BBQ and Auction
Mood:  cool

The BBQ/Silent Auction was great!  I had a wonderful time; I hope everyone else did too.  There were some spectacular baskets from the classes!  I am so proud of all the work they did.  The class moms were a great help--they are sure appreciated.  The Kindergarten basket was voted as the "best" basket of the night, and the class had an ice cream sandwich party last Friday in recognition of their work.  Their basket was also the big money-getter of the night with a winning bid of $300!  Way to go Kindergarten!

The BBQ was nice too--thanks to our volunteer grill masters!  We also had some delicious side dishes--thanks to everyone who brought chips, salads, and goodies!  It is your support that makes these types of nights so much fun.

Next school year, I hope to institute more "family night" events.  Besides the big events--the Fall and Spring BBQs, Spring Silent Auction--I plan to have movie nights, games nights, Story Time and various craft parties throughout the year.  These events can be so much fun for the parents to get to know each other, and they really build a sense of community that stays with families even after 8th grade graduation.

Speaking of graduation--it is coming up soon!  This year, the PTO has purchased the Kindergarten class a set of caps and gowns for a graduation ceremony.  They'll look so grown up!

May is starting busy--the PTO is throwing a Volunteer Appreciation breakfast Thursday morning, and a Teacher Appreciation lunch Friday after school.  This is really a week for us, and everyone, to show how much our support system--the volunteers--are appreciated, and how much our teachers are valued.  There are signs in the hallways for the teachers--the kids are encouraged to sign them with notes of thanks.  I hope some grown ups do too.

Next big event for the PTO is the Bear Drive!  On May 15th, students are encouraged to come to the Arrowhead Mall Build-a-Bear Workshop, where for $10, the student can build a stuffed animal to give to the kids at Phoenix Children's Hospital.  It can be a really special time--I hope everyone participates.  This is an event close to my heart, and I would love to be able to tell people that Kachina Country Day School really came through for those kids.

So--there are 14 days left of school!  There are more events, field trips and fun times coming before we ever get to the summer break!  Keep coming back to the blog and website to check us out!

Wow! What a Month!
Mood:  on fire

What a great April we're having!  And May is shaping up to be even more active!

The Chuck E. Cheese pizza night was last week--seemed to be a big hit!  It was especially fun to have Chuckie himself walk the halls of the school!  We don't have the report back yet on how much money we made, but here's hoping it is at least the same as Peter Piper Pizza night last month!  That would a nice $200.

The book fair was a lot of fun too.  Thank you to everyone who came and bought books!  We ended up with more than $1000 in book profit (or $500 cash), and had enough money donated to be able to buy books from the teachers' wish lists too.  Next comes the fun part--we are working with the teachers to see how best to spend the money!  Thanks to all the volunteers who worked the fair, and especially thanks to Debbie for all of her hard work the whole week!

Now it's almost May already!  So much is happening!  First will be a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on May 7 from 8:00-9:00.  We owe so much to the people who come to the school or work with the PTO that it will be nice to be able to recognize everyone.  The next day, May 8th, will be a Teacher Appreciation luncheon.  That will be nice too!

Another exciting event in May is the Talent Show on the 15th!  What a fun idea!  I can't wait to see what the kids and teachers do for their talents!

That same afternoon is a Bear Drive.  I am really excited about this--the school is going to see how many stuffed animals we can get made at Build-A-Bear Workshop to donate to the Phoenix Children's Hospital.  There will be a Stuff-It Party from 1:30-4:30 on the 15th, and every animal we stuff will go straight to the kids at the hospital.

We will also be wrapping up the Spring Food Drive and the Boxtops for Education/Campbell's Soup Labels collections.  The food drive still has the goal of 1000 pounds of food--we've fallen behind schedule a little bit in the effort to reach that goal, but I have confidence that we will bring it up by May!

We will be sending home a survey for everyone to fill out about the year.  We are starting to make plans for next year's fund raisers, wish lists,  family events, and meeting schedules--so hopefully we'll get a lot of feedback.  There hasn't been too much participation this year from families--so I'm trying to find out why and how we can get more people involved next year. 

The next--and last!--PTO meeting will be May 13.  Everyone is, as always, welcome to come!

Scholastic Book Fair
Mood:  not sure

The Scholastic Book Fair is running this week.  I hope everyone comes by sometime! 

The VIP night turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me!  I was hoping more extended families would come down to see what the students did to their classrooms!  There was a mix up on the times, so perhaps people weren't sure when to come, so they didn't come at all? 

I was REALLY impressed with the work the students put in to their door competition--some very creative doors!  And many classes felt too confined and started decorating down the hallways too!  Good work everyone!  And congratulations to the 3rd grade "Shrek" door for winning the contest, and to the 4th grade for their close second place finish with "The Jungle Book"!

The Fair is making pretty good money so far.  We are on track to make at least as much as last year, and LOTS of folks are donating to the ONE FOR THE BOOKS campaign.  This is the donation jar near the register at the Fair--for every dollar donated, Scholastic books will donate a book to a charity, like Toys for Tots.  Then the PTO also gets to spend the money donated to buy books on the Teachers' wish lists!

Thanks to everyone who has come down--remember, the sale runs through Friday, so I hope to see you there!

Peter Piper Pizza!
Mood:  cool

Peter Piper Pizza night was great.  Everyone had a wonderful time last Thursday eating pizza.  Thank you everyone who came!  Peter Piper informs us that we made about $220 from the evening's event--that is a lot of pizza!

A belated Happy Birthday to Mr. Steve--he came to Peter Piper that night and had cake with the kids.  It was nice to see him on what was a family night!  There were several teachers there too!  If you didn't come this time, make a note now to come to Chuck E. Cheese in March!

The next big event is the Scholastic Book Fair.  I am eager to see how that goes.  I have never been through one of these events--Debbie is the Coordinator of the sale, and she has had a lot of success with it in the past.  I am especially excited about the One 4 Books campaign.  For every dollar donated, a book is donated to Toys for Tots or other similar charity.  I hope we set the campaign on fire!

Pizza and Cookies!
Mood:  hug me

The cookie dough sale was great.  We made a little more than $1200, so almost enough for the computer projector system our tech expert thinks we need.  We had 43 students sell, and everyone seems happy with their orders and prizes.  There were 18 students who sold more than 10 items, so they were eligible for the big prize drawings.  It was fun to see the kids so excited for the drawing at flag ceremony--Mr. Steve had fun too!

 Peter Piper Pizza night is tomorrow, Feb 19.  From 3:30-8:00, 15% of their sales from Kachina families will be donated to the PTO!   I know the students are getting excited--I hope we have a great turn out.  Mrs. Johnson's 4th graders worked out how much money we should make that night if everyone comes and spends $15.  We'll have to see how close they got!