Penny Harvest Time!!!

Dear Parents, and Family Members:

Did you know that there are over $2 billion of unused pennies in homes across America?
You may wonder what to do with those jars full of pennies gathering dust. The answer?
Give them to the Maple students who are presently collecting pennies during the Penny Harvest.
The Penny Harvest began on October 25 until November 26th.

Each year, Maple students, families and staff have worked together to collect pennies from family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. When our school fills 25 canvas sacks of pennies, our 4th and 5th grade Roundtable Leadership Team meet bi-weekly for several months to research community needs and decide how to allocate the Penny Harvest funds – usually $1000 – to community service projects and charitable organizations.

All the collected pennies are given back to the students to use to meet community needs.

Across the U.S., 854 schools collected $756,273. In King County, 65 schools participated in Penny Harvest!

Your child has a great opportunity to make a difference and So Do You!

Please work together with your child to collect pennies – your support will make Penny Harvest a success. So far, organizations such as Orion Youth Center, Haiti Relief Fund, Beacon Hill Drop-In center for Seniors, the Ronald McDonald House at Children’s Hospital, and to the Animal Shelter to help Seniors pay for vaccinations for their pets have received funds from Maple School.

For more information, contact Theresa Escobar, Counselor or at http://www.pennyharvest.org/

Please support and join your children in this fantastic community building activity!

Penny Harvest Coach – Theresa Escobar

Get Those Ballots In! Endorsements from the Seattle Council PTSA

This JUST in from the Seattle Council PTSA:

Don’t let kids come last, turn your voter ballot to page two and VOTE YES for the Seattle Public School Levy -- but hurry ballots must be postmarked by November 2.

- VOTE YES on the Seattle Public Schools Levy: A $48.2million, 3-year levy, funds curriculums, supports educators and helps offset state cuts. Seattle Council endorsed a “YES” vote. See www.SchoolsFirstSeattle.com for info This is also endorsed by the Maple PTSA Board.

- VOTE YES on I-1098 High-income Tax: Dedicates 70% of the revenues to education and 30% to healthcare, reduces B&O tax and the state portion of the property tax by taxing incomes over $200,000 plus. WA State PTA and Seattle Council PTA both endorse a “YES” vote

- VOTE NO on I-1107 – Repeal the Bottle, Soda and Candy Tax: Eliminating this tax will decrease the State general fund leaving less for K-12 education funding. WA State PTA and Seattle Council PTSA both endorse a “VOTE NO” .

Please vote, YES, YES, NO and mail your ballot ASAP. Your vote is needed and it will affect education funding in Seattle and across the state.

Maple PTSA Board Endorses the Seattle School District Levy

By now your ballots have arrived. And among the many choices you have to make for ballot, a very important one is the Operational Levy. We ask you to support this levy to ensure that the district can go ahead with its implementation for teacher evaluations, textbooks, and reduce the number and severity of cuts to educational programs and services.

For more information on the levy, please check out SchoolsFirst. Thanks!!

Multi-Ethnic Dinner Night is on Thursday!

That's right! One of our biggest nights of the year at Maple :)

This is a wonderful opportunity to eat and chat with your child's teacher, be among the first to sign up for parent teacher conferences, and share a yummy dish. It is basically a HUGE potluck! Festivities start at six. You'll have a chance to enter a raffle and win fabulous prizes.

Please e-mail Jody, our volunteer coordinator, if you can come early to set up at 5:15 or stay until 8:15 to clean up on Thursday night!

In other news... stay tuned for information on our Waiting for Superman discussion in mid-November.

Awesome October Events... Check it Out!!!

We are very excited to announce some important dates coming up for the Maple community. The first of these awesome events is this coming Saturday when the PTSA goes out to the movies. That's right! We're all going out to see the 7:10 showing of the film, "Waiting for Superman" at AMC Pacific Place. No need to RSVP-- just come at 6:45. A board member will be there by the ticket booth to give you $2 off your ticket. Afterwords we will engage in a discussion about the movie.

Next Tuesday, the 12th is our October Board meeting. We will be discussing the school's Title One policy, Multi-ethnic dinner night, our (seemingly super successful) fundraiser, and other future PTSA plans.

Next... PICTURE DAY!!! Come one come all for picture day on October 13. Your child's teacher has already signed up for individual and class pictures that day. Thanks to all of our Facebook Fans for signing up to volunteer! Not a fan yet?!?! Become one!

Finally, the annual Multi Ethnic Dinner night is on October 21st. It's all about yummy food, first chance to sign up for November parent/teacher conferences, and a great chance to mingle!

Cheers!