Lakewood Montessori PTO
January 13, 2011 Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report: Melody Whigam provided the report this month. The money raised over the school year is as follows $500 in Christmas tree sales, $536 from Square One art, $110 in T-shirt sales, $250 from holiday pictures, $130 from Amazon Market Place, $300 from Super Valu advertisements, and $272  from Box Tops. Discussion was had about this year’s fundraisers. Comments about the tree sale were asking for more notice. The suggestions for Square One were related to giving the children more direction, particularly the younger children. One suggestion was to make hand animal art. For holiday pictures the group agreed that shorter photo times would make this event more successful. One way to do this would be limiting the number of poses to 2. Melody will ask Ali Shomaker if she would be willing to act as photographer for next year’s holiday carnival. In regards to Amazon, the discussion centered on more notification to parents, possibly sending out another flyer on childrens’ hooks. The feedback for Supervalu advertisements are that it is a simple low maintenance way to fundraise. The next Box Tops submission will be in the spring.

Status on Goals: An offer was made by a Lakewood parent, Frank Aldana, to build bookshelves for the library. The PTO would cover the costs of the materials, and the labor would be donated. A suggestion was made to ask if Frank could also look at repairing the existing shelving. The amount of $450 for the project will be set aside. Discussion was given to the Birthday Book Club. It was decided that the school, through the Usbourne website, will purchase books using its matching program. Children can select a book from this assortment for a $5 donation. Or, parents can take their children to purchase a book from the “book list” at a local bookstore. The book club books will have a label placed in the front with the name of the child who donated the book and the children will be given bookmarks. Shelly will assist Melody with the labels and bookmarks.

Upcoming Events: The PTO will sponsor a family reading night on the 23 of February from 6 to 7:30. Cookies and milk will be provided. Discussion was given to the structure of the event. A suggestion was made to have one room where families read with each other, and another room where a teacher will read to the group. The PTO will sponsor a food drive that night. Another suggestion was given to provide families with handouts about effective ways to read as a family. Stacy Bluma will provide Melody with a sample handout that the local public schools use. The PTO will sponsor a plant sale in the spring with help from a Lakewood parent, Stacy LaMastra, who works with the Department of Agriculture. Rosemary Wilford provided information about the sale from discussions had with Stacy. Stacy will have use of the lab at her work to grow starter plants. Discussion was given to Stacy’s offer to provide pots and soil, Miss Mary and Melody will follow up with Stacy on this matter. Stacy had explained that her work has volunteer planting days, and that is when the seeds would be planted. Stacy will provide the PTO with the planting dates so that parents can volunteer for planting times. Stacy also said that Kindergarteners could have a field trip for planting, or just for a lab tour. Discussion was given to the types of plants. If it should just be limited to a few, or whatever Stacy’s work could provide for seed donations. It was decided to have Stacy suggest the plants, as the plants will also be sold to her coworkers. The PTO will obtain the temporary sales permit. Stacy will help the PTO obtain 2 plant sale licenses (at $50 apiece). One for plants sold in April and the other for plants sold in May. It was tentatively decided to have the sales on a Friday at 5pm. Any plants that have not been sold will then be sold over the next week through volunteers at pick up times. Miss Maria has provided the PTO with a list of materials needed to make science kits. If the list is purchased the estimated price would be $500. It was decided to first request item donations. The donation requests will be coordinated with the plant sales.

The next PTO meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2011.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:12.

Rosemary Wilford

Lakewood Montessori PTO Secretary