Wolverine Track 3

The Wolverine Track Volume 32, no. 3

October 5, 2009 Wellington PTA 6.10.43

President’s Message... Getting Involved is Sometimes Hard to Do It can be difficult to get involved at school for the first time. At Wellington, we try to make it easy. At curriculum night, the teachers and PTA committees invite parents to get involved in the classrooms. Our new parent coffee the first day of school provides a way to meet your PTA team and sign up for ways to help. Our volunteer coordinator, Caroline Ahlstrom, manages the volunteer survey to poll our parent community for their talents and passion regarding volunteerism. The effectiveness of our programs depends on the help we get from volunteers. Sometimes though, we see a small percentage of our volunteers assume the bulk of the help. True, some love helping, but other volunteers help over and over again, when they are worried others won’t step forward to help do all the things that make Wellington extraordinary. Soon, these parents get burned out and we lose their time and talents. If you have stopped yourself from volunteering because you are unsure of what to do, didn’t quite know how the program worked, etc., please know that we have a valuable resource of parents who have done all these jobs in the past that will be glad to assist you. These folks are just a phone call away to answer questions and the PTA Exec. Team is here to help as well. I have had parents tell me in the past that a particular program looked like fun, but were afraid to do it because it was something they had never done and it took them outside of their comfort zone. I think we all can relate to that feeling. Continued on page 2

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Inside this issue: Kick-off and Raffle Thanks!

Thank You!

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Spirit Wear on Sale

Order details

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Alternative recess games

Donations requested

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Reflections Art Program

Participation info

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Classic Books

Volunteers needed

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PTA website

Check it out

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Coat drive coming

Mark your calendar

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4PACE Fundraising

Sign-up

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Box Tops/Cartridge Recycle

Donation details

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Art Docents

Volunteers needed

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School Board Election

Mark your calendar

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Newsletter Editor:

Sarah Dziuk, [email protected]

Dates to remember Oct. 13&15: Reflections workshops (3:00-4:30) 20: PACE open house 19-23: Coat Drive 27: General Membership PTA mtg @7:00pm, Library

Wellington Elementary Est. Fall 1978

From the Executive Commit‘09/‘10 PTA Executive Committee President: Joan Ritter 425-750-3840 [email protected] President-Elect: Stacy Meyer 425-481-2927 [email protected] VP Membership: Sandy Mollerup 425-806-4970 [email protected] VP Fundraising: Danielle Glessner 425-485-6986 [email protected]

The Wellington community sure knows how to multi-task! While having a great time eating pizza and socializing at the kick-off, we managed to raise over $4000 for our PTA programs! This money, along with Walk-a-thon funds, will be used all during the year to enhance the school experience for all Wellington students. Be on the lookout for regular updates in the Wolverine Track to show how your PTA dollars are being put to work. Thank you, Wellington community, for “kicking off” our school year in such a positive way! Lisa Stefanzick Treasurer

Secretary: Gayle Hickey 425-485-2155 [email protected] Treasurer: Lisa Stefanzick 425-483-8632 [email protected]

Mark Your Calendars! General PTA Meeting Tuesday, October 27 7:00pm, Wellington Library Come and participate in YOUR local PTA. Learn what is happening and share your ideas!

President’s Message continued... I am an accountant by trade and becoming PTA President certainly has taken me outside of my comfort zone too! But with all the great help and support that I have gotten, I soon realized that sometimes it is good to challenge yourself, especially since this is something we ask our kids to do every day. I use this as an example to my girls quite often when they are afraid to do or try something new. I tell them of something I volunteered for that I had never done before, and found out that it wasn’t as hard as I thought, or found it was fun. So, next time help is needed in the classroom, for a field trip, PTA program, Committee Chair position, please don’t hesitate to say yes! We know you can’t say yes to everything that comes along, but if we all aim to volunteer for at least one thing during the year, the combined effort from all of us will be huge! You will find that the help you give will make Your PTA stronger, the school and teachers more successful, and most important of all, your kids will love you for it! And, at the end of the day, you will be glad you did it too.

- Joan Ritter

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

-Seneca Pg. 2

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A big thank you to the Wellington Community for making the 2009 Community First Beach Bash a huge success! The weather was made-to-order, the food was hot and on-time and we raised some money for the Wellington PTA from the gift basket raffle and food sales. Hopefully you were able to attend, meet some new faces, reconnect with some old friends, chat with some teachers and get valuable information from our PTA tables. A huge thank you to our Community First organizations that added to our evening: Sheriff Peter Hickey, Waste Management, Papa John’s Pizza and Costco. Unfortunately, Woodinville Fire were very busy on calls that evening. It takes many hands to put on an event where over 400 meals are served and the Kickoff Committee takes off their hats to the following people who signed up to volunteer there time to help out: Decorations/Set-up: Cat Gustafson (for making ALL the decorations), Linda King, Hope Paris, Mikele Scheffer, Joan Ritter, Stacey Meyer, Mr. Boyd’s Class, Rachel Schenck, Brittney Glessner and Keanae Tiersma Basket Set-up: Ronee Baldie, Rochelle Dammel, Nollie Olson Check-In: Heather Church (for ALL of ticketing), Michelle Bedell, Heather Tomlinson Meal Purchases: Kelly Vedaa (also Co-Chair of Kickoff), Mich Earl, Kim Davis Raffle Tickets: Debi Johnson, Sandra Pell, Amy Stine Raffle Ticket Rovers: Nollie Olson, Kelli Reinholdtsen Food Servers: Brittney Glessner, Rachel Schenck, Keanae Tiersma, Emily Ahlstrom, Whitney Ahlstrom, Payton Schenck, Amanda McMaster, Natalie Knoles, other Jr High gals who jumped into help Clean-Up: Stacey Knoles, Kelli Patterson, Mike Logan, Kathy Buford, Linda King, Durwin Ritter, Gary Schatz Many other people helped out with cleaning up the gym, picking up trash, putting tables and chairs away and generally stepping in to help out where needed. Thank you for your helpful spirit! Diana Boyd & Kelly Vedaa Kickoff Committee Co-Chairs

Show Your Spirit —

Wellington Families Rally —

Wolverine Spirit Wear on Sale Now!

Basket Raffle a Success!

Spirit Days are every Friday at Wellington, so get stocked up for the year. Spirit Wear is on sale now until October 9th.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated a basket at the Beach Bash Kick-Off! We had 58 wonderful baskets. Over 25 baskets came into the office after a desperate plea from our PTA saying “we need more baskets”! Wellington families really know how to make things happen! We had such a great variety of beautiful baskets that created excitement for not only the kids, but quite a few adults too!

Stop by the PTA bulletin board outside the main office door to view samples. Along with our ever popular long and short sleeved T-shirts, regular and hooded sweatshirts and adult ¼ zip pullovers, we have added fleece jackets and tie dye short sleeved t-shirts for children and adults and 2 different styles of hats! Spirit wear is available for purchase for a limited two week period so show your wolverine spirit now! All proceeds directly benefit our Wellington PTA. If you have any questions, please call or email Laury Kohut at 425.486.9367 or [email protected].

Volume 32, no.3

A special thank you to all the wonderful basket volunteers: Nollie Olsen, Rochelle Dammel, Joan Ritter, Marsha Moore, Cat Gustafson, Danielle Glessner, Stacey Meyer, and Diana Boyd. Without you the basket raffle would not have run so smoothly! Thanks! Ronee Baldie

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Games Needed for New 4-6th Grade Recess Option A new recess option program has been started at Wellington for 4th- 6th grade students. The program will be supervised by Mr. Zehm, one of the 6th grade teachers, and will allow up to 25 students the option of playing quiet board games, silent reading, or building Legos during lunch recess. The recess program will be available Tuesday through Friday during lunch recess. If you would like to donate quiet games (no hand held or electronic games, please) to enhance this great program, here is a sample list of games needed: Sorry, Life, Chess sets, checkers, Battleship (non-electronic), Imagine it!, Trouble, Apples to Apples, Risk, Uno, Guess Who. Also needed are: Lego kits for ages 8-12, along with containers to store the kits. Please bring donations to the Wellington Office.

Beauty Is… Attending a Reflections Art Workshop While it is not necessary to attend a workshop in order to submit an entry for the Reflections arts recognition program, PTA will be providing two afternoons on Tuesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 15 from 3—4:30pm for students to work on their visual art and/or literature entries. Entries are due Friday, October 23rd. Permission slips are required to attend this event, and were sent home in September 28th Monday envelope. Additional slips can be obtained by emailing the Reflection chair, Rochelle Dammel at [email protected]. Volunteers are needed to assist in supporting students in their projects for both days. No art skills are necessary to assist the students… moral support is the key. Dance Choreography, Film/Video, Literature, Music Composition, Photography and Visual Arts are the categories for this 40-year-old arts recognition program and should all be focused on expressing the theme “Beauty is…”. Additional entry requirements are outlined on the Washington State PTA website, http://www.wastatepta.org/programs/reflections or can be picked up in the office. All entries will be recognized at a special Gallery Night on Thursday, November 5 at 6:30pm in the Library.

Classic Books Needs You! Want to volunteer? Love to read? Then Classic Books needs you! When the weather gets dreary this winter, escape the northwest gloom by reading a good book with your child and their friends. Volunteer for Classic Books, a PTA-sponsored reading enrichment program for grades 3 - 6. Groups meet once a week during school hours for six weeks. Trained co-leaders guide and encourage same-grade groups to discuss and develop opinions about what they read. Because kids will be reading a different ageappropriate book each week and then discussing it in their group, they will go beyond the surface level of plot and characterizations without getting lost. They'll explore the deeper issues of genre, theme and purpose. If you would like to participate in a program where you see your kids and their friends interact while increasing their knowledge about reading, contact Stacey Knoles at 415/505-6563 or [email protected].

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Check out the PTA Website... Wellington’s PTA has been re-vamping our website to make it more user-friendly and offer more capabilities. We are adding more features all the time and plan on adding even more: blogs, PTA forms for download, automatic notification of on-line newsletter posting…there are so many possibilities! Please visit soon and give us your feedback. If there are any improvements you would like to see, we’d love to hear them. Contact the PTA webmaster at [email protected].

www.WellingtonPTA.org

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Reminder: Chess Club Begins September 30 Chess club starts September 30th in Room 16 at Wellington at 3:10-4:15p. To register or find out more, visit www.chess4life.com. Contact Wellington Chess Club Coordinator Brigitta Suwandana, by phone 425.488.6028 or email [email protected].

Wellington Coat Drive—October 19-23 Rain clouds are gathering and temperatures are dropping ushering in our first social concerns drive of the new school year. Please start to collect new or gently used coats, hoodies, hats and gloves for local foster children. This year your donations will be given to Treehouse for Kids. This organization runs a clothing warehouse for foster families. Our drive will start October 19 and continue through October 23. The 6th graders will be picking your donations up from your child’s classroom.

An at-home emergency tip from your Emergency Prep team.

Action Steps: sign up for a First Aid/CPR class. Preparing now can give you peace of mind and much-needed information

We thank you in advance for your generosity in keeping these less fortunate children in our community warm and dry this winter. If you have any questions, please contact your Social Concerns Committee. Diane Barker 206 650- 6153 Alice Capell 425 481- 0978 Patrice Welch 425 487-6242

in case of an emergency.

Don’t Delay — Register for 4PACE.com Today! Last week we sent home packets with your students kicking off our 4PACE.com school-wide fall fundraiser. Please be sure to check it out! Our goal is for every parent to participate. With a 4PACE membership you help Wellington raise thousands of dollars. Over 400 local businesses participate and donate 5% of every purchase to our school. Even better, you save 20% on your first visit at each and every restaurant and receive special "Member Only" savings on your purchases at local retailers. REGISTER TODAY at www.4PACE.com with any Visa or MasterCard and $10 of your $25 annual membership fee goes directly to our school. Also, your student will receive a fun robotic HEXBUG with your registration. TELL FRIENDS AND FAMILY to register too (in addition to your membership) by OCTOBER 5th and your student will receive another cool educational prize. (Registration is open throughout the year.) ALREADY A MEMBER? Your membership will automatically renew on your anniversary date and Wellington will continue to benefit from this great program. While the fundraising company, Parent and Community Businesses for Education, uses the name PACE; it is not affiliated with PACE, Parents Active in Cooperative Education--a Northshore School District program. On behalf of Wellington PTA--THANK YOU for all your support! If you have any questions, please contact Danielle Glessner, Wellington PTA's VP of Fundraising at [email protected].

Volume 32, no.3

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for Education and Cartridge Recycling

BOX TOPS

Congratulations Wellington families! We are off to a great start already. The Box Tops box was filled once and now ready for more! Please go to www.boxtops4education.com. Not only can you see new products with boxtops, but you can register and get coupons and great recipes! You can even do your shopping online through the boxtops website and earn money for our school! Keep collecting those cartridges too! Turn in any used cartridges to the box located in the main office! If you have any questions or want to help with boxtops please email Shanna Seet at [email protected].

Wanted: Art Docents! The following classes are still in need of an Art Docent for the upcoming school year. Will you be someone who can help? Mr. Elledge (grade 1) Mrs. Bissell and Mrs. Van Avery (grade 2) Mr. McCrory (grade 3) Mrs. Bailey (grade 4) Mrs. Gunderson (grade 4) Mr. Cline (grade 5) Mr. Farnus (grade 6) Mr. Shelton (grade 5) The Art Docent program makes it easy to get involved. Here is how:

 It’s not necessary to be an “artist” to be an Art Docent.

 The Northshore School District Art Docent program has a complete curriculum where the projects are already documented and the supplies are available to complete the art projects.

 Art Docents are able to volunteer in the classroom, particularly in the upper grades where the in class volunteer opportunities aren’t as numerous.

 The time commitment is typically one lesson a month, unless the teacher requests more.

 Training will be offered on how to use the Art Docent Curriculum.

 Wellington parent, Melanie Pollon, will be teaching classes for the Art Docents on how to use the clay, glazes and the kiln. It will be a great opportunity to learn something new and have some fun! PTA/PTSA district disclaimer “These activities are not sponsored nor endorsed by the Northshore School District or any of its schools. The district assumes no responsibility for the conduct during or safety of the activities. Northshore School District shall be held harmless from any cause of action, claim, or petition filed in any court or administrative tribunal arising out of the distribution of these materials including attorney’s fees and judgments or awards.”

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If you would like to sign up or have any questions, please contact Melanie Kanz at 425-488-6797 or [email protected].

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Important School Board Election General Election is Nov 3rd, 2009

The Northshore Council PTSA invites citizens throughout the Northshore School District to learn about the candidates running for Northshore School Board at the:

Northshore School Board Candidates Forum Monday October 5th, 2009 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Bothell High School Commons 9130 NE 180th Street, Bothell, WA 98011 There will be a list of pre-selected questions and audience members will have an opportunity to submit questions before 7:00pm which may be used if time permits. Voter registration will be available at this event.

Candidates

Director District No. 1 Julia Lacey Sue Buske

Director District No. 4 Sandy R. Hayes

Director District No. 5 Todd M. Banks Cathy Swanson

“These activities are not sponsored nor endorsed by the Northshore School District or any of its schools. The District assumes no responsibility for the conduct during or safety of the activities. Northshore School District shall be held harmless from any cause of action, claim or petition filed in any court or administrative tribunal arising out of the distribution of these materials including attorney’s fees and judgments or awards”

Volume 32, no.3

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