Originally delivered on 10/18/2023 3:42 pm

SUBJECT: Shepherd PTO Bulletin - 10/18/2023

Shepherd PTO Bulletin - October 18, 2023

In this week's PTO Bulletin...

- Open Letter Re: DCPS Boundary Study - Signatures Needed

- 180 Fund Appeal and Bonus Incentive!

- Upcoming Events

October LSAT Meeting
October PTO Meeting - Now October 25th
Fall Fest - Tickets and Volunteer Updates!

- IB Corner

- Giving Back Opportunities

Online Gear Storefront
Teacher Appreciation Program (TAP)

- Community Offerings

- Other Upcoming Important Dates

Parent Teacher Conferences (No School): October 19th - SESSA Childcare Available
Professional Services Day (No School): October 20th - SESSA Childcare Available

Open Letter Re: DCPS Boundary Study - Signatures Needed

The Shepherd Elementary PTO's Communications, Advocacy & Community Relations Committee has drafted an Open Letter to Deputy Mayor Kihn regarding our community's position on the Boundary Study & Student Assignment Effort. You can find the body of the letter here. If you concur with the message in the letter, we ask that you please sign the change.org petition by Monday 10/23 at 8 pm.

So as not to dilute our message, we are asking that you not distribute this petition beyond our Shepherd Elementary Community. Our goal is to ensure all signatures reflect those families who are directly impacted by the Boundary Study and feeder patterns.

Shepherd 180 Fund Appeal And Bonus Incentive!

Help the Shepherd PTO fund lots of great events, initiatives, and extra circular efforts at Shepherd this year by donating to the 180 Fund.

All families who donate to the 2023-2024 180 Fund by 10/23/23 will be entered into a raffle for 30 free tickets to be redeemable at Fall Fest on October 29th.

It's called the 180 Fund because there are 180 instructional days in the school year and your donation of a dollar a day per student helps the PTO support sending students on offsite field trips, funding teacher educational wish lists, putting on school plays and concerts, updating outdoor playground equipment, funding additional academic supports, and hosting school-wide events! This budget really helps us give our students even more unique, meaningful and enriching opportunities each year.

Any contribution is always much appreciated. And as a reminder, your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Thanks for your support!

Thank you to our 180 Families!!

McIntosh Family

Daly Family

Neal Family

Ma-Holdridge Family

Batler-Landau Family

Archer Family

Riley-Keck Family

Krill Family

Tivol-Kaufmann Family

Howard Family

Coble Family

Kunce Family

Faulman-Coffey Family

Arellano Family

Walejko-Markham Family

Boykin Family

Kane Family

Snyder-Johnson Family

McNeill Family

Marchand Family

Raglani Family

Romine Family

Fagen Family

Kasargod-Staub Family

Zettle-Kreisberg Family

Mainor Family

Marnon Family

Kim Family

Gilberg-Prince Family

DeAngelo Family

Hatcher Family

Jabaily-Messing Family

Hoehn Family

Humphries Family

The Jackson Family

Bassin-Reimer Family

Head Family

Bowie Family

Warkentien-Moncton Family

Ross-White Family

Boyd Family

Roberts Family

The Hechter Family

Miller Family

White Family

Toussaint Family

Ju Family

Jones Family

Monninger Family

Lewis Family

Mayorga Family

Upcoming Events

October LSAT Meeting

The 2nd LSAT meeting of the 2023-2024 school year will be Today October 18th at 4pm in the Shepherd Conference Room. If you are unable to join in person, please register on Zoom:

AGENDA

Assessment Calendar
What is CAPE?
Staffing and Substitute Update
Facilities Update

October PTO Meeting

Our October PTO meeting has moved to Wednesday October 25th at 5:30 pm. In order to complete our in-person brainstorming activity that we had to postpone from last month, this meeting will be held exclusively in-person. The location will be announced shortly. Future meetings will offer virtual options.

Agenda:

Upcoming Events
Principal Russell Update
PTO Business
Facility & Advocacy Committee Updates
Brainstorming for 2023-2024 Committee Goals

Fall Fest Tickets and Volunteers Update!

We are excited to announce that Fall Fest Tickets are onsale now! This year's Fall Fest will be Sunday October 29th from 12 pm - 4 pm.

For those families that haven't been to Fall Fest before, the event takes place outside the school on 14th St. between Jonquil and Kalmia. There will be a bounce house, a DJ, game truck, carnival games, arts & crafts, concessions, and new for this year - A Costume Competition!

Before you buy your tickets, please visit our Plan Hero site to sign up for a volunteer session. We won't be able to pull off the event without community volunteers for set up, clean up, concessions, ticket sales, activities, line monitoring and more.

You can purchase your Fall Fest tickets here. Activity and concession pricing can be found in the image below. We hope to see you there!

IB Corner

School-wide IB Action Project

Our school-wide IB community action project is connected to the United Nations Sustainable Development goal No Poverty. As a school community, we will be reading Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña. Last Stop on Market Street is a beautifully illustrated book that looks at material poverty through the eyes of a young boy who rides on a bus with his grandmother across town. You can find this book on Youtube, at your local library, or maybe even in our school library. Our community action project is our annual coat drive! 5th grade will be leading us in this effort! More information coming soon for how to get involved!

October Learning Profile and Approach to Learning

Learner Profile Attribute of the Month: Open-Minded

We appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We have tolerance. We consider other points of view and are willing to grow from the experience.

Approach to Learning Skill of the Month: Social Skills

This includes developing positive interpersonal relationships and collaboration skills, developing social-emotional intelligence.

Giving Back Opportunities

Online Gear Store

Our Shepherd Elementary gear storefront is now available for orders under "Giving Back to Shepherd" on the Shepherd website. After you've completed your purchase, gear will be delivered directly to your child's classroom within 7 business days. The PTO will still host in-person events throughout the year, but the gear store will provide a convenient alternative to those sales.

Please note, if you select gear and it cannot be added to the bag, it is likely sold out.

Teacher Appreciation Program (TAP)

The Teacher Appreciation Program, or TAP, gives parents an opportunity to recognize a teacher at Shepherd for their great work and dedication. TAP invites parents to write a letter of appreciation recognizing a teacher who has been especially helpful or admirable in the classroom.

Once a month, a special teacher will be selected from the nominations to receive a Wishlist fund bonus. The recognition letters will also be shared with the selected teacher and school community.

TAP a teacher today by submitting a nomination here.

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Upcoming Events

October LSAT/PTO Meeting

Parent-Teacher Conferences (No School)

Professional Services Day (No School)

Fall Family Photo Fundraiser

Fall Fest

Dates

Wednesday, October 18th

Thursday, October 19th

Friday, October 20th

Saturday, October 21st

Sunday, October 29th

Follow Shepherd PTO on FB and Insta

Keep up with the latest updates, events and fun things going on at Shepherd by following our FB page (@ShepherdElemPTO) and Instagram (@shepherd_elementary)