November 22nd - 24th: No School - Thanksgiving Break

December 1: Picture Retake Day

December 5: Disney Day

December 6: Birmingham Shopping Night

December 6 - 8: Bold Flow Yoga Fundraiser

December 7: 1/2 day, dismissal at 11:50am

December 7: Hanukkah begins

December 8: Bodhi Day

December 15: Hanukkah ends

December 25: Christmas

December 22 - January 2: Winter Break

January 12: 1/2 day, dismissal at 11:50am

January 15: No School - MLK

January 24: Kindergarten Round Up

January 31: STEM Family Night

Have you ever wondered what your PTA dues do? PTA annual donations help support critical school needs such as teacher grants and stipends, learning and enrichment programming, staff hospitality (such as welcome back lunch and conference dinners) and Pierce community events.

This is our primary annual PTA fundraiser and is 100% tax deductible. The suggestion is $60 per student or $100 per family, but additional donations are welcome! Donations of at least $15 will get you access to the online directory on MTK (Membership Toolkit) & voting rights in the Pierce PTA. However, by paying your dues, you are not required to attend any meetings, volunteer, or participate in events. You are just helping provide enrichment opportunities and support for our Pierce students, teachers, and staff!

We are so grateful to those families who have made a donation this school year. If you are interested in donating to our PTA for this school year, please visit the Store Tab on Membership Toolkit and donate today! Click here to access MTK.

Note that there is no PTA meeting in December (this is a correction from the calendar). You can view the minutes from our November meeting on MTK under “PTA Info”.

Please check in with your ID at the main office before heading down to the meeting in the Commons. ALL are welcome to attend any PTA meeting. Younger siblings are welcome – and feel free to arrive after 9AM if preschool drop-offs or other schedule needs make it hard to be there right at 9AM. We would love to have you!

Save the date for an amazing family event at Pierce! Ann Arbor Hands on Museum, Robot Garage, and Michigan Science Center will all be coming ON LOCATION to Pierce to hold an awesome evening of fantastic STEM activities. Keep an eye out for more details to come and how you can help out!

Volunteers will be helping with teacher requests (copying, laminating, etc) along with miscellaneous front office tasks that are needed for support regularly. We appreciate the help every school day! There are 2 shifts/day: mornings = 9AM – 10AM & afternoons = 2:30PM – 3:30PM. If you can help, please sign up here!

Noon Aids assist daily in our cafeteria and on our playground, helping our lunch time run smoothly. At times, we need subs to fill in when our usual noon aids are out. If you can be available from 11:15 AM – 1:30 PM and would like to be placed on the Noon Aid On-Call List (you will only get called when there is a need), please email Rose at RDorre@birmingham.k12.mi.us.

Save the Date for Wednesday, Dec 6 – Friday, Dec 8. During this time, BOLD Flow Yoga is offering 10% back to the Pierce PTA for all new packages purchased + merchandise! BOLD Flow studios are located in West Bloomfield, Royal Oak (in the Woodward Corners plaza), and in Grosse Pointe! Thank you, BOLD Flow, for sponsoring our PTA.

Save the Date for the evening of Wednesday, Dec 6 for a night out in Birmingham. Working with a number of Birmingham shops, Pierce families & supporters will have a chance to shop and ‘buy local’ while also supporting our PTA. We will also have a local restaurant to meet up at for some social time in between purchases! Stay tuned for more info on participating shops and restaurants!

The Pierce PTA is searching for a Legislative Liaison that would help connect with all sorts of advocacy and legislative groups, reaching up all the way to the U.S. Department of Education and Michigan Legislature to understand what is happening that would affect students locally in our district. And then, from there, the idea is to pull that information back down to the local level, raising awareness and bringing people in our community to action.

For next school year, we have many positions currently filled by 5th grade parents who will be ‘graduating’ from Pierce. With that, we will be looking to fill the following positions: Secretary, Wellness Chair, Kindergarten Round-Up Coordinator, BEF Liaison, Fundraising Chair, and Academic Chair. Reaching out now allows time to shadow these chairs during the remainder of this school year.

If you are interested in learning more about any of these open PTA positions, either for this year or next year, please reach out to pierceelementarypta@gmail.com for more information. We appreciate your time and energy!

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a PTA sponsored program to drive reading and reading comprehension for grades 2-5. Our 2nd Point Harvest for this school year will be Wednesday, December 13. For anyone who has achieved the ‘purple star’, please send in a picture no bigger than 4 x 6 to the office so we can hang it up on AR Celebration Board outside the Pierce Library!

Also, note that AR T-shirts are available for purchase on Membership Toolkit. Once you have received notice that your child has reached that level, you can go on to MTK to purchase that. As always, please reach out if you have any questions! For more information and contact info for questions, please visit https://piercepta.membershiptoolkit.com/ar

Math Pentathlon is a PTA sponsored program where students meet weekly before school to play board games designed to enrich sportsmanship & critical thinking skills. 2nd – 5th grade practices have just started while Kindergarten/1st Grade will begin in December. For more information, or if your student would like to participate, email piercemathp@gmail.com or visit https://piercepta.membershiptoolkit.com/mathpentathlon

What is Membership Toolkit (MTK)? MTK is a website managed by the Pierce PTA and is available only to parents of Pierce Elementary School students where you can:

• Visit our Store
• View the Pierce Online Directory
• Browse Volunteer Opportunities
• View the Calendar
• Review PTA Meeting Minutes & access prior PTA Posts
• Learn more about PTA sponsored programs

Hot Tip! Download the Mobile App available for either Apple or Android! With the app, you will have all of this information right at your fingertips easily accessible.

Questions? Email pierceelementarytreasurer@gmail.com.

Purchase your Pierce Spirit Wear here!

Pierce Elementary School

1829 Pierce

Birmingham, MI 48009

Phone: 248-203-4325

Fax: 248-203-4393

https://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/pierce

Ms. Carey Shields (Larson)

clarson@birmingham.k12.mi.us