CEDAR PARK PTA NEWSLETTER

KID MAIL RECIPIENTS:

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Para acceder a este boletín en línea y traducirlo a hasta 100 idiomas, visite la siguiente URL: https://app.smore.com/n/29rw8

OUR PTA IS OPPOSED TO ANY PROPOSAL BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT CLOSES OUR CEDAR PARK COMMUNITY. THERE ARE SEVERAL EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO PREPARE MATERIALS AND EFFORTS IN PUSHING BACK AGAINST THIS MERGER. Please contact advocacy@cedarparkpta.org for more info or add your email address to the list below for specific details on these efforts.

We have coordinated a meeting with our SPS School Board Director, Liza Rankin, for 6:30 pm on November 16. We are hopeful we can hold this meeting at Cedar Park - still working on facility rental through SPS.

We are also preparing an advocacy letter and an information sheet that will be available for download soon.

Right now here are some actions you can take:

• Make sure you have joined the PTA to receive our emails or are a member off our all-school announcements signal chats. These are the two main ways we are connecting with families to share information!
• Email your thoughts to the superintendent and school board. The superintendent is focused on OUTCOMES FOR KIDS so we encourage you to emphasize why keeping Cedar Park open will improve outcomes for our students and ask them to prove how a merger would improve outcomes.

SPS Elementary School Executive Director James Mercer: jamercer@seattleschools.org

SPS Board Director Liza Rankin: liza.rankin@seattleschools.org

SPS School Board: schoolboard@seattleschools.org

• Consider giving public comment at the November 18th SPS School Board Regular Meeting. Location: John Stanford Center 2445 Third Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98134 Time: 4:30 pm
• Follow information from All Together for Seattle Schools

We will also discuss this topic in-person at our next PTA General Meeting on Tuesday, December 1, 6:00pm-7:00pm, in the school cafeteria. PTA membership is not required.

• ALL Cedar Park families are welcome (kids too)!

• Food will be provided

• Attending = great way to learn about fun and important upcoming events, ways to help our students, and to get to know other CP families

• We’re also looking for parent volunteers to help supervise calm activities for kids. If you’re willing to help for part or all of the meeting, email president@cedarparkpta.org.

November 6 - Friday: Fall family traditions celebrations

November 11 - Wednesday: NO SCHOOL VETERANS DAY

November 12 - Thursday: PTA Board Meeting

November 13 - Friday: PTA Movie Night Toy Story 5, more info below

November 16 - 22: Givebacks week at Snapdoodle Toys, 20% of sales benefit our PTA, more information below

November 16 - Monday: Cedar Park community meeting with SPS Board Director Liza Rankin, 6:30 pm

November 17: Tuesday: School Picture Retake Day

November 17: Tuesday SPS Superintendent Virtual Community Engagement Meeting, 6:30 - 8:00 pm (note, this is not a merger focused session)

November 18 - Wednesday: Panda Express Dine Out, more info below

November 18 - Wednesday: SPS Board of Directors general meeting, see more info under merger advocacy below

November 23 -27: NO SCHOOL. Conference week and Thanksgiving

December 14 - Monday: COMMUNITY MEETING REGARDING SCHOOL MERGERS HOSTED BY SPS, 6:00 pm. Location James Baldwin Elementary. Read more below and stay connected in case this meeting changes. IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND BUT TRANSPORTATION IS A BARRIER PLEASE EMAIL equity@cedarparkpta.org, advocacy@cedarparkpta.org, and/or president@cedarparkpta.org

The Cedar Park PTA Board meets once per month. We discuss school advocacy, PTA committee work, events, fundraising, and much more. All are welcome to attend. Our next meeting will be Thursday, November 12th at 6:30pm. Please email president@cedarparkpta.org for location details and other information. We are still looking to fill the following board positions:

• Volunteer Coordinator (This can be mostly done from home!)
  
• Communications Chair
  
• Community Engagement Chair
  
• Teacher Appreciation Committee Members (This is focused in April/May)
  
• Yearbook Chair & Committee (This can be mostly done from home!)
• Fundraising Committee Members
  
• Garden Team Members
  

** Many local employers pay a match to time donated to our PTA. Check to see if yours does and consider a small role to help us in two ways! **

It is more important than ever to maintain our important programs for our students. The PTA needs your help with this! We need about $240 for each K-5 student to run our important programs.

There is a $4,000 match to any donations up to this amount between November 1 - 7. Double your impact if donating during these dates!

Questions? Email fundraising@cedarparkpta.org

If your employer participates in a donation match program, it means that every dollar you donate to Cedar Park gets doubled! Ask you employer if they have a donation match program and then give them our registration number: Cedar Park Elementary PTA Registration ID: 82-1450783

You may do so using the QR code or button below or email president@cedarparkpta.org with questions.

A STRONG MEMBERSHIP BASE IS THE EASIEST WAY TO SUPPORT OUR PTA AND SCHOOL! Our goal is to reach 75 members this year!

Parents, guardians, grandparents, family, community members, teachers/staff, and students can all be members. Sign up for PTA membership using the QR code, url, or button below. Membership is $16/person. Scholarships available for all: email president@cedarparkpta.org

Our PTA is also looking for sponsors for events and publications. This is a great way to spread the word about local business. Please consider sharing this link with members of your community (dance studios, local cafe/bakeries, other places you love or think would love Cedar Park!). This is a 1 minute survey to share interest in becoming a sponsor.

Join us for a community movie night in the Cedar Park Cafeteria. There will be snacks and drinks available for purchase.

• Doors open 5:30 pm, Movie Starts 6:00 p.m.
• Sign-up here to donate baked goods or to help with set-up, clean-up, etc.
• Come in cozy clothes, bring stuffies and blankets to enjoy!
• Suggested donation of $5 per family, or any size donation to the STEP UP PTA Fundraiser.
• Treats will be available from $2

Support Cedar Park by dining in or ordering out at Panda Express in Lake City (12513 Lake City Way Seattle WA 98125), where 20% of event sales this day will come back to our PTA. Hours of the fundraiser are 9:30 am - 10:00 pm.

For orders to count towards the fundraiser, you must:

• Show the flyer below when ordering in person
• Use code 3866450 online or on the app when ordering ahead

Cedar Park's most beloved winter event is coming up soon! Mark your calendars to celebrate and throw snowballs with us, while raising money for our awesome school.

We need help with planning and items for the auction. If you are interested in planning or outreach to local business, or if you have an item/service to donate to the action, please email fundraising@cedarparkpta.org

The first session of IDEA Time centered on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) wrapped up last week! Below are summaries of three of the awesome classes. Classes incorporated the Seattle Public Schools SEL Standards of Learning – Which meant that our students received an extra hour of SEL every week for five weeks in an engaging, enriching and fun way!

Clay Creations: items made by cedar park students during SEL IDEA Time. Getting out of comfort zone, learning new skills, seeing beauty in imperfections, seeing beauty in what others create, having a growth mindset when it comes to learning new skills that are difficult.

Animal Care and Kindness: Week 1 covered spiders. Learning about how to care for even the smallest creatures. Learning to respect animals… even not the cute and cuddly kind! Learning about how even small creatures like spiders make a big impact on our world and daily lives.

We are Timberwolves: Week 2 focused on Acting Safely at school. Students demonstrated ways to stay safe in class, in the halls, at lunch and on the playground. They made example photos to hang up near the cafeteria for other students to see.

The next session of IDEA Time is "Arts & Culture" and align with Art and/or Social Studies curriculum standards. Classes were created based on student brainstorming sessions. Here is a brief preview of options available to students:

Global Comics K-1 and 2-5

Focus on a country or region of the world, Discuss location, customs and culture. Explore comic book style that originated there and Learn to create comics in that style.

Animal Safari K-2

Focus on a country or region of the world, Learn about 2-3 animals (habitat, diet, fun facts, etc)

Magical Creatures K-1

Focus on a country or region of the world, Discuss location, customs and culture. Discuss a magical creature that is unique to that region. What is the folklore? What is the importance to the

culture? What can that creature teach us?

Art from Around the World K-2

Learn about a style of art from that region and create art in that form.

Dinosaur Expedition K-2

Focus on a country or region of the world. Learn about and explore dinosaurs that lived in that area through activity and art

Global Video Games K-2

Learn about a video game that originated in a focus region. We will be doing physical activities and art projects that tie into the video game and place of origin. We will NOT be playing video games.

Worldwide Soccer 2-5

“Visit” a different country each week. Discuss the history, importance and popularity of soccer. Learn soccer skills

Painting 3-5

Focus on a different style of painting each week, Learn about where the technique originated.

Learn about an artist “famous” for using that technique and create art.

Dungeons and Dragons 3-5

Explore how cultures work together to understand and celebrate their differences in order to complete their quests?

Clay Creations 3-5

Learn the technique of creating with clay. This includes creating, painting, firing and glazing process.

Discuss the historical significance: Throughout history all around the world civilizations have developed their own pottery techniques and styles.

Photography 3-5

Learn photography techniques and explore our cedar park community through a camera lens.

5th Grade IDEA Leaders

5th graders are able to practice and improve their leadership skills by assisting with the planning of classes for our youngest learners, to grow Cedar Park’s culture of caring, collaboration and kindness.

• Help with set-up/clean-up
• Support students understanding of the projects
• Encourage students to stay on-task
• Share your own love of art and creative expression

We encourage parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. to sign-up for a volunteer time slot (80-85 minutes each) at your convenience to share in the joy of art with your student. Each slot covers two consecutive art classes. You may sign-up for a slot that includes your child(ren)'s class, or ANY classes!

Use this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4EAEA723A6F85-66004196-volunteer#/ to come share your creative side.

The school is looking for volunteers to support students in the upcoming session of IDEA Time focused on Arts & Culture. IDEA Time is always on Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:05 pm.

Use this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054BACA92FA02-51463755-idea to sign up and come join us in the fun and the learning.

All school volunteers must have completed an SPS Volunteer application and been approved prior to volunteering at school. Once approved your application is good for 2 years. The application includes a 20 minute Adult Sexual Misconduct video and a Washington State Patrol background check. If you haven’t completed the volunteer application, you can do so here: https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/volunteer/volunteer-application-process/. If you want to check your current volunteer status with Ms. Kelley, email her at kshofmann@seattleschools.org

• Go here to shop and purchase both kid and adult sizes, in many more styles and colors this year!
• A portion of the proceeds benefits our PTA!
• Items take about 2 weeks to ship to your home
• Have outgrown Cedar Park Elementary items to pass on? Bring them to the PTA General Meeting on October 20th.

This year, the PTA will collect snack donations to maintain a back-up supply for classrooms. Snacks will be provided to students who may not have snack available to them. Please consider donating non-perishable, prepackaged, nut-free snacks to maintain the supply. These may be labeled 'PTA snack supply' and dropped off at the office at any time throughout the year. Sign up here.

Choose a month: Donate ground coffee or k-cups for teachers/staff

Visit https://account.treering.com/validate and enter code 1016777932931779

The Cedar Park Yearbook is put together by the PTA. We need volunteer help to make it happen. Email president@cedarparkpta.org if you have time to help. This is one of our most flexible volunteer roles.

We have received many questions about home shipping for yearbooks this year. This as an ask by the school, and we have reduced the number of pages in the yearbook to help offset the cost of shipping.

We are already collecting photos for the yearbook, email to yearbook@cedarparkpta.org from the following events:

• Field trips
• Idea time
• Art docent
• PTA events
• First day pics
• Play at Cedar Park playground/park

From Monday November 16th to Sunday November 22nd, shop at any Snapdoodle Toys and mention Cedar Park Elementary for 20% of the proceeds to come back to our PTA!

The Giving Tree lists will be available the week after this fundraiser, so if you plan to give to that effort, you might consider purchasing some commonly requested items like Art Supplies, small Lego sets, and Picture books (Princess, Fairy Tales, Trucks are popular with younger children).

General Inquiries: info@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Co-Presidents: Brianne Tomlin, president@cedarparkpta.org, Meredith Holmes, copresident@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Co-Vice Presidents: Tri Le, vicepresident@cedarparkpta.org, Erica Burnell, covicepresident@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Secretaries: Jennifer Barber, secretary@cedarparkpta.org, Bianca Rossignol, cosecretary@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Treasurer: Rob Van Oss, treasurer@cedarparkpta.org

Volunteer Opportunities: volunteer@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Advocacy: Michele Lehman, advocacy@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Equity Team: Norma Alvarez, equity@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Fundraising: Emily Pace, fundraising@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Art Docent: Meg Marshall, art@cedarparkpta.org

PTA Communications: Catherine Kodish, communications@cedarparkpta.org

Newsletter-related Inquiries & Ideas: Brianne Tomlin, newsletter@cedarparkpta.org

Help our non-profit support students and Cedar Park Elementary while promoting your business! Complete this 1-minute survey

Please also consider sharing this link with members of your community (dance studios, local cafe/bakeries, other places you love or think would love Cedar Park!)