Patriot Post 2.6.2024

• Message from Mrs. Bishop
• Calendar
• Kindness Week Next Week
• PTA Lifetime Member Nominations
• Shepard PTA Gala
• PTA Silent Auction
• Hospitality Soup Sign Up
• Book Character Day
• Order Yearbooks & Submit Photos
• Join PTA
• Volunteer Opportunities
• District/Community Events

Hey, Shepard Families!

February brings the fun! Next week is Friendship and Kindness Week. We have some fun theme days planned, Valentine's Day Parties, and Spring Pictures.

Our spring pictures on Tuesday, February 13 are both individual and whole class pictures, so you can order both your child's whole class picture and your child's individual pictures. Order forms are going home this week, so check those backpacks!

Kristin Bishop

Shepard Principal

February

9| 3rd Grade Field Trip to Holifield Science Center

12-16| Kindness Week Dress Up Days

12| Spirit Night at Shady's Burgers, 4-9pm

12| Wear Shepard Sprit wear

13| Spring Picture Day

13| Dress to Impress

14| Wear Red and/or Hearts

14| Valentine's Day Class Parties

KG – 1:30

1st – 12:00

2nd – 1:00

3rd – 11:45

4th – 1:30

5th – 12:30

15| Wear a Shirt With a Number

16| Wear Mismatching Clothes

19-20| Student Holiday, No School

20-29| PTA Silent Online Auction

29| Shepard PTA Gala, Our First Rodeo -BUY Tickets

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Please send an extra set of clothes with your student in their backpack. Your child may experience a bathroom accident at school, spill their milk on themselves, or even take a tumble in the mud accidentally. This way, they are in their own clothes, and able to get back to class faster.

I am running low on clothes for students, so if you have any pants/shorts you would like to donate, please send me some!

I am in need of:

Boys pants and underwear- all sizes. (preferably sweats, or shorts with elastic.)

Girls 7-10 pants.

Please try to send warmer extra clothes during these colder months. And if you know your child had extra clothes, please check that they are appropriate for current weather conditions.

Thank you!

Julianne Kirby RN, BSN

School Nurse

Shepard Elementary School

1000 Wilson Dr., Plano, TX 75075

469-752-3109

julianne.kirby@pisd.edu

If your child is sick with a contagious/communicable illness (COVID, flu, strep, etc.) please fill out the following form:

Shepard Elementary Communicable Illness Reporting 2023-2024

Next week is Kindness Week and we will be having the following dress up days!

Monday- Shepard Sprit Wear

Tuesday- Dress to Impress (Picture Day)

Wednesday- Wear red and/or hearts

Thursday- Wear a shirt with a number on it

Friday- Wear mismatched clothing

We'd love to hear from you...please take the time to nominate 2 individuals/parents and 2 teachers/staff to be honorary Texas PTA Life Members by filling out a nomination form here. The requirement for receiving this honor is that the recipient has made worthwhile contributions to the wellbeing of children and youth at Shepard Elementary. Please only vote once by Feb. 8. All responses are anonymous. Thank you! Contact Emily Butler with any questions at shepardmembership@gmail.com

Nomination Form: https://forms.gle/oZ8dmNykNArHAcH86

Gala tickets are still on sale for $50 on our PTA website, click here. If you would rather pay by check, make checks payable to Shepard PTA and leave in the PTA mailbox in the front office with you name attached. Our First Rodeo will take place on February 29, 6-10 PM, at Urban Rio in the Rooftop event venue. We will have a DJ, dinner, and dancing as well as our silent auction items! Attire is cowboy casual (jeans and a nice shirt - like a good ol' boy at a wedding) to cowboy chic (break out the glitter and fringe - make Dolly proud!). Come ready to boot, scoot, and boogie all night! You can purchase your tickets on our PTA website at https://shepardpta.membershiptoolkit.com/gala

Gala Sponsorship

Are you interested in becoming one of our gala sponsors? We have a packet at the above link where you can check out all of our options for your business.

All funds raised from our silent auction and gala sponsorships will be used to improve classroom libraries and pay for digital reading software.

Shepard PTA hosts an online auction every year as one of our fundraisers. This year it will run from Feb. 20-29. If you own a business or know of one that would like to donate their services or some item to our auction, please email us at shepardptafundraisings@gmail.com. We also welcome families donating gifts as well. Examples of auction items are dance or music lessons, lawn services, sports tickets, and spa services as well as themed gift baskets or birthday party experiences. Thank you for helping us make our auction a success.

Here are just some of the auction items that you'll see! Heritage Farm Tickets, Guitar Lessons, Kendra Scott, Hawaiian Waters, Crayola Experience, Raising Cane's, KidMania, BodyBar Pilates, Front Row at Choir & Musical Shows, Grade Level Teacher Experiences, Carpool Front of the Line, and so much more!

PTA Hospitality is putting together a Soup-er Bowl lunch for staff on February 9th. If you would like to help provide a soup, crackers, and/or drinks please see the sign up here. Please have your sign up item dropped off by 10a.m. February 9th in the front office as some staff begin their lunch time at 10:30. Thank you!

Dress up as your favorite book character on Friday, March 1st! See the picture above for ideas.

If you would like to purchase a yearbook for your student you can do so by going to https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/productDetail/1141032/SHEPARD-ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL/Yearbook/20230915042919497100/CATALOG_SHOP/Yearbook/20230915042919547100#design/0

You can still submit pictures of your student(s) through March 30th to our PTA yearbook team. Any pictures you take at school events, field trips, parties, etc are great to turn in. You can submit them online at https://images.jostens.com/0BDtoSeT1IIcf78VDTsl6Lg Thanks for helping us make sure all of our students at Shepard are included in the yearbook this year!

We currently have 230 members!! We hope if you haven't joined PTA yet that you'll still consider doing so. There is still half the school year left and most of your membership dues go back to our Shepard PTA. Here at Shepard we encourage all families, teachers, staff, and friends of Shepard to join our PTA (Parent Teacher Association). You can join on our website HERE. Becoming a member of the PTA doesn't mean you have to volunteer, it means you want to support our students, staff, and families at Shepard Elementary. By joining our PTA and contributing to our fundraising campaigns throughout the year, you are making ALL kinds of quality programs and events happen for ALL of our students. Some examples of the programs and events PTA puts on at Shepard are Sock Hop Dance, field trips, Fall Party, Art Night, Story Night, Book Fair, Spring Party, and Field Day. Part of your membership dues go to the Texas PTA and National PTA and you actually receive all kinds of special discounts by being a member. Just go here to find out more. We can't wait for another fun and successful year!

The Shepard PTA website is also where you will be able to find our calendar of events, purchase spirit wear, and much more! Please feel free to head over there and look around. You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShepardPTA

We have the following volunteer opportunities. We would love your help!

>Chess Club, looking for parents of students in chess to volunteer during chess class. Please find chess volunteer opportunities in Voly under Shepard Volunteer Opportunities.

Remember if you are interested in volunteering for a field trip, party, and/or event at Shepard during the school day you must fill out a volunteer application which also includes a background check. You must complete the application every school year even if you have volunteered in the past. Please go to plano.voly.org to apply now so you can volunteer at our next event. If you have any questions about volunteering please contact Taylor at shepardvolunteer@gmail.com

If you are interested in volunteering in the library this year, please fill out this Google form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfWH4ApwaS5ZVNmYUl4_5Pzxr_c9vX7hvPWUEa8N0mrpLTj8g/viewform?usp=sf_linkbe You can also reach out to our PTA Library Coordinator, Jessica Glass at shepardelementarylibrary@gmail.com

The Patriot Patio is now open for guests to come have lunch with their student. Our Patriot Patio is the area just outside our cafeteria, which we organize with table and chairs for our visitors. We utilize a Sign Up Genius sign up system so that we make sure there is space available. You may sign up for one spot per visitor(or family). When you come to have lunch with your child, please bring your driver's license so we can scan you into our Raptor badge system. All visitors must bring a driver's license to be verified in Raptor. (Remember that you may only have lunch with your child- they may not bring a friend.) We do welcome younger/older siblings for lunch!

Here is the link to sign up! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0549AEAB2DA4FB6-shepard5

The February Lunch Menu (missing the last week) can be found by clicking the file below. You can add funds to your child's cafeteria account and see the breakfast and lunch menu through the School Cafe website at https://www.schoolcafe.com/pisd or download their app in the app store.

Click below to see information about the Free and Reduced Price Meal Program Eligibility for 23-24. https://www.pisd.edu/mealprogram

• Love Your Shepard PTA?: Make it official by joining today!
• Drop Donations in the World Wear Project. For a list of accepted donations click here.
  
• Support Shepard Elementary through Box Tops.
• Connect your Tom Thumb loyalty card to Shepard Elementary
• PTA membership, spirit wear and yard signs can be purchased all in one place, at the same time at the Shepard PTA website.

The Plano Men's Soccer team is excited to announce our Future Wildcat Clinic. Attendees will fine tune their soccer skills with the Plano Wildcat Men's soccer players, one of the top programs in the state. The clinic will be held on Feb. 17th but the deadline to register is Feb. 7th! Click Here to register.

Plano ISD would like to share two valuable resources to our parents of students served through special education. First, our Plano ISD Special Education Spotlight Update (English | Spanish) has been provided to ensure you are informed on current activities and events. In addition, there is information on our Parent Navigator. The Parent Navigator can be found on our department’s website and contains a wealth of information for parents. For questions, please reach out to Bethany Rogers or Sarah Robinson.

As part of Plano ISD’s ongoing strategic roadmapping process and as the district begins work on a long range facility plan, Plano ISD families, staff and community members are invited to attend and participate in a community input meeting near you. Meetings are conveniently located at six locations throughout the district:

Williams High School

February 10, 2024

9:30-11 a.m.

𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙

Clark High School

March 6, 2024

6-7:30 p.m.

𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙

Shepton High School

April 9, 2024

6-7:30 p.m.

𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙

Visit www.pisd.edu/facilityroadmap for more information.