The Friday DigestNational PTA Logo
Pertinent Points for the Week Ahead
from the Chesterbrook PTA
Vol.2, No.11November 19, 2010
Thank you to Julia Nelson, Bob Nelson, and Dale Lumme for going above and beyond again this year and developing and implementing the Chesterbrook Friends program. It's been really well-received by our families, and now they are starting to grow our Business Friends as well. Please take a minute to look at the Friends website to see what it's all about and all the hard work Julia, Bob, and Dale have done.

Thanks also to Candace Stromberg-Soberman for bringing in Anita Capizzi to talk about nutrition at our PTA meeting last week. If you missed it or want more information, check out www.realfoodrealhealth.com.  Tell your kids to watch out for more nutrition information on upcoming morning news episodes and in the cafeteria.

All PTA members and those who a bought Family Directory separately should have received one by now -- if you haven't, it may be because you haven't yet joined the PTA or ordered a Directory (see below to take care of that). If you didn't receive yours but are a PTA member or purchased it separately, please contact directory@chesterbrook.org.  Thanks again to Dana Renz and Nancy Stuckwisch for their monumental efforts in putting it together. And a big thank you to the Gralla Family for donating paper and printing services again this year! It's a great help to the PTA and school community.

Congratulations again to our Reflections art competition winners: Max Mobley, Zeyan Chaabane, Annie Przypyszny, Caroline Allen, Katherine Kelleher, and Josh Leong.  And a big thank you to Betty Ende for picking up the management of the program, no small feat with the amount of paperwork involved, and for shuttling the entries from stage to stage. Good luck to our winners at the county-level competition!

Happy Thanksgiving! The Friday Digest will be taking a break next week to enjoy a different sort of digesting...

To Do This Week
Order Spirit WearBlue shirt design
It's the final day to order Chesterbrook Elementary Spirit Wear! We are offering, on a pre-order basis, two t-shirts (one navy, one yellow), a grey hooded sweatshirt and a car magnet - featuring all new designs. Note that the yellow t-shirt will have blue instead of white lettering due to a printing problem of white on yellow. Orders are due by the end of today, Friday, November 19, 2010. Delivery is expected by December 16, 2010. T-shirts are $12/youth sizes and $15/adult sizes. Sweatshirts are $22/youth sizes and $25/adult sizes. Magnets are $5. More information and order forms are online. Color versions of the designs are viewable at the Chesterbrook PTA website.
Learn Some Chinese
The Chesterbrook Morning News episodes of Time for Chinese are now online. Through the school's website you can link to the iTunes podcasts of the 2 minute clips the students see every morning. You can also go straight to the iTunes page. It's a great way to practice every day!
acornConsider Becoming a "Friend of Chesterbrook"
Many thanks to our families and businesses that have already joined Friends of Chesterbrook--we have new Friends this week! To see all of our Friends, please visit our Family Friends and Business Friends websites. For more information about joining Friends of Chesterbrook, visit our website, or email friends@chesterbrook.org with questions. Let's see if we can meet our goals by the end of December...which is good for your tax purposes, too...
Sign Up for Silver Diner's Eat Well, Do Well ProgramSilver Diner
Every family should have received an Eat Well, Do Well card in their Thursday envelopes. If your family didn't receive one, please contact Melinda Settles to get a replacement. Register your card and preload it to start earning for the PTA every time you eat out! The food is great, and you can eat at any Silver Diner restaurant. We've had 29 families sign up already--thank you! Go to the EWDW website to get started!

Join the PTA--It's Never Too Late!
We had several families join the PTA this week after they didn't receive a directory and realized they forgot to join. We have plenty more directories, so please join today.  Can't remember if you joined or not? It happens. Just contact Gina Manning at
gina@stationwagon.com and she'll take care of everything.

lunch sticker
Keep Cafeteria Card Funded
If you child comes home with this sticker, their lunch card is low. Please send in more money to the cafeteria. As a service, the cafeteria staff will charge a PTA lunch card for students whose account is underfunded. When the student's card is funded again, the PTA account will be reimbursed first, so you must send in enough to cover the lunches already purchased, plus lunches moving forward. And after you have reimbursed the cafeteria and PTA, please consider setting up a mylunchmoney.com account with an automatic reload. This is a great way to be sure your children always have lunch money. It allows you to pay by credit card, and it rolls over from year to year.
Support Outside Volunteer Opportunities
The School Outreach Committee is launching a new initiative to inform Chesterbrook families about local volunteering opportunities. If you have any volunteer opportunities you'd like included, please email Emily Ludwikowski (eludwikowski@gmail.com) or Shawna Saaty (shawna@saaty.com).  There is a Stop Hunger event on Saturday, Nov. 6. For more information and links to register, please visit the PTA website.
Did You Know?
Did you know that the numbers on the fruit stickers actually mean something?

The sticker labels (produce codes) on fruits actually tell you how the fruits have been grown - whether they were organically grown, conventionally grown with pesticides and herbicides, or genetically engineered.
  • Conventional Fruit Labels: Four digits and mostly start with the digit 4 (does not start with 9)
  • Organic Fruit Labels: Five digits and starts with number 9
  • Genetically Modified Fruits: Start with the digit 8
For those shoppers that can't find or afford organic produce, they can use Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to avoid those conventional fruits and vegetables found to be highest in pesticides - the Dirty Dozen - and, instead, choose items from the Clean Fifteen list.

The EWG finds that consumers that eat 5 fruits and vegetables from the "Dirty Dozen" will ingest an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides a day.
Looking Ahead
November 23, 1 - 1:45 pm4th Grade Weather Program
November 24, 1:20 pmTwo-hour early release
November 25-26Thanksgiving Holidays
December 7, 8:30 am
December 9, 7 pm
PTA meeting
6th Grade Choral/Strings Concert
December 10, 9:15 am6th Grade Choral/Strings Concert
December 16, 2 - 3 pmPrincipal's Coffee
December 22, 1:20 pmTwo-hour early release





















In This Issue
Spirit Wear
Chinese
Friends of Chesterbrook
Silver Diner
Join PTA, Get Directory
Cafeteria Funds
Outside Volunteering
Did You Know?
Upcoming Dates
Quick Links
Join mailing list






















































School and PTA Partners
ATK:  A Premier Aerospace Company

Corporate Visions, Inc., The Creative Ideas Company

Amazon.com



The Chesterbrook PTA Executive Committee offers our sincere thanks to our school and PTA partners.
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