Category Archive

Shepherd is looking forward to welcoming prospective families to our upcoming open houses! The school will offer Open Houses on the following dates/times: To register for an Open House, please complete the RSVP form here.

THIS SATURDAY (April 24th) at 5pm – Does your family like to watch baking shows? Or do you or your kids like chocolate chip mini cookie cakes with vanilla buttercream frosting? Then join us for a Shepherd school wide virtual family baking class hosted by Tiny Chefs! This event is great for the whole family and proceeds go to Shepherd PTO. You can also purchase “add-ins” including ingredient kits and Shepherd aprons and chef hats like Sofia is modeling below. Get your tickets and ingredients here.  CUTE PIC BELOW FOR ADVERTISING! 🙂

With Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror, we can now plan for some holiday photos and not offend the turkey!  We’re bringing back our holiday photo FUNdraiser with a twist this year! We’re bringing the photog to YOU! Sign up for a 15-min mini session to have pics done of your family or kids on your porch or in your front or backyard.  Be CREATIVE – use props, include your pets (safely!), get on your holiday finest, wear masks, or your favorite sports team gear! Our photographer will be wearing a mask and will stay 6 feet away from all. Please don’t invite any additional people to be in the photos who don’t currently live with you.  Pics will be delivered one week after the sessions. DATE: Saturday, Dec 5th TIME: Sessions will start at 10 am and will be scheduled next week based on location COST: $50 sitting fee donation to Shepherd PTO; digital pics and prints can be purchased from the photographer directly for $20-35 IMPORTANT: In the “Add a Note” section on PayPal, please include the address for your portrait location, as well as your name, email and cell phone. Wishing you all Happy Holidays! Shepherd PTO Executive Board

As we prepare for the holidays during this most unusual year, we’re hoping to lift spirits and spread cheer! And since we’re all home A LOT MORE, why not have something beautiful to enjoy? We’re excited to be working with Lynch Creek Farms again this year to do online and direct home delivery of holiday wreaths and greens for the season. Their products are VERY lovely and anyone across the country can order items and help support Shepherd PTO.  Every time someone shops for holiday decor through our group’s fundraising page, Shepherd PTO will receive 15% of the purchase! See attached brochure for a sampling of available items. Lynch-Creek-Farms-Brochure.pdf Help us meet our $1000 goal and make purchases online at https://www.lynchcreekfundraising.com/c/253742.    Happy holidays from the Shepherd PTO Board

Oh, I must be on mute… Ok, enough of the pandemic humor…let’s get down to business. 30 mins until the Online Auction starts! The Auction is the PTA’s BIGGEST fundraiser for the year and helps us make sure the PTA has sufficient resources to cover many gaps in the DCPS school budget like: – Providing additional supplies for the classrooms and teachers – Covering a field trip for every grade level and additional professional development for teachers and staff – Sponsoring in-school performances and community events like Jazz Night, School Beautification Day, Fall Fest and Movie Nights – Celebrating and appreciating our teachers and staff! REGISTER HERE or download the Handbid app to bid and donate to help us focus our efforts on recess equipment and materials for the 2020-2021 school year.  And a HUGE thanks to our Auction sponsors – Sibley Memorial Hospital, Ledo Pizza and Chevy Chase Pediatric Dentistry. 

Hi Shepherd families and friends! The Virtual Auction site is now LIVE for preview. The Auction site will go live for bidding on Saturday, May 30th at 7 pm. Register here to help support our students! We’d love your support by bidding on the items we were able to secure prior to COVID-19 halting our BIG plans and will ALWAYS appreciate your donations and financial support. Donate what you would’ve spent on a sitter, a ticket, an Uber, or at the cash bar! This year’s Auction Appeal is focused on recess equipment and support. Obviously, recess will look very different when we’re back at school and we’d like to support our teachers with more play equipment, materials, dedicated space, and structure for safe recess time. Last year’s Auction Appeal raised more than $10,000 for STEM materials and the PTA was able to distribute science-focused resources, materials and manipulatives for every Shepherd student. So, we’d like to AT LEAST meet that goal again this year! Help us to: – Re-surface a new outdoor basketball court on the blacktop after the Community Center project is completed – Secure more games and recess equipment (as well as an outdoor shed to house our new toys!) – Provide our teachers with training from Playworks, a non-profit organization … Read More

Hey Shepherd friends and families, We are less than 1 week away from our virtual Shepherd PTA Auction on Sat, May 30th starting at 7 pm! We are super bummed that we missed having a fun in-person gathering, but hoping we’ll get back to that next year. Obviously, it’s hard to plan for next year right now and the PTA will likely be asked to help out in different ways than we have before, but the bottom line is…WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP! We are gearing up and here is what you should do to prepare for Saturday: Register to bid and donate here Consider ordering in a meal from a local neighborhood restaurant – many of them like Ledo Pizza (one of our event sponsors!) are always great supporters of our school and it’s our turn to support them! We’ll let you know when you can start previewing the auction items later this week (obviously, we didn’t get to do the class projects and teacher experiences or secure nearly as many auction items as in years past due to COVID-19) We’ll always be thankful for your cash donations – think about donating what you would’ve spent on a ticket, … Read More

DEAR SHEPHERD PARENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF, Shepherd Elementary School PTA needs your help! We are just beginning the massive effort of planning and preparation for Shepherd’s 16th Annual Spring Gala and Auction. This year’s Gala will be held on Saturday, April 25th at The Atrium at Bobby Van’s Grill in Washington, DC. Historically, the Spring Gala and Auction has been the PTA’s best fundraiser of the year, and we hope to raise over $75,000 this year to support Shepherd’s academic and enrichment programs, which will benefit all students. I am sure that you can agree on the importance of ensuring that Shepherd has sufficient resources to remain one of the finest DC public schools serving PK3 to 5th grade students. We are asking that every member of the Shepherd Elementary community to support the Spring Gala not only by attending the event itself, but also by providing whatever amount of time and effort you can to helping make this our must successful Gala ever! HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?There are so many ways you can participate to help us to throw a wonderful Gala and Auction. Here are a few suggestions: – Assist your classroom parent(s) and contribute to classroom project … Read More

The Shepherd PTA invites you to join us for the 31st Annual Jazz Night THIS FRIDAY, FEB 28th 6:30 pm. Bring a potluck item and a friend, your kids or a neighbor – ALL are welcome to this free community event! Sign up here to bring something to share. Jazz Night founder, Dr. Michael Wallace, introduced this special event 31 years ago—when his own children were students at Shepherd Elementary. He created Jazz Night with Shepherd students in mind to introduce them to jazz music in a kid-friendly environment. Bring your children to enjoy the music and see the musicians—and their instruments—close up. See you Friday as we celebrate more than 30 years of Jazz at Shepherd!

Good afternoon Mustang families! A reminder to bring in your wallet during pick up today for the BAKE SALE going on from 3:30-6:30 in the atrium. There will be lots of delicious snacks on sale – calories for a cause! All proceeds will go to help Shepherd families in need this holiday season. We will also have some additional holiday wreaths on sale if you didn’t get one ordered. As always, thanks for your support!