Hello Burns Park Families,
We are excited to see some of you in person this week at our first hybrid PTO meeting on Tuesday, December 10 at 7 p.m! We will be both in person at Burns Park Elementary and on Zoom. The agenda is available online here. The meeting will end with a discussion on the differences between IEPs and 504 Plans with AAPS Special Education Assistant Director Kim Cieszynski.
BURNS PARK SWAG STORE
Monday is the LAST DAY to purchase items from the Burns Park Swag Store! It’s your last chance to pick up some fresh styles featuring the Burns Park logo for children and adults. Stock up on sweatpants, hats, and hoodies to keep you warm all winter long. Orders include free delivery to the school by December 19, just in time for the holidays.
Don't miss the opportunity to get your Burns Park apparel!
TEACHER/STAFF GIFTING
This month we will be using GiftCrowd to send holiday wishes and gifts to Burns Park Elementary teachers and staff. GiftCrowd is an easy, FREE, and virtual way for families to gift this year. The deadline for joining gifts is Friday, December 20 at noon.
You can select as many individuals as you would like from the list of teachers and staff, enter your amounts and payment info, and add optional personalized greetings. A video with instructions is available here.
On December 20 at noon, every gift recipient will receive an email indicating the total gift amount they received together with personal greetings from all the contributors. Each teacher and staff member will then be able to use their gift amount to select cards from hundreds of brands, including Amazon, Etsy, Sephora, Target, Nike, Visa and many other stores, travel, restaurants and entertainment brands.
We believe this process will be more inclusive, since the emails of every teacher and staff member are included. It takes the onus off of Room Parents to collect money and determine how to split it. Families can still gift personal items to teachers and staff if they so choose.
Start gifting by clicking here.
IMMEDIATE VOLUNTEER NEEDS
The Burns Park Community is only made stronger by it’s volunteers and we have some immediate needs:
Family PE Night Helpers - We need seven adults to help with set up. Register here.
Fifth Grade Capstone - We need help planning the last week of school activities for our fifth graders. Help make sure our kids get a memorable and fun filled send off from Burns Park Elementary. We will split up the tasks among the volunteer group with a goal of making it very manageable for everyone. If you can find a few minutes to help out, please reach out to Ellen Delonis at ellendelonis@mac.com for more info.
Library Morning Helpers - Rachel Erdstein, our building library/media specialist, is collecting all due library materials first thing in the morning. We need a core group of 4-5 volunteers to regularly check-in and shelve materials just after drop off from 8:45-9:15 am. If you are available and willing to help sign up here.
CALL FOR YEARBOOK PHOTOS
It is time to start putting together some of our favorite memories to the Burns Park Yearbook and we need your help to make it AWESOME! Please share any photos you may have of your Penguins in action during Burns Park activities using this link.
To upload photos: click on the down arrow to find your child’s grade folder. No identifiers are needed, but please tag your photos with the classroom’s “Teacher name – event.” For example: “Hane – Lansing Field trip.” Please do not include Rec & Ed sport photos.
Here are just some of the activities we'd love to capture in the yearbook:
Lunch/Recess
Parties
Field Trips
Classroom Hijinks
Buddies
Garden Time
Specials
Have questions? Contact us at yearbook@bpepto.org.
LOST & FOUND
The Lost & Found is currently overflowing with coats, shoes, rain boots, water bottles, books, and more. Please come claim your family’s lost items weekdays from 8:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m in the hallway between the library and the gym. Unclaimed items will eventually be donated.
Your Burns Park PTO,
Kory Zhao, President
Michelle Ding, President-Elect
