from Nan
to
date Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 2:14 PM
subject Thanksgiving Feast update

Hi all - two big updates for the Thanksgiving Feast on Nov 20th

First off - the person who was to be our coordinator cannot, due to work restraints. We need a coordinator!!!!! For information - see attached

The best news is that the feast will be held in the gymnasium! Thanks to Mrs Bautista, we have that space and tables arranged, much like the Dr Seuss breakfast. This will allow us to be more organized, and will eliminate the multiple food lines and lack of seating in the classrooms.

It will also make the job of the coordinator much easier, as in the past much of the effort was put into organizing and balancing the multiple food lines in the classrooms.

Contact me for questions. Gobble gobble.

Nan, SOPG Chair
Don't forget the website!! www.susitnaoptional.org

Here’s what’s happening this week at your Susitna Optional Program:

Monday, October 26

Tuesday, October 27
2:15-3:15pm - Community Outreach Program

Supply (or cash) Donations Needed:
• White t-shirts in children’s sizes (4 – 7/8 years)
• Batting for stuffing shirts
• Fabric crayons, paint, and markers
• Fleece in bright colors and patterns
• Fabric glue
• Crayons
• Colored pencils
• Baggies
• Small paintbrushes
• Sewing needles
• Alcohol swabs

Thanks for your support as we try to brighten the lives of children living homeless.

Wednesday, October 28

Dear Parents:

It is Community Outreach time again. We are super excited about this year’s theme: “Kids Helping Kids.” We have chosen the Anchorage School District, Children in Transition Program as our beneficiary. This program works with children who attend our schools and who are in foster care. Our aim is to provide these children with something both to call their own and to comfort them during what is a difficult time in their lives.

Students will be decorating a canvas bag and filling it with a journal, kid-designed coloring book, a fleece hat and scarf, a T-shirt pillow, and a few art supplies. All these items will be handmade by our students. We hope this will be a powerful experience for students as they begin to realize the challenges their peers may face and how lucky they are to have what they have in life, however much or little that may be.

We need your help to pull this off. First off we need supplies, money for supplies, or your help in getting local businesses to donate supplies. Below is a list of what we need. If you have the gift of the gab and would be willing to call or visit some local businesses for supplies please let me know and I would be happy to supply you with information about our project and some letters written by our fourth and fifth graders asking for donations. If you would like to send in a donation of money or supplies we will gladly receive that from you as well.

Our first week of project time is October 27th so the sooner we hear or receive from you the better it would be for our planning.

Thank you for considering helping out with this project. We so appreciate the support you give your child and the Optional program. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher.


Supplies:
• White t-shirts in children’s sizes (4 – 7/8 years)
• Batting for stuffing shirts
• Fabric crayons, paint, and markers
• Fleece in bright colors and patterns
• Fabric glue
• Crayons
• Colored pencils
• Baggies
• Small paintbrushes
• Sewing needles
• Alcohol swabs

Meeting start: 6:35 | Meeting end: 7:30

Kim: read a great book called "Through the Cracks" by Carolyn Sollman (Author), Barbara Emmons (Author), Judith Paolini (Author) -- which reminded her of our fabulous Optional Program.

Zangle issues: optional report cards aren't working right and no your children are not failing everything :( Parent-teacher conferences should smooth everything out.

October 19-23rd. Student Council will be making daily announcements and getting the kids involved in all the fun stuff.

TERESA: there are still issues with getting program fees. The first reminder was mailed out about two weeks ago. Teresa will mail out another in about 10-14 days. If people need help and/or extensions, they need to ask for help -- they should not assume.

Teresa and Genie briefly discussed getting cooperate / non-profit discounts for the teachers at Arctic Office or another office supplier. Teresa will make contacts again to try to get this set up.

GENIE: teachers sent out donation requests for community outreach which will run for for 6 weeks starting OCTOBER 27 from 2:15 - 3:15. This year's theme is "Kids Helping Kids." We are making comfort bags for foster children in transition. Our vision is to provide a child with a decorated bag of art supplies, a kid-made coloring book and/or journal, a kid-made T-shirt pillow, and a fleece hat. If you would like to help out with this project we need some supplies. If you would rather donate money to purchase supplies that would be great too. We need:

* White t-shirts in children¹s sizes (4 7/8 years)
* Batting for stuffing shirts
* Fabric crayons, paint, and markers
* Fleece in bright colors and patterns
* Fabric glue
* Crayons
* Colored pencils
* Baggies
* Small paintbrushes
* Sewing needles
* Alcohol swabs

If you would like to come and help out with projects we will be rotating students through different projects each Tuesday for six weeks starting October 27th. We would love to see you here! (Ms B's email has been plagiarized for these minutes.) Genie is not completely sure, but feels that it would be easiest to have money donated that way the teachers would have more control (at least she would) over the products they really need.

Children in Transition program grew by 38% last year. Kim discussed how our "sister school" had provided money cards which were then provided to families that ended up in transition situations / foster care, etc. The sister school received a thank you letter and those children in the sister school really loved knowing that they were positively impacting the lives of other children less fortunate. Nan thought it might be a good idea to do something like this and there appeared to be no objection from the parents in attendance tonight.

PACT recap: it was great! Thanks to Ryan for making this such an interesting topic for the children and to Kris B for setting this up and making it such a success.

NOV 13th is our next PACT and our next PACT speaker will be Scott Thompson, wildlife Artist. As always, we encourage lots of parent involvement and help. Parents were very positive about the way this last PACT went and felt more at east.

Lucky us, we have April Nye who is going to be the PACT coordinator! Thanks, April!

SOPG DIRECTORY: it's almost done. Nan is doing it.

THANKSGIVING FEAST is November 20th: we need a coordinator. Search around for somebody to help with this. Genie has the book on how it runs.

PROJECT DAY IS DECEMBER 4TH: there are three people signed up so far but it works best to have at least six (6). This is a Friday morning and the kids absolutely LOVE this event. It's really good energy and a positive event. Please consider donating some time for this event.

//Jamie Lang, SOPG Secretary