PTA Elections are coming! It is your turn to be heard!

Hello everyone.  Sorry it has been so long.  It has been a long dreary depressing winter BUT spring is on the way and I am feeling re-motivated.  Spring means many things - like sun and warmth and playing outside and leaving the house without 45 minutes of boots, hats, where the heck are the gloves? etc.  All of which sound really nice right about now...

AND -- this year spring means PTA elections.  You see, most of the current board have been serving for 3 years now!  That is one year more than they signed on for, but they stayed an extra year because of low interest from new candidates.  That is too bad I say because, PTA is really an awesome way to get involved with the school, know the teachers and the staff, know all the things that are happening and have your ideas and voice heard on how we can make things better for our kids.

So -- my plea to everyone is to consider getting involved! All the positions are open- that means President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Enrichment Director.  And all of these positions can be co-held so that the time and responsibilities are shared. 

I have had a great time working as co-secretary and look forward to more!

I am going to use this blog to outline the different roles and responsibilities and highlight some of the Good Things that PTA does - just in case you did not already know.  So by the time we get to next Wednesday nights meeting you will be totally prepared to come and seek a nomination!  ( March 9 at 7pm hint hint)

So tune in tomorrow when I will cover the President!!

Carin

Ho Ho Holidays!!!

Sheesh- so busy that I have not written in ages.  I am feeling very much like a slacker lately - what with all the busy-ness going on.  Slacker mom, slacker blogger, slacker PTA secretary, slacker Christmas shopper!!  Honestly, is there anything that I am caught up with right now?  Um, no.

And since I suspect that everyone is just as busy, I am going to give a quick and dirty summary of what has been going on and what is coming up.  That is the point of this blog after all!

Since we last spoke:

Book Fair - big success that netted $2251.67 in new books for the Library!  Sorry about those long lines but you all really pulled through and let the library beef up their non fiction section with tons of new biographies and science, history and reference books!  Nice.

Wrapping Paper fundraiser- we brought in about $3100.00 in profit
Yan's China Bistro - Dining for Dollars brought in $163
Bags4School - brought in $240.00 for the 4th grade

Enrichment classes are going strong and the next session will begin in Jan.  Look for an exciting new offering -- wait for it--a Newspaper Club!!  How cool is that.

Now the really big news- HOLIDAY FAIR!!!!

The Annual Holiday Fair is set for Friday Dec 17th

It is very fun, very cute and one of the best (in my opinion) Clarke traditions there is!!

Christine Hopkins (VP of the PTA) is the heart, brains and muscle behind this event and she literally gives her all for this event.  Super shoutout to Christine!

Clarke families are always so generous in their support of this fair and it always turns out great. On that note, we are reminding everyone to bring in their yard sale items - books, housewares, handbags, toys, jewelry etc to be "sold" to the kids.  Also needed are raffle items- these are gift certificates or nicer/new goods that can be raffled off. 

And it bears repeating that all the items left over at the end of this event are donated to a school in Lynn that serves underprivileged and troubled kids.  This means the world to them each year!

I guess that is it for now. 

Soon I am going to start talking about PTA elections and why you need, need, need to get involved!!

Thanks
Carin

Clarke Kids Get Down!!

It definitely was a Party in the USA!  Anyone at the Hoot last night can attest to that.  I saw some serious moves on display.

And the costumes were awesome!  Too many to capture but they were excellent- cute, funny, scary we saw it all.

But let me say -- I was soooo impressed with the pumpking contest submissions.  How amazing are Clarke students and parents.  Unbelievable.  So hard to pick from they all deserved to win.  I did not get a picture of the Most Creative winner, bummer.

Scariest Pumpkin Winner

Best Overall Pumpkin - "The King and Queen of Swiss" - get it?  It is swiss cheese.. with mice...

This was a close runner up for scariest

Thanks to my fellow PTA Board members and the Volunteers who helped out.  These events are a lot of work and we could not do it without the support and help from parents like these:

Rebecca Greene

Mary Johnson

Sarah Demelo

Julie Faia

Cindi Nussle

Denise Miles

Sorry if I forgot anyone and thanks! You know who you are!

Cocktails and Conversation

Love the Swampscott Yacht Club!  What a great place to hold an intimate event like our Cocktails and Conversation party.  We held this year's meet and greet in thier function room on Friday night and it was so much fun.  Each year the PTA likes to have a get together for all the Clarke parents to get away from the kids and the schoolyard and have a chance see each other in a grown up setting.  It is much needed if you ask me! 

It's so nice to meet new parents who are excited to be a part of the Clarke community and just as nice to see the familiar faces who already make Clarke the big family that it is.  Last year I was the new person walking in not knowing anybody - and everyone made me feel so welcome.  This year I was one of the people welcoming everyone else to the party!!  Wierd.

 I totally meant to take a bunch of pictures and document everything for this blog but... I was  having too much fun and sort of forgot completely.  Apparently I am not a reporter: at least not when there is food and cocktails and talky talk talking going on.  I will try better next time. 

Here is the one pic that we got at the end of the night... I stress it was the end of the night!

Marybeth, Emily, Maggie, Carin

Tons going on!

We are definitely in the swing of it now.  Last night was the first PTA meeting of the year and we had quite a good showing.  Several new kindergarten parents joined us and we were lucky enough to see many friendly faces from last year as well.  There was alot of information to share and plans to put into action.  There is, of course, always room for more parents to become involved so if you missed the meeting fear not!  You have plenty of opportunity to join in.  And just to alleviate any nerves or twitches - coming to a meeting does not automatically sign you up for a lifetime of servitude to the PTA!!  Seriously, there is no net hidden under the chairs to trap you.  I swear.

Shout out to School Nurse Mrs O'Brien - our featured guest who had us all itchy with her presentation on head lice. Ick - nasty but very necessary!!!  Thank you! We appreciate it when teachers and staff bring important information to us.

In fact you get another chance to catch a meeting on October 6th.  (Wacky schedules this year made the first two meetings close together)

AND - Do Not Forget--------

Cocktails and Conversation is tomorrow night!!  Friday at 7pm at the Swampscott Yacht Club. 
Bring an appetizer or dessert to share - I am bringing possibly the tastiest snack ever thanks to a recipe by good friend Jocelyn Brown.

Don't miss it.  A night out away from the kids - food, drink, a raffle. What else do you need?

See you there

Mid September Already

Excellent showing at Curriculum night everyone!  Tons of parents showed up to meet the staff and see their kids classrooms.  I have been to two of these evenings so far (being the highly experienced parent of a first grader!) and I love it.  I don't know about your kids, but my child is very closed lipped about her school days and so I am left wondering just what happens in her class on a daily basis.  Thankfully I now have some idea of how it goes and what she is doing!

Cool smart boards in the classrooms too!

You are probably reeling from all the paperwork, handouts, booklets and flyers that you have been getting for the past few weeks so let me highlight some PTA events coming up that you definitely want to keep in mind. 

Next Friday night is "Cocktails and Conversation"  our parents night out where we can all get together in a grown up setting and chat with friends and welcome new parents into the Clarke community.  Be sure to stop by the Swampscott Yacht Club at 7pm!  Bring and app or dessert to share and there is a cash bar. Yipee.

Also --- next Wed Sept 22 is the first PTA meeting at 7pm in the All Purpose room.  This is your chance to find out what goes on all year and all the ways the PTA benefits our kids experience at Clarke.  You might be surprised at what we do.

See you next week...

Kindergarten Starts!

Way to go kiddos! The first day of kindergarten- a big day in the life of a child.  But monumentally bigger even to the life of a parent!  Like seismic event big.  You were probably a bit of a mess but you made it.   Seriously, you know you were a mess!

It is not just the sheer emotion of realizing how fast the time has gone by and how big and independent they are becoming, some of the anxiety we feel comes from sending our child into a new world that frankly, we are not a large part of.  A whole school full of teachers and students and new experiences that we do not control.  And let's face it we have pretty much been in charge of every detail of the thier lives for the past 5 years!   This is not easy to adjust to.

And we know that it is a good thing.  That it has to happen.  Right?  But we still want to be involved and know what is going on.  Guess what?  You can be involved and you can know what is going on.

That is what this blog is all about.  We are all in this together for our kids. 

So - sign up to be a room parent.  Check out a PTA meeting or better yet join the PTA.  Find out what it does and how you can become involved. Help out in the library. There are so many ways that you can participate in this part of your kids life.  And then you will not have to wonder what is going on at school.

Come on - you know you thought about peaking in the window to see how they were doing.