Rachel Carson PTA eNews

<= span style=3D'font-size:48.0pt;font-family:"Eras Bold ITC";mso-bidi-font-family:= Arial'> &nb= sp; Rachel Carson

PTA eNews

September 2009

www.rces-pta.org

In this Bulletin:

Upcoming Events=

Tuesday 9/1 &= nbsp; PTA Member Meeting - 7pm in RCES All Purpose Room

Thursday 9/3<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Back To School Picnic - 5-7:30pm at RCES Upper Field

Wednesday 9/9= Back to School Ni= ght – 7-9pm for Grades 3-5

Grades 4/5 Instrumental Music paren= t mtg. - 6:30pm

Thursday 9/10= Back = to School Night – 7-9pm for Grades Pre-K-2
Monday 9/14 <= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> = RCES Night at Star Diner- 5-8pm
Friday 9/18 <= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Dads and Donuts - 8am in RCES All Purpose Room
Tuesday 9/29 = RCES Night at Five Guys - 5-8pm

News You Can Use

Membership Dr= ive
Schedule Chan= ges
School Tool B= ox
Giant Bonus B= ucks
Yahoo Listser= v
Sponsorships/Advertising/Directory/Website

Donations

Gaithersburg HELP

Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA)

Volunteer Opportunities

Thank you Thank you

PTA Meeting recap

PTA Contact Info

= Upcoming Events

September PTA Meeting: Tuesday 9/1, 7:00pm

Please join us after the 6:30 New Parent Welcome with M= r. Chep for our first monthly PTA meeting.&nb= sp; The agenda will include reviewing and approving the annual budget, discussions regarding upcoming events, programs and activities; and opportunities to volunteer for a wide range of PTA activities.

Family Night: Back to School Picnic: Thursday 9/3, 5:00-7:30pm=

Come meet and greet your classmates and teachers! Bring your own picnic dinner or purchase food and drinks from local restaurants. Enjoy music, games and activities for the kids. Contact Kimberly Hall (kmhall@rcn.com) to volunteer!

&n= bsp;

Back to School Nights: Wednesday 9/9, 7pm (Grades 3-5) and Thursday 9/10, 7pm (Grades Pre-K-2)

Meet the teachers, volunteer for school, classroom and PTA activities and learn abou= t Rachel Carson.

= 6:30 p.m. Instrumental Music *= Parent Meeting – *(For Parents of Children in Gr= ades 4 & 5)

RCES Night at the Star Diner: Monday 9/14, 5- 8pm

Meet your family and friends for dinner, and the Star Diner will donate a percen= tage of the proceeds to the PTA. T= his will be one of our many restaurant nights throughout the year.

Dads and Donuts: Friday 9/18, 8am, RCES All Purpose Room

All dads, step dads and granddads are invited to have a free breakfast with the= ir kids.

RCES Night at Five Guys: Tuesday 9/29, 5-8pm

Enjoy dinner at Five Guys, and they will donate a percentage of the proceeds to t= he PTA.

News You Can Use & Program Updates

PTA Membership Dr= ive

Our membership drive is off to a great start!&= nbsp; Your membership dues provide numerous benefits to our children's educational experience including financially supporting classroom needs, sponsoring free social events, funding after school enrichment activities a= nd directly supporting teachers. Regular membership is $20 per year or $15 for single parent households. Join online at http://rces-pta.org or fill out the Membership Application found in this week’s Friday Folder.

Our PTA website (http://rces-pta.org) is= a great place to register/renew your membership; make donations to PTA-sponso= red programs and fundraisers; use the online membership directory; import events into an outlook calendar; view class rosters and other school information, = read PTA meeting minutes; and much more.

Schedules & Changes

We have made several changes to our PTA calendar. We do our best to minimize changes= but it will happen from time to time. Please check the school and PTA websites periodically, review the Heron Herald from Mr. Chep and listen for Connect = Ed announcements.

School Tool Box

We are aware of a few boxes and backpacks that were not delivered to your children's classrooms. Please email Monica Parsons at <= u>mayohai@aol.com with any order discrepancies so she can get your missing supplies ASAP or arrange for any refunds.

Giant Bonus Bucks

Last year we earned $6600 fo= r our school from 250 fami= lies that registered their Giant Bonus Cards. Help us reach our goal of $7,000 by registering your card today. Even if you registered your card last year, you must re-register this year for Rachel Carson to receive credit. Register online at https://www.giantfood.com/our_stores/bonus_bucks/desig= nate_school.htm?execution=3De1s1

You can also return the registration card that will be posted on the PTA website and sent home in t= his Friday’s folder. The class with the most participation in each grade level will win a class party. To receive credit= in the class party contest, you must register by returning the form (Giant doe= sn't provide a list of participants). Contact Kelly Scherr at kelscherr@comcast.net= with any questions.

Harris Teeter shoppers can register their VIC cards for their Together in Education program at http://www.harristeeter.com (use school code 6327).

Yahoo Listserv

The Yahoo listserv still serves a vital purpose. Please make sure at least one fami= ly member is signed up for Yahoo. You may continue to receive duplicate emails in some instances as the PTA websi= te is outbound only (as opposed to Yahoo being available for parent postings) = and the current version only allows one email per family. Sign up for Yahoo by sending an email to:

RCES-PTA-subscribe@yahoo= groups.com.

Sponsorships/Advertising

Last call for advertising in our School Directory R= 11; the deadline is Friday 9/4. We are also looking for businesses that can make in-kind donations (school supplies, misc. services, etc.) or sponsor an eve= nt or activity. Please contact M= ark Ezrin at mark@ezrinfamily.com f= or school directory rates and details.

Donations

Instrumental Mu= sic is in need of any lightly used band or orchestra instruments. The instrument needs to be in playable condition and not need= major repair (re-padding or overhauls), new sets of strings for violins and cellos (3/4) size for both. C= ontact Terri Moraca at Terri_L_M= oraca@mcpsmd.org or bring your items into school.

Pre-K is need of jump ropes, any size balls, Velcro ca= tch mitts, beach toys (buckets, shovels, etc.). Please contact Sebastian Sayegh at Sebastian_Hand@mcpsmd.org or bring your items into school.

Gaithersburg HELP

This year the RCES PTA will again support Gaithersburg HELP, our local food pantry. At each of our PTA sponsored events, including meetings, Back to School Picnic and Back to School Nights, we are requesting each family bring a few food items.

Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA): htt= p://mccpta.net/

MCCPTA is a County wide umbrella organization for scho= ol PTAs. They have useful parent= and student information and updates about ongoing issues and news for MCPS. For= a listing of events please refer to: http://www.mccpta.com/cg= i-bin/calendar.pl

Volunte= er Opportunities

If you plan on helping or have questions, please confi= rm with us so we can track volunteer hours, recognize our volunteers and confi= rm we have enough help for each activity.&nbs= p; Unless otherwise specified, please contact Ailene Renzi, our Volunteer Coordinator, at arrenzi@gmail.com= or

240-631-6536. There are other opportunities in addition to the list below.

Specific Volunteer needs for September:

Back to School Picnic:

We are looking for volunteers for the following:
- set up (starting at 4:15)
- clean up (approx. 45 minutes after the event)
- running/helping with various activities/booths (such as crafts, face painting, moon bounces, helping food vendors, etc.) It would be great if we could get volunteers for 60 or 90 minute shifts.

Kindergarten Recess/Lunch Recess

Kindergarten parents can volunteer during the first 2-4 weeks of school for lunch and recess. Parents will help children get to/from bathrooms, find assigned cafeteria tables, direct children where to purchase lunches, guide children through t= he lunch line, carry their trays, get napkins & condiments, open lunchboxe= s, snack packs, clearing tables & carrying trays to the trashcans. Du= ring Recess, help is needed for bathroom duty, letting children in and out and providing general additional supervision.&= nbsp; Contact Deborah Schwartz at deborah_ws@yahoo.ca.

Instrumental Music

8-10 volunteers are needed to man tables at the instrumental recruitment music assembly on Wednesday 9/9 from 1:35-3:00 p.m. The adults do not have to perform...just be willing to help students and be positive as students try out instruments.

Committee Chairs=

Please continue to check the website for open positions. http://rces-pta.org/committees. There are many opportunities to he= lp run fundraisers, family nights and various other activities.

Childcare help

We need 2-3 middle or high school students to provide free babysitting during PTA meetings and events. SSL hour= s will be earned. =

<= /o:p>
Thank Y= ou! Thank You!

As always, the PTA and s= chool staff are grateful for our volunteers’ help! The PTA would like to thank the following people for volunteering their time. They were instrumental in the many behind the scenes activities getting ready for the first day of school!

August mailing: Heath and Wilson famili= es

Bulletin Board Prep: Dayna Ingrassia, Heath a= nd Benedict families

First Day Folders: Ezrin and Lilyestrom families and = Olivia French

Courtyard Cleanup: Ingras= sia Family, Michael Draghici and John McFadden

School Tool Box: Parson= s, Minkoff, Freedman, Hoch, Pearlstein and Baumgartner families

Spirit Wear Merchandise: Emmert and Moran families as well as Shannon Smith, Rae Ritter, Katie Ferguson and Emi= ly Lilyestrom

Staff Appreciation Back to Sc= hool Lunch: Michelle Freedberg, Cara OConnor, Rebecca Smondrow= ski and Barb Winderlich, as well as the many parents who donated items for the lunch.

We also want to thank our many fantastic middle school (and former RCES) students t= hat helped make the start of school possible as they earned SSL hours: Annika Salzberg, Sophia Mallus, Emily Baumgartner, Micah Levey, Max Salem, Noah Pearlstein, Sarah Kettl, Andrew Smondrowski, Jenna Wilson, Andy Fleischer, Emily Benedict, Samantha Fleischer, Alyssa Winderlich, and Danny OConnor.

Thanks to Bar-T = for providing a bus to drive families from Governor Square apartments to the M= CPS Back to School Fair.

Thanks to Quince Orc= hard Swim and Tennis Club and Brian Fankhauser, Director of Tennis, who generously provided tennis balls for the bottom of = our chairs.

Please thank them if you see them. We apologize if anyone was inadvertently left off the list.<= /font>

PTA Mee= ting Recap

Minutes and recaps from the summer planning meetings w= ill be posted on the PTA website within the next week.=

PTA Con= tact Info

President  &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           Ma= rk Ezrin      &n= bsp;     301-502-8990        &= nbsp; mark@ezrinfamily.com

Vice President, Fundraising          Melissa Wi= lson      301-330-563= 6        &= nbsp; misunc@comcast.net

Vice President, Social Functions   Kimberly Hall        301-208-3231        &= nbsp; kmhall@rcn.com

Treasurer  &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;          Jennifer Coulson   301-926-2666        &= nbsp; jenniferlcoulson@gma= il.com

Secreta= ry        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;     Indu Levine      &= nbsp;     301-987-7141        &= nbsp; isubbiah@= yahoo.com

Volunte= er Coordinator     &n= bsp;            Ailene Renzi&n= bsp;         240-631-6536        &= nbsp; arrenzi@gm= ail.com

<= /o:p>

For more information and other updates, please visit: www.RCES-pta.org

<= /o:p>

In our attempt to reach as many families as possible, you may be receiving this twice if you are a subscriber to both t= he Yahoo! Message Board and the PTA website. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

If you cannot read this newsletter, you can download a PDF version of it fr= om the PTA website (http://rces-pta.o= rg/archives).