News You Can Use
March 09, 2020
Passcode: 860698
Presidents' Note
Daylight Saving Time is Almost Here - Time to Spring Ahead at PTA!
The topsy-turvy reality of losing an hour of sleep begins Sunday, March 14th at 2:00 AM. The temporary routine disruption also welcomes one more hour of sunlight, outdoor play and the promise of Spring sports. As nature sheds the dead weight of winter, we also need to check in with ourselves. How are you doing? How can PTA better support your needs as a parent, a teacher and community member?
Parents-Helping-Parents - Highly Sensitive Children
Do you parent a highly sensitive child? There is a parent-to-parent call on March 16th offering the opportunity to check in with other parents in the community.
Parenting Solo ... but Never Alone! is coming up on March 24th led by Leslie Cohen-Rubery, a talented local clinical social worker with a tenure of experience helping Redding parents and families. Questions and topics will be welcomed ahead of time.
It's Never too Late to Say Welcome!
Whether you moved in 2020 or last week, we want to reach out and welcome you to RES and town. Look out for an opportunity to grab a snazzy welcome bag and in-person opportunities to meet fellow parents and caregivers in an outdoor setting.
Lost & Found - Spring Cleaning
Thanks to Kristi Slater for her time, we will have an organized Lost & Found area in the front vestibule. Yes, we probably have that extra special Darth Vader sweatshirt your little one couldn't live without.
Invest in a Creative Outlet!
How do you PTA? If you find joy in gardening, creating pollinator pathways, outside art classes, organizing food trucks and playgroups, we always have opportunities to have fun and make a difference. We work around your hours. Drop us a line if you're interested - respta4kids@gmail.com.
- Angela and Meredith
4th Grade Yearbook
Many parents have sent photos so we have been sorting through, tagging, and "filing". We are currently making sure we have photos of each child! Next step is for our yearbook rep to lay out the pages with our photos.
We will need your help with proofreading once the page layouts are completed in late March/early April! Final due date is April 23rd!
*If you would like to help "tag" photos or proofread the book and review pages, please let us know!
Contact: Jen Lyons jenlyons0@gmail.com for more information
Volunteer Opportunities
Contact: respta4kids@gmail.com if interested!
New Pond Farm + RES PTA Coordinator
Opportunity to coordinate a pollinator gardening program for May with New Pond Farm Educators and the RES Pres School team. Requires 2-3 hours of work on your time to start a new initiative that brings the outdoors in and improves our RES pollinator garden! Perfect for a preschool parent or incoming K parent!
School Supplies Coordinator
Seeking a parent to coordinate a "School Supplies" drive for May/Jun 2020. The work requires 2-3 hours of work at the end of the year and over the summer. Parents order school supplies specific by grade to be delivered on the first day of school September 1, 2020. It's the BEST way to ensure all your supplies are ordered and will arrive on time!
New Mural... RES has HeART
Tada! A new mural displaying hundreds of RES Student HeARTs is installed at RES. The project, led and envisioned by our art teacher Mimi Weiss, is the culmination of months and months of work, planning and student led design. Whether virtual or in-school, all students had an opportunity to complete a tile for the mural. Focusing on social and emotional wellbeing, the project was created in tandem with the school social worker and psychologist team to engage students in strong emotions and ways we can manage our feelings. If you missed the video -- check it out here! We are incredibly appreciative of the time of Dr. Sammi Gureasko, Kristin Martin, Ms. Carr, Mrs. Fisher, Meredith Ferris, Katrinka DeLeon, Angela Caes and the project mastermind and lead Mimi Weiss.
Funding for this project and all art supplies is thanks to the National PTA and TikTok Grant awarded to the RES PTA in 2020.
Here's how the money was spent
- Each RES student received a PTA art kit with watercolors, markers, pastels, an art journal, a canvas tile inside a mesh pouch (approximately $4,500)
- The remaining $450-500 was awarded to the 4th Grade Class who will have an opportunity for a virtual music video to coincide with the all-school release of their song "Silver Linings." It's a great opportunity to have each student shine individually and as the strong class team that created the lyrics, collaborated on the song and will perform the final piece. If you are new to RES, this 4th Grade project is one of the cornerstones of a final year at school.
Driving Social and Emotional Wellbeing
The awarded grant focused heavily on engaging students artistically and equipping students with tools to cope through the changes, stress and frustrations of our pandemic times. Our collaborative efforts stretched from the PTA to all teaching staff, wellbeing staff and art team to consistently offer tools and coping mechanisms to navigate the ups and downs of every day. Work initiated over the summer has been actively in place for the school year.
New Billboard -- Amanda Gorman
Lost and Found
Our Lost and Found bin is overflowing with lovely clothes and items left at school. We need a volunteer to organize the items into bins for easy pick up. This will be 1-2 hours of work total. Please email respta4kids@gmail.com if you can help out.
PTA Welcome Wagon and Summer Playgroups
We are forming a team to welcome new families to our RES Community now and over the summer. We already have three great team members and are looking for 2-3 more parents or guardians -- please email respta4kids@gmail.com if interested.
Redding Park and Recreation Seeks Program Suggestions
Redding Park and Recreation would like to receive input from our residents regarding potential
programs to offer in the future. The pandemic has created programming challenges but Redding Park and Rec would like to gather information now in preparation for future programming.
If you are interested, please share a few program ideas to be researched for future programming. Please send your program suggestions by email to Laura Anderson at landerson@townofreddingct.org with the follow information:
- Program title
- Ideal age group(s) for the program
- Ideal time of day (i.e., weekdays, weekends, mornings, early afternoon, after-school hours)
- Any potential or proposed companies or individuals that might be able to provide instruction or support the program
2021-2022 Town & School Budget Season
Budget season is well underway since January, so now is the time to speak your mind about your priorities and values as it pertains to town spending. The RES PTA closely follows the Board of Education budget as we care deeply about class sizes, arts programs, building repairs, staff retention, post-COVID catch-up, social and emotional learning, special education funding, advanced learning opportunities and much more.
Each meeting allows for public comment and we encourage you to attend and share. If your child really thrives in smaller classrooms and that’s a value our community holds dear, our elected officials need to know! If you can’t imagine a middle school without a robust music program, now is the time to share that! Whatever your perspective, the public comment time is there so our board members can hear feedback - and the voice of parents MUST BE well represented!
The RES PTA asks that we all do our part to shape our school’s futures - and the future of our kids! - by attending, listening and speaking up.
Key Upcoming Meeting Dates:
- Mar 18 Board of Finance - Meeting 7:30 PM
Sign up to receive information on all town meetings and events at https://townofreddingct.org/.
Bethel Self Storage
Bethel Self Storage is an easily accessible self storage facility with a variety of storage units to meet your needs. Storage units can be accessed from 7am-8pm 7 days a week.
Email: info@bethelselfstorage.com
Website: http://www.bethelselfstorage.com/
Location: 92 Wooster St, Bethel, CT 06801
Phone: (203) 790-0730
ER9 School Community COVID-19 Information
Grab-and-Go Meals
Reminder: Grab-and-Go meals are available for pick up to all students this year, regardless of financial need. We urge families to take advantage of the opportunity for healthy meals on the go to support students learning from home. Regular meal pick up at Joel Barlow High School will provide a nutritional boost to hard-working students with little to no preparation needed.
Please feel free to contact David Kennedy at David.Kennedy@compass-usa.com or Deena Robushi at drobushi@er9.org with any questions or concerns.
In case you missed it -- January PTA meeting
Easton, Redding, Region 9 Special Education Committee
The tri-district special education committee works to support students and families who rely on additional support services in kindergarten to 12th grade.
Learn more about the committee's efforts and events at its website here.
Employer Donation Matching
As we approach the end of the year, you may be thinking about charitable donations. The RES PTA is a 501(c)(3) organization, and if our work is valuable to you, you can consider making an angel donation right here, or by mailing it to the RES PTA at 33 Lonetown Rd., Redding, CT 06896.
We'd also like to remind you that your employer might be like Thomson Reuters -- a company that generously matches employee gifts to local nonprofits doing the work communities rely on. If that's the case, please let us know, and we'll help you complete all the paperwork you need to make it happen!
Contact Us
Email: respta4kids@gmail.com
Phone: (203) 938-2519
Join the PTA!
As a PTA, our main goals will remain what they have always been:
- To provide academic, cultural and social programs for our children to enhance their learning and
- To support our teachers and staff and to act to unify our school community.
To fulfill our mission for a unified parent/ teacher community, we strive for 100% PTA membership. Dues are $25 per family this year. For more information on how to join, go to:
RESCTPTA.MEMBERSHIPTOOLKIT.COM
We are planning lots of safe and exciting virtual events this year that will be available to PTA members only, so sign up today!