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 Cheetah Chat
Ben Rush PTA E-News |
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Ben Rush Elementary School
Redmond, Washington
425-881-6047 |
November 1, 2009 |
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 I hope you are enjoying our newsletter. Make sure to read it all, since there is important information included in this issue regarding teacher conferences, shopping discounts, volunteering opportunities, and a new robotics club.
Respectively,
Stephanie Cullen
Ben Rush PTA Communications Director
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Second & Third Grade Class Social
Pajama Party and Book Walk
The 2nd and 3rd Grade will hold its class social in the school gym on Thursday, November 12th at 7:00 PM. Come join your classmates, teachers and family members in a "Pajama Party" theme and bring one gently used book: your book will be part of the "book walk." Volunteers interested in bringing treats, please contact your PTA class rep.
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 Pottery Night
Thursday, November 5th
School Gym
Here's your chance to create art with your family.
To learn more about the event and the cost of the pottery pieces, go to
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Arigato, Mr. Roboto?
Is your child interested in programming robots? Does he/she like math and computers? We are planning to start a robotics club at Ben Rush and would like to know how many students would be interested in this after-school club. We'll probably meet for one hour or so every week: start date and time are yet to be determined.
If interested, please email Thereza Howling at thowling2@hotmail.com with your child's name, grade, teacher's name, and preferred dates/times. This will help our planning efforts.
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Volunteering at School - WE NEED YOU!!!!
EDUCATION ENRICHMENT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Robotics Club - if you work in the Robotics area, or computer programming, or you like mathematics, or feel like doing something related to it at your child's school, come help us teach kids how to program robots. Training provided! We will be meeting once a week to teach the kids, day yet to be determined, so we are pretty flexible right now.
Science Fair - if you love Science, if you want to help at your kid's school, or if you like to see kids engaged in their own projects, please consider being the Science Fair coordinator. It's a one night only event that will happen in February or March. You just have to be there that night to setup tables and distribute ribbons to every child that participates (no judging involved).
Contact Thereza Howling at thowling2@hotmail.com to volunteer for either activity or find out more information. |
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PASSPORT CHECK DAY on NOVEMBER 19TH
Where in the world is Kyrgyzstan?
Our students are doing GREAT so far -- very impressive! Our goals are to have every student complete at least Level 1 this year, and 50 students complete Level 5.
Please remind your kids that if they are sick or absent on Check Day, they have a chance to "re-check" any TUESDAY during lunch recess in the library. They should bring their passports from their classrooms.
The list of countries can be found on at BenRushPTA.org under "clubs & classes", and Level 5 maps are on the wall across from the school's main office.
We can always use more volunteers. Please contact Ellen Krumm at ejkrumm@hotmail.com for more information or to sign-up.
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Teacher Conferences in November
Ben Rush Elementary will be holding teacher conferences on November 20, 23, 24. Sign-up sheets have been posted on the window of the school office. Make sure to reserve your 30-minute time allotment. Remember, November 20-25 will be half days, and there will be no school on November 26 and 27.
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Easy Ways to Help Ben Rush and Your Wallet!!
EVERYTHING PARTY, located at 17181 Redmond Way, will donate 10% of all your purchases to Ben Rush PTA. Just tell the store cashier at the start of the transaction that you would like them to donate to Ben Rush PTA. Shop in November--Everything Party is offering a coupon for 20% off your next purchase, good until 11/30/09. Click here for the coupon
GARLIC JIM'S PIZZA
Log onto www.garlicjims.com, pick the Kirkland location (8431 122nd Ave NE), place your order, and enter coupon code "Ben Rush". You will save 20% on your order, and Garlic Jim's will donate 20% of the net sale to Ben Rush PTA.
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| ARE YOU A PTA MEMBER?
We have achieved 96% PTA membership at our school, which also includes most of our teachers and school staff. WE ONLY NEED 16 MORE MEMBERS TO REACH 100%.
An individual membership is $12, and family/household membership is $20. If you haven't joined yet, please go to http://www.benjaminrush.org/forms.aspx to learn more about membership benefits and how to join.
Here are the class results to date:
Andrade - 83%
Banas - 65% Cook - 73% Dow - 60% Fouhy - 80% Gerzsenye - 55% Gilbertson - 70% Hughes - 50% Jordan - 54% Mack - 50% Meeks - 53% Monrad - 50% Montgomery - 50% Moore - 65% Oh - 62% Pedegana - 57% Swanson - 75%
Yeager - 60%
Ms. Fouhy's class is now over 75% participation. Yippee!!
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| Clarification on Microsoft FTE Volunteer Matching Guidelines
For those parents who are Microsoft Full Time Employees and volunteer for the PTA, please note that your time IS eligible for the $17/hr matching program. There is some confusion about whether volunteering for the PTA during your regular work hours will be eligible for funds matching; I also had this same question and contacted the MS Volunteer Program about this, as I had volunteered during my normal work hours for the Passport testing club. Their official response was:
"Generally speaking, for other types of volunteer activity such as the type you describe, our requirement for the match is that volunteer activity during 'work time', vs. during 'work hours' must be worked out with your individual manager. So if you are taking time out of your normal work schedule to volunteer and otherwise making up that time or work and your manager is fine with the arrangement, we can match your time."
This is also specified on the Guidelines page at http://lcaweb/give/resources/pages/guidelines.aspx under the "Time Away from Work" heading.
Thus, as long as your manager is OK with your volunteer work during your regular working hours, and you subsequently make up that time/work, then each hour you volunteer IS eligible for the $17/hr match. Ben Rush PTA is a 501(c)3 organization - eligible to receive matching gifts.
Leong Lim
PTA Treasurer and Microsoft FTE
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| QUEST APPLICATIONS DUE IN NOVEMBER
Applications to the Quest Elementary Program for Highly Capable Students (grades 1-6) are due no later than 4:00 p.m. on November 30th.
All parents interested in the Quest Program are invited to attend the Quest Elementary Information Night on Thursday, November 5th from 4:30-6:00 p.m. or 7:00-8:30 p.m. at Rose Hill Junior High School (13505 NE 74th St, Redmond, WA 98052). This program will explain more specifically what Quest offers to highly capable, academically gifted children.
More information can be found on the Quest Web site (www.lwsd.org/quest).
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LWSD NATIVE AMERICAN ANNUAL POW WOW
Share a bit of Native American culture with your children.
Attend the Lake Washington School District Native American Education Program's Third Annual Veterans Celebration and Pow Wow on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Lake Washington High School. Everyone is invited to attend the Veteran's honoring and dinner at 2:00 PM with the Grand Entry at 6:00 PM in the gym. For more information about this event or the district's program for Native American students, please go to www.eastsideindianed.org.
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Newletter Submissions
If you would like to submit an article or announcement for the next Rush PTA E-News, please contact the newsletter editor at benrushpta@comcast.net. All submissions must be received by November 13th for inclusion in the November 15th issue. Content may be adjusted to fit format. | |
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