Red Ribbon Week Kickoff Assembly

 Friday afternoon, Emerson held a school wide assembly to kick off Red Ribbon Week. After the special announcing of the Friday blue slip winners, the students listened to two wonderfully written essays by the winners of the 5th Grade essay contest. Kindergarteners gave their first performance, singing a song about being drug free.

Officer Mortensen from the Long Beach Police Department came and spoke to the students on the importance of saying NO to DRUGS! He even drove his police car on campus and gave a little flash of the lights and sounded the siren. He answered questions, posed with Waldo and let students peek inside his patrol car after the assembly!

 We had the spirit days announced: Monday- Sock it to Drugs (wear crazy socks). Tuesday- Turn your Back on Drugs (backwards uniform day). Wednesday- Shade out Drugs (wear awesome sunglasses while outside at school). Thursday- Drug Free JEANius (wear jeans with your uniform) and Friday- Let the Red Out (Wear Red to School).

To end the assembly, Mr. Snell and Mr. Gibson led the Emerson Eagles in singing the School Song which was AWESOME! 

Special thanks to the Girl Scouts who decorated Emerson with plenty of Red Ribbons and decorations after school! A Huge thank you to Mrs. CJ Holder who is our Red Ribbon Chair and to all the parents, teachers, staff and students that help create and keep a safe, wonderful, drug free learning environment at Emerson!

Association Meeting 10/12/11

A quick recap of last night’s PTA Association Meeting for those who were unable to attend. (update: now that i’ve read through the whole thing, it’s not really quick but it is full of what took place at the meeting! Thank you reader for your patience!)

Recording Secretary, Mrs. Michelle Arslan, presented the minutes from last month’s association meeting, a motion to approve them was passed.

Vice President, Mrs. Peggy Walker, outlined the upcoming E-Waste/Shredding event that will be taking place on Saturday, October 22 from 9a-12p. The e-waste event is open to the community so encourage your friends, family and neighbors to bring acceptable e-waste (just about anything with a plug) and drop it off at Emerson! We will have a secure shredding service present as well. Bring your old bills, sensitive documents and anything else you want to have destroyed. The company will shred it right in front of you and securely haul away the scraps. It all makes money for our school!

Secretary, Mrs. Cynthia Antoinette, presented the Treasurers Report for approval. The total deposits for the last month were announced, much of the funds were from Memberships and from our Back to School Bash. The treasurers report is available to any PTA association member who’s dues are current. Motions to approve the Treasurers Report and Financial Secretary’s report were passed

Vice President of Membership, gave updates on membership. We currently have 403 members! Great Job! Our goal this year is to have 625 members. Please encourage your friends, family, dentist, coach, neighbor to become members. Base membership is only $5.50. Any additional is accepted with deepest gratitude! It’s our kids and their future.

Vice President of Fundraising, Mrs. Wendy Cuellar, who also chaired the PTA sponsored Back to School Bash activity, shared updates with how successful the Bash was. It was wonderful to share an evening with fellow Emerson Eagles and their families. We made enough money on glow stick sales, the Super Mex truck, Leroy’s Ice Cream Truck, and concessions to pretty much pay for itself! Which is such a great plus!

We have another Family Dinner Night coming up. Wednesday 10/19 at Souplantation in Lakewood. 

President, Mrs. Paula Nathan, reminded that Reflections Art Contest entries are due (today) 10/12/11. Chairpersons, Mrs. Nicole Halvorson and Mrs. Rose Jackman said that they will accept late entries ONLY until FRIDAY 10/14.

Book Fair is open this week, before and after school. During the evening at Kinder Data night. Your support is appreciated!

Principal, Mrs. Maggie Kerns, praised the wonderful upkeep of the school grounds thanks to those participating in Emerson Beautification! The school looks great. She was so impressed with the success of Back to School Bash and is looking forward to Trunk or Treat and Kinder Data night. 

Due to financial cut backs with the district, permit fees are now in place for any after school program that benefits financially (ie chess masters, spanish, and art but NOT Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Campfire). Because of those costs, the terms of these programs continuing are still being negotiated. At this point, we are being asked to wait patiently. 

Hopefully, we will have some sort of music/music exploration program developing at Emerson in the future. We have had wonderful past program leaders as well as new members of the Emerson community express interest in creating an enriching program that would typically be available to student in 2^nd -5^th grade. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

On the technology front, there are “kinks being worked out” with the computers in the lab. This is the last year that we will be able to use the MIND institute on our current computers. Mrs. Kerns said that if a technology committee of parents, teachers, volunteers was formed, they could work together to develop a plan for the future of our technology lab. 

There are other fundraising opportunities in the future. School Cents receipts are collected in the office. Any receipt from Lakewood, Cerritos or Stonewood Center malls including Costco Lakewood and Costco Gas (an ANY mall property in Lakewood… Best Buy, Home Depot, Restaurant Row… the restaurants on Candlewood between Clark and Lakewood). We get money just for turning in the receipts! If you write your name on the receipts, Mrs. Kris Williamson will even get them returned to you.

Fresh and Easy Shopping Night is coming up on Thursday, November 17^th from 4pm-8pm. If you would like to volunteer to help that evening, please contact Mrs. Kris Williamson. Turn in your Fresh and Easy receipts (from ANY fresh and easy) to the box in the kindergarten hallway and we will get $1 for every $20 on the same receipt! In order to qualify each turned in receipt must be at least $20.

Trunk or Treat Chair, Mrs. Heather Peterson, gave an update on our Halloween Family Night. So far we have 11 trunk sponsors. The donation boxes at your child’s classroom and in the halls are to collect candy, treats, stickers, pretzels, pencils and such that will be divided among the trunk sponsors and passed out to the costumed trick or treaters. There will be a pre carved pumpkin contest (bring your carved pumpkin to the cafeteria where voting will determine the winners), a maze sponsored by the Booth Family, a movie (Monsters VS Aliens) shown on the grass and lots of family fun.

Guest Speaker Mrs. Jill Rubinelli shared her experience hosting Foreign Exchange Students from Europe. She is coordinating 14-16 year old, english language experienced, students from China that will be visiting from January 11-18. For more information on the rewarding experience of hosting a foreign exchange student please contact us.

Guest speaker from Cardraising.com came to tell us about a fundraiser that we will be participating in this winter. It’s all different types of custom holiday cards. Orders will be placed and accepted online between November 1^st and December 10th. We literally do no work. They take care of all the advertising and marketing and we make 30%! Woot

A slideshow of photos from last month’s events was shown. We’ll be showing slides shows at the monthly association meetings. Come, see the pics, make your voice heard and check out all that’s happening with your Emerson PTA! We are so glad to have your ideas, resources and support!

Back to School Bash

Friday, September 30, 2011 Emerson PTA brought you the 2nd Annual Back to School Bash. Emerson friends and families got together to celebrate the beginning of the school year with a great party. There were informational and vendor booths, food, fun and games. After an amazing sunset and braving a few drops of rain, we watched Rio on the grass.

Great Participation!

Lots of cool booths lined the grass

Emerson Eagles enjoying the bash!

Gunny Sack Races, Find The Worm games, Hula Hoop Contest and Movie on the grass!

 Join PTA today! Your active membership and support is welcomed and appreciated! Special Thanks to Back to School Bash Chair, Mrs. Wendy Cuellar and all who donated their time, supplies, funds and great attitudes to make the bash such a success!

Book Exchange Fridays

Bring a Book, Get a Book! Emerson PTA is making Fridays EVEN COOLER! From 3pm-4pm, Book Exchange Fridays give you an opportunity to recycle your reading! Students may bring up to three (3) books to trade for another book.

You can choose to keep the book forever or trade it for a different one on another week. See you on Friday!

Reflections Workshop Day 1

September 22, Day 1 of the PTA sponsored Reflections Workshop!

Presented by Art Innovators, Emerson students of all ages were invited to participate in a two day workshop exploring this years theme "Diversity Means..." and get hands on experience with new and old art techniques. The whole workshop is an effort to increase the amount of Emerson students submitting pieces in the Nationwide PTA Reflections Program. In the past we didn't supply as many entries because the program kicks off so early in the school year and the paperwork looks so intimidating. This year, our wonderful Co-Chairs, Mrs. Nicole Halvorson and Mrs. Rose Jackman have done a wonderful job getting the word out about the program and have organized these FREE Art Workshops! If your child didn't get a chance to participate in day one, don't fret! There's still another day to the workshop!

Day 2 will be Friday, September 23 in the Cafeteria from 3:05-4:00pm 

Here is the link to the official Reflections Contest website.

Family Dinner Night: Red Robin Lakewood

Tonight was the first of many "Family Dinner Nights"at Red Robin in Lakewood, CA. It's a PTA fundraising opportunity that not only benefits the school financially (15-20% of your food bill depending on the restaurant!) but it gives us an opportunity to get out together socially thus encouraging, developing and strengthening the bonds that we develop in the Emerson Parkside Academy Community.

Hope to see you at the next one! 

Association Meeting 09/13/11

A BIG Thank You to all who were able to attend our first (and longest) association meeting of the year!! We're all still getting into the swing of the year and appreciate your support and patience. To be a little more GREEN, this year, reports are being presented on a big screen instead of 60 copies of each report being printed, glanced at and then thrown away!

In case you missed it, here's a few highlights of what we went over tonight:

Treasurer, Mrs. Cynthia Antoinette explained that there are many checks and balances in place to keep our finances in order. A motion was passed to approve the treasurers report.

Auditor, Mrs. Michelle Worden let us know that everything was matched up and that the proper taxes and forms had been filed. A motion was passed to approve the auditors report for March 2011-June 2011.

Teacher Liaison, Mrs. Nicole Halvorson explained some of the things that we as a PTA do for our teachers throughout the year to show our appreciation for their hard work and dedication. The library was transformed into an Italian Bistro for a welcome back luncheon. Two archaic microwaves have been replaced in the teacher's lounge. We purchased 8gig flash drives for each teacher to help with backing up data and material. We also furnish Teachers with a $100 gift card to their choice of Target or Teacher Supply store. They do so much for our children, we are so grateful for their knowledge, skills and patience!

VP of Membership, Mrs. Kris Williamson shared that in the first 3 days of school we collected 120 new membership dues! Thank you Emerson for your support! If you haven't had the chance to join, please do! Membership is only $5.50. Should you choose to join at some of our higher levels, look forward to all the goodies that will be coming your way in the coming weeks as your memberships are processed.

VP of Fundraising, Mrs. Wendy Cuellar outlined some of our upcoming FUNdraising opportunities. Family Dinner Night at Red Robin (Lakewood Center Mall) on Thursday, 09/22, from 5pm - 9pm! What a great way to take a night off of cooking and enjoy a night out with your fellow Eagles! Your flier must be present, look for it in your Wednesday Packet.

Also coming up is the 2nd Annual Back to School Bash! Good times for the whole family and more! Look forward to seeing you there! Games, Music, Fun and a movie after it gets dark!

PTA President, Mrs. Paula Nathan covered a lot in the first of her monthly President's Report. We ratified the appointments of new Board Members as well as Delegates. The budget was gone over line by line and a motion to pass the budget for 2011-2012 was passed.

ANY current member of the Emerson PTA is welcome to see the budget at any time. To request please email :
EMERSONPTA at VERIZON dot NET

Principal, Mrs. Maggie Kerns delighted us with news that Emerson is indeed SPECIAL! One of the only schools to still boast a 1:25 student/teacher ratio, a 34 point gain in our API score to put us at 886! We don't wasn't to stop there, we're on the way to joining the elite "900 Club". We are excited to get teachers trained on School Loop with is an internet based communication program. Mrs. Kerns also wanted to encourage fulfillment of those donation hours, yet one more something special that sets Emerson apart!

Mrs. Corrine Garthoff covered the Meet the Masters Program that will be beginning this fall. Another parent volunteer based program sponsored by the PTA, we're ALWAYS glad to have YOUR help!

Mrs. Michelle Worden, Auditor and also Book Fair Chair, shared that Book Fair will be held 10/10-10/14. Lots of new exciting options to purchase books for your child, their classroom, even our library! The theme this year is SPACE... Your time, help, support and ideas are always welcome!! Look for more info in your Wednesday Packet!

Mrs. Michelle Arslan, reminded us that we raised $1500 last year in box top collection! Keep 'em coming. Please avoid stapling your box tops, tape or glue is preferred if you utilize the provided fun sheets. Otherwise, bundles of 10 are perfect! Don't forget to include your child's name and classroom when turning in box tops so that they can be eligible to receive prizes!

Mrs. Kris Williamson wants you to know that School Cents is starting! Look for more info in your Wednesday Packets! We were awarded $600 last year for turning in Restaurant/Retail receipts from stores at and surrounding the Center Malls (Lakewood, Cerritos, Downey/Stonewood)! Costco counts!
also
Fresh and Easy receipt collection begins next week! Turn in your receipts that are at least $20 and Emerson will get $1 for EVERY $20 spent! This counts for ANY Fresh and Easy too!
Receipt collection boxes are at the office. If you need your receipts returned, please include your name and child's name on the envelope and they WILL be returned (I speak from experience!)

Recycling began today! Mrs. Karen Faulkner leads this program. Every Tuesday from 8:30a-9:00a bring your plastic bottles, aluminum cans and foil juice packets to the front of the school. Doing good for the Earth, doing good for Emerson! ANY and ALL help is welcome and extremely appreciated!

DIVERSITY MEANS...
This is the theme for the Nation Wide PTA sponsored Reflections competition. Co-Chaired by Mrs. Rose Jackman and Mrs. Nicole Halvorson. A FREE after school art workshop will be held on 09/22 and 09/23 from 3p-4p after school. Representatives from Art Innovators will be on hand with supplies and ideas to help students of all grades and skill levels to explore the theme and perhaps begin, work on and even complete a Reflections Project to be submitted. Entries are due by 10/12 and can be done in the following categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Musical Composition, Photography and Visual Arts. Click HERE to be directed to ptareflections.org. Look for more information in your Wednesday Packet, coming home with your youngest child at Emerson!

If we didn't get a chance to see you at the meeting tonight, we hope to see you at the next one on Tuesday October 11, 2011 at 6pm in the auditorium!