• You've moved (in which case you need to notify the school immediately anyway).
• You have a work email on file that is fine for emergencies, but don't want to use it for playdate planning.
• Dad's work phone is listed and he doesn't have any business planning a playdate -- sorry dads who are perfectly able to! -- and you'd like not to list it.

We hope this will be a simpler system, both for the volunteers who create the Directory and to get the Directory in your hands sooner than in the past. Thank you for your cooperation!

Chesterbrook's Student Council promotes a number of fun, dress-up days for students throughout the year. This Friday, the 28th, is the first one -- Career Day -- where students are welcome to dress in the attire of their dream job. 

Spirit Days are generally on the last Friday of the month and in the past have included such events as Tie Dye Day, Sports Jersey Day, and the perennial favorite, Wacky Hair Day. 

Don't miss out on the fun! Check the school calendar for upcoming Spirit Days.

There are so many ways to support your school!! 

REDESIGNATE YOUR GROCERY CARDS

Grocery card designation must be done every year. This is great, FREE, money for Chesterbrook! Last year our proceeds were about $8,000! Giant, Safeway, and Harris Teeter cards work, as does Target's Visa card. You can redesignate your cards in several ways:  

• When you join the PTA online, the form asks for your card numbers for each store.
• You may email your card numbers (not phone numbers) with store names to Maryam Redjaee, our VP of Fundraising.
• You may register your numbers yourself through store links in the Register Grocery Cards link on the left-hand side of the PTA website.  

SHOP THROUGH OUR AMAZON LINK 

While you are thinking about free money, we also are an Amazon affiliate,  which means that a portion of any purchase you make gets paid to Chesterbrook when you start the shopping process by clicking through the Amazon@Chesterbrook link on the PTA website.  Bookmark it! 

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION 

Our school is an active participant in the Box Tops for Education program. By simply cutting out the Box Tops for education logo on the boxes of hundreds of brand-name products and turning them in to the school, Chesterbrook earns money for each coupon. Last year, the Box Tops Program brought in over $700  for Chesterbrook!

For those who've been collecting, its collection time again! Please gather up all those Box Tops you and your family and friends have been saving and send them to our collection station across from the Media Center. Any coupons sent in by Friday, October 19th can be included in our fall submission.

You can send them to your child's class or drop them in the green plastic can marked Box Tops. Remember, each coupon is worth 10 cents for our school and bonus coupons are worth even more! Box Tops can be found on hundreds of products from brands like these: General Mills, Ziploc®, Pillsbury®, Kleenex®, Betty Crocker®, Hefty®.  Questions?  Email Susie French.

FRIENDS OF CHESTERBROOK 

We are about to launch our Friends of Chesterbrook program next week, so look for information on this program coming home soon. To get involved or to give even sooner, please contact Trisha Downey. 

ESCRIP RECYCLING

This free program provides a convenient way for collecting used laser/toner and inkjet cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras, GPS devices and laptops while raising funds for our school and helping the environment. 

Donations are collected throughout the year in the big green box located across the school library entrance.   You are also welcome to use backpack mail -- just mark your item(s) with a note marked "recycle" to make sure it gets to the eScrip recycling box. Thank you!

Help us turn this electonic waste into CASH for Chesterbrook! Questions? Email Maryam Redjaee.

TERRACYCLE JUICE POUCHES, LUNCHABLES & CHIP BAGS
Chesterbrook has joined several TerraCycle® Brigades. We are collecting a variety of items that cannot be recycled through traditional means.  These items are sent to TerraCycle who will manufacture new products with these items and reward our School for doing so!  We are collecting Capri Sun®, and Honest Kids® foil juice pouches; Fritos, Cheetos, Lays and Doritos chip bags; and Lunchables containers and are up-cycling them (we send them to TerraCycle who uses them to make other products).  Questions? Email Elizabeth Ende.

Everyone should have received a catalog from Lavender's, a local, family-owned business which has great gifts, high quality gift wrap, holiday wreaths and much more. 50% of the proceeds will benefit the Chesterbrook PTA. 

We encourage you to order online www.shoplavenders.com for quick delivery to your house. There is free shipping on orders of $75 or more. Be sure to include, Chesterbrook's program ID 123379300 and your child's Seller ID (if interested in the gift card for kids selling 35 or more items).  Or, complete the paper order form for items that will be available for pick-up at school November 5 and 6. Send order form in with your child or deliver to the front office. Order forms are due this Thursday, September 27.  For more information please contact Judy Williams.

For one day only - Wednesday, October 17 - we will receive a donation for every purchase made at the HomeMade Pizza Co. store at 4514 Lee Highway in Arlington. They will donate:

• $4 for every large pizza sold
• $4 for every gluten free pizza sold (available 10" only)
• $2 for every large salad sold
• $1 for every calzone or flatbread order sold
• 10% from every gift card purchase

It's that easy. Just visit homemadepizza.com, place your order online; online orders can be placed up to three (3) weeks in advance. The day of the event pick-up your order between 1:00-8:00 pm to support our cause. Be sure to tell your friends, too. Let's turn pizza dough into Chesterbrook dough. Hope to see you on Wednesday, October 17th!

Sincerely,

Julia Nelson, VP of Fundraising

P.S. If you have never had a HomeMade Pizza, it is made of all-natural ingredients and you bake it at home. They also offer a variety of fresh salads, bake-at-home cookies, and ice cream. To learn more, visit homemadepizza.com.

Chesterbrook Lunch Waste Continues to Lose Weight!

Chesterbrook is continuing its efforts to inspire students to take care of their planet for themselves and future generations.  The Chesterbrook PTA and Chesterbrook Staff have teamed up to further reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill. Go Green!!  

Last spring, we added collection bins so that students could recycle products (paper and plastic containers, milk cartons and juice boxes) and collected wrapped, unused plastic cutlery so that it could be used by someone else.

What's new this year?

• Terracycling (see No Sweat Fundraising Article Above)   
• Collecting clean Ziploc bags 
• Collecting food for the compost bin (beyond 6th grade activities)  
• Collecting uneaten, unopened food and milk for McLean SHARE's food bank (43 pounds of food already donated this year!)
• To improve cleanliness of lunch tables, students who are assigned as "Table Wipers" will use Seventh Generation Botanical Disinfecting wipes instead of a cloth dipped in a bucket of soapy water to clean tables.  

Cafeteria monitors and parent volunteers will help students sort materials. Although we've got programs to help recycle, we are encouraging families to find ways to reuse instead of recycling (where possible). You can do this by sending sandwiches/snacks and drinks in washable plastic containers, rather than ziploc bags, juice boxes. You can buy reusable sandwich wrappers, a variety of plastic sandwich containers, and small reusable bottles at MOM's Organic Market, the Container Store and Whole Foods Markets among other places. You can even buy the "Glad" brand containers at the supermarket and they are very reasonably priced.  

Are you interested in helping with environmental projects at Chesterbrook? Email greenchesterbrook@googlegroups.com. Would you like  information about the benefits of recycling to share with your family? Check out Eleven Facts about Recycling by dosomething.org  

By Laura Zimmitti, Digest Plus Staff Writer

Welcome to Chesterbrook our newest teachers! These outstanding additions to our already terrific faculty come to us from near and far with varied backgrounds and a shared enthusiasm for CES. Joining CES from within FCPS are Ipsa Stringer (5th grade team) and Jen Barry (Technology Specialist).

Melissa Mendez is not actually new to CES, but she is thrilled to be teaching this year after two years as a special education instructional assistant. A proud graduate of the University of Richmond, Melissa originally hails from Ohio, where much of her family still resides. She credits her time working in an elementary school in Uganda with instilling within her a love for teaching. When asked what she likes best about teaching at CES, Melissa replied, "I think that we have the kindest students and our teachers and parents are extremely dedicated to helping our students be successful."

Lisa Choi has also joined us from nearby. Before coming to CES as our newest Reading Specialist, Lisa taught English Language Arts at Cooper Middle School. Lisa's educational background is varied and extensive. In addition to her undergraduate degree, Lisa holds a Masters of Science in Education (with a concentration focus in literacy instruction), as well as a law degree! Lisa's enthusiasm for reading and CES comes through in her desire "to help all of the students at Chesterbrook improve upon their literacy skills and become lifelong readers!"

Our newest Art Teacher, Marianna Condley, is another native Ohioan. After earning her BA in Art History, a BA in Psychology, and a MAT degree focusing on Art Education at Kent State University, Marianna moved to Northern Virginia with her husband and two dogs. Marianna loves her new home in Northern Virginia and at CES.

Chelsea Fey, language arts and math teacher in the 4th and 6th grades, taught 4th grade in Maryland before coming to CES. Chelsea's favorite part, so far, about teaching at CES, "has been getting to know my 4th and 6th grade students." Originally from Texas, Chelsea grew up nearby in Ellicott City, MD. Chelsea's undergraduate degree is in Music Education from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus and her Masters in Education in Curriculum and Instruction is from the University of Maryland.

One of our latest additions to the CES teaching staff is not at all new to CES. Drew Dirr, an Instructional Assistant with the special education department, is a graduate of Chesterbrook! Before returning to CES, Drew graduated from George Mason University. Drew's large family includes three other teachers: his father and two brothers. Drew is looking forward to growing at CES, as "the positive energy at CES is undeniable."    

Mary Kelly came to CES from Lake Braddock Middle School.  She is our part time math resource teacher for the upper grades. She has also worked as an elementary math resource teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools.

Micah Hansen, a former Chesterbrook student, is working on his Eagle Scout project. His project is to help feed those in need in our community. He is collecting non-perishable food items to donate to "Food for Others". In support of that effort, Chesterbrook is holding a food drive this week, September 25th-29th. Your child can bring non-perishable food items to school and place the items in boxes marked "Food for Others".

Thank you for your generous support!

If you have questions on ways you can further support our efforts please contact Ms. Hansen.

Volunteers in the library help our school librarian, Marsha Moseley, by shelving books so her time can be used teaching our children. This is a great opportunity to see what kids are reading, and volunteers may have their own check-out account (to get the books your kids should be reading!). A shelving shift typically takes about an hour and shifts are set for morning or afternoon, so you can come in any time during that period. If you know the alphabet and numbers, you're set! Training is provided to learn where each section is located.

This year, shift signups are on Signup Genius.  Typically, volunteers work the same shift every other week. If you  have questions, please contact Robin Birchfield, Library Volunteer Coordinator.

• Before School: Fitness Warriors (grades 1-2 and 5-6 only)
   
• After School: Creative Drama (grades K-2); Yoga (grades 1-2 and 3-6), various FLEX Foreign Language (Spanish and French);Chess (all grades); Math Olympiads (grades 5-6); Electronic Magazine (grades 4-6); and Girls on the Run (girls in grades 3-5).

Sept. 27 -- Lavender's Catalog Fundraiser orders due

Sept. 28 -- Spirit Day: Career Day (kids dress up)

Oct. 3 -- International Walk/Bike to School Day

                  
Oct. 4 -- Picture Day (Fall Photos)

Oct. 6 -- McLean 5K/Run with the Warriors

Oct. 8 -- Custodian Appreciation Week

Oct. 8 -- Columbus Day Holiday (no school)

Oct. 10 -- Principal's Coffee (2-3 p.m.)

Oct. 16 -- PTA Meeting (8:30 a.m. All are welcome!)

Oct. 17 -- HomeMade Pizza fundraiser

For a comprehensive list of dates, including the 2012-2013 holidays and events, see the PTA website.