DONALDSON ELEMENTARY
PTA newsletter MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Table of Contents 2 Ltr From President 2 Events 3 B&N BookFair 4 Variety Show 5 Student Interviews 6 MarketDay 6 Battle Of The Books 7 Ice Cream Party 8 Cooking Together 9 Reflections 10 More Photos
March 29 Art Fair
Issue 5 Feb/March 2012 EDITOR:
CARLA VIDMAR
ART FAIR
FUN FEST
The Art Fair will be here very soon. The date is Thursday March 29th from 6-8 pm. This year the title is "Out of this world". We will be featuring arts and crafts based on a space theme. The PTA , along with the art teachers, will be collecting non-perishable food items for the local food pantry. Any student bringing in an item can take it to the art room to receive a ticket to win one of the art baskets. The art baskets will be on display at Donaldson. Also, students may bring in items the night of the Art Fair to receive tickets. The winners of the baskets will be drawn the night of the Art Fair. If you are interested in participating with set-up, helping at a table or clean up, please email me at LisaPichi@comcast.net. You must have your clearances. Hope to see you there!! Lisa Pichi, Art Fair Chair
LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT Can you believe that we are two thirds of the way done with this school year? I must say it is hard to imagine that we are in February and before we know, summer will be upon us. This is a great time for the PTA as we have so many great events that will be occurring in these months ahead. The first is Donaldson Discovers which is a great way to explore something fun and exciting that you might not get the opportunity to experience. Then we have Fun Fest, which is going to have some exciting changes that you won’t want to miss, date to be announced. We also have the creative hit of the Art Fair coming on March 29. So please take advantage of the many things that the Donaldson PTA has to offer. Paula Kwiatkowski
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Fun Fest is undergoing some exciting renovations for this year. The event currently scheduled for March 9 has been cancelled. Please watch for information coming soon.
5TH GRADE PICNIC CALLING ALL 5TH GRADE PARENTS!! Can you believe in a mere 3 ½ months it will be official-our 5th graders will no longer be considered elementary students, but middle school students. As we all know this is an exciting time for them. So let’s help them celebrate with the annual 5th grade picnic. The date of this year’s picnic will be Tuesday, June 5 at the Western Allegheny Community Library. Please watch for forms as they will be coming home soon. If you have any questions, please email paulakiwi@comcast.net.
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT Junior Achievement is a great volunteer opportunity for parents who have clearances. Junior Achievement consists of 5 mini lessons that are taught by the volunteers in their child’s classroom. The five mini lessons can be taught in 5 sessions or combined for your convenience. This program will start after PSSA testing, sometime in April. Volunteers can pick the days and times that are convenient for them and the child’s teacher. The lessons are self explained, with all materials provided. If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity please contact Barb McElhany at mcelhany5@comcast.net.
BOOK FAIR Thank you to everyone for supporting the Barnes & Noble Bookfair and Red Robin fundraiser. We had a great turnout! Congratulations to the following winners: The homeroom with the most attendance: Mrs. Mangan's room. The winners of the Angry Birds tournament: Overall winner - Joshua Dixon - 6th grade Donaldson highest score - Brett Smith - Mrs. King Honorable mentions - Brett Slovick - Mrs. Sekelik & Danielle Slovick - Mrs. Campbell. 5th grade Frap Contest winner: Mrs. Curigliano's (Zang) class with the Curigliano's Creme de le Crème Drink recipes are listed below and can be ordered at the B&N cafe: Ms. Nightingale’s Class - The Heart Attack Crème Base , Vanilla Syrup , Caramel Syrup , Godiva Hot Cocoa Syrup , Godiva Double Cocoa Cheesecake Add-in , Whipped Cream, Chocolate Drizzle Ms. Buser’s Class - Buser’s Bodacious Beverage Crème Base, Caramel Syrup, Vanilla Syrup, Mocha Syrup, Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Whipped cream Caramel Drizzle Mrs. Curigliano’s Class [Zang] - Curigliano’s Crème de le Crème Crème Based, Caramel Syrup, Vanilla Syrup, Chocolate Chips, Whipped cream, Chocolate Drizzle Mrs. Schultz’s Drink - Schultz’s Sweet Smoothie Crème Based, Strawberry Syrup, Raspberry Syrup, Banana, No Whipped Cream, No Drizzle Mrs. Mangan’s -Valentine Cocoa Crème, Godiva Hot Cocoa, Caramel, Whipped Crème, Drizzle of Strawberry Mr. Lambert flying?
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I would first like to thank all of the students, parents, volunteers and PTA members for helping make our first year of the “new� Donaldson PTA Variety Show a success. A special thank you to Janet Burke, she has been an asset and has done a wonderful job helping me with the show. Thank you to all of the other volunteers and especially Joey Falcioni and his crew for handling the music and lighting. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the administrative staff, custodial staff, Mrs. Patricia Nolan, Mr. Daniel Smith, Mr. Tom Snyder and Mr. Michael Shaffer for their continued support for the show. Tracy Pustover, PTA Variety Show Chairperson Tracy Pustover & Janet Burke kick off the event.
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STUDENT INTERVIEWS By Jaxon Ervin “Gym class is my favorite subject. Mr. DeChicko rocks every single day. Donaldson is a really cool school.”
By Parker Brown “Mrs. Hensler is a really fun teacher. She lets us do projects that are fun. I like when she teaches math. She is a really, really, really really nice teacher. She knew me when I was a baby.”
By Kaylie Stein “My favorite subject is Science. My other favorite thing about school is seeing all of my friends. I can't wait to take the Creative Dramatics class at Donaldson Discovers!”
By Joseph Pustover "I like second grade because we have specials. They are really fun. In gym our teacher, Mrs. Taranto, keeps us moving at all times. Gym is great! At recess we play kickball and basketball. In music, we learn many different notes and songs. In library, Mrs. Schultz reads us stories most of the time. Mrs. Shultz has us learn about Caldecott medals and she gives us paper to draw pictures about the stories and write about it. My teacher is Mrs. Stone. She makes science interesting because we get to do experiments. All of my friends make me happy because they make school really, really exciting."
By Ava Pustover "Hello, my name is Ava. I like second great because my teacher, Mrs. Stone, is
sweet to me. Mrs. Vestal lets us do really cool thing on the computer. Mrs. Schultz reads books to us. Mrs. Taranto helps us in swimming and in gym she has a lot of neat things for us to do. My friends are nice to me.”
If you would like to have your child write an article, please contact Anne Harris-Crowe at anneharriscrowe@yahoo.com. It would be great to have a lot of children participate!!!!!
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MARKETDAY Donaldson Elementary Market Day Pie Sale!!!!!!!!!! If every Donaldson student and teacher sold one pie during the week of Feb 28th and March 5th that would be 500 pies. We would make a profit of 45%! This will help us raise around $3,000 dollars in one week! WOW! And the fun doesn’t just stop with just one pie per student; the winning classroom will win a treat too!! Market Day pies and desserts are all very delicious and the perfect ending to your Easter brunch or dinner. They also come frozen so when you get invited to that neighborhood pay you will have something to bring. Just pop out of your freezer and thaw! Some of my families favorites are key lime pie* 4896, turtle cheesecake *4878, and we all think the lemon cake will be the perfect desert to end our Easter dinner. Please help the PTA fund all the activities we have for the children of Donaldson. Pickup is on March 13th. This is also the last day of Donaldson Discovers, so if your child is participating you can pick up your child and dessert ALL at the same time. ORDER FORM WILL BE COMING HOME SOON WITH YOUR CHILD!
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS The battle is fast approaching. It will be Tuesday March 27th in the Donaldson gymnasium. Students and team managers should arrive at 6:00. The battle begins at 6:30 and all family and friends are welcome.
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Vicki Danzik, Chair
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REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS is a National ART program. Each year a new theme is selected. Kids are encouraged to enter their artistic interpretation of the theme in 6 different categories: Visual Art, Literature, Dance Choreography, Music, Film/Video Production and Photography. This year's theme was: “DIVERSITY MEANS……..” The competition starts out at the LOCAL LEVEL (Donaldson Elementary students). The winning entries move onto the 2nd level of competition: Council Level (roughly 45 other area schools) The 3rd level of competition is REGIONAL. Where only the TOP 3 WINNING ENTRIES MOVE ON to STATES. DONALDSON ELEMENTARY is PROUD to shine the light on the following students who placed in the REGIONALS: Gabriel Trotter: Visual Arts Meadow Robertson: Dance Choreography Connor Guira: Photography Elena Turner: Literature Stay tuned for updates regarding this level of competition! In the Spring, we will have an Ice Cream Party for ALL REFLECTION PARTICIPANTS. Date to be announced. Thank you for sharing your artistic talents with us! Michelle Giacomino, Reflections Chair
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……...more Variety Show photos
Have you ever wondered what the Donaldson PTA is all about? Did you ever wonder how to get involved? Or maybe, you have a great idea for the PTA, but didn't know who to give it to. If you don’t have answers to any of these questions, please join us at our monthly Committee Meetings in the Donaldson Cafeteria. Everyone is welcome to come and join us. We would love to have you join us with your comments, ideas or any concerns you have. http://www.westasd.org/webpages/dpta/
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