Category Archives: First Grade

Royal Court Nominations as of 3/27/14

CrownWow, 2nd grade swooped in and knocked 3rd grade down to 3rd place and is now nipping at the heels of Kindergarten. Watch out Kindergarten, I believe 2nd grade is saying game on.

Help your child’s cohort (grade level) secure the coveted honor of the Auction Royal Court by making a $5 vote on the VOTE FOR ROYAL COURT via PayPal or by bringing in cash or check to the front office (be sure to put your child’s name and room # on it). Don’t forget the top FUNdraising cohort will win a Popsicle party with masks and beads, as well as send their teachers to the auction in a swanky limo, and kick off the dance party. Get your votes in by April 2nd. 

Royal Court rankings as of March 27th:

  1. Kindergarten: $705 raised, 141 votes, 109 students, 31.2% voter rate, raised 28% of funds
  2. 2nd Grade: $595 raised, 191 votes, 99 students, 18.2% voter rate, raised 26% of funds
  3. 3rd Grade: $320 raised, 64 votes, 94 students, 22.3% voter rate, raised 15% of funds
  4. 1st Grade: $455 raised, 91 votes, 128 students, 21.5% voter rate, raised 15% of funds
  5. 4th Grade: $160 raised, 32 votes, 70 students, 9.9% voter rate, raised 9% of funds
  6. 5th Grade: $105 raised, 21 votes, 73 students, 5.5% voter rate, raised 6% of funds

Rankings are based off of funds raised/total # of students in each cohort (#s equalize among grade levels). For a breakdown by classroom, click Royal_Court_3-27_Ave-funds.

School wide TOTALS thus far: $2,340 raised, 468 votes, 586 students, 19.3% voter rate and average spend per voter $20.71 so far. Let’s try to get the participation up to 100% of the school.

We raised $9,000 last year, let’s see if we can beat it and raise $10,000 this year!!!

Royal Court Nominations as of 3/25/14

CrownRoyal Court Nominations:

The competition is heating up, help your child’s cohort (grade level) secure the coveted honor of the Auction Royal Court by making a $5 vote on the VOTE FOR ROYAL COURT via PayPal or by bringing in cash or check to the front office (be sure to put your child’s name and room # on it). The top FUNdraising cohort will win a Popsicle party with masks and beads, as well as send their teachers to the auction in a swanky limo, and kick off the dance party. Get your votes in by April 2nd. 

Royal Court rankings as of March 25th:

  1. Kindergarten: $530 raised, 106 votes, 108 students, 24.8% voter rate, raised 30% of funds
  2. 3rd Grade: $280 raised, 56 votes, 94 students, 19.1% voter rate, raised 19% of funds
  3. 2nd Grade: $270 raised, 54 votes, 99 students, 12.1% voter rate, raised 17% of funds
  4. 1st Grade: $340 raised, 68 votes, 128 students, 16.4% voter rate, raised 16% of funds
  5. 4th Grade: $140 raised, 28 votes, 70 students, 8.6% voter rate, raised 11% of funds
  6. 5th Grade: $80 raised, 16 votes, 73 students, 5.5% voter rate, raised 7% of funds

Rankings are based off of funds raised/total # of students in each cohort (#s equalize among grade levels). For a complete breakdown, click Royal_Court_3-25_Ave-funds_v2.

School wide TOTALS thus far: $1,640 raised, 328 votes, 586 students, 15% voter rate and average spend per voter $18.64 so far. Let’s try to get the participation up to 100% of the school.

We raised $9,000 last year, let’s see if we can beat it and raise $10,000 this year!!!

Seattle Times Covers Common Core Standards

Get up to speed on one of the most sweeping changes to U.S. education in the last decade. Last Sunday, The Seattle Times published an article detailing Common Core Standards. This after the stellar presentation by Schmitz Park teachers on Common Core Standards, at the February PTA Meeting. Find out more about what children should know at each grade. Read the article.

Donations Accepted

Your 2013 Donations are Tax Deductible

Your 2013 Tax Deductions
As an incorporated Washington State non profit, donations to the Schmitz Park PTA are tax deductible. This is good news, especially at this time of year when April is fast approaching. However, this does not mean that all funds received by the PTA are tax deductible. For example, your PTA membership is not tax deductible as you get something for your funds ie you get membership into the PTA. The same would be true for a Movie Night event or participating in the After School Enrichment program. Funds that are tax deductible include donations to the One Campaign, Move-a-Thon, and portions of the Auction. Let me describe further.

One Campaign
This is our first call to action of the school year, and the one that best helps the students, teachers, and staff at Schmitz Park Elementary. Our goal is to raise $30,000 in the One Campaign, and yet it only costs of $200 to advertise, leaving over 99% of those donations to help the school directly. All donations to the One Campaign are 100% tax deductible, and are included in the letter that we sent to families. Most of these donations come to us electronically through PayPal, and are easy to track.

Move-A-Thon
This is fun Fall event where we get the kids outside running laps and raising funds. The classes that earned the most also got a popsicle party, which is often all the incentive elementary school students need (I’m not sure I like this sentence). Several area businesses sponsor this event, and the kids wear their shirts with pride throughout the year. Like the One Campaign, 100% of your donations are tax deductible, and are included in the letter we sent to families. Unlike the One Campaign, very few of these donations come electronically. We have a committee of dedicated parents who count up all the loose change, checks, and IOUs and report the totals to the PTA. Please note that IOUs are unfortunately not tax deductible. The Feds are sticklers about that.

Auction
Each year, roughly 20% of the Schmitz Park community gathers for a fun filled evening of merriment and running up their credit cards to support our children. We run this event through a separate financial program designed to be used with auctions. Each attendee receives an email after the auction detailing out the amount of money donated, and how much is deductible. This can be quite challenging to calculate. The admission ticket is not deductible, as you get dinner and entertainment for those dollars. Additionally, money spend on drinks, LED Martini glasses, and raffles is also not deductible, as you “get something” for those purchases.When you participate in Raise the Paddle or the desert dash, those are considered “donations” and fully deductible.

If you were lucky enough to win an item, only the amount you paid above the value of the gift is deductible. Let’s say you purchased a brand new copy of Microsoft Office, retail value $250, for $75. That is a great deal! Of course, the $75 does go to help the PTA, but is not considered tax deductible. Had you run up that auction to $350, though, then the extra $100 would be deductible. Do you see how that works? Our auction software calculates this number for us, and sends the details to the attendees directly. This information is not included in the letter we sent. Therefore, if you were one of the 20% attending the auction, who also donated to the One Campaign / Move-a-thon, you will have two notices from the Schmitz Park PTA.

A few final thoughts
We don’t yet have a system where we know who is married to whom, who is filing their taxes jointly, etc. If you and your partner each made donations to the school, it is possible that you will be receiving two letters from us.

I hope this helps clarify what is, and isn’t, included in the tax letters you received. If you have any questions, please email our Vice President, Joe Turcotte.

-Ed Hansen
Treasurer@schmitzparkpta.org

Washington State Common Core Standards

PTA Meeting: Common Core is the Theme

Come join us Thursday, February 27th at 6:30pm for our monthly PTA Meeting where we still start promptly to cover Common Core Standards and then move on to our regular PTA agenda.

Some of the Hot Topics include:

  • What are the Common Core State Standards?
  • Why do we need them?
  • How will they impact my child’s education?
  • Why are they only focused on math and Language Arts?
  • Will it change the way teachers teach?
  • How will students be assessed?

We are lucky to have guest speakers including:

  • Ms. Cochran, Math specialist
  • Ms. Veling, First Grade teacher
  • Ms. Addington-Ferris, Fourth grade teacher
  • Ms. Minkin, Assistant Principal

More information on Common Core Standards.

Librarian News: Visit the Schmitz Park Glog

Schmitz Park library Glog. A Glog is an online media poster that enables kids of all grades to access popular educational websites and learning tools, in an interface suited to their liking.

Our new Glog can be accessed from any computer and enables students and parents to view Seattle Public Schools databases and other links to education sites.

To visit, click here, or visit the Schmitz Park website, click on library and then library glog.  Please contact Ms. Vannini, Schmitz Park Librarian, with questions.

Happy Glogging!