Chets Creek Elementary PTA

Spring at CCE PTA

2011-04-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

We are gearing up to our last semester of school and have some new & exciting ways to celebrate Spring here at CCE! New items available at the office and PTA Store include Smencils and Y-Ties! These are neat items for under $5 and are available in many colors and scents. April 26- 29th is Arts Extravaganza week at CCE. Tuesday and Thursday we have Art Fair from 6-8pm where you can view your child's artwork around the building. Then on Friday night, we have Arts Extravaganza where we have food, vendors and art projects for kids of all ages. Come join us at the Marshmallow house building table that LearningRX will have there! We will be having a new Spirit Night with Brucci's at the corner of Hodges & Beach Blvd on May 10th from 5-9pm. Come join us for a great evening of fun & food! We have also planned an awesome year end Family Fun Event at Adventure Landing! June 9th from 5:30 - 8:30pm you can get unlimited Mini Golf, Laser Tag, Go-Karts, Wacky Worm & Frog Hopper for a great price. Look for your flyer in your student's home/school folder to purchase your tickets.

Looking for you!

2011-02-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

We are looking for new board members for the 2011-12 school year. We have numerous positions open and would like to welcome you to take on any portion of a task from 1 hour of your time to a year-long commitment. Whatever you can provide, we have something to fit your interests & time.

Board positions that are open include:

Corporate Contributions
Historian
Membership
Volunteer Coordinator
Reflections
Business Partnerships
Treasurer
Hospitality (Boo Hoo Breakfast, Faculty Breakfast)
Ways & Means (Fundraising)

So many of these positions are key to our ability to provide strong, solid programs to the students such as this year's bullying assembly, funding for books for the reading programs like Battle of the Books, Arts Extravaganza, Rockets and Recorders for Science and Music. Please consider donating any amount of time you can offer to help us keep these going. "Job descriptions" are noted below for your reference:

Business Partnerships - This is a new role to our group but a very important one. This person uses their skill at sales & marketing to help us gather business sponsors through coupons, on-site events, and monetary donations that help cover the costs of the programs the PTA provides all year long. We honor those business partners on our PTA website and make sure we provide visibility to them for their donations. This person also is a key contact for other PTA teams who need business sponsor coupons and goodies throughout the year so that we don't hit up one company or another multiple times unfairly.

Corporate Contributions - This is related to the Box Tops, ink cartridge, cell phone contests we have. About 3 times a year we send in all those Box Tops and so on to the vendors who send us back a check to help us fund those important programs mentioned above. This is a job that can often be done at home on your schedule with some interaction at the school during the day or during extended day for pick up of those products.

Historian - this position creates the Scrapbook we keep for each year's events. Taking pictures at the events is often a key method for getting those memories but we have the digital camera and lots of people to help make that happen even if you prefer to do the scrapbook itself.

Hospitality - This team helps provide the very important Boo Hoo Breakfast for our incoming kindergarten parents as well as key appreciation breakfasts for volunteers and faculty throughout the year. We have 1 team member now but need to locate a 2nd person to help make these events more manageable.

Membership - This team has 2 people on it but we need additional hands to get through that crunch at the beginning of the school year. This team coordinates the stuffing of membership packets prior to the beginning of the school year as well as handling the classroom parties for membership contests we hold during September. The work this team does often requires daytime onsite time from the team members.

Reflections - This activity is a focused event that occurs during late Fall into January. Reflections is an artistic contest for the students of CCE related to a theme determined by the DCC Reflections committee. The students create their artistic product related to the theme and the person who chairs this event coordinates the incoming Reflections contest materials, the final decisions and the communication of the winners to the CCE parents in January. We have a full binder of "how to" material to help complete this event by our current chair so if you take this on, you won't be at a loss for what to do and when to do it.

Treasurer - This is a key position in our Executive Board that requires check signing, checkbook balancing (monthly), treasury updates to the board at our meetings, and key time commitments during Carnival for deposit handling. This person takes deposits to the bank for us and handles verification of all committee deposits provided by other teams during events that they chair (such as Valentine's Dance, Family Night Dinners, etc). If you have a knack for numbers and time to support us in this role, please let us know.

Volunteer Coordinators - We have 2 members on this committee but need 2 more to complete the team. These individuals help us all year long by coordinating our volunteer needs through emails, phone calls & in-person communication with the PTA members who have completed a Volunteer Interest Form at the beginning of the school year. The time commitment here can be handled numerous ways so don't let the thought of an "all year commitment" scare you off. Emails are often the easiest way to reach out to our parents and the work for this committee can often be done on your schedule.

Ways & Means (Fundraising) - We are losing 1 or both of our team members on this committee this year and we certainly cannot move forward with any of our programs without a successful fundraising event in every school year. We need 1-2 members to help us create awesome and enticing fundraising concepts to take into next year to excite our student & parent population. We have plenty of materials for this team to take with them into next year to start with as well as help from past Ways & Means committee chairs. Please consider helping with a single fundraising event or as the chair for the year.

Thank you for considering working with us in 2011-12! We appreciate your support.

Jackie Weaver

PTA President 2010-11

Upcoming February Excitement!

2011-01-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

February holds plenty of its own excitement with our Valentines Day Dance on February 11th. FCAT Formal 5 is held on February 25th and our next Buds Club Movie Night is March 4th. Look for your flyers in your students folder soon!

January 2011

2011-01-22T17:33:00.001-08:00

The holidays have past, we returned to school ready for anything & we have already successfully maneuvered through almost 3 weeks of school in 2011. Our PTA activities in December included a special Angel Tree program this year, which helped families in need in addition to the already very successful Giving Tree and Food donation drives held in November/December. The Angel Tree program offers holiday assistance by allowing the families to sign up for assistance from our fellow CCE friends and neighbors through anonymous gift giving for each member of the family. We were able to help over 75 families this year alone through our Angel Tree Program and that is not including the Giving Tree and Food Drive assistance given!

We wrapped hundreds of gifts, passed them out during a CCE event at the Academic Resource Center in mid-December to the delight and very thankful families in attendance. Additional giving was also done through used clothing and food drive offerings at the center that day.

Liz Duncan and her Holiday Helpers did a superb job of pulling this event off in record time, without nearly a hitch! Santa Claus - watch out! We have a local Santa of our own and she's pretty great.

Thank you is such a small word as Liz says, but thank you to everyone who participated in this activity for the 2010 holidays. Your help is immensely appreciated and you provided kindness and support to so many people that didn't know where to turn for help.

January 2011 is off to a great start. The 1st PTA Family Night for 1st, 3rd and 4th grades on January 13th was held with an awesome BBQ Dinner provided by Tim & Kelly Moore. Take out was a new offering for dinner this year and allowed more families to partake in the event even if they weren't able to attend the activities later that evening. 1st grade families got to attend a movie in their child's classrooms "The Magic Bus gets Lost in Space" which thrilled our young audiences. A special thrill was available to anyone who got to view Jupiter through a 1st rate telescope outback on the basketball courts that night as well!

3rd and 4th grade parents got to attend informational sessions about the upcoming FCAT writes and reads on the 13th in addition to a Family Photo event provided by Scott Russell Photography.

1st grade sleepover was held on January 20th with the Constellation Ball attended by everyone that afternoon after a parade and day of science and astronomy-related activities in their various classroom centers.

2010-10-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

Wow! It's October already and we've completed 2 fundraisers, a Pancake Breakfast, a Bingo Night and we're working hard on our upcoming Fall Carnival.

The Pancake Breakfast was on 9/17 and was a huge success, just beating out last year's score but with a lot less commotion since we ran 2 times for the breakfast. One at 7:45 helped eliminate the overwhelming crush of people between 8:30 and 9 and made everything work out so well.

We completed the Bingo Night just after Pancake Breakfast and outsold last year's tickets almost by double. The kids and parents had a great time and everyone enjoyed getting their prizes from Mrs. Phillips. One of our parents donated a terrific Coffee/cookies basket as our Grand Prize that night. Thank you!

Our fundraisers including, Enjoy the City books and Mixed Bags, which just ended this week, helped raise over $10,000 for our school programs already!

Fall Carnival preparations are in full swing. This year we will have train rides, hay rides, tons of games & rock climbing walls for everyone's enjoyment. Don't forget - Carnival runs rain or shine!

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

2010-05-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

It's May 5, 2010 and the holiday, Cinco de Mayo, is being celebrated to commemorate The Battle of Puebla when the Mexican militia defeating the French army. As you can see in the photograph, the table is set for the celebration, but instead of honoring the holiday, the PTA is gathering in fellowship to honor teachers.

Teacher Appreciation Week is special to the PTA, because each member likes to give thanks to their children's teachers for their passion, hard work, and dedication to their craft. We know that working at Chets Creek takes heart and we want to say thank you. Thank you for loving our children. Thank you for taking care of their emotional needs. Thank you for taking care of their academic gifts and talents. And, thank you for helping them when they struggle. Thank you for believing in them. And, thank you for making them believe in themselves. We owe you.

We all know that too often the 30 minute duty free lunch teachers enjoy, really is more like 15 minutes after drop off and pick up, and checking email. And, that the bagged lunch has to get old. So, if only for this one day, we say thank you to teachers by providing them with a real hot lunch- soup and salad from the Olive Garden. The teachers look forward to this treat and gather in the conference room with anticipation to find smiling PTA members from our Hospitality Committee. They get a nice hot lunch from yummy Olive Garden and spend time in sheer bliss enjoying the upbeat conversation.

Thank you Linda, Cathy, and crew who made this another unforgettable Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. I know you hit a home run with the CCE crew!

May Meeting

2010-05-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

The monthly meeting was held on Monday, May 3, 2010. We were excited to see so many new faces in the crowd and spent the first few minutes introducing ourselves.

Our first topic of business was an update from the Nominating Committee on their recommendations for the 2010-2011 Board. The committee tapped into the general membership volunteers that showed an interest in becoming part of the Board. We were excited to put them in a position based on their interests and our needs. We are confident that the recommendations give us a solid Board for the upcoming school year that will allow the PTA to continue to thrive at Chets Creek. In case anyone is wondering, we are still looking for a PTA President. Any takers?

Old Business

Volunteer Appreciation Update
Last Tuesday, our Volunteer Coordinators hosted our annual Volunteer Reception. All volunteers that dedicated ten or more hours were invited to attend. The PTA Board provided desserts for our fellowship gathering, and door prizes were drawn. About 50 volunteers joined us for the evening and due to the low attendance, we discussed recognizing volunteers in some other manner next year. We proposed having a Board member that would write hand written notes throughout the year to volunteers as they gave of their time and talents. A Board member has been nominated for the position and graciously agreed to thank volunteers as we go next school year.

Arts Extravaganza Update
Arts Extravaganza was a grand success this year. The Arts Baskets put together by the teachers and the Room Parents were put out three days for bidding prior to the Friday Family Night. The baskets raised over $2,000 for PTA which they recommitted to the Arts fund at CCE. The Family Night which included artists, musicians, and art stations were vital in making the night such a success. Our recommendation for next year is to again set up baskets in advance.

New Business

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
PTA is saying thank you to teachers on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by hosting a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. PTA in partnership with Olive Garden is having a soup and salad luncheon from 11 am to 2 pm in the Conference Room.

PTA Night with the Suns (May 11)
On Tuesday, May 11, 2010, all PTA members showing their PTA card when purchasing tickts, will receive 1/2 price tickets at $4.25 in our Special Reserved Section. Children ages 4-14 will get in for only $1.50 each. As an added bonus, anyone who has volunteered 50 hours or more, will get in FREE when they show verification. On slate for May 11th are the Birmingham Barons. Gates open at 6 pm and game time starts at 7:05 pm. Hot dogs, peanuts, and ice cream will cost fifty cents.

DCC Spring Leadership Workshops (Monday, May 17)
We highly recommend all incoming and current CCE Board members to attend Duval County Councils of PTAs annual Spring Leadership Workshop on Monday, May 17, 2010 at the Schultz Center. Registration is on-going, beginning at 9 am and no pre-registration is required. The workshops are free to all PTA members. Classes include:
--So Now You're President Part I
--So Now You're President Part II
--Building a PTA website
--Money Matters-What a Treasurer Really Needs to Know
--Fundraising-How to Make the Best Choice
--Growing Your PTA-Your Membership Campaign
--Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers
--Working with Business Partners
--Getting the Recognition You Deserve-Awards
--Developing Successful Programs
--Secretaries & Newsletters
--Building Your Financial Resources Through Grants
--Keys to Increasing Male Involvement
--Rebuilding Your PTA
--Bylaws & Parliamentary Procedures
--Conflict Resolution

P & P Luncheon (May 27 @ 11 am)
On May 27 interested and available Board members will be attending the P & P luncheon where Awards will be announced. In attendance will be Sue W., Romy, Karen M, Renee, Theresa, Deb O, Maria G, Lourdes, Suzanne, Stanley, Julie, Susan, Kernan Principal, Angela, Linda, Tim M.

PTA DATES TO REMEMBER:
5-5-10 Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
5-7-10 BUDs Club Mother’s Day Cake Decorations
5-10-10 Chick-fil-A Night, Grade 4
5-11-10 PTA Night with the Suns
5-12-10 Early Release
5-22-10 Campus Clean-Up
5-27-10 P & P Luncheon
5-28-10 Schools Closed
5-31-10 Schools Closed
6-07-10 PTA Meeting

Other Tentative Dates of Interest:
June 1 & 3 Third Grade Performances
June 7 K/1 Field Days
June 8 2/3 Field Days
June 9 4/5 Field Days
June 11 Last Day for Students

Celebrating the Arts

2010-04-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

Walking into our front lobby, last week, you could feel a school that had come alive! It was Arts Extravaganza week, one of my favorite times of the whole school year. Our nearly 1,300 children created beautiful artwork that adorned our hallway walls and their framed work hung on display in the lobby ready for sale to their parents during our two night Art Show.

The Cultural Arts Committee, led by master art teacher, Jennifer Snead, put together an incredible week for students that was highlighted each morning with an assembly. Students were drawn in by a puppeteer, dance and music ensemble, storyteller, Bluegrass performance, and Jacksonville Symphony drummers.

In addition, Arts Extravaganza Baskets assembled by our Room Moms and teachers were on display in the front lobby to be auctioned off Friday evening with funds going to the PTA to support next year's Arts Week.

As the culminating activity on Friday evening, Arts Extravaganza Family Night was hosted by our Cultural Arts Team and PTA. Throughout the lobby and Dining Room children found artists and musicians displaying their talents, and art stations were set up for students to produce their own small treasures. I don't know of any school that celebrates the arts quite like ours, and I am ecstatic that our students have this enriching experience each year. I extend special thanks to each and every teacher, parent, and PTA member who made this year's Arts Extravaganza better than ever!

April PTA Meeting

2010-04-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Our monthly PTA Meeting was held on Monday, April 12 in the administrative conference room at Chets Creek Elementary. The meeting was called to order at 5 pm.

Financial Report
Our current balance is $10,970.12. Renee is seeking about $500 in returned checks. We received another Chick-fil-A check of about $230 from our Spirit Night that is not included in this amount. The BUDs Club receipts have not been turned in yet. The Bingo Night made over $500 and the Cookie Dough fundraiser for Patrols brought in a profit of $7,542. After Arts Extravaganza, we will be able to better estimate the Summer Contingency Funds which have been about $11,000 in past years.

Principal’s Report

Budget
Chets has received its budget for next year and budgetary decisions are currently being made. It appears that the budget will be tight but the school will do the best it can to preserve its people. The majority of the budget goes to salaries and benefits. The school has very small overhead otherwise and there will not be much extra in the budget. Susan urges everyone as parents and voters to become educated about Florida's school funding. Because of the class size law, we receive a supplemental budget of nearly $1.8 million to cover class sizes. This covers some of the costs but not all. Like last year, the district will fund Art, Music, and PE, and only half time Media and Guidance. To keep the necessary services of Media and Guidance, the rest of the salary will need to be paid from the budget. There will not be much money for any types of supplies or resources.

SB6
Teachers are highly concerned about the possible passing of SB6. Susan asks that PTA stay informed about the bill and its implications.

School Board
Two prospective School Board members have visited Chets for a school tour. Please read about the candidates and make informed voter decisions based on your beliefs.

PTA Board for 2010-2011
Susan thanked everyone for their service this year on the PTA Board and asked that everyone please stay involved. The PTA makes our school what it is as a school family. Susan said that she couldn't do it without the Boards support. She asked for everyone to help groom someone else, too, because one day, sadly, involved members would move onto other endeavours as their children moved into other schools.

Upcoming Dates
Susan shared upcoming dates (listed at the bottom of the post) including Book Fair, Picture Day, Arts Extravaganza, and report card distribution.

Old Business:
Board Positions for 2010-2011
Last month, we collected information from members about whether they were planning to serve in a similar role for the upcoming school year. I made adjustments to the form and uploaded it to the wiki for your review. We put together a nominating committee to present nominations to the Board. We are seeking stakeholders that would like to become involved on PTA Board. If anyone is interested, they can email me at shalls@duvalschools.org.

Business Partnership Update
Karen Morris gave an update on the Committee Meeting. Notes that she covered have been uploaded to the wiki for your review. Karen put together an interest form based on the discussion that could be distributed to businesses seeking partnership with us. The form outlines areas where we seek support and gives businesses the chance to report to us what they could do to assist. In addition, there is a Family Night proposal that would be distributed to businesses who wished to partner with us for our dinners. We agreed that we needed a Business Partner Liaison that was part of the Board. Pam Witt volunteered. The idea would be to have one contact and that everyone who planned PTA events would consult with Pam to see which businesses would best be able to meet our needs. (Thank you, Karen for leading the charge.)

Volunteer Appreciation
We discussed a major overhaul of Volunteer Appreciation, however the reception event has already been scheduled and advertised. We are scaling back considerably and all PTA Board members are being asked to make and provide a dessert. Desserts will be dropped off in the Dining Room at 5:30 on 4-20-10. 250 volunteers serving over 10 hours have been invited. Normally, about 75 people attend the event.

NEW BUSINESS:
Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
PTA is purchasing salad and soup from Olive Garden for teachers on Wednesday, May 5 for Teacher Appreciation. Lunch will be served in the administrative conference room from 11-2.

SB 6
Teachers state-wide are highly concerned over SB 6. The bill will have major implications to our children's education. I have emailed all Board members the Florida PTA's stance on the bill and urge all parents to read about the bill, watch the news, and stay informed about the implications of the bills passing. SB 6 is sitting on the desk of Governor Charlie Crist.

DATES TO REMEMBER:
4-12-10 to 4-15-10 Book Fair
4-12-10 to 4-15-10 Corporate Contributions Contest
4-13-10 Kindergarten Round Up 6:30 pm
4-14-10 Early Release
4-16-10 Spring Pictures
4-19-10 to 4-26-10 Arts Extravaganza
4-19-10 Kids Art Fair 6 pm
4-20-10 Kids Art Fair 6 pm
Volunteer Appreciation
Report Cards Go Home
4-23-10 Flag Raising
Arts Extravaganza Night
4-24-10 Campus Clean Up
4-24-10 Relay for Life
4-26-10 9:15 Awards for K/3
2:15 Awards for 2/5
4-27-10 9:15 Awards for ¼
4-28-10 Early Release
5-3-10 PTA Board

A Message from the Florida PTA

2010-03-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

From the Desk of the Florida PTA...

Florida PTA Rally in Tallahassee
March 25th, 11:30AM to 1:30 PM
At Waller Park
The date is set and the site secured for PTA members to let their voices be heard once again in Tallahassee. You were loud and clear last year with your rallying cry of “NO MORE CUTS.” You made a difference—the proposed cuts were restored.

This year your task is to not only persuade legislators to restore the previous cuts, but to make provisions for an adequate, stable source of funding for education when the stimulus dollars run out in 2010. Recognizing the challenge this presents, as well as the distance many of you will be travelling, we will provide an orientation and advocacy training on March 24th, from 3:30PM to 6:30PM in the Florida Education Association (FEA) conference room, 213 South Adams Street, Tallahassee, FL 32301.

We encourage you to arrive in Tallahassee sometime on March 24th to visit your legislators and attend the orientation. A link to Tallahassee hotels is provided for your convenience. You will also have time to visit the Capitol on the morning of March 25th and after the rally.
Please check the Florida PTA website (www.floridapta.org) for additional information.

Common Core Standards

2010-03-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

A draft of the K-12 Common Core Standards developed through the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, was released for public input. The national standards have been written to ensure that all American students graduate from our high schools, regardless of where they live, with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in college and the workforce. Right now all states operate under their own state standards, these standards are exploring a national frame work to provide consistent standards.

For the next twenty days, the public is invited to read and comment on the Common Core State Standards at http://www.corestandards.org/. To have your voice heard, please take the time to be part of this process.

Make Our Voices Heard

2010-03-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

From the Desk of our DCC Representative...

As you are probably aware, we are facing a huge deficit in Duval County schools (and Florida schools in general) in the upcoming year. At one Duval County PTA meeting I attended, it was said that, "we are part of the disconnect" - i.e. the parents and concerned citizens are not speaking up against the budget cuts. They said that "the legislators simply are not hearing that there is a problem in the schools." One way that we can all help is to make our voices heard. Please take a moment to access the following web page and either print and mail the letter template (you may, and are encouraged to, send multiple letters,) directly to our legislator at:

Representative Ronald (Doc) Renuart
402 South Monroe Street
317 House Office Building
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

OR email the letter to Representative Renuart at Ronald.renuart@myfloridahouse.gov

OR contact info@50thnomore.org for drop-off locations, and the organization will hand-deliver your letter to the legislators, who are in Tallahassee currently.

Web site for letter template:

https://webmail.duvalschools.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.50thnomore.org/page/Write-a-letter-to-your-elected-official!.aspx

Of course, you can also compose your own letter to send as well!

Another way to make our voices heard is to attend the Rally in Tallahassee on Thursday, March 25 from 11:30am - 1:30pm.

Thank you so much for your support in this. United, we CAN make a difference!

Seeking PTA Board Members and Volunteers!

2010-03-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

The PTA is currently seeking volunteers who would like to be actively involved on the PTA Board next school year. We need your help so we can continue to offer the many rich experiences that have been such an integral part of our Chets Creek culture. We are seeking members who would like to help on the Volunteer Committee, assist with our Membership drive at the beginning of the year, lend a hand with our Corporate Contributions Box Top drives, support initiatives with Business Partners, and provide support for our Programs including our Fall Carnival event. If you are interested in participating in any of these roles on our PTA next year, please contact Suzanne Shall at 992-6390 ext 119 or shalls@duvalschools.org. We appreciate your commitment to assisting with these vital roles and look forward to hearing from you.

March Meeting

2010-03-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

March 1, 2010

CALL TO ORDER

Approval of Minutes

Correspondence
In February, we celebrated the birthdays of Board members Maria Graham and Patricia Wallace, and sent birthday cards to CCE teachers, Dee Dee Tamburrino, Heather Wickert, Nikki Hall, dayle timmons, Carrie McLeod, Melanie Holtsman, and Shea Beaudreau. In March, we will recognize the birthdays of teachers, Beth Roberts and Lauren Werch, and Dining Room manager Connie Collins.

Financial Report
Our balance is currently at $17,327.23. We received a $215 check for February's Chick-fil-A Spirit Night and a check for ink cartridges of about $32. The Valentine's dance brought in $3000 with an outgo of $1300. This was an $800 positive difference from what was included on the budget sheet, currently leaving us at a $2700 deficit for what we'd like to carry over in summer contingency.

Principal’s Report
FCAT week is fast approaching and our third, fourth, and fifth graders are prepared for success. A special thanks not only our intermediate families that have donated items to support classrooms, but also to our K, 1st, and 2nd grade parents who have donated FCAT treats as their classes have adopted intermediate classrooms. These special supports are of great significance to the school community.

Principal Phillips will be working on the CCE budget around March 15th. The district is currently projecting a $100 million deficit. The federal stimulus dollars significantly helped last year and will assist some this year, however we are being urged to attend the Superintendent's Community Meetings to learn more about our current and upcoming financial situation. And, we are invited to the Rally in Tally on March 25th to show our support of public school education funding on the steps of the Capitol. We don't yet know how the Chets' budget will look for the upcoming year.

The School Advisory Council is set to meet at 6:30 pm and will be involved in this year's Stakeholders' Assessment of the School Improvement Plan. All PTA members are invited to attend.

Mrs. Phillips is grateful for all the support that everyone has shown her over the past few months.

OLD BUSINESS:

Business Partnership Update (Karen)
The subcommittee to discuss business partnership opportunities is meeting tomorrow (3-2-10) from 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm in the administrative conference room. The committee is being chaired by teacher & Board member, Karen Morris. The committee intends on meeting several times and bringing a recommendation back to the Board for the 2010-2011 school year.

Fundraiser Possibilities
The fundraiser possibilities that were emailed have been compiled. The Board spent time discussing the following suggestions:

Build a Bear Gift Cards
We can pre-buy 100 $20 gift cards from Laquetta at Avenue’s Build a Bear. For every 100 cards, we earn 15% ($300).

Spaghetti Dinner
PTA prepares and serves a "free" spaghetti family dinner in the dining room with hopes of securing donations from families. Instead of paying for dinner, families make checks payable to Chets Creek as donations. Susan can make a plea presenting how desperate we are for funding and what we stand to lose next year. This plea can be clearly explained on the flyer prior to the dinner.

Rent a Teacher
If teachers are willing they can be rented out for a creative purpose. Teacher buy in is essential - Susan would have to recruit teachers to participate. Teachers can be auctioned and bid for including everything from a craft class after school (stamp cards or have art time with Jennifer), to a Saturday afternoon movie and lunch, to some physical fitness time after school one day... maybe a cooking class at a teacher's house and dinner.... I'm sure creative minds can come up with better ideas.

Parent’s night out
Board members and patrols would work it. Charge: $12 for first student, $10 for additional students. It would be a 2-hour service. Advanced reservation required. The children will be fed pizza and drinks. The patrols will supervise the activities that will be provided, such as crafts, movies, and relay races. We can put a limit on the amount and age of students that attend.

Birthday wishes on the marquee
$10 fee to have your child’s name on the marquee to wish them Happy Birthday! Have a limit of approx. 4 names on a first come first serve basis. We can have either a patrol or a board member/PTA member put the names on the board.

Karaoke night
We can charge a fee for those wishing to enter the contest, and another fee for the audience. Possibly even have a concession stand.

Chili/Hot Sauce/Spaghetti/Bar-b-q cook off
Again, have a "registration fee" for those willing to cook. Charge the tasters. Crown a winner.

Mini-Olympics
People form teams and we have goofy events like the dizzy bat contest. I have plenty of game ideas if you're interested. There is NO cost to us. People can come up with team name, team shirts (home-made), and we'd be promoting exercise and community, all for bragging rights (maybe a word in The Connections of the CCE news).

B-day announcements on CCE news or in the Connection

Biggest Loser
People can pledge $1 for every lb you lose. Again, great way to promote health.

Hat day/Flip Flop day
Students must pay $1 to be allowed to wear whatever crazy thing you let them.

Walk A Day with PTA
I don't know how we would go about collecting money but I was thinking each family could pay a entry fee to walk and maybe we could get some of our business partners to set up booths. I have not really tried to work out any details because I don't know where to start.

Pennies for PTA
My friend read about this in Family Fun. Basically, we have a contest to see which classroom can raise the most pennies for our PTA. This idea seems simple to me. We would have prizes for the winning classroom(s) and the rest goes to PTA. I was thinking if we don't want to spend money on prizes, we could give the winners an extra long recess or a special day named after their class. I think the biggest thing is to get the kids(and parents) into the competitive spirit. I am sure there is an economics lesson in there somewhere. We could also start this one very soon, if it is approved. I know I don't have very many details to offer, I just wanted to let you know what I have.

Parking Pass

IF Chets has any problems, it's parking. I propose to raffle off a reserved parking spot. In order to draw more of a crowd, I think the parking spot should not be awarded for the year, but rather on a monthly, weekly, or event basis (ie: Pow-Wow, 1st grade sleep over, award ceremony, Family Nights, Valentine's Dance, etc). In addition, I believe selling raffle tickets for $1 (or no more than $5), would create more funds. Auctioning the parking may only deter people when the bidding becomes too high.

We decided that many of these fundraising ideas had promise, although the one we came back to most was for the Birthday announcements on the marquee. The process would be somewhat time consuming on a daily basis and no one, at this time, was willing to take that on. Pam is checking in to what other schools do to make it happen, and Lourdes is contacting sign stores to see if we could rent an electronic sign for ease in posting names. We will discuss their findings at our next meeting. We also discussed combining the Cook Off with a night event like Arts Extravaganza and will also discuss this option at our next meeting.

We are not too concerned with making up the $2700, at this point, because Sue W. has made an order sheet and we will be selling bag tags. The cost will be $5 per tag and we will make them here. We should be able to generate the additional dollars through this sale.

Mrs. Phillips mentioned that it is time for us to think outside the box for next year and prepare to do fundraising that is not catalog sales. The Board agreed that it is time to think about other ways to bring in money to fund the events/programs/academic support that we believe so strongly in. The Ways and Means committee will meet to discuss and provide recommendations to the Board.

Board Positions for 2010-2011
To look ahead and anticipate needs for the 2010-2011 school year, we passed around a sign in sheet that asked for your name, your current position, whether you were willing to serve in your Board role next school year, or whether you were seeking to serve in a new role. The needs will be anticipated and presented to the Board at the April meeting. We may need to recruit new members to help us fulfill the responsibilities of the Board.

NEW BUSINESS:

BUD’s Club Movie Night
All families are cordially invited to bring their sleeping bags and pillows, and join the BUD's Club for their annual Movie Night this Friday, March 5th at 7 pm. The feature presentation is ICE AGE 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The cost is $1 for students and $2 for adults. The concession stand will be open and popcorn, candy, and drinks will be sold for $1. All children need to be accompanied by an adult. Order forms for the purchase of tickets were sent home Friday.

If any Board members are willing to volunteer, they can help with the concession stand. We also would like a Board member to run the PTA store for the event.

Letter to Parents
A letter has been drafted to send home to all CCE parents next Monday to inform them about the district's financial situation, invite them to the Superintendent's Community meetings, urge them to write letters to the Legislature to secure funding, participate in the Rally in Tally, and to keep them informed during the Legislative Session that begins today.

This is a draft of the content of the letter to be sent:

Duval County is facing a possible $125 million shortfall for the 2010-2011 school year. To
discuss our current and upcoming financial situation, available revenue and the district’s plans to meet its mission of providing all students with high quality educational opportunities, please join Superintendent Pratt Dannals at 6 pm at one of his community meetings.
Thursday, March 11 Sandalwood High School, 2750 John Prom Blvd, 32246
Tuesday, March 16 Peterson Academies of Technology, 7450 Wilson Blvd, 32210
Thursday, March 18 Ribault High School, 3701 Winton Dr., 32208
Tuesday, March 23 Mandarin High School, 4831 Greenland Rd., 32258

In addition, our Florida Legislature will convene for the 2010 Legislative Session on March 2, 2010. The regular nine week session is scheduled to end on April 30, 2010. Once again, the budget, or lack of it, is expected to dominate the conversation during this session. Education was funded on federal stimulus dollars last year and will continue to be funded by the same source this year. However, as this program sunsets in one year, it is critical that the legislature makes provisions for a permanent and stable funding source for the future needs of education. We need your help to make it happen.

The Legislature must find a way to generate new revenues, to fund education and other children’s services. This will be our message throughout session and we hope you will join us, in person, as we Rally In Tally, on March 25th, to bring this home to our legislators. For more information go to http://www.floridapta.org/legislative.html. You may also meet directly with your Legislator at his/her local office. Information regarding this may be found at www.FloridaPTA.org under “Meeting with Legislators.”

If you are unable to Rally with us, we need you to write a letter or an email to urge the Legislature to find a new way to generate revenues. We need you to ask the Legislature to provide flexibility on the class size amendment, textbooks, and for them to permit additional shifting of Capital Millage to Operating Revenue. We the Legislature to increase public education funding, and we need them to prioritize existing resources including reprioritizing the state budget and capping growth of Corporate or McKay Vouchers.
Letters can be written to our delegate, Representative Ronald (Doc) Renuart, and sent to 402 South Monroe Street, 317 House Office Building, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1300, or you can send an email to Representative Renuart at Ronald.renuart@myfloridahouse.gov.

There is a grassroots non partisan advocacy effort, www.saveduvalschools.org, that is focused on getting the Florida Legislature to provide funding for a high quality public education.
Save Duval Schools is advocating for a dedicated, sustainable source of funding for public education and local control over how dollars are spent. They are calling for lawmakers to live up to the responsibility of our state constitution which states

Florida Constitution, Article 9: SECTION 1. Public education.
(a) The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.

Please visit the website to learn more about their efforts.

It is more critical than ever for us, as parents and community members, to stay informed. You can visit http://www.floridapta.org/Legislative%20Information/FPTA%20Legislative%20Report-Feb%2019.pdf to get a list of bills that PTA is actively working on. The lists will be updated at the end of every week reflecting any action that was taken and new bills will be added as they are filed. If there is a PTA position corresponding to the bill, it will be shown under public comments.

Your voice is the most important one and we hear this constantly as we meet with policy makers. They want to hear from you. Thank you, in advance, for your advocacy efforts, to help your child, and all Florida’s children, to receive a high quality education.

If you have any changes to the content or would like to add something in addition to what is listed, please let Suzanne know.

For the Good of the Order
The Sunshine Math luncheon is going to be held this Friday, March 5th under the pavilion. If you are able to volunteer, please let Deb know. She is seeking additional assistance from 11:00-12:30 pm.

Meeting Adjourned

DATES TO REMEMBER:
3-02-10 Night Spanish Parent Night
3-03-10 Early Release
3-05-10 BUDs Club Movie Night
3-08-10 Chick-fil-A Family Night
3-09-10 FCAT Begins
3-26-10 Family Bingo Night
3-27-10 PTA Campus Clean Up
3-29-10 3rd Grade Period Begins
4-01-10 Planning Day
4-02-10 Spring Holiday Begins

BUD's Club Movie Night

2010-03-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

Bring your sleeping bags and pillows, and join the Chets Creek BUD's Club for this year's Movie Night on Friday, March 5th, 2010. The feature presentation is ICE AGE 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Doors will open at 7 pm. Flyers were sent home with children on Friday, February 26th for the purchase of tickets. Tickest cost $1 for students and $2 for adults. Children must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Order forms with payment can be sent in an envelope marked Movie Night to your child's teacher.

The concession stand will be open for business. Candy, popcorn, and drinks will be sold for $1. We hope you join us for this fun filled family event.

Valentine's Dance

2010-02-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

The pink, red, and white balloons bejeweled the ceiling, the lights were dimmed, and the beat of the music had you tapping your foot. You guess it! The annual Chets Creek Valentine's Dance was ready to get in full swing!

This year nearly 1,000 young students and their parents bought pre-sale tickets. Students, some adorned in dress slacks and bowties and others in stunning dresses, crowded to the doors of the dining hall turned dance floor to dance the night away.

Due to its popularity, two dances were offered, one from 6:00 – 7:30 pm and a second from 8:00 – 9:30 pm. A professional DJ provided the entertainment, and PTA sold concessions including pizza, drinks, and candy. The CCE PTA store was open for business. However, the greatest hit was the sale of roses.

Though the dances were packed, the students didn't seem to mind. Like I was, the chaperoning parents seemed equally as impressed with the young dancing talent. They snapped pictures and captured priceless video. They visited, on the sidelines, with other parents captivated by the entertainment.

The entire evening from ticket sales to tear down was organized by Programs Chair, Pam Witt. The evening was a grand success thanks to her leadership, and I want to extend a special thank you, too, to all the volunteers who pitched in. Their service helped make this a memorable experience for all of our young dancers. I'm sure our students had a very happy Valentine's Day!

February Meeting

2010-02-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

February 1, 2010

CALL TO ORDER
Approval of Minutes
Correspondence

Julie sent out thank you notes to Mr. Graham for gathering boxes for our Giving Tree project and to Target for sending gift cards to help those effected by it the Links fire. Birthday cards were sent to Angela, Maria, and Patricia, and staff birthdays were celebrated. Thank you notes will be sent for the January Family Night Dinner.

Financial Report
We went over each line item on the budget to report what has been spent and what has not. We need to raise about $3,500 to have the funds to support the items we've agreed to pay for this school year, and to have $11,000 in summer contingency. Fundraising will occur with hotdogs at the Bingo Night and pizza at BUD's Movie Night. Other fundraisers will be considered at the March Board Meeting. If sufficient funds are not raised, fewer dollars will be allocated in Summer Contingency, something we hope to avoid.

Principal’s Report
Susan shared the calendar dates (listed under Dates to Remember), and spoke about the process for doing CCE's mid year School Improvement Plan update and getting started on the budget process for next school year.

OLD BUSINESS:
January Family Night
http://chetscreekpta.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-family-night.html

Next Year’s Family Nights: Business Partnerships
Many local businesses have been in contact with us about building partnerships similar to what we've established with Chick-Fil-A. As reported last month, most of their requests have come in the form of Spirit Nights to be conducted at their establishments. A sub committee will meet to discuss these Spirit Nights, however we also discussed the idea of having our Business Partner liaison create an application form for our Family Night Dinners. The businesses would have the opportunity to submit the application to be considered to host, on our campus, a family night dinner. All applications would be considered based on price point and offerings, and we would book next year's Family Night Dinners with these businesses. This would give local businesses the opportunity to begin their partnership with us, and would then leave the door open for other opportunities.

A sub committee to discuss other Business Partner opportunities will convene in April and present to the Board in May. Committee members include Pam, Julie, Jackie, Lisa M, Romy, and PTA Faculty Representatives. If you would like to participate, please let Suzanne know.

NEW BUSINESS:
Volunteer Orientation –March 1st at 6:30 pm
Due to demand, an additional Volunteer Orientation has been added to the calendar for March 1st at 6:30.

Board Positions for 2010-2011
Board Position Descriptions were handed out. Board Members were asked to read the descriptions and think about the role they would like to hold in the 2010-2011 school year. At our March 1st meeting, we will let the Board know whether or not we want to continue in the role we are currently serving in or not. This way, we will know whether we should be actively recruiting for additional assistance.

Corporate Contributions Contests
Thanks to the hard work of Romy and Maria for running our Corporate Contribution Contest by grade levels this year, in December, we received checks from box tops for $1,942.00, Publix Rewards for $116.00, ink/cell phone returns for $899.00, and Tyson's for $189.36. We've also accumulated points from Campbell's of 15,587 points, and from Coke Rewards of 19,962 points. The Board decided to spend the points by having the Music, PE, and Character Education teachers look through the catalog and submit their requests. Because so many students have asked, Maria & Romy have decided to hold one more contest this year. The contest will be held the week of April 12th for K-5, and the winner will be announced based on a ratio of points tallied for each student in the homeroom.

The fourth and fifth grade contests were a grand success and over 7 boxes full of labels were mailed. Ms. Rice's class took gold in fourth grade and Mrs. Shannon's class in fifth grade.

Programs: Valentine’s Dance
Fitting this year’s theme, Orchestrating a Symphony of Student Success, we've asked the students to come enjoy the music with their friends during Chets Creeks’ Valentine dance on Friday, February 12th! Due to its popularity, PTA will host two dances that evening. Students can choose to come from 6:00 – 7:30pm OR 8:00 – 9:30pm. A professional DJ will be at both dances! PTA will sell pizza, drinks, candy and flowers!

Please remember, all students must be accompanied by an adult. The dance has a $3.00 charge for all students coming to the dance. Parents are free, but must have a ticket. No child will be admitted without an adult and no adult will be admitted without a child. Tickets may only be purchased in advance. To order tickets, students needed to return a form that was sent home last Monday indicating their time preference. There will be 350 tickets per dance sold.

If you have any questions, please contact Pam Witt @ 821-8172. Order forms are due by February 8th. Tickets will be sent home with children by Thursday, February 11th.

Ways and Means: Fundraiser
PTA is assisting with the Cookie Dough fundraiser for patrols currently being held. Angela requested help on the day of delivery and will let the Board know when that will be.

As we reviewed the Financial Report, we were reminded that we have a $3,500 gap between the funds we have earmarked for items and the amount we took in. We expected our Sally Foster fundraiser to take in about $25,000 based on historical data, but this year we only took in $11,000. The school picked up the Academic Support items and we took that off the budget. After readjusting, we still have the $3,500 gap. The Board discussed many fundraisers ideas, some were typical but others were way outside the box. Therefore, we decided to sell Orange Tree hotdogs at our Bingo night and Pizza at our BUD's Club Movie Night. We'll see how much money that brings in. In addition, each member was invited to email Suzanne their other ideas. Suzanne will put them all in one document and add it to the March 1st agenda where all the ideas will be discussed. If you have an idea, please get it to her by February 16. Susan will be checking on the legalities of each idea before the next meeting.

Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer to assist with the Valentine's Dance please let Lourdes, Deb, or Kathi know. We need at least three Board members at each dance and other chaperones are welcome to help with the dance.

DATES TO REMEMBER:
2-03-10 Early Release
2-08-10 Chick-fil-A Night --Sponsored by Grade 3
2-09-10 Florida Writes
2-12-10 Valentine’s Dance
2-15-10 Presidents’ Day-No School
2-17-10 Early Release
2-26-10 FCAT Formal 5 -- 196 Level 5 students have been invited.
2-27-10 Campus Clean Up
3-01-10 PTA Board Meeting & Volunteer Orientation

January Family Night

2010-01-31T17:43:00.000-08:00

Each month, Chets Creek Elementary hosts a Family Night. This month's Family Night began with a dinner hosted by PTA including Moore's BBQ Pork or Chicken Sandwiches. The dinners are advertised to each CCE family in a flyer about two weeks before the event in order for tickets to be sold. Believe it or not, we pre-sold approximately 300 tickets and had each person served in a record 25 minutes! These Family Night dinners are not held as a fundraiser, rather just as a convenience for families, so we pre-sell tickets according to the cost of each dinner. This month's dinner met rave reviews!

After the dinner, our first grade parents and students met outside under the stars for our First Sleepover Under the Stars Movie Night. With goodie bags dispersed, blankets spread, coats pulled tight, and the big screen blown up, the movie began and held a captive audience. In the background, an Astronomy Club had a huge telescope set up for little ones to get a closer look at our cratered moon. I'm not sure who enjoyed this treat more, the children or the adults!

Our third grade parents convened in the Media Center to learn more about our upcoming state standardized testing for an FCAT Information Night. The third grade parents learned about the types of reading questions their children would encounter, the school preparation that was occurring to get the students ready, and they gave suggestions on what the parents could do to ensure students' success. The math team offered several types of problems to show parents what the students would encounter, how students are taught to think through the problems, and invited parents to watch the upcoming homework sheets which would concentrate on the FCAT question stems and concepts.

Overall, like always, the evening was a grand success and a great way to bring families together. We thank everyone who showed up to help set up, serve, organize, and clean up. And, a special round of applause to our fearless Family Night leader, Lori Haas.

Chets Creek Family Night

2010-01-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, PTA invites you to join us for family night! We’ll enjoy an old fashioned smoked barbeque dinner; delicious comfort food for a cold winter night. After dinner, join your child’s first grade class for Sleepover Under the Stars OR your child’s third grade class for FCAT Information Night.

Dinner will be served from 6:00 -7:00 p.m. Dinner will include a large BBQ sandwich (your choice of BBQ pulled pork or BBQ pulled/boneless chicken), molasses BBQ baked beans, home-style mac & cheese, dessert and drink.

The cost is $6.00 per adult and $4.00 per child. You must preorder your tickets for either the BBQ PORK dinner or the BBQ CHICKEN dinner.

Order forms were sent home on Monday, January 11, 2010 with the Chets Creek Connection. Orders are due back to your child's teacher in a sealed envelope marked "Family Night Dinner" by Friday, January 22, 2010. Checks can be made payable to Chets Creek PTA. (Tickets will not be sold at the door so make sure you get your pre-sale tickets by January 22nd.) Tickets will be sent home by Monday, January 25th.

January Meeting

2010-01-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

I know you won't believe it, unless you were there, but our January Meeting was called to order at 5 pm and we were done before 6 pm!

Approval of Minutes
Correspondence
Julie shared birthday wishes and then mentioned that PTA received many thank you cards from appreciative faculty members for their Starbucks gift cards.

Old Business:

Season of Giving Project
To read more see http://chetscreekpta.blogspot.com/2010/01/season-of-giving-projects.html

New Business:

January Family Night
The Family Night dinner sponsored by Moore's Catering will be held on the evening of January 26, 2010. Following dinner, Grade 1 parents and students are invited to join their classrooms for Sleepover Under the Stars, and Third Grade parents are invited to an FCAT information session being held by the Third Grade teachers. We need volunteers to help set up and serve dinner in the dining room.

Sunshine Math Luncheon
Any student completing 8 of the Sunshine Math sheets so far this year are invited to a celebration luncheon on Jan 14th or Jan 15th. Volunteers are needed at 11:20 on Jan 14 and 12:00 on Jan 15 to assist with the celebration. If you are able to volunteer, please let Deb, Lourdes, or Kathi know. Thanks!

Volunteer Orientation
Our next Volunteer Orientation is scheduled for January 12th at 10 am. Any parent or community member wishing to volunteer in classrooms, eat lunch with their children, or attend a field trip, must go through Volunteer Orientation to receive a volunteer badge. 5 PTA volunteers are needed to assist with the Orientation.

Business Partnerships
We are fortunate to have over 15 local businesses who have contacted us within the past several months that are seeking to partner with the school. Melissa Kicklighter has been in contact with the businesses and has set up the partnerships. We are continuing to collect information from each of the businesses about what they would like to offer to the school, and what we can offer them. Most of them would like to hold some kind of Spirit Night with some of the proceeds being donated back to Chets. Currently, the Board and the school agree that we can't fit any other dates on the calendar for this year, because we made previous commitments. However, the Board continues to look at options for next year and ways to honor each of the partnerships. We agreed at the meeting to form a committee with a few members from PTA Board and a few teachers from PIC to explore all options, because so many of the businesses would like to see teachers at the events. The subcommittee will make a recommendation to the Board at the May meeting so we can contact each of the businesses with next year's plan.

Executive Committee Reports

Programs
Theresa mentioned holding a Blood Drive and sought Board recommendations for a date to host the drive. We considered doing it in conjunction with our January Family Night but worried that parents would not be able to donate because they would have their children with them. If you have a suggestion on a date that would draw in a crowd, please let us know.

Please let Pam know if you have a recommendation for a DJ for the Valentine's Dance which is being held on February 12th. She will be contacting DJ's soon to book the music, and will begin arranging the specifics for the dance.

Ways and Means
PTA to assist the Safety Patrols will be selling Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough from February 8-22. Delivery of the Cookie Dough will be the morning of March 22. The dough is delivered by flavor and volunteers are needed to then fill the orders. Pick up will likely be from 2 pm to 8 pm to accommodate all parents. If dough is not picked up by 7 pm, Angela will begin calling to remind families.

Standing Committee Reports

Volunteers
Needed for Volunteer Orientation (5), Sunshine Math Luncheon (5 each day), January Family Night.

School Grounds Beautification
Next beautification day will be held on January 30. If Brownie Troops seek to help, please let Dianne know so she can buy flowers and be prepared. Individuals are also always welcome to help with the clean up.

Corporate Contributions
Maria and Romy are currently holding the Grade 4 and Grade 5 CC Contest. They are also considering holding a whole school contest before the February 28th cut off date.

The check from Box Tops arrived from the October deadline and was a whopping $1,942.00!! :)

Newsletter
If you wish to have items added to the newsletter, please let Lisa Durkin know, because she will be updating the quarterly newsletter.

Dates to Remember:
1-12-10 Volunteer Orientation
1-18-10 Martin Luther King holiday
1-22-10 Teacher Planning Day
1-26-10 Family Night
1-30-10 Campus Clean Up
2-01-10 PTA Board Meeting
2-09-10 FCAT Florida Writes
2-12-10 Valentine's Dance

Season of Giving Projects

2010-01-07T17:01:00.000-08:00

One of our schools expected Learner Outcomes for students is that they learn to become Community Contributors. In the past, it has been tradition for the school, in conjunction with PTA, to hold a Holiday Auction. Classes created a holiday decoration that was silently auctioned off with the proceeds given back to the classroom. However, in this time of hardship for so many, we decided to give back to others during this year's holiday season. We offered a new twist on our old classic. Students discussed then chose how they were going to participate in our new program the "Season of Giving Project."

Some classes chose to participate in the Holiday Auction but instead of proceeds going back to the classroom, the classrooms instead donated their proceeds to a charitable cause. Other classes elected to complete a community service project (example, making cards for the troops, donating time, etc...) or participated in a drive to collect items to donate (example, food, clothing, pet supplies, toys, etc...). As always, participation was optional, but most classrooms joined us in giving back to their community! And, this year's Season of Giving Projects were hugely successful! Thank you to every stakeholder that lovingly donated and taught students to become community contributors!

Giving Tree

2009-12-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

In December, we had our annual Giving Tree drive. Canned goods and non-perishable food, as well as clothing, and new unwrapped toys were donated by CCE families. The items collected in the front lobby around the Giving Tree were too plentiful to count thanks to the overflowing generosity of all of our stakeholders.

The drive was led by PTA's Theresa Graham as she took responsibility for organizing the items. Liz Duncan, Betsy McCall, and Romy Wilkening contacted families for distribution. Thanks to a few key volunteers and a days worth of work, all of the items were swiftly distributed, making holiday festivities more plentiful and joyous for families.

I give thanks that I am able to serve in such a caring and generous learning community. Thank you to all who made this season of giving the best yet!

December Meeting

2009-12-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Financial Report: $25, 807.26 balance with outstanding invoices of approximately $1,290.07. Deposits this month included $305 for ink, $500 for Sally Fosters, and $164 from Chick fil A Family Night.

Old Business:

K/5 Family Night November's Family Night dinner from Gourmet Grocery was a great success. There were many celebrations. The only concern was having to turn away individuals at the door, because we did pre-sale tickets only. Thank you to Lori Haas and all the volunteers who made this night possible.

Season of Giving Projects: Jackie and Renee volunteered to be here for the Holiday Auction sale which is to end promptly at 6 pm on Thursday, December 10, 2009. The volunteers will call the winners of the auction to pick up their item and then they will write a check to the classroom teacher. This year, classrooms have decided to donate the funds they generate to charitable organizations.

Wiki Updates: Any word documents that have been emailed to Suzanne for approval have been uploaded to the wiki. Please check the wiki for missing items, if you have items missing under your tab, please email them to Suzanne to upload. http://ptacce.wikispaces.com/

New Business:

January Family Night: January Family Night will be held on January 26, 2010. Dinner will be provided by Moore's Catering and the Grade 1 parents and students will participate in a Sleepover evening, and Grade 3 parents and students in an FCAT night.

Business Partnerships: Much discussion ensued about Business Partnerships because approximately 15 businesses have contacted us wanting to sponsor Spirit Nights. Currently, we are committed to a monthly Chick-fil-A Family Night. Right now, they send home a flier each month advertising this spirit night. Though we want to partner with local businesses, we must decide on the level of commitment we are able to offer. We don't want to inundate parents with business fliers, but we would love to work with the businesses. We discussed putting information down in one location, like on a card, announcing the nights businesses would donate back to the school if our name was mentioned, or working with the businesses as a fundraiser. We also discussed offering opportunities next year for them to participate in our Family Night dinners. We are going to gather more information and carry this discussion into our January Meeting.

Duval County Report: Sue Willingham shared updates including the Souper Bowl of Caring, Parent Programs through FCJJ, Earth Day Application, and ESEAC. She announced that on March 25, 2010 there will be the Rally in Tally and we can gather more information in our DCC Handbook on page 17. We are going to gather more information and encourage CCE parents to join us for a trip to Tally.

Programs: The Valentine's Dance will be held on February 12 and will run the same as last year with two dances.

Hospitality: Cathy and Linda purchased gift cards for holiday faculty recognition. They will put the cards in gift bags and hand them out at the Faculty Breakfast on Friday, December 11.

School Grounds & Beautification: Dianne did an extraordinary job decorating the front lobby and office areas with poinsettias. The board applauds Dianne for her unwavering support at keeping the grounds looking beautiful.

Dates to Remember:
12-8-09 2nd Grade Performances
12-10-09 2nd Grade Performances , Holiday Auction Ends
12-14-09 Chick-fil-A Spirit Night
12-17-09 Holiday Break Begins
1-4-10 First Day Back to School, PTA Board Meeting 5 pm
1-12-10 Volunteer Orientation 10 am
1-26-10 Family Night Dinner, Grade 1 & Grade 3 Academic Nights
1-30-10 Campus Clean Up

PTA Reflections

2009-12-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

The PTA Reflections pieces have been selected, and PTA volunteer, Delores Applebee, has submitted them for competition. Please visit CCE Art Happenings (by clicking on the words Art Happenings) to view the students' artwork and read art teacher, Jennifer Snead's post. Congratulations to these talented students who advanced in the competition. Good Luck!

Annual Mr. Rogers' Sweater Drive

2009-12-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

The annual Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood Sweater Drive, led at Chets Creek by Theresa Graham, was a great success this year. Four hundred articles of clothing were collected during the drive including new and gently used sweaters, coats, blankets, pants, and shirts. Collected contributions dropped off in the school's lobby were donated to St. Vincent’s Mobile Outreach, the Clara White Mission, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Thank you to everyone who made contributions to assist in this great time of need. We appreciate you!

Hearing Screening

2009-11-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

Each year our dedicated Chets Creek PTA volunteers provide the valuable service of Hearing Screening for all kindergarten and first graders, and new to Chets Creek students. That means they screened nearly 500 students this year! It took our wonderful volunteers three days of gathering and assessing students but they got the job done! Thank you to everyone who contributed in the creation of the schedule, coordination of the hearing machines, gathering of the students, and completion of the screening. I know this service is greatly appreciated by the faculty and parent community! And, it wouldn't happen without you!

November Family Night

2009-11-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

We had a great week leading into our Thanksgiving holiday! On Tuesday evening, all Chets Creek families were invited to join PTA for our November Family Night dinner. Gourmet Grocery and Catering of Jacksonville sponsored the event and adults dined on salad, chicken marsala, pasta, vegetables, roll, and dessert. Children dined on their choice of macaroni and cheese or spaghetti.

After dinner, families joined their child’s kindergarten class for a Native American Pow-Wow Make and Take, or their child’s fifth grade class for Native American Tribe presentations.

All kindergarten classrooms studied a different tribe during their Native American unit of study. During Make and Take night, the Seminoles built chickees, the Sioux and Nez Perce made tipis, and the Hopi tribe made adobe huts. Inuits constructed igloos, the Iroquis made long houses, and plank houses were created by the Nootkas. The Lenape tribe erected wigwams. The families enjoyed creating the structures which were displayed outside each classroom door for the rest of the week.

In addition, fifth grade students added a new connection. As part of their Native American unit of study they constructed dioramas representing how each tribe lived. The dioramas were displayed and families circulating to listen to each presentation. Receiving a stamp on their program as they listened and returning with the completed program to Chief Jumping Frog in the dining room. Chief Jumping Frog gifted each of young learner with a Native American bracelet, and asked students, "What did you learn?"

I am thankful that our learning community has this tradition is place. I know it is an evening of quality time spent with children and their parents. I'm looking forward to the January Family Night dinner and First Grade Sleepover Make and Take. We'll see you there!

November Meeting

2009-11-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

On November 2, 2009, PTA met in the Administrative Conference room to discuss a full agenda of items. After calling the meeting to order and approving last month's minutes, Trena Nesler, owner of The UPS Store on Beach and San Pablo presented. Ms. Nesler and her husband have owned the store for the past seven years and offer competitive prices on copies, binding, laminating, and poster printing, to name just a few of their services. She encouraged PTA, CCE teachers, and community members to use their store for all servicing needs. They are running a Support Your School incentive. For any package shipped via UPS at this location, the UPS Store will donate $.50 to our school. All the sender needs to do is mention Chets Creek Elementary and the donation will be recorded.

Financial Report: Renee presented the Financial Report. The beginning checking balance was $23,404.20 and the ending balance $54,511.08. However, there are many invoices which need paid. Fall Carnival sales were at $17,132.85 without the deduction of the invoices that will run in the neighborhood of $7,000, putting proceeds about the same as last year. We also have to write a check to NEDs in the amount of $2,648.39 from the sales of yo-yos for the Bullying Program. This is not an expenditure on our part, because we collected that sum throughout the month on the sales. To date, the Sally Foster fundraising sales have been much lower than expected. As we discussed our anxiety over this, Mrs. Phillips' shared that she had been able to purchase the $3,300.00 with school funds that we had originally allocated to Academic Support. However, she had been unable to fund the Student Incentives and Awards Programs. She asked that the $2,000 we allocated to cover Book of the Month be spent to buy student A/B Honor Roll medals, reading pins, certificates, and other reading incentives. The board passed the reallocation of these funds. Because of the shortfall on the fundraising funds, the $3,300 was not reallocated for purchases. We did discuss running a Spring fundraiser to make up for the short fall on Sally Foster sales.

Principal's Report: As I mentioned in the paragraph above, Mrs. Phillips explained why Academic Support items had been purchased with school funds and asked for the reallocation of $2,000 toward Student Academic Incentives. Mrs. Phillips' knows that the incentives program is costly so she polled a group of students to find out their feelings. Without fail, the students look forward to each Awards Assembly and work throughout the quarter to be recognized and receive rewards through this program. The compromise the students and Mrs. Phillips were able to make to be fiscally responsible was that a reading pin would be provided each year rather than each quarter, and another small incentive would take the pins place at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd 9 weeks ceremony. The savings will be about $4,000.

In addition, Mrs. Phillips explained the OnCourse Parent Portal (On-line GradeBook), and explained that parents will be able to come to the school between November 9-27 between 7 am and 6 pm to receive their child's unique log on and password. Parents will need to have photo id with them for security purposes.

Fall Carnival: We briefly discussed the success of the carnival and thanked all the board volunteers, as well as parent volunteers who manned booths. A few suggestions were mentioned, but we decided to table the item until the Committee Chair was in attendance at next month's meeting.

Corporate Contributions: Romy and Maria shared that the Grade 3 contest is currently underway, and the 2nd, 1st, and Kindergarten contests have been a huge success. They discovered a new way to earn 2,000 points through Campbell's Soup labels which they are pursuing. The contests, so far, have generated about $1,100, and ink cartridge collection has generated about $300. The winner, for the most contributions per grade level continue to be recognized with a pizza party. These contests have generated student excitement and we may extend a contest at the end of the year to collect more labels with a K-5 end of the year contest.

Website: Our webmaster, Melanie Holtsman, has been hard at work. Please check out our website at http://www.duvalschools.org/cce and click on the PTA link. You'll find helpful information and our electronic newsletter.

Vision Screening: Seventy-three wonderful volunteers, in just two days time, vision screened nearly 1,300 CCE students! These volunteers had an organized system and we thank each one of them for giving their time and talents to make this valuable program a great success!

K/5 Family Night: PTA invites you to join us for family night dinner! Gourmet Grocery and Catering of Jacksonville will be providing us with some culinary delights. After dinner, parents will join their child’s kindergarten class for a Native American Pow-Wow craft OR your child’s fifth grade class for Native American Tribe presentations.

Dinner will be served from 6:00 -7:00 p.m. Dinner for adults will include salad, chicken marsala, pasta, vegetable, roll, dessert and drink. Dinner for the children will be a choice of macaroni and cheese or spaghetti with sauce, dessert, and drink. The cost is $6.00 per adult and $4.00 per child. Preordered tickets must be purchased.

Ident-I-Kid: Volunteers were secured to help the Ident-I-Kid program. Any student who had pre-ordered was taken from class to get their picture made for their identification card. The program ran for one day.

Mr. Rogers' Sweater Drive: Chets Creek Elementary is honoring the memory of Mr. Rogers with the annual Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive. The drive runs through November 28th and accepts gently used sweaters, coats, blankets, pants, and shirts. Contributions may be dropped off in the lobby of the school. Contributions will be donated to St. Vincent’s Mobile Outreach, the Clara White Mission, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

Hearing Screening: CCE students will receive hearing screening on either Monday, November 16 or Tuesday, November 17. Volunteers will be set up in the CCE Administrative Conference Room and will be calling classes throughout each day to complete the screening.

Holiday Auction: Volunteers were requested to set up the Holiday Auction items in the lobby on Friday, December 4. The silent auction will run through Dec 10 and end on the night of the last 2nd Grade Holiday Performance. An adequate number of volunteers signed up at the meeting.

Duval Report: We discussed highlights from the meeting including the Right Foot Award application, Mr. Rogers' Sweater Drive, and Florida Kid Care Insurance Program. We also discussed getting a volunteer to work with Kimberly Sheldon to get press releases out to the media for school events and happenings.

Membership: Lisa reported that our final count was 1,148 CCE members qualifying us for the 100% members award. Thank you to all Membership Committee Members for making this year's drive a grand success!

Hospitality: We discussed getting a total count for the purchase of teacher's gift cards for recognition.

Volunteers: Volunteer Coordinators again requested volunteers for Kindergarten resource. Our last scheduled Volunteer Orientation of the year is going to be held on November 12 at 7 pm.

School Grounds: Dianne inquired about this year's Poinsettias for the lobby and common areas. She is in search of competitive pricing and will likely purchase from a local Boy Scout troop.

Dates to Remember:

11-5-09 Ident-I-Kid
11-6-09 Fall Picture Make Ups
11-9-09 Chick-fil-A Night hosted by Grade 5

11-11-09 No School, Veteran's Day

11-12-09 Volunteer Orientation 7 pm

11-17-09 K/5 Family Night, PTA Dinner Night
11-21-09 Campus Clean Up
11-25, 11-26, 11-27 Thanksgiving Break

12-7-09 PTA Board Meeting
12-8-09 2nd Grade Performance

12-10-09 2nd Grade Performance
12-14-09 Chick-fil-A Spirit Night

12-17-09 Holiday Break Begins

Fall Carnival

2009-10-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a full house for our annual PTA sponsored Fall Carnival last Friday, and the beautiful weather made it the perfect evening for our fun filled events!

Preparation began months ago as Committee Chair, Pam Witt, organized the event. With assistance from Publix at Windsor Commons, Pizza Hut on Beach Boulevard, Starbucks of Windsor Commons, Tim Moore, and LittleBits, this year’s sponsors led the way for a hugely successful carnival.

Pam sought the help of room parents and teachers to sign up to run booths and food stands, and volunteers came out in the droves to support the school’s event. Pre-sale tickets and wrist bands were available for two weeks leading up to the event, and thanks to Pam and Ms. Julie each child’s pre-order was filled. PTA Board Members graciously ran ticket booths the night of the event for those who had not purchased pre-sale tickets.

In addition, via requests in the Connection and teacher’s newsletters, parents kindly sent in candy as a donation to support our Trick or Treating around our bottom floor. PTA board members organized and distributed the candy so that teachers could run Trick or Treating from 6:00-7:00 pm during Carnival.

A few days leading up to the event supplies were picked up and cotton candy was made, and the morning of Carnival, the PTA board was hard at work stocking 20+ coolers with an assortment of drinks which would later be stationed at each food booth. In addition, prizes that had been purchased and donated where put in bins to be placed at each booth. Rented lights arrived and were set in place, and Mr. Stanley and Mr. JB began preparing for their operation. Space Walk delivered inflatable slides, a velcro wall, and an inflatable obstacle course. All easily put in place because Pam had made a map of where items would be set up.

Next, we hauled coolers to food booths and set up tables, and with the bell signaling the end of the day, teachers and parent volunteers began setting up their booths.

The Carnival, held from 6-9 pm, ran smoothly and the children’s smiles lit up the evening. The PTA board members continued to sell tickets and wristbands throughout the evening, and board member, Renee English collected and counted funds for the evening.

Clean up, from 9-11 pm, wasn't as much fun as the initial set up, but with a hand full of dedicated volunteers, we got the job done. We are looking forward to this continued tradition in the future. Pam, do I see you raising your hand to run next year's event? :)

Vision Screening

2009-10-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Each year, PTA runs our school's routine vision screening for each student. Routine vision screening is a service that alerts parents if there is an issue, so they can follow up with an eye doctor. (In fact, years ago, this is a service that alerted me that my own child had an issue.)

To serve nearly 1,300 students our Volunteer Coordinators had to set up three days of vision screening this year. They booked volunteers to run six vision stations and called classes down for screening one at a time.

We truly appreciate the willingness of so many folks to volunteer and make sure we could provide this valuable service. Our CCE volunteers are the best!

Picture Day

2009-10-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

The kids were dolled up, their colics meticiously tamed, and each one with a bright white smile. It must have been picture day! And, our CCE PTA volunteers were out in full force lining the kids up, helping to keep them reasonably quiet, and assisting students to run the black plastic comb through their hair just one more time.

Thank you to all the volunteers who made this day run smoothly. I know the CCE teachers are grateful.

Room Parent Meeting

2009-10-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

The Volunteer Coordinators, Deb, Kathy, and Lourdes hosted a Room Parent Meeting for all room parent volunteers this week. They greeted the dedicated volunteers and began by setting up some general guidelines. They went over the importance of maintaining strict student confidentiality, and the guidelines for correspondence with parents. All letters being sent by parents need to be pre-approved by the principal, Mrs. Phillips, and letters to parents cannot request specific dollar amounts. However, requests for “donations” are permitted. Room parents should keep a log of all money received for classroom/school events, and retain receipts for items purchased with classroom money.

Next, the Volunteer Coordinators discussed upcoming events and the responsibilities of the Room Parents. They encouraged the parents to discuss these events with their child's teacher and make a plan to assist the classroom in any way possible.

LITERARY PUMPKIN FESTIVAL:(WEEK OF OCTOBER 19-23)
Each class decorates a pumpkin (or pumpkins) to represent a literary character, scene, etc... The pumpkins may be painted, items may be glued on, or the pumpkin may be part of a larger display, however pumpkins must not be carved. The pumpkins along with the children's book need to be delivered to the front lobby by 10:00 AM on Monday. They are displayed in the lobby throughout the week.

FALL CARNIVAL: (OCTOBER 23, 2009 from 6:00-9:00PM)
Each class signs up to run a booth or activity the night of Carnival. It is the room parent’s responsibility to contact volunteers to run the booth/activity in half-hour or one-hour increments of time so that the booth is covered the entire evening. PTA will send information describing the booth, its duties, how many volunteers are needed, etc. approximately two weeks before the event. The room parent is also responsible for coordinating the setting up and tearing down of the booth. Classes are encouraged to decorate their booth in conjunction with the school’s theme which, this year, is a musical theme “Orchestrating a Symphony of Student Success.” The booths will be judged by several of the PTA and Staff members, and the winning booth will receive a $25.00 gift certificate for the teacher to use toward a party. Candy donations will be requested for Trick-or-Treating in the downstairs hallway of the school between 6:00-7:00 PM.

KINDERGARTEN POW WOW: (November 20, 2009)
Each Kindergarten class studies a specific Native American culture. Room parents are asked to help with making costumes, decorating classrooms, coordinating donations of supplies, etc. The room parent assists in scheduling parent volunteers to help on the POW-WOW day at various craft and activity stations, etc.

HOLIDAY AUCTION: (TBA)
Each class creates a holiday item (wreath, basket, cards, tablecloth, tree skirt, craft, etc.) to be auctioned in a silent auction over a two-week period. Auction items should be chosen such that the students can actively participate in its creation. We encourage the room parent to choose an item that will be appealing to anyone in the school and not just to the classroom (this increases the bidding pool). The auction item may be a holiday theme, the school’s theme, etc. The money received from the item goes directly to the classroom that created it.

ARTS EXTRAVAGANZA: April
This is an event offered in the spring where the room parent assists the classes in creating a themed basket for auction. More info to come on additional events after the New Year.

Thank you, Lourdes, Kathy, and Deb for giving an overview of upcoming events. We look forward to the support these wonderful volunteers will bring to classroom teachers.

September's Family Night

2009-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Each month, PTA hosts a Family Night event or activity to give families the opportunity to spend quality time together or to learn more about Chets Creek's academic expectations. Some of these events begin with a family night dinner sponsored by the PTA. On Tuesday, PTA invited all CCE families out for our first family night dinner of the year catered by Salerno's Italian Ristorante. And, after dinner, parents were invited to join their child’s second grade class for Math Night or their child’s fourth grade class for FCAT Writes Night.

Lori Haas chairs the family night dinner committee and is responsible for booking the catering, securing the menu, inviting parents, and collecting funds from a pre-sale. Our Volunteer Coordinators, Deb O'Berry, Kathy Jo Ayers, and Lourdes Smith lend a helping hand and secure volunteers for set up, serving, and clean up.

On Tuesday evening, our volunteers, Estela Santiago, Herb Arteaga, Cami Gomez, and Gina Allmond set up for dinner in the Dining Room from 5:00-6:00 pm and Brandy Williams, Janet White, Annabel Krott, and Tim Moore served families from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Families dined on chicken parmesan, penne pasta, salad, bread, drinks and dessert. Then, at 7:00 pm the clean up crew, Amanda Benson, Tia Peaco, Kelly Moore, and Pam Witt cleaned up as the families joined their teachers who graciously agreed to host an academic session.

With the combined effort of all those involved, the night was a huge success, and we look forward to our next Family Night dinner in November. We are also eagerly awaiting October's Family Night, Fall Carnival, on October 23rd. We hope you join us!

Pancake Pigout

2009-09-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Our BUD's Club hosted their annual Pancake Pigout on Friday morning from 8 am to 9 am. Looking around the dining room, I'd say that this year's event was a HUGE success! Families gathered in every corner of the dining room as they enjoyed breakfast together. Our BUDs, Brothers, Uncles, and Dads served pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit and juice to our students and parents. There was a lot of conversation and many laughs. Special thanks to Chip for spearheading this event, to the crew the night before who set up long after Open House, and to all the servers who made the event better than ever! The Chets Creek students and their parents enjoyed every moment.

Open House / Volunteer Orientation

2009-09-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday night was Kindergarten, Second, and Fourth Grade Open House. Ordinarily, Open House is about an hour and offers parents time to meet their child's teachers, learn about their classroom expectations, and see their child's classroom work. This year, there was an added layer, Volunteer Orientation.

Normally, the first Open House begins with a quick parent meeting in the dining room where the budget is voted upon. Then, parents go to their child's classroom. This year, at 6:30 parents went directly to the classroom. Teachers tuned their televisions into our closed circuit system, WCCE, and Mrs. Phillips' conducted the welcome and explained the proposed PTA budget. Classroom teachers conducted the vote in each classroom, and the proposed budget passed. After that, via WCCE, Mrs. Phillips conducted a 15 minute Volunteer Orientation.

From 7 pm - 8 pm teachers gave presentations, visited with parents, and parents explored the classroom with their children. When their child's Open House was over, they went into the dining room to fill out volunteer paperwork and have their picture made. Everyone was on their way by 8:15 pm, quite a feat when you consider there are about 650 Kindergarten, Second, and Fourth Grade students.

A special thank you goes out to our Volunteer Coordinators, Deb, Lourdes, and Kathi for organizing this event and gathering picture takers. We appreciate your gift of time and talent. Also, a round of applause goes out to all of the volunteers who took pictures, collected paperwork, and offered their services. You are all gems!! Get ready for Round 2 this Thursday when we have a repeat performance for our First, Third, and Fifth Grade parents.

September Meeting

2009-09-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

Financial Report: The checking amount balances are $12,692.02.

Budget: The budget committee presented a balanced budget with projected expenditures of $98,635.85. The board passed the budget and it will go on for general voting at the September 17, 2009 Open House.

September Family Night: September Family Night will be held on September 29, 2009. All families are invited to pre-order for a catered dinner from Salerno's Ristorante and Pizzeria. The cost per person will be $6.00. We need volunteers to help serve the dinner if anyone is interesting in assisting. Following the 6:00 pm dinner, families are invited to attend a Grade 2 Math Night or Grade 4 Writes Night.

Teacher Appreciation Dinner on Family Nights: We discussed whether or not to provide each teacher a single ticket to eat dinner on their grade level's Family Night. This year's budget was passed by the time we discussed this option and tabled for later discussion. It is a topic of discussion because teachers are not required to attend Family Nights, but their participation is critical for parent involvement.

Babysitting Services for Family Nights: The board discussed whether or not to provide babysitting services, however this item was not placed in the budget for this year. This has not been a service provided in the past and many board members felt that children could attend the Family Night with the parent like they do for Open House. A few members suggested trying to secure high school students wanting to log volunteer hours for free services, because they recognize that it can be difficult on the teachers if young kids are not entertained.

Corporate Contribution Contest, Grade 1 & Grade 2: The collecting of box tops, Tyson's & Campbell's labels, empty ink cartridges, and old cell phones has been a huge success in Grade 1 & Grade 2 during their Corporate Contributions Contest. The classroom winner for First Grade was Mrs. McLeod's homeroom and the Second Grade winners were Mrs. Ross & Miss Russell's co-teach homerooms. The students in the two classrooms will enjoy the grand prize of a pizza party. The next contest, Kindergarten, runs from Oct 1st through Oct 15th.

Volunteers: Help is needed to take pictures and collect paperwork at the Open House Volunteer Orientations on September 17 and September 24th. As well as the 10 am Volunteer Orientations on September 29 and October 5. In addition, volunteers are needed to serve dinner from Salerno's on Grade 2 Math Night and Grade 4 Writes Night.

BUDs Club: The annual BUDs Pancake Breakfast is scheduled for Friday, September 18th at 8 am in the dining room. Families were asked to pre-purchase tickets, but tickets will also be available the morning of the breakfast.

Duval County Report: Julie attended the DCC Meeting and reported about the meeting agenda. She also shared grant information we may be interested in pursuing.

Membership: The membership drive concluded with 1,076 PTA memberships. Mrs. Timmons' Second Grade classroom was the first classroom with 100% PTA membership and won a pizza party and $50 Visa Card. Nineteen other classes reached 100% PTA membership during the drive and won a popcorn parties. The winner of the teacher drawing was Ms. Launey and the staff member winner was Mrs. Thomas.

Dates to Remember:
9-17-09 Open House (K,2,4)
9-18-09 Pancake Pigout sponsored by the BUD's club9-24-09 Open House (1,3,5)
9-26-09 Campus Clean-Up
9-28-09 Sally Foster Sale Begins
9-29-09 10 am Volunteer Orientation
2nd/4th Family Night (Math Night, FCAT Writes Night)
10-1-09 Kindergarten Corporate Contributions Contest
10-5-09 10 am Volunteer Orientation
PTA Board Meeting
10-9-09 Fall Pictures
10-12-09 Book Fair Week
Sally Foster Sale Ends
10-14-09 Vision Screening10-15-09 Vision Screening
10-19-09 Literary Pumpkin Festival Week
10-23-09 Fall Carnival
10-24-09 Campus Clean Up
10-30-09 Report Cards Go Home

Chick-fil-A Night

2009-09-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Guest Blogger: dayle timmons

Chets Creek does so many things to support quality family time. Tonight was just another Chets Creek event for families to enjoy. The local Chick-fil-A supported a Chets Creek night from 6:00-8:00 pm.

Chick-fil-A provided the bounce house, games and activities that included balloons, face painting, clowns, a little dancing in the streets and of course, delicious food. The school, for promoting the night, receives 10% of the proceeds from the two hours. This is such a wholesome and wonderful way for corporate businesses to promote education and family fun. Many of the Chets Creek faculty along with the Administrative and Office Team who sponsored this night, were out and about mingling with the families. The school will support a Family Night at the local Chick-fil-A the second Monday of every month. Each month will be supported by a specific grade levels. And so as the Chick-fil-A cow says, " come join us and eat mor chikin!"

Chets Creek Volunteers

2009-09-07T03:03:00.001-07:00

Gathering ample volunteers for all the requests at our sprawling elementary school is never an easy task, but one that Deb, Lourdes, and Kathy embrace with a smile.

Volunteer Interest forms went home with each student during Orientation asking stakeholders for contact information, how they would like to volunteer, when they are available, and specifically which volunteer opportunities they would like to embrace. However, the school's requests for volunteers began before the forms could be collected and organized. "No problem," said this steadfast group of volunteer supporters. They gathered volunteers to help on the first day of school, both in the bus and car loop, and for dismissal. And, they gathered volunteers to help resource teachers with all their kindergarten classes. They gathered volunteers to cover the front desk. All this while in the middle of the membership drive and now the Corporate Contributions Contest which also needed volunteers.

They are now booking volunteers for Volunteer Orienation pictures and badges, and for administering vision and hearing tests. Really, there isn't a time when I look around the front lobby when I can't spot hot pink PTA shirt wearing volunteers hard at work. I am always amazed at the truly generous and priceless gifts they give each day, both their time and talents.

Corporate Contributions Contest

2009-09-07T02:35:00.000-07:00

Romy and Maria, our Corporate Contributions volunteers, have launched a new idea this year-- A Corporate Contributions Contest. In year's past, we have asked stakeholders to clip box tops, and Campbell's soup labels and send in old ink cartridges and cell phones so the school could turn in the items and receive rewards. However, this year, this eager duo decided that we could get more interest and a bigger focus on the collection of items if we ran a contest at each grade level and added in a little friendly competition.

So, they designed a flyer announcing the grade level contest dates

September 1-15 ~ 1st and 2nd grade
October 1-15 ~ Kindergarten
November 1-15 ~ 3rd grade
January 11-25 ~ 4th and 5th grade

and asking parents, teachers, and students to get their scissors ready and start clipping and saving Box Tops, Campbell’s, and Tyson labels. They also wanted them to hang on to all Coke rewards caps, old cell phones and used ink cartridges. Students will then bring these items in a bag properly marked with their teacher’s name. Each item submitted will earn points. Each box top and Coke reward cap will receive one point, Campbell's and Tyson's labels will be worth 1 point or 5 points based on the label, ink cartridges will earn a classroom 5 points, and old cell phones will each be worth a whopping 10 points. We will announce one classroom winner with the highest points in each grade level at the conclusion of the contest. And, that classroom will win a grand prize.

The flyers went home with each student in the Orientation packet and grade level specific flyers are going home at the start of each contest for the specified grade level(s). We are hopeful that this new approach will wield great rewards. Great idea, Romy & Maria!

Membership Drive 09

2009-09-07T02:10:00.001-07:00

The 2009-2010 CCE Membership Drive has been in full swing for the past two weeks. Daily, you will find Lisa, Leslee, and Jackie hard at work collecting the membership envelopes from each classroom, recording the new members, counting the money, and tallying the numbers for posting on our PTA Wall of Fame.

According to a card count based on envelopes received we have collected 1,076 memberships thus far which equates to about 85% stakeholder participation. Depending on our final card count Tuesday, the drive may be extended until Friday, September 11 to ensure 100% participation.

Mrs. Timmons' 2nd grade class was the first classroom to reach 100% participation and won the grand prize, a $50 Visa Card and classroom Pizza Party. Nineteen other classrooms have also received 100% participation during the drive and will be awarded classroom popcorn parties. We are hoping that the number of popcorn parties will increase as the drive continues. In addition, all teachers and staff who joined during the drive had their name entered into a drawing for a $50 Visa Card. We are proud to announce that the winning teacher is Ms. Meli Launey and the winning staff member is Mrs. Pat Thomas. Congratulations to all winners and a special thank you to each PTA member who proudly helps support the vision of 100% stakeholder participation. Chets Creek is what it is because of each parent, teacher, student, business partner, and community supporter.

Opening School Take 1

2009-08-20T13:00:00.001-07:00

Our PTA Conductors support our school in priceless ways and the past two days have certainly been no different! Everywhere you looked, outfitted in hot pink Chets Creek t-shirts, the volunteers donated countless hours of their time to assist in making sure the faculty felt valued and appreciated, and the minutia of opening a school for a new year was handled.

Yesterday morning started on a high note with our annual Teacher Appreciation breakfast for faculty and staff. The hospitality committee did an outstanding job setting up and decorating for the event in the Dining Room, and gifting each teacher with their new themed Chets Creek t-shirts and gifts from Sally Foster. Hosting a breakfast as a way to say thank you to the staff is always so greatly appreciated. In addition, thanks to one of our faculty reps, Karen Morris, many of the teachers joined PTA at the breakfast and walked away with a I Joined PTA Today sticker to show their unwavering support. Thank you to each of you who made this tradition a grand performance!

At the conclusion of the breakfast, volunteers gathered in the Dining Room to stuff over 1,300 Orientation Packets! They worked tirelessly, with a smile, creating stacks of packets, and waiting on the UPS man to deliver the folders the packets needed stuffed in. Thank you to each volunteer, adults and children alike, for taking on such a monumental task and easing the work burden for the office staff and teachers. Volunteers like this earn their place on their pedestals!

Membership was hard at work, too. Organizing rosters and setting up for their annual Membership drive, and on Orientation Day collecting hundreds of membership envelopes from our newest PTA members. We know, that with their hard work and dedication, this drive will yield 100% faculty and parent participation. In addition, PTA store was set up in the lobby selling items like t-shirts, license plates, and ribbons to enable people to show their support. And, the Chets Creek Rewards Program was announced and flyers displayed.

Thank you to each of you who whistled in this tune, before the school year even began, to assist in creating this year's grand composition. You are the best and it wouldn't have happened without you.

Correction on the Master Calendar Dates

2009-08-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

Due to master calendar conflicts that have arisen, there have been changes made to several dates I gave you at our meeting. Please take note of these changes:

Open House K/2/4 September 17 6:30 pm
Open House 1/3/5 September 24 6:30 pm

Volunteer Orientations:
On the nights of Open House, any volunteer wishing to receive a 2009/2010 badge, will remain in the classroom after Open House. Principal Phillips and I will conduct a volunteer orientation via WCCE (closed circuit tv), and then volunteers will go to the dining room to get their pictures taken. We are doing this to prevent parents from having to come to an Open House, September Family Night, and a Volunteer Orientation. So, we will be needing upwards of about 15 PTA volunteers to be in the dining room to take pictures. If you are interested in assisting, please drop me an email at shalls@duvalschools.org.

August Meeting

2009-08-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

The PTA met this morning for our August meeting. The main area of business was the 2009/2010 budget. Committees requested projected budgets to cover this year's costs. The budget will be available for analysis and voted upon on Thursday, September 24, 2009.

Other topics of conversation included:

Principal's Report: Everything to prepare for school opening is in full swing. The building cleaning is almost complete and teachers are beginning to set up their classrooms. KK, Karen, and JB went to pick up three pianos which will be displayed in the front lobby of the school to support this year's theme, Orchestrating a Symphony of Student Success. The themed t-shirts have arrived and board members will receive them after the meeting. Open House dates have been set for Thursday, September 24th for Kindergarten, Third, and Fifth grades. The general PTA meeting will be held on Sept 24 before the Open House. Open House for First, Second, and Fourth grade will be held on Thursday, October 1st. Open Houses will begin at 7 pm.

Orientation Packets: Items to be copied for packets include the Volunteer Interest Form, Boo Hoo Breakfast Invitation, Brag Sheet, BUD's Club Flyer, Membership Envelopes, and Corporate Contribution Contest announcement. All items except membership envelopes should be emailed to Suzanne by Thursday afternoon and will be copied on Friday and Monday for stuffing of packets. (The membership committee will print the membership envelopes.) Packets will be stuffed by volunteers on Thursday, August 20th in the Dining Room. Babysitting services will be available from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Any high schooler who would like to accumulate service hours is encouraged to volunteer to stuff packets from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm on this day.

Faculty Breakfast: PTA will sponsor a welcome back faculty breakfast for the CCE staff on Thursday, August 20 at 8:30 am. Volunteers are encouraged to help set up from 7:30-8:30, and then stay after clean up for Orientation Packet stuffing.

Family Bingo Night: Family Bingo has been added to the calendar for March 26, 2010.

Holiday Shop: In order to continue the Holiday Shop, we need two or three dedicated volunteers. In the past, we've had the shop open for 5 full days. (Thanks, Valerie!) This is labor intensive on the volunteer side for that week due to keeping inventory and running the shop. If we have someone willing to spearhead this initiative, we can continue to offer the service to students. If not, we will not place the event on this year's calendar. Are there any takers? If so, email Suzanne.

Corporate Contributions: Several contests will be held this year to encourage donation of items including box tops, coke rewards, Campbell labels, Tyson's, ink cartridges, and cell phones. First and Second grades will compete from September 1-15; Kindergarten will compete from Oct 1-15; Third grade will compete from November 1-15; Fourth and Fifth grade will compete from January 11-25. Prizes for winning classes will include either a pizza party or ice cream party based on classroom preference. A letter/flyer, being created by the committee, will be included in the Orientation packet to introduce this contest to parents, students, and teachers. Points will be allocated per donation for the contest to be fairly scored. Teachers are encouraged to announce and gain support for the program through their classroom newsletters. Capri Suns will not be included in this contest, because we do not want sticky containers attracting insects in the classroom. We will however have Capri Sun drop off in the Dining Room recycle containers.

Chick-Fil-A: Chick-Fil-A night to support Chets Creek continues to be held the 2nd Monday of each month at the Hodges Beach location. Mrs. Phillips', via the PIC committee, will be asking each grade level to select a month to come and support this fundraiser.

Support Chets Creek. Com: Chets Creek has a Shop to Earn program set up at http://www.supportchetscreek.com/. By going to the site and ordering from the links, CCE earns dollars for each purchase. We discussed ways to get this information out to all our stakeholders. Publicizing this opportunity could be a great fundraising opportunity.

Orientation: Friday, August 21st. Kindergarten and Second grade will be from 8:00 am to 9:00 am; First and Fourth grade will be from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm; Third and Fifth grade will be from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. We will have a Membership booth and a PTA Store booth set up in the lobby during these times. The Membership booth will be run by Jackie and Pam for the 8-9 time slot. Diane, Lisa, Kathi, Leslie, and Lisa M will man the booth from 11-12, and Linda, Maria, and Angela will man the booth for the 2-3 time slot. The booth should be open approximately 30 minutes before the Orientation begins. The PTA Store booth will be run for the 8-9 time slot by Laura and Pam, for the 11-12 slot by Kristin, Jackie and Lisa M, and the 2-3 time slot by Deb and Maria.

Volunteer Orientation: Dates and times coming soon.

Dates to Remember:
8-17-09 Teachers’ First Day
8-20-09 Welcome Back Breakfast for Teachers / Orientation Packet Stuffing
8-21-09 Orientation
8-24-09 Students’ First Day
8-31-09 Entertainment Book Sales Begin
9-14-09 PTA Board Meeting; Entertainment Book Sales End
9-18-09 Pancake Pigout sponsored by the BUD's club
9-24-09 Open House (K, 3 ,5)
9-26-09 Campus Clean-Up
9-28-09 Sally Foster Sale Begins
10-1-09 Open House (1, 2, 4)

Our Summer Social

2009-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Last evening, the 2008/2009 PTA Board and incoming 2009/2010 Board gathered at Principal Phillips' house for an evening of friends and fellowship. The celebration commemorated all the hard work and tireless service hours these dedicated parents and teachers gave to make our Chets Creek journey a great success this past year. The gathering also gave incoming board members the opportunity to meet and get to know the current members setting the tone for a great new year.

We know that a summer gathering, with the principal as the hostess, may not be common place at other schools, but we are grateful for this tradition at Chets Creek. After all, building relationships and long lasting memories are the cornerstone of our work.

Our Annual Summer Meeting

2009-07-22T15:21:00.001-07:00

On July 20, 2009, we held our annual summer meeting. Our main topics of conversation included the summer contingency budget, Principal's Message, committee reports, the 09-10 calendar, orientation packets, and student and faculty t-shirt ordering. Melanie Holtsman, our instructional technology coach, also gave training on how to upload files and documents to our wiki.

Principal Phillips will host our summer gathering at her home on August 4 from 6-8 pm. We are asked to bring either an appetizer or dessert dish to pass. Our next meeting will be held on August 10, 2009 at 10 am in the Administrative Conference Room. Babysitting services will be offered. Committee members are asked to meet together before the August 10th meeting and come prepared to propose their committee's 09-10 school year budgets.

To recap for those world travelers who were not in attendance...

Our Tentative 09/10 Relevant Calendar Dates:

8-10-09 PTA Meeting
8-31-09 Entertainment Book Sales Begin
9-14-09 PTA Meeting; Entertainment Book Sales End
9-18-09 Pancake Pigout sponsored by the BUD's club
9-24-09 Tentative Open House
9-26-09 Campus Clean-Up
9-28-09 Sally Foster Sale Begins
9-29-09 2/4 Family Night (Math Night, FCAT Writes Night)
10-01-09 Tentative Open House
10-05-09 PTA Meeting
10-09-09 Fall Pictures
10-12-09 Sally Foster Sale Ends
10-23-09 Fall Carnival
10-24-09 Campus Clean-Up
11-02-09 PTA Meeting
11-06-09 Fall Picture Make-Ups
11-17-09 K/5 Family Night
11-21-09 Campus Clean Up
12-07-09 PTA Meeting
12-12-09 Campus Clean Up
1-04-10 PTA Meeting
1-26-10 1/3 Family Night
1-30-10 Campus Clean-Up
2-01-10 PTA Meeting
2-12-10 Valentine's Dance
2-27-10 Campus Clean-Up
3-01-10 PTA Meeting
3-05-10 BUD's Club Family Movie Night
3-27-10 Campus Clean-Up
4-12-10 PTA Meeting
4-16-10 Spring Pictures
4-23-10 Arts Extravaganza Family Night
4-24-10 Campus Clean-Up
5-03-10 PTA Meeting
5-07-10 BUD's Club Mother's Day Cakes
5-22-10 Campus Clean-Up
6-07-10 PTA Meeting