November 02nd, 2017

11/2/2017

WIZARD WORDS

A newsletter from Washington Elementary and Washington PTA

October 30th, 2017

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Washington Families,

We value your input. Please take this short Washington GT Parent Survey Fall 2017 to provide feedback on how we are supporting and welcoming you and your child as a member of the Washington GT Community. It is the same one I shared during our Fall Picnic. If you already filled it out, thank you!

Throughout the Year I will be holding Principal Chats on a range of topics based on feedback I’ve gotten from families. (I always encourage you to share topic suggestions with me!) All Principal Chats will be streamed through our Washington Youtube channel so you can watch at work or at home during a lunch break. You are always welcome to attend live as well. The Principal Chats will be held typically every other month from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon. Our upcoming Principal Chat, Monday, November 6th, will focus on the purpose and value of integrating core skills (reading, writing, and math) into our electives.

Future Principal Chat topics are:

Potential impacts of new class size legislation on Washington GT (Monday, Jan. 8, 11:00-12:00)
Creating a Safe and Inclusive School Community (Monday, March 5, 11:00-12:00)
Single Subject Acceleration and AIG services: What’s the difference and how does it work? (Monday, April 9, 11:00-12:00)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, October 31st - TEACHER WORKDAY

Monday, November 6th - First Quarter report cards go home

Monday - Friday, November 13th-17th - Book Fair

Thursday, November 16th - Arts & Letters Night with General PTA Meeting (5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

SHINING STAR UPDATE!

We are several hundred dollars short of reaching our annual goal of $20,000 to fund enriching programs for our school this year! We are continuing to accept cash, check, and online donations this week so that we can reach our goal. If you have not given yet, please consider doing so! Just $7 can help us surpass our goal! Thank you!!

Send in check, cash, or pay online at this link: https://washingtongt.memberhub.com/payment_requests/161

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

Veena Shanmugham

Veena Shanmugham has been working very hard this fall to make sure that our wonderful PTA events and teacher grants are funded this school year! Veena shared her gifts and talents with the PTA for the last two years by serving as our PTA Treasurer. She is now serving as the Ways & Means Chair and Shining Star Fundraising Chair to help us keep track of all of the ways we raise money for our PTA. We can have great ideas, but we can't fund them without our fundraiser!

Thank you, Veena, for your hard work!

VOLUNTEER NEEDS

Click here to volunteer!

We have put many upcoming volunteer needs in one easy place! Please check out this Sign-Up on MemberHub for committee openings and easy at-school volunteer needs (just sign up and show up - no other commitment needed). https://memberhub.com/HSR11083I7409

BOXTOPS

THANK YOU! We raised $322.90 this fall in BOX TOPS!

The Wild West Book Fair is Coming!

November 13th-17th

The Scholastic Book Fair depends on the support of many parent volunteers! From set-up, staffing class preview and shopping times, to fair break-down, we need YOUR help! Go to http://signup.com/go/LntWFML to sign up. Your student will love to see you there!

All volunteers receive a 5% discount on Book Fair purchases!

Read Across the Rainbow

It's almost time to begin turning in Read Across the Rainbow Cards!

If your child has completed or is close to completing their first Read Across the Rainbow card, they can begin turning them in starting Monday, November 6th. This is the 1st Monday of November, which is the day that is printed on the card. Please let them know that they cannot be turned in before this date, but they can be turned in any time after that. Thank you! Happy Reading!

Hurricanes READvolution is on!

In recognition of the 20th Anniversary of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Wake County Public School System’s Strategic Plan Vision 2020, we will be partnering to bring READvolution to all of our elementary schools. This partnership will support a community-wide literacy campaign around daily reading outside of school. The event has a start date in schools of October 2nd and an end date of January 12, 2018. Through an online tracking system, students will provide their name and minutes read each day. Students who achieve the goal of reading 20 minutes per day (Monday - Friday) throughout the October - January time frame will receive a complimentary ticket voucher to a Hurricanes home game.

The school wide component of the challenge includes the tracking of books read and logged collectively at the school site. This component will include the following:

Schools that collectively read and logged 2,020 books between October - January will be entered into a drawing by region to participate in a culminating event (Cool School Field Trip) at PNC arena during the school day in February.
If your school is selected from the drawing to attend the culminating event, students will have the opportunity to see a Hurricanes practice, participate in fun activities, and hear from Hurricane players.
For every book a student reads and logs, they will write on a paper puck the title of the book as well as their name, which will be added to the Hurricanes hockey goal banner. The goal is to collectively fill the banner with 2,020 pucks.
The Hurricanes will visit select schools throughout the campaign to encourage students to read.

WIZARD PTA ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

Twitter