ALL WEEK:

It's Minimum Day ALL week for grades K-5 - don't forget to change that "pickup time" alarm on your watch that I know you have set! Haven't already scheduled your conference with your student's teacher? Get in touch with them ASAP! How else are you going to find out how awesome your kid is?!
(TK - no change to your schedule for this week.. your conference week is later this month)

TODAY:

• Grab a Yogurtland treat after school ($5... you can find them next to the small MPR). Did you know they are there EVERY Monday after school? Perfect cure for a case of the Mondays! 

Wednesday: 

• After School Programs are on as usual - no change. It's also a great week to PLAN AHEAD for the next session! 

As always - visit Husky Happenings for the look ahead.

We had a great PTO meeting on Friday morning - thanks to all who joined in person or online! 

A few things we discussed: 

• Our Admin team joined us to share some updates from the school: Mrs. Vela explained the updated criteria for "independent study" and Mrs. Fitch talked about the school's PBIS program and how you can integrate messaging at home too. While these programs are NOT managed by the PTO - we love having the opportunity to hear straight from our Principal and Vice Principal at our meetings!
  
  
• We thanked our incredible leads and volunteers from our recent PTO events (and there's been quite a few - thank you ALL)!
  
  
• We reviewed the current Year-To-Date financials and gave information about how adjustments are made to the budget when needed (hint: they require a vote of the board)!
  
  
• We gave updates on lots of upcoming programs/events: 
  • Tournament of Champions (3rd -5th grade... registration open now) 
  • Dino Dash (join us to walk the 2k as a school - and for each registration.. $10 goes back to your student's teacher) 
  • Community Support Programs (Huskies doing good deeds in the community - join us for the Trunk or Treat at ICEC) 
  • Father Daughter Dance - An Evening in Paris coming up October 16
  • Wednesday After School programs  - registration opens October 20
  • Art Masters program updates: next up - Raphael (not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle)
  • 5th Grade events (D.A.R.E. and the upcoming puberty talks)
    
    
• We gave a shout out to our amazing sponsors (see the list at the bottom of this email and click the links to learn more about them)!
  
  
• We announced the next restaurant night (Shake Shack on October 15th) and gave results of the Stand event ($587! So awesome!). We also talked about the Earn & Learn program - we're looking for volunteers who can help us enter receipts to help get us into the top 3 where we belong!
  
  
• We talked about the Fund Photo event - book your family photo shoot for $50... you get 2 digital images (holiday cards... done!) and the PTO benefits the FULL $50! THIS WEEK ONLY - Fund Photos is also having a contest - the school that books the most appointments by October 14th gets a $1000 bonus donation! Book your photo session today!
  
  
• We gave an update on our Membership Campaign - we have 239 families who have joined as members - and are at 82% to our membership goal! THANK YOU to all of our incredible members! Got FOMO? Remember - it's never too late to join!
  
  
• We also gave a recap of the amazing Scholastic Book Fair! Last week's Tails issue talked about some of the highlights too... but we also shared what happens NEXT. Did you know we DON'T take a cash payout from Scholastic for this fundraiser? Instead - we choose to paid in "Scholastic Bucks". We use those funds to purchase LOTS of things throughout the year. So far this year: 
  • We gave the library team a $3,000 budget to buy library books. They shop from an online catalog where they can buy special library bound books – not the ones you saw at the Fair. 
  • We helped purchase items from teacher “wish list” boxes at the Fair – ensuring each teacher got a stash of new books. 
  • We used about $200 to give gift cards to families who chose that as their gift at our higher membership levels. 
  • We gifted each of our NEW teachers in the school (4 of them total) with $250 to get start on stocking their classrooms. 
  • And finally our biggest spend on Scholastic Bucks annually – is Scholastic News. These monthly handouts align with the curriculum and are used in every single classroom. You’ll see them come home sometimes in Friday Folders – and we encourage you to ask your student what they talked about and how they used them.  The school doesn’t spend ANYTHING on those – they are purchased using our Scholastic Bucks – so they are fully provided by the PTO thanks to YOUR support of the Book Fair!
    
    
• We announced a new event JUST FOR THE MOMS- we hope to see you on October 23rd!
  
  
• And finally - we launched a survey to get YOUR thoughts on the PTO's membership campaign and communications! 

Phew! It was a doozy - and we're already looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting! Save the date for November 7th -  we'll start by hosting "Coffee with Admin" at 8:45 (Mrs. Vela and Mrs. Fitch will be talking about Huskies Learning Math!) followed by our PTO meeting at 9:30 AM. See you there! 

In fact... it's NEVER too late! You can become a member of the PTO with your donation whenever it works best for YOU. Our husky backpack buddies will be delivered to new members WEEKLY moving forward - they go into your teacher's mailbox and they get them to your student. Remember, payment plan options are available too! 

That's where the good stuff happens, if we're being honest... 

Click the logos to learn more about our sponsors!

Hicks Canyon Elementary PTO

3817 Viewpark

Irvine CA 92602