JR and Renee Stewart help students search for native fauna
Marian Goates, 4th grader, dying of laughter and Camp joy
Spring is sliding right by, her usual sneaky self. I can't believe we have just one major PTO event--the end of year picnic and 5th grade graduation on June 8th--left this year. 2010's tremendously cheery indoor event (all my memories of it are crowded with wildly grinning children; oh how my Reuben loved the DJ's strobe lights!) proved that it will be an excellent one, whether or not the fickle weather cooperates. Families are invited; please do plan on attending and taking advantage of the chance to visit with other GBLUES families and teachers and watch a lot of happy children. More information and your class' food assignment will be headed your way soon.
I haven't had a chance to thank many of you for your support of our last two spring events. They were grand!
*March: The Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction was a successful fundraiser and also a lot of fun. So many people worked so hard to fill the auction with interesting items (including a new--and very active--children's room this year) and the kitchen with good food. I noted extra effort put into decorations and more extensive entertainment this year, and know that every detail has a dedicated person behind it. Thank you for volunteering your time and your dishwashing and your food (best dessert bar yet!) and your music and your auction goods and for bringing family and friends, and, you know: spending money! Despite the slow economy, we were able to meet all of our fundraising goals this year, supporting all of our field trips and programs and especially:
*April: Camp GBLUES! It continued legendary. My yearly contribution to Camp is showing up for the campfire (and Mr. Z's stories!), partying (in a most-appropriate way, of course--charades, pillow fights, bedtime imagery, and a couple of soothing chats) with little girls in the cabins overnight, and generally enjoying others' hard work planning lessons and in the kitchen while I hang around the second day in our magical Pennsylvania woods. This year did not disappoint; I even arrived grumpy and was quickly charmed into joy. I give happy and generous praise to all of those who worked hard to make it all look so easy, but I want especially to praise
our children. I witnessed so much kindness and so much inclusion and so much trustworthiness. Our school can be a little overwhelming to newcomers, who see the creative mess in the halls and the sometimes casual atmosphere in the classrooms; the children are given extra freedom, and they rise to deserve it, taking advantage of the opportunities for expression and learning that this flexibility gives them. I could give several examples of maturity in freedom I saw at camp, but think I can sum it all up with this: they successfully roasted marshmallows.
I think I have to start a new paragraph to give that statement appropriate weight. I helped load sticks, and watched with awe and pride as 75 children, after an exhausting day, safely and calmly played with fire and sugar. The K-2s marshmallowed at their afternoon campfire, as well. This is amazing stuff, friends! The next day, I stopped by a GBLUES family's house to find their second grader still in his camp tee, with water bottle and "medicine bag" slung across his shoulders, playing "Camp" in the grass while his older siblings did yard work and muttered to me about the unfairness of not attending Luhrs themselves (they're recent converts). I really love this school, which is a matter of really loving the people: you.
Okay, swinging it back on topic!
Just prior to the final event (the picnic, remember? I digressed for so long I thought I'd remind you) are our final PTO meetings: June 3rd will be the last First Friday Coffee/Treats/Mingle of the school year followed by a wrap-up-the-old/launch-the-new PTO Board Meeting. Essential to that new launch is the evening meeting that Tuesday (May 31st) to elect the Board members for the 2011-2012 school year. I use the term "elect" quite loosely; in my five years at the school, I've never seen any competition. This is an evening to thank those who have been talked into leading the PTO assault of love on the new school year and its happy PTO events, and to try to talk a few more into accepting new roles. Yourself, for instance...? I happen to know of quite a few opportunities (Holiday Store, Fundraising Chair,
Coordinator...). Several of us are about to "graduate", and new ideas are always welcome. Creative flux is good stuff. My 11 pm brain is lacking a good segue, so let me move past the rambling to the summing up:
****
Please come to the last PTO meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, May 31st. We want your feedback on the last school year, we need your energy for the upcoming, and if that's not enough encouragement, I'm going to try really hard to bribe you to attend, promising a tasty bit of sugar and an all-ages GAME SHOW to launch the evening. Game details are still pending at newsletter press time, but
it will be good. Even my GBLUES alumn/super-cool-in-middle-school daughter has decided to come ;). I
know. It's almost too much.****
See you then? (at any or all of the above!) Thanks for all of the great support you've given me this year as I muddled through. I'm moving on to another PTO position/s that I think better plays to my strengths, but have had a fun year of it. You were excellent.
Best,
Valerie
