Friday Features - 11/7/18

We're nearing the end of the Read-a-Thon. School may be out the next few days, but be sure to log those reading minutes and see if you can get another sponsor or two. Our reading goal is met, but we're still short of our $7500 fundraising goal. You can check out our latest progress here.

As we close out the official Read-a-Thon period, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Only reading logged on days up through Nov. 10 counts toward the Read-a-Thon program.
• Donors who pledged offline will have until early December to submit their donations. The Whooo's Reading program will automatically send reminders to those who have donations pending.
• Cash pledges or checks made out to BGS PTO should be sent to school in an envelope marked "Whooo's Reading Chair". Be sure to note who the pledge is supporting by indicating the student name and class.

Our chairs are finalizing plans with Mrs. Binford to recognize all of our readers and to award various prizes. Stay tuned for more details.

We've had a few questions recently about spirit wear orders. We had to purchase our spirit kits in bulk. Orders were placed on Oct. 15. We don't yet have a definite date on when the spirit kits will come in, but are anticipating it will be by mid-November. Once we have confirmation, we'll post that information in Friday Features so you know when to expect your orders will be sent home.

Parent-Tracher Conferences will soon be here and with that comes a late night of conferences. Our PTO will host a dinner for staff who are working into the evening on Thursday, Nov. 15th. Our This year's theme for the dinner is a Soup-er Dinner for our Super Staff. We have a few slots left for soups and sides. Let us know how can help make this evening special, sign up here: http://bit.ly/SouperMeal

Drop off your items anytime on Thursday. We just ask that if you are dropping off a hot item, you bring it pre-heated between 3:30 and 3:45. We don't have sufficient means to heat items on site, but if the item is in a crock pot, we can plug that in.

If you would prefer to make a contribution towards the meal, please send in any donations in an envelope marked "Faculty Meals".

Thanks as always for your generous support!

On Friday, November 16th at 11:30, Bradley Gardens School, in conjunction with the PTO, is planning to hold our twelth annual school-wide Thanksgiving Feast. All students and staff join together as a school family to share a full catered Thanksgiving dinner. This special gathering is a unique occasion celebrated at Bradley Gardens School in remembrance of and in keeping with the spirit of the first Thanksgiving.

Because this is a catered event, we'll need an accurate headcount of those participating. Forms were sent home this week. To participate, forms must be returned by Nov. 13th, along with $8 cash or check made payable to BGS PTO. For your convenience, you can register and pay via Signup Genius here: http://bit.ly/FeastRSVP or download the form below and return it.

The PTO will ensure we have the main course (turkey and all the fixings), but we would appreciate donations of desserts. We'll also need helpers to set up, serve, and clean up from the event. If you can make a dessert contribution or help serve, signup here: http://bit.ly/FeastHelp.

This year we are asking the children to create the centerpieces for our Thanksgiving Feast. We'd like about 25 centerpieces to decorate our tables. The centerpieces will be judged by our volunteers that day and the winner of the BEST centerpiece will receive a $25 gift card to ShopRite. Mom and Dad, your turkey this year is on us! The winner will also receive a little something for his/herself.

We will raffle off the centerpieces to one lucky person at each table. Your child's centerpiece will be the Thanksgiving centerpiece for another Bradley Gardens family at Thanksgiving.

We can't wait to see all the wonderful centerpieces. If you sign up, the centerpieces need to be at school by Thursday, November 15th. Register to participate in the contest here: http://bit.ly/CtrPiece

Six years ago New Jersey was stuck by Hurricane Sandy. As a result of this disaster, a NJ resident decided to turn Black Friday into Track Friday. He started the organization, Track Friday. The idea is turn the day after Thanksgiving into a day of charity, community and health. The first year funds raised were for Hurricane relief. In the years since, funds raised have gone to a number of charities.

Here's how it works... You decide how much you want to run or walk and how much you want to raise and to whom you want to donate. The first meetup was in Middletown, NJ. Six years later there are meetups in various other towns. We'd like to have a meetup that day at Bradley Gardens. Just come out on Friday, November 23rd anytime between 10:00am and 1:00pm. Run or walk a few laps, meetup with some friends and give to the charity of your choice.

You can check out trackfriday.org for more information. But before we register our school as a meetup, we'd like to make sure we have enough participation. So please, let us know if you'd be interested in attending by RSVP'ing on our Signup Genius here: http://bit.ly/BGTrackFri. If we have enough interest, we will register with the organization and make Bradley Gardens a meetup.

Ends Nov. 19

Our holiday gift card program runs through Nov. 19. Simply pay the regular cost for a gift card and our school gets a percentage of the purchase price. If you missed the flyer sent home, you can find it below. Gift cards will arrive the week of Nov. 26 - just in time for all the winter holidays!

Questions? Contact Minal Patel for more info.

Starting to do some holiday shopping on Amazon? Why not earn money for the school while you're at it? Just go to http://smile.amazon.com and register to support the BGS PTO (we're listed as PTA New Jersey Congress Of-Bradley Gardens). It's still the great Amazon services and prices AND Amazon donates a portion of the purchase back to our school! Just remember to place your Amazon purchases from smile.amazon.com rather than the regular Amazon link.

• Nov. 8-9 - No School
• Nov. 10 - Read-a-Thon Ends
• Nov. 12 - Red, White & Blue Day for Veteran's Day
• Nov. 12 - PTO Meeting - 7 PM
• Nov. 15 - Conference Night Dinner for Teachers
  
• Nov. 16 - Thanksgiving Feast (in school)
• Nov. 15-16, 19-21 - Half Days for Conferences
• Nov. 19 - Gift Card Orders Due
  
• Nov. 22-23 - No School
• Nov. 23 - Track Friday - 10 AM - 1 PM - BGS Fields
  

Bradley Gardens PTO

Briana George, Co-President

Kelly Schmidt, Co-President

bgsptopresident@gmail.com

http://www.bgspto.org

Follow Us on Twitter: @PTOBradleyGard

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