Middleton Elementary PTO

CLASSROOM COLLECTION CONTEST

It’s time to turn in those BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION, CAMPBELLS SOUP LABELS, INK CARTRIDGE, & MILK CAPS you’ve been collecting!

The PTO is holding a contest to collect as many Box Tops for Education, soup labels, milk caps and ink cartridges as possible from January 17^th-February 3^rd. 

Here’s how it benefits our school:

1)    Cash back for all Box Tops for Education that we turn in. Last year the contest brought in around 8000 Box Tops which earned us $800!   During the classroom contest we will not be holding the weekly drawing, so students should bring all Box Tops to their classroom.  You may still choose to send the Box Tops in via the collection sheet.  However, please do not staple the items to the sheet. And please be sure they are not past the expiration date.

2)    The Campbell’s Label for Education Program allows PTO to earn points towards items in their catalog.  Students collected over 3,000 soup points during last year’s contest alone!  The points can then be used by teachers to order things like books, science experiments and art supplies for their classrooms.

3)    PTO collects three types of milk caps: Milk Moola, Kemps and Land-O-Lakes.  They can only be turned in when we have collected 10,000 (per company!)  It is worth $500 to our school once we reach 10,000, so keep those rolling in!   Please be sure the items are washed before turning them in!!  We have a family at Middleton (bless their hearts) who store the items for us until we reach 10,000 – and they can get stinky! 

4)    Used Ink Cartridges are another way to earn cash for our school and teacher’s classrooms.  We get a $2 credit for each one turned in by our organization to Staples. We then let the teacher’s use the credits to supplement their classroom supplies. This adds up fast so please, always turn in ANY cartridges you have available.  The contest last year brought in over 500 cartridges equating to over $1,000 in Staples credit!!!!!!

So you see, every little bit adds up!  Don’t hesitate to contact neighbors, friends and relatives who do not collect these items for another school or student.  The contest will begin Tuesday, January 17^th and run through Friday, February 3^rd.  PTO will collect and count items every Friday morning so the classrooms/students will know who is in the lead! 

It is also very important to make sure the teacher or student name is placed on everything turned in for the contest!  (No name means no credit!)

PRIZES

The classrooms that accumulate the most items overall will be rewarded!

1^st place:    Popcorn party, Scholastic money to be used at the upcoming book fair, and a trophy             

2^nd place:   Popcorn party, a trophy or plaque

3^rd place:  Popcorn party, a trophy or plaque

It’s time!!!  The Classroom Collection Contest starts next week!  Look for the bright green flyer coming home with your youngest child today.  Detailed information about what can be brought in and what the PTO receives in return can be found in the attached document or on our website: www.yourmiddletonpto.org.

Just a reminder that we’ll be holding two Spring Carnival Planning Meetings next week: 10:30am January 17^th at Middleton and 7:30pm January 19^th at Angelina’s Café.   Anyone can attend – there are a lot of different ways to help out, and it’s fun!  If you plan to attend either meeting (or can’t make it but would like to be involved), contact Jamie Kuebler at kueblerjamie@yahoo.com or Ann Vance at annvancepto@gmail.com.

Job Opening.  The term for our Treasurer, Kimberly Bannwarth, will be up in June.  The position is a two year commitment, but we’re hoping the new volunteer will want to start a little early so they can get “on-the-job” training from Kim.  Here’s what the position entails:

• Process, execute, and assist with all monetary transactions for the PTO.  This would include depositing money in the bank, writing checks, and balancing the PTOs accounts using Quickbooks software (PTO can provide a laptop with the software).  This also includes providing documentation and confirmation for all incoming and outgoing funds.  The treasurer also assists with preparing the annual audit and tax preparation for the organization. Time spent is approx. 5 hours per week.  No formal accounting training is required.  If you’re interested, or would like more information, please contact Kim at benny291@msn.com.

Holiday Wish Lists for Staff Teachers and staff have completed wish lists in case you’re wondering what they might like for the holidays.  Items range from hugs to Harley’s, so there’s something for every price range!  The lists are posted on the outside of the office windows. 

SCRIPS In case you need a last minute gift, we’ve got pre-paid gift cards available.  $10 cards are available for Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Smashburger, Claire’s, Wendy’s, Noodles, and Bath & Body Works.  We also have $15 iTunes cards.  If you’re interested, please contact Darcy Hager-Slavin at dhagers1@fairview.org  or joeslavin@comcast.net .  Checks payable to the PTO can be sent to school, and we’ll send the card home with your student, or have it waiting in the office for you to pick up.

Nickelodeon Universe $22 unlimited ride wrist bands are available in the office, just in case you’re looking for something to do over the break.

Spiritwear The order came in on Monday and was delivered to your child’s teacher (unless other arrangements were made).  If you did not receive yours, please contact Ann Vance at annvancepto@gmail.com or 651-501-7425.  There are a few extra shirts in various sizes – contact Ann if you’re interested in purchasing one.

Barnes & Noble Event Don’t forget – it’s tomorrow!!   Events are taking place from 10am-4pm, but you can shop all day long – just don’t forget to say you’re shopping for Middleton!  There will be readings by an author and Principal Nielsen, free gift-wrapping, and a scavenger hunts with prizes!  Check out the attached flier for details.  Volunteers are still needed to help – if you’re available for a gift-wrapping shift, http://www.mysignup.com/middbn . 

Holiday Wish Lists for Staff  Keep an eye out for the Holiday Wish Lists to go up in Commons next week. 

Reading Rivalry  Information on this program went home with 3^rd-5^th graders this week.  If your student would like to participate, please fill out the Permission slip and return it to school.  Parent Coaches are needed to lead teams – we can’t do it without you!

 Collecting Contest   Calling all collectors of Box Tops for Education, Campbell’s Soup Labels, ink cartridges (all types) and milk caps.  We will be having a contest in January!  Some students have already contacted relatives and neighbors asking them to save these items for the upcoming contest!  PTO hasn’t determined the classroom prizes yet but as soon as we know the details, we’ll let you know!  It will be classroom against classroom so……Happy Collecting!!!!

Chip Shoppe Congratulations to Alexis Schmidt who sold the most items – way to go!  And congrats to Mason Abrahamson, whose name was drawn as the winner of the Principal GoGo prize!  Thanks to all who ordered – we raised approximately $12,000 for our school!  Dates for the limousine ride and Tape-A-Teacher will be announced soon.

Barnes & Noble A flier is going home today providing the details for our Barnes & Noble event on December 10^th.  There will be readings by an author and Principal Nielsen, free gift-wrapping, and a scavenger hunts with prizes!  Volunteers are needed to help – if you are available to gift wrap for a hour or more, please click on the following link,      http://www.mysignup.com/middbn.  If you are not able to make it to the event, you can still buy books online by going to  between 12/10/2011 to 12/15/11  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookfairs/ by entering Bookfair ID. 10619096 at checkout.                                                                   

Woodbury Lakes The Double Points stores for December are MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream & Treatery, New York & Co., Champs, Elodie, AT&T, and H&M.  Please stop by their office or drop off your receipts at school.  We need to earn more than 5,000 points by the end of December or we’ll be out of the running for a $2,000 cash prize!

PTO NEWS

It’s December, which means it’s time to break out the snowman jokes!  Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman and a shark?  A: Frostbite!  Keep reading for more flakey humor scattered throughout.

We’ve only got one event happening in December, and it’s a fun one!  The Barnes & Noble Bookfair will be on Saturday, December 10^th!  There will be scavenger hunts with prizes, book readings and free gift wrapping!  A percentage of all sales will go to the PTO.  Look for a flyer coming home soon.  We hope you can make it!  If you’re able to volunteer for an hour (or more),  please sign up at http://www.mysignup.com/middbn.

We know everyone is busy this time of year, so here are some ways you can help out the PTO without having to go out of your way.

• Shop with SCRIPS!  These are gift cards that you order for some of your favorite stores.  You can either use them for your shopping, or give them as gifts.  Go to www.shopwithscrip.com/ for more information.
• Shop at Woodbury Lakes.  We’re in a competition with other area schools – whoever has the most points at the end of the year gets $2,000!  One dollar spent equals one point (unless you shop at the Double Points stores for the month).  You can either turn your receipt in at school, or stop by their office.  Double Point Stores for December are: MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream & Treatery, New York & Co., Champs, Elodie, AT&T, H&M.
• Get wristbands for Nickelodeon Universe.  They’re $22 for an unlimited daily use pass – that’s a great deal!  They can be purchased in the Middleton Office.
• Save items from your holiday cooking and baking for our classroom competition in January.  Items that we’ll be collecting are:
  • Box Tops for Education, Milk Caps (Milk Moola, Kemps and Land O’Lakes), Labels for Education (Campbell’s), and Ink Cartridges  
  • Donate Books.  If you’re cleaning off those shelves to make room for more books, please keep us in mind.  We offer books to the teacher’s first to use in their classroom libraries.  Any that are left get donated to families in need.

The next PTO Meeting will be January 10^th, when we’ll start planning the Spring Carnival.  If you have any suggestions for a theme, let us know!  Q: Where do snowmen keep their money?  A: In a snow bank!

We value your input, so please contact us with any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions you may have. 

Happy Holidays!

Ann Vance & Jamie Kuebler, Co-Presidents

annvancepto@gmail.com, kueblerjamie@yahoo.com

While there aren’t any big events in the near future, there’s still a lot going on.  Here are some of the highlights:

 Custom Sportswear orders due November 15th.

 Order forms went home this past week.  We know it’s a short turn-around, but it’s the only way they could guarantee delivery before Christmas break.  Examples are below and there are also examples in the commons area at school.

        Holiday Turkey/Food Drive November 14-18

 Food Items to be considered:   Frozen turkeys! Turkeys can be dropped off on November 17-18.  Non-Perishable Thanksgiving Items – boxed potatoes, stuffing, canned vegetables, chicken stock, dessert mixes, etc.  Other Non-Perishables also accepted– meals in a box, cereal, pasta, etc.

Chip Shoppe Pick-up November 29^th from 3-6pm.

  We could use some help getting everything ready for distribution, and then getting orders out when people arrive.  If you can help, please contact Zachary Fleischhacker at zfleischhacker@gmail.com. 

Give a little and get eBoxTops 

Did you know that the Box Tops for Education site has links to more than 175 merchants that offer box tops for online purchases? You can earn from 1 to 6 eBoxTops for every $10 spent at places like Snapfish, Shutterfly, iTunes, Apple, Lego, Target, Barnes and Noble and so many others. So why not get all of your holiday online shopping done and help out the Middleton PTO at the same time?  It’s a simple way to make a big impact at Middleton.
Go to www.boxtops4education.com, sign up and then click on the “earn” tab at the top to find the merchants. When you sign up make sure you designate Middleton Elementary as your school.

Shop with SCRIPS. 

And before you do your shopping, there’s another way to help Middleton out – purchase gift cards through SCRIPS at www.shopwithscrip.com and the PTO gets a percentage.  How easy was that?!  We’ll have some gift cards available for purchase at the Chip Shoppe pick-up from favorite places like iTunes, Noodles, Claires, Starbucks and Barnes & Noble.  We’ll also have order forms available at school and on the PTO website.

Reading Rivalry

 Is a program for 3^rd-5^th grade students that is a great way for them to be part of a team, read some great books, and have some fun along the way.  Permission slips will be sent home soon so that teams can be established and allow plenty of time to read 3-4 books before the competition in March.  We’re also looking for parent volunteers to coach the teams.  It’s lots of fun!

October was another busy month!  Here are a few of the things we’ve been up to:

• Scholastic Book Fair.  This was a huge success!  We made approximately $11,700 – that’s a lot of books!  The Scholastic motto is “Let’s Raise Readers,” and it looks like Middleton families are doing just that.  And don’t forget that for every dollar earned, 50% gets turned into books for the school!  We’d like to extend our thanks to all the volunteers who helped run the book fair – we couldn’t have done it without you.
• The Middleton Elementary Directory is being distributed this week.  There were a lot of great drawings submitted by students on what they want to be when they grow up, so we tried to include as many as possible.  Congratulations to Samantha Bilunas, Madeline Bannworth, Eva Vokac, Amber Sharp, Sydney Rakow and Joy Wang – your drawings are in the directory!    If you didn’t order a directory in advance, they will be available for sale in the office for $5 starting November 7^th.
• Halloween Bash.  Wow, what can we say?  It exceeded all of our expectations!  Gretchen Tentis, Holly Kasper, Deb Burlog and Tracy Hooley did a spooktacularjob on the Haunted House.  Jennifer Lester did a great job planning a menu that offered something for everyone.  Laura Boffeli chose fun crafts and great bingo prizes.  And our special guest, Lola, was a huge hit!  Our deepest thanks to all who volunteered, and to those who attended.  We’re still crunching the numbers, but it looks like we made approximately $5,700 – that’s more than double what we had estimated.  To put that in perspective, that’s enough to buy SMARTboards for 2 classrooms! 
  • Due to the large number of people who attended, we understand that we ran out of items for sale before the Bash ended.  We’d like to apologize to anyone who had tickets left at the end of the night.  We’ll try our best to not let this happen in the future.

In a previous message we had mentioned that we would be having a competition coming up for Box Tops, Campbell’s Soup Labels, ink cartridges and milk caps.  We’re putting that on hold until January.  Instead, we’ll be doing a Food Drive to help those in need.  More information will be coming in the Weekly Wire.

November Calendar

• November 8^th Chip Shoppe order forms due.  They can be given to your child’s teacher, or dropped off in the office.
• November 8^th, 4:30-5:30 PTO Meeting We’ll go over the income so far this year, and where we’re at on our meeting our goals for the year.  All are welcome!
• November 29^th, 3-6pm Chip Shoppe Pick-Up in the gym.  We don’t have room to store items, especially the frozen food, so if you’re not able to make it please make arrangements for someone else to pick it up.
• All month long, double points can be earned at the following stores for Cash for Class at Woodbury Lakes: Sunglass Hut, Claire’s, Francesca’s Collections, J.Jill, Journeys and Kay Jewelers.  Receipts for all stores can either be brought to their office (you keep the receipt) or turned in at school.

One final note, the PTO website was mis-printed in a couple of recent communications.  Our official website is www.yourmiddletonpto.org.  Sorry for any confusion this caused!

We value your input, so please contact us with any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions you may have. 

Ann Vance & Jamie Kuebler, Co-Presidents

annvancepto@gmail.org, kueblerjamie@yahoo.com

Two things going on November 8^th:

• Chip Shoppe forms and payment are due.   Please write your student’s name in the memo blank of any checks that are submitted – it helps keep things organized when we’re processing the orders. 
• PTO Meeting at 4:30pm in the Media Center.  We’ll go over the income so far this year, and where we’re at on our meeting our goals for the year.  We’ll have our SCRIPS representative there, so bring your checkbook – it’s a great time to order gift certificates for Christmas shopping!  Childcare provided.  Everyone is welcome!

Forgive the duplication with the Middleton Monthly, but it’s worth saying again:

• Halloween Bash.  Wow, what can we say?  It exceeded all of our expectations!  It was fun to see all the kids in costumes, and having fun with the activities that we planned.  Our deepest thanks to all who volunteered, especially Tracy Hooley, Gretchen Tentis, Holly Kasper, Deb Burlog, Jennifer Lester and Laura Boffeli who headed up the planning.  We’re still crunching the numbers, but it looks like we made approximately $5,700 – that’s more than double what we had estimated.  To put that in perspective, that’s enough to buy SMARTboards for 2 classrooms! 
• Due to the large number of people who attended, we understand that we ran out of items for sale before the Bash ended.  We’d like to apologize to anyone who had tickets left at the end of the night.  We’ll try our best to not let this happen in the future.

The Middleton Elementary Directory should have gone home with your oldest child last week.  If you did not pre-order one, we do have a few extras for sale.  They’re available in the Office for $5.  Thanks to Sue Ziertman and Zachary Fleischhacker for their help on this – they look great!

Look for a flyer coming home next week from Custom Sportswear.  It’s an opportunity to buy spiritwear with the school’s motto on it:

If you’d like to buy an item as a Christmas present, there’s an option to have us contact you when it arrives rather than sending it home with your student.

HELP NEEDED  We could use a few people to help us compile the Chip Shoppe orders on the 9^th or 10^th.  If you have some time, please contact Zachary Fleischhacker at zfleischhacker@gmail.com.  We also need help on November 15^th, 22^nd and 29^th for Project Go.  From 8-10:30 helpers needed to serve coffee and snacks to grandparents and guests working on a 3^rd grade project.  To volunteer, contact Ann Vance at annqv@hotmail.com. 

Have a great week!    Ann & Jamie

Tonight’s the night!!  The HALLOWEEN BASH is from 6:30-8:30!!  Dine in the Creepy Café, show off your dance moves in the Monster Mash Dance Hall, play some Boorific Bingo, plus lots of other activities!  Will Call tickets will be to the right when you enter the school.  Ticket and admission tables will be set up to the left.  We have a short window of time to get everything set up after school so we ask that you not arrive early.  See you there!

 The Middleton Elementary Directory is at the printer’s!  They’ll be delivered to your student’s teacher next week.  Congratulations to the winners of the artwork contest: Samantha Bilunas, Madeline Bannworth, Eva Vokac, Amber Sharp, Sydney Rakow and Joy Wang.  And thank you to all the students who entered – all of the drawings were great!

 Chip Shoppe forms went home this week.  If you didn’t receive one, please contact the office.  Here are some key points about this fundraiser:

• Last year this earned 41% of PTO’s income.
• Students get to go in the money machine at 50 items sold.
• They can tape a teacher to the wall at 20 items sold.
• For families who prefer not to sell, we happily accept monetary donations.
• Please write your student’s name in the memo blank of any checks that are submitted- it helps keep things organized when we’re processing the orders.
• Forms and money are due on November 8th.  Products will be delivered on Tuesday, November 29th from 3-6pm.