NOVEMBER 07, 2014 * ISSUE 11072014

Upcoming Important Dates

11/10	International Festival Submissions Due
11/10	No School
11/11	No School - Veteran's Day
11/14	Garbage Measuring Day
11/14	Last Day for RAD Minutes Tracking
11/19	PTA/Principal Coffee
11/25	Passport Re-check day
11/27 & 28	No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

PTA in Action at Puesta del Sol

For September

Welcomed new Kindergarten Family at Kindergarten Orientation Night
First Day of School Coffee
Ice Cream Social
Scholastic Book Fair
SITA - Spanish Bagpiper at Assembly
WATCH D.O.G.S. Pizza Party Kick Off and Volunteering
Dining for Dinero - Panda Express Night
Provided Volunteers for Picture Day and Hearing Screening
Walkathon - Raised over $35,000
Orientation Meetings for Room Parents & Art Appreciation
Principal/PTA Coffee
Passport Check Day
Key PTA Board Decisions: Voted to eliminate Admission fees for Family Fun Nights held at Puesta del Sol and to included Spirit Wear T-Shirts on Scholarship Form.
PTA Grants Approved: 1st Grade Classroom Rugs and portable white boards; 3rd Grade Spanish only dictionaries & Time Magazine Subscriptions; Specialist requests for A-Z Reading, RAZ Kids and "News to You" Subscriptions.
Principal Grants Approved: Boletin Trimestral & August Staff Development Retreat.

For October

Skate King Night
Pumpkin Family Night
Readers Are Doers (R.A.D) Kickoff
Passport Day Check
Provided Volunteers for Vision Screening & Picture Retakes
Teacher Appreciation Breakfast

Support our school - Join the PTA and get benefits!

Did you know that PTA MEMBERS SAVE AT GREAT WOLF LODGE? PTA members receive 10% off the best available rates, valid through December 30, 2014! Use corporate code: WSPTA984A. When you check-in, you will need to show your PTA ID card that should have arrived via email.

PTA members will also receive special rates from FEDEX/KINKOS. To receive discounted services, simply provide WSPTA's account number at the checkout or online whenever you are ready to place your order. For more information on this exciting opportunity, click here.

There are even more member benefits listed here.

If you have not joined yet, it is not too late! Join our PTA or renew your PTA membership online. Any questions or did you not get your PTA ID card via email? Email Alison & Jana at membership@puestadelsolpta.org.

Earn Money for Puesta del Sol just by shopping!

Puesta del Sol earns money when you register and use your grocery cards at Fred Meyer, Bartell Drugs, and Safeway. If you intend to ramp up your shopping over the next two months, please register your grocery cards beforehand.

Fred Meyer Customers: click here to register your Fred Meyer Rewards Card.
Bartell Drugs and Safeway Customers: Click here and register all of your loyalty cards. Safeway purchases must be made with cash, debit, or check.

Be sure to keep an eye out for those Box Tops. That's free money for Puesta del Sol too!

Announcing the PTA's New Online Directory!

The new online searchable directory is available NOW!

What It Does

The PTA is excited to announce the new Online Directory feature. This website feature enables you to be at your computer or on your tablet, pull up the PTA website, and look up another Puesta del Sol family's phone numbers, emails, addresses, and make plans and playdates while you are on-the-go!

Access the online directory by clicking here.
Information about the directory can be found here.

Please contact the PTA Webmaster at webmaster@puestadelsolpta.org if you need technical assistance or have questions

PTA/Principal Coffee

Wednesday, November 19th, 9:15am in the Gym

Come meet Kelley Lee, our new Dean of Students, and join Sr. Jonathan Shearer as he shares our Building Improvement Plan. The 2nd half of our hour will be open for any Q&A you might have about our school in general.

A Great Pumpkin Thank You

We would like to thank all the families who came out for the Pumpkin Family Fun Night! The evening was filled with lots of creative pumpkin carvers and fun! A special thank you to all of those who volunteered to help run the event and those who baked delicious treats for us to sell. The evening wouldn't be possible without the generous help from our Puesta del Sol families. Thank you! Sarah Fink, Chairperson

International Night: Volunteers Needed

Calling all parents that want to be a part of an incredible Puesta Del Sol tradition. The International Festival is the culminating event of the school year where our students come together to perform cultural dances, songs, and music taught by volunteer and paid members of our International Spanish Academy community, staff, and families and experience the tastes of food from countries around the world. However, to put on this high-caliber show it literally takes a village! Each year, new and returning families have proven to have amazing talents to share behind the scenes. Help support bringing back this incredible tradition this year by volunteering!

We need committee chairs for:

Ticket Sales
Performance/Stage managers
Emcee
Amity coordinator
Foods of the World
and more!

For more information on volunteer opportunities for International Night, click here. If interested in leading a committee or if you would like to help out in any of these or other areas email InternationalFestival@puestadelsolpta.org

Call for Talent: International Festival

Deadline extended! Applications due November 10th

Calling all hidden talent in our Puesta Del Sol Community! Extended Deadline: Nov 10th! We are looking for student-inclusive acts that represent an array of our student's cultural population and our school's Spanish foundation.

If you have a culturally unique and entertaining talent - we need you! Our International Festival is now accepting applications for performance acts. We need 6-8 acts of 2-4 minutes in length to fill out the performance line-up for our March 21st International Festival. There are two great ways you can help make our International Festival performances even more amazing:

Teach a dance and/or song(s) from your culture to a group of Puesta Del Sol students.
Already have a student or students with a unique and entertaining cultural act ready to shine on stage?

Details about the International Festival and submission guidelines are available on the PTA website. Anyone interested please email internationalfestival@puestadelsolpta.org no later than Nov 10th.

Spanish Immersion Through the Arts (SITA)

It was a great honor and privilege to start off this year by having internationally renowned musician Carlos Nunez perform at our school assembly on September 22. Nunez introduced the students to the traditional bagpipe music from the Galicia region of Spain. He also talked about his background and the various instruments he plays, including the traditional Galician bagpipe, Galician flute, ocarina, Irish flute, whistle and low whistle. Senor Nuñez was brought to us by The Consulate of Spain.

Senor Nuñez delighted the students with a few musical numbers and called volunteers up to stage to help him in the performance. Towards the end, the kids were even playing instruments and dancing to the two-step rhythm. The crowd connected with the artist and couldn't had have a better time that morning.

Monday, November 3rd, we kicked off a 5 week workshop with Chilean, musical artist Marco Cortes. Mr. Cortes will be delighting and engaging all Kindergarten - 3rd grade students through his musical compositions in Spanish!

RAD: LEE MÁS!

As the 5th week of the RAD reading challenge comes to a close, please remember to get your reading agreements turned in and reply to your classroom RAD volunteer with your minutes for the week. Keep on reading! LEE MÁS!

Email us or find out more at the PTA website: Readers Are Doers!

Needed: Volunteer Coordinator

The PTA Board of Directors needs help assisting committees in attracting volunteers using multiple resources such as the PTA website volunteer reports and creating Signup Genius events. Can be done from home on your own. 4-5 hours a month. Year Round. Please contact adminsupport@puestadelsolpta.org if you are interested.

Needed: Laminating Volunteers

We need 2-4 volunteer parents who would be interested in learning how to use the laminator and be in charge of laminating twice each week. Time commitment is flexible in terms of what days/times. Please contact adminsupport@puestadelsolpta.org if you are interested.

TechVentures coming Spring 2015!

Coming January 2015!

The Puesta del Sol PTA will be sponsoring TechVentures to teach an 8 week coding class after school on Thursdays; 3:30-4:30. This will be available for students in 2nd -5th grade. Look for registration information in the El Sol coming in November.

Right now we are looking for a parent who is willing to organize this program. Responsibilities include:

Attending each class,
Completing a project beforehand in Scratch
Organizing the registration process through the PTA website.

If you are interested please email Crystal at edenhancement@puestadelsolpta.org. You can find out more about the coding class here. Thank you!

Cultural Movie Opportunity

See The Book of Life in theaters today! It is an animated musical movie that depicts a story about Día de Los Muertos.

ISA Parent Education Night

Thursday, December 11th, 7:00 - 9:00pm

Our first parent education night, The Immersion Experience: ISA, Testing and Language Acquisition is scheduled for Thursday, December 11, 2014, 7:00-9:00pm at the Newport High School Performing Arts Auditorium. This is open to all parents or older students of the ISA program from all three schools! Save the date and look for more information very soon! Click here for details.

Cafeteria Challenge...Coming Soon!

Garbage Measuring day is Friday, November 14th!

As we did last year, our school is participating in the Green Genius Cafeteria Challenge. This is a contest where we compete with other elementary schools in Bellevue to see who can make the least amount of waste. And we need your help! Our student Green Team is helping get the word out to students, but parents can help as well. When you are packing lunches...Have you been eyeing those cute fabric sandwich wraps for the longest time? Well, it is time to start using them! Sending your child to school with a lunch packed with reusable containers, can make a huge impact on the amount of garbage we create. Our garbage will be measured on Friday, November 14th . Please help by sending your child's lunches in reusable, rather than disposable packaging, as much as you can. Thanks!

School Clinic: Donations Needed

The school clinic is in need of boys and girls clothing sizes 5 to 10. Any donations would be appreciated. Pants/undies/socks/t-shirts only. No coats or jammies. For ease of use, elastic waistbands are

preferable.

Equity and Adequacy: School Funding in Washington State

November 12, 2014 6:30 - 7:30pm

How do our tax dollars find their way to our schools? Why are some schools receiving more money than others? What is the McCleary decision and how will it impact our Bellevue Schools?

School funding is expected to be a "hot" topic at the state legislature this coming session. Join us on November 12 for an information session on school funding so you can join the conversation. Learn how our schools are funded and ask questions.

WISC Rainier Room

12241 Main Street
Bellevue, WA 98005

Procedure 3420 Anaphylaxis Prevention and Response

The Bellevue School District Board of Directors has retained Policy 3420 but suspended the recently updated Procedure 3420 Anaphylaxis Prevention and Response. The BSD will be using the last approved Procedure 3420 until revisions to Procedure 3420 is completed by February 2015.

Bellevue School Board Regular Meeting Dates

Meetings are at 4:30 pm unless otherwise noted. Any public comments are heard first at 4:30pm, each speaker only has 3 minutes and there is a time limit of 10 minutes for each total topic. Please come prepared with a written statement of what you are going to say as they will ask you to write it down for the minutes.

Board meetings are held at: WISC Rainier Room at 12241 Main Street

Bellevue, WA 98005

November 18, 2014
December 2, 2014
December 16, 2014
January 6, 2015
January 20, 2015
February 3, 2015
March 3, 2015
March 17, 2015
April 7, 2015
April 21, 2015
May 5, 2015 NOTE: Location Change to ESC 200
May 19, 2015
June 2, 2015
June 16, 2015

Click the Links Below
to Sign Up

Thank you to

Sarah Fink, GG Haight and all the volunteers that helped make our first Pumpkin Family Night a success!

Thank you to all the volunteers
who helped Nurse Karen Ruby
with Vision Screening for all of
our students!

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with Picture Retake Day!

Amith

Amity Interns at
Puesta del Sol

Help us welcome them into our school community. Consider inviting them to your home for dinner, or if your family has a fun activity planned, invite them along. Click here to find information for tutoring or visiting with our Amity Interns.

Are you a Facebook fanatic?

If so, please LIKE US on Facebook to get up to date reminders of events and programs plus more!

Did you know you can view the calendar in Outlook or Google and upload the calendar to your personal calendar? That way whenever we make a calendar change, it updates your calendar automatically!

Check Out the Community Page on the PTA website!

Each Box Top is worth 10¢ for our school! That adds up FAST! The last two years we raised over $1,300. Can we reach $1,000 in a year?

Clip, save & have your kiddos drop them in Box Top box located in the school office on the PTA table to the right of the door.

(We will only be collecting Box Tops this year, NOT Labels for Education.)

Puesta del Sol PTA Unit 2.3.95, Bellevue, WA

Lisa Dembo, Co-President

Julee Seibel, Co-President

425.456.6143 PTA Office

425.456.6100 School Office