THE BYTE September 19, 2011 2011-2012 School Year - Issue: #4 Medina PTA 2.3.57 - 428 members http://medinapta.org Welcome Happy Monday Medina Tigers! We hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. Welcome to your third week of school -hard to believe! We want to thank everyone who was able to attend our back to school "Rejuvamom" Party and our "Men's Malt March" Party, over the weekend. Both were a huge success and raised more than we hoped for our PTA! Thank you especially to our party planners, Schanon Odell-Ataee and Ron Lloyd and Dinny Hansen. Another huge thank you to the Elston family and Greg Foster for hosting the Men's Malt March at their homes - very brave! Yet, another huge thank you to all of our brunch hosts! Each brunch was well attended and everyone had a great time meeting new friends, sharing stories, making plans and kicking off the school year. Thank you to all who attended these parties and helped support our PTA so generously. We hope that you all plan to attend Curriculum Night, this Tuesday. This is your chance to get to know your children's Teachers, Specialists and Principal. You will also have the chance to sign-up for all volunteer opportunities in your children's classrooms - SO many amazing ways to help! By now, I'm sure you've seen the schedule, but just in case... Schedule: 5:30-6:00pm 3,4,5 Classroom Presentations 6:00-6:30pm Specialists Presentations 6:30-7:00pm Principal Presentation 7:00-7:30pm K,1,2 Classroom Presentations 7:30-8:00pm Principal Presentation (repeat of 6:30-7pm) As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Kea Rensch & Amy Roberts Co-PTA Presidents, 2011-2012 Medina Elementary In This Issue Welcome Join Medina's PTA Walkathon 2011 Vision Screening Volunteers Needed PAGE Spanish and Mandarin Classes Join Medina's PTA It's not too late to join the Medina PTA. It is the best way to get involved and stay connected! 5 Things to keep in mind: -To volunteer in the classroom, lunch room, library or playground you MUST be a PTA member. -Attend meetings and have a voice and vote about where you want your PTA dollars focused. -Clubs such as Chess, Destination Imagination and STEM Robotics are all PTA sponsored clubs. -If you want your child to ride the Ski Bus, offered to first through fifth graders, you MUST be a PTA member. TEESO.com Program Delivery Council Destination Imagination 2011-2012 Curriculum Enhancement Committee Health Room Volunteers Needed -Most importantly, you receive a school directory! Parent involvement is the key to students success in education. So far we have 428 members. Please help us meet our goal of 100% parent participation, and please fill out a Taking Care of Business Form in the office and join the Medina PTA. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Scott, Membership Chair. Walkathon 2011 Stem Lego Club School Directory Advertising Space Playground and Lunchroom Program Chess Club for Boys and Girls Bellevue School District is Hiring Smart with Art Classes Smith Brothers Farms Offer Boxtops for Education School Contest Fun Run to Fight Pediatric Cancer Amazing Race UW Lacrosse - Youth Clinic Bellevue Youth Basketball Reflections 2011-2012 Smile Jar Shopping on Amazon.com Virtue of the Week Byte Submissions Calendar Items School has started which means the Medina Elementary Walkathon is right around the corner! Hope you're ready to launch into space and Shoot for the Stars! This Friday is our Walkathon Kick-off Assembly to inform and excite students about our second biggest PTA fundraiser of the year. Your students will also bring home Walkathon packets on Friday - packed full of important information on this big event! When is the BIG day you ask? Get your moon boots ready and mark Wednesday, October 12, from 11:45-3:30 on your calendars! Last year, this annual event raised over $65,000, and this year we hope to do even better! You can help us reach this goal by encouraging your kids to ask family, friends and neighbors for pledges. Read your Walkathon Packet, coming home on Friday for more details on pledge collection dates and prize opportunities (popcorn parties!). Finally, Medina Elementary's Walkathon couldn't be possible without volunteers! Please click on the link below to see where help is needed and to sign-up (we are furiously working on getting TEESO up and running but, until then, are using Jooners to sign-up volunteers for this event) volunteer for Walkathon! Still have questions? Contact: Joanna Hansen [email protected] Kristyn Arnold, [email protected] Jolinda Linden, [email protected] Vision Screening Volunteers Needed We are looking for a few volunteers to help facilitate vision screening. The screenings will take place on Tuesdays, one grade level per week. The times have yet to be decided by the classroom teachers. We need 3 volunteers for the fifth grade screening on Tuesday, Oct. 4. We would like 2 volunteers for the fourth grade screening on Tuesday, Oct. 11. We need one volunteer for the third graders on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and one volunteer for the kindergartners on Tuesday Nov. 15. If you are interested, please contact Debra Perry at [email protected]. PAGE Bellevue Schools Parents Alliance for Gifted Education (PAGE) PAGE is a grassroots coalition of Enrichment and Prism parents in the Bellevue School District. Our goal is to improve gifted education in the Bellevue School District, and to support students, educators, and parents in the gifted programs. Visit our website at http://bellevuegifted.org for more information and great resources regarding gifted education. CLICK HERE to sign up for our newsletter. For Medina specific questions, please reach out to parent reps: Stephanie Charaf or Terri Forsberg. Spanish and Mandarin Classes Sponge Language Classes Starting Soon. Ni hao and Hola! Sponge School will be offering Mandarin and Spanish classes at Medina on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons starting October 4th. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please go to www.spongeschool.com/medina to learn more. For families who have already signed up, we'd like to enlist some parent volunteers to help get the kids into their classrooms. If you're available for just the first couple of week of language class, that would be a big help. If you are available to help for the year, Sponge is offering a 50% discount off the cost of one child's Sponge tuition. Anyone interested in helping out, please email [email protected] or contact Carolyn Duffy at [email protected]. TEESO.com Thank you to everyone who turned in their pink TEESO form with their Taking Care of Business form. Even though, we neglected to include a name line on the TEESO form (oops!), we were able to match almost all of them with the right family. On Curriculum Night you will have another chance to check a TEESO box when you verify your directory information. If you don't see a check in this column, PLEASE, just check the box and we'll make sure you're part of this amazing new website. Trust us, you won't want to be left out! Once we have permission from everyone, we will download all of your names into the site. This should be complete by the first week of October. Nancy Gertz has been working night and day to get everything else set-up for us - entering all events and volunteer opportunities for the entire school year and for each classroom amazing!!!Thank you Nancy! Any questions, please contact Nancy Gertz, TEESO Chair. Program Delivery Council The Program Delivery Council ("PDC") is the forum for staff, administrators, and parents to directly collaborate on strategic issues impacting the education process and learning environment at Medina. The PDC operates independently of all other boards and committees, with a general focus on academic initiatives spanning multiple academic years. The PDC has already met this year, and among other initiatives is working to expand the BSD's newly adopted literacy program with an associated technology curriculum, plus looking at initiatives to enhance other student learning through technology. Look for updates in Tiger Times and The Byte, as well as on a new webpage at the school's website www.bsd405.org/medina. Please look for our "comment box" in the office, and give us your constructive suggestions and thoughts on enriching the academic environment at Medina. You can also contact one of the parent reps, via email: Lynn Janata - [email protected] Jessica Nadelman - [email protected] Melissa Lloyd - [email protected] Sean G. Hyatt - [email protected] Destination Imagination 2011-2012 We are making many improvements to our successful Medina Destination Imagination (DI) program this year. DI is a global critical thinking, creativity, TEAM activity for students, offered at Medina for grades 1-5. Returning Participants: Please CLICK HERE to view important information and instructions and CLICK HERE for pre-registration. Note:Early registration for returning participants closes September 20. Students New to DI. Please CLICK HERE (scroll down) to view important information and instructions and CLICK HERE to access the required permission slip. TRY DI sessions: Monday, September 26, from 3:00-4:00pm, for Grades 1-2, and Tuesday, September 27, from 3:00-4:00pm, for Grades 3-5, both in the Medina Gymnasium. Only students NEW to DI attend TRI DI sessions. Melissa Lloyd, Denise Niles and Kristi Stroyan, your DI CoChairs Curriculum Enhancement Committee (CEC) We have a new PTA committee at Medina this year called the "Curriculum Enhancement Committee (CEC)". We are a group of parents and teachers working together to find innovative and creative ways to enhance grade level and specialist curriculum this school year. Similar committees have been successful at other Bellevue elementary schools, and we feel especially fortunate to have one advantage on our side-YOU! We are actively looking for field experts in many areas to help us identify unique opportunities for enhancing the curriculum at Medina. If you (or anyone you know) is an expert in any of the fields listed (or others not listed) below, please contact Leslie Feller [email protected] or Shelia Getz [email protected]. The combination of a wide variety of talented parents within the Medina Elementary community and our new CEC committee provides a unique opportunity to really make a direct impact on our children's education! -Medicine (Nurse, Physical Therapist, Pathologist, Nutritionist etc.) -Scientist (Biologist, Geologist, Zoologist, Botanist, Entomologist, Marine Scientist) -Arts (Writer, Poet, Artist) -Business (Economics expert, Computer/Software expert) -Engineer -Historian -Native American expert -Families who have immigrated to US (1st generation) Health Room Volunteers Needed Looking for a fun way to donate your time at school? We are looking for volunteers to staff the health room for one hour on the days the nurse is not in and while Molly is busy in the lunchroom. No experience necessary. Simply a warm smile and a kind heart is all that is needed. You'll help tend to scraped knees, bumped elbows, lost teeth, etc. Usually a bandage or a comforting hug is all the child needs. You can volunteer as much as one day a week or as little as one day a month. It's a great way to get to know all the children in the school. If interested please contact Debra Perry at [email protected] or by calling 425/451-9780. STEM Lego Club Medina STEM Lego Club is launching again on Wednesdays (offering 2 sessions). It will be open to any students from 2nd grade thru 5th grade who are interested in both Lego building and robotics (motorizing using motors/battery packs, WeDo, and NXT). CLICK HERE for both the registration form and permission slip, both of which must be completed and submitted, along with a $175 check made payable to Medina PTA. We will take the first 25 students who register for each session (first come, first served). For more information please contact Mary Christie at [email protected]. Wednesdays: 9/21, 9/28, 10/5, 10/12, 10/19, 10/26, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/30, 12/7, 12/14 Session A: 12:15-1:15, Session B: 1:20-2:20 Place: TBA Coach: Ms. Mary Christie Fee: $175 Ages: 2nd - 5th Grade School Directory Advertising Space Do you have a business to advertise or know someone who does? Advertising space is currently for sale in our school directory. Space & time is limited! Contact Melissa Brandenfels or Tobey Bryant to book your spot today! Playground and Lunchroom Program Many thanks to Dave Simpson for his leadership in running the Medina Playground & Lunchroom Volunteer Program the past four years. This school year, we will be continuing the program which Dave developed and the kids love. We welcome both past and new volunteers to sign up. We will continue to use "Volunteerspot.com" for the playground and lunchroom volunteer sign-ups until the end of September, at which time our new, all-school volunteer coordination site, TEESO, should be up and running. (See above discussion of TEESO.) For all those interested, please send Jason Craig an e-mail, and he will forward the sign-up link. We look forward to seeing you on the playground and in the lunchroom! Chess Club for Boys and Girls FUN, FRIENDS, CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING and CRITICAL THINKING! Give your child the gift of learning chess, a life skill, right at Medina Elementary! The Chess Club meets every Wednesday after school, from 12:30 to 1:30. All levels of skill are welcome. We have a team of experienced coaches for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players. Register in the school office. Sept 21st - Chess Club starts Sept 19th - Our club social at 6:30pm, Family Chess Night DID YOU KNOW? Our region is home to some of the strongest girl players in America? Medina is the only Elementary school with our own ALL Girls Tournament. Enroll your daughter now! Bellevue School District is Hiring Bellevue School District Needs YOU! We are currently hiring on-call Educational Assistants, Secretaries, Child Care Aides, and Special Education - Para Educators. - On-call work allows for flexibility. - You tell us what days and times you are available. - Shifts are usually 1-6 hours in length. Applications are available at www.bsd405.org. Information orientations will be held Tuesday mornings starting September 13, 2011 through the month of October 2011, 9:00AM in the Human Resources office at 12111 NE 1st Street. All positions require an application and a resume. A minimum of three references will be checked by telephone. If hired, all employees must be fingerprinted. Smart with Art Classes The "Smart with Art" program has new class offerings at the Bellevue Arts Museum, including classes involving clay exploration, 3D sculpture, recycled art and gift making! For more information or to sign up for a class, go to www.smartwithart.net or call Amy at 206.850.8443. Also, CLICK HERE to view a flyer about our new First Friday Workshops starting in October! It's a great way to have an evening out in Bellevue while your kids dine, socialize, tour BAM and make a masterpiece! Submitted by: Michelle Dutton Smart with Art In Collaboration with Bellevue Arts Museum 425.358.1083 Smith Brothers Farms Offer Smith Brothers Farms ("SBF") is offering a "Back-to-School Special" and chance to earn money for our school at no cost to you. Starting September 1, 2011, and continuing through December 31, 2011, any Medina parent who signs-up for SBF's service using the Promo Code "PTA" will receive a $20 credit for their first delivery and a chance to earn money for the Medina PTA. For every five Medina parents who sign up for SBF's service, SBF will pay the Medina PTA $250! So, if 10 families from Medina Elementary sign up for service, SBF will write a check to the Medina PTA for $500! For more information, CLICK HERE to view a flyer and/or contact Tracy Patton (206/2952848). Boxtops for Education - School Contest Help your child win a popcorn party *and* fund our PTA for the 2011-2012 school year! Last year we raised $530.00 and this year our goal is to raise $600.00. Contest details are: --Boxtops will be collected twice per school year. The first collection week is October 17 - 21, 2011, the second collection week will be in mid-April. --Each child should drop off their boxtops in their classroom during the Oct. 17 - 21 collection week. --Please trim the boxtops and place them in a baggie, noting the number collected. --The class collecting the most boxtops in each grade level will win a popcorn party! We all shop for groceries to lets get cutting (Boxtops that is)! For more information, please contact Lynn Janata. Fun Run to Fight Pediatric Cancer Go4TheGoal Launches Fun 5K Run/Walk to Support the Pediatric Cancer Center at Seattle Children's Hospital. Did you know that September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month? Go4TheGoal encourages families to join the challenge to end childhood cancers. Come out and join us with your family for some good, fun exercise for a great cause! When/Where: Saturday, September 24th; Start/Finish at St. Thomas Episcopal Church (Medina, WA - 8398 Northeast 12th Street, Medina, WA) Entry Fee:$25 single registration (includes t-shirt) or $55 Family registration (includes 2 t-shirts). CLICK HERE to register. For more information about the Go4theGoal Foundation please visit www.go4thegoal.org. Amazing Race There's room for a few more teams in the first ever Medina Parent/Child Amazing Race. Get your spot before it's too late! Enjoy this twist on a Medina auction favorite and spend a great afternoon with your kids! You'll work together to solve puzzles and perform silly acts. Your team needs to consist of 2 adults and 2 children (grades 3rd through 8th). Each team will compete in physical and mental challenges in the Medina area that will end with a bash to celebrate the winners. Each team will need a device (phone, camera) capable of taking pictures. Where will this race take you? Can you push your limits? Sign up now for the race, which will be on Sunday, September 25th. The cost is $400/team. Please contact Kris Taylor at [email protected]. UW Lacrosse - Youth Clinic THE HUSKIES ARE BACK! Sign up for the 2011 UW Women's Lacrosse YOUTH Clinic- UW lacrosse players lead a clinic for Bellevue girls!! - Skill building drills and games for youth players - grades 3rd-8th - Small sided games - grouped by age & grade - Bring your friends and teammates for an afternoon of fun! Date: Sunday, Oct 9th from 3:00-4:30PM Cost: $10.00 per player Goggles, Mouth Guard and Stick required RSVP to [email protected]. Bellevue Youth Basketball The Bellevue Youth Basketball Association (BYBA) tryouts for boys in grades 5-8 are coming up September 18 and 25. For more details and to register please go to www.bybahoops.org. Reflections 2011-2012 "Diversity Means..." is next year's Reflection theme. We want to encourage our students to explore new ways to express their idea of diversity and what it means to them. We will be kicking off Reflections in September, when school starts, and while we wanted to give our kids a chance to work on their projects over the summer. Deadline for art work submittal will be November 2nd. Remember: There are several art mediums to choose from: Literature, Choreography, Music, Film, Visual Arts and Photography. Please feel free to email either Gina Craig or Stephanie Troy with any questions. Smile Jar Have tickets to sport events, dance or drama performances, lectures or other events you cannot use? Wish you could give tickets to someone who would enjoy the event or performance? Want to surprise Medina Staff with tickets to their favorite type of event? Drop-off your tickets at the front desk and let them know they are for the Smile Jar. Ms Chris or Molly will make sure they land in the hands of a staff member who will appreciate them. If you have any questions please contact Amy Roberts or Kea Rensch. Amazon.com Shopping on Amazon.com? It's easy to raise money for our schools while you shop at Amazon.com. Just go to the Bellevue Schools Foundation (BSF) website home page and click on the Amazon.com link. BSF receives over 7% of each sale. Remember, you must go through the BSF home page link for BSF to get credit for the order! Virtue of the Week Idealism When you have ideals, you really care about what is right and meaningful in life. You follow your beliefs. You don't just accept things the way they are. You make a difference. Idealists dare to have big dreams and then act as if they are possible. The idealism of all who contribute to Medina Elementary make it a great school! Byte Submissions Do you have something you'd like announced in the Byte? Please email content to Linda Bracken at [email protected], submissions are due Friday (and are subject to PTA approval). Calendar Items ALL calendar times and locations can be found in the printed PTA calendar sent home in your back-to-school packet. 19-Sep - Family Chess Night, 6:30 PM 20-Sep - Curriculum Night, see "Welcome" section (above) for scheduled sessions 21-Sep - Chess begins 23-Sep - Walkathon kick-off assembly 26-Sep - TRI DI day, grades 1-2 26-Sep - Principal Coffee 27-Sep - TRI DI day, grades 3-5 30-Sept -5th Grade Cocktail Party, hosted by Tami Hansen, 6:30 PM Please feel free to contact us with questions or concerns you may have on any PTA topics. Sincerely, Kea Rensch & Amy Roberts Medina Elementary PTA P.O. Box 247 | Medina, WA 98039 | [email protected] Kea | H: 425.462.0044| C: 425.864.9970 | [email protected] Amy | H: 425.453.6662 | C: 206.605.8841 | [email protected] Medina PTA 2.3.57 Editor Linda Bracken Quick Links Medina PTA Medina Elementary Tiger Wear Bellevue School District Washington State PTA Wolverine Football
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