Newsletter - January 26, 2024

January 26, 2024

Polaris PTO News - January 26, 2024

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We are so excited that our annual Read-a-Thon kicks off on Monday, Feb. 5th! The Read-a-Thon is both a schoolwide celebration of reading and our last major fundraiser of the year. Polaris students are avid readers so what better way to raise funds from friends and family than by engaging in something we all love!

READ-A-THON DETAILS:

Dates: Feb. 5-18 (2 weeks)
Reading Goal: 285,000 minutes or roughly 1 daily hour/student (Note: this year we are tracking minutes rather than books read to better normalize the goal across grade levels and reading abilities, making it more accessible for all of our Stars to shine their brightest and find their happiness!)
Fundraising Goal: $60,000 or $200/student
Theme: Finding Our Happiness

This year, Ms. Ray is sharing an incredible book – Zen Happiness by Jon Muth – in which Stillwater, a beloved panda, shares 12 inspiring and affirmational sayings. Each student will take these affirmations to heart and practice calm by creating zentangles during library and art class. In the second week, the whole school will combine the zentangles to create a massive, inspiring sculpture in the atrium!

During the two-week Read-a-Thon, students and families are encouraged to read as much and as often as possible! Classrooms will implement regular "Drop Everything and Read" times and we encourage families to do the same at home. Teachers will be tracking minutes read at school, but you can also track your child's minutes at home by using a reading log in Google Sheets (coming from Ms. Ray soon!). At the end of the Read-a-thon, games and/or gift cards will be awarded for the most minutes spent reading (13 students, 1 per homeroom), top readers (3 classes), and top fundraisers (3 students).

READ-A-THON SPIRIT WEEK:

To help build excitement within the school, students are encouraged to wear items that show their love of reading each day:

Mon, Feb. 5:Cozy Up and Read Day - wear your pajamas or comfy clothes
Tues, Feb. 6: Blue OutDay - wear all blue
Wed, Feb. 7:Read-a-thon Celebration DAY - bring a stuffie & wear your Read-A-Thon T-shirts
Thurs, Feb. 8:Character Day - dress like your favorite book character
Fri, Feb. 9:Polaris Spirit Day - wear your Polaris gear

CLASSROOM LIBRARY CONTRIBUTIONS:

Finally, in past years, we asked parents to individually purchase books for each classroom library. Due to the PTO's ongoing commitment to simplify requests for parents and staff, we preemptively purchased several copies of Zen Happiness for each classroom. If your family is able, consider donating a bit extra to help us cover the cost of the books and so we can hit our overall fundraising goal!

YOUR STUDENT'S PERSONAL FUNDRAISING WEBSITE:

On Monday Feb. 5th, you will receive a link to your student's personal fundraising website (via 99pledges.com). We exceeded our target last year, and are hopeful that we can do it again! As always, we thank you for your continued commitment to Polaris and our students!

The deadline for purchasing a yearbook is April 24th! Here's the link to the TreeRing site (passcode:101672853450376) where you can complete the following:

Purchase your student's hard or soft cover yearbook, a portion of which will go to fund important programs at Polaris.
We also need your photos! On TreeRing, you can upload photos from school events. Find the folder where it makes sense and upload!
Purchase a Recognition Ad, which will be included in EVERY yearbook. Recognitions don't have to be just for your student, feel free to buy a dedication for your favorite teacher, admin, or staff member! 100% of these sales go to PTO-funded activities, paras and the electives program. You can buy an ⅛ of a page for $20, ¼ of a page for $40 and ½ of a page for $60.
You can also complete the complementary two-page spread, which will be exclusive to your students yearbook.
If your student is a 5th grader, please upload a baby picture of them as soon as you can!

Questions? Contact: polarisstarsyearbook@gmail.com.

Get Your Tickets to Upcoming Share Parties

We have some great share parties coming up, as well as throughout the remainder of the year. Consider buying a ticket to these events to help raise money for Polaris! Coming Soon:

1/27 or 1/28: 5th Grade Animation Share Parties
2/10: Quantum Freeze Party (adult-only tickets, and 1 adult/child pair remaining)
2/10: Game Night for Grownups

For these and all future Share Parties, visit https://polaris.cbo.io for more details and to secure your spot today! Ticket sales close 48 hours before each event is scheduled to begin.

We want the PTO to work for YOU and our STUDENTS to the best of its ability. This year we made several changes in an attempt to do just that, and we'd love to know your thoughts!

Please take five minutes to fill out our survey. We'll use these surveys to determine what's working and what's not working and make changes accordingly!

Take the Survey Now! In English: https://bit.ly/parent-pto-survey and in Spanish: https://bit.ly/sp-parent-pto-survey.

Spring Semester Grade-Level Parent Mixers

We are seeking hosts for 1st, 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade-level parent mixer pot lucks! Date/time to be chosen by hosts. Reach out to Jaime at polarisPTOcommunity@gmail.com if interested!

3rd Grade Parents: Save the Date! Your grade-level mixer will be held on Thursday, Feb. 1st at 6 p.m. at the Roncoroni/Figueroa home. Please RSVP using this Google form: https://forms.gle/KWauTDxrkKuhaDT28.

Volunteer Info Mixer Happy Hour

Join us at the Cho/Abbott home (879 Monaco Parkway) on Monday, February 12, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. for snacks & drinks, and a chance to learn about different types of volunteer opportunities available for the coming year. No obligation, just come make friends and learn about all the ways you can serve our community. Reach out to Chris Cho at chrisbcho@gmail.com with any questions.

Stay & Play Fridays!

Stay and play on the playground every Friday afternoon! This is a great time to socialize with other parents while the kids run off some energy.

*Parent supervision required, you must pick up your student and then proceed to the playground.

Mici Dine-and-Donate Raises Over $200!

Thank you to everyone who participated in last week's Dine-and-Donate event at Mici Italian, which resulted in $1,055 in sales for the restaurant. That means Polaris will receive a check for 20 percent of that or $211! We'll share more about upcoming DIne-and-Donate events in future newsletters.