Email Subscriptions No Longer

So, I didn't read the fine print. FeedBlitz, the service that provides email subscriptions for this blog, only provides it free for a little while. After that, they start to charge. Apparantly FeedBlitz needs to make money, which proves quite unfortunate for us.

So, for now (unless anyone can point us towards a free service, which would be great!), you can no longer get updates to your email account. Please check back often for news and updates.

Above Resorting to Bribery? Nope.

Make sure to check your kids' Friday folders today! You will find three things:

1) WPPA Survey : An opportunity to give general constructive feedback about WPPA.
2) Candy Bar Survey: An attempt to gauge participation in next fall's Candy Bar Sale.
3) Volunteer Information: We will use this to develop a Volunteer Database with contact information, availability, etc. This will be used for all WPPA events/activities.

I know, this is a super busy time of year. It's gorgeous out. And no one wants to fill out a survey. So, in an attempt to sweeten the deal, WPPA will treat every classroom that returns more than half of their surveys to popsicles during the last week of school.

And if your kids are anything like mine, they may help ... um ... remind you to fill out the forms and turn them in so they can get their treats.

All shady tactics aside, I hope you will look at the information and take the time to fill it out. Hopefully it will help WPPA know what we've been doing right and what we can do even better next year! Thanks for your help!

Moving Muscle Needed!!

Jolene Hodson is still in dire need of MANY able bodies to help pack up and move at school. As you know, every single thing -- down to the last sheet of paper -- needs to be boxed up and moved out of the school for the summer due to construction. Many of the teachers need help in preparing their rooms for this huge endeavor.

So please!! Volunteer to help. Times available include:

Wednesday, May 27 : 4-9 p.m.

Thursday, May 28 : 4-9 p.m.

Tuesday, June 2 : 4-9 p.m.

Thursday, June 4 : 4-9 p.m.

Friday, June 5: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ANY amount of time would be greatly appreciated -- even if you cannot stay for the whole shift. If you are able to volunteer, or if you have any questions, please contact Jolene at jhodson@stanthony.k12.mn.us.

May Meeting Minutes

The minutes for the May WPPA minutes are posted on the WPPA web site. Check it out!

At the risk of sounding redundant ....

There's been great feedback about Silent Auction. Here's what we know: some people love it, some people hate it, it's a ton of work and it makes a whole lot of money.

Looking forward, the ideas for what it could be next year are wide open. We could do it exactly as we've done it before. Or, we could mix it up.

A lot of people seem very enthusiastic (based on our completely unscientific, talking-to-people-in-halls-and-volunteer-room kind of poll) about shaking things up a bit. Could we make this an adults-only event? Could we have it off site? Could we have music or entertainment? Could we find a way to provide child care while parents enjoy a fun night out? Other schools nearby have gone this route and had great results.

No decisions have been made . These are simply questions that have been asked. But without chairs of this event, we can't really move beyond the questions to creating a plan.

So, um ... at the risk of sounding horribly redundant ... anyone wanna chair?

Blog Propoganda

Thanks for checking out this blog! We think it will be a great way to keep people connected. Please help us out by spreading the word. Send this link to all your Wilshire Park friends and tell them to subscribe!

http://wppa.blogspot.com/

Silent Auction Reminder

The school year is quickly rolling to a close ... can you believe it?

Just a reminder: we still need Silent Auction Chairs and we need them before the end of this school year.

As you know, without chairs, we cannot have this event. And since we set the budget over the summer, we need to know whether to plan for this revenue ... or not.

Now, this is not meant to be all gloom and doom ... the sky isn't falling or anything. If we don't have Silent Auction, we will just have to make adjustments to the budget. It's not ideal, but it's not the end of the world.

There were many people who gave enthusiastic feedback that they wanted to see Silent Auction continue. So if you are passionate about this event, and want to see it continue, know that we need chairs to make it happen.

Please contact Melissa with any questions or for more information.

Get Your Culver's On

Don't forget to head to Culver's tonight! They are hosting a fundraiser for the school's STEM program from 5-8 p.m. Skip cooking, see friends and help school. It's a win-win-win kind of situation (and who doesn't love those!?!).

Yearbooks

Have you seen the Yearbooks? They look fabulous! Make sure to thank Kari Tholkes and Shiela Grand for their months of hard work on this project, and Steve Campbell who designed the beautiful cover.

Did you forget to order one? Or are you realizing perhaps, that you might need one per child in your family to squelch the arguing over whose turn it is to look at it?

Don't forget ...there are a few yearbooks left and available for purchase for $15 in the school office!!

Staff Appreciation

This week (week of May 5) is Staff Appreciation week. The Staff Appreciation Committee has worked hard to put together all kinds of fun treats for the staff ... something special planned for each and every day of the week:

• Monday: Treats and Caribou coffee in the staff lounge; lotions/soaps/towels for lounge and staff bathrooms
• Tuesday: Hershey's Treasure chocolates with a note saying: You're a treasure to us.
• Wednesday: Wildflower seed packets that said Thanks bunches.
• Thursday: Water bottles with lemonade packets that say Thanks for quenching our students' thirst for knowledge.
• Friday: Homemade cookies wrapped three in a pack.

THANKS to the committee for all their efforts in making the staff feel appreciated! This group includes Kristin Anderson (Chair), Amy Friebe, Shannon Geier, Tami Hodgkins and Julie Pierce. Thanks also to the parents who brought in treats for -- or helped clean up after --Monday morning, including Teri Anderson, Nancy Burns, Julie Miller, Mary Stoekel and Tessie Rodkewich.

I Scream, You Scream

May 5 was the Art Fair/Book Fair and Swap/Ice Cream Social. What a fabulous event ... with a lot going on!

The Book Fair (which raises a ton of money for our library!) and Book Swap are organized by the WP Media Center. Mrs. Frudden (the art teacher) coordinates all the beautiful student artwork for the Art Fair. And of course, WPPA provides the ice cream as a fun treat and community builder. Thanks to Ruth Forsline, who chaired this effort, and to all the parents who helped scoop the 625 cups of ice cream we gave away!

Culver's generously provided the cups, spoons and napkins and use of the cooler for free, and offered the ice cream to us at cost.

And speaking of Culver's, mark your calendars for Monday, May 11 from 5-8 p.m. Culver's is hosting another fundraiser for Wilshire Park to raise money for the STEM program. During that time a portion of all sales goes back to the school. At the first event last week about $400 was raised!

So come if you can. Not only is an easy way to help raise money for the STEM program, but it makes for a cooking-free night and gives families the opportunity to connect with one another outside of school. Hope to see you there!

No!

Many of us are familiar with Dr. David Walsh (author of No -- Why Kids of all Ages Need to Hear it and Ways Parents Can Say it), as he has come to speak to parents in the district a few times.

Here's an opportunity, passed on to WPPA by one of the teachers, to take part in a parent workshop, led by Dr. Walsh. It's local, it's free and you get to be on Public Television. Spots are limited. Check out this page for more information.

Cheating, or Perhaps Multi-tasking ....

This is the blurb that will be in this week's Words From Wilshire:

***************
Last Monday, WPPA had our final meeting of the year. You can check the WPPA web site soon for the full meeting minutes, but until then here's a few of the major points:

We received a check for $2,140 for Box Tops for Education. Thanks to everyone who took the time to snip and save those box tops. Every single one helps, and as a $2,140 check demonstrates, it adds up to a significant amount of money for the school! Thanks especially to Karolyn Busacker, the Chair who coordinates this fundraiser.

• We approved the following fund requests: $2,750 for the Leveled Reading Room, $200 for the Young Author's Conference and $1,500 additional STEM funding.
• We voted to expand the Executive Board beginning Fall 2009.
• We approved a Direct Giving Program for the upcoming year.
• We discussed the budget and the Silent Auction for 2009-2010.

As we look towards the upcoming 2009-2010 year, we are looking for a few people willing and enthusiastic to step into leadership roles for WPPA. These roles include:

• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Volunteer Coordinator
• Classroom Coordinators
• Event Chairs for several new fundraising events (ask for more details).
• Fifth Grade Recognition Chairs
• Silent Auction Chairs
  

While we got overwhelmingly positive feedback about Silent Auction, we do not have chairs for next year. In order to keep this event going (which raised approximately $7,000 this past year -- about a third of the entire WPPA budget), we need enthusiastic, energetic and organized people who will step us as chairs before the end of this year. Without event chairs, the event will not be able to happen.

Last year's chairs did an unbelievably fabulous job. They have a wealth of resources and information to pass on to the new chairs, and will be available for any questions along the way. Please consider stepping up to chair this event. I will do everything I can to support you along the way!

If you would like more information on any of the positions, or have any questions email me.

I also want to take a second to thank the parents who chair WPPA's Collect-and-Send Fundraisers. The work they do can easily go unnoticed. But it is often a lot of work (and sometimes messy, tedious work at that!) and it raises a lot of money for WPPA.

Please make sure you say thanks to these parents for their efforts:

• Karolyn Busacker (Boxtops for Education)
• Tami Felling (Ink Cartridges)
• Jodi Bradt (Milk Caps)
• Kari Tholkes (Nabisco Cookie Wrappers and Drink Pouches)

So, that's the skinny on all that! And just because WPPA is done meeting for the year, doesn't mean we'll be resting on our respective laurels. There is A LOT going on. So keep checking back for news and updates. And did I mention that you should subscribe? Well, you should.

PS: For those that were wondering, when you subscribe you will never get more than ONE daily email with that day's posts. So you don't have to worry about your inbox being flooded with each post and each comment on the blog. It won't be. Plus, knowing how many subscribers there are will help us know how many people we are reaching with this site ... So help us out, won't you please?

Tonight

Quick note: the last WPPA meeting of the year will be tonight at 7 p.m. Hope to see you there! You can check out the meeting agenda (updated today) by clicking here.

Subscribe to this blog. All the cool parents are doing it.

Yeah! First post! Thanks for checking out the WPPA blog. It's shiny. It's new. And it's a great way to stay in the loop about Wilshire Park and WPPA happenings. So bookmark this page, check it obsessively and tell all your friends how fabulous it is.

Oh! And make sure you enter your e-mail address to subscribe. That way, even if you forget to check the blog, you'll receive all the important news and updates via e-mail. And we won't even send you any spam. Promise.