Congratulations to all our winners above! They have all advanced to the state level of the competition.

We had some truly amazing entries this year! We had a total of 212 entries this year!

• Dance choreography - 1 entry
• Film production - 4 entries
• Literature - 22 entries
• Music composition - 10 entries
• Photography - 19 entries
• Visual arts - 156 entries (54 primary, 86 intermediate, 14 middle school, 2 high school)

The next question on everyone's mind is when we'll have the awards ceremony?

We're shooting for February.

If the awards ceremony is new for you, here are a few key points:

• We start the evening with a gallery viewing, where all of the entries are set up in the lobby of the performing arts center for students to show their family and friends.
• Then during the awards ceremony, we will invite all participants up on stage to receive a certificate for participating. Then we will present awards to the students who are listed above. The Award of Excellence is awarded to the top two scores in the category and age division. The Award of Merit is awarded to the 3rd and 4th place scores.
• We will need lots of help from our team of Reflections chairs to make it a successful evening. We'll share a signup genius with all the volunteer spots after we nail down a date and location.
• 
  

Thank you again for helping us give our students this opportunity!

Monique & Megan

Livonia PTSA Council Reflections chairs

Special thanks to Livonia Kiwanis - Early Risers for partnering with us again and awarding the $500 grand prize!

Thank you Kristen Edson, Jeff & Cheryl Doelker, and State Rep. Stephanie Young for being our judges!

Thank you to the Holmes Robotics Team for bringing robots for demos, Marilee Olsen and her Franklin Choir students for the live entertainment, and to the Au-Some Student Designs students from Garfield for making the etched glass mugs in each of our winners' baskets! And thank you to all of the businesses for their donations to this event (see photo below).

Here are the winners:

Overall Best Chili (Grand Prize):

Matt P. from Cooper Upper Elementary with his "High Voltage Chili"

People's Choice Winner:

Matthew D. from Niji-Iro with "The Tailgater Chili"

Hottest Chili Winner:

Matt S. from Hayes Elementary with his "Chorilla Chili"

Best Dressed Table Winner:

Christy D. from Frost Middle School

Congratulations to all of the winners! We look forward to seeing you next year!

LPTSA Council enjoyed having James McConnell from the Livonia Historical Society speak at one of our meetings regarding the "Second Grade Field Trip Experience" at Greenmead Historical Park. Students get to experience what a day in the Newburg School was like when it was a functioning school.

There are currently 16 second-grade LPS classrooms signed up for this field trip this spring. Still, it has become the Livonia Historical Society's goal to have every second class in LPS experience this educational and fun field trip.

Students will learn what a typical school day was for children who attended the Newburg School from how they dressed, what they brought their lunches in, what they learned, and how their school day compares to today's school day. And of course, there is the much-anticipated candy bag at the end of the trip! These are just a few of the trip highlights. Dr. McConnell has asked that we share this information with all of our units so that they may also share it with the admin and staff at their schools.

Dr. McConnell is also requesting donations from PTAs to help fund the trip. If your PTA is able to donate toward your second grade classrooms' trips, please contact him at jam1776@sbcglobal.net or 734-525-2962. You may need to amend your budget and add a line item.

If your school has an interest in having their second graders attend the Second Grade Field Trip Experience at Greenmead, they can reach out to the Livonia Historical Society at livoniahistoricalsocietymi.org or they can contact Susan Bailey, Greenmead Tour Coordinator at 248-477-7375.

Can you believe it's February already? Don't think you can't continue to gain new members? There's still a lot of the school year left to plan events and do some amazing things for your students and staff. Members can help with these ideas, planning events, decorating, organizing, and so much more! Maybe it's time for a Membership Challenge of some sort at your school. Is someone new interested in joining the Executive Board next year? Make sure they are a member this year and eligible to be on the slate. There's still so many options on what can be done before the end of the school year.

Remember, for all new members, please remit your Michigan PTA dues by the 28th of every month.

Nicole Dant

Livonia PTSA Council, membership chair

We are already planning the next Founders' Day Celebration so you can start uploading your photos of the awesome events you want to share! Use the link below. Please include school in the comment.

Happy February! There are only a few short months left to earn those PEP points for this year's totals. Remember, those PEP points can still be added through April 30th so keep submitting those newsletter articles, liaison invitations, and so much more.

To see the breakdown of what each unit has received PEP credit for, please visit our website at https://livoniaptsacouncil.org/work/pep/. If you have any questions or notice any errors, please email PEP at PEP@livoniaptsacouncil.org.

Sara Bennett

Livonia PTSA Council, PEP chair

January is one of Grant PTA's slower months. We did have a Skate Night at Riverside Area during Christmas break. We also had a Team USA Hockey Night on Jan. 20th. The Grant students that attended sang the National Anthem. February is looking to be a very exciting month with another Skate Night planned on Feb. 13th with a Valentine's theme. We are also excited to be having Science Alive coming to Grant Elementary on Thursday, Feb. 15th and Friday, February 16th.

January at Hoover was a quiet month.

Before break, Santa made a stop at Hoover and said hello!! The kids were so excited to see him!

The last week of December and first week back from break, we did a cold weather collection for kids in need in our area. We collected two boxes of new and gently used hats, gloves, and scarves!

We also had PJ Spirit Day and Lions Spirit Day! GRIT!!

We’re excited to get back in the swing of things again for February!

We have been quiet here this month at Webster, but we are proud to announce our 16 winners for the Reflections Arts Competition!

In Literature: Nethra S.-Award of Excellence, Smera G.-Award of Excellence, Bhuvanesh S.-Award of Excellence, Laila D.-Award of Merit, and Joshua D.-Award of Excellence

In Music Composition: Luke M.-Award of Excellence, Alexa G.-Award of Excellence, Alexandre H.-Award of Merit, and Haoze Arthur L.-Award of Excellence

In Photography: Nethra S.-Award of Excellence, and Bhuvanesh S.-Award of Excellence

In Visual Arts: Samiksha A.-Award of Merit, Elaine D.-Award of Excellence, Arya H.-Award of Excellence, Abigail M.-Award of Merit, and Emily C.-Award of Excellence

For the next couple of months, we have scheduled a skate night at Riverside Arena, a cookies and canvas painting event for families, and dineouts at Panda Express and BJ's. We look forward to socializing with fellow Webster Wildcats!

With the cold months upon us, I thought it would be nice to remember the warm, sunny days so I have included this picture of our PTA board from the fall.

Mark your calendars NOW for Founders’ Day, Officer’s Training, and the Audit Party!

2024

Reflections Ceremony | 6 p.m. | TBD

2/8 – Founders' Day RSVPs and payments due

2/21 – Founders’ Day | 6 p.m. | TBD

3/20 – LPTSA Council Meeting & Workshop | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

3/21 – Transportation, Maintenance & Warehouse Appreciation

4/17 – LPTSA Council Meeting & Elections | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

4/24 – YMAD Celebration | 6 p.m. | Churchill High School

5/22 – Officer’s Training | 6 – 8 p.m. | TBD

6/12 – LPTSA Council Meeting | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

7/17 – Audit Party | 6 – 8 p.m.| Central Office

If you are a PTA/PTSA officer or committee chair, please make sure to join our group for important information, discussions, and more! Be sure to answer the questions when you request to join. A lot of great information is shared on this closed group page. It's also a great way to network with other units, share ideas, and ask for help.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/541318689333449/

Michigan PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/everychildonevoice

National PTA Website: https://www.pta.org/

National PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ParentTeacherAssociation

National PTA Blog: https://onevoice.pta.org/

The Livonia PTSA Council is a group of 22 local PTA/PTSA Units within the Livonia Public Schools District. The Council is organized under the authority of the Michigan PTA for the purpose of promoting conferences, communications, leadership development and coordination of the efforts of the local units.

Interested in joining Council? There are chair opportunities available! Contact President Andrea Malenfant at andrea.malenfant@livoniaptsacouncil.org

Email: newsletter@livoniaptsacouncil.org
Website: www.livoniaptsacouncil.org
Location: 15125 Farmington Road, Livonia, MI, USA
Phone: .
Facebook: facebook.com/LivoniaPTSACouncil
Twitter: @LivoniaPTSAC