McGilvra Elementary PTA thanks community
Community Corner is a feature consisting of submissions from neighborhood community councils and other local organizations. To submit on behalf of your group, contact editor Daniel Nash at MPTimes@nwlink.com.
As the school year comes to an end, the McGilvra Elementary PTA would like to thank the McGilvra community for their generous contributions to the school. As a result of your giving through the Runathon, Annual Fund Drive and Run For the Roses Auction, we were able to fund:
Teacher Salaries: McGilvra’s art instructor, school counselor, instructional assistant, math enrichment, office assistant, reading enrichment, special education teacher and tutors are underwritten, in whole or in part, thanks to PTA fundraising.
Teacher Training: Greg Tang Math Training, Inclusion and bullying training, literacy training
Grants: Authors and Illustrators of the “Oregon Trail: Road to Destiny” books as part of the spring Oregon Trail unit.
School Counselor Clare Sommers is driving social emotional empathy RULER training, as well as annual library grants.
Money isn’t the only thing you contributed. As a result of volunteer hours, the school hosted:
External Community
Events: East Cherry YWCA Food drive, where you sent 40 bags of much needed toiletries and groceries to its food bank program; Mitten Project, where you stuffed 200 mittens for over 30 families to make a potentially bleak holiday brighter; Walk for Water Simulation where our children experienced first-hand how their peers in developing nations obtain a days’ worth of water; and the Madison Valley Spring Clean, where 40 community members came together to spruce up one of the school’s key neighborhoods.
In-School Community Events: Multicultural Picnic, Fall Harvest Dance, Winter Bingo Night, Pi and Science Day, Spring Garage Sale all brought students, parents and staff together for fun educational evenings. In addition, we offered bi-monthly parent coffees for folks to chat informally at drop-off.
Student Programs and School Garden: Your children engaged in our before and after school programs, with the majority of McGilvra kids now taking advantage of these programs. Our beautiful volunteer-run garden has evolved into a living laboratory, where children from all grades focus on eco-literacy, working with community partners from FarmRaiser, Montlake and Stevens Elementary, and will be integrated as part of next year’s teaching curriculum.
We have some exciting things coming for the 2016-2017 school year, including the launch of a new McGilvra PTA website, www.mcgilvrapta.org. It’ll be up and running in advance of the start of the new year, and will be your go-to place for upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and planning resources.
We are incredibly proud of all the work McGilvra has done as a community. Thank you on behalf of the PTA, the school and most importantly on behalf of our children. We hope you have a safe, enjoyable summer.
- Sian Wu