The Spartan
Schmucker Middle School PTO Newsletter - Oct '15
Letter From the PTO President
Welcome Fall! I hope you have taken notice of the fabulous job our hospitality committee did of sprucing up the front of the school for this season. Blue and gold pumpkins are showing off their Spartan pride thanks to the efforts of Meg McQueen, Julie Massey and Laura Christensen. If you haven't been to school lately you can check out the photos of their handiwork on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SCHMUCKERPTO And if you haven't already "Liked" our page, please take a moment to do so and keep up to date with all the happenings around SMS.
Thank you to all who have volunteered to help with PTO activities this year. We have all the information collected and committee chairs will be contacting you as needs arise. Thank you for your willingness to give of your time and energy to continue making SMS a fantastic place for our kids to learn and grow. And if you haven't yet signed up and would like to contribute please don't hesitate to send me an email and we will get you connected to the right person.
Another thank you to all who have paid their dues for this year. This $10/family helps the PTO support our school in a variety of ways. Many things like the student directory, field trips and programs such as 5 Star would not be possible without the direct support of PTO funds. Along with sponsoring these and many other activities, your dues make you an official member of the PTO, granting the right to vote at monthly meetings.
A big shout out to Amy Tiebout and her group of volunteers, Dennis Rodriguez and Laura Krieger, for many hours of work putting together this year's student directory. The directory is headed to the printer this week and should be distributed to students in the next couple weeks.
Finally, our by-laws state that the PTO exists for the following purposes:
1) To provide an opportunity for the parents, teachers, staff and school administrators to exchange concerns and ideas to benefit the student body;
2) To promote on-going relationships between students, administrators, parents, teachers and staff for the enrichment of the student body; and
3) To provide funding for supplies and sponsorship of various school related activities.
In order to achieve these purposes we need as much input from parents as possible. Please consider joining us for monthly meetings on the first Thursday of the month. You will find us in the Seminar Room at 1 pm on October 1st and again on November 5. Anyone is welcome to join us and those who have paid dues will be able to vote.
As always, we are serving together to make a difference!
Cleary Jankowski
SMS Angels
Greetings from the SMS Angels!
The past few weeks seem to have flown by quickly. We hope you and your students are poised and ready for a fun and successful school year! For those who haven’t yet heard of us, we are a small group of anonymous parents who assist SMS students who are in need of a hand-up due to unfortunate circumstances.
Thanks to a wonderful outpouring of support last fall, the SMS Angels were able to help these students. Some of the items we provided include: zippered binders, shoes, jackets, etc. A new year is upon us and we are again seeking your support so that we may continue to fill requests as needed. Any size financial contribution to our mission is most appreciated. Please make checks payable to “SMS Angels” and submit to the Guidance Office, attention Andrea Hoover.
Thank you for your continued support of this ongoing effort to support the needs of our SMS students.
SMS AngelsStudents, Start Saving for DC Now!
Did you know that the 8th grade Washington D.C. trip can cost almost $800? This annual trip is an opportunity that we hope all of our students will be able to enjoy when they are in 8th grade! To help offset the costs of this trip and raise funds for the SMS PTO programs, a walk a thon fundraiser is held in late winter/early spring. Look for more information to follow in the months ahead! If you have not already signed up to help volunteer on this committee and are interested in helping, please contact Laura Christensen at ltc516@yahoo.com
Company Rebates
Make your money worth more by participating in the various company rebates at SMS! The following are the various programs we take part in to bring extra funds to help out students and school:
Martins: Martin's Supermarkets offer a program where we can earn educational equipment for our school. You may go online to sign up for this valuable program. www.martins-supermarkets.com (click on Advantages for Education)
The SMS ID is: 4765
Box Tops for Education: General Mills' Box Tops For Education is a great way to make your dollar more powerful! Clip the Box Tops from products you buy such as General Mills cereal, Ziploc, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Kleenex and Yoplait --just to name a few. Our school will get $0.10 for each Box Tops tag sent in. They can really add up! We have a collection box in the main office, or they can be given to any teacher. This is valuable money we can spend on things that our school needs.
Target: Shop RED and Target will donate up to 1% of your purchases to SMS. Sign up at Target stores or online at www.target.com
Labels For Education: From soup, cereal and snacks to dairy products, beverages and food storage -- your kitchen's probably full of eligible Labels for Education items. Get clipping and SMS can start earning points! Please drop in the collection box in the main office or give them to a teacher. (Campbells, Pace, V8, Bic, Pepperidge Farm)
Interested in the PHM Forum?
The PHM forum is volunteer- based parent-led group which meets monthly to receive updates on current PHM topics from Dr. Thacker, guest speakers, and the forum committee. Each PHM school sends representatives to this meeting as well as being open all PHM parents. Meetings are generally held the first Wednesday of every month at 12pm in the Educational Services Center. Please join us!
October 7 Meeting Topic: The Latest Tech Rollouts
November 4 Project Lead the Way / STEM Initiatives
December 2 Holiday Potluck & Student Safety Discussion
January 6 Foreign Language Opportunities
February 3 Art & Music Education
March 2 Engineering Programs K-12
April 13 Grading Scales, Report Cards, & Graduation Qualifying Exams
May 4 Sports Opportunities
Schmucker Staff Appreciation and Hospitality
HAPPY FALL, SCHMUCKER FAMILY!
Each month our SMS Staff Appreciation volunteers along with the PTO will be showing our support to all of our awesome staff. If you completed your volunteer forms and said that you wanted to join our team or wanted to be aware of needs throughout the year, you have been added to our SignUpGenius and email roster. You should be seeing an email soon and a signup regarding our first event later this month.
So many of you signed up to help out and we sincerely appreciate your willingness to contribute. Each year we are able to decorate the front of the school with flowers, pumpkins, and winter/spring decor. You make it possible by your donations for us to treat the staff each month with food, treats, coffee, candy, etc...We do have a budget and with your help we are able to do something each month. All the little things we do to support and encourage our Schmucker Staff mean a great deal!
You DO NOT need to contribute every month. You can pick just one event or three or all events (whatever is best for you).
To follow are a few upcoming dates. If you didn't sign up or you are not 100% sure if you are on the volunteer list, please email us and we will add you to our roster.
October 19 - Dinner for teachers (student led conferences)
November 20 - Soups, stews and chili lunch for the SMS Staff
December 15 - Holiday cookies and treats for the SMS Staff
THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING A PART OF OUR TEAM!
Meg McQueen, Julie Massey, Laura Christensen, Anna Binder and Cleary Jankowski
Questions: cjjpmassey@aol.com or 214.223.0452
Schmucker PTO
Location: 56045 Bittersweet Rd, Mishawaka, IN 46545
Facebook: facebook.com/SchmuckerMiddleSchoolPTO