Are You Ready for The Harvest Festival? - Francis Scott Key

The leaves are turning, and that can

mean only one thing: It’s time for the

Key School Harvest Festival! A ma-

jor highlight of the school year, the

Harvest Festival is a wonderful neigh-

borhood event with fun games, great

food, cool music, and lots of prizes. All

proceeds go to Key School.

This year’s Harvest Festival will be

on Sunday, Oct. 21, from noon to 4pm, rain or shine. All your favorites will be

back, like the haunted house, the DJ

(request songs in advance at http://

tools.discjockeysoncall.com/request/

keyschool), the Key Penguin, Plinko,

and, yes, the Crazy Hair booth. Prizes

will include donations from Sullivan’s,

Ben & Jerry’s, and Kicks Karate.

Families can enter their pumpkins

in the decorating contest (no carving,

just decorating). This year’s special

guest judges are Palisades notables

Mary Moore, Mat Thorp, and Barbara

Vandegrift, so get creative!

It’s official: Key Elementary scored higher on the latest DC-CAS tests than any other District of Columbia elementary school. Our overall 91.6% proficiency score reflects a reading score of 90.9 per-cent and a math score of 92.3 percent.

Princpial David Landeryou credits his teaching team as well as the entire Key community for this terrific result.

“It’s a reflection of how hard everybody works,” he says. “I know how great a pro-gram we have here, but it’s always good to have the numbers to say ‘we are the best.’ ”

Key Elementary has also been desig-nated a “Rewards” school by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). In OSSE’s new accountability system, Rewards schools—the highest level of recognition—are given increased flexibility in how they operate.

Are You Ready for The Harvest Festival?

KEY: TOPS ON THE DC-CAS

InsideMeet the new Key

staff; Where your PTA dollars go; Behind the

scenes with the chorus; Updates on retail rebate

and the playground; and more!

You can still purchase your punch

cards on the blacktop this week,

Having fun at the 2011 Harvest Festival

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

KEYNOTESTHE NEWSLETTER OF THE KEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PTA • OCTOBER 2012

KEYNOTES • OCTOBER 2012 PAGE 2

The bulk of what parents do for the PTA is accomplished through good old-fash-ioned people power.

Each year, hundreds of volunteers hit the ground running to put on the Harvest Festival, load Christmas trees onto cars, volunteer with students in classrooms and on field trips, organize pic-nics and teacher

Running On Bytes How the PTA Is Harnessing Technology To ImproveEfficiency

By Virginia Gorsevski and Sunny Kaplan, PTA Co-Presidents

appreciation lunches, and solicit dona-tions for the auction—to name just a few examples.

But behind the scenes, we are always searching for ways the PTA can work and communicate more efficiently though the

use of technology.Our most recent technological

advancements can be attrib-uted to PTA Data Admin-

istrator Maria Emanuel, who this summer set

up our online PTA dues and bulk supplies payment system and cre-ated a download-able PTA School Calendar.

“I love technol-ogy,” said Maria.

“Parents can now have the school

calendar at their fin-gertips by downloading

it on their smart phones. No more waiting to run home

and look on the fridge or writing events manually on a planner.”

Another tech update in the pipeline is a revamped Key School website being engineered by our new PTA Webmaster, Tom Gimer. Tom will be transitioning the site to the popular WordPress content management system, which will provide more functionality and make it easier for users to find and share information. The new site will be “easy for anyone (room parents, PTA, teachers, etc.) to update; it will organize content nicely and be searchable.” He adds that “in the future, it can be easily upgraded to do essentially whatever the school would ever want a website to do.”

Thanks to the forward thinkers who preceded us, technology already allows us to save paper and resources and dis-tribute news quickly.

In 2008, then-PTA President Christy Halvorson Ross set up our Key PTA Yahoo Group listserv, which serves as an invaluable resource for communicat-ing with the Key community. We use the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Thank you, volunteers!

A big thanks to the parents who helped us get

the new school year off to a smooth start: Tilman

Wuerschmidt, Aparna Zaveri (Back-to-School Coffee);

Mari Bailey, Megan Holdren (Bulk Supplies); Maria Emanuel

(Database Administrator); Todd Stein, Jennie McDonnell

(Directory); Anjula Agrawal, Nichole Pardo, Catherine Swezey,

Carolyn Butler (Flu Clinic); Caroline Wolverton, Ximena Ortiz

(Foreign Language Coordinators); Jennifer Frederick, Darcy

Langdon, Lindsay Fa, Samantha Gushner (Hospitality Com-

mittee); Library Coordinator Kim Hester and our many parent

shelvers; Jamie Edwards, Darcy Langdon, Carolyn Butler

(New Parent Reception); Abby Horrigan (Retail Rebate);

Room Parent Coordinator Cameron Taylor and all

our new room parents; Tom Gimer (Webmaster);

and everyone who helped spruce up our

campus at our School Beautification

Day in August!


After last year’s truly memorable end-of-year Hootenanny, the Key School Chorus is back—and bigger than ever. There are now 42 children in the Monday group (grades 1–2) and 20 in the Tuesday group (grades 3–5).

“The interest has been amazing,” says Chorus Director Ann Roddy. “And the children arrive ready to give it their all. It’s just a great pleasure to watch them learn and grow.”

Chorus is offered as a free after-school activity, funded by the PTA.

Behind the Scenes With the Key Chorus

While Key students have the opportu-nity to take music classes within the Fillmore program, the Chorus program brings music into the halls of Key as well. Last year the Chorus gave one end-of-year evening performance—the Hootenanny—and three during the school day: at the Holiday Sharing Program and the Black History Month assembly, and a command performance of “Hootenanny Highlights” during the last week of school. Even more perfor-mances are anticipated this school year.

Choristers performing at last year’s Hootenanny

And the younger chorus group is this year benefiting from the experience of 5th-grade choristers Gwenith Bowker-Bafna and Lily Nadel, who are putting their song skills to use assisting Roddy with the jam-packed Monday session.

Roddy—whose children Reed (2nd) and Thomas (2nd) are choristers, and whose son Emmett (5th) is a former chorister now singing with the Children’s Chorus of Washington—has decades of experi-ence in education and music. She has been singing with the prestigious Choral Arts Society of Washington for the past 20 years, and studied voice and guitar in the old-time and bluegrass traditions for four summers at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, W. Va.

But that experience isn’t the only reason she’s chosen to teach American music—everything from traditional songs to classics by the Carter Family, the Stanley Brothers, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams. “These songs are full of history,” says Roddy. “Each one presents a teachable moment. But they were also hits in their own right,” with melodies that the children really grab hold of.

Recent research has only underscored how crucial music learning can be for growing minds. (See, for example, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-music-lessons-have-longtime-benefits/.) Now, thanks to the Chorus, everyone at Key can benefit from the power of music.

Got a great idea for Keynotes?

Keynotes is always looking for story ideas and photos from Key events, so please

send them our way! Contact Sara Sklaroff at

[email protected].


WELCOME! KEY’S NEWFACES

Hanna Mehring

Kindergarten AideMs. Mehring comes from Malibu, Calif. She’s really

into soccer and surfing!

Melissa

Lewis-Pringle, RNC School Nurse

Nurse Pringle and her family moved here from New York City

five years ago. Her husband proposed to her during a trip

to Hawaii—and earlier this month they celebrated

their 9th wedding anniversary!

Jennifer Green

4th GradeMs. Green grew up in

Gettysburg, Pa. When she was little, she once ate an entire box of salt water taffy while

hiding in a closet—and didn’t get sick!

Meredith Jones

2nd GradeMs. Jones is from Hillsborough,

N.C. (outside Chapel Hill/Durham). On a safari in South Africa she once came very close to a very

big lion—covered with the remains of the meal he had just eaten!

Gabriella Luciano

4th Grade AideMs. Luciano is from New Provi-

dence, N.J. She is the proud “parent” of a quarter horse named Fanny and enjoys

singing, especially in elevators!

Taylor Forgrave1st Grade Aide

Originally from Zanesville, Ohio, Ms. Forgrave loves

animals, especially her cat, Squeak, who is great at

playing fetch!

Patricia

Porro-Salinas, PhDSchool Psychologist

Dr. Salinas grew up in Bethesda, Md. She is a science fiction fan who once had a dog named for Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The

Next Generation! But no, she does not speak

Klingon.

Lindsay KaginKindergarten

Ms. Kagin grew up in East Grand Rapids, Mich., and she loves

to travel!

Cara Houston

2nd GradeMs. Houston is originally from

Rutland, Vt. She worked at an organic farm three

summers in a row!


RETAIL REBATE AN EASY WAY TO SUPPORT KEY ELEMENTARY

$1000 SO FAR THIS YEAR!

$5000 GOAL BY THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR!

$4000

$3000

$2000

Did you know that you can raise big money for Key School just by doing your usual shopping? Our retail rebate program, helmed by Abby Horrigan, uses companies’ cash-back programs that pay Key every time you make a purchase. Here are the main ways you can help merchants give back to our school (more info is at keyschooldc.org):

1. Collect Box Tops. In October, we’re stepping up the collection of Box Tops for Education, those little rectangles printed on many packaged goods, like cereal, sandwich bags, juices, and other kitchen and food items. Once you’ve cut them out you can bring them in to Key school—there’s a collection box

on the wall in the lobby by the front door. (Ms. Jones’ 2nd grade class is having

fun counting out the Box Tops that have been brought in so far!) The deadline for this round of Box Tops is October 26.

2. Link your store cards. You can sign up for the Safeway program us-ing forms posted in an envelope on the bulletin board in the main lobby at Key. (You will need to sign up every year, once a year.) If you’re a Giant shopper, please go to GiantFood.com and click on the A+ program to register. (Key’s Giant ID num-ber is 00169.) For Harris Teeter, visit “My Profile” on HarrisTeeter.com to select a school. (Key’s Harris Teeter ID is 7946.)

If you have a Target Red Card, you can also link that card to Key.

3. Use online links. Are you a big Amazon shopper? If you enter their site each time through the Key school link, every purchase you make will bring money to Key. The link can be found on the Key School website, keyschooldc.org. Bookmark it!

Sign up at igive.com and, once you register Key and download their toolbar, you just shop online as normal at more than 700 companies (including Gap, Lands’ End, L.L.Bean, and Boden) and a percentage goes back to Key.

Remember, you don’t need to be a Key parent to use any of these programs. En-courage neighbors and family members

outside your household to sign up and support Key too.

We’re already 20 perecent of the way toward this year’s goal of $5000. The bulk of what has been raised so far has come from a Safeway promotion (big thanks to Kim Christo for helping with the data entry to make that happen!).

Questions? Please contact Abby Horrigan: [email protected] or (202) 364-9923.

Help us fill the retail rebateshopping bag!


National Walk to School

Day was October 3 this

year. We polled the

classes to see how kids

got to school that day.

Close to one third said

that they had walked,

while about two thirds

came by car, with a

small number coming

by bike, scooter, public

transit, or school bus.

Of course, not every-

one lives close enough

to walk to school every

day. But more walkers

means less traffic con-

gestion during dropoff

and pickup. It’s also a

very nice way to start

your day!

Walk to School Day All About The Journey

WALKED bike/scooter

car public transit

school bus

Results of the classroom transport survey, October 3, 2012 (15 classes responding)

30%

2.5%

62.5%

4%2%

listserv to send out “Next Week at Key” to parents every Thursday, keeping you up-to-date on days off, events, holidays, and goings-on at school and in the com-munity. Important messages can be sent out with the stroke of a key should Mr. Landeryou need to relay crucial informa-tion in a timely manner.

In addition, many teachers and room parents use Shutterfly pages or Google docs for sign-ups, surveys, or to share information and photos.

The Spring Auction, our annual fund-raiser that brings in half the PTA’s bud-get, became less cumbersome to manage starting in 2010 when Maria Emanuel be-gan using the Web-based Greater Giving software. Now, our invitations, donations, catalogue and sales reports are all man-aged online. Our incoming auction chair, new parent Maria Garcia, will be looking into the cost effectiveness of e-bidding software that would bring bidding to a whole new level.

When you attend the PTA General Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 17th, don’t expect to be handed a paper agenda. Former PTA President Marie Collins and her tech-savvy husband, Nick Keenan, pushed paper-free agendas at our general PTA meetings in 2007, a tradition we continue today.

While we have yet to use the power of social media as a way to communicate news, network with our community—es-pecially our alumni—and fundraise, for-mer Key parent Craig Carpenter created a Key PTA Facebook page last year that is ready to be launched when we are ready to manage it. Any takers?

We also don’t have a Twitter account, but aren’t ruling out the possibility: @FSKeyParents: Step forward to volun-teer for the #PTA! #justmightbefun :)

BYTES (FROM PAGE 2)


In 2011, the PTA identified the need for the crucial redevelopment of our playground and outdoor space as a top priority for the organization and school. By now, it’s clear that the overuse of our outdoor space and facilities has resulted in outdated and broken equipment, un-safe surfaces, and grounds deterioration. Poor water drainage and management are a big part of the problem.

So in 2012, the PTA hired a landscape design firm, Sustainable Life Designs, to develop a site plan for Key. Our generous Key and Palisades community responded well to the plan, donating close to $130,000 to the Play It Forward campaign for this legacy project. With our funds and a draft plan in hand, Key attracted the attention of DC council member Mary Cheh, who worked on our behalf to secure $750,000 in additional funding in the 2013 DC budget.

Near the end of the last school year, DCPS completed its own civil survey of Key that identified similar water manage-ment, deterioration, and safety issues. Our discussions with DCPS are now centered on when we will start the project and what the final plan will look like. We are very encouraged that a new playground will be open for the 2013-2014 school year.

In the meantime, our team contin-ues the hard work at fund raising. The

playground. All donors of $250 and above will have permanent recognition on our new playground. Gifts from Auc-tion 2011 are cumulative with new gifts. You can see details and giving levels at keyschooldc.org. Also, please continue to spread the word to our community, alum-ni, and businesses.—JENNIFER FELTEN

AND JULIE SCOTT, PLAYGROUND

COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

PLAYGROUND REDEVELOPMENT HEATS UPcenterpiece of our campaign is the Play It Forward “Piece Drive” targeted to Key families, alumni, neighbors and Palisades businesses. The campaign also includes corporate and foundation grants, retail rebate (see page 6), and PIF gear. Thank you to the many generous Key families who have already supported the effort.

If you are new to Key please Play It Forward by purchasing a “piece” of the

Playground campaign supporters at the 2012 Palisades 4th of July parade

HARVEST (FROM PAGE 1) before and after school. Cards are $10

in advance and $12 at the door, and are

good for all games and food.

We need your help to make this

year’s Festival another success. If you

can volunteer for set up, clean up, or

working the grill, please contact Meri-

wether Beatty: [email protected] or

Maria Garcia: [email protected].

If you want to help with the haunted

house, please contact Paul Souchar:

[email protected].

Book Sale: We’re still looking for gently

used books (especially for older kids),

CDs, and DVDs. Look for the drop-off

bins in the main lobby or contact Abby

Horrigan: [email protected].

Bake Sale: Calling all bakers! We need

you to bring lots of Halloween treats,

and we’d like to have a section of

healthy, all-natural selections too.

Spooky Decorations: We need spooky

decoration donations to make the

Haunted House a perfect fright! Have

any extras you can spare? Please

contact Meriwether Beatty: mbeatty@

jsi.com, to arrange pick-up. A handsome 2011 design by Sara Brodsky


Parent involvement is a major contributor to Key’s success. Through PTA fundraising we are able to fill the gaps in what District of Columbia Public Schools is able to provide. Working with Principal Landeryou and our parent committees, we identify needs and plan for the future. This chart offers a quick overview of the $180,000 PTA budget.

$94,000TEACHERS AND AIDES About half of the PTA’s budget pays the salaries of four classroom aides. In addition, money is set aside for staff gifts.

$31,300TEACHING SUPPLIES Every year, the PTA gives each class-room teacher money to set up his or her room. Funds are also provided for the computer room; ESL; math and reading resources; school nurse; PE, science, and special education. The PTA also pays for laminating film for the teachers’ laminating machine.

$3,000FACILITIESToward the upkeep of buildings and grounds

$10,000DISCRETIONARY FUNDS For unexpected costs, as identified by the PTA and the principal.

$4,500ARTSChorus; Fillmore supplies; arts committee

$10,700WORKING COSTSAccounting, insur-ance, hospitality, and school directory

$4,200

EVENTS Science Fair, Field Day Picnic; Fifth Grade end-of-year events$9,000

BOOKSThe PTA pays for classroom textbooks as well as books for the library and the book room.

$11,000STUDENT TRIPSThe PTA contributes to class field trips and pays for the 5th grade end-of-year trip BY THE NUMBERS

WHERE YOUR PTA DOLLARS GO

$85,000School Auction

$55,000Dues and

Contributions

$24,000Surplus from previous year

$9,000Christmas Tree sale

$7,000Harvest festival,

retail rebate, and book fair

$2,300OTHER COMMITTEE PROJECTS For the community ser-vice, green, and world family committees

Are You Ready for The Harvest Festival? - Francis Scott Key

Documents

Transcript of Are You Ready for The Harvest Festival? - Francis Scott Key