Update from the Leopold PFO for the Week of December 15, 2014

It's hard to believe we're in the final days before winter break! I feel like the year has flown by, but like all of you, I'm ready for a some down time with family and friends.
Leopold Giving Tree
Please remember to take a look at our staff Giving Tree! If you're considering a holiday gift for your child's teacher, please consider purchasing something from their Giving Tree list. Click HERE to see the full list of requests (also available through the PFO website). If you see one or more that you would like to fulfill, please email Kim Holdener at kholdener@hotmail.com that you will be purchasing or donating the item, and let Kim know when and where you will deliver the item (office, classroom, etc.). If you would like a receipt, please let Kim know and we will email one to you.

Take a look at the list and see if you might already have these items in your home. If you're not using them, they can be put to good use at school!

Please note that donations are tax deductible if given through the Giving Tree program to the PFO, which is a 501(3)(c) organization. All gifts become the property of Leopold Elementary and should stay at the school, even if a teacher does not.

What is the PFO?
PFO stands for Parent Faculty Organization. At Leopold, every parent, grandparent, or guardian, as well as every staff member, is automatically a member of the PFO.You don't need to pay dues, attend meetings or do anything special to be a "member" so join in! Our PFO is managed by a PFO Board, consisting of a president, co-vice-presidents, co-secretaries and a treasurer. The Board serves as the leadership team that guides decisions on activities, events, support and funds. Often, when staff has a need, they come to a member of the PFO Board to see if we can help out. Same for parents, if there is a question, they often come to a Board member. The Board certainly doesn't have all of the answers, but we can often point someone in the right direction.

Each summer, our board evaluates the activities and events we've supported over the previous year to determine how beneficial they are for our school. Do they engage our community? Do they raise funds? Are we able to find volunteers to make them work? Are they fun? From there, planning for these events begins. If anyone has an idea of an activity that you would like to see happen, you are welcome to contact the PFO Board and share your idea. The Board can give you ideas, direction, and perhaps funding, to implement ideas that benefit the students and staff of Leopold. The Board, however, cannot execute everyone's ideas and suggestions on our own.

While PFO/PTO boards across MMSD, and across the country, after often judged by attendance at a monthly meeting, meetings are one small component of what our (or any) PFO does. Over the course of the past year, the Leopold PFO Board and volunteers have supported Leopold families by:

• providing lunch for our staff on working days before school starts to help teachers get off to a great start
• providing coffee on the first day of school so families can visit and engage with each other
• providing a school spirit t-shirt for every student at Leopold (including the ordering, sorting and delivery of all 700 shirts!)
• organizing Get to Know You Nights available for every student in every grade so that parents can get to know other parents in their student's grade and class. This includes ordering, picking up and providing a FREE dinner to our families, purchasing supplies, setting up and cleaning up, planning an activity and lots of coordination and communication for six ongoing weeks
• researching and purchasing new Leopold rugs for our front entries to improve the look of our lobby and eliminate the need for several individual rugs
• working with a community group to coordinate a grounds cleanup, basketball hoop painting, and playground improvement
• purchasing picture frames to display students artwork in our lobby each month
• organize an all-school grounds cleanup, including communication, coordination, and supplies
• gathering teacher needs and organize for a giving tree, sharing with families and community, and tracking donations
• sorting and producing directory info from MMSD and post to website
• regularly update our website and Facebook page for increased communication
• produce a weekly communication for families to keep everyone engaged in events and activities (sent by email, posted on online blog and posted in lobby on bulletin board in English and Spanish)
• maintaining a communication bulletin board to inform families of what is going on at school
• publicizing, counting, tracking, recounting, and shipping thousands of Box Tops
• publicizing, counting, tracking and shipping Labels for Education
• members of our Board attend Adopt-a-School meetings, West side PTO meetings, organize monthly family meetings, organize monthly (or more often) Board meetings, and attend many other meetings on a regular basis
• planning and running a two-part, FREE literacy event for all of our families to get engaged in reading and learning - Tito's Readathlon
• planning and running a large family engagement and fundraising activity each fall
• organizing and delivering a school supply kit program
• planing and running a fall bake sale
• planning and running a major fundraising and fitness event each spring - Timber Wolf Trample
• working with student council to plan and organize spring Spirit Week and organizing a coordinating donation program
• producing a school year book
• planning and organizing a winter treat day for staff
• planning and organizing a large staff appreciation meal for all staff each spring
• setting up, organizing and promoting peripheral fundraisers like amazon associates, Target RedCard, HyVee flu shots, and My Coke Rewards
• planning, organizing, communicating and follow up several restaurant nights out each school year
• supporting Open Schoolhouse through communication and planning assistance 
• supporting Attendance Matters Breakfast through grant funds (2013) and volunteers
• supporting events like Math Night, Science Night and Culture Night through funding support and volunteers
• awesome, ongoing coordination with Leopold staff, adopt-a-school partners and parents
• and we NEVER ask your to have your kids sell anything door-to-door, or ask you to participate in buying programs through school

All of this is done for the goal of supporting learning in our school. By building community in a variety of ways, we hope that parents will take an active role in our school and their student's education. This might be as simple as understanding the value of reading with your kids on a regular basis, or volunteering for an activity when needed. Our volunteers are hard working, proud of what they do, and relentless with their time and energy. Please thank them - and better yet join them - when you can! And while our Board is always open to new ideas, what we really want is for others to step up and step in. Bring someone new to a meeting or activity, offer to volunteer for an event, bring an idea and your time and energy to make it happen!


Tito's Readathlon Finish Line Event
We know those who attended Tito's Readathlon Starting Line Event had a great time! Please remember to have your students continue to focus on literacy over winter break and fill out their reading logs (if you need a new one, click here or pick one up in the school office). All families are welcome at our Finish Line event on Tuesday, Jan 13. There will be more fun activities and free books!

Tito's Readathlon Finish Line event will replace our January family meeting. Meetings will continue in February.

Staff Treat Day
Friday, December 19 is our annual staff treat day. Families are asked to bring in goodies to share with staff before winter break. Drop off treat int he office on Friday morning.
Kinder and G5 - bring veggie or fruit tray
G1 and G4 - bring chips & dip, cheese & crackers or snacks
G2 and G3 - bring sweet treats, cookies, bars or cake

Endowment Fund Grants Awarded
The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools' School Endowments provide each school with annual income that is used to fund creative and innovative programs and projects that are not funded within the core school budget.  Recently 49 schools were awarded grants totaling $78,290. 


This year Leopold Elementary had $1,338 in endowment income available to use to make grants for imaginative programs and projects that propel student learning which can't currently be funded through the core school budget.



Click here to read more about exciting things that are happening through the grants that were awarded to Leopold staff.


Make money for Leopold While You Shop for the Holidays!
Don't forget these no-effort ways to help raise money for the Leopold PFO while you do your holiday shopping:

amazon.com
Please visit the PFO fundraising page and click on the amazon ad to enter the amazon.com website. By doing so, Leopold PFO will receive a percentage of your total purchase (up to 7%!). You don't need to do anything else, but items need to be purchased within 24 hours of clicking on the link for Leopold to get credit. 
www.leopoldpfo.org/activities-and-fundraisers.html

Target Red Card
Target offers both a CREDIT and a DEBIT REDcard! With a Target REDcard, Target will donate 1% of your REDcard purchases at Target and target.com to the school of your choice. It's that simple. You can add Leopold Elementary to your existing Target REDcard, or get a new card. Target REDcard saves you 5% on all of your Target purchases. You can apply for a credit card, or set up a debit card that will draw directly from your bank account. The benefits to Leopold are the same. Encourage family and friends to designate Leopold as their designated school, no matter where they live!
http://www.target.com/redcard/main

Keep Clipping and Saving Box Tops
The next Box Tops deadline is January 23 so keep clipping and saving over the holidays!

Check out the Box Tops for Education (BTFE) website atwww.boxtops4education.com to find coupons and new recipes using Box Tops products. Join BTFE to support Leopold, and participate in contests that could earn hundreds of bonus Box Tops for our school. Keep an eye out for non-food products that have Box Tops such as Hanes clothing and Avery office products. Also look for bonus Box Tops coupons at the grocery store checkout and on or inside product packages. Expired Box Tops cannot be submitted so please check the expiration date before sending to school. We can submit Box Tops at any time of the year so if the expiration date is within 60 days please send them to school immediately so we can submit them before they expire. Sadly we often have to recycle dozens of expired box tops. That felt like throwing dimes down the drain. Let's plug the drain and keep the cash! 



Flu Shot Fundraiser
Flu shots are the most effective way to prevent influenza and its complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone 6 months of age or older be vaccinated annually against influenza.

The Leopold PFO is partnering with the HyVee Pharmacy in Fitchburg to offer flu shots to our community, with $4 from each shot coming back to our PFO. In order for Leopld to receive credit, please take a Flu Shot PFO Fundraiser in with you so Leopold gets credit. The coupons can be found on our blog (http://www.leopoldpfo.org/ leopold-pfo-blog) or you can pick one up on the school office.

Shots are covered by most insurances; cash price is $29.99. The fundraiser runs through December 31, 2014.

News From Around MMSD
MSCR K-12 Chess Tournament

Information on Becoming a School Nurse


Communication
This weekly email is prepared in English and will be posted in both English and Spanish on our blog each week (http://www.leopoldpfo.org/ leopold-pfo-blog ).

Este correo electrónico semanal se prepara en Inglés y será publicada en Inglés y Español en nuestro blog cada semana (http://www.leopoldpfo. org/leopold-pfo-blog ).

Have a great week! 


 

 Kris