PTA ABC FINAL - Evanston/Skokie School District 65

DEWEY PTA. ENRICHING EDUCATION. BUILDING COMMUNITY

NEW TO DEWEY?! A PARENT SURVIVAL GUIDE FROM DEWEY PTA! Welcome to Dewey! As a new parent at Dewey, it can be a challenge to navigate all the different programs, events and activities the Dewey PTA organizes throughout the year! This guide is intended to complement the school calendar and help you understand what everything is. In particular, it is intended to help you understand when/how your child, and/or parents are involved in all the different events!

The goal of the Dewey PTA is to Enrich Education and to Build Community. We work hard to achieve this goal by organizing a strong mix of enrichment programs, activities and community events. To fund all our programs we have 2 main fundraisers, Dance for Dewey and The Fun Run, supplemented by our Fall Book fair and our “free money” programs like Box Tops and Amazon Smile. Volunteers are always welcome, and there is no shortage of volunteer opportunities! Everything listed in this guide happens because of volunteers. There are volunteer opportunities to suit every schedule, during the school day, evenings and weekends. You will see specific sign-‐up requests for volunteers throughout the school year in the e-‐newsletter (“the Blast”). Contacts for the coordinators of all activities and events are listed on the back of the school calendar. If you cannot find the specific contact details you are looking for, contact the PTA Co-‐Presidents. “Parent involvement”: In the context of this document we use the word “parent” to represent parents, guardians, grandparents or any other adult family member who may be interested in getting involved. Parent involvement describes both how you can participate in an event, and how you can volunteer if you would like to!


ENRICHING EDUCATION – ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Battle of the Books Fluency Tutoring Birthday Books Picture Person Bookery Spanish Reading Nights Books & Breakfast Special Education Coordinator Chorus, Band and Orchestra Sports – 4th & 5th Grade Edible Garden Wellness Committee Extracurricular Activities YEA! Festival Field Trips Battle of the Books (Teacher Led) For students in grades 4 and 5, Battle of the Books is a reading program and quiz competition. Students read 15-‐25 books from a wonderful list and form teams to compete at both Dewey and District 65. The program is led by the Dewey Librarian. Student involvement: All students in grades 3-‐5 can participate although it is not a compulsory program. Information will be sent out by the Dewey Librarian. Parent involvement: Parents are invited to come and watch the Dewey Battle of the Books quiz competition which takes place during the school day. Birthday Books Celebrate your child’s birthday and help add books to the Dewey library! When you make a donation of $20 or more, your child contributes a book to the library. A label identifying your child as the book donor is placed inside the book and your child gets to be the first to check it out! Student involvement: There is a monthly celebration in the library at which all participating children with their birthdays in that month get to choose their book and check it out. Parent involvement: The monthly celebration is for students only. To enroll your child into the program, complete the birthday books form, which is sent in the pack at the start of the school year or request a copy of the form from the coordinator. Bookery Bookery is our bi-‐monthly book swap during the school day. Kids bring a book from home that they no longer want and exchange it for another one. They can also “buy” a booked with Tiger Tickets. We can always use donations of books too! Student involvement: All students will be taken to bookery by their class teacher on the designated days Parent involvement: Parent volunteers help students exchange their books or “spend” their Tiger tickets.


Books & Breakfast Dewey’s before school program providing breakfast, homework help and time to read for eligible children. Student involvement: Participation in this program is by invitation of the Principal. Parent involvement: Parents volunteers offer tutoring assistance alongside Northwestern University students. Chorus, Band & Orchestra (Teacher Led) Chorus: For students in grades 3-‐5 -‐ Chorus is led by the Dewey Music Teacher Band/Orchestra: For students in grade 4 & 5 – Band/Orchestra is managed by District 65 Student involvement: Information and sign-‐ups will be sent out by the Music teacher and Band/Orchestra Directors. Chorus practice is typically before school. Band/orchestra lessons are during the school day. Parent involvement: Parents will be invited to come and watch the chorus and bands concerts when they are scheduled. Edible Garden Dewey’s Edible Garden aims to provide an outside classroom space with native plantings and fruits and vegetables. It provides our kids the chance to experience the joy of growing, harvesting and tasting food through the lens of the school curriculum, such as math, science, writing and art. Each season the students have the opportunity to come out to the garden with their classes. Garden lessons are led by parent volunteers. Students undertake a variety of different jobs: preparing the beds, planting seeds and seedlings, harvesting and tasting. Student involvement: Students experience the garden during lessons. In addition, we ask all students to be ambassadors of the garden, helping to make sure everyone respects the space. Parent involvement: Parent volunteers manage all aspects of the garden: helping to lead a lesson during the school day; watering at night/weekends; garden planning/maintenance. Extracurricular Activities The PTA coordinates before and after school activities which provide wonderful opportunities for our children to explore interests outside of the classroom. Some of these activities are run by outside providers and others are run by Dewey parents. Detailed information about the programs and signs ups is sent out by our Activity Coordinators at the start of the school year and subsequently at the start of each term. Scholarships are available for all our programs. Student involvement: Students attend the programs they have been signed up for! Parent involvement: Decide which programs might be of interest and follow the sign up process to get your Dewey student registered. Many programs led by Dewey parents have volunteer opportunities so ask the program leader how you can get involved!


Field Trips The PTA funds field trips for every student at Dewey. Students will usually go on one or two field trips with the rest of their grade each year. The grade level teachers decide on the nature of the field trip to best support the curriculum. Student Involvement: All students go on their grade level field trip as long as the permission slip has been signed. The permission slip will be sent out by teachers prior to the trip. Parent Involvement: In general, teachers will ask for one or two parents per class to chaperone on each field trip. Fluency Tutoring (District 65 Led) A District 65 program in which volunteers are trained in a specific tutoring technique that provides support to classroom teachers in their reading fluency curriculum. Children who read fluently are better able to understand what they are reading as they read it and have an easier time retaining the information they read. Student involvement: Teachers recommend students for fluency tutoring as appropriate. Parent involvement: Training is provided by District 65 and information about dates will be provide in the e-‐news. Fluency tutors are assigned to specific class teachers. Fluency tutoring sessions happen during the school day. Picture Person Picture Person is our art and art history enrichment program, which brings two exciting art projects into every classroom every year. Student Involvement: Art projects are completed in class so all students enjoy them. Parent Involvement: Volunteer to bring the picture person projects into your child’s classroom. All volunteers are given clear and easy to follow instructions and all materials are provided. Art expertise is not necessary! Spanish Reading Nights – TWI Reading Ambassadors Spanish reading nights happen throughout the school year. Families from TWI classes, K-‐2, enjoy coming together to read and share the joy of reading in both English and Spanish. TWI teachers also participate. Student & Parent Involvement: All families K-‐2, including siblings, are encouraged to attend. Special Education Coordinator Our special education coordinator provides a connection for families to the Special Services Department of District 65. Our coordinator also helps the PTA plan information meetings for parents, provides a reading and resource list, helps ensure all PTA events are as inclusive as possible, and coordinates the parent support group. Parent Involvement: Any parent who is interested in learning more about Special Services can reach out to our Special Education Coordinator for more information.


Sports – 4th and 5th Grade 4th & 5th grade students have the opportunity to participate in the 4th/5th grade District 65 sports league. The program is open to all students and split into 3 seasons with 3 sports: Fall = flag football, Winter = basketball, Spring = track and field. Football teams are co-‐ed and organized by grade level. Basketball is further split into girls' and boys' teams. Teams practice once a week after school or in the evening (practice day/time set by parent coaches) and have games on the weekend. Track and field athletes practice all together (both grades and genders) in the spring, culminating in one district-‐wide track meet. Student Involvement: All 4th and 5th grade students are invited to join any or all of the sports teams. Parent Involvement: Volunteer to be a parent coach of the flag football and basketball teams. Cheer on the teams at their games and at the track meet. Wellness Committee (Teacher Led) Our mission is to infuse Dewey communications and activities with motivational, interactive wellness education that has a lasting positive effect on the entire community. All District 65 schools have a wellness committee with many stakeholders including administrators, teachers, students and parents. The wellness policies are intended to create a healthier school environment through improved nutrition education, healthier food services, and improved physical activity offerings. Student involvement: Opportunities to participate in school activities throughout the year promoting nutrition and physical activity. Parent involvement: Parent committee members attend monthly meeting with teachers and administrators to discuss district policies, how they will affect Dewey as well as initiatives Dewey wants to promote in a given year. YEA! Festival (Teacher Led) YEA! – Young Evanston Artists! Every May the YEA festival is a fantastic showcase of artwork from every school and every student in Evanston. It is a fantastic event, which also includes music and singing from school bands and chorus. Student Involvement: All students prepare artwork during art classes. Parent Involvement: Go to the YEA festival and enjoy the artwork and musical performances.


BUILDING COMMUNITY – EVERYONE CAN GET INVOLVED! Adult Socials Fifth Grade Farewell/Recognition Class Parties Kindergarten Meet & Greet Coffee with the Principal (Parent Advisory) PTA Meetings Courageous Conversations Room Parent Program Dewey Day of Service – MLK day Stand Against Racism ESCCA Student Council Fall Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Talent Show Family Picnics Teacher Appreciation Week Family Nights/Grade Level Events Teacher Luncheons Field Day TWI Liaison/Translation Adult Socials (December & April) These are informal evenings where our coordinator names a place and a time to meet and we enjoy getting to know each other better without the kids! Parent involvement: Encourage all the parents you know to come! Class Parties Class parties happen during the school day and often coincide with holidays, for example, Halloween, Winter break, Valentines, End of School Year. Student Involvement: Students enjoy the activities and snacks prepared by the class parents. Parent involvement: Room parents coordinate with the teacher to plan activities and snacks. Room parents will contact all class parents to let them know if they are any contributions to be made, often crafts and snacks. Most parties include parents and siblings. Coffee with the Principal -‐ Parent Advisory (Led by Mr Khelghati) All Dewey parents are invited to join Mr Khelghati for coffee before school on specified Thursday mornings as detailed on the school calendar. These meetings are an opportunity to discuss potential new initiatives for Dewey and to share updates on how on-‐going initiatives are progressing. (These meetings have been formally referred to as Parent Advisory Meetings) Parent Involvement: All parents are invited to attend. Courageous Conversations An initiative to help build community through discussions about the Dewey School Mission, diversity, or other subjects that are important to our community. Two Friday evening family events are planned each school year. These events are free and all Dewey families are encouraged to attend. Student Involvement: Student focused entertainment and snacks are provided! Parent Involvement: Parents are discuss and share their thoughts on subjects which are important to our community.


Dewey Day of Service – MLK Day We honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a Dewey Day of Service. This is a unique opportunity to unite our school in volunteer service, lend a hand, help our neighbors, and build a better community. The focus of the service day might change from year to year and specific details will be provided closer to the event. Student and Parent Involvement: All family members are encouraged to come to school on MLK day and lend a hand at the Dewey Day of Service ESCCA – Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association For more than 80 years, ESCCA has been providing school clothing to Evanston children. Last year ESCCA provided clothing and shoes to over 600 District 65 students! Each District 65 school has nominated days on which to help at ESCCA. Families sign up to benefit from ESCCA through the Dewey Health Officer. Parent Involvement: Parent volunteers gather at the District 65 building and help to sort, size, fold, organize, put away donated clothing and helping families find what they need. Details of how to sign up will be included in the e-‐news. You can also donate clothing in a marked collection bin at Dewey. Fall Fiesta! & Hispanic Heritage A celebration of Fall and Hispanic Heritage. This is a free event for the whole family which takes place on the school field/playground on a Saturday in October. It includes pumpkin decorating, pumpkin sales, Hispanic music and food and our beloved costume swap. Student & Parent involvement: All students and families are invited to join in the Fall Fiesta and celebrate this wonderful season. Family Picnics Family picnics are a great way for us to start and end the school year as one big Dewey community. The picnics are held on the school field and families bring blankets and picnics with them. Student & parent involvement: All students and families are invited to join in the picnic to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Family Nights/Grade Level events Free and open to all families with students in the specified grades. These community building events provide an opportunity for you to meet and connect with other families with children in the same grade as your children. They are a great way to chat about everything that’s happening at Dewey and how your children are doing. Student and Parent Involvement: All students, parents and siblings are welcome to participate in these events. They are not drop-‐off events so all students need to be accompanied by an adult. Details of specific activities will be provided in the e-‐newsletter.


Field Day (Teacher Led) Field day is a celebration of sports and fitness led by the PE teachers during the school day. Student Involvement: Activities are planned so that all students can participate during the school day. Parent involvement: This is not a spectator event however, you can sign up as a parent volunteer to help keep students moving through all the wonderful activities. Fifth Grade Farewell/Recognition A celebration of our 5th graders who have come to the end of their happy time at Dewey School! It takes place on one of the last days of school and is during the school day. The recognition assembly is led by the Principal and Teachers. After the assembly there is a picnic for the 5th graders which is organized by the parents. Student Involvement: All Dewey students attend the assembly with their class. Parent Involvement: Parents of 5th graders are invited to attend the assembly at school and to enjoy the picnic afterwards with their families. Parents also volunteer to organize the picnic and the 5th grade year book! Kindergarten Meet & Greet Starting Kindergarten is an exciting time for everyone. To help the transition run smoothly we organize Kindergarten Meet and Greets throughout the summer. It’s a great chance to get to know other Kindergarten families and to get familiar with the Dewey playground! Student & Parent Involvement: All incoming Kindergarten families are invited to attend. PTA Meetings PTA meetings are held once a month on Tuesday evenings from 7-‐8.30pm. The dates are specified on the Dewey Calendar. As well as an update on PTA programs, meetings include guest speakers and updates on school priorities and initiatives. Student involvement: Students are not involved in the meetings. However, childcare and a healthy snack are available. Parent involvement: All parents are invited to attend these open meetings. Room Parent Program Being a Room Parent is a meaningful and rewarding way to impact your child’s classroom experience, support the teachers and build community at Dewey. There is a room parent orientation early in the school year to help everyone understand more about this exciting role. Parent involvement: All parents who are interested in being a room parent can register interest during the first few weeks of school and attend an information orientation in late September/early October. Stand Against Racism (Teacher Led) The Stand Against Racism is a movement of the YWCAthat aims to eliminate racism by raising awareness through its annual event. Dewey students participate in this event with their classes during the school day. It usually involves creating meaningful banners, a walk to a designated spot to display the banners and a ‘rally’ on the school field led by the Principal. Student Involvement: All students participate with their classes. Parent Involvement: Parents are invited to walk with their students.


Student Council (Teacher Led) Student Council is a group of elected students who meet regularly and facilitate special events and work to improve the school. Student Involvement: All students in 4th and 5th grade can run for an officer position on the student council. Students who choose to run for a position make speeches and posters to support their position. All 3rd, 4th and 5th graders vote. Parent involvement: Parents are welcome to come and listen to the speeches that are held during the school day. Talent Show (Teacher Led) The Dewey Talent Show is Mr Khelghati’s “favorite night of the year”. Our very own Dewey students showcase their talents on an evening to remember. Be ready for singing, dancing, instruments, jokes, story telling, martial arts and much, much more! Student Involvement: All Dewey students K-‐5 are encouraged to participate Parent Involvement: Help your students rehearse and then come and enjoy watching all the great talent that Dewey students have to offer. Teacher Appreciation Week A week-‐long celebration of the wonderful faculty and staff of Dewey. It includes breakfasts, lunches, coffee breaks, a gift card raffle and lots of fun ways for our students to say thank you. Student Involvement: Write a thank you card, bring in a flower, find a creative way to say thank you to your teachers. Parent Involvement: Donations of food, drinks, gift cards and creative classroom decorations! You can also sign up to help set up/clean up after the breakfasts and lunches. Teacher Luncheons The luncheons take place during Parent-‐Teacher conference week in October and February. They are a great way to show our appreciation to our teachers on what is a very long day for them! Parent Involvement: Volunteer to donate dessert and beverage items. Assist with set up and clean up. TWI Liaison/Translation The TWI Committee is a group of parents who provide translation for all the PTA communications, including the weekly newsletter. The TWI committee also undertakes outreach activities to ensure all Spanish speaking families feel well connected to everything that’s happening at Dewey. Parent Involvement: Join the team and help work on translations and outreach throughout the year.


FUNDRAISING – HOW WE PAY FOR ALL OUR PROGRAMS! Dance for Dewey Amazon Smile Fun Run Target’s Take Charge of Education Book Fair Match Funding Box Tops Fundraising for Outside Organizations To support our many programs that serve almost 500 students, our goal this year is to raise over $35,000! We know that our community does not want to be constantly fundraising, which is why we focus on 2 main events, Dance for Dewey (early December) and the Fun Run Festival (May). Both of these events encourage everyone to support Dewey School by getting pledges and donations. Every child can participate in both of these fun, healthy, feel-‐good events, whether they are able to bring in donations or not. Donations and pledges of ALL sizes combine to help achieve our fundraising goals. Our 2 main fundraisers are supplemented by our Fall Book Fair and our “free money” programs. Dance for Dewey (December) The program includes a Dance residency from Urban Beat Dance during PE lessons prior to the Dance for Dewey event. In these lessons, the students learn new dance moves and have fun! The Dance for Dewey event is a 1 hour dance-‐a-‐thon for all students led by Urban Beat Dance instructors . The event takes place during the school day (usually the half day in December) to allow all students to participate. To raise funds, students are asked to get pledges and donations for their 1 hour of dancing. Student Involvement: Students participate in the dance residency during PE lessons and the 1 hour Dance for Dewey event. Students get pledges and donations for their dancing. Parent Involvement: Help students get pledges and donations. Volunteer on the day to help keep the dancing fun, safe and enjoyable for all! Fun Run Festival (May) The Fun Run Festival is a Friday evening family event held on the field and in the playground at Dewey school. The students are asked to get pledges and donations for running laps of a track and they can run as many laps as they feel they want to on the night! While they are not running there are fun activities like face painting, a bounce house, beading, basketball hoops, football throws etc. Pizza, fruit and snacks are served. You purchase a wristband to get access to all the food and sideshows. Student Involvement: Students get pledges and donations for the number of laps they hope to run. Students enjoy running laps and then moving onto the sideshows and food! Parent Involvement: Encourage your students to collect pledges and then cheer them on at the run. The whole family can enjoy the food and have fun with all the carnival games. There is also a raffle with great prizes! You can also volunteer to help! Book Fair (October) Our annual book sale during October parent-‐teacher conferences. Purchase books for your children or holiday gifts. You can also purchase books to fulfill classroom teachers’ wish lists. Free books are given to our children who might not have many at home.


Student involvement: Students visit the book fair with their classes and have the opportunity to compile wish-‐lists. Students can also shop the book fair with their parents after school. Parent involvement: Come and shop the book fair during the school day or after school with your kids! Parent volunteers sign up to help to run the book fair, manage the displays and check out shoppers. Box Tops for Education – “Free” Money for Dewey! Earn cash for Dewey school by clipping 10¢ Box Tops from hundreds of products. Send the box tops into school with your children so they can put them in the Box Top collection box in their classrooms. Twice a year there is competition and prize for the class that has collected the most box tops. You can also earn cash through e-‐Box Tops by going online at BTFE.com Student Involvement: Students are often better than adults at remembering to clip the box tops so let them find all the box tops in your home and get them to bring them into their class. Parent involvement: Help students collect as many box tops as possible. Asking neighbors, grandparents and friends can be a great source of box tops. Amazon Smile – More “Free” Money for Dewey! Buy many of the same items you’d buy on Amazon.com, but shop at Smile.Amazon.Com instead, and 0.5% of eligible purchases will go to the Dewey PTA. Parent Involvement: When you get to the website, select Dewey School PTA as your preferred charitable organization, and that’s all there is to it. Target’s “Take charge of Education” Program– Even More Free Money! For those who have a Target Red Card (Target credit card), you can enroll in this program at Target.Com/redcard/main and click on the “learn more” button under “Take Charge of Education.” Note, you must have a Target Red Card to enroll (so here’s your excuse to get one!) and pick Dewey as your school of choice. Match Funding -‐ A simple and free way to double your donation to Dewey! Match funding is offered by many companies but rarely used to its full potential. Each year, millions of dollars available to charities are left untapped. Match funding or matching gift programs are company programs which will double charitable donations. Let's see how many of our donations to Dance for Dewey we can double this year!! To establish whether your employer offers match funding, check with your HR department. If a program is offered you will usually need to complete a simple form. Basic information required may include: Dewey PTA Federal EIN: 36-‐3661099 ; Contact: Dewey PTA, Co-‐President Liz Webster; Contact Address: Dewey PTA, 1551 Wesley Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201. Fundraisers for outside organizations Fundraisers for outside organizations can happen throughout the year. They are generally not led by the PTA but could be based on an initiative from a student, teacher or a District 65 sponsored event (like Unicef collecting boxes at Halloween or Jump Rope for Heart in the Spring). Student/Parent Involvement: Details of the specific fundraising programs will come home in backpacks.

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PTA ABC FINAL - Evanston/Skokie School District 65