FSUS PTSA

Dear FSUS Families,

I hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break.  Here we are in thefinal nine weeks of school.   I don’t know about you, but this feels like a race to the finish.   PTSA has a lot of activities and volunteer opportunities coming up:

General Assembly - Come out on Tuesday, April 20 at 6:30pm for our last meeting of the year and your opportunity to elect next year’s officers.  We will also enjoy a performance by Ms. Hirai’s elementary chorus.  Pizza and child supervision will be available.

Family Fun Night - Lace up your skates Florida High!  We are back at Skate World on Thursday, April 29 from 6:30pm-8:30pm.  Students and their families pay admission and skate rental with a portion going to FSUS.  Teachers, you get in free so come on out!

Teacher Staff Appreciation - This is one of PTSA’s signature events as we celebrate all our wonderful teachers and staff, May 3-7.  Our chair, Llana Seay needs lots of volunteers to help make this week a success.  Please watch for more information about this event and contact Llana at llanaseay@hotmail.net if you can help her with planning.

Relay for Life - FSUS PTSA has a team entered in our school’s first ever Relay-for-Life, May 7-8, 2010 at the FSUS track.  We need teammates so please consider signing up the family to fundraise and to come out and walk the track or staff the team area.  You can find our team page here and our relay sign up here.  Thank you so much for joining us to raise money and awareness about the fight against cancer!

Kindergarten Graduation - The Kindergarten will have a graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 2.  We need volunteers from grades 1-12 to help with decorating and with serving a breakfast to the Kindergarten families.  On behalf of all the Kindergarten parents we thank you for helping so that we can enjoy our children’s ceremony.

Are you tired just reading this?  Just help out where you can and we will get it all done - together.  On your mark, get ready, go!

Kasey Chapin

FSUS PTSA President

“All of Us”

The Tomahawk Cafe is in desperate need of 2-4 part-time cashiers for the remaining of the year. I am willing to job share the position if necessary. Hours would be 9:30 to 1:30 or 10:00 to 2:00. If 2 or 3 people could give me 2 or 3 days per days/week it would help.We are in a bind due to recent events. If anyone would like to discuss being a cashier, please call. It does not commit you to talk. Thanks for any and all help.

Linda Searight
Florida State University Schools
Tomahawk Cafe at Florida High
3000 School House Road
Tallahassee FL 32311
lsearight@fsu.edu
Phone: 850-245-3865

ANNUAL HEALTH & SAFETY FAIR
Thank you to all the students, teachers, faculty and volunteers who attended and helped at the Annual PTSA Health and Safety Fair on March 25th!

The kids were so well mannered and patient as they moved from booth to booth gathering information and fun gifts from our exhibitors. I wanted to encourage parents to take some time to go through the bags that kids brought home and review the valuable information they collected. For the younger kids it’s the challenge of filling their bag with “stuff” so their focus is slightly skewed away from the benefits of the Fair. That’s where you come in! Share that experience with your child and explore all the potential learning opportunities that came home in that little bag!

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IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDER… Parents, as spring and summer team sports are in full gear don’t forget to protect your child’s TEETH!! Sports related mouth injuries can be very painful and very expensive. See the attachedreading from the Florida Department of Health, Public Dental Health Program.

GARDEN CLUB!
The SPRING Garden Club is in full swing! Our kick-off meeting of more than 20 new faces was a success as the students grades kindergarten through fifth grade dug, pulled and destroyed the weeds that had grown since the end of the Fall garden club. The students also found “garden treasures” of cabbages, brussel sprouts, carrots and herbs! Gardeners are set to start their new plantings after Spring break with a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruit to harvest before school ends.

Thanks to the new parent volunteers! Please watch for additional volunteer sign-ups in the coming weeks ahead. The kids delight in learning something new and we need more grownups to help in this important “growth!”

Two Florida High 11th graders have been named statewide winners in the national PTSA Reflections creative arts contest.  Alex J. Taylor and Paige M. Sharpton both received the prestigious Award of Merit from statewide judges for their entries in the national PTSA creative arts contest.  Taylor won the award for music composition, while Sharpton took home the prize in the photography category.  Florida High had 150 entrants in the contest, twice as many as last year, which allowed students from K-12 to submit entries in six different categories under the theme “Beauty is….”  Taylor and Sharpton beat out thousands of other entrants from throughout Florida. 

Valentine’s Day came early to FSUS PTSA.

A huge thank you goes out to all of you who donated clothes, household items and electronics for our Goodwill Donation Drive. We were able to secure $1,000 in vouchers for students and families in need. The FSUS community has a very giving heart! Special thanks to Michelle Carruthers for coordinating this event and for standing outside in subfreezing weather to collect everyone’s donations.

PTSA is focused this month on finding our next group of leaders to help guide our organization through the 2010-2011 school year. If you’ve been wondering how you can get more involved in our school and make a positive difference in the lives of our students, teachers and families this is it! Our Nominating Committee is tasked with finding a candidate for each of our elected positions: President, 1st Vice President - Fundraising, 2nd Vice President - Membership, 3rd Vice President - Programs, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer.

 I can tell you that I have found the past two years very rewarding because I’ve had the pleasure of working with a strong team of people - officers, committee chairs and volunteers. These are people with families and jobs and community commitments who found time to give back to our school. If enough people step forward to help then no one person is overwhelmed. Having a strong PTSA sends a message to our kids that their education is important - to themselves, to their families and to our school community.

Elections will be held at our April General Assembly meeting, which is scheduled for April 20, 2010 at 6:30pm in the Cafeteria. If you are interested in any of these positions or would like to learn more about them please contact a member of our Nominating Committee or send me an email and I’ll pass it along. Your Nominating Committee is:

· Precious Boatwright, precious.boatwright@MyFWC.com  

· Katie Broome, kev05@fsu.edu  

· Kristina Birard, kbirard@fsu.edu  

Please also be on the lookout this month for more information about the FSUS Relay for Life. We will need participants as well as volunteers to make this event a success. There will be a brochure and a website soon. In the meantime you can get more information from Megan Brink at mbrink@fsu.edu or Danielle in the Front Office.

Sincerely,

Kasey Chapin

Health & Safety Committee

GARDEN CLUB - The FALL Garden Club members just completed Phase 2 harvest last week! In October the garden was prepared and the kids planted a variety or winter, root vegetables to grow through the cold season. We also planted some lettuces which were harvested before the winter break. At the first harvest, the kids also picked radishes and onions and we prepared salads which they tested and proudly ate. It was enriching to see the kids discover that their hard work paid off in a delicious and healthy treat. In the second harvest, we picked more ripe vegetables and herbs that we donated to The Shelter Kitchen, a local homeless shelter in downtown Tallahassee that serves dinner to the homeless community seven nights a week. This is our contribution to our local metro community.

There will be one more harvest in a couple weeks when our cabbages are ripe. Each child will be able to take home a green or red cabbage that their family can prepare together. A recipe list will accompany their harvest so the family can work together to make a delicious side or main dish. Our hope is the kids will partake in this recipe because they actually planted and cared for it.

We will be opening registration for the Spring Garden Club in the coming month. The Spring Garden club will produce another bounty of vegetables that our kids can test. However, our intent is to start a new tradition in that on the Friday of each harvest week the Garden Club members will be gathering vegetables for our own needful student families to distribute through our new FSUS Food Pantry. We will work in conjunction with the Student Outreach committee to see that our families can be offered these fresh vegetables along with the available staple items. This is our contribution to our own school community.

Help raise some dough for our cafeteria! Delicious dinner rolls are a great addition to your weekday or holiday meals. Rolls will be made fresh and will include freezing and reheating instructions. All proceeds will go to the Tomahawk Café for the purchase of an electronic sign and for training and staff development. Click the link for more information. http://fsusptsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/rolls-order-form.pdf

Happy Holidays!

I hope you enjoy these next few weeks of celebration with family and friends. The best part of the holiday season is the spirit of generosity and giving. I really appreciate how hard everyone has been working to make this a great year for FSUS. Dr. Grantham recently sent home a letter to FSUS parents in which he thanked PTSA for our efforts on behalf of the school. Thank you, Dr. G., for your support and recognition.

One of the events he mentioned was “Walking for Trina”. I want to recognize the real heroines of that event - Dottie Meadows, Kate Pulver and Cheryl Simon. These ladies embody the spirit of giving and loving thy neighbor, and I was very happy to volunteer at their event.

I would also like to recognize Julie Lengacher for organizing our third Second Harvest Food Drive. Every year is bigger and better. Julie and her volunteers collected over 2700 pounds of food almost doubling last year’s total, and Mr. Mullings’ class wowed everyone with their impressive donation of 727 items. Mr. Mullings will receive our new “Top Class Can” which goes to the class with the most donations.

Precious Boatwright went to the Florida PTA conference in Orlando last month and accepted the Safety Award on behalf of FSUS PTSA. Bonnie Abellera wrote our award-winning entry detailing the efforts of Heidi Abernethy and Danni Vogt to create a safer environment for our students. Heidi hosted a Cyber Safety program for all our middle and high school students. Danni organized our Bike Rodeo and Health & Wellness Fair. Thanks to all of you for your hard work!

If you would like to give back this month we will have volunteer opportunities with our Holiday Shop, December 7-10 helping students find little gifts for their family and friends. We will also be helping the Tomahawk Café staff with their Dinner Roll Fundraiser, December 14-17. All proceeds will go to the Cafeteria for the purchase of an electronic sign and for staff development and training. Our kids visit the cafeteria at least once a day, and the cafeteria staff was the first school team to have 100% membership in PTSA this year. We are so pleased to help them reach their goals.

Finally, our Administration would like your help with making the Faculty and Staff Holiday Party very special. If you would like to donate a door prize for this event, please contact Dr. Grantham’s office.

Wishing you all the best!

Kasey Chapin
FSUS PTSA President
FSUS PTSA
“All of Us”

BAKE SALE
Thanks to all of you who donated baked goods towards our Bake Sale which was held Sunday, November 15th at the South wood Harvest Gathering, it was a huge success!

We had a lot of Yummy individual baked items, Beautiful cakes and pies for our Cake Walk and lots of cup cakes for kids to decorate.

Our cake walk was a huge success! Everyone was having a lot of fun walking for a cake they had spotted and some continued to walk until they finally won! The cup cake station was a hit again this year and the kids really enjoyed decorating by themselves. We also had some items donated and we sold a few tickets for a drawing and everyone seemed to like this too!

We’re pleased to say that we raised $526.00 and ALL money will go towards our Teachers and Staff Appreciation Week in May. We hope to make this a wonderful week for them ALL!!

Again, WE thank everyone for your support and participation…We couldn’t have done this without your help!

BOX TOPS, CAMPBELLS LABELS, TYSON A+ AND COMMUNITY COFFEE LABELS
Our next collection period for ALL the above labels will be December 11th . We sent a Turkey Box Tops collection sheet home with each Elementary Student in hopes that each student will enjoy filling up their turkey over the break and turning them in before the collection period. During the holiday break look around your house and kitchen for all the labels you will be using and make sure you turn them all in to a collection bin or your teacher in a bag clearly marked with your name, grade and your teachers name.

We continue to encourage all of our middle and high school students to participate and turn in their labels. Remember, 2 students in Middle School and 2 students in High School with the most labels will receive a $10 gift card to Best Buy

The 1st and 2nd grade Box Tops challenge has been determined. Ms. Wills drew the 2 lucky winners for the Littlest Pet Shop and Bakugan and they were:

· Maddie - 1st grade/Durham - Littlest Pet Shop

· Gabriel - 2nd grade/Taylor - Bakugan

Also, our 3rd grade - 5th grade students had a Dollar Bill Box Tops challenge. The deadline for this challenge is coming up and we will let everyone know the winners of the 2 $5.00 gift cards to Block Buster in next month’s newsletter.

Thanks to all our 1st and 2nd graders and our 3rd - 5th graders who participated and ALL of you will be receiving a goody bag at the next collection period.
 
HOLIDAY SHOP IS COMING!
The PTSA is having our Annual “Holiday Shop” hosted by “Kids Korner Gift Shoppe” to allow ALL students the chance to purchase gifts, at a low cost, for family and friends. The Holiday Shop will be held in the library on December 7th - December 10th from 8:30 - 2:30 each day. Each Elementary Class will be assigned a specific day and time and will come with their class and teacher on that specific day to shop. Each student will receive an envelope to bring their money to school with their name and the people they are purchasing gifts for; we will have volunteers who can help them purchase these gifts.

If you have a Middle or High School student, this shop is open to them during any of these hours. They are invited to visit the shop during these times; they will not be assigned a specific time.

We will need several volunteers each day during these hours to help us with the Holiday Shop. If you are able to help or have any questions, please contact: Alicia Cherry: anc2@embarqmail.com or Trevor Brumbley: tbrumbley@csu.com

Dear FSUS Families,

The first nine weeks of school are over and FSUS PTSA is going strong. I’m going to take this opportunity to give thanks for our many blessings this year.

First, thank you, our members, for joining and volunteering to help our school be the best it can be.  Our goal every year is to increase our membership.  Why?  We don’t just want the dues.  It is our goal because we want our kids to go to the kind of school where the parents, teachers and students make a commitment to service, education and community.  Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.  Thank you for joining PTSA and by doing so indicating that supporting FSUS and working together is important to you.

Thanks to the Administration, Faculty and Staff for working with us to make our events a success and for being responsive to any questions or concerns we bring forward.

Thanks to all of our committee chairs and volunteers.  We have already had a successful Fall fundraiser and General Assembly meeting, fed our families at Open House, hosted our first FSUS Dads’ event with “Donuts for Dads”, started our elementary school vegetable gardens, hosted a bike rodeo, enjoyed two Family Fun Nights at Chick-Fil-A and Skate World, kicked off the Principal’s A/R Reading Challenge, granted Teacher Mini-Grants for travel to educational conferences, and started a Room Parent Program.

This month we look forward to being of service to others in need as we collect food for the Second Harvest Fall Food Drive.  This is also the month we will be accepting entries for our Reflections Arts Program, launching Teacher MiniGrants for Hospitality events, and hosting a Bake Sale at the SouthWood Harvest Gathering.  Check out all of our upcoming events below and in our new Google calendar of events!

It truly takes “All of Us” to get things done.  Thank you all so much for being part of it. 

Kasey Chapin
FSUS PTSA President