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We will be hosting our second annual book donation drive for the Children's Book Bank, November 16 - 20.  Please bring books - baby books, board books, Spanish books, story books, animal books, etc. to school during that week to drop in the donation boxes.  Boxes will be located in the lobby at Hollyrood and at Fernwood in the 2nd grade corridor and across from the library.  (Please no coloring/activity books or text books.)

This book drive takes place the week before the Scholastic Book Fair and is timed perfectly for you to clear some space on your bookshelves for your new books!

Did you know...

• In homes in middle income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children is 13 books for every child.
• In low income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 book for every 300 children.

If you are not familiar with art cards, they are lovely note cards made with images of your child's art work on them.  Funds earned from the purchases of these cards go to the Beverly Cleary PTA.  See the attached order form for more information.  The order form also went home in backpacks last week.
 
Art work collection boxes will be placed in both school lobbies today and will remain for the duration of this week.  Example cards are displayed on the boxes- check them out!  If you are interested in participating, please get your art and completed order form in this week.
 
Further, if you have seen some art in your child's classroom that you think would work well for this purpose, you can ask your teacher if you can borrow the piece for about a month.  They generally keep the work to display at the art nights in the spring, but they would probably be willing to lend you a piece.

Beverly Cleary School's next volunteer day at the PTA Clothing Center is Thursday, December 7th (from 9:30 am-1:30 pm at Marshall HS) and we are in need of volunteers.  Beverly Cleary School PTA is responsible for staffing the PTA Clothing Center with volunteers for four days this school year, and shifts are from 9:30am-1:30pm.  Our upcoming dates are Monday, Dec. 7, Thursday, Feb. 18, and Thursday, April 22.  If you are interested in volunteering for a time or two (or all four!), please contact Abbie Rankin.

There are three completely effortless ways to help your PTA raise classroom funds.  

On the left side of our website, you'll find a link to Amazon.com.  Any purchases you make through this link will bring your BCS PTA a 7% referral commission, which will get even higher as the program grows.  Just below that is a link to Powell's Books through which we get a 7.5% referral commission.

Also, remember that scrip orders are due every Tuesday morning at both campuses.  Remember, Scrip is really just another way of saying "Gift Cards" - gift cards that you can use yourself or give away as a gifts.  Groceries, restaurants, household goods and much, much more are all available on the Scrip order form - take a look at the form and see how many merchants that you patronize weekly participate in the Scrip program - when you shop with those merchants using Scrip, they make a contribution to our school PTA for you - it couldn't be easier.

Help Beverly Cleary 3rd grader Henry Lindsey-Eudaly get some new wheels (and get your holiday shopping done early)!

If you haven’t yet met Henry, he’s the kid who sports a bandanna and zips around the BCS halls in a wheelchair. Henry’s mom, Chloe Eudaly, reports that Henry is rapidly outgrowing his current wheelchair. He’ll soon need a new one and when he does, he’ll also outgrow their 1989 Toyota Corolla. Time is of the essence!

Enter “Wheels for Henry”: the online benefit bazaar.  From now until October 31st, lovely local vendors will contribute 10-30% of their online “Wheels for Henry” sales towards the purchase of a used van.

Done shopping already?  Really?!  Congratulations! But don’t worry- you can still make an online contribution.

This year's Spook-A-Rama is Friday, October 30th, 5:30 – 8:00 PM

If you know of any 5th to 8th grade student volunteers who would like to earn two community service hours by helping at Spook-A-Rama, please have them contact our student coordinator Kelly Rice. There is one time slot available for students on Friday afternoon (3:30-5:00 PM) and two time slots for the night of the event (4:45-6:45 PM or 6:30-8:30 PM) Students will not be allowed to work more than one shift, but they do get a free pizza dinner for their efforts.  Students can help serve food, decorate, supervise games or clean up.

SEPTAP (Special Education PTA of Portland) is a network of parents, educators and community members working together to improve the education and well being of students with disabilities in their schools, homes and communities.

Future meeting dates for the 2009-2010 school year include December 8, January 19, March 16 and May 18. Meetings will be held from 6:30-8:30 pm in the Fernwood cafeteria.

Learn more about this organization by visiting their blog here.

Attached below is the proposed PTA budget for the school year of 2009-2010.  This budget will be discussed and approved at the September 29, 2009 general meeting.

This year at Beverly Cleary School, students will have the opportunity to explore the world through a geography program called The Passport Club.  Each child who participates will receive a passport, choose their individual level of study and collect postage stamps as they learn some or all the world’s countries over the course of the school year.

The program thrives on parent volunteers so please consider giving us a hand.  We are looking for 12 volunteer "checkers" from 1:00-3:00 on the 3rd Friday of every month.  The following Fridays are on the schedule:  October 30, November 20, December 18, January 22, February 19, March 19, April 16 and May 21.

The BCS Garden Committee has two urgent needs for volunteers:

Garden Event Planner: volunteer parent to lead the organizing of two celebratory events annually.  The events will help us to keep the garden in good shape, recognize teacher and student initiatives in the garden, take advantage of nursery fundraisers (plant sales) and do outreach in the broader community (growers, garden educators, non profits, etc.)   Each event will include community service opportunities for parents and kids to ready the garden for planting, tending, harvesting and winter clean up.  In connection with community outreach, events may also include educational workshops and talks for families to learn about growing edibles, building a rain garden (water management), selecting native plants and caring for all kinds of gardens.