HOLIDAY WISHES

MWPTA would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Joyous Hanukkah, a Festive Kwanzaa, and a Happy, Healthy and a Prosperous New Year. Thank you for your unwavering support to our wonderful little school, we appreciate all you do. Enjoy the time off with your beautiful children and we'll see you back at school Monday, January 9th 2012.

While you are on break and doing your holiday shopping please remember all the ways you can support Mt.Washington Elementary:

• Fresh and Easy Shop for Schools - save your receipts of $20 or more till December 31st, then bring them to the office or parent center when school resumes. Our school gets $1 for every $20 you spend. So far we have over $3,000, if we are the top spending school, our school will get an extra $5,000 from Fresh and Easy. 
• Americana Holiday Gift For Schools - Mt. Washington gets 5% of your purchases till Dec. 31st, from ANY vendor, including restaurants, kiosks and the movie theater. Please take your receipts to the concierge located in the parking lot lobby behind the glass elevators. 
• Amazon School Rewards - if you do online shopping through Amazon.com, please click on the link on our homepage at www.mwpta.org to credit our school, then shop on Amazon's website as you normally would. Our school gets at least 4% of your total purchase. 
• Green Team Recycling- please remember to save your recycling from your celebrations and otherwise, and bring them to school on Monday, January 9th. 

Have a Wonderful Winter Break!

MOVIE NIGHT THANK YOUS

Thank you to Cecilia Vazquez for chairing our Holiday Movie Night.  Thank you to Tony LaPlante for setting up our AV equipment and for running the movie.  Thank you to Mary Gaillard, Lia Hayes and the Mt. Washington Children's Chorus for their wonderful performance before the movie, and to our Mt.Washington Drill Team under the leadership of Andrea Zoltany for their holiday cheers.  A huge thank you to all of you for your support and the great turnout we had to watch "Elf".

TOYS FOR TOTS THANK YOUS

Thank you to Mari Mejorado for bringing this charity to our school, and for showing our children the importance of giving back.  Thank you to all the families who donated toys, you have made many children very happy this holiday season, collectively we gave over 270 toys.  Congratulations to Rm.11, Mrs. Barnes' 4th grade class for bringing in the most toys, they won a cupcake and milk party which they can enjoy after the break.

MOVIE NIGHT, FRIDAY, DEC. 16TH 6-8 PM IN THE MPR

MWPTA proudly presents:  ELF.  

This holiday season discover your inner Elf.  Free Family Movie Night, Friday December 16^th from 6-8pm.  The movie will be preceded by the Mt. Washington Children’s Chorus performance at 5:00pm,  followed by some holiday cheers from our Drill Team.  The movie will start at 6:00pm.

Watch the classic holiday comedy with your friends and family. Bring your low-back chairs, pillows and blankets and wear your pajamas!  Hot dogs, pizza, tamales, hot chocolate and other treats will be sold.  Pre-sale tickets for a “Buddy Box” (hot dog, popcorn, drink, candy & raffle ticket) will be sold on Dec. 12th only in the Parent Center for $3.00

Drop off your Toys for Tots donation and receive free popcorn!  Announcement of winning classroom by the U.S. Marines will also happen that night!

PARENTS! This film is Rated PG. All children must be accompanied by an adult. NO DROP-OFFS PLEASE!  Supervision is not provided. Please do not allow children to play outside on the yard

COMPOSTING MEETING - MONDAY DEC. 12TH AT 8:15 AM

Composting...Please spread the word!

We are ready to start planning our composting project at Mount Washington and would love your help developing the system.  Our goal is to compost the garden waste in both the upper and lower school gardens as well as the compostable scraps from the children's daily snack and lunches. 

We are very fortunate to have a new parent, Cathy Larson, who has volunteered to spearhead this project.  Cathy is looking for parents interested in this idea, and would like to help implement a school wide composting education program.  If you have skills to share on this project please email Cathy at liteon@hotmail.com.  This includes carpentry skills for the actual construction of the compost bins as well as the development of the system itself, experience composting, etc.  RSVP to let her know if you can make it on Monday a.m.  December 12th.

Agenda:

To discuss the development of the system, the building of the compost bins and the possible funding sources for necessary materials, including compost bins, pitchforks, worm bins, educational posters, recycling containers, wheelbarrows, etc.

Hope to see you at the meeting Monday,    

Krista Ebert

FRESH AND EASY UPDATE:

Our earnings are up to $3,010.  Only three (3) weeks left for this fundraiser.  Please turn in all receipts that are $20 or more and that are dated between September 15, 2011 and December 31, 2011.  Be sure and pickup a Fresh & Easy Coupon of $5 off $25 in the School Office or Parent Center. 

EASY WAYS TO SUPPORT MT. WASHINGTON TILL THE END OF 2011

Every time you shop at the places below our school gets a kick back.

• Fresh and Easy- gives $1 for every $20 spent.  All you have to do is turn in your receipts of $20 or more, dated between Sept.15th to Dec.31st to the office or the parent center.
• The Americana at Brand – gives 5% of your total purchase to our school.  All you have to do is show your receipt to the concierge desk, located in the parking lot lobby behind the glass elevators, and say that you are supporting Mt.Washington.
• Amazon School Rewards Program – if you do some online shopping this holiday season don’t forget to utilize this program.  They give at least 4% back, depending on the amount; the more you shop the bigger the give back.  All you have to do is utilize the Amazon School Rewards link on the right side of our home page. Click on it so our school can get credit, then navigate through Amazon as you normally would.

AMERICANA NIGHT: SATURDAY DEC. 10TH, 6-8PM

“Come All Ye Faithful...and support the best school in town!”

• Listen to holiday story reading by Mt. Washington Elementary parents while you shop for that special book, 
• watch the fabulous Ballet Folklorico dance their winter performance while grabbing those gift-certificates, 
• enjoy a beautiful holiday concert from our own MWE Chorus while you pick-up that stocking stuffer, 
• check out the Reflections Showcase from all of our talented kids ~ all while getting 5% back from Barnes & Noble. 

While you’re there do some shopping!  Any purchase from any retailer in the Americana gets MWE an additional 5% back when you bring your receipt to the Concierge desk in the Lobby of the parking structure and say “you’re supporting Mt.Washington Elementary!” Happy Holidays Everyone!

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS DURING PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE WEEK OF DEC. 5TH

School will be dismissed every day at 12:50pm, except on Tuesday when the kids will get out at 1:30pm.

• Homework Club for Monday, Wednesday & Thursday is 1:00- 2:00 and on Tuesday 1:30-3:00 
• Science Class New Session begins Wednesday the 7th; first session 1:00-1:30, 2nd session 1:45-2:15
• Art Class is from 1:00-3:00 on Monday 5th 
• Chorus will begin at 1:00 on Thursday 8th 
• Chess club will begin at 1:00 on Friday 9th 
• STAR Nova will follow the school's schedule, and their supervision will start at dismissal 

Carlin G Smith's after school care however, will stay on their regular schedule.
Please make arrangements accordingly due to the shortened school days.

Any parent available to volunteer in Homework Club the week of December 5th would be greatly appreciated. We will only have one aide available to assist the students.  Please come to the library after school if you are able to help.

UPDATING EMERGENCY KITS IN CLASSROOMS

This coming week, PTA is accepting contributions that go towards updating emergency kits in classrooms. LAUSD does not cover in classroom kits, they provide, emergency water, food, and medical supplies for the school. 2 of our classrooms do not have an in classroom kit at all.

We will have a board up during the week with post-its of needed items. If you take a post-it, please write your name on the sign up sheet next to the number with what you are committing to purchasing. After this past week we know what it is like to not have what you need, especially in an emergency. Having these extra kits in classrooms, helps our children be a little bit safer and feel more comfortable in an emergency.

TOYS FOR TOTS: DON'T FORGET TO BRING TOYS BEFORE 12/16

Don't forget to bring a new, unwrapped toy and drop it in the Toys For Tots box located in each classroom!

*collection will conclude at the December 16th Holiday Family Movie Night in the MPR~ All participants will receive free popcorn*

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail Mari Mejorado, Chair at mejorado@earhlink.net.  As always, thank you for your support!

GARDENING WORKSHOP THIS THURSDAY THE 8TH AT 8:30AM IN THE MPR

Come to the MPR and participate in an informative q & a session on various gardening matters.