Parent Information Letter

Dear Parents,

We hope your students came home from school yesterday full of excitement about their new playground! We just wanted to follow-up on the fundraisers we introduced to them at the assembly we held. They will be implemented as follows:

• January 14 - January 29 Cast your vote!: There are three posters in the hall at the elementary school across from the office. We have glued thirty-two pictures of different playground equipment on these with numbers to corresponding jars. To vote on your favorite items, simply put money into the jars. The pieces of equipment that raises the most money will give us an idea what the children want to see on their playground.

• January-March Pennies for Playground: Each home room teacher has a jar that students can put their loose change into to raise money for the playground. In previous years, this has been “Pennies for Plants”; for this project, we will put the money towards the playground. We are also looking for businesses or individuals that will commit to matching what the students raise. Please contact Mrs. Shumway with any questions or to qualify as a match at shumwayb@wjsd.org.

• February 2-6 Fat Cats Movie Tickets: Students will sell movie tickets for the Fat Cats theater in Rexburg for $7 per ticket for one week. We hope to exceed the 1,000 ticket minimum required. Students can sell to neighbors, grandparents, their own family, etc. Regular price for the tickets is $8.75, so this not only helps build our playground, but also represents a savings for those who purchase them. The PTO will send additional information home as this fundraiser approaches.

• February 10-April 10 Memorial Brick Path:  With the playground renovation, we will be installing a brick path for anyone to contribute to.  Individuals, families, alumni, businesses, etc. can buy a brick to be included in the path (4x8 bricks: $50, 8x8 bricks: $100, sponsors of higher amounts will automatically qualify for 8x8 brick).  Bricks can be inscribed with any appropriate message and will serve as a visual representation of our unified efforts.  A portion of the path will be devoted to bricks honoring former students of Terreton Elementary who have passed away.  Details from the PTO will be forthcoming as we approach February.

• ONGOING Together Counts.com sweepstakes: There is an online contest with a company that sponsors school playground grants called Together Counts. Anyone can enter on behalf of the school (as long as we stick to their age requirements, etc) every day until March 19. The more entries we have, the more likely we are to put our school in the running for the grant money. Fill in your entry form at http://www.togethercounts.com/healthy-playground-makeover

For updates and further information, please check out our blog at terretonplayground.blogspot.com. From there, you and your children can watch our fundraising progress and view the count down to “Build-Day” when we anticipate finishing the playground installation as a community and having a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

We are looking for volunteers to assist with several areas of this project and especially Build-Day, June 12, 2015. Please email Mrs. Coleman at colemanj@wjsd.org if you are willing to help.

If you have any further questions, please contact Jenn Woodward at wjhgrants@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support!