January Family Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!