2023 Meeting Notes

Notes from our February meeting:

Purchased a counting machine for Miss. Elizabeth in the office to help her with all our fundraising counting. She is SO HAPPY!
Tables were also purchased to use at school events. They will be much easier to move around and store in the building.
Brainstormed ideas for our Spring Fling Movie Night:
- UNSURE AT THIS TIME IF WE ARE DOING A MOVIE NIGHT DUE TO LOGISTICS. MAY POSTPONE THIS UNTIL NEXT FALL WHEN WE CAN DO IT OUTSIDE!
- students had the chance to vote on what kind of event they would like (dance, movie, or karaoke) and movie night won by a landslide
- decided an indoor movie night would be the better option so we don't have to worry about weather or it getting dark enough to see the movie
  - potentially doing 2 separate movies (one aimed towards 3-5 students and one aimed at pre-k-2nd)
- Concession ideas: movie themed (hotdogs, nachos, popcorn, cotton candy, candy)
- This will be a free event and will raise funds through concession sales
- Discussed raffle baskets
  - Grade level baskets
  - A potential "Student only" basket chosen from students who purchase suckers leading up to the event
  - Each grade level will pick a theme and ideas for their theme. PTO will create Sign-Up geniuses for each grade level to send out for donations
- How to get volunteers? Free dress coupon given to families who have adults volunteer to help
- Decorations: red carpet theme? Photo booth?
- If you have any ideas or any items to donate that would help us with this theme, let us know in the comment box above!
Continued to talk about how we can get more families involved and volunteering at school events. Do you have questions about PTO or ideas on how we can get more people involved? If so, let us know in the comment box!
Conference meal on Tuesday, March 7th for teachers has been ordered....Tacos! Do you have a connection to someone who would be willing to make sides or desserts? If so, let us know in the comment box above!
Discussed snacks for grades 3-5 students who will be taking state assessments soon. The office will order and we have a volunteer willing to pick them up. Thank you!

April 11th Meeting Notes:

Empower Martial Arts came to drop off our check from our Dodgeball night a few months ago. We made $320 and even better, the kids had a BLAST and parents got a night OFF!
Finalized details for Picnic @ the Playground event on Friday, April 28th from 6-8
- Funds raised will be used to love on our teachers during teacher appreciation week May 8-12, to contribute to each grade level's field trip bus fund this year, and to contribute to classroom supplies purchases for next school year
- This will be a no admission event and families will bring lawn chairs, picnic blankets, etc.
- Update display signs for what is being sold at each spot: t-shirts/stickers, food line, raffle
- We will have music playing, yard games, playground open, etc.
  - Purchased: Ring toss, Jenga, Connect 4, sack races, spoon races, chalk, bubbles, yard dice, yard pong
- We will have food for sale. This will be a CASH ONLY event
  - Texas Roadhouse is providing pulled pork, rolls, and BBQ sauce ($8)
    - Arranged our pick up person
  - Will also offer a hot dog meal ($5)
  - Both meal options will come with chips and a water
  - Kona Ice IS coming and does accept cards
  - Will use our new popcorn machine to sell popcorn, extra chips, and extra water for $1
    - Inventory: serving boats, order popcorn, condiment set, napkins, forks, suckers, serving tongs for pulled pork, portion sizes?
- Discussed raffle baskets
  - Grade level baskets with sign up genius have gone well! Teachers have been asked to send out an email reminder to sign up and send stuff in by the 19th if possible
  - Stop ticket sales at 7:30 with the raffle drawing at 7:45
- Free dress coupon given to families who have adults volunteer to help and will be used Monday, May 3rd!
  - A sign up genius has been created for adults willing to help!!
  - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4CACA823A1F85-picnic
Teachers have been scheduling Field Trips. Bus expenses will be starting to come out of our account
Teacher/Staff appreciation week: May 8th-12th
- Please let us know if you can help us at all with prep/set-up for the week so we can give our staff all the love they deserve!
- Movie Star Theme!
  - Monday: Fan Mail Day. Paper sent home with students to bring back for their teacher. "My Teacher is a STAR because...." and POPCORN
  - Tuesday: Now Showing: BREAKFAST Club! Donuts available in the lounge
  - Wednesday: VIP Luncheon. Lunch provided...tbd. Nachos? Potatoes/chili?
  - Thursday: Drink UP and dress down...STAFF ONLY comfy clothes day and drinks provided (HTeaO, liters of pop/lemonade)
  - Friday: Say CHEESE with some STAR treatment...bring your teacher some SWAG from their Favorite's List sent home. Concession items will also be set up in the lounge (popcorn, candy, hotdog roller, etc.)
- Families will be given the option to bring items to the lounge to contribute to each day for staff members
- Favorites Lists will be made available for all staff who completed them. Don't forget to celebrate all staff members who help our children succeed!
A final sucker pull for the end of the year will also happen the week of May 8th
Kindergarten Round Up is May 2nd from 5-5:45. Set up a table to introduce PTO to families?
- Our next PTO meeting will be May 9th due to this event which is when we would normally have our meeting
Continued to talk about how we can get more families involved and volunteering at school events. Do you have questions about PTO or ideas on how we can get more people involved? If so, let us know in the comment box!

May 9th PTO meeting

Picnic @ the Playground event on Friday, April 28th was a success despite the yucky weather! The event brought in around $2000!!! What a huge help to our school!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who helped in any way: donations, helping clean up, volunteered during the event....we could not have done it without you!
Field Trips have been scheduled. Bus expenses out of our PTO account will be around $1000.
Teacher/Staff appreciation week was very much appreciated by staff members. Numerous "thank you's" were given by all members of our staff for helping them feel appreciated throughout the week. Thank you to everyone who helped make our wonderful school staff feel loved through your kind words, gifts, lounge donations, etc. It really meant A LOT!
Our final sucker pull for the end of the year was a huge success. We went through over 500 suckers so we will need to make sure to purchase more for future fundraisers!
A sign up sheet for PTO was set out at Intro to Kindergarten on May 2nd. Multiple people signed up and were interested in joining! We will make sure to welcome them next year!
Changes for next year:
- Amy Deibler has offered her time to be our President/Main contact for PTO!
- Mike Harris has offered to help with the Treasurer role since Melanie Kiser will be unable to continue to help next year. Thank you Melanie for all you have done and thank you Mike for being willing to step in!
- Kristin Edwards and Megan Spencer will continue to help on the board, too
Continued to talk about how we can get more families involved and volunteering at school events. Do you have questions about PTO or ideas on how we can get more people involved? If so, let us know in the comment box!
- Why PTO?
  - Help rebuild our school community post COVID
  - Interact with other parents in our school
  - Help teachers, which in turn helps students
  - It's a fun group of people :)
- Next year ideas:
  - Meet the Teacher Night table:
    - Grab people's attention and welcome them to our school
    - Help them to feel like a part of our community
    - Share WHAT PTO is and WHY we are important
    - Let them know there are so many ways to get involved besides coming to meetings: helping at events, helping prepare flyers, helping teachers in classrooms, helping prep stuff from home, etc.
  - First meeting:
    - Make it feel less like a meeting and more social
    - Allow people to share their thoughts and ideas on what would make our school great
    - Have some snacks/drinks?
  - T-shirts for next year
    - Same design but offer new colors?
    - Consider sourcing from a different company? Jeff Darr?
    - Bulk order would be cheaper, but online ordering would be significantly easier?
      - Kristin volunteered to explore our options and inventory what we have left from this year.
    - Consider making 2022/2023 cheaper?

What a wonderful year it has been and we look forward to helping make McCollom the best school in Wichita next year!! Thank you everyone!