Washington Elementary
December 11, 2017
How do you view leadership? At Washington Elementary we view it as not this; but this!
School Spirit Tastes Great!!
Develop and Review Plan for No school, Late Starts and Early Dismissals Due to Weather.
In the event of an early dismissal due to weather, Washington will dismiss at the time announced for elementary buildings. Please make sure you have an up-date early dismissal plan shared with your child's classroom teacher.
If our school district is scheduled for a late start due to weather, do not drop your child off at school. There will not be supervision available until 30 minutes before school starts.
MAPS Preschool 2018-19 Registration:
Information will be mailed to families with age eligible children residing in the Mankato Area Public Schools boundaries. Preschool registration will begin on Monday, January 8th. Registration can be made online at www.mankato.thatscommunityed.com or in person at 820 Hubbell Avenue. For more information, please contact the Early Learning Department at 507-625-4620. Video link provides additional program information.
Important Dates....
December 12: Two-Hour Late Start
December 15: Kindergarten Winter Wonderland at 1-2:30pm
December 18: PTO Chipotle Fundraiser at 4-8 pm
December 25-January 2: No School
January 5-January 12: Pennies for Patients
January 8: PTO Meeting at 6:30pm in Media Center
January 9: Two-hour late Start
January 25: Kindergarten Pizza Party at 12 pm
Attendance
Thank you for making sure your child gets to school on time! Our tardy bell rings at 8:15am. Morning routines and learning begin at that time. This is the time of year when colds and sickness begin to impact attendance. Please follow the general rule of thump regarding sickness. If you have a fever, stay away and get well. If your child has a cold, be sure to coach them on using their arm to cover their cough and drink plenty of water. I understand that illnesses and other emergency absences cannot be avoided, but for the best chance at successful learning year it is important that students are here consistently.
You can help raise money for Washington Elementary!
It’s easy to support your school with items you already use in your home or receipts from stores you already patronize! Below is a list of the collection programs we are currently participating in.
Feel free to send any of the following to school with your student or there is a set of drawers in the hallway next to the lost and found to drop any of them off.
Each box top through Box Tops for Education is worth 10 for our school. If each student turned in just 10 box tops during the year the school would receive around $400. Watch for Bonus Tops on participating products or as a coupon from your store purchase. Go to www.boxtops4education.com to sign up, enter sweepstakes and to see a list of the participating products. Box tops do expire so be sure to turn them in on time!
Through Kwik Trip’s Milk Moola program, each milk/juice cap and bag top is worth 5 cents. Please remember to rinse the caps and bag tops before turning them in.
Save your Hy-Vee receipts from both Mankato locations and they will donate $1 for every $150 spent through the Hy-Vee Kash 4 Kids program. The receipts must be dated during the current school year (Sept. 2016- May 2017) to qualify. Every little bit will add-up!
We have set up our PTO as an organization you can support through AmazonSmile. Once you select us as an organization to support, we will receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible smile.amazon.com purchases. Our unique link can be used to automatically ask to support Washington Elementary PTO. It is: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/90-0542342
Washington Elementary PTO Meeting Minutes 11-13-17
Meeting Attendees: Diane Winegar, Hilary Kent, Stacie Smith, Jennifer Brunz, Casey Neitzel, Tracy Opie, Shane Drahota, Holly Evans, Heidi Burns, Eileen Campbell, Shane Baier, Cherise Barker, Annette Wurdinger
Meeting Minutes Approved: Casey N. (1) and Hilary K. (2)
Principal Report:
Shane gave an update on what the Lighthouse team has been up to. There were suggestions given by the team members and now those need to be gone through to get follow up information and to see how feasible they really are.
Shae would also like to have a group set up to discuss playground goals. This will go a long way in planning and future fundraising if there is a specific goal in mind.
The school referendum passed. Yay!!
Teachers Report:
Thank you from all the teachers for the books received from the book-fair. They are greatly appreciated! The literacy night was well attended. We went through 64 pizzas! Everyone seemed to enjoy the different stations. The math night is scheduled for March 15th, 2018.
Request for Funding:
No requests pending.
Treasurers Report:
We had money go out for the 4th grade field trip to History Fest and busing for the 4th grade Children’s Theater. Also, busing for the 2nd grade to the Children’s Museum and Kindergarten to the Blue Earth Historical Society. The Peacemaker’s received money for pizza and training supplies. We also had additional t-shirt orders and paid out the $500 for the movie licensing contribution. Coming up will be Jump Rope for Heart and conference meals.
Committee Reports:
We have set a date for the Chipotle fundraise night. It will be December 18th. Fliers will go out for families to use and share that night and a portion of the sales using those fliers will come back to us.
Box-Tops were submitted, and we will receive that check in December. Still brainstorming ideas to boost that fundraiser.
Fliers for AmazonSmile will be sent out in the Tuesday folders to remind parents to support the PTO during holiday shopping.
Conference meals will be from Dino’s Pizza, Simply Delicious by Charley’s and 3rd Street Tavern. These are businesses with children at Washington, so we are getting some great deals.
Book-fair was a big success. We were able to purchase all the books that the teachers pulled, also some for the ACES group. There is still plenty of Scholastic dollars in the account to help towards the next one.
The walk-a-thon chair is still in need of someone to help plan in anticipation of taking over after this year’s event.
The PTO is also looking for someone to be a ‘Social Media Specialist’ to help with our online presence.
Events: The next Family Fun Night will be at the Children’s Museum on February 9th, 2018. There will not be food offered and this is not considered a drop-off event. Families are expected to attend together.
Wrap Up: Next meeting will be December 11th. Motion was made to adjourn by Tracy O., Heidi B. (2). Motion was passed