Update from the Leopold PFO for the week of January 13, 2014

Hello Leopold Families. Sorry for the late weekly email, the time got away from me! Here's what's going on at Leopold:
Leopold Book Fair
The Leopold Book Fair is coming up. The book fair will be held in our school library. All students will get a chance to visit the book fair with their class, and bring home a list of books they are interested in. They can bring money back to school to purchase the books, or families can visit the book fair together. The book fair will be held:
January 27 from 8 am to 1 pm
January 28  from 8 am to 7 pm
January 29 from 8 am to 7 pm
January 30 from 10:30 am to 12 pm
Please keep an eye on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LeopoldPFO) for changes or cancelations to due weather.

As part of the book fair, volunteers are needed to help students select books and check out. Mrs. Conner will show you what to do if you are new to the book fair. This is a fun way to help out at Leopold! Please see the online sign up here to find a time that works for you to volunteer:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084AACAE2CA13-book1

Restaurant Night Fundraisers
Thank you go everyone who has attended any of our restaurant night fundraisers. Most recently, we made $103 from our Qdoba fundraiser and $101 from our Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser. Our next restaurant fundraiser will be at Culver's on February 17, from 5-7 pm. We will need five volunteers to help run food to tables. Fourth of fifth graders would be great for this job, as would middle school Leopold alums, particularly those would like to perform, or are in need of community service hours for various groups. If you know someone interested, you can email me. 

Thank you to those of you who shopped at amazon.com by entering through the Leopold link. We made $41.40 in October, $75.95 in November and $88.35 in December. You can continue to use this link at any time during the year, as the PFO will receive a portion of all purchases through amazon.com, including Prime movies and more! You can find the link here. 
Box Tops
Our next BoxTop contest deadline is February 18. An ice cream party and free passes to Pump It Up with go to the winning class! Forms were sent home some time back, but feel free to send them in a baggie if you don't have a form. If you'd like to print a new form, it can be found here. Be sure to label them with your student's classroom teacher so their class can get credit. We have amazing participation in BoxTop collection, so keep up the great work and let's work toward our goal of filling in the MineCraft creeper in the lobby!

Open School House Schedule

High Five Night Date Change
PBS team has decided to postpone High Five Night to Feb. 4th instead of tonight. 

MLK, Jr. Celebration
Leopold will be holding an Open Schoolhouse event to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on January 21st from 6-8 pm. The evening will consist of poetry, dance, and music performances by students and parents, followed by a family art activity inspired by Dr. Kings, "I Have a Dream" speech. Food will also be provided. Please RSVP by filling out and returning the yellow flyer that was sent home or by contacting Delia Watkins at 608-204-4336 or [email protected].

January 22 and 23rd, 6:30-7:15 - How to Build Your Student's Self Esteem
January 28, 6:00 - Math Night

4K Family Night
Since we didn't cover our 4K families in our original round of Get to Know Each Other Nights (sorry - we didn't know there would be 4K at Leopold when we planned these events), we will be holding a 4K Family Night, with dinner provided by the PFO, on Tuesday, February 18, from 6-7 pm in the school cafeteria. Flyers will be sent home to 4K families.

Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten registration for families with students who will be entering kindergarten next fall, and who do not currently participate in MMSD 4K, need to attend kindergarten registration on Monday, February 3 from 1-6 pm at Leopold or your neighborhood elementary school. For more information, visit mmsd.org/kinder

All children who are four years old on or before September 2, 2014 and live in the MMSD are eligible to participate in 4K. 4K is not required and is tuition free. Registration for this program is also February 3 from 1-6 pm at Leopold or your neighborhood elementary school. For more information, visit mmsd.org/4K

ExxonMobil Educational Grant
Through the efforts of a local Kelley Williamson Company Station, Leopold School has been awarded a $500 ExxonMobil Educational Alliance grant. The money will be used to provide materials and supplies for student use. Funded by the ExxonMobil Corporation, the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program is designed to provide local Exxon and Mobil dealers with an opportunity to invest in the future of their community through educational grants to neighborhood schools. We appreciate this generous support of our school community!

NO SCHOOL January 20 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

There is no PFO meeting in January. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 11 at 7 pm.

We are still looking for volunteers for the following fun positions at our school:

• PFO President for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 school years - The president works with an awesome PFO Board to help set the budget, organize committees and events, communicate on behalf of the PFO with parents and the school, plan and lead PFO meetings, and additional jobs as needed and allowed. Per our bylaws, we hope that board members can serve a two-year term. This job can be split between two people if you have someone to partner with. Training, guidance and support will be provided for as long as needed!
  
• PFO Secretary for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 school years - The secretary also works with the awesome PFO Board on many of these same things, takes minutes at meetings, as well as handles correspondence such as thank you notes, etc. on behalf of the Board. Training, guidance and support will also be provided for this role!
  
• Website / Facebook Coordinator - Currently, I handle all of the website and Facebook setup, updates and communication. I know there are some much more tech-focused parents out there who could do this behind-the-scenes job. It definitely requires some technical knowledge and the ability to make timely updates, but can be done at night from home, which is an appealing option for many parents. Ongoing training and support provided!
• Spirit Wear Coordinator - Works with spirit wear vendor for item selection, help set pricing, coordinate translation of order forms, copy and stuff teacher mailboxes with order forms and/or online order setup, order processing, and delivery. This is a relatively small job that takes place just once or twice a year and the timing is flexible. Our vendor separates orders and prepares them for individual delivery to students. Training is provided!
  
• Grounds Cleanup Coordinator - Historically, we have had a volunteer to organize a fall and spring grounds cleanup, including raking and bagging leaves, picking up garbage and sometimes some trimming of overgrown greenery. This happens at schools across MMSD and we like to show we are proud of our school and our neighborhood! The Coordinator works with the Board to pick the dates, makes sure we have the needed supplies, works with the PFO Board to communicate the event and find volunteers, and gives direction on the day(s) of the events. Training and information is provided!
  
• Yearbook Coordinator - Works with our yearbook vendor to provide photos and some layout work on our annual school yearbook. Also distributes and collects order forms. Currently we provide hard copy yearbooks for purchase to our students, but there is an options of preparing an online yearbook as well. Our current yearbook coordinator, Jana Olson, is happy to provide training and support over the coming year!
  
• Giving Tree Coordinator - Collects needs from staff and posts them in a google doc or similar to the PFO website. Coordinates the delivery of items to staff (which is very rewarding!), and removes items from list once they've been fulfilled. An annual visual, such as the "tree" in the lobby, is a great visual reminder, but not a necessary part of the program. Training and guidance is provided!
• Staples Schoolkidz School Supply Program - the PFO is working with Staples to provide an easy option for families to order one simple school supply kit with everything on the list for each child's grade. This coordinator would simple work with our Staples coordinator to provide school supply lists and coordinate the ordering of items by our families. This would be a relatively small job that happens just once per year! All information would be provided by Staples.

*If you would like more information about any of the above roles, or would like to attend a PFO Board meeting to learn more, please don't hesitate to email me. It doesn't commit you to anything!*

Saris Poster Contest
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation posted this announcement in the WisDOT’s Safe Routes To School Newsletter. The poster contest is open to 5th graders and first prize is a new bike!

http://www.sarisparking.com/why-saris-parking/advocacy-efforts/poster-contest/

Thanks everyone. Have a great week!