September Meeting Minutes

Thanks to everyone who came to the first meeting of the year! If you missed it, here are the minutes.

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Meeting Minutes: May 2013

Here are the minutes from the May 2013 meeting.

Staff Appreciation

Dear Wilshire Park Families,

It is once again time to show our appreciation for our wonderful Wilshire Park staff. Please consider participating in one of the following ways.

First, as a way to thank staff members for all of their hard work, we ask that families write personal notes of thanks to teachers and staff members. You may do this at home or you will have the opportunity to do this at the Ice Cream Social on Tuesday, May 7 (6-7 pm) in Mrs. Tronsgard’s room (#118 – across from Multi-Purpose Room). The note could be a picture made by your student, a note of thanks from you as a parent or other creative note of thanks. Your student's teacher, a favorite specialist, and a custodian or office member would all love this! Please have your notes handed in by Wednesday May 8th to the school office. We plan to gather the thank you notes, and package them to give to each staff member on Friday, May 10th.

Secondly, instead of the big appreciation breakfast offered in the past, the committee decided to try something different by giving the staff several smaller treats throughout the week. If you would like to contribute food, you can sign up to donate online , or indicate your first and second choice on the slip here and have your child turn it in to the office. We ask that you bring your food on either disposable plates/platters or label them with your name and pick them up in the staff lounge the following day. Please deliver food items to the staff lounge by 7:30 am on the day you are scheduled.

We appreciate you considering this volunteer opportunity. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer at 612-554-8519 or Keri at 612-789-1370.

Gratefully,

The Staff Appreciation Committee

Keri Skinner, Erin Gunselman-Burns, Jennifer Rosha, and Brenda Neimi

Giving Campaign Total = $13,000!!

Thank you to those that organized our first ever Giving Campaign: Shiela Grand, Tara & Sierra Halverson, Lani Gabatino, Grace Jones, Pam Metcalf, Melissa Nelson, Kari Page, Cindy Ridge, Susan Schenkenberg, Helen Siggelkow, Mrs. Burba’s First Grade Class, and most importantly the wonderful teachers and staff of Wilshire Park!!

Thank you to Sir Speedy in Northeast Minneapolis for generously providing the printing of our booklet.

Thanks to those who turned out for Family Fun Night to help celebrate our successful Giving Campaign! A great time was had by all.

A special thank you to DJ, Bob Martinez and Tara Halverson for their talents!!

Thanks to the volunteers that night: Scott Springman, Erin Gunselman, Kevin Burns, Trent & Melissa Nelson, Dustin Halverson, Dave & Tessie Rodkewich, Teresa Turner, Susan Schenkenberg, Jeff & Shiela Grand, Marianne Richmond, Katie Gillard, Pam Metcalf, Johnna Rodgers, Bob Jones, Beckie Schmitz, Mary Guiterrez, Natalie Dougherty, Bob Martinez, Wendy Webster and those of you that jumped in to help when it got crazy!!

Upcoming Events

Last WPPA Meeting of the school year:  Monday, May 6 at 7 pm in the staff lounge.

Staff Appreciation is May 6-10:  Look for information about how you can participate in your students’ backpack next week.

Ice Cream Social:  Save the date for Tuesday, May 7 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. for one of our kids’ favorite nights at Wilshire Park.  Free ice cream and so much great art work to check out!!  

Giving Campaign Update

As we end the second week of the Giving Campaign we thought you might enjoy seeing the Giving Campaign  commercial that the students saw on morning announcements the first week.  Thank you to Mrs. Burba's class for singing with such pride and thanks to Sierra Halverson, Mr. Gabatino, Grace Jones & Melissa Chmielewski for helping out!

Thank you to the families that have given!!  There is one week left - still time to give if you haven't yet.  Please send a check (with the voucher from the booklet) with your student or you can give with a credit card here.

Enjoy the video!

2013 Giving Campaign

The Giving Campaign is our spring fundraiser, replacing Spring To It.  A booklet went home in your students’ backpack this week.  The booklet contains information about the campaign as well as testimonials from teachers and staff as to how they use the funds provided by WPPA.  Please take time to read through, it is very enlightening. 

You will be able to check the progress of the campaign by watching the Panda in the hallway by the Main Office.  As funds are raised, the Panda will climb the tree.  It’s a fun way for our students to check on the progress of the campaign.  If we are able to raise $7,500 by Friday, March 22^nd, a Family Fun Night will be held at Wilshire on Thursday, April 4^th.  We will have use of the gym and multi-purpose room, popcorn and lemonade and Bingo in the cafeteria for families.

It’s easy to give, simply either send a check in with your student with the tear off voucher from the booklet or you can give online through this blog, just click here (link is also on the top right).

Please let me know if you would like to help organize the Family Fun Night.  We need a couple of people to oversee Bingo and make popcorn.  Contact Julie Pierce at jlpiercemn@comcast.net to help out or for any questions.

Let’s all give it what we can!

Coffee with the Principal 2/15

Thanks to Mrs. Page,  Special Education Teacher, Erica Swenson and District School Psychologist Jason Haluska for a great Coffee with the Principal today. We discussed a technology program called AIMSweb to assess student progress and track if interventions are being successful to help students learn.  If you could not attend, feel free to watch the downloaded version accessible on the school's web page.

The group also shared about a new intervention web site that the staff is using. Check it out here.

Fun Fest Reminder

Just a reminder that Fun Fest (Friday, Feb. 1) is right around the corner. If you haven't signed up for a shift yet, we still have 90 spots to fill!! We also need some set up help from 9:15 a.m. to 12 p.m. so we're ready for the kids at 4 p.m. Please email Angela Martin at anghomemail@msn.com to sign up.

Fun Fest 2013

Wilshire Park’s answer to the winter blues.  Mark your calendars for Friday, February 1.Our current chair, Angela Martin, remembers this event fondly from when she was a young girl at Wilshire Park. That is a long standing tradition of games, food, prizes, bouncers and more!!  We will also be adding the teacher raffles into this year’s event.

I want to say thank you in advance to Angela for chairing this event for the past few years.  This is her last year as her youngest will be moving on to SA Middle School next year.  Angela, your organization and passion for Fun Fest will be hard shoes to fill!! This event is a community enrichment event and a great way to meet other families. Fun Fest needs more than 200 volunteers to make it happen, so we will need your help.  Last year for the first time ever, we closed several games early due to lack of parent volunteers.  Please consider volunteering; sign-up sheets will go home in January.

Thank you!

Conference Meals:  Thank you, Melissa Nelson for again coordinating the conference meals so effortlessly!  Thank you to Holy Land, Barley John’s and Oceanaire for donating conference meals.  We also want to thank Chow Girls catering for feeding our fabulous teachers for a ‘deal’!  All was appreciated!  A special thank you to all the families that helped coordinate the set-up and clean-up of the meals and to those that provided desserts.

Movie & Bingo Night:  Thank you to our event chairs Katie Gillard,  Margarey Zweifelhofer and Connie Berquist for coordinating another successful Movie Night!  Thanks to Mat Lundgren who managed all the "technical" details.The Lorax was a hit with the kids and our parents enjoyed playing Bingo with Pam Metcalf & crew.  Thank you all for your time.