PTO Bulletin

Shepherd PTOPTO Bulletins

Shepherd Elementary School logo

Good evening Shepherd families and friends,

We’d like to take a moment today to salute all of the veterans in our school community – we thank you for your service today and everyday!

In this week’s PTO Bulletin…

  • See our full list of FANTASTIC TEAMS competing in Shepherd’s first-ever Fun Race to Fundraise – Sat, Nov 13th
  • Reminder – School Picture Day – Mon, Nov 15th
  • Kindergarten families – “Coffee and Chat” date with Dr. H – Tues, Nov 16th
  • LSAT and PTO monthly meetings – Wed, Nov 17th
  • All School Morning Meeting hosted by the 4th graders – Fri, Nov 19th
  • Thanks to our Annual Shepherd 180 Fund Donors
  • Calendar of Events
  • AND MUCH MORE!

Shepherd Fun Racers!

They’re warming up, lifting weights, running sprints, and getting ready for the BIG RACE this Saturday! Get ready to cheer on the 29 TEAMS competing in the FUN RACE TO FUNDRAISE.

All teams should’ve received a group number and start time via text…more race details will be sent via text to the cell number we have for each team.

A HUGE thanks to our sponsors: Ledo’s Pizza, Target, City CPR, Call Your Mother’s Bagel, Maison RZK realtors, and the Jabaily-Messing and Bowser families.

Let’s CHEER FOR….

The Snyder Sisters

The Bradley Bunch

Eideberg Bears

Anderson-Pohlman Family

Team Hari-man

The Flash

Fire Phoenix

12th Street Gang

Team Dee-Da

The Mysterious Morningside 6

Green Dragon

Primrose PK3

Team Yount

Bunny Hoppers

Team Argyle

Fast Shepherds

The Cubumbers

Cosinghawotes

Glover Gang

Hard Rock Hallelujah

Mighty Mustangs

Shepherd Warriors

Team Brooklyn

Zaferana

Kindergarten Families: “Coffee and Chat” with Dr. Hedlund

A friendly reminder that next week (Tues, Nov 16th) Dr. Hedlund will host her monthly “Coffee and Chat” with the kindergarten families at 8:45 am. Thanks for coordinating the monthly staff breakfast too!

School Picture Day – Mon, Nov 15th

A reminder that students can wear what they’d like for next week’s picture day. More info coming home soon!

Room Parents NEEDED – 4th and 5th grade classes

Attention parents of 4th and 5th graders – WE NEED YOU!

Looking for Room Parents for Ms. Brown’s 4th grade class and Ms. Caola and Ms. Scott’s 5th grade classes. Email ptocommunications@shepherd-elementary.org if you’re interested in helping.

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

Cendrine Robinson – Family Engagement

Crystal Satterfield – Facilities Improvement

We’re now only looking for one more parent to lead the Curriculum and Staff Support Committee.

Complete the form above or reach out to info@shepherd-elementary.org.

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

Walton-Prather Family

Marchand Family

Zettle Kreisberg Family

Weerasingha-Cote Family

Yonkwa-Rijmen Family

Boykin-Chase Family

Romine Family

Roberts Family

Marks-Fagen Family

Holdridge-Ma Family

Varda Glover Family

Yang Family

Steele Family

Escalante Family

Gallagher Family

Rodell Family

Prabhu-McDonald Family

DeAngelo Family

Dorsett-Holliday Family

Musgrove Family

Singh Family

Mitchell Family

Francis Family

Carlyle Family

Joiner Family

Martin Family

Mokodean Family

What does IB mean?

Interested in knowing more about Shepherd’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program and how it’s implemented in the elementary grade levels?

Check out our site here to learn more.

Shepherd is one of only 3 IB-accredited elementary schools in DCPS and the only IB elementary school that feeds into Deal Middle School, also an IB school. Definitely something to be proud of at Shepherd! Ms. Mack is our AMAZING IB coordinator, so reach out to her if you have more questions

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 pto@shepherd-elementary.org. Our first TAP recipient will be honored at the next 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.

Tues, Nov 16th at 5:30 pm – Check in our Social Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

Click here to register for these free sessions.

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

Upcoming School Calendar of Events

Shepherd Fun Race – Saturday, November 13th at 11 am

School Picture Day – Mon, Nov 15th

Staff breakfast/Coffee and Chat with Dr. Hedlund with Kinder families – Tuesday, November 16th at 8:45 am

LSAT Meeting – Wednesday, November 17th at 4:30 pm

PTO Meeting – Wednesday, November 17th at 6:30 pm

All School Morning Meeting (hosted by 4th graders) – Friday, November 19th

Family Photo Shoot Day (option 2) – Saturday, November 20th

Family Photo Shoot Day (option 3) – Sunday, November 21st

Thanksgiving Holidays (No School) – Wed, Nov 24-Fri, Nov 26th