We all need as much help as we can get these days so the auction team has created a
ProTips Check List for you!

​
1. Do Now - Make sure you have an account set up on the QAE Auction site. In other words, rsvp/register. This will allow you to participate in all the ways listed in the steps below. There are four different segments to our virtual community spring celebration and fund drive; direct giving, silent auction, community celebration and live auction. It can be confusing so please read on.... 
2. Do Now - Contribute a video testimonial for From the Heart, QAE Community Celebration and Fund Drive. A 7-10 second video of you or your child singing, dancing, talking, sharing their art and expressing how their heart feels at school. You can view all of these shared bits of community celebrating the night of our live auction. 
3. Do Now - Procure an item, experience or service and directly add to our auction site. The more we have to bid on, the more merrier! It will be included in either the silent or live auction segment. 
4. Soon! Order dinner between March 17th and March 22nd! Thanks to one of our local favorite neighborhood restaurants Eden Hill, our auction team has partnered up with family needs in mind. With a vegetarian option, kids meals and cocktails to choose from; take a load off the night of the auction knowing that dinner is on its way the night of our community celebration and live auction. 
5. Do Now or Auction Night - It's nice to have choices! You can directly give (fund drive segment) now all the way up to a few days past our live auction. Alternatively, you can participate in "raising you paddle"(virtual auction segment) the evening of March 25th. And...Yes! You can do both. 
6. Do Now - Clear your evening calendar for Friday, March 25th as our virtual - Live Auction is happening from 7-8 p.m. This is where fantastic items ranging from a Mexico vacation home to unique QAE student experiences will be auctioned off. These items will be auctioned LIVE, meaning you'll have to be online from 7-8 p.m. in order to bid and win. We'll send out an evening schedule closer to the date but for now set up your account so you don't miss out! 
7. Soon! - Bid on the variety of items, experiences and services that our auction team has procured for you! Silent Auction opens this Friday, March 18th! There is something for everyone--kids camps, family yoga, custom built Free Little Library, gift cards and more! Bidding will start this Friday, the 18th, and will close on Sunday, March 27th. Mark your calendars! 
​That's a lot! Basically, keep your eyes on the Auction site. Remember, you have to rsvp/register, in other words set up an account,  in order to participate in most all the ways above. Our goal is to raise $100,000 to support our school and getting every part of the community to feel like they can participate one way or another. We need your help, every family at a level you can afford. We have hope that our community can come together over the next few weeks to support our school (even if it's virtually!). If we've learned anything over the past few years about silver linings it's that our virtual From the Heart Community Celebration and Fund Drive + Auction allows anyone to bid! This includes grandparents, neighbors, far away family members and friends. Anyone can create an account and bid online in the QAE Auction so share it with your friends and family!
​From our Heart to Yours, please feel free to reach out with questions at any time. 

Ukraine is in our hearts, minds and spirit. We know that some families in our community have connections to loved ones near the war that is taking place. We know that we're all worried about the destruction of lives, land and home. We have heavy hearts and wonder how to talk with our children about it all. Here is an article shared by Leslie Jaynes, one of QAE's amazing  teachers and community members. She shared it with the parents in her classroom who then passed it to another classroom where it landed with our PTSA. So, it might be familiar to some already. Either way, we hope you find it as helpful as we do and it allows you to thoughtfully, whole heartedly and openly navigate conversations with your kiddos in an age appropriate way. With wishes of peace, love, hope, safety and gratitude for community, please reach out to PTSA if you or your children have ideas about how to support Ukraine as a community. 
​https://www.pbssocal.org/education/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-the-ukraine-invasion

Good question! Much of the funding will go towards staffing grants. The school district allocates funds to schools across the district based on student enrollment numbers. We use raised funds to supplement what we get from the district because we want to support our kids and teachers more than the SPS funds allow. At our school this includes our art teacher, librarian, kindergarten math tutors, our school reading specialists, PE teacher and playground supervisors. It's hard to think about what our school would be like with out those positions fully funded. 

Kindergartener Fenna Luhman has shared a few thoughts of her own: 
“She is really kind and she helps us out a lot.” -about her tutor

“I thought Koala Lou was really good. It taught me that you need to love one another. I especially liked that it was a play.” -about the Book It Theater presentation of the book Koala Lou by Mem Fox

These are just some examples of the impactful ways our fundraising makes important programs exist and directly touch our children's lives every day at our school. With your help, the PTSA will not only continue to offer programs such as these, that embody our 5 pillars, but to raise funds so that we can also embrace the community and education that make us who we are. Go Explorers!

The dollars raised go towards even more such as
#1: TEACHERS
-Training for all new staff and annual refresher courses for the entire staff in Positive Discipline
-Project Based Learning professional development
-Support for training including skill sets such as working with gender diversity, cultural competence, and mindfulness in the classroom
-Teacher Appreciation Week to show our immense gratitude to teachers who have stood by our children every day with determination and compassion as we navigate this ever changing world. 
​
​#2: CLASSROOM & ACADEMIC SUPPORT
-Kindergarten aide for each class
-Resource room tutors
-Dedicated reading specialists

#3: CURRICULUM & CLASSROOMS
-Zones of Regulation (Social Emotional Learning Curriculum)
-Positive discipline tools
-Classroom libraries
-Calm Body Spots and materials to support self-regulation

#4: EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS
-Book-It Theatre presentations
-Annual Yearbooks

#5: FAMILY EXPERIENCES AND EDUCATION
-Families of Color T-shirts
-Let's Talk About Race Workshop
-Positive Discipline Workshop

As you can see, we need as much community as we can get to step up, make a donation, procure an item, RSVP/register and participate! We need everyone to keep the beat going? You can do all of this on our From the Heart...and the beat goes on fund drive and auction site. For questions contact Sarah Kaiser, our fierce PTSA Vice President at vp@qaeptsa.org.

Dear QAE Families and Friends,
Welcome back from MWB! We hope you found it restorative.
Our community has shown such resilience, dedication to one another, and hope for brighter days ahead over the last year. Our children have overcome the challenges of learning and growing during a pandemic and so have we. While we're still navigating uncharted waters, our QAE school community has worked tremendously hard to ensure that each of our children succeeds, joyfully, in academics, in friendship and in personal growth. 
Our PTSA, with you in hand, would like to take a moment and celebrate how far we've come, while also looking ahead to the future vision for our community.
We invite you to join us, virtually, for From the Heart, QAE Community Celebration and Fund Drive on Friday, March 25th at 7 p.m. 
In just a few short weeks, our goal is that all of us will be together for an evening of reflection as we hear from students, parents and teachers on what our school community means to them, speaking from their hearts to ours. We'll celebrate achievements and milestones while looking to the future as we raise critical funds to ensure we are able to continue offering each student access to the quality education, social emotional learning and growth opportunities our children have experienced through the years. 
Please RSVP NOW! From our heart to yours, we can't wait to see you virtually on March 25th at 7:00 p.m. 
Your RSVP will allow you to be registered and participate in bidding for a variety of services, items, gift cards and experiences. If bidding isn't your thing and you would rather donate, this is the place to do that too. Our auction team has partnered with one of our favorite local restaurants to bring you worry free and delicious dinner options for the whole family. RSVP now to participate! 
After you RSVP/registration, look for a special, "Welcome to From the Heart," email that will include your personal link to get started. Bidding hasn't opened yet as our procurement team is still working. That said, it's still important everyone RSVP as soon as possible. Stay tuned in here for the latest! 
"Watching our son grow and mature in such a supportive, caring and open environment is all we could have wished for from his elementary schooling." - Jeanine MacQuarrie (4th grade mum)

Your auction team wants to know! Please share your amazing children's voices by sending a 7-10 second video to vp1@qaeptsa.org. These videos always make our hearts skip beats in the most special ways. All videos will be shared the night of our Spring Celebration and Fund Raiser. Send in your video asap! Our event is only a few weeks away. 

Thank you to all of our PTSA members! We hope you can virtually join the board at the second membership meeting of the year. We'll be taking care of business, such as the budget, as we do. In addition, we'll be asking for your participation, your voice, your ideas and thoughts on how we can move forward into next year. Given all of the unknowns over the past few years, why not share our school community dreams with one another? We hope you will join us on Teams, Wednesday, March 16, 6-7 p.m.

Every student should have received a BLM shirt. Thank you to our FOC Director, Domin Chan and our Vice principal, Ms. Taylor.  If you're interested in purchasing more do so soon! The last day to purchase directly from the printer is this Saturday, March 5th. 
If you're interested in making a donation to cover the costs of your child's shirt it is appreciated! Choose 'send,' then enter an amount. Click 'add a note' and type "BLM t-shirt." Last, choose, "continue" to enter payment info. 

.Capoeira - Brazilian Martial Art After School Classes: 
Watch your child's confidence grow while learning the Brazilian martial art form of Capoeira. In this creative and fun class, children learn the movements of Capoeira through exercises and games that help improve flexibility, agility, reflexes, balance, concentration and gross motor coordination. Students learn to work individually as well as in pairs and groups. Ages 5-12. Masks and Full Vaccination Required. Learn more at Capoeira-Bahia in Motion. Located in Fremont. 

Skateboarding Camps: All Together Skate Park on Stone Way is offering skate camp for both Spring Break and Summer. Day camps for kids 5-12 years are offered throughout the year. Emphasis is on creating a fun and positive environment where individual growth is the focus. Camps are for first timers, beginners and intermediate learners. Learn more at All Together Skate Park. 
​

Save the date, Friday, March 25th for our Virtual Community Spring Celebration and Fundraising Experience! 
Our community is keeping the pulse of learning, supporting, growing and exploring alive. Thank you for that! In celebration, all are invited to participate as we create opportunities to reach our goal of $100,000.  
As details are being finalized, please consider contributing to the effort; perhaps donating a special skill, theater or sports tickets, mountain ski home, 12 months of cookies or writing thank you cards to local businesses. This week, you may choose to help procure items for the auction or in later weeks help deliver items. Whatever way you volunteer, know that it counts towards the success of this important community-wide event. The weeks ahead will be filled with information on how our funding directly impacts our students, ways to connect and help the beat go on! But don't wait for us! Please​ email us now to help. Thank you!

Our community is taking action and showing our support for BLM school-wide by providing staff and student BLM T-shirts. Every student and staff will get one! In order to cover some of the costs the PTSA is offering an opportunity to make a donation now for $7- $10, the cost of shirt and printing. Giving for more then one shirt is appreciated! Know that your generosity will cover the costs of shirts for all students. Here are the steps:

1. Click 'donation now'
2. Choose 'send', then enter an amount.
3. Click 'add a note' and write 'BLM t-shirt'.
4. Then ‘Continue’ to enter payment information. 

Thank You to our Families of Color Director, Domin Chan, for bringing this to our community.  Connect with her at foc1@ptsa.org if you are interested in getting involved in BLM or Families of Color. Currently, help is needed to plan a BLM QAE community activity that will take place in April or May. It needs to respect SPS COVID health and safety guidelines. 

Celebrate BLM in our Greater Seattle Community
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate Lunar New Year with kids in Seattle, check out these local events.

• https://www.parentmap.com/article/lunar-new-year-events-seattle-families-2022
• https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/events/ring-in-the-lunar-new-year-with-a-wing-luke-museum-fair-plus-more-seattle-area-events/

If you’re looking for a hands-on way to celebrate Black History Month with kids in Seattle, you’ll find it at these local museums, theaters, monuments and playgrounds.

• https://tinybeans.com/seattle/black-history-landmarks-monuments-sea/
• https://www.parentmap.com/article/black-history-month-events-seattle-kids-families​

Ballots were mailed in January.  Make sure you vote for our School Levies!  
The Seattle Public School District cannot function without these critical funds.   Just some of the things these funds support:

• Fund about 15% of day-to-day funding 
• Pay for most construction and maintenance of school facilities
• Fund classroom technology, including the computers and tablets needed for remote learning
• Supports opportunities for students in athletics, arts, drama and music
• Funds special education

If you'd like to learn more about how the school district utilizes these critical funds, please spend some time on their School Levies page.
Get that ballot out of the drawer today and complete it with your QAE student.  It's a great chance to show how we all have a role to play.
Thank You to our PTSA Legislative Director, Jackson Bennett and parent volunteer, Gillian Jorgensen for bringing this to our community. 

Becoming a board member of the PTSA is a great way to build community for our kids (and as a parent!), and to create enrichment opportunities for the whole school.
We’d love to have you join us for the 2021-2022 school year!

These roles can be done solo or shared with a friend -- and current board members are happy to talk to you further about what each role entails. 

Please email: president@qaeptsa.org if you are interested!

Current Open Positions:
Passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion? Families of Color needs a Director to continue to build our school’s commitment to social justice.

Have ideas and connections that can help us generate much-needed funds for Queen Anne Elementary? The Fundraising Director leads the charge to organize all fundraising efforts - from cookbooks to the auction. We're also looking for an Auction Lead to partner with the Fundraising Director to lead our most important event.

The Legislative Director keeps track of district and state legislation that may impact the school.

Love keeping people in the loop? Have experience building websites, copywriting or social media? We're looking for a Communications Director (or team!).

Are you a natural team builder? Good at wrangling people? We'd love to have you as a Volunteer Coordinator.

Want to help our Explorers remember every year? Have some creative flair? We'd love to have you as our Yearbook Lead.

We also are in need of a Sunshine Lead.

Caring is our February Global Citizenship Trait.
Explorers and their families can put this trait into action by helping with our upcoming QAE Towel Drive.

QAE is collecting gently used towels to support a community towel-drive to help homeless youth in Belltown.
Here’s how you can help:

• Bring your new or clean gently-used towels to QAE when you pick up your supplies and/or library books and put them in the container provided.
• Explorers can include a kind note or drawing with their towel donation if they wish.
• Families can also drop off towels to Queen Anne Lutheran Church on Valentine's Day Sunday, February 14 from 11 am to 4 pm at 2400 8th Ave. W. Seattle, WA. Please wear your masks and collection will be outdoors. ​

Towels will be picked up and distributed by the New Horizons Ministry that houses and feeds homeless youth in Belltown.

As a PTSA, this is one way we can continue to build and foster community in the virtual world we’re living in. We know that you are busy and have more things on your plate than ever before. However, with just a little help from each of you, every student will be represented in our yearbook and each student will have a special memento of this unprecedented school year. 

At this point, we believe self-submission is our best path for collection and we thank you in advance. Your submissions will help us create “class photos”. It's a different kind of challenge in this year filled with new and creative ways to get work done, but we think it can happen with some help from you and your families.

Here's two options for gathering those photos.
Option 1:  You take the photo and send to secretary@qaeptsa.org 
Deadline: March 1 
Email Title: Grade-Teacher-First Name-Last Name   
Example: 3rd-Dudley-Theodore-Hildebrandt  
 
Option 2: Your Class Coordinator takes a screen shot. Be sure to let your class coordinator know if you need this help!  

Thank you for sticking with it!! Please send all comments, questions or concerns to Andrea Hildebrandt at secretary@qaeptsa.org ​

While we all won’t be together in person, this year's virtual gala will still focus on building community while offering entertainment alongside opportunities to donate and support our school. It will be fun, festive and full of friends.

Details are being finalized but we wanted you to mark the evening of Friday, March 12 on your calendars. This will be a one-hour event.
 
Also, if you have something you’d like to offer up for auction (a special skill you could teach folks in a virtual session? Vacation home? Sports tickets)?

​Please email us.

Even in the midst of the pandemic and remote learning, it's time to start thinking about enrollment for the 2021-22 school year (hopefully all in person!). Queen Anne Elementary is hosting a series of virtual tours as well as an open house for all prospective families (whether you have an incoming Kindergartner or have an older child).

Virtual Open House
Jan. 21 (6-7pm)

Virtual School Tours 
Jan. 22 (12-1pm)
Jan. 27 (11am-12pm)
Feb. 1 (2-3pm)
Feb. 4 (3-4pm)
Feb. 9 (8-9am)

More information and to RSVP
See the Prospective Families page which includes a link to RSVP for the Open House and Tours. It also has some information about what makes Queen Anne Elementary unique as well as some helpful details about the SPS enrollment process.