Tickets to our Annual Auction are now available! That's right, you can reserve your spot at the most important and fun fundraising event of the year on Friday, March 13th. We want the entire community to attend, so we’re offering tickets at different price levels. You don't want to miss it! Line up the babysitter and grab your tickets now...

DESSERTS NEEDED! This year's Dessert Dash is in desperate need of your dessert donation. If you love to bake or have a favorite bakery that you can buy a dessert from, we would love to include it in our Auction Dessert Dash. Please sign up here to let us know what you can bring. Email Jodie Scott at jodiemcmurdie@gmail.com with any questions. Thanks so much for your support!

Hello QAE parents! Our Auction team is putting together a special video together for the Auction. We want to feature your snapshots from over the years -- please send any QAE photos or video you'd like to share to parent volunteer Chi-Ju Chen at sendtochi@hotmail.com

Also just a heads up that we will be doing some filming and photos around recess time this Tuesday and Wednesday for the Auction Video. These photos and videos are for in-house school use only. Thank you so much!

Are you looking for less overwhelm and more moments of joy, playfulness and connection in your home? Would you like to find more effective ways to deal with challenging behaviors like yelling, whining or sibling rivalry? Are you curious about the Positive Discipline framework that your teachers at Queen Anne Elementary use with your children, and wonder how you might adapt them within your own home?

Join us for an Introduction to Positive Discipline at QAE. Positive Discipline Parent Educator Katie Gruver will facilitate a hands-on workshop for parents and caregivers of QAE students.

When: February 25th, 6-7:30pm
Where: Queen Anne Elementary. We'll be in the Chillzone
Games Club will be available during the workshop. Reserve spot(s) here for your kiddos.

Together, we will:

• Have a brain-informed understanding of our kids’ development and behavior
• Learn to be BOTH kind & firm, as we connect with our kids and set boundaries with respect and consistency
• Focus on effective solutions (vs. punishments or bribes) to resolve common challenges like power struggles, sibling rivalry and whining.
• Understand the foundation of Positive Discipline and philosophy of your school!

About the Facilitator
​Katie Gruver is a Certified Positive Discipline Educator and the Founder of Positive Parenting Seattle. She's also Adjunct Faculty at North Seattle College and mama to two kiddos (5 & 7). For more, see  www.positiveparentingseattle.com

It's almost time! Tickets for our Annual Auction will be available this Friday. Check the PTSA website then and be sure to get the babysitter lined up for Friday, March 13th!

It takes a village to make the Auction a success, so please reach out to our Auction lead Mary Rea at maryjrea@gmail.com if you're able to help with:

Dessert Dash
How sweet it is! We've already received some great desserts, but we need more and could use your help coordinating. If you can help reach out to local businesses or are willing to bake something, please let us know!

Week Of and Day Of Help
During the week of March 9th, we'll need lots of hands for a variety of errands, particularly on the day of. Do you have some time the morning of the auction to get a couple of desserts? Or a larger vehicle to pick up the keg and drop it off at The Collective? Please let us know, we can use all the wheels we can get!
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Queen Anne Elementary is taking part in the Global Reading Challenge for the 4th year! Teams of 4th and 5th grade students have been working had to prepare for this quiz-show style contest at QAE! Among the goals of the GRC are to motivate children to read, develop teamwork and cooperative thinking skills, and have fun. Each year, students from across the city read up to 10 books selected by Seattle librarians and participate in weekly meetings to study these books with their teammates.

Our winning team will advance to compete with teams from other schools across the city. The program will end with an All-City Final that will take place at the downtown Central Library.

If your child is participating in GRC this year (or you just want to watch!), please join us for our In-School Competition, which will be held at QAE on Tuesday, Feb. 11th at 8:15am. We are so proud of all of our 4th and 5th grade participants!

See the Seattle Public Library GRC site for more information, including the list of books.

The QAE Garden Team is collaborating with Green Seattle and Friends of Green Lake for an earth stewardship service project. It takes place on Saturday, Feb. 8th from 9am-12pm. Much like our Fall stewardship gathering, our school will help this time at Green Lake; pruning, removing invasive plants and planting native ground covers and shrubs in the forested edge of the lake. All community members are welcome, and no experience is necessary! This event is family friendly and open to all ages.

If you plan on coming, please let Andrea Hildebrandt know by writing garden1@qaeptsa.org. 

Reminder: join us on Thursday night at QAE for this special community discussion with guest speaker Christina Chang. Childcare is available! We hope to see you there.

Hello from the Auction Team! We can't believe it's the end of January already, which means 7 weeks and counting til Auction Night!! We've had a diversity of fun items come in this week from U-Village to Queen Anne (and some sunny destinations!), so please join us Friday, March 13th to come bid on your favorite items! 

We still need some helping hands in some areas, so please consider donating a few hours to help make this night a success! Where you can jump in:

• If we want some tasty treats at the Auction, we need some help gathering them! Please sign up to help reach out to businesses, or if you like to bake, submit your own for our Dessert Dash! Write to maryjrea@gmail.com if you're interested in helping with the sweets!
• Please dig out some photos of your favorite QAE moments and submit them to your Class Coordinator before Mon. Feb 17th! And for the older grades, we're looking for some great blast-from-the-past photos too to help celebrate our school's 10 year anniversary this year! Thank you everyone for sharing your moments of joy to create a memorable video!
• Wine! Bubbly! We'll take it all! We need some bottles for our Wine Grab and Games! Please donate your favorite $10 or up bottle to be won for fun at the Auction. Please deliver in a sealed bag to the box in the Front Office. 
• And we could use a few folks to help with wrapping up procurement asks. If you have an hour to write a few emails, make a call, or stop in to a couple of businesses, we'd love the help! 

Thank you and mark your calendars for a fun night in March! 
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Our third FRI-YAY fun is coming up on Friday, Feb 7 right after school for 20 minutes (rain or shine) outside by the gym. We are looking for popcorn helpers to spread a little joy on Friday! Tasty, fresh-made POPCORN will be for available for a suggested donation of $1 a bag. For our bus riders, Kids Co. and Enrichment students we’ll have popcorn sign ups available in the classroom before lunch which will be delivered to their backpacks before end of day (please remember to have your kiddo bring $1 suggested donation on Friday). We’ll munch popcorn and celebrate the weekend ahead.

To help support animals in need, 50% of the proceeds will go to support the Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital for new enclosures to house koalas and flying foxes injured or displaced by the fires. Thank you to our very own QAE students Ryan and Lachlan Forrest for their initiative.  (Remaining proceeds to go to the QAE Community Events Fund)

Can you lend a hand making popcorn or delivering it on Friday, Feb. 7th? Sign up for a volunteer slot here...

The QAE supply room is in desperate need of pants for kids ages 5–7. Sweats and leggings preferred. If you have any you could donate, please drop them by the office. Contact Catie Coyle at cmcoyle@seattleschools.org with any questions. Thanks!
​

We're happy to collaborate with Green Seattle and Friends of Green Lake for an earth stewardship service project. Much like our Fall stewardship gathering, our school will help this time at Green Lake; pruning, removing invasive plants and planting native ground covers and shrubs in the forested edge of the lake. All community members are welcome, and no experience is necessary! This event is family friendly and open to all ages.

​When: Saturday, February 8th, 9am-12pm
Where: Meet at 5900 West Green Lake Way North

You don't have to register but we want to give the site leader an idea of the number of people to prepare supplies for. Please email garden1@qaeptsa.org with "Green Lake Clean-up" in the subject line and the number of people you are bringing. Look for our school garden coordinator, Andrea Hildebrandt, who will be wearing our school colors, at the site when you arrive. Hope to see you there QAE Community. It's a great way to give back! 

What to Bring
Gloves and tools are provided, but bring your favorite work-gloves if you prefer. Bring water to keep hydrated and a snack to keep energized.

Where to Meet
5900 West Green Lake Way North
We will meet on the south end of the lake near the concrete bleachers of the old Aqua Theater, across from the Pitch and Putt golf course. Look for wheelbarrows and tools and orange vested stewards. If you arrive late, follow the Green Seattle Event signs.

Where to Park
5900 West Green Lake Way North
There are parking lots on West Green Lake Way N around the Small Craft Center.

To learn more:
Visit Green Seattle for more information:
https://www.greenseattle.org/get-involved/green-seattle-day/
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Visit Friends of Green Lake:
www.friendsofgreenlake.org

Queen Anne Garden Blog:
https://www.qaeptsa.org/garden.html

Our Annual Auction is coming on March 13th and tickets will be available soon! In the meantime, our QAE Procurement team is looking for donations of all types.  We'll take everything from cruises to crotchet classes. Have a skill to share?  Consider hosting a party.  Enjoy making flower arrangements?  Perhaps donate a year's worth of monthly floral delivery. Have a babysitter at home? Many restaurant and entertainment items would be much more appealing with babysitting hours.  

Of course, we'll take a week at your vacation cabin as well!  Please get creative and contribute to making this year's 2020 Vision a smashing success.

This week's procurement updates come from QAE parents' generous donations:

• Fine Art Appraisal from Clark Priftis Art
• Life Coaching from Aligned Yoga LLC
• Fresh Baked Cookies for a year by the Lovin family bakers
• 10 Night Stay in Kailua, Hawaii by the Sanford family

If you have anything to donate, big or small, you can fill out the donation form online here or just write to donate@qaeptsa.org

The procurement team could also use a hand with ongoing donation requests. Please get in touch with Jenn Lovin at donate@qaeptsa.org if you would have time to email 10 local businesses with a template request form.

Other ways to get involved include:

• Call for all! We need photos for our Auction video! We're looking for your favorite QAE memories, both old and new, to put together the heart-warming watch during dinner. Please send submissions to maryjrea@gmail.com. And we need a few hands to help organize and put the video together. If you're savvy in this area, let us know!!
• 2-3 people to help with Dessert Dash! We need help procuring tasty treats for after dinner at the Auction! If you want to help gather, want to donate, want to bake, we can use your help!
• Join the procurement team!
• Volunteer to help with Day-of needs!

Thank you for your help!
Your Auction Team

Our third FRI-YAY fun is coming up on Friday, Feb 7 right after school for 20 minutes (rain or shine) outside by the gym. We are looking for popcorn helpers to spread a little joy on Friday! Tasty, fresh-made POPCORN will be for available for a suggested donation of $1 a bag. For our bus riders, Kids Co. and Enrichment students we’ll have popcorn sign ups available in the classroom before lunch which will be delivered to their backpacks before end of day (please remember to have your kiddo bring $1 suggested donation on Friday).

We’ll munch popcorn and celebrate the weekend ahead!All proceeds go directly to support PTSA Community Events. 

Can you lend a hand making popcorn or delivering it on Friday, Feb. 7th? Sign up for a volunteer slot here...

Dr.  Emily Valdez, our wonderful librarian, wanted us to share a message with QAE parents:

The PTSA has been SO supportive of our library and our school community, but I was wondering if you’d get the word out that there are a variety of ways that parents can help our library. This list is generated from student requests and from recommendations from school and public librarians. I am blown away by the enthusiasm for reading that I see every day from our Queen Anne students and I just can’t seem to keep enough books on the shelves for their voracious appetites. In addition, if you wouldn’t mind adding  a call for donated books if families are doing some spring cleaning of their home libraries.  I’ve placed a bin for book donations in the foyer of the brick building.

Here's the link to the Amazon wish list for the QAE Library...

Did you know you have also support the QAE PTSA when you should on Amazon by using the Smile program and, especially, by starting searches on our website. See the details here...