Wizard Words - September 18

9/19/2017

WIZARD WORDS

A newsletter from Washington Elementary and Washington PTA

September 18th, 2017

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Washington Families,

I am excited by the tremendous turnout we had at Open House this past week. It is wonderful to see how our families value being a critical part of our school. I encourage you to find ways to support your child’s classroom and our different PTA events throughout the year. Together, we create a thriving learning environment for our children. You and our teachers are difference makers in the lives of our children. As we begin our Shining Star PTA fundraiser next week, I challenge you to talk as a family and discuss what you value about our school and school community and then determine what you are able to commit to financially to further equip our teachers and children for success. You know how hard our teachers work for our children and you see every day how excited your child is about the learning opportunities at Washington. Let’s partner together to fund excellence and innovation at Washington. I’ve made my contribution to the Shining Star Fundraiser because I believe deeply in what our school has to offer. I challenge you to do the same.

~Mr. Grant

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, September 19th 9:30am - PTA Volunteer Orientation

Thursday, September 21st - Teacher Workday

Saturday, September 23rd 10:00am - Courtyard Clean-up

Monday, September 25th - Shining Star Fundraiser Begins!

Friday, September 29th 9:30am - PTA Board Meeting

Friday, September 29th - Early Release

Message from WES PTA President

Dear Washington Families,

We are off to a great start! Thank you all for your dedicated participation in back-to-school events and warmly welcoming our new Kindergarten Families. We are a diverse family here at Washington and I am honored to serve as your PTA President this year. Please read on for information about joining PTA, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming events.

Many ask: Why do we do what we do? We are all busy parents with many different responsibilities. For me, my work with the PTA is fulfilling and engaging. I know that I am able to impact students beyond my own son and that is very gratifying work. Please let us know what gifts you have to share with our school community in order to support ALL children!

Please note: We are experiencing technical difficulties with accepting PTA Family Memberships online ONLY. Please continue to submit your Family Memberships ($25) by sending in the yellow membership form with cash or check in your child's backpack. For Family Memberships, please include TWO email addresses as this is how we identify you as a PTA member. We are accepting Individual Memberships ($5) via cash, check, and online. Thank you for your patience and your membership to PTA!

-Emily King

PTA President 2017-18

JOIN PTA!

Why is Your PTA Membership Important?

~Submitted by Julie von Haefen (Wake County PTA Council President; North Carolina PTA Board of Directors and Advocacy Committee Chair; .... and a past Washington PTA President)

You may ask... "Why should I join PTA? My family gets all the benefits of what our PTA does here at Washington without buying a membership."

The Washington PTA does amazing things at Washington. We are fortunate to have one of the most successful PTA units in the state, often honored with the NCPTA Distinguished Chapter Award. Our mission is the same as the National PTA's mission; "to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children." We do this by supporting our students' school experience by providing programs such as the 5th Grade Play, the Reflections Art Competition, Science Fair, Spelling Bee, and Reading Incentives. We support teachers and school administrators by empowering them to make independent and creative choices for their classrooms through our Grants program and Start-Up Funds. We work to improve our school by welcoming all families and making them feel comfortable at Washington through our communication tools, meetings, and events such as Arts & Letters Night, Cultural Nights, and the Fall Picnic.

But, we can't do it without your support. Being a PTA member does not obligate you to volunteer, join a committee or serve on the Board. Of course, we want parent involvement, but we understand if you aren't able to offer your time right now. Even if you aren't able to volunteer, we still need your membership.

At its core, the PTA is an advocacy organization, and this is an important time to support public schools and education funding at all levels of government--federal, state, and locally. Without your membership, our collective voice gets quieter. When we advocate for public school funding or other issues, we need large membership numbers so that our voice is LOUD and STRONG. We want to be able to say that the National PTA has over 4 million members, or that the North Carolina PTA has over 150,000 members, all of whom support children and public education. Without your membership, we can't do that.

So, please join the PTA here at Washington today. An individual membership is only $5. When you join here at school, you also become a member of the NCPTA and the National PTA, enabling those groups to add your voice to the thousands, and millions, of other parents, teachers, and community members across the country who are ONE VOICE, speaking for EVERY CHILD.

Join by sending in this form with cash or check, or by clicking here to pay with a credit card. And, as always, thank you for your support of Washington PTA!

VOLUNTEER NEEDS

Volunteer Orientation with PTA VP Amy Thomas TOMORROW!

RSVP at the link below to join Amy Thomas on a tour of where all things PTA are located at school. She will start with a quick tour to show everyone where the PTA closet is in the lounge and where our mailboxes are in the office. Then back to the board room to go through our committee list in detail to explain what each committee actually does (timing, time commitment, etc.), and help you join a committee.

We are still looking for volunteers specifically for the following committees:

Yearbook

Science Fair

Cultural Night/Week

Other Needs:

Do You Have Photography Skills?

We are looking for a parent or two to take pictures at our events so that these moments can be featured in our Yearbook at the end of the school year!

Room Parents!

We are looking for Room Parents for each Homeroom classroom. This role would involve working online thru MemberHub to ensure all parents in your class are signed up and receiving PTA communications and communicating with your classroom teacher to organize any classroom level volunteering or other needs. Please contact Amy Thomas amyblackthomas@gmail.com if you are interested in being a room parent. Don't worry if you're not familiar with MemberHub - we will give you training!

We also would love to add more people to any of our existing committees, many hands make light work, and volunteers stick when they are doing something they enjoy! We have many volunteer opportunities that can be done at school or at home and many committees that have seasonal time commitments (Shining Star happens in the Fall, Science Fair is in January, etc.).

Please email Amy Thomas at amyblackthomas@gmail.com to find the right committee for you or to RSVP for Sept 19th.

BIRTHDAY BOOK

The Birthday Book registration forms that were in the PTA Information Packets need to be returned with donations by Friday, September 22, 2017.

COURTYARD CLEAN-UP!

Courtyard Clean Up Day is this Saturday, September 23rd, 10:00am - 12:00pm

Help Washington look its best! The PTA Courtyard and Grounds Committee is hosting a workday this Saturday, September 23 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. We will be laying mulch, weeding, and sprucing up the courtyard. Come for the whole morning or just an hour. Bring your gloves, rakes, and other gardening tools to help us make our school environment beautiful! Many hands make light work - bring the whole family and we will see you there!

SHINING STAR FUNDRAISER

Shining Star Fundraiser is WES PTA’s most important fundraiser! We are excited about the programs and events planned for the 2017-2018 school year. Your donations will go directly to these programs and are tax deductible. You give. PTA plans. Students Shine!

Online donations will go active at this link on September 25th!

https://washingtongt. memberhub.com/payment_ requests/161

In the meantime, you can read more about our fundraiser at

http://www.wizardpta.org/shining-star-fundraiser.html

WIZARD WEAR IS HERE!

2017-2018 Wizard Wear is officially on-sale now! Order forms came home today. Credit Card orders are available now at this store link. If you order via the website, you do not need to submit a paper form. We are offering two short-sleeved options (navy and purple), one navy long-sleeve, and one navy-zipper hoodie. We have youth and adult sizes.

REFLECTIONS 2017-2018

The National PTA Reflections program is the country's largest arts-in-education competition. The program encourages students of all abilities, in Pre-K through grade 12, to create theme-based artwork in dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography or visual arts. Students can enter multiple categories. Learn more here. Reflections submissions will be displayed at Fall Picnic this year on October 19th!

Read the Official Rules and download an Entry Form here.

FALL PICNIC

MAGNET RECRUITMENT

Magnet recruitment season is upon us and we are excited to show students and parents how aWESome Washington is! If you are interested in helping out at magnet recruitment events this year please email our magnet coordinator Amy Wilkinson at awilkinson@wcpss.net.

NC STATE FAIR!

Enjoy the State Fair and earn money for Washington! WCPSS schools earn up to $2 per ticket sold online. Those purchasing the tickets must enter your school code. Our school code is

596 Washington Elementary School

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