Celebrate Polk County Family Week!

Celebrate Polk County Family Week November 14 - 20.



Saturday, November 14 - Generation Celebration
Focus on Family Generations: Ft. Fraser Trail, USF/PCC Campus

8 AM - 5 K Walk/Run for children and adults.
Pre-register at Fit-niche Fitness .
Registration Form (Acrobat PDF)
Register on the day of the event at 7:30 AM

9 AM - 12 Noon - Family Pictures, Activities, Booths with great info & Entertainment, FREE to public.

9 AM - Awards Presentation for Essay Contest winners

9:30 AM - Awards Presentation for Walk/Run winners

10 AM - Awards Presentation for Art Contest winners

11:15 AM - Awards Presentation for Grandparent of the Year Awards

12 Noon - Prize Give-away/Chili Cook Off Awards Presentations

FREE give-aways, food, music & more while supplies last! Bring the family!


Monday, November 16 - Family Night
Family Stories begin at home. Look at family photo albums. Take a new family photo. Share favorite family memories. Call on the phone or talk to your grandparents about their stories of their childhood. Record this and other stories you get from them and make a little journal for them and you. Ask your grandparents for a recipe that they enjoyed growing up and make it and listen to stories of their life while you eat it.

Tuesday, November 17 - Family Generations Night
Visit/Help family from another generation: a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, elderly neighbor. Visit the Polk County Historical Society and make a family tree, genealogical libraries open for help. The Family History Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lakeland will be open on Tuesday, November 17th from 9 AM to 1 PM and 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Click Here for directions.

Wednesday, November 18 - Family Lunch/Dinner
Prepare & eat lunch/dinner together: Eat with your family at school, at home or at a restaurant. There are many resources available for you family lunch and dinner on casafamilyday.org. There are also several other resources available on our Links page.

Mr. Dawson encourages parents to eat lunch with their children at school during this week!

Thursday, November 19 - Museum/Service Night
Visit Explorations V Children's Museum in Lakeland: FREE family admission from 4-8 PM with a donation of a non-perishable food item to be given to area food banks (Click Here for a list of suggested donations). View the individual shcool winners from the Polk County Family Week "My Family & Me" Art Contest in the Museum's Dreamer's Gallery. More Service Night ideas are available HERE.

Friday, November 20 - Family Fun Night
Focus on Fun! Have fun with your family! Support your favorite school team, visit Boys & Girls Clubs, any Polk County YMCA, Silver Moon Drive-In in Lakeland, or stay home and play!

Thank You, Christ Community Church & Elbert Families!

We would like to give a big THANK YOU to Christ Community Church for helping with our "Campus Beautification Project"!!

We would also like to thank the following Elbert families who participated in the project. Thanks for all of your hard work!! Elbert appreciates you!!


Billy, Billy Joe & Bill Jasper Baguio
Susan & Zoe Barfield
Edgardo & Lance Besing
Joe, Taylor & Morgan Black
Bee Jay Bourque
Marc Elder & Family
Rob, Audrey & Holly Fritz
Charles Heath
Rebecca, Stephen & Katelyn Holtan
Howard, Kat, Buster & Skylar MacCalla
Jodie Myers
Anait Seyranyan
Buddy Shelton
Tony, Lisa & Jaxson Trotti
Elitania Van Rompaey (Misael & Dixie)


Look at those hardworkers!!!

Great job, everyone!!

Approved Volunteers

Elbert Elementary volunteer policy is such that if you would like to volunteer at the school you need to be approved by the school board. This process will take two to three weeks to become approved and will cost $24.00 for the police to run a background check. Only a certified check or money order payable to the Polk County School Board will be accepted for payment.

*To help out with various school functions such as Picture Day, the Walk-a-Thon or volunteer at class parties you MUST become an approved volunteer.*

You can find out more information here and print out an application form here. If you are not sure if you are already an approved volunteer, contact Ann Larson at 291-5364.

September Meeting Minutes

Elbert School PTO Minutes
September 14, 2009

This meeting was called to order at 6:40PM by Jodie Myers, President.

IN ATTENDANCE:
Jodie Myers, President; Jamie Heath; Kristen Burke;
Jill Dunlop, Secretary; Lisa Trotti; Mr. Dawson;
Tina Elder, Treasurer; Candance Tucker; MeShaun Palma

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes were read and approved, 9-0

TREASURY REPORT:
Jodie Myers has written up a PTO budget for estimating expenses and funds raised for this upcoming year. See attached budget spreadsheet. As of today’s date, current funds are at $10,332.40.

OLD BUSINESS:
• Fall Festival has been moved to January 16, making it now the Winter Festival. The festival will start at 10:00am and last until 1:00pm. Set up starts at 9:00am. Since bounce houses are not allowed on school property a fun alternative is being requested. Suggestions include SPCA, dogs for the blind, petting zoo, wildlife show, and hayrides. Mr. Dawson will look into getting a local high school Jazz band to play. Would like to have a less expensive meal choice for families and suggestions are welcome. Silent auction will be done by each class/grade providing a basket for the auction. Minimum bids will be placed to avoid small bidding.

• Mr. Dawson presented his new committee for SAC. He needs his council to be a well rounded, diverse group of people from the school, community and parents representing different races and nationalities. The PTO approved his choice of committee members.

• Walk-a-thon is tentatively scheduled for November 12th, from 11:00 – 2:00 after the class has lunch. The same forms from last year will be used again. Parent volunteers will be needed.

• Coupon Fundraiser is in the works. Jodie is asking for suggestions on local business parents would like to see participate. She would like for suggestions to be emailed to her so she can compile a list of businesses to send to the fundraising company. These cards will have to be preordered and then sold for $10 to the community. Elbert will receive a profit (depending on amount sold) from each card sold up to $4.00. People who have a card can use the card to purchase goods and services from participating businesses and receive a discount.

NEW BUSINESS:
• Jodie discussed the need for the PTO as an organization to have insurance. If something were to happen at a PTO event on campus after school hours, the PTO would be responsible. Also, since the PTO pays for the buses for field trips, the PTO is ultimately responsible if that bus were to get into an accident. Jodie will contact a local insurance representative for more accurate costs. Currently $400.00 has been budgeted.

• Jill suggested planning parental involvement activities at the school centered around PTO meetings to increase membership. Candance had many suggestions for these meetings such as a game night, art night or have a music performance. Mr. Dawson is looking to do something at least one night a month. For starters PTO will do one in the fall and one in the spring as to not overburden its current membership. MeShaun motioned for $200 food budget for these two meetings. Candance seconded it and all approved the vote 7-0.

• Tina Elder the treasurer will stay on as treasurer, but will not be able to sign for checks. Jodie Myers, Jill Dunlop and Lisa Trotti will be signers for the PTO.

• Christ Community Church will be volunteering at Elbert Saturday, October 3 from 9:00 – 1:00 to help improve Elbert’s grounds. They will have about 15 volunteers and members of the PTO are encouraged to join them. Landscaping, pressure washing and general clean up will be done. They are in need of pressure washers. Also, boulders or large rocks have been requested for a particular area prone to flooding. Tina Elder motioned for pizza and water to be provided for the volunteers. Candance seconded it and vote was approved 7-0.

• Book Fair will be handled by Mrs. C. Lisa Trotti has volunteered to help her.

• Jodie suggested gifting the teachers with travel coffee mugs that cost $5.95 this year. Tina Elder motioned and Candance seconded it. The motion was approved 6-0.


NEXT MEETING:
The next meeting will be held at Elbert Elementary School Monday, October 5 at 6:30 PM in the media center.

Tina motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:40 PM and Candance seconded it.

Collecting Boxtops and Campbell's Soup labels for Education!

Campbell's Soup labels and Boxtop labels from various grocery manufacturers such as General Mills and Betty Crocker are an additional way to earn money and supplies for Elbert Elementary School. It is easy and simple to do. Throughout the year as you go about your normal grocery shopping routines remember to save the UPC labels from your soup cans. These are the rectangular bar codes on the labels. Just cut them out and collect them in a plastic baggie. At your convenience drop them in the PTO box in the front office at Elbert Elementary. You can drop them off at any time during the school year. At the end of the school year the PTO sends them off to the company to be redeemed for money and supplies.





Campbell's Soup labels are not the only product labels that can be collected. V8 products along with Swanson, Pepperidge Farm and Prego also participate. For a full listing of participating products check here.










There are hundreds of grocery items that are a part of the Boxtops for Education program. For a complete list of participating products click here. Since there are so many different products to keep track of, I recommend printing out the list and keeping it up on your refridgerator as a friendly reminder.

Last year parents who participated earned Elbert Elementary school an extra $215.90 from collecting Boxtop labels. With the Campbell's soup labels we were able to redeem the points collected for the following supplies:
Paper cutter to be kept in media center
Elmer's School Glue gallon bottle
Paint/Glue Pump for the bottle
Color Splash Liquid Paint Assortment Colors (12)


Also, don't forget to ask extended family members, such as grandparents to support your childs school too!

Remember every little bit helps, start clipping today!!

Minutes from August 2009 Meeting

This meeting was called to order at 6:41PM by Jodie Myers, President.

In attendance:
Jodie Myers, Stella Hatton, Kristen Burke
Jill Dunlop, Lisa Trotti, Mr. Dawson
Mr. Trotti, MeShaun Palma

Approval of Minutes
Minutes were read and approved, 8-0

Treasury Report
Jodie has a final report which she will email to Jill Dunlop to add to the minutes. The 2008-09 fiscal year has been closed and the new fiscal year for 2009-2010 has begun.
Beginning balance: $13424.04
Net expenses: $3482.15
Net income: $324.50
Ending balance: $10266.39



Old Business
• Jodie bought 6 (2 gigabyte) digital cameras for 89.99 each from Staples. They came with a case and battery charger. The total was $613.00.

• PTO has been stocking up on school supplies as they have been at good sale prices. Still ask that people purchase supplies on the school list and also add hand sanitizer, soap and tissues as well.

• Jodie is requesting help with t-shirt sales during orientation. So far Karl, Tina, Lisa, Jodie and Jill will be helping with orientation. Pre-orders will be set up at the PTO booth in the cafeteria and Jill will be responsible for handling this. Parents will hand Jill their order and Jill will hand over the pre-packaged t-shirts. She will also be promoting parental involvement with the PTO and the new PTO blog.

• The landscaping project between the media center and 1st grade has not been completed. New talk about bringing in a Boy Scout troop to aid the project was suggested. Everyone was in support of this idea. Mr. Trotti will discuss it with the troop he is actively involved with when they meet after school starts.

• Mr. Trotti had a design of an Elbert sign to be placed in front of the media center in front of the parking lot. It is about 4 ½’ x 16’ and is about 8’ high at the top of the eagle wing. Everybody liked his design. He estimates the cost to make about $700 himself or a local sign company from $1,200 - $1,500. Jodie motioned to approve a budget of $1,000.00 for the sign (7-0 approved). Mr. Trotti will contact local sign businesses to see about getting the sign made.


New Business
• Ideas for fundraisers were discussed. Jodie suggests a card that offers discounts from local businesses to sell to parents and community members. The idea is to sell the cards and Elbert Elementary will receive a $4.00 profit from every card sold, but a minimum of 500 cards need to be sold. Jodie will send out a link for more information to PTO members. Not everyone was in agreement about the fundraiser and no formal motion was made.

• It was discussed to have a Walk-a-Thon again, this year hold it in January before Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• After much discussion it was decided to have the fall festival in the fall as usual.

• We want to expand on the Tijuana Flats restaurant profits by adding 3 other restaurants; one on a different day of the week and a different week of the month. Tina and Jodie are researching possible restaurants.

• Mr. Dawson requested a Teacher Appreciation Breakfast for teachers the first day back to school. The breakfast would be for approximately 50 people with a proposed budget of $300. Motion was approved 7-0.


Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at Elbert Elementary School Monday, September 14 at 6:30 PM.

Jodie motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:34 PM and Ms. Hatton seconds it.

New Partnership with GoodSearch

GoodSearch has teamed up with Elbert Elementary to bring in more revenue for the school. Each time a person makes a search by using the GoodSearch search engine, a donation will be made to Elbert Elementary. You are probably thinking, that this is too easy. Well, guess what? It is!!

Here's how it works:

Step 1. Go to the GoodSearch homepage and enter "Elbert Elementary School" where it says "enter your charity here..." and select "VERIFY". Select our school.

Step 2. Next, search the Internet like you normally would - the site is powered by Yahoo!, so you'll get high-quality search results.

Step 3. Fifty percent of the revenue generated from advertisers is shared with Elbert Elementary from each successful search.

It's just that simple.

We could easily earn up to $1000 a year just by searching twice a day. The money comes through an advertising fee companies pay when users click on links during a search. At GoodSearch, they've developed a patent-pending way to track and direct these search-generated proceeds to charities. In other words, a portion of advertiser dollars (and not our own!) earned as a result of our search, are now passed along to the organization we've chosen to support.

All of our searches will count toward donations except for the following: 1) image searches; 2) video searches; 3) "search this site" searches; 4) searches for URL's (i.e., search terms ending in .com, .org, .net, .edu); 5) searches to sites for which the URL is well known such as HotMail, ESPN, MySpace, Facebook, GMail, AOL, etc.; 6) searches for stock quotes; 7) searches for word definitions, and 8) any searches generated from fraudulent use of the site.

So what are you waiting for?! Spread the word and start searching today!

GoodSearch