Happy Wednesday, Shepherd family! We have our first PTO meeting TODAY (Wednesday, Sept 29th) at 6:30pm. Link is below.
Join us to hear from Dr. Hedlund, Dr. Brown (Shepherd’s school psychologist), updates from the Committees, and hear about upcoming plans and events for the Fall. We’d love to hear your voice and ideas too.
In this week’s PTO Bulletin…
- Walk to School Day – Wed, Oct 6th
- Introducing Teacher Appreciation Program (TAP)
- First PTO meeting – Wed, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm
- Room Parent Orientation – Wed, Sept 29th at 8 pm
- Upcoming DCPS Parent University sessions
- Seeking Room Parents and PTO Committee Chairs
- Supporting the Annual Shepherd 180 Fund
- Calendar of Events
- AND MUCH MORE!
Walk to School Day – October 6
Join us for this before school event!
Either walk your normal route or meet us at one of three meet-up locations:
- Marvin Caplan Park at the corner of Alaska Ave. and Holly Street. Group leaves at 8:10am.
- Triangle Park at the corner of Luzon Ave. and Van Buren St. Group leaves at 8:00am.
- Lowell Field at the corner of Kalmia and 17th Streets. Group leaves at 8:10am.
FIRST PTO MEETING – WED, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm
MARK YOUR CALENDARS – our first PTO meeting of the new school year will be Wed, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm. Join us here on MS TEAMS to participate.
Room Parent Kick-off Meeting – Wed, Sept 29th at 8 pm
Calling all Room Parents!
We’re kicking off the year with a Room Parent Orientation on Wed, Sept 29th at 8 pm after the PTO meeting. Join us on Zoom here.
Still looking for Room Parents for the following classes: Montgomery (3rd), McIntyre (2nd), Brown (4th), Scott (5th) and Caola (5th).
If interested in being a Room Parent or other volunteer opps, please fill out this Shepherd Volunteer Corp form here!
We have OUTDOOR PICNIC TABLES!
Thanks to a few of our AWESOME Dads, PTO Co-President Derek Musgrove, Theo Francis and Simon Messing, we have several outdoor picnic tables that will be used for an outdoor lunch rotation in the coming weeks, weather permitting.
NEW THIS YEAR – TAP A TEACHER!
Every day at Shepherd Elementary School teachers go about the job of teaching and molding our children into smart, confident, socially-conscious human beings. Every now and then, we parents get to witness this magic taking place. The PTO has created a vehicle for parents to share these wonderful experiences with the rest of us.
The Teacher Appreciation Program, or TAP, is an opportunity for a parent, or a small group of parents, to write a letter of appreciation recognizing a teacher who has been especially helpful…or if they have a special way with the class that you admire, tell your story to the rest of the school! TAP gives parents an opportunity to recognize a teacher at Shepherd for their great work and dedication.
Once a month, a special teacher will receive a wishlist fund bonus, and letters will be shared with the selected teacher and school community. To recognize a teacher, please send your letter by e-mail to [email protected]. Our first TAP recipient will be honored at the October PTO meeting. TAP a teacher today!
Upcoming DCPS Parent University Sessions
Join families across the District and DCPS Central Office teams to learn how we can collaborate to enrich your child’s education.
Families are encouraged to ask questions and offer solutions. Together, we will walk away with activities to try or useful information to accelerate our children’s educational development. All sessions are virtual.
Wed, Oct 6th at 5:30 pm – Social Emotional Development and Learning During Challenging Times
Tues, Oct 26th at 5:30 pm – DCPS Journey to become a Whole-Centered, Anti-Racist District
Click here to register for these free sessions.
Support the Shepherd 180 Fund
Help the Shepherd PTO fund lots of great events, initiatives, and extra circular efforts at Shepherd this year by donating to the 180 Fund.
It’s called the 180 Fund because there are 180 instructional days in the school year and your donation of a dollar a day per student helps the PTO support sending students on offsite field trips, funding teacher educational wish lists, putting on school plays and concerts, updating outdoor playground equipment, funding additional academic supports, and hosting school-wide events! This budget really helps us give our students even more unique, meaningful and enriching opportunities each year.
Any contribution is always much appreciated. And as a reminder, your contribution is 100% tax deductible. Thanks for your support – we’re looking forward to getting back to BETTER THAN NORMAL!
THANKS to our 180 Fund DONORS
MANY, MANY THANKS to the following families:
Snyder-Johnson Family
Arellano Family
Kunce Family
Bradley Family
Bennett Family
Beridon Family
Tivol Family
Lyles Family
Faulman-Coffey Family
Johnston-Gruetzmacher family
Archer family
Lipton-Marnon family
Richards family
Frias family
Raglani family
Jabaily-Messing family
Ju family
Monthly Teacher and Staff Breakfasts and “Coffee and Chats” with Dr. Hedlund
Many thanks to the PK4 families for organizing a breakfast spread from Panera for our wonderful Shepherd staff last week…and an extra special thanks to PK4 for coordinating the first staff breakfast of the school year!
Each month, families from a designated grade level come together to organize and deliver breakfast to school so that our staff can have a great start to their day. PK4 families also had the opportunity to meet as a small group with Principal Hedlund in the morning to learn about grade-appropriate development milestones and to chat about how the school year is going so far this year.
Next up in October will be a Staff Breakfast, as well as Coffee and Conversation with Dr. H, by/for PK3 families. More details to follow soon from the Room Parent Network as October 19th draws nearer.
Follow Shepherd PTO on FB and Insta
Keep up with the latest updates, events and fun things going on at Shepherd by following our FB page (@ShepherdElemPTA) and Instagram (shepherd_elem_dc)
Interested in Volunteering? Give us 5
We’re looking for all types of volunteers and parent leaders – maybe you have 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days or even more time to give…we’ve got something for everyone if you like to help with events, volunteer behind the scenes, or lead a committee!
Check out all the PTO Committees and find one that might interest you to join!
Thanks to these AWESOME parents who’ve stepped up to lead PTO Committees this year!
Kate Snyder – Communications and Advocacy
Siri Warkentien – Fundraising and Grants
Dana Ju – Health and Wellness
Robyn Showanes – PR/Community Engagement
Jodi Arellano – Room Parent Coordinator
We’re still looking for parents to lead the Family Engagement, Curriculum and Staff Support, and Facilities Improvement Committees.
Complete the form above or reach out to [email protected].
Check out our NEW school website!
We’ve overhauled and updated our school website!!
A HUGE SHOUT OUT to PTO Co-President, Taryn Losch-Beridon, for leading the charge, to Ms. Mack for all the updated content and school info, and Intrepid (BIG THANKS to Jack Robbins’ Dad!!) for their pro bono support for the web design template and technical capabilities.
If you’ve missed one of the recent emails from Dr. Hedlund or the PTO, check the site as we’re archiving all emails and newsletters there too.
THANKS SHEPHERD AMBASSADORS
Many thanks to our Shepherd Ambassador Families who volunteered and donated their time, along with Ms. Holt and Ms. Hagan, to connect with our newest Shepherd families (all 55 of them!) this year. Thank you to the Robinson-Head, Stearns-Smith, Rijmen, Jones , Smith, and Beridon Families for your time and dedication… and for sharing a little bit of what makes Shepherd special with our new families!
Upcoming School Calendar of Events
September PTO Meeting (Virtual) – Wednesday, September 29th from 6:30 – 7:30pm
Room Parent Orientation (Virtual) – Wednesday, September 28th at 8 pm
Walk/Bike to School Day – Wednesday, October 6th
Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School Day) – Thursday, October 7th
Professional Development Day (No School Day ) – Friday, October 8th
Holiday – No School Day – Monday, October 11th
PK3 Teacher Breakfast and “Coffee and Chat” with Dr. Hedlund – Tuesday, October 19th
No School Day – Tuesday, November 2nd
End of Term/No School Day – Friday, November 5th