The Pirate Ship Directory has docked.

Our first ever Pirates Directory! I can’t tell you how excited I am to see this done! I had a vision of this many shores ago. When I brought this to the PTA Board and told them of my “vision”, Gareth Simpson piped up and said “I can make this happen”! Little did he know it would take him several hours (dare I say hundreds of hours?) to make it happen. This was not just about inputting information and then putting it into a book. Oh no, this was Gareth creating a brand new web based program just for Stevenson. Some programs similar (and not nearly as good) sell for over a $1000.00. WOW!

This program that we now have, will keep track of our families, keep track of who said they could help and in what way, and the list goes on and on! This is just so fabulous! Gareth and his lovely wife Emma then took on the daunting task of converting this system to book form, the designing of the actual book, and the UGLY task of correcting mistakes! This alone took several hours to do! It’s nearly impossible to make this Directory perfect and unfortunately there are a few mistakes in the Directory- my apologies to anyone who may have had a mistake in their information. But, I stand firm and proud of what these two people accomplished!

Thank you to the Room Reps who gathered the contact information. That too can be a challenging task! You all deserve a thank you- so THANK YOU!
Please take a moment to enjoy this piece of art, use it only for school purposes, and if you happen to see Gareth or Emma please give them a pat on the back and a thank you, they DESERVE it!

Tiffany Bakas
PTA President
ptatagteam@stevensonpirates.net

Jingle bells, jingles bells, jingle all the way!
Oh, what fun it is to join PTA today!

(Oh YEAH! We had to get that in there. It’s lucky you didn’t hear us sing it!)

The other day we were talking to someone about PTA. They said, “what difference does it make how many people join PTA?” Interesting… As we talked to her we learned she had no idea that PTA is a child advocacy group and the ONLY lobbying group for our children on a local, state or national level. Let us repeat that – THE ONLY LOBBYING GROUP FOR OUR CHILDREN. And it’s some 5 million members strong! The good news is Congress does listen to PTA! They have to – we are too big and strong to ignore.

What does that have to do with our PTA members, you ask? Well, for every so many members we have, we (Stevenson PTA) gets to send people to have a voice / vote at PTA on a state-level. The more members we have the more people get to go and be heard. They get to tell PTA and vote on what they think PTA should or should not support. We watched one lady get up and talk before some 4000 PTA members. She was so passionate in her beliefs she changed their minds on which way to vote! WOW! That could be you.

You could change people’s opinions; you could improve the future for your child. Yes, this all seems hard to believe, but it’s a FACT! One voice does make a difference! Imagine then, PTA being a voice 5 million strong – its powerful! So the number of members we have does make a difference, you make a difference!

This is the power of PTA. But we also feel what’s even more important is the “here and the now” of Stevenson’s children! Just as a reminder – because of PTA’s involvement your child gets the following:

• Events such as Walk To School Day, Boo Bash, Field Trips, Valentine’s Day and many more
• Assemblies, our Library, the Garden and Holiday Baskets
• We try and make sure every child has equal opportunities.
• We promote parent education so kids can have the best environments.
• We provide our Teachers their necessary Classroom Supplies.

One of my favorite things that PTA does is adopt families for our Holiday Baskets Program. This year we have Katherine O’Rourke, a high School student, and her Mom, Diane O’Rourke, organizing this amazing event. They have requested that we adopt 5 families. They want to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and presents for these families to have for their Holiday. These are families that would not be able to have a special Holiday if it weren’t for the support of our PTA and you the donors. You will soon see flyers on how to donate to this worthy cause. Watch for information about this and please participate – these families deserve it! A special thank you to this fabulous Mother/Daughter Team for taking this on!

As you can see PTA is important. We are not just a group that hangs out and talks; we make things happen and we do go on to bigger things and lobby for what’s right in our children’s lives. We are providing you things your child would not normally have at school.

Please, if you haven’t already joined us, make a difference today and become a member of Stevenson PTA! If you are a member and haven’t been to a meeting – Join us! We want to see new faces. Together we will have a stronger voice!

Tiffany Bakas and Felix Chamberlain
“The Tag Team”

The Annul Dance Recital: Winter Wonderland will be held Dec 10, 2009.

There will be two performances: 9:00am & 10:30am in the auditorium.

Students will bring home a notice with their specific performance time in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out!

To pre-order a DVD of the 2 performances for $12 – Click here to download the order form.

This program is brought to you by FFS and paid for by donations made by you!
www.stevensonpirates.net/donations

Families for Stevenson & North End Pizzeria are teaming up for Stevenson’s “Pizza Dough Raiser” for the 2009-2010 school year.

20% of proceeds from orders will go to Families For Stevenson but you must print out and fill in a copy of this coupon!

FFS enriches the education of our children by providing Art, Music, Dance and other specialty programs to Stevenson Elementary. So eat some delicious pizza while supporting your favorite school programs!

The “Pizza Dough Raiser” will take place on the Last Tuesday of Every Month at North End Pizzeria
Good for Dine-in, Take-Out and Delivery.

Bring the whole Family! This is a fun way to see what the Stevenson Garden is all about, to see whats growing, and to help make the Garden BEAUTIFUL!

When: This Saturday the 21ST
Time: 9am
Where: Stevenson School (enter gate on California street.)
Bring: sun screen and a hat (water and snacks will be provided)

More Details

We are asking families to donate lightly used winter clothing items such as Jackets, Snow pants or Waterproof pants, Boots, Hats, Mittens, Gloves and Scarves. The items will be sold at a winter sale to help students going to Outdoor Science School. All items will be sold for $1.00. Items may be dropped off in the school office.

The sale will take place outside of the school release gate on Thursday, December 3rd, Friday, December 4th and on December 10th before and after the Dance Recital.

All clothing not sold will be donated to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center.

If you have any questions please call Sheyanne Palmer at 818-842-5225 or shinyp@charter.net.

Thank you for your generosity!