Good evening Leopold Families. It's been a tough weekend to be a parent of elementary school kids. I hope you were all able to squeeze in a few extra minutes with your kiddos this weekend. In the event you have not seen Friday's and Saturday's messages from Principal John Burkholder or Sunday's message from Superintendent Jane Belmore, they are both worth your time to read.
Leopold Staff Treat Day
Please consider putting your baking, cooking, or purchasing premade snacks expertise to good use and help our teachers/staff get through the last crazy day before Winter Break. Leopold parent Kristi Buscemi is organizing the annual Winter Staff Treat Day, which will be held on Friday December 21. We would like to ask parents to bring in some special goodies for staff on Friday. Kristi will be at school by 9:00 a.m. on the 21st, you can drop your item off to her then, or send it in with your student. Be sure to label items "staff lounge". If you bring in items before 9 a.m. you can leave them with Jane or Emily in the school office.  Some ideas of things to bring:  cheese and crackers, salads, dips/chips, cookies/bars, crock pot casseroles, fruit trays, candies.  
 
If you are able to help out, please email Kristi with the item you think you'll bring.  If you aren't sure yet what you'll bring, no problem, just let me know you're bringing something.  [email protected]  Also, label any dishes with name and teacher and I'll get it back to you via backpack express. Larger/breakable items can be picked up in the staff lounge.

Open Schoolhouse
Thursday will be the last Open Schoolhouse of 2012! Come grab a warm winter drink and check out the cookie decorating station.  The ZUMBA instructor has a special surprise for all participants.  Come anytime from 6-8 pm for a night of cozy family fun!

Traffic Safety
Please help keep all of our kids safe by obeying the signs and regulations regarding parking and traffic around school. Attached is a brochure that details safety and parking information.

Fundraising
During our recent BoxTop collection contest, our kids brought in more than 10,000 BoxTops! This is in addition to the 10,000 turned in earlier this year. This is AWESOME!!!!  Classes are being totaled and the winners will be announced soon! Keep saving BoxTops for our next contest in the spring.

Our Amazon earnings are already at $181 for the year! That is double our earnings from last year. Please continue to enter Amazon.com through the link on www.leopoldpfo.com so we can get credit for whatever you buy!

We will also be using our Campbell's and My Coke Rewards points to buy some Giving Tree items for our staff.

Giving Tree
Speaking of the Giving Tree, remember to check teacher wish lists here. Consider adding to a classroom library for a holiday gift.


Thanks everyone. Have a good last week before break, and enjoy the time off. School resumes on January 7.

Hello families. Did you miss an email from me last week? A rare occasion - I had nothing to say! Don't worry, I'm going to make up for it.

Timberwolf Trample
I know I've mentioned this before, but Leopld's biggest fundraiser for the year, our Timberwolf Trample fun run, is scheduled for Saturday, May 11. We are still in desperate need of organizers for this event. If you're the type that loves big projects, you can take it on in it's entirety, but if you like to help on a smaller scale, we can also organize by committee. We did this for FunFest and it worked quite well.  This fundraiser brings in approximately $10,000 for our school so it is very important that we keep it going! You don't have to be a runner, you don't have to be a fundraiser, we can work with you to find the right role if you are willing to help. Please contact me, or anyone on the PFO, if you might be willing to at least consider this really fun, exciting and beneficial opportunity to support your students and staff!

Easy Fundraising
I'm going to keep hammering home these easy ways to make money for our school because I much prefer these options to having to send our kids out to sell wrapping paper or cookie dough! Many of these are especially helpful during the holidays:

1) BoxTops - keep 'em coming. The deadline for the first class contest is Dec. 4 (Tuesday) but we can take them any time. Send them with your child for their teacher to collect, or bring them to the office. We are on pace for a record-setting year!

2) Target RedCard - A debit or credit card option. No cost to you. You get 5% off all of your purchases, free shipping for online orders, and 1% of your total comes back to Leopold. Last we checked, there were maybe less than 20 families with the card, but we still make $1,500! Imagine the potential!!

3) amazon.com - if you need to order anything on amazon.com - from lotion to toys to books - first go towww.leopoldpfo.org and click on the amazon link right on the home page. Then, just shop as normal throughamazon.com. By entering through our ad, we automatically get a percentage from each purchase. Tell your parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, neighbors, anyone!

4) eBoxtops marketplace - start here for your (non amazon.com) shopping and leopold will get eBoxtops for your purchases. You can start here, go to target.com, get eBoxtops, 5% off, free shipping and 1% back for Leopold. Wow! So easy.

5) Continue to bring in your campbell's labels, pop tabs, and enter points from all coke products atwww.mycokerewards.com, as we use all of those programs as well.

On the fundraising note, our election day bake sale was very successful, raising over $400. Thanks to Lisa Shebesta for organizing the sale, and to all of those who baked, volunteered, or bought treats! 

Our Little Cesars night was less successful than in the past, raising $100. We will work to improve communication so that our spring Little Cesar's night can be more successful. Little Cesars is a great community partner and we thank them for working with us!

Giving Tree
'Tis the Season! To show our appreciation to the dedicated Leopold Elementary staff, the PFO is sponsoring a "Giving Tree." We have asked all staff members to share a wish list for their classroom/department. A “giving tree” will soon be put up on the wall opposite the main entrance, or check out www.leopoldpfo.org, to see which wishes you would like to grant. The PFO will be collecting the gifts and presenting them to the staff members on Friday, December 21st.  Smaller items can be dropped off at the main office between now and December 20th. Please contact Erin to make arrangements for larger items.  Do not wrap your gifts, but be sure to securely attach the recipient's name on the gift. Unless you would like to remain anonymous, include your name as well. Some wishes are time sensitive such as volunteering, custom-made gifts, or back-ordered items.  If you are interested in fulfilling a request that will not be available by the 21st, please contact Erin and she will write your contact information in a card to be given to the recipient.

Some of the wishes on the list have a hyperlink to show a specific item. These links are not intended to endorse a particular business. Online access to the wish list allows parents, family, and friends an opportunity to participate in the “Giving Tree”. To minimize duplication, once you have decided on an item to give, please contact Erin by e-mail or phone, and she will remove the item from the website and/or Giving Tree.

Please direct any questions to:
Erin Farrell Adamany
Chair, PFO Giving Tree
[email protected]
(608) 513-9744

Thank you for your generosity!

Note: District policy states that teachers cannot accept gifts of commercial value from pupils or parents. However, as a 501(3)(c) organization, the Leopold PFO can accept donations and, in turn, give those gifts to the classroom where they are requested. Gifts become the property of Leopold Elementary, and are marked as such. A receipt is available below for tax purposes, where applicable.

Info from Leopold / MMSD
Some new information from the district has been posted on the PFO website for easy access:
Please visit here to read updated information on the district's policy on severe weather days.
Please visit here to read about MSCR Winter 2013 Programs.
Please visit here to read about changes to MMSD Summer Enrichment for 2013.

That's all for this week. Thank you for your dedication to our school!