Pierce PTA Post

Welcome back, Panthers!

It’s CARNIVAL WEEK! Purchase your tickets today on MTK for $15! After September 11, tickets are $20 and only available at the main entrance of the carnival.

WE NEED YOU! In order to make the carnival a safe and fun for all, we need over 70 volunteers – and as of today we are about ~30 volunteers short of that need. Please consider signing up for a shift (they’re only 1 – 1.5hrs) – you can even partner with a friend! There are also some volunteer opportunities that are great for middle or high school students who need community service hours – those are called out on the volunteer signup.

Without proper volunteer support, we may have to scale back on some of the planned entertainment, so please volunteer here if you can! THANK YOU for your support!

· Friday, September 13

· All Ages: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

· Bounce houses, face painting, games, magician, and food trucks

· Open to all Pierce families & the greater Birmingham community

· Sign up here to volunteer to help make this event the best one yet!

· Purchase tickets today on MTK.

· Tickets for kids ages 3+ are available on MTK through Sept 11 for $15 each. Adults + kids under 3 are free!

· Pre-purchase special treats…these treats can sell out!

· After Sept 11, tickets are $20 and only sold in person at the carnival – save time & money by purchasing today!

· Wednesday, October 2, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM in the Computer Lab (parents need to check in at the front office before heading to the meeting for a name tag - drivers license/ID is required)

· PTA Meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month

· ALL parents are welcome to attend any PTA meeting. Younger siblings are welcome, and parents are welcome to show up after 9AM if preschool drop-offs or other schedule needs make it hard to be there right at 9AM. We would love to have you!

· The Annual Pierce Fun Run will take place the morning of Thursday, September 26th. Fun Run is Pierce's biggest fundraiser that our students participate in to raise money for both the school as well as a local charity. We have a fundraising goal of $10,000 and new this year, the 5th grade portion of the event will be a COLOR RUN! Each grade level will take turns running around the Pierce playground "track" and cheering on their fellow Panthers. There will be music and prizes and parents are all welcome to come and cheer on their students. Specific run times by grade level will be announced as we get closer to the event.

· Sponsorship opportunities are available today. If you know a business that would be interested, there are different levels of support. Sponsor names/logos are featured on all Fun Run communication. Please contact Katie Kolo if you would like more information at kathemar@gmail.com or (248) 766-6749

K through 5 students are invited to participate in Math Pentathlon. We get together weekly before school and play board games designed to enrich sportsmanship & critical thinking. All divisions will meet before school on Wednesdays.

To register for Math Pentathlon, please attend a parent meeting to learn about the program and sign up.

Parent meeting dates (you only need to attend one)

Monday, September 16, 6:30 PM OR Thursday, September 19, 9 AM

*both meetings will be held in the Pierce Commons

Participants in the program will have the opportunity to attend the national Math Pentathlon tournament held locally at the end of the season. Please visit this link for more information. Any questions can be directed to piercemathp@gmail.com. Pierce club sign up will take place at the parent meetings.

The 2024-2025 Reflections theme is Accepting Imperfection!

Entries are due to the Pierce Office on November 7 and November 8. Pierce Reflections Information & Student Entry Packet

CONTACT If you need further information, please contact Jacob Bayer (jacobbayer@gmail.com).

RECOGNITION WITHIN THE SCHOOL

Certificates for participation and prizes for top honors; - Awards celebration with Mrs. Trudel and members of the PTA; - Only the artwork will move on; travel is not required for the competitions.

PIERCE PTA CELEBRATION

Pierce PTA will host a Pierce Reflections Recognition event for all students who submit an entry.

· Accelerated Reader is a PTA sponsored program to drive reading and reading comprehension for grades 2-5. After reading a book, students take a 10 question quiz on the computer – points are awarded based on their quiz scores. Points are “harvested” every six weeks. Students will have the opportunity to get a t-shirt and iron-on stars for each level reached. If they achieve the gold star at the end of the year, they will get to attend the “AR Bounce” event with pizza, bounce houses, and games.

· For more details on how to get started and for harvest dates, please visit the PTA Academic Enrichments webpage. For any questions about AR, please e-mail PierceElementaryAR@gmail.com.

Please send us your photos for the opportunity to be in the yearbook! We need your pictures from the Back to School Bonanza, first day of school, upcoming Carnival, and other in-school events. Send photos to PierceElementaryYearbook@gmail.com to be considered.

One of our biggest needs each year is daily help in our school library. Before you volunteer in the library, we ask that you attend a 30 minute training session. Once you are trained, you'll be sent the Sign Up Genius to sign up for slots. There are 5 open slots/school day (2 in the morning, 1 midday, 2 in the afternoon) and you are welcome to sign up for as many or few as fit your schedule.

Currently, we have training sessions scheduled on select Thursdays. No need to sign up ahead of time, please just check in at the office & head to the library that morning. Training dates are scheduled as follows. Please reach out to pierceelementarypta@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Sept 19 -- 8:10 to 8:40AM

Oct -- TBD

Nov – TBD

Wednesday Oct 2 6:30-7:30 - Audra Holdorf, the new Special Services Director, will be introducing her staff and do an overview of the services they provide at BPS.

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Thursday Nov 7th 6:30-8pm - Minoti Rajput from Secure Planning Strategies will join us to discuss financial planning for kids with special needs.