Lester Laminack Day was a huge success

On Tuesday Dec. 18th 2007 (Here by known a
s Lester Laminack Day) the students of S. Ellen Jones had the opportunity of a lifetime. They got to meet the famed children's author Lester L. Laminack. He visited the school and read selections of his books to the classrooms. He then gave pointers on how to be a better writer. For the Christmas craft this year, each child got to create their very own t-shirt design in honor of the visit. Each class picked an image from one of Mr. Laminack's books and hand outlined and colored it on the shirts. I can tell you that he was very impressed. He even joked that he was going to brag to his sister about having his very own day. After the reading, each student got to sit down to their very own teacakes and tea in the cafeteria. If you are unsure what teacakes are, (I was) you should read the authors most popular book to date: Saturdays and Teacakes.

Pancake breakfast was a lot of fun

Just some of our satisfied customers


We had our pancake breakfast yesterday and it was a lot of fun To all of those that turned out a huge thanks. Your efforts, tips, and contributions helped raise over $250 for voice. I would also like to thank Applebees restaurant for helping to make this a huge success.





Your SEJ Staff hard at work

Volleyball Game Tuesday 10/30/07

Don't forget we have our last home volleyball game of the season on Tuesday against Pineview. Gametime is 4PM and the concessions will be open for business. Chips, Drinks, Popcorn, candy and even Papa Johns pizza.

See you there

Dan

Conferences were a huge success

Parent teacher conferences were held on Thursday Oct 25th and ended up being a huge success. Since the teachers were so busy in meetings V.O.I.C.E provided them with lunch for the day. We got them very nice sub sandwiches, vegi trays, chips, candy and drinks. Make sure when you see the teachers that you thank them for all they do. They deserve it.

Dan

Update on the pancake breakfast

The deadline for ticket sales has been extended to 11/2/07 so you still have a week to get your ticket orders in. So far we have Mrs Woodward, Mrs Kulwicki and Mrs Wesley signed up to be servers. Also the class with the most ticket sales will receive a pizza party courtesy of Voice. Hope to see everyone there.

Dan

Pancake Breakfast coming soon

We have partnered with Applebee's neighborhood bar and grill to offer a pancake breakfast for our families. The cost per ticket is $5 and gets you all you can eat pancakes, milk,juice, coffee or Pepsi products, and an all around good time. We expect at least 1 of the teachers to be an official waitress for the event as well as a few students and voice members. Best of all $4 of the admission price goes back to V.O.I.C.E to help fund Christmas crafts this year. Should be a great time. Hope to see you there.

Last Nights V.O.I.C.E meeting

To those who may have tried to attend last nights meeting I extend my sincerest apologies. We had the executive meeting while doing concessions and I planned on getting back in time to meet with any interested parents at 6:30. Unfortunately due to the weather I was unable to make it back in time.

Concessions are a huge success

I just wanted to take time out and thank everyone who came out to the volleyball games on Monday and Thursday. All told for the two games we made over $300 to benefit the kids at SEJ. Thursday was so crazy we almost ran out of supplies. We still have one more game on Tuesday the 30th. Hope to see everyone there.

Dan

How would you like to make EASY MONEY?

Now that I have your attention…

Would you like to help out your children and possibly make a little money on the side? V.O.I.C.E is looking for volunteers to help out with upcoming events. All you need to do is devote at least 6 hours of time, over at least 3 different events, and attend at least one V.O.I.C.E meeting. You will then be entered into a drawing to win a $50 Visa gift card at the end of the year. The events are fun and actually pretty easy. Some of the events we need assistance with are:

Fun Fridays: Duties consist of preparing popcorn or cotton candy for the kids on fun Fridays once a month. We generally do this on the Thursday prior at 3:15 and takes app. 2 hours

Holiday Candy Grams: Volunteers will assist in taking candy gram orders at the bookstore, and then preparing and delivering the grams during the following holidays. Halloween, Christmas, Valentines and Easter

Bookstore: This is one of the easiest jobs of all. On Wednesday we open the bookstore from 8:20 to 8:45AM and sell items to the kids. Very hectic 25 minutes but it is fun.

Teacher Appreciation luncheon: During the first week of May the PTO sponsors a lunch at school for all teachers and staff. Spaghetti from the spaghetti shop is purchased and set up in the afternoon during the lunch periods.

Auction: This is our biggest area of need. Volunteers will go to local businesses and solicit donations of services and or products that can be sold during our spring auction. Forms and letters are provided to assist in this process.

Concessions: Our PTO runs the concession stand for all home athletic events that take place in the gym. To date we have scheduled Oct 15^th, 18^th and 30^th for home volleyball games and then we will enter the basketball season. Volunteers will assist in popping popcorn and selling items at the window. Appx 2 hours time required.

Christmas Craft: Our Christmas craft this year consists of helping the students design and decorate t-shirts to commemorate the visit of the author Lester Laminack in December. This will take place on November 19^th.

Lester Laminack Day: This will take place in December and should be a lot of fun. Our plan is to make homemade teacakes from the recipe taken from the authors book “Saturdays and Teacakes” and then host a tea party for the kids. We will need help making the cakes and tea and chaperoning the kids. This should be lots of fun for the kids and chaperones alike.

Class Graduations: At the end of the school year volunteers will assist in serving cake and party supplies during the graduation ceremonies.

As you can see there are lots of areas that you could help with. If you are interested in helping with one or more of the items listed above please feel free to contact us. There are several ways to reach us.

Send in a note to the office

E-mail sejvoice@gmail.com

Call Dan Evans (502)494-3836 or Shona Dorman (812)945-8562

VOICE Meeting tomorrow

Just a reminder that we are having our second VOICE meeting tomorrow and would love to see everyone there. We will be discussing our bookstore and a few upcoming fundraising ideas for later in the year. Hope to see everyone there.

Don't forget

Just wanted to remind everyone that open house is this evening. Hope to see everyone there.

Box Tops for Education

Would you like an "Easy" way to help your school. It's simple, buy selected General Mills products and clip the box tops for education tags. Turn them into your school and we make money to help fund projects for the kids.

And right now at Kroger you can get 10 boxes of Hamburger Helper for only $10 dollars. But even better, select flavors have 2 extra boxtops for a total of 3 per box.

Our first meeting

We had our first meeting of the year tonight and I have to say it went well. We have had a few changes in staff so I will post them here.

President: Shona Dorman (Unchanged)
Vice President: Jennifer Evans (New)
Treasurer: Dan Evans (Unchanged)
Secretary: Jill Haub (New)
Teacher Representative: Kristen Woodward (Unchanged)
Principal: Susie Reis (Unchanged)

Some new folks and a few revitalized old folks. Should promise to be an exciting year.
We discussed time lines for the entire year and ironed out dates for the meetings. we also made purchase decisions for the bookstore this year.

Some Important Dates
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Voice Meetings Schedule:
All meetings are on held on Thursday at 6:30PM Everyone is welcome to attend and we would really love to see you there.

September 20th, 2007
October 18th, 2007
November 15th, 2007
December 20th, 2007
January 17th, 2008
February 21st, 2008
March 13th, 2008
April 10th, 2008
May 8th, 2008

SEJ Open House
August 30th, 2007

Fun Fridays will be the first Friday of each month through April 2008. A percentage of the proceeds will go to fund the 5th grade camp.

Candy Gram dates
October 31st, 2007 Scary Grams
December 21st, 2ooy Holiday Grams
February 14th, 2008 Valentine Grams
March 21st, 2008 Easter Grams

Pancake breakfast fund raiser (Details to come)
November 10th 2007

Santa Visits S.E.J.
December 21st, 2007

S.E.J. Annual fund raiser auction
March 1st, 2008
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Well, that is just the tip of the iceberg and there will be plenty of details added in the upcoming weeks and months. Once again, anyone and everyone is welcome to become a member. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Welcome

Welcome to the S. Ellen Jones PTO blog. Here you will find out a little about us, plans for upcoming events, meeting minutes and so much more. Stay tuned