REMINDER! Walk-a-thon for Japan (Friday) & Cherry Blossom Festival (Saturday) at the Roosevelt Island School (P.S./I.S. 217)

Hello Parents/Families of 217!

Your child should have delivered a paper that explains about the Walk-a-thon/Fundraiser that is taking place at the school tomorrow, Friday (the 29th) to raise money for the victims of the Tsunami & Earthquake that hit Japan.  This is an important event that was quickly put into place to lead into the Cherry Blossom Festival that is also focused on fundraising for Japan and will be held on the island this Saturday! 

The classes will be taking turns walking the Roosevelt Island Loop tomorrow during the school day.  Each child was encouraged to have 4 sponsors that  would donated at least $5.00 for the cause.  All donations are due tomorrow - please submit them to your child's teacher or at the Main Office.  All proceeds will be donated and presented at Saturday's Cherry Blossom Festival.  Be sure your child is dressed appropriately for tomorrow, and if you are able grab your sneakers and join your child's class for a fabulous cause!  

Below is the email that we sent out to those on the PTA's contact list describing all of the events for the Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday {if you are not receiving these emails, please be sure to check your spam folder, or please email our Web Coordinator - Natalia Starkova at natalia.n.starkova@gmail.com to be added.  Emails come out weekly highlighting important events at the school and with the PTA!}.  The festival chair and committee are in need of more volunteers that can help the day of the event, from 1-3pm in the afternoon.  Please email your name asap to either Summer Lord - summerday.lord@gmail.com or Kristi Towey -  kristi.pta217@gmail.com if you can offer help for any amount of time during the event.  

Also, children are encouraged to participate in a photo contest with 3 different prizes - one of which is a Fuji digital camera!  For children of the island wishing to enter, they can pre-register and the entrance fee will be waived....however, we must receive their name, age and class by tomorrow at the end of the school day!  Please either email me the information for each child wishing to participate or submit it via writing to Ms. Lauraine in the Main Office. 

See the flier below for more details and information on all of the above.  Again, if you are not receiving these weekly emails from the PTA, please contact Natalia so that she can add you onto our email list and ensure that you are receiving the fun and important information we are sending out. 

Please forward this on to your friends & neighbors of the community.   

See you soon! 

Summer Lord 

Weekly Update from the P.S./I.S. 217 (Roosevelt Island School) PTA

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! WE HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING SPRING BREAK RIRA’s First Annual Cherry Blossom Festival will take place Saturday, April 30, 1-3pm. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to designated charities in support of the Japanese people who have suffered so much from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear plant disruption. Festival attendance is FREE to all and will have something for both adults and children to enjoy: CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL PHOTO CONTEST: take a picture of RI on April 30 and submit it to win one of three prizes (including Fuji digital camera). HERE are the rules and registration form. The Contest is FREE for your child if you preregister before Friday, April 29 via paper to Ms. Lauraine or via e-mail to Summer Lord at summerday.lord@gmail.com. OTHER EVENTS INCLUDE: A very special music performance Origami lessons and folding of 1000 paper cranes, a tradition in the Japanese culture for special events. The cranes will be displayed at PS/IS 217 for all the island children to enjoy. Tea ceremony that will go on throughout the event. A grove of Cherry Blossom Trees, just across and north of the subway station, will be dedicated by RIRA and RIOC, with a plaque offering our support to the Japanese people. Children from the RI Youth Program will demonstrate their special Karate moves. Sushi rolls will be provided by Fuji East, sake (maybe a tasting to compare), and a beer tasting (not just Japanese) being offered by River Walk Bar & Grill. Island Starbucks will donate a gift basket to be raffled off. An auction at RIVAA Gallery on Main Street (previews start at 3:30pm). Please tweet, email and call, the old fashioned way, to invite your friends to come out and join and support the Japanese community and our neighbors on Roosevelt Island. If you want to volunteer at the Festival, please email Kristy Towey (kristi.pta217@gmail.com) or Summer Lord (summerday.lord@gmail.com) EXECUTIVE BOARD 2011/12 NOMINATIONS It has been a great year for the PS/IS 217 PTA, and we are expecting even more fresh ideas and support from our new PTA members in 2011/12. PTA is now accepting Executive Board nominations. The Executvie Board is the governing body of the PTA. Nominations will be open for the following seats on the Executive Board: Vice President, Public Relations & Events Vice President, Membership VP,Middle School Affairs Secretary Treasurer Fundraising Officer Newsletter Officer Grants Officer Parent Liaisons Website Maintenance Officer You can read the description of roles of Executive Board Officers in PTA Bylaws. Please, remember that every parent with a child at the Roosevelt Island School is a member of the PTA. If you are interested in nominating yourself or someone else for these positions, please email psis217info@gmail.com. We will elect a new Executive Board at the PTA meeting on June 2nd. HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ©2011 PS/IS 217 PTA | Roosevelt Island School

Volunteer Day at the Roosevelt Island School (P.S./I.S. 217)

A note from Summer Lord, 1st VP, P.S./I.S. 217 (Roosevelt Island School):

Hello out there all you fantastic volunteers!

First of all - I hope you do know that all the help you provided for the Art Show & Silent Auction was amazing and really helped make the event possible. When I consider the amount of man-hours of work that parents put in for the event...it's awesome to consider what can be accomplished!

With that in mind - we have another event that needs help! The 3rd Graders each year are able to work with Turtle Bay (a residency music program here in NYC) in learning dance and music from Columbia. Their culminating performance is this Friday, the 15th! The problem that the school is running into is that the program is not providing costumes as it has in years past (they are double booked with costumes at another location). Therefore, we are in need of parents that can help us put together and make a quick set of costumes for our 3rd Graders. We just learned of this yesterday - so it's quick for us too!

We have a huge amount of felt that the school has agreed we can use to make into ponchos for the boys to wear. We need parents that can help cut out the felt into these ponchos - we need about 24-30 of them! (we'll have the definite number tomorrow). PLEASE BRING A GOOD PAIR OF SCISSORS TO USE!

For the girls we are going to make paper flowers that they can put into their hair (if you saw the flowers that were on display at the Silent Auction - that is what we will be making).
Our lovely Japanese parents at the school are amazing with making these and can show us how to make them!

If you can come to the school tomorrow - WEDNESDAY anytime from drop-off at 8:30 for 2-3 hours, we will be up in the library working on the parts of the costumes we can help with.

By chance if any of you have any connection with costumes/clothing that we can use, and you could get (any number would be helpful!):
- hats for the boys (sombreros)
- skirts OR bright colored sashes for girls
- bright shawls for the girls

***Also, if we have a large group of volunteers we also are in need of help gently taking down much of the art work from the show and getting it ready to send back to students and having some pictures that will be selected to hang in groups around the school.

*** And I have BOX TOPS (a lot of them!) to count from March's collection!

FOR ANY OF THESE THINGS THINGS WE WOULD LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOUR HELP!
IT'S INCREDIBLE TO SEE SITUATIONS WHERE THE "VILLAGE" COMES TOGETHER
TO HELP MAKE THINGS POSSIBLE FOR THE SCHOOL AND OUR CHILDREN!

Any questions please feel free to email or give me a call ---- and if you can help if you can send a quick email back so I can plan on numbers.

Many, many thanks!

Weekly Update from the P.S./I.S. 217 (Roosevelt Island School) PTA

THANK YOU for a fabulous Art Show and Silent Auction which raised more than $9,000 to be used towards the Studio in the School Art Program. Thank you to those that volunteered to make the event possible before and the day of the event and to the many, many families that came to support the school during the event. We all had a wonderful time and are grateful for families that are so supportive of our school! ©2011 PS/IS 217 PTA | Roosevelt Island School

P.S./I.S. 217 (Roosevelt Island School) 1st Graders Rainy Day Recess