It was great to see everyone who made it out to Back-to-School Night yesterday. I hope everyone had a chance to check out all the great community tables in the cafeteria. There are a lot of activities headed our way in the next few weeks. Kids who completed summer reading and turned in their reading logs will be getting their reading medals soon. Great job Eagle Readers!! Thank you to Monica Bjers for organizing our first fundraiser of the year at Mod Pizza. These Dine Outs are always a great way to let someone else do the cooking while supporting our school. Picture Day is next Tuesday, Oct 4th. The Jog-a-Thon is right around the corner on Oct 14th. Flyers should be coming home with your child today. Let’s hope the weather cooperates for this fun event. Another fun event that will be kicking off soon is our Scholastic Book Fair. You should have received information for that as well and more is coming. And don’t forget that our first PSO meeting will be on October 6th at 8:30am in the cafeteria. Hope to see you there!

Danielle Smart, PSO President (president@marywoodwardpso.com)

Hello Mary Woodward Families!

During our Spring Auction, families have the opportunity to bid on 1 of 2 prime parking spots for their sole use during the next school year. We haven’t been able to auction off parking spots since the spring of 2019, so now is your chance to bid on one of the parking spots. No need to arrive early to get a spot in the parking lot or as close as possible on the street…your spot is waiting for you any school day, any school event! Each winning family will receive a sign designating the parking spot is reserved for them at all times through the end of this school year.

All funds raised will go to the PSO to support instructional aides for classrooms, the Art Literacy program, and teacher classrooms funds. The PSO also supports enrichment programs such as Science Fair, Missoula Children’s Theater, field trips, and assemblies. Lastly, PSO supports fun events such as the carnival, family nights, Field Day, ice cream socials, and classroom parties.

Bidding Rules:

1. The minimum bid is $500.
2. Only one (1) bid is allowed per family, so make it your best offer.
3. The top two (2) bids will be selected.
4. Bidding will close Friday, October 7th at midnight. Winners will be selected and notified the week of October 11th.
5. Submit Bids HERE!

Thank you for your support!

MW Spring Auction Co-Charis

Katie Hughes, Morgan Frick, and Kelsey Paldino

mweaglesauction@gmail.com

We really have a lot of moving pieces in the Mary Woodward PSO. There are nearly 30 different groups or committees working to fundraise, organize, entertain and educate throughout the year. This allows more people to be involved and reduces the workload for everyone. While almost all of these committees currently have someone taking the lead, there are still a few spots we would like to fill. If you'd like more information about anything listed below, please contact Stacey Beckman at volunteers@marywoodwardpso.com.

After School Enrichment -- We need someone to coordinate with independent contractors to set up after school classes and programs to take place at MW. In the past there have been sports camps, art classes and recess games. The classes fill up quickly and offer the kids a great time to build friendships and practice skills.

Donations Coordinator -- There are so many donations out there, just waiting to be collected, but we need someone to go out and get them! We have plenty of storage space at school and items collected could be used as prizes for Bingo Night or the Jog-a-thon and as auction items. If you're a great networker and love to get good deals, we need you!!

Missoula Children's Theatre -- MCT is a fantastic traveling program that helps school put on an entire play in just one week from casting to an evening performance. We need someone to act as the main contact for this program and oversee the volunteers necessary to keep this event running smoothly.

Oregon Battle of the Books -- OBOB is a fun reading challenge for 3rd-5th graders where teams of students read a set of books and compete to answer trivia questions. We have one OBOB leader and need a second to help manage the after school practice time for the students. This event will not take place until January - March, but this is the perfect time to start planning!

The PSO is trying to keep the staff breakroom stocked with snacks and drinks to show our staff how much we appreciate them and keep them fueled. To help us out, we're asking for donations from one grade each month. First up is 5th grade families. Please drop off your donations in the wagon in the breeze way any time in the month of October. Popular items include individual snack bags, fresh fruit, seltzer water and diet and regular soda to name a few.

Volunteers have already been actively involved with over 150 hours volunteered this month! It has been great getting to know so many new faces and reconnecting with volunteer veterans.

We still need help covering the following classes' library times: Orchard, Samuelson, Haynes Langeliers, Bell, Hutchins, Battles, Jurinek, Johnston, Schmutzer and J. Cannon. If you have a student in the following classes, please contact volunteers@marywoodwardpso.com to learn the schedule and sign up!

These classes could also use help in Art Lit: Samuelson, Hutchins, Allen, Battles, Jurinek, and Schmutzer. Contact Claire Juarez for more information at artlit@marywoodwardpso.com.

Jog-a-thon and the Book Fair fall on the same week this year (October 10-14) and we are ready to start signing up volunteers! These are both very popular events, so hurry and get your spots quickly!

If you'd like to get involved you'll need to complete a background check (good for 3 years) and submit proof of your Covid vaccination or an exemption form. All of this can be accomplished here. Once your volunteer profile is complete, you can log in at the office and start your volunteer career! Please be aware that anyone who is not vaccinated is required to wear a mask while volunteering or take a Covid test at the school.

Mary Woodward PSO collects donations in a variety of ways that you might not know about.

Bottle Drop: Blue bags are available in the front office for all your redeemable cans and bottles. Simply fill the bag and drop it at the Bottle Drop at 14411 SW Pacific Hwy. That's it! The school collected $130 last year, and it would be great to double that this year.

AmazonSmile: Did you know that you can donate a portion of every Amazon purchase you make to Mary Woodward PSO on AmazonSmile? It is so simple and doesn't require anything extra once it is set up. Start by going here and searching for Mary Woodward PSO Foundation. Then when you're shopping, be sure you're at smile.amazon.com and the rest happens automatically. We collected $467 last year!

Box Tops: Box Tops have gone completely digital along with the rest of the world. Instead of collecting those little rectangles, now you can submit copies of your receipt and any earnings are awarded to the PSO automatically. The easiest way to do this is to download the Box Top app and use your phone to photograph your receipts. To make it even easier, you can teach one of your helpful kiddos to do the photography. The app shows fun graphics that make you feel like you win with every submission.

Did you know we charter a Cub Scout Pack? Most every 4th Monday the cub scouts, aged kinder through 5th grade, meet at school for their pack meeting where they connect and have fun! If you want more information contact Kristi Sloan at scouts@marywoodwardpso.com.

Please connect with us online via our Facebook page, where you’ll find up-to-date information about upcoming events, requests for help or kudos for a job well done.

If you would like something posted to the PSO Facebook page, just contact Kristi Sloan, Facebook Committee Chair at facebook@marywoodwardpso.com

You might have noticed that the PSO and committees now have new email addresses that all end with @marywoodwardpso.com. Please begin using these from now on. A complete list can be found here.