Good evening Shepherd families and friends,
In this week’s PTO Bulletin…
- DCPS EdFEST – Sat, Dec 11th
- Ward 3 EdNet Meeting – Mon, Dec 13th
- Virtual Deal Open House – Tues, Dec 14th
- Dec LSAT and PTO Meetings – Wed, Dec 15th
- All-School Morning Meeting – Fri, Dec 17th
- Shepherd Staff Holiday Event – Tues, Dec 21st
- Support Shepherd’s virtual food drive now through Dec 10th
- VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Spring Auction/Gala
- Mental Health tips and resources from Dr. Brown
- Thanks to our Annual Shepherd 180 Fund Donors
- Calendar of Events
- AND MUCH MORE!
GALA/AUCTION VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We’re looking for volunteers to help chair and plan this year’s Spring Gala/Auction. Our HOPE is to have the event in person on Saturday, April 30th. This is our BIGGEST FUNDRAISER of the school year and is a “no kids” event where we have a WHOLE lot of crazy fun too!
It takes a village to put on this type of event, so if you have experience in planning events, fundraising, communications and marketing, volunteer management, donation solicitation, tech/AV, and/or logistics, we’d LOVE to have your help. Email [email protected].
Our next meeting will be Thursday, Dec 16th at 7 pm on this Teams link, and then in January we’ll start to break into committees to divide and conquer.
Shepherd Teacher and Staff Holiday Event – Tues, Dec 21st
Mark your calendars and get out your most festive holiday hats and sweaters! We will be celebrating our amazing Shepherd staff afterschool at 3:30 PM on Tuesday, December 21st. More details will be distributed soon via the Room Parent Network. If you’d like to help with event coordination, a planning call will be held on Thursday, December 9th, at 7PM via Microsoft Teams. The more the merrier!
DCPS EdFEST – Sat, Dec 11th
Join this year’s EdFEST to visit with school representatives from more than 200+ DCPS and public charter schools. Click here to register. Online event will be from 10 am to 1 pm.
Shepherd Virtual Food Drive
OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY IS AWESOME!
We’ve already raised more than $2500, totally surpassing our goal of $1500. We have a few more days left to donate, so please consider a small donation if you’re able.
As an IB school, Shepherd is committed to caring by supporting our local community. Help us support the Capital Area Food Bank and donate virtually through Friday, December 10th.
Give here – no gift is too small! And record your donation here to be counted in the school-wide competition. Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Ward 3 EdNet Meeting – Mon, Dec 13th
The Ward 3 EdNet group is made up of school, parent and community reps from schools feeding into Deal and Wilson and they will be hosting a December meeting featuring DCPS Director of School Finance Allen Francois to talk about DCPS budgeting and anything he can share on plans for a new budgeting model.
Register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Call will begin at 7 pm.
4th Annual Summer Camp Expo – Sat, Jan 8th
Plans are underway for Shepherd’s 4th Annual Summer Camp Expo to be held on Saturday, January 8th, from 9AM-Noon in the Shepherd Multipurpose Room. If you’d like to help with the event, please contact [email protected].
Free, in-home vaccinations now available
Effective immediately, your entire family (including kids 5+) can get vaccinated/boosted in your own home for free! Just call 855-363-0333 to set it up. Other vax sites in DC can be found here
Virtual Deal Middle School Open Houses
Attention 5th grade families: check out the Deal calendar here for a few of the upcoming virtual open houses. There is one scheduled for next Tues, Dec 14th at 6:30 pm
Picture Re-take Day – Mon, Dec 13th
If your student needs to re-take school pictures, please email your student’s name and homeroom teacher as soon as possible to [email protected].
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 [email protected] if you’re interested in helping.
Mental Health Tips from Dr. Brown
Our wonderful psychologist, Dr. Brown, has shared more tips and resources to help handle a few big issues we’re all facing (like vaccinating our kids!) and to help get us through the next few, frantic weeks before the holiday break. Take a few moments to yourself to read or listen to some of these pieces and know we’re here for you and your students.
Children, Teens are in a Mental Health State of Emergency from EdWeek
The Impact of Parental Burnout from APA
Some Parents Want to Wait to Vaccinate their Children, Here is Why Doctors Say to Do It Now from NPR
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
Britton Family
Smith Family
Head Family
Gulczynski-Gupta Family
Goodman Family
NEW THIS YEAR – TAP A TEACHER!
CONGRATS to Mrs. McIntyre as our first teacher to be recognized by the PTO’s Teacher Appreciation Program!
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.
TAP a teacher today by submitting a nomination here.
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
Make-up School Photo Day – Monday, December 13th
Ward 3 EdNet meeting – Monday, December 13th at 7 pm
VIRTUAL Open House for prospective families – Wednesday, December 15th
LSAT Meeting – Wednesday, December 15th at 4:30 pm
PTO Meeting – Wednesday, December 15th at 6:30 pm
All-School Morning Meeting – Friday, December 17th
Staff and Teacher Holiday Party – Tuesday, December 21st from 3:30-4:30 pm