA?
Interested in a new Play Structure at Greenwood?
- Come to an informational meeting on Thurs March 1 at 7pm in the Greenwood Library to help be part of making this happen. Please bring ideas, grant writing capabilities, and most of all, enthusiasm to start the process of hopefully making a new play structure a reality.
- Any questions, or if you are unable to attend but still want to be part of the committee, contact Shelly Deiner at shellymentzer@yahoo.com or 206-999-4944.
Thanks! Please show your support of our community in return!....
- Thank you to Phinney Ridge Starbucks employees for donating their time and energy to an amazing clean-up of the front of school this past Saturday. It looks beautiful!
- Arts Education Forum: Thursday, February 16, 6:30-8:00pm at Seattle University, Pigott Auditorium - From the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle Arts Commission and Seattle Public Schools. The Mayor's office, area youth and Seattle Public Schools (SPS) are holding an Arts Education Forum open to the public. Learn about arts education and a coordinated effort between the city and the school district to create a comprehensive K-12 visual and performing arts plan for Seattle Public Schools. Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield, and Mayor Mike McGinn, will be attending the forum. Click on the link below for more information. For more information go to http://www.seattle.gov/arts/education/forum.asp
- Legislative Focus Day 2012 - Monday, February 20 – Rally for Education!! 8:30am-2:00pm in Olympia, WA - Join the Parade and Noon Rally on the steps of the Capital. For more information go to http://www.wastatepta.org/meetings/focus_day/index.html
Please join us at the PTA Meeting this Wednesday, February 1
Family Support – Current Needs
Auction Check Out People Needed
Please join us for the next General PTA Meeting this Wednesday,
February 1
at 7pm in the Greenwood Commons. Topics to be discussed include:
· Budget update with discussion about the spring Budget meetings
· Voting in the Nominating Committee to establish the 2012/13 PTA Board
· Voting on Capital fund asks
· Auction update
and we are excited to have Warner Danielson, Budget Manager with the Seattle School District come to speak with us about the district's budget and what it will mean for our school.
Childcare will be provided! We look forward to seeing you all there!
Family supports needs:
Gently used, good condition Small couch or two, coffee/end tables, living room chairs like recliners or rockers. Contact Deb Fitzpatrick at fitzdk@gmail.com or call/text 852.8897
Auction Check Out People needed
Looking for 2 thorough, organized, go-with-the-flow folks to help check out bidders, and 2-3 folks to be “runners” to help with check out. Why it’s great opportunity? It’s a big give to the school, and it’ll be a fast and fun paced evening. Contact Deb and Andrew Fitzpatrick at 206-852-8897 (call or text), or fitz3489@comcast.net
• New information about the 2012-2013 school year full day Kindergarten have been posted on the Seattle School District Website.
For information regarding Full Day K program participation fees, visit the Seattle School District website
• Vist the new Winter Clubs page. There will be no registration via PayPal. Contact the Clubs Coordinator for any questions.
• Check out the new Greenwood Elementary Garden Blog. Follow all the news about our new garden construction and helpful healthy eating tips.
- All School Writing Celebration
- Two-Hour Early Dismissal: Professional Development