SWS News: Aug / Sept
One AWESOME week in the books...
What a Great Start to the School Year....
Your kids are awesome!!! Each day this week was better than the one before. Pretty soon, even our Kindergarten students will be running this place!
As of now, we have had our three Open House Nights for K-1, 2-3, & 4-5. If you were not able to make it, here are my 4 points to start the year:
- We will be starting with PBIS right from the start this year. This helps us to use the same language and have the same expectations no matter which adult is speaking to which student throughout the school. Ask your kids about wolf bucks--they should be able to tell you all about Kind/Safe/Respectful/Responsible!!
- Morning Meetings will start our day for every student. The class spends 10-15 minutes doing activities each morning to get to know each other better. We've found this is helpful in growing our school community, learning perspectives, and understanding opinions.
- Mindfulness and Wellness --knowing how to understand and work through our emotions-- are an important part of how we support students here at Starkweather. Our counselor, Ms. Kadis, uses these techniques with students, individually or in groups. Plus, our teachers are using more and more of these mindful approaches within their classrooms. It is not uncommon to hear a quiet bell ding in a classroom and to see the kids take a deep breath to refocus themselves--it is great to promote this!
- Communication--this newsletter will come every two weeks, and it will be a combination of PTO news and general Starkweather news. We hope this will add a convenient way to find all the information you need when it comes to SWS! On occasion, you may receive separate and additional informative emails from the PTO and me; but, we will try to get as much information as possible into the bi-monthly newsletters. Also, parents can expect weekly updates from their classroom teachers. Lastly, please be proactive and reach out to the teacher or me if something should arise. While I do get good information in the end of year parent survey, that isn't the best avenue to let me know about something that happened in December. Keep the lines of communication open! :)
If you missed the open house for your child's classroom, please reach out to the teacher so you can get up to speed!
Thanks!
John Meanix, Principal
ICE CREAM SOCIAL--FAMILY FUN EVENT!
When? Friday, September 13 from 6-8 pm!
Where? Starkweather School Cafeteria
What? This annual family social is a fun way to celebrate with our school community!
Why? Because, who doesn't love ice cream, water ice, and pizza?!
Advance tickets can be purchased for only a $1 per person.
Or, tickets can also be purchased for $3 per person at the door.
Each ticket entitles the holder to a serving of ONE of the following: Ice cream & toppings, Rita's water ice, a slice of pizza, or a bottled water.
Whole pizzas can also be purchased/reserved with advanced ticket form.
The forms will be sent home with the children; but, we have attached the PDF copy here for your convenience or just in case the form gets lost in the shuffle!
We hope to see you there!
SWS Fundraiser Event at CYCLEBAR in West Chester with Kate Saraceni!
You are invited to an amazing CYCLEBAR workout where all proceeds go directly to our school!!
On Friday, September 20th at 6:00 PM, parents are invited to cycle with
Kate Saraceni, SWS Kindergarten teacher and WC CYCLEBAR instructor!
It's a $25 minimum donation per rider & all proceeds will go directly to Starkweather!!
Food and drinks will be served! If you don’t want to ride, feel free to come by after for food and drink.
If you plan to attend, please either download the “Ride CycleBar” app to book your seat or contact the studio @ 610-242-9285! You can also book online, just click on KATE'S STARKWEATHER FALL KICK OFF and pick your spot!
We hope to see you there!
LIBRARY with Mrs. Gadaleto
Right from day 1, students have been heading to the library to enjoy all it has to offer! It is great to have the kids back--reading, recommending, and revolving through the books once again!
This year, we are very fortunate to have enough SWS staff scheduled to support the library; so, there will not be a sign up genius for volunteers needed in the library. We have Karen Becker, our awesome library aide, and Donna MacLeod, Starkweather’s amazing office assistant, assisting with the day to day operation of the library. There will be plenty of opportunities to volunteer during the book fairs as well as additional times where volunteers may be requested in the library. In these unique cases, we will send out notifications through these newsletters. If you'd like, you can contact Mrs. Gadaleto to let her know you may be interested in the future.
BIRTHDAY BOOKS!! This year, you can donate a birthday book in your child's name to the library. Each student will be given a paper to bring home if you are interested. Any questions, please reach out. This is an exciting new option for families--stay tuned for details to come home!
If you have any questions about Library, or suggestions for titles, please contact Mary Gadaleto mgadaleto@wcasd.net.
Families need to register to update your information for access to the directory and more!
We are excited to announce that we will be using Membership Toolkit, instead of MySchoolAnywhere, as our PTO communications and directory website. We plan to use this site not only for our SWS directory, but also for online purchases & event sales, homeroom fee payments, eblasts, and other communications starting with the 2019-2020 school year.
We invite you to visit www.starkweatherpto.membershiptoolkit.com to register and update your information. Once you create your Membership Toolkit Account, you can have access to the published directory of families, pay the homeroom dues, make payments for upcoming school events, and download the app!
Here's what you need to do:
- Go to www.starkweatherpto.membershiptoolkit.com.
- Click on the Register/Login button.
- If you already have an account with another organization that uses Membership Toolkit you can use the same email and password to login. You can then proceed to the numbered steps below.
- Select "Create Account" and fill in the name, email, and password information.
- Click "verify my email" and then check your email for a link to complete the process. The link expires in 2 hours. If you do not receive the email, check your spam or junk folders.
- Once you have verified your email address, log back in and finish the registration process.
- Complete the Parent/Family and Student Information.
- Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences.
- Once these forms are complete, you will have access to the published school directory.
- To pay your homeroom dues online, simply go to the store and add the amount of students to the PTO/Homeroom dues form; then, add to the cart and check out.
Once the Primary Account is set up, the Primary User can "invite" other email addresses to access his/her account. This allows the Secondary User to have their own login information, but still have access to the family account.
Any questions or concerns can be directed to Danielle Skupp at
swspto.secretary@gmail.com! Thanks!
Postcards for Principals!!
Medals or Patches?
HOWL of FAME
You Are Invited to be Featured in an Exclusive SWS Fundraiser Packet!
The Starkweather PTO is planning to collaborate with local Starkweather family-owned businesses to create an exclusive marketing packet where all proceeds go directly to our school! This is a great chance for all Starkweather families to support each other! It will offer a way to easily find local SWS parent-run businesses. Additionally, this is a wonderful opportunity for SWS parent business owners to support our school while supporting their business! That's a win-win!
For a small fee, we will feature your preprinted flyer in an envelope that will be sent home to Starkweather families. We hope you will join us for this great fundraising opportunity!
If you want to be included in this fundraiser packet, please contact swspto.president@gmail.com ASAP to find out more details!
THE PTO'S MAIN GOAL IS TO ENHANCE AND IMPROVE OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
We could use some helping hands. Please consider volunteering for one of the following positions:
- School Store Inventory & Deposits
- Striders Assistants
For more details on the executive or committee positions, please
contact PTO presidents, Christine Kupiec & Mia Clark, at swspto.president@gmail.com.
STAFFING UPDATE
MRS. GINA DOUGLAS--Health & Phys Ed
We are excited to welcome Mrs. Douglas to the Starkweather team! Mrs. Douglas has years of positive and energetic experience in elementary schools and I am looking forward to her working with students in our gym! She is going to be a great fit--please stop by the gym during sneak a peek to say Hi! (Mr. McConnell is now happily retired!!)
MRS. JEN MANGOLD--Special Ed
Also coming to us with many years of experience, Mrs. Mangold is joining our Learning Support team. Mrs. Mangold will be here every afternoon to help support our students, most likely with our older students in gr 3-4-5. Mrs. Mangold is excited to get started, and our staff and students are going to love working with her!
MS. AMBER KEYS--1st Gr
Ms. Keys will be moving to 1st grade this year. Ms. Keys knows this group of 1st graders very well after working with them in Kindergarten last year. She is joining a great team and is excited to get started. Ms. Keys will remain in room 6.
MR. ROBERT DANDO, RN--Nurse's Office
Mr. Dando will be joining Mrs. Doyle in our Nurse's office. We are excited to have him get to know our kids!
NAME CHANGES :)
MRS. KATE SARACENI (Schofield) will continue in Kindergarten this year.
MRS. JESSICA HUTTON (Johanson) is returning after a yearlong maternity leave / sabbatical leave and will resume working with students on her Learning Support caseload.
MRS. DASHIRA RAMIREZ (Santiago) will be working in 1st grade again this year. Mrs. Ramirez' name and email will change officially within the district soon. For now, continue to use 'dsantiago' for her email.
Click the pic for more info on the app!
Click the pic for the SWS smile link!
Click the pic to register our school!
Click the calendar image to check out the updated PTO calendar on important school and PTO related dates, scheduled school closings, and other events!
The Starkweather PTO Executive Team
Co-Presidents: Christine Kupiac and Mia Clark swspto.president@gmail.com
VP of Budget: Jason Ritter
VP of Communication: Patti Suchanick swspto.communication@gmail.com
Secretary: Danielle Skupp
Treasurer: Volunteer Needed
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*PTO-related newsletter inquires can be directed to Patti Suchanick unless otherwise listed in the news sections above.