The Horseshoe Review
The Copeland PTO Newsletter
President’s Corner By Amanda Ball
Welcome back to all returning families and a big welcome to all new families! I’m looking forward to an exciting school year for 2019-2020!
I first want to thank all the volunteers who helped on the first day of school. Your time and help were greatly appreciated and it wouldn’t have gone so smoothly without each of you. I would also like to thank the volunteers who stepped forward to fill committee chairman positions and homeroom coordinator positions. The families, teachers, and staff of Copeland appreciate all your energy and efforts. The programs offered at Copeland would not be possible without your contribution.
Mark your calendars; everyone is invited to our Volunteer Fair! It will be held on Thursday, September 19th at 9:00 am in the cafeteria. The chairmen from each committee will be available to answer any questions you may have regarding volunteer opportunities. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about our volunteer programs and the different committees at Copeland. Come find out how you can support our Copeland Colts!
We will be kicking off our fall major fundraiser on Wednesday, September 18th. Your child will be bringing home all the information concerning the Big Kahuna catalog sales that day. The PTO relies on your support to provide Copeland students with cultural arts events, playground equipment, library books, learning software and many other programs that would not be possible without successful fundraisers.
Please be sure to read through this newsletter, published every other week, to find out important news and information regarding upcoming events, programs, and volunteer opportunities. We will also utilize our PTO website (www.copelandpto.org), our Facebook page (@copelandelementarypto), and Homeroom Coordinators.
If anyone has any comments, suggestions or questions about Copeland PTO or volunteering at the school, please feel free to contact anyone on the PTO Executive Board. Their phone numbers and email addresses are included below. We all look forward to working with you and I am looking forward to a fabulous school year at Copeland.
PTO Executive Board
President: Amanda Ball 713-557-0316 CopelandPTOPresident@gmail.com
Vice President: Cree Sanford 713-304-7016 CopelandPTOVicePresident@gmail.com
Cultural Arts: Penelope Miller 914-433-3050 CopelandPTOCulturalArts@gmail.com
VIPS Coordinator: OPEN CopelandPTOVIPS@gmail.com
Social Media: LaKishia Edwards 409-338-7667 CopelandPTOSocialMedia@gmail.com
Fundraising: Jennifer Alvarado 832-928-1968 CopelandPTOFundraising@gmail.com
Secretary: Jillana O'Dell 210-845-3918 CopelandPTOSecretary@gmail.com
Treasurer: Valerie Effinger 281-685-6275 CopelandPTOTreasurer@gmail.com
Sign up now and be part of the team!
Sign up for your 2019-2020 Copeland PTO Membership. It’s only $12 to join and it helps us provide so much for our Copeland Colts.
Volunteer Opportunities & Chair Positions Open
There will be many opportunities to volunteer throughout the year. We have ongoing volunteer opportunities that include: getting involved with the SRC (Science Resource Center), working with the art and music teachers, being a parent reader (grades K-2) or working at Spirit Cart to name a few. We also have one-off volunteer opportunities ranging from managing sign-ups for events to helping students learn lines for performances. Volunteering also includes activities like submitting pictures for the yearbook and donating items for dances, parties, field day, etc. Within the next week, the HRC (Homeroom Coordinator) specific to your class will be contacting you to introduce herself. Please make sure to save their email because the communications they send will have lots of important information – including volunteer needs & how to sign up.
Chair positions still open:
Yearbook Committee will consist of 2-3 people to work on the layout of pages and 1 person to handle communications & finances. We are using Balfour and you will have a monthly meeting with our Balfour rep, so you will not be doing this alone.
Yearbook Photographers - We need 6 yearbook photographers; one photographer for each grade level. Your responsibility will be to take pictures at your grade level events & upload them.
Colonial Day Co-Chair – (usually a 5th or 4th grade parent) 5th grade travels back in time to learn how people lived in the colonial days. The kids learn to make candles, go to a typical colonial day of school, learn games, see a working spinning wheel and many other things. Chairman will recruit volunteers to run each station and work with teachers on the layout for the day.
5th Grade Liaison - (5th grade parent) 5th Grade Liaison responsibilities will be organizing the 5th grade luncheon and 5th grade fun day. They will also help with 5th grade picture, distribute 5th grade shirts & help answer questions from 5th grade HRC's.
5th Grade Memory Book – (a 5th grade parent is requested) Chairman organizes this special "through the years" book for our 5th graders. They talk about their favorite memories at Copeland, favorite teachers, and we get to see their Elementary career in pictures from Kinder through 5th grade. We need someone to help organize this.
3rd Grade Multi-Cultural Day – Chairman helps organize multi-cultural day which consists of the kids traveling the world to explore food, traditions & games of other countries. Several volunteering opportunities needed from helping in a classroom on that day to donating an item.
Co-Chair Spirit Wear – Co-Chairman works with the chairman to organize t-shirt sales and distribution. Duties include communication with vendor, keeping track of inventory, processing of orders, distribution of purchases and ordering dates.
Co-Chair Gardening - Co-Chairman works with the chairman on garden days with our 3rd grade classes to grow and take care of the garden at the front of the school.
Hearing and Vision Screening By Valerie Effinger
We need your help to get our Copeland Colts hearing and vision screened! Whether you are certified to perform the screenings or if you just want to come help get the kids to and from the screenings, we need you!
Our screenings are Wednesday, September 11, and Thursday, September 12. Please see the signup below and sign up to come help out!
Spirit Cart By Laura Rivera
It’s that time of year again! We have Spirit Cart once a month and we need your help! We just need a couple of hours of your time to help our kiddos buy items from our cart! It's super easy and fun! Our students enjoy the opportunity to shop and they wouldn't be able to do it without volunteers like YOU!
If the signup is full, but you still want to come, please do!! We always need extra hands! Click the link to sign up.
The Garden By Tracy Renolds
Do you like to garden or want to learn more about the garden? The garden is needing a co-chair. If this sounds like fun contact Amanda Ball at copelandptopresident@gmail.com.
The 3rd graders owe a big THANK YOU to our dads, Mike Moorehead and Rob Schmid, and their sons, Peter Moorehead and Konnor Schmid, for helping clean out the garden. They prepared the garden for the first garden day, September 5.
The garden dates for September are the 5th and the 19th. On garden days have your kids wear clothes that can get dirty. The 3rd graders are responsible for maintaining and planting the garden. The garden will need parents to be willing to water on the weekends and during the week. If you can help, please email tracy.b.reynolds@gmail.com.
Spirit Gear By Amanda Ball
You can also print off the spirit gear order form at the bottom of the page, fill it out, include payment and send it to school with your child. We also have hoodies, caps, tumblers and vintage spirit shirts! If you want to guarantee you get the size you want, you need to order by September 25th.
If you have any questions please email Amanda Ball at copelandspiritwear@gmail.com.
It's never to early to start talking about yearbooks...
They will sell out fast so...
Birthday Marquee
Birthday Marquee
Support your Copeland PTO and wish your Copeland Colt a HAPPY BIRTHDAY by featuring them on the Copeland Elementary Marquee the week of their birthday.
It's Simple and Easy...
- Choose the week you want to feature your Copeland Colt
- Complete the Birthday Marquee Form
- Submit the $20 Birthday Marquee Fee
- Watch the look on their face when they see their name
Spots are limited to 5 listings per week. You must submit the form and payment by noon on the Friday prior to the week selected. So sign up your Copeland Colt TODAY!
Does your student have a summer birthday or is the week of their birthday already filled up? You can choose any week that is still available.
Due to processing, payments must be made online or by cash to guarantee your spot on the birthday marquee. If you are paying by cash; complete this online form, choose the "pay later" option then submit the payment within two business days to the school, either to the front office or send it in with your student.
Volunteer of the Month
Logging in as a Volunteer
Working for our kids as a volunteer is both rewarding and important. Please log your volunteer hours in our Raptor Portal.
CFISD has provided an online program to make it easier on volunteers to log and track their
volunteer hours. This program is called Raptor, which is part of the V-Soft security software
that helps keep our schools safe.
Copeland does not have logbooks in the front office to record your hours. So, in order to
log your hours, you will need to establish a raptor account. This is quite easy and will allow
you to log your hours at home.
The steps to register online are as follows:
1. Go to https://www.cfisd.net/en/community-involvement/community-engagement/volunteer/# or click on the "New to Raptor" button below.
2. Complete this form in its entirety and submit (you must have an email address to do this)
3. You will receive an email from support@raptorware.com with your account information and password.
4. Once you receive the email use the button below to log in to your account.
5. Add this website to your favorites (this is where you will log hours)
6. Log in with email and password
7. Select campus
8. Select the tabs you will need
This program will be used to determine volunteer of the month and reporting our total volunteer hours to the district, enabling them to apply for various grants and programs.
FREE MONEY for Your Kids!!!!
Link your Kroger Rewards card to Copeland Elem at www.KrogerCommunityRewards.com.
Are you a big Amazon shopper? Start using Smile.Amazon.comand select Copeland Elem as your charity.
Download Shoparoo App and snap a picture of your receipts from any store and they will make a donation to Copeland Elem.
BoxTops is switching to digital. Just scan your receipts on their app from any store and they give a donation to Copeland Elem. There are a few products that you can still clip the BoxTops for. Send these to the school and they can feed the shark in the front office!
Does the company you, or your spouse, work for match donations or pay for hours you volunteer at Copeland Elem? These companies do: Shell, BP & Microsoft. If you don’t know if your company does, please ask your HR Dept.