Panther Press
November 4, 2021
Upcoming Dates
November 8 - November 12 - Scholastic Book Fair
November 9th-Family Conferences
November 10th-Lothrop PTO Virtual meeting @ 6:30 PM
November 11th-No School/Inservice
November 12th-Card Trading Night-Sponsored by the Pittsford Rec. @ 6:00 PM
November 17th-OV Board Meeting @ 6:00 PM-OV Library and Virtual
November 18th-Family Conferences
November 19th-Early Release-11:30 AM-Car Riders and Walkers/11:45 AM-Bus Riders
November 21st-Snow Gear Swap-10:00 AM-2:00 PM-Lothrop Gym
November 24th-26th-No School-Thanksgiving Break
Halloween Parade
The weather was perfect everyone seemed to have a spring in their step! A big thank you to the Pittsford Fire Department and Police Department for guiding us safely along the parade route. Thank you families for helping to pull together costumes for your children. They really had a fun time!
Family Conferences
Mrs. Lucas-Kindergarten
Mrs. Clark-Grade 1
Mrs. Sadowski-Grade 1
Ms. Alberico Grade 2
Mrs. Desabrais Grade 2
Mrs. Desforges-Grade 6
As part of Vermont’s COVID-19 education recovery efforts, the Agency of Education (AOE) is providing educators and stakeholders with SEL VT, a virtual platform of free materials for understanding key elements of healthy social emotional learning (SEL). Strengthening students’ SEL skills and well-being are an important focus of Vermont’s statewide recovery plan.
SEL VT contains a series of professionally developed modules to help educators easily incorporate materials into their lesson planning. In addition, classroom teachers can provide a link to their students so they can directly access materials for lessons. Finally, this platform also provides parents and caregivers with free access to these materials so they can facilitate continued learning at home.
Please visit the SEL VT Platform to register and gain access to the tools and content.
Square 1 Art Fundraiser: Order Now!
Hello Families,
Coming home to you soon will be your child's custom catalog for the Square 1 Art fundraiser. Get a head start, and start ordering keepsakes and gifts featuring your child's art online NOW, if you like! Simply search for your child's art using Art Search, and enter state, school name, and your student's name. Your student's art and code will appear, and you may order!
Order by: 11/30/2021
Upload additional art if you like, using Art Upload! If you have questions, or need anything at all, contact customer care online or at 888.332.3294x1.
Thank you for supporting our school!
Matt Aucoin
Square 1 Art fundraiser coordinator
Lothrop Elementary
Caverly Crew!
REMINDERS
VeggieVanGo Interest Survey
We are exploring the possibility of having the VeggieVanGo truck drop shares at Lothrop for interested families. Pick-up would be monthly between 12:00 PM-4:00 PM. Please fill out this interest survey below. Should we get enough interest and are able to support this logistically, we will need families to formally sign-up in order to have accurate numbers. There is no cost for the VeggieVanGo shares.
Veggie Van Gough and Potential Antigen Testing Volunteers Needed
We are exploring ways to provide antigen testing as part of a Test and Stay program for children who are identified as close contacts. Volunteers with flexibility to come and help for about the first hour of school to help organize would be greatly appreciated as well. (Ideally, we would have a pool of people to call on so that no one would have to do it every day.) Melanie would be doing the testing. Volunteers helping to oversee kiddos who are waiting their 15 min before joining their classes each morning or organizing kiddos as they wait to be tested would be a great help.
Anyone providing direct supervision of learners would need to go through the fingerprinting process. Sara has that information.
PTO Information
2021-22 PTO Officers:
President-Sybren Spensley
Vice President-Kate Lathrop
Treasurer-Brett and Hillary Mullin
Secretary- Meghan Fox
Facebook Page & Group
We have a public page and a private group, we will be posting items/updates in the private group as well as the public page. Please 'like' our page and request to be added to the group (link).
Meetings
For the time being, The Lothrop PTO meets the second Wednesday of the month ONLINE at 6:30pm. ALL Lothrop families are considered members of the PTO and are welcome to attend meetings. Meeting notices/invites will be posted in the private Facebook group.
Help Needed
We are always looking for folks willing to help with various tasks and events so please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to contribute.
LOTHROP PTO on Amazon Smile
What is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.com on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones. When you shop at AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. You can choose from over one million organizations to support.
Don't forget about the Lothrop PTO when you shop on Amazon smile. Follow the link and the PTO will get a portion of your purchase. Or search for Pittsford parent teacher on Amazon smile. Thank you! http://smile.amazon.com/ch/03-6011454PTO Fundraising
We will be holding our Fall Fundraising Blitz again this year and will be sending home a number of fundraisers for those families that wish to order holiday gifts. We understand that many families' financial situations may have changed and we do NOT want anyone to feel pressured to purchase or sell items. We are NOT asking each family to support ALL. We are asking each interested family to choose ONE and sell that one. We are hoping to meet our fundraising needs with this blitz and not have to hold any other fundraisers after the fall blitz is over. Unfortunately, the need for fundraising is there...the PTO is not trying to overwhelm families, we want to give you options. We aim to have all orders delivered to the school by the first week in December in case folks were purchasing items as Holiday gifts. We will post Fundraiser due dates/deadlines in each school newsletter. If you are not interested in selling/buying from fundraisers and would like 100% of your contribution to go to the PTO, please feel free to write us a check or use our Square site for debit/credit:
https://lothrop-pto.square.site/
Here is a list of Potential Fundraisers we plan to send home information for (pending approval at October 7th meeting):
Cookie Love
Baird Farm
Little Caesars
Square One Art
Spirit Wear
Danforth
Mary Kay
Farmraiser
Meadow Farms
Thank you for your support!
Little Caesar's Pizza Kits
SportClips Coupons
Reusable Sandwich/Snack Bags for Sale
Reusable bags - help the environment and support the PTO! $5 for a set of 4 bags. 2 sandwich bags, 2 snack bags. Dishwasher safe! PM or email lothroppto@rnesu.org or Kelly Connaughton kfield16@yahoo.com Cash, Check or Square payments accepted: https://lothrop-pto.square.site/ Checks payable to Lothrop PTO
Styles include:
Pink monster
Orange monster
Blue Clouds
Panda
Blue dog
Pink kitty
Blue words
Green words
Price Chopper Tools for Schools
Shop at Price Chopper/Market 32 to help our school earn free classroom equipment! Please link your AdvantEdge card to our school at: rewards.pricechopper.com. Each time you shop and have your linked card scanned, our school will earn free classroom equipment, all donated by Price Chopper/ Market 32.
How Supporters can Enroll their AdvantEdge Cards to your school:
Lothrop School Code: 15378
Parents and supporters need to sign up at https://rewards.pricechopper.com even if they participated in the past!
If a supporter doesn't already have a Price Chopper AdvantEdge Card, they can sign-up for one at any Price Chopper store or visit us online at www.pricechopper.com.
Pittsford Town Events
4H Youth Environmental Summit (Grades 6-12)
We hope you will join us for this year's Youth Environmental Summit! Take an in-school "virtual" field trip on October 29 and come to our real-time virtual kick off from 9 am - 12:30 pm.
The kick off will feature keynote speakers and skill-building workshops around a unifying theme of climate change. Join us as a class, a club/team, or an individual. You won't want to miss this event!
For those unable to attend the kick-off, then join us for the month of November in our YES Flipgrid. You will have access to pre-recorded workshops on a wide variety of environmental topics, including everything that happened on Oct 29. This allows you to participate in YES on your own time, when it fits in your schedule!
Learn more and register at the 4-H Announcements page: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/youth/announcements
Sara's Stories
Promoting an Early Love of Reading
Sara’s Stories is a book program that began in Pittsford in 2016. Our program was created in 2016 in memory of Sara Gallipo, a beloved community member and mother of two of the program’s founders. Since 2016, Sara’s Stories has given out over 1,000 books to Pittsford and Florence residents. Our program helps to ensure that every child in our program has new books that are developmentally appropriate in their home. Research shows that early literacy is linked to success in elementary school, high school and beyond.
Over the years our program has grown and expanded. We initially provided free books at Pittsford events and through Caverly Preschool but wanted to be able to reach more of our community with books each month in an affordable, efficient way. In 2019, we found a way to make our goal a reality! Sara’s Stories began a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in October of 2019. In 2021, we were able to expand our Dolly Parton Imagination Library to include Chittenden, Proctor and Clarendon. We now serve as the local champion for Pittsford, Florence, Chittenden, Proctor and Clarendon. As a local champion we raise funds, attend community events and process applications for the Imagination Library book mailings. Sara’s Stories is funded by a couple of small fundraisers, business sponsorships and individual donations throughout the year. We still strive to attend Pittsford events and hand out free books, generally ones that coincide with the event or season, to all children in attendance, regardless of residency. Our Facebook Page, Sara’s Stories, will tell you when and where you can find us next!
In order to become part of the Sara’s Stories program, please fill out the attached form for all children in your household under age 5. If you provide your email address you will be able to create a Dolly Parton account which will allow you to see which book your little one can expect in the mail next, submit address changes and add any children that join your family. Once we receive your application, we will input your child(ren) into our system and your child(ren) will receive their first book in the mail within 8-10 weeks. Mail your application to:
Sara’s Stories
3114 US Route 7
Pittsford, VT 05763
You can also sign up online by following this link: https://imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability
Please keep in mind that this program is free and you will never receive a bill for the books that your child receives. We just hope that your family will enjoy the books and spend time reading together!
We hope to hear from you soon,
Meghan Fox, Kayla Desabrais and Jenelle Daly