Calling all QAE citizens to our June Project Based Learning Showcase on Thursday, June!  This is our chance to celebrate student learning, hard work and determination.  We encourage all families to celebrate both their child’s PBL work and see the PBL products of other students and older students so all children develop a vision for what is possible in the years ahead.
 
PBL Showcase Schedule
5:30 – 6:00  - Kindergarten (classrooms)
5:45 – 6:30 – 1st grade Symposium begins in Cafeteria and breaks out into hallway and 1st grade classrooms
6:15 – 7:00 – 2nd and 3rd grade   Brick and Treehouse classrooms
6:45 – 7:30 – 4th and 5th grade Treehouse and Portables

End of Year Garden Gratitude
Saturday, June 23 at the QA P-Patch from 9:30-11:30 a.m.
All are invited to have coffee, pastries, kid-friendly and garden variety snacks while getting to know other members of our greater QA Neighborhood. Check out the QAE Garden Patch, find out how you and your family can get involved, crafting and nature hunts for kids, ask questions and enjoy the morning. 

A Summer Garden Class is being offered by the QAE Garden Coordinator, on various Wednesday mornings 9:30-11:30 at the QAE P-Patch. It's a suggested $10 and 100% will go towards Lowell Elementary 2018-19 5th graders to help fund their Fall IslandWood experience. The Summer garden class schedule will be out shortly.

See the QAE Garden site for more details...

A message from the QAE 5th Grade students!

​We, the fifth graders, are writing to inform you that we are having a sale on Friday, June 8th! The profits will go towards the 5th grade end-of-year celebrations. At our sale, we will be selling treats, such as pies, brownies, lemonade and muffins. We will also be selling books that you can write or draw in, and slime balls.We will be open on the 8th of June during all lunches and recesses, along with after school from 2:30-3:00. The sale will take place in room 205, Ms. Shaw's class, in the Treehouse.

Thanks to everyone who filled out a survey about priorities for the PTSA—and if you haven’t, please do! It’s open until June 5. You've got great ideas—a CPR/First Aid night, the return of ParentNet, class parent socials, and more. Come join the PTSA board and make them happen!

When my oldest daughter started kindergarten at QAE, I knew I wanted to get involved with the school and give back. I remember talking to my husband about it, and he said, “There are a lot of parents who are already really involved, and with your limited time, there are probably better places to volunteer.” I limited my involvement that first year, but then the next year, a mom in our Girl Scout troop was running the auction and put out a call to our troop moms for help. I said sure, and once I saw how much there was to do—not just for the auction, but for enrichment, for community events, for days like Hour of Code, and for administrative tasks like reimbursing teachers when they spend money on our kids out of pocket—and how few people were signed up to do it, I volunteered for a board position.

While there are many people who volunteer in some capacity for the school (thank you thank you, a hundred times thank you!), and many who simply can’t, what I’ve seen over the past couple of years is that it’s the same families and people who step up again and again. This is a tricky model, as 1) those people get waaaaay burned out, and 2) when burnout happens, or when families graduate, the PTSA has to scramble to fill a bunch of vital roles at once. Which is all to say, please help us broaden the pool of PTSA volunteers. There is a role for everyone and every time limitation, and the more of us we have working together, the lighter the load will be on everyone and the easier the transitions from year to year.
Here are the PTSA roles we have open for next year—please consider letting us know of your interest:

Note that all below positions will receive a qaeptsa.org email address.  You will receive many updates through the month in regards to activities or requests for feedback so we can brainstorm ideas and situations.
 

• Assistant Treasurer – Picking up and completing deposits and owning other income generating aspects (matching gifts, donations, etc)
• Secretary – Record minutes for each of the Board and General Membership Meetings. Assistance with calendar coordination, wufoo forms, surveys, and other technical assistance.
• Fundraising Director – Help oversee and tie together the 3 major fundraising events each year.  Help guide and support the overall events.  Steady follow up through the year.
• Jog A Thon Lead(s) – Put together one of the most inspiring events of the year where our kids achieve their personal goals.  Heavy lift – July – September.  Note our previous organizers have put together a great road map for this.
• Fund Drive Lead – We have a one-time campaign of a direct give drive.  Happens in the Fall for 2-3 weeks (timing can fluctuate based on your schedule).  Work on messaging, gather messaging from different individuals and track and thank people for their donations. 
• Social Emotional Learning Director – Attends board meetings 1x per month. Interfaces with teachers, principal and school counselor about their needs and wants surrounding QAE’s valued culture of social emotional learning. Also helps support families in need at QAE.  
• Technology Director – Organizes Hour of Code. Helps when board members run into technology snafus. Advises on technology programming offered at QAE.
• Community & Events Coordinator – Do you love throwing parties and bringing people together?  We aim to have 3-5 events a year.  Ranging from Back to School, to Talent Show, to Spring Dance.  Events can be edited based on your own personal passion.  Peak times are around beginning and end of school year.
• Enrichment Coordinator – Help coordinate with the team that will be running the enrichment program.  Heavy lift times - around the start of the program for sign up and toward the end when you will help guide next seasons classes.  September and January.
• Volunteering & Membership Coordinator – help recruit and assign volunteers for PTSA run events and maintain the PTSA membership database.
• Legislative Representative - Keep informed about what’s going on district- and state-wide, and inform our parent community if action is required.

 
Feel free to write to me directly with your interest!
 
Thanks,
Jenna
president2@qaeptsa.org

Come here our young 4th and 5th Grade musicians! They've been working hard learning their instruments and are ready to play some tunes!

When: Thursday, June 7th, 2018. Arrive at 5:40pm. Concert begins at 6pm
Where: QAE Cafeteria

See you there!

Time to throw "Juju on that Beat" and turn up to "Studio QAE" for the All School Dance Party happening at the Queen Anne Community Center this Friday, June 8th, 2018 from 6pm-9:30pm. DJ Sureal will be spinning the fresh beats. Make sure to fill out this form to request to your favorite songs to be played at the dance!

Photo booth, glow flair, and food truck will be available! Get there at 6pm for a fun Zumba dance warm-up with our very own QAE parent, Dasha Narog! See you on the dance floor, QAE! 

We'd like your feedback! ​Please take a few moments to provide input on spending priorities and let us know how the PTSA is doing. Want to see more (or less) of certain type of events? Want to know what the PTSA is considering funding next year? Take the survey now and let us know! Your input will help us understand your perspective on the 2017-2018 school year, help make the 2018-2019 year at John Marshall even better, and help us finalize the 2018-2019 PTSA budget.

Take the PTS Priorities survey now...

We'll finalize the 2018-2019 PTSA budget with your feedback and present it at the June 6th 6:30-8pm PTSA All Membership meeting for a vote. Be sure to join us!

Please join us on Wednesday, June 6th from 6:30-8pm for the last general PTSA meeting of the year. We'll be reviewing the results of the priorities survey and voting on the 2018-19 budget. Help us prepare for next year at John Marshall, hear the latest on plans for transportation to John Marshall and much more. It's the best way to stay up-to-date and involved with what's going on at QAE!

When: Wednesday, June 6th, 2018, 6:30-8pm
Where: QAE Cafeteria

​See you there!

More Student Films and Parent Volunteers Needed
Ideally, our QAE Film Fest Crew would love up to five films to be submitted from each grade group to make our Film Fest a premiere event! Please click on the SignUpGenius link to let us know you will be one of our filmmakers and/or volunteer for set-up, concessions, and clean-up crew and to learn more about this great event! 

After you've signed up, have your kiddo filmmaker create and submit a short film (maximum 2 minutes) to: qaefilmfest@gmail.com by Monday, May 28th. Action/adventure, Documentary, Comedy....all genres welcomed. Film content must be elementary school appropriate. If equipment and/or film editing help needed reach out to: qaefilmfest@gmail.com and we will connect you with a film expert volunteer.

Why Highland Park Elementary?
For some Seattle Schools seeking to improve their playgrounds, they are able to achieve the funding and put in place construction within a year. For HPE Title I school, it has taken four years of laser-focused effort led by a handful of incredibly passionate and committed parent volunteers. This is four years of community engagement sessions, grant writing, volunteer work parties, twice-a-month meetings, fundraisers, and multiple iterations of our playground committee.

While the HPE playground is ready for play, there are many items that are important to this project that have lost funding due to construction cost overages. The HPE PTA is grateful and excited that the QAE PTSA has a willingness to help this project.

Can't wait to see all the creativity from our young directors and actors! Be sure to let us know if you're doing a film or are able to volunteer:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e45ada92dabf94-qaefilm

Update: The ticket order deadline has been extended to May 16th and online ticket purchasing is now available!

The Queen Anne Elementary community has a group of tickets to watch the Mariners take on the Rays on Saturday, June 2nd, 2018 at 7:10 ​p.m. Enjoy a special outing with your friends and family! Plus we get discounts on tickets AND it's Nelson Cruz Funko Pop Night (wondering what a Funko Pop is?).

When: Saturday, June 2nd, 2018 7:10 pm.
Where: Our block of seats will be in the View Level (3rd) Deck at Safeco Field
Cost: $18 per ticket. Regular price is $26 plus fees.
Why: Enjoy an evening at the ballpark with your QAE friends. Get a giveaway to boot! A portion of the ticket sales will be donated towards next year's IslandWood trip.

The deadline to purchase tickets is Friday, May 11th. Get your orders in soon!

Purchasing Tickets

• By cash or check - you may have received an order form in your orange folder or you can print the registration form. Fill it out and return to the office along with cash or a check (made out to "Queen Anne Elementary PTSA"). Tickets are just $18 each.
• Order online - the QAE PTSA is handling online orders. You can purchase your tickets online here. There's an extra $0.83 fee per ticket to cover the credit card processing fees.

If you would like to sit with another family, please place one order for the entire group. Orders are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis and are based on availability.

Receiving Your Tickets
Our parent volunteers will distribute the tickets to your child's class and they will be sent home in the orange folders.

Scoreboard Greeting
Watch for QAE on the video board during the 4th inning. Our special welcome to Safeco Field!

Questions?
Contact Jodie Scott at jodiemcmurdie@gmail.com

A portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales will help fund next year's fifth grade class to IslandWood!

If you're looking for summer camp options for your kids, Kids Co. wanted to let you know that enrollment is open for summer:
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These buzzing furry friends are important for pollinating fruit trees. They're great for kids to observe because they don't sting. These special native bees require a special clay to protect their eggs. With the help of parents, students, teachers and staff our QAE community can help bees do the important jobs of pollination and growing future generations of bees. It's exciting to learn about the natural world around us! Please talk to your kiddos about the Mason Bee Hive. The Bees will be our guests until June.

Visit the QAE Garden Blog for information and fun links.

Check out the complete list of activities below. See the QAE Garden site for more info!