Fall Weather = Chili

My house still smells like the cookies I baked for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon today. I think parents could use some treats to fortify themselves for the parent teacher conferences too! At least there was plenty of coffee available for everyone.

The cold weather makes me think of the Chili Cook-Off. Chili is perfect on days like this. This year there are a lot new teachers not familiar with the Cook-Off. I'm sure they could use a little extra help with recipes and decorating. The most important part of the chili is left up to the kids- thinking of that perfect name. Armadilly Chili is still one of my favorites, what will they come up with this year?

More soup please!

This week has flown by and I forgot to update on Monday!

Next week promises to be an even busier week. Teacher Conferences are on Monday and that is also the day for our Potluck Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. Judy Poe is still searching for cooks to stir up a pot of soup. Bread and desserts are also welcome!
And if a 4 day week is not exciting enough, Field Day is on Friday, which is also Halloween.

Our thoughts are with 5th graders at Science Camp this week. Remember, no student is ever denied the chance to go based on financial need. 5th grade raises money with it's catalog fundraiser, t-shirt sales and soda stands at events. Thanks to all the parents who chaperoned and teachers and staff that do a lot of the behind the scenes work to make the camp possible!

Fundraiser Ends Today - Sort Of

The fundraiser ends today - Monday, October 13th.
Can you still turn in your child's form and money tomorrow? Yes.
How about Wednesday? Yes, but that's pushing it.
How about Thursday? That's cutting it very close but we will still probably accept it.

Why do we want the orders on Monday if we don't send it out to the fundraising company until later in the week? Because it takes a long time to double check the forms and count the money. A lot of forms don't have a complete name on them (It's nice that Burks is such a small school that as long as there's a first name you can pretty much track down whose it is. I think Mrs. Montgomery has every student's name memorized!). Some orders are short a few dollars but more often there will be an extra $10 or $20 that we need to send back. So it takes a few days to straighten out those that end up in the "problem" file. Make it easy on PTO and turn your orders in on time!

Thursday is the Bingo Night from 6-8pm. There will be 12 fabulous rounds of bingo with callers like Superintendent Tom Crowe and our very own School Board Member, Judy Poe. Bingo cards, snacks and soda are a dollar each. Or if you are serious bingo player, 12 cards (one for each round) will sell for the bargain price of $10. The proceeds will go towards the school's field trip to the Science Place. This is not a PTO event but about every program at school involves teachers and parents anyway, doesn't it?

Tuesday is our first McDonald's Night. You know the drill, tell the cashier that you're from Burks and we will recieve a percentage of your sale. The current Happy Meal Star Wars toys are very popular at our house!

This week PTO is going to start planning for November's Chili Cook-off. You would not believe all the behind-the-scenes work that goes on by PTO, teachers and students! Not to mention the judges, who this year will sample over 20 different chili dishes. To ensure we don't run out this year, we're planning to have a big extra pot of last year's winning chili.

Students can turn in tickets every day that they sell something from the fundraiser. Every morning Mrs. Bendorf picks three tickets. Two get to win a little Kung Fu Panda bear and one gets the chance to have a giant Kung Fu Panda stay in their classroom for the day. It was a very exciting day in Kindergarten when one of my son's classmates won the bear for Mrs. Freshcoln's class! Even the older grades seem to like the spending the day with a huge Kung Fu Panda.