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January/February 2014

Upcoming Events

February

•12th: Puyallup PTA Council Meet-ing @ Carson Elementary (6:30-8:30 pm)

•14th: Book It Repertory Theatre Assembly @ Meeker (10:30 am)

•17th-19th: President’s Day/Mid-

Winter Break (No school)

•21st: “Freaky Friday” Event @ Meeker (6:00-7:30 pm)

•26th: Meeker Science Fair (7:00—8:00 pm)

•28th: Spirit Assembly: Self-discipline trait / college theme (10:00 am)

•28th: Family Swim Night @ PHS Pool (7:00—8:30 pm)

March

•4th-6th: Early Release Days (parent-teacher conferences)

•4th: Meeker PTA General Mem-bership Meeting and Elections @ Meeker library (7:00—8:00 pm)

•4th: Meeker PTA Board Meeting @ Meeker library (8:00—9:00 pm)

•20th: Puyallup PTA Council Gen-eral Membership Meeting (6:30-8:30 pm)

•21st: Meeker PTA Movie Night @ Meeker gym (6:00 pm)

•25th: Early Release Day

•28th: Spirit Assembly: Honesty trait/Book Character Day (2:00 pm)

•31st-April 4th: Spring Break (No school)

All events and dates are subject to change.

Only at Meeker…it’s time to get freaky!

December Volunteers of the Month

January/February 2014

Meeker PTA has amazing volunteers! For the month of December, we would like to recognize the following Volunteers of the Month:

Bob Thrift volunteers in Mrs. Kindle’s class every week. According to Mrs. Kindle, “Bob accepts any task he is given with enthusiasm and takes his job seriously. He arrives early and stays as long as he is needed. His soft-spoken presence has a calming effect on the students he assists. He is the only consistent male volunteer I have. I don't know if he realizes just how much of an impact he has on those students who don't have a consistent male role model in their lives. As we all know, our lives are filled with our own "to do" lists when we're not in school, but carving out

that time each week for the students at Meeker speak volumes about Bob's genuine dedication to kids and their success.”

Despite having never volunteered for Meeker PTA before AND only having one year left at the school as her youngest child is a sixth grader, Heather Wait offered to take over as the Birthday Chairperson (the volunteer who puts together goody bags for every Meeker student during their birthday month and updates the birthday bulletin board each month). Instead of doing the bare minimum in this role, Heather asked if she could redo the birthday board and wowed everyone with an incredible new popcorn-themed board. She is a great example of leaving something

better than you found it, and how it’s never too late to lend a helping hand to the school!”

In the movie “Freaky Friday,” the lives of mother Jamie Lee Curtis and daughter Lindsey Lohan are turned upside down when they switch places. In the same spirit, Meeker PTA is partnering with our talented staff to bring you our own ver-sion of “Freaky Friday,” where parents will become Meeker students for an evening.

Each year in February, the National PTA celebrates its founding with “Take Your Family to School Week,” and schools across the country are encouraged to hold some sort of family event. However, you won’t find another school out there that takes it to this level. Meeker PTA and school staff are partnering together in this unprecedented evening where parents will get the full Meeker Eagle experience! Did you know that having an adult engaged in a student’s education is the #1 predictor of that student’s long-term success? It is this proven and astounding fact that is driving us to get parents more invested in their student’s suc-

cess. If parents walk a mile in their student’s shoes—if they really know what it’s like to take an AR test, to learn sportsmanship in P.E., to get rewarded for good behavior and problem-solve to complete a group as-signment, it will make parents and students a stronger team. “Freaky Friday” will take place on Friday, February 21st at 6:00 pm and is open to all Meeker students and their immediate families. Thanks to a generous grant from Walmart, all families in attendance will receive a full dinner, and the evening is sure to bring lots of fun and surprises! Invitations were sent home with all students, and copies of the invitation can be printed from the Meek-er PTA Facebook page or Meeker PTA website (meekerpta.com). Because of classroom space limita-tions and dinner preparations, no walk-ins will be permitted. ALL RSVPs MUST BE RECEIVED AT SCHOOL NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14th. I look forward to seeing you on the 21st! Megan Klein Meeker PTA President [email protected]

PAGE THE FREQUENT FLYER—MEEKER ELEMENTARY PTA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

Meeker Reflections Projects Moving to the

State Competition Congratulations to the terrific Meeker Eagles who represented their 46 award-winning entries at the January 16th Puyallup PTA Council Reflections Awards Ceremony at Puyallup High School! Each of the students was recognized on stage for their artwork, and the district’s se-lections to move on to the state level were announced. Congratulations to the following Meek-er students, whose Reflections projects will be recognized at the Washington State PTA Con-vention in Bellevue on April 26th:

Zach Beardsley - Photography Hannah Boben - Visual Arts

Charlotte Claeys - Photography Alfredo Islas-Roman - Visual Arts

Jaxon Kerzie - Photography Tyler Scrichfield - Photography

Meeker Spirit Wear It’s always a good time to order Spirit Wear! We have stock on all your favorite items.

T-Shirts $12 Hoodies $25 Zip up Sweatshirts $30 Blue Cinch Bags $5 Stainless Steel Water Bottles $5 Blue Rubber Bracelets $1

T-shirts and sweatshirts are available in royal blue and ash grey. T-shirts are also available in blue tie-dye. Samples of available merchandise are now on display in the case in front of the library. To place an order, pick up an order form in the main office, print one off our website (meekerpta.com), or send an email to [email protected]. Questions? Call our Spirit Wear Chairperson Jen Lane at 253-988-5407.

Artsonia is Up and Running!

Thanks to Artsonia, Meeker Eagles are becoming published art-ists! Artsonia is an online art gallery where each student is able to exhibit their artwork in their own personal gallery. With parents' approval, students are participating with comments, fan clubs, artist statements, and purchases of items emblazoned with their own art. 20% of the proceeds from all Artsonia purchases go toward Meeker PTA art supplies. Once parents give their student permission to publish artwork to the site, they must then "unlock" their student's account by reply-ing to an e-mail message. If you have questions about Artsonia, please call Annie Starwich Claeys at 253.435.1572 or email [email protected].

Art Docent News

Students: Write About Your Dad (or grandpa, coach, uncle, teacher, pastor, neighbor…)

Any student can enter the Washington State PTA Men’s Essay Contest. This program recognizes the important and different contributions that men make in children’s lives and in their education. Neither the student nor the man they are writing about need to be PTA members to participate. State winners in each category get cool prizes and read their essays at the state PTA convention in April. (To see last year’s winners reading their essays at the convention, go to You Tube and search for “men’s essay 2013.”) Applications were sent home with every student last week. Additional copies of the application are available in the main office. Completed applications should be attached to the student’s essay and returned to school (attention: Meeker PTA). We will mail it in for you! Plus...any student who returns their application and completed essay to Meeker by Friday, February 21st will receive a

FREE MEEKER ELEMENTARY BLUE RUBBER BRACELET!

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Meeker PTA Swim Night

Friday, February 28th 7:00—8:30 pm

Puyallup High School Pool Admission is $4 per swimmer (don’t forget to bring your Meeker PTA VIP membership card to receive a $1 discount on an admission). Non-swimmers and children under 6 MUST be accompanied by an adult.


Rapunzel Comes to Meeker! Missoula Children’s Theatre came to Meeker Elementary for the first time in January and the result was a fabulous musical production of “Rapunzel” starring more than 30 Meeker students!

On Monday, January 6th, students auditioned for the musical after school and had received their parts by that evening. For the next four days, students rehearsed hours and hours every day after school. They memorized lines, learned blocking, were fitted for costumes, practiced songs, and went about learning everything it takes to put on a full-scale musical production….in a week! On Friday, January 10th, the stu-dents put on two performances. First, the show was performed at an all-school assembly so that

other Meeker students could see what the program was all about. Then, the final performance was given on Friday night to a full house of parents, teachers, friends

and relatives. The reviews were all positive—it was amazing how terrific the show was, and no one could believe they pulled the whole thing together in a week. Thank you to all of the parents who helped make this event a success by allowing their children to partic-ipate, and a spe-

cial thank you to Amy Schweim for coordinating the program!

Roll out the Red Carpet...it’s Awards Season!

The Washington State PTA has an awards and recognition program whose purpose is to build pride and participation in, and an awareness of, Washington State PTA programs; to give recognition for outstanding efforts; and motivate units and councils to pro-vide quality service for and involvement of their members. Once again this year, Meeker PTA will honor several individuals by presenting the following awards: GOLDEN ACORN: A Golden Acorn Award is presented by a local PTA unit or council to a volunteer in recognition of his/her dedi-cation and service to children and youth. Since the beginning of this program, more than 44,000 Golden Acorns have been pre-

sented to volunteers throughout Washington State. HONORARY LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: The purpose of the Honorary Life Membership is to recognize an individual who has contributed signifi-cantly to a PTA at the local unit, council, or state level. OUTSTANDING ADVOCATE: In 2004, the Washington State PTA established the Outstanding Advocate Award, a new statewide volunteer recog-nition program to recognize and honor individuals for their advocacy work on behalf of children and youth. OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR: The Outstanding Educator Award was created to recognize individuals who have provided outstanding educational opportunities for children and youth that are beyond the normal scope of their jobs. The selection committee, chaired by Carianne Kehm-Goins, a former Golden Acorn recipient from Stewart Elementary PTA, will be sending home nomination forms soon. Anyone can nominate a person for these awards so feel free to use the opportunity to recognize someone you think is doing a great job. If you have questions or comments, please contact Carianne Kehm-Goins at [email protected].

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Meeker PTA Rocks Focus Day Meeker PTA had a great turnout at this year’s Washington State PTA Focus Day at the state capital in Olympia. Not only did several parents and students from Meeker attend the day, but they brought the voices and signatures of more than 200 others in the form of a rally banner and postcards to our legislators. Take Five At each Meeker PTA board and General Membership meeting starting in November, all those in attendance were asked to “take five” - that is, take five minutes to write a postcard to each of their three legislators. At January’s Skate Night, we invited stu-dents and more parents to voice their thoughts about education by writing postcards. Finally, for the two weeks leading up to Focus Day, students were given

an opportunity to write postcards to their legislators as they were waiting in line to purchase Meeker Munchies. All of that hard work paid off—Meeker was able to present more than 200 postcards to our legislators in Olympia, and Sen. Dammeier, Rep. Zeiger, and Rep. Morrell were impressed and interest-ed in what the postcards had to say. Each one will be read and tracked. Focus Day Focus Day was held on Tuesday, February 4th. Meeker PTA used this newsletter, its Facebook page,

and monthly meetings to invite and encourage attendance among our school community. Thank you to David Berg, An-nie Starwich Claeys, Jasper Claeys, Megan Klein, Mitchell Klein, Yvonne Shindle, and Kelly Wivell for spending the day representing Meeker in Olympia. First, those in attendance received training on how to talk to legislators, and were briefed on the biggest education issues this session. Then, attendees had the oppor-tunity to visit with their legislators. At noon, all of the PTAs from across the state gathered for a rally in the capital rotunda, where Gov. Inslee was one of many speakers who addressed the importance of keeping education front and center with legislators. It was an exciting and educational day for all involved. Thank you to everyone who signed the banner, wrote a postcard, or attended the event! Together, Meeker Ea-gles SOAR!

January Volunteers of the Month For the month of January, Meeker PTA would like to recognize the following Volunteers of the Month: Sandy Bernsten is a “community volunteer” as she has never had any children at Meeker. More than 25 years ago, she was a building aide (“para”) at our school. She is now retired and wanted to give back to the community. She joins Mrs. Field’s after-noon kindergartners every Tuesday and Thursday. She has been DIBELS Progress Monitor-Trained and she progress-monitors the kindergartners. She also is on the new DIBELS Sweep Team here at Meeker. In the kindergarten class, she helps supervise whole group seat work, works one-on-one with students, and works with small groups of children. She also helps prepare materials, clean tables, and she helps with all the little extras in kindergarten. “It is evident how she loves the children and they love her, “ explains Mrs. Field. “She is an amazing gift to my kindergarten class and to Meeker!”

Most people probably don’t realize this, but Blazer has a full-time job in addition to being the Meeker Eagles mascot. Every month, he rearranges his work schedule so he can be at every assembly and other important events to represent Meeker. Even though it takes a lot of time, effort, and sweat to be our mascot, everyone agrees that Blazer hasn’t been this animated and ex-cited in years. Thank you for representing the spirit of the Meeker Eagles!

Meeker Elementary PTA is volunteer-driven. Without the dedication of the volunteers who help out at our great school, your PTA couldn’t accom-plish anything. Each month, we recognize volunteer (s) as our “Volunteer Of The Month.” Volunteers of the Month have gone above and beyond in their commitment to our school.

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Is This Even Legal?

That question and more were answered on Saturday, February 1st when Meeker hosted a Washington State PTA Region 5 training of “PTA and the Law.” This four-hour class is re-quired training for at least one board member from every PTA each year. It covers topics like sales tax on popcorn, what defines a raffle, conflicts of interest, independent contrac-tors, and more. In true Meeker PTA fashion, our local unit has had not one, not two, not even three, mem-bers take “PTA and the Law” this year. We have had SEVEN members take this class, in-cluding our principal and our staff representative. During the February 1st training, state officials were amazed that Meeker even had a non-board member there—just a Meeker parent who wanted to stay up-to-date! Thank you to the following members who have taken this class in the 2013-2014 school year:

David Berg (Meeker PTA Legislative Representative) Andrea Drake (Meeker Elementary School Principal)

Sue Foster (Meeker PTA Secretary) Megan Klein (Meeker PTA President)

Annie Starwich Claeys (Meeker PTA Vice President, Programs) Kelly Wivell (Meeker PTA Member)

Sharon Yanasak (Meeker Teacher / Staff Representative)

Some important take-aways from this most recent training were: • At least one volunteer at PTA-sponsored events serving food needs to have their food

handler’s permit (the state recommends the president as they attend most events). • If a PTA plans to have more than two raffles in a school year, they need to obtain a

gambling license, which is a simple and low-cost option that requires an individual from the PTA to undergo a background check.

Fall Catalog Fundraiser Limo Winners! Congratulations to the 40 Meeker students who sold at least 20 items in the fall fundraiser and qualified for the “Limo to Lunch” prize! On December 19th, these hardworking Meeker Eagles were picked up from school in a stretch Hummer limo! Inside the limo, there was a nonstop prize drawing for

the entire trip to Pizza Hut, where these VIPs were then treated to unlimited pizza and soda for lunch. On the way back to school, the students once again had the opportunity to win all sorts of prizes in a nonstop drawing. Most of them needed bags to carry home all of the goodies they had won!

Meeker PTA thanks these terrific sellers for helping make our fall fundraiser a success:

Brooklyn Arneberg Jenna Blackham Cara Brauen Josiah Cereceres

Lexi Chambers Charlotte Claeys Patrick Coats Jessica Dahl

Charles Davidson Ryan De La Cruz Connor Delaney Samantha Delay Andrew Frazier Michael Garrett Izzy Glucoft Samantha Goodrich Bella Jackson Sophia Jasmer Emily Jessee

Giovanni Kafentzis Talon Keizer Mitchell Klein Molly Klein Chase Kreuger Joann Laning Pedro Lopez Alexander Loyd Hailey Maguire Sydney Mitchell Bryce Nye

Kolby Rawlings Michael Richard Caden Savage Ryan Shindle Lilly Watkins Elizabeth Wiebersch Thomas Wiebersch Ginger Wiens Gabrielle Wright Kenna Young

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Attention All Meeker PTA Members: Elections

on March 4th

On Tuesday, March 4th, Meeker PTA will hold a General Membership meeting at 7:00 pm in the library. This meeting is open to the public, and all PTA members are encouraged to attend. Elections for the 2014-2015 Meeker PTA executive committee will be held. The nominating committee has placed the following names in nomination for the 2014-2015 Executive Committee:

President: Megan Klein Vice President, Events: Yvonne Shindle Vice President, Membership: Kelli Hanis

Co-Vice Presidents, Programs: Sue Foster, Corey Liebl

Treasurer: Camila Anderson Secretary: Kelly Wivell

Members will vote on whether or not to pass this slate in its entirety. If the slate is not passed, elec-tions for each position will be held. Please show your support for Meeker PTA by at-tending this important General Membership meeting. Children are permitted, snacks are provided, prizes are awarded, and participation is encouraged.

Thank you VOLUNTEERS!

THANK YOU to the many volunteers who have made Meeker and its PTA run smoothly in December and January. Special thanks to: • Santa’s Workshop Chairperson Kerry Liebl for running a smooth workshop with all her elves! • Corey Liebl, Blanca Cereceres, Melissa Johnson, Shelli Wiebersch, Connie Tkach, and Paige Brauen for being on the Santa’s Workshop Committee.

• Amy Schweim, Sue Foster, Annie Starwich-Claeys, Jessica Loyd, Brad Liebl, Matt Liebl, Cindy Jones, Julie Anderson, Sue Field, Blan-ca Cereceres, Gail Miller, Sharon Yanasak, MaryAnn Loucks, Andrea Drake for volunteering as elves for Santa’s Workshop.

• Sue Foster, Megan Klein, and Corey Leibl for representing Meeker at the December Puyallup PTA Council meeting. • Amy Schweim for coordinating the Annual Food Drive with Ms. Benson during our Christmas season to help our local families. • Kristina Allums, Andrea Drake, Megan Klein, Roxane Loera, Melissa McKethan, Amy Schweim, and Yvonne Shindle for coordinating the “Limo to Lunch” extravaganza!

• Yvonne Shindle. Amy Schweim, Kirstin Holmquist and Kelly Wivell for their help behind the scenes with the Missoula Children’s Theatre program.

• Yvonne Shindle for representing Meeker PTA at the January Puyallup PTA Council meeting. • Kristina Allums and Shelli Wiebersch for their continued work on Meeker’s outstanding Reflec-tions program.

• Kelli Hanis, Yvonne Shindle and Sharon Yanasak for their amazing job with this year’s Nominat-ing Committee!

• Blanca Cereceres and Kim Burruss for running the student prize drawings, and Chris Marcoe (show at right) for distributing and collecting “Take Five” postcards at January’s Meeker PTA Skate Night in January.

• David Berg, Janice Canion, Sue Foster, and Carianne Kehm-Goins for agreeing to serve on this year’s awards committee!

• Andrea Drake, Sue Foster, Megan Klein, Kelly Wivell, and Sharon Yanasak for attending “PTA and the Law” training on February 1st at Meeker.

• David Berg, Annie Starwich Claeys, Jasper Claeys, Megan Klein, Mitchell Klein, Yvonne Shindle, and Kelly Wivell for participating in Washington State PTA Focus Day in Olympia.

• Meeker staff members Cindy Jones and Sharon Yanasak for taking time out of their personal schedules to help plan and implement “Freaky Friday.”

• Angie Beardlsey, Kelly Wivell, and Sharon Yanasak for serving on the mid-year financial review committee.

The Meeker PTA newsletter is published September—June to keep members up-to-date with what is happening at Meeker Elementary. If you would like to contribute an article or have any comments, please contact Sue Foster at [email protected] or 253-297-3535.

Your Meeker PTA Executive Committee is always available to answer questions or listen to ideas..

President: Megan Klein ([email protected], 952.270.1685) Treasurer: Yvonne Shindle ([email protected], 206.679.8035) Secretary: Sue Foster ([email protected], 253.297.3535)

Vice President Programs: Annie Starwich-Claeys ([email protected], 253.435.1572) Vice President Events: Amy Schweim ([email protected], 253.848.7496)

Co-Vice President Membership: Roxane Loera ([email protected], 206.271.1911) Co-Vice President Membership: Kristina Allums ([email protected], 253.241.9484)

Megan Yvonne Sue Annie Amy Roxane Kristina

Meeker PTA Executive Committee Members

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