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PTA Report Message from The President 1 Membership Report 3 Corporate Matching Request 3 Bloomer of the Month Spotlights 3

What’s been happening? (Jan) Art Walk 4 Staff Appreciation 4 Family Bingo Night 5 Reflections Reception 5 General Membership Meeting 5 Issaquah Community Meals 6

What’s been happening? (Feb) Parent Teacher Social 6 After School Movie 6 Eager Reader 6 Science Fair Assemblies 7 Barnes & Noble Book Fair 7

What’s coming up? Community Outreach 8 Science Fair (Mar 14

th) 8

2013-14 Exec. Committee Slate 8 General Membership Mtg. (21

st) 9

Parent Education Program 9

What else is happening? Yearbook Orders Deadline (3/22) 9 Labels for Education 10 Issaquah Meals Program 10

What’s happening in district/state? WSPTA Focus Day 10 WSPTA Update – Take Action! 10 ISF Updates: 11 Nourish Every Mind Luncheon Online Survey – Build Better Schools Year-End Tax Receipt

In This Issue

January & February 2013

PTA REPORT Message from the President: Welcome back from break! Hopefully you all had a fabulous and restful vacation and are ready for

another busy month ahead at Sunny Hills.

We can't wait to see the projects our young scientists are preparing to share with the community at

our Science Fair on March 14th. Susie Roberts and Edel Black have been working hard to ensure

we have another great event and we expect it to be full of many interesting and educational

experiments for everyone in the community to enjoy. This is a big event for kids and grown-ups and

requires a lot of involvement from many people. If you can find the time in your schedule to

volunteer, this is a great (and rewarding) opportunity. Be sure to find more exciting details in this

newsletter and on our website, and I hope to see you there!

As you hopefully know through ongoing updates from Dana Rundle, our wonderful Issaquah

Schools Foundation (ISF) Representative, the Foundation is critically important to the ongoing

welfare of our district students. We would like you to know about the upcoming annual Nourish

Every Mind Luncheon that is a bunch of fun to attend and it benefits ISF’s ongoing work. Our

Sunny Hills PTA filled several tables last year and would love to show our strong support again this

Published bi-monthly by Sunny Hills Elementary PTA | Sammamish, WA | Unit 2.6.25 425.837.7400 www.sunnyhillspta.org sunnyhillspta@gmail.com

Jan/Feb 2013 Sunny Hills Pony Express Page 2 of 11

year. If you are interested in attending the luncheon or hosting your own table on May 9th at

11:00am, we would love to have you join in the fun. Please contact either myself

(sunnyhillsptapresidents@gmail.com) or Dana Rundle (danarundle@hotmail.com) and we'll be

happy to reserve you a seat!

A big thank you goes out to our Nominating Committee for all their hard work filling our 2013-

2014 Sunny Hills PTA Executive Committee slate. We will be voting in our incredible nominees at

our General Membership Meeting coming up on Thursday, March 21st at 6:30pm.Please meet us in

the library to not only vote in our EC for next year, but also come to hear who was chosen as our

Golden Acorn, Outstanding Advocate and Outstanding Teacher awards along with other PTA

announcements for upcoming programs and events. In addition to all this, we will be voting in a

new PTA President for the remainder of the school year, and here is the reason why...

My family has made the decision to move to the Portland, Oregon area at the end of March to join

my husband who has been working on pursuing a new project for his company since August. We

are happy to join him again, but it is, of course, a bitter, sweet feeling to leave Sunny Hills. We will

truly miss the Sunny Hills community so much, and the collaborative effort put forth between the

teachers, staff and parents to enrich our children's educational and social experiences. I know we

will cherish these school memories forever. Thank you for all of your support over the last two

years in which you have allowed me to serve as your Sunny Hills PTA President. It is definitely a

team effort all the way around and I could never have done it without all of your support,

commitment, dedication, huge smiles, friendly waves and "hellos", and big hugs.

Have a fabulous March, and happy Spring!

Danielle Miller

Sunny Hills PTA President 2012-2013

sunnyhillsptapresidents@gmail.com

Sunny Hills Elementary | Sunny Hills Elementary PTA | Calendar | Join | Volunteer | Like us on facebook

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President Danielle Miller

Co-Vice Presidents Kym Clayton | Laura Yamashita

Secretary Monica Rockwell

Co-Treasurers Pailin Huang | Brian Neville

Pony Express (monthly) Kina Yukish

Mustang Messenger (weekly) Mary-Kate Anderson

Meeting Minutes

Budget / Financials

For the Record

Jan/Feb 2013 Sunny Hills Pony Express Page 3 of 11

Membership Report:

The Tradition Continues: Sunny Hills reached 100% PTA membership once again

Thank you to parents, staff and community members for coming forward to support the Sunny Hills PTA. Not only did we reach 100% membership, but we did it 2 months earlier this year! That ensures that each of our students has a voice in Olympia representing their educational needs. THANK YOU to all of our members -- please know that you are having a positive impact on your student and your school.

Corporate Matching Update:

Generous Corporations Help Sunny Hills

We're lucky to live in an area where so many of us work for corporations that are generous to charitable organizations such as Sunny Hills PTA. Our school has benefited from these companies through matching funds programs and volunteer hour matching. Matching Funds If you've donated to Sunny Hills PTA this year (walk-a-thon or membership) and work for one of those generous companies who match, please complete your company's online or paper form and submit it for a match. All donations will go right to programs that support our kids. Volunteer Hour Matching Many local companies reward volunteer time with a donation of cash grants to non-profits in which their employees volunteer. For each hour of your volunteer time, your employer may donate money to Sunny Hills PTA. Microsoft, for example, donates $17 per hour volunteer and up to $12,000 per employee per year. If you work for a company that pays for volunteering and you give time to Sunny Hills in the classroom or PTA activity, please submit those hours towards the Sunny Hills PTA. Bloomer of the Month Program December's "Bloomer" award went to Karen Goo for her all her efforts as a library volunteer! We really appreciate all her hard work! January's "Bloomer" is Kim Spataro for chairing an amazing Family Bingo Night! It was a huge success! The “Bloomer” for February will be picked this week and the winner will get a $5 Starbucks card. If there is someone you’d like to nominate for the month of March, it takes just a moment. Just grab a flower-shaped form located in the office beside the volunteer sign-in. Let us know the person’s name and what they helped with.

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers. We truly appreciate all you do!

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WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

January Ice Skating Benefit: Thanks to all those who turned out to skate at the Bellevue Ice Arena over the holidays and helped add some funds to the PTA bank account. Art Walk: Get the Point? Masters of Post-Impressionism January 7 & 8 In January, the students were introduced to Post-Impressionist Masters. The artists we examined all lived in France at the end of the nineteenth century. They extended the lessons learned from Impressionists like Monet, Renoir, and Degas, by beginning to emphasize

geometric forms, to distort forms for expressive effect and to use unnatural color. The students were absolutely delighted by Vincent Van Gogh’s thick, swirling strokes and intense colors. They learned that these tools allowed Van Gogh to express energy, motion, and his feelings. This was contrasted with Paul Gauguin’s famous paintings of Tahiti in which he used large flat blocks of color in his images – the beginnings of abstraction. Students saw how Paul Cezanne broke his scenes down into geometric structures, which they will see develop into Cubism during our next Art Walk. Finally, students were amazed to learn that George Seurat made his paintings entirely with tiny dots of color in his scientific exploration into artistic expression through

Pointillism. Fun fact: Most recognized painting this year by students: Starry, Starry, Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Another fun fact: Vincent Van Gogh painted it while he was in a hospital. It was the view from his window.

~ Heather Rogers, Art Walk Chair

Staff Appreciation The Sunny Hills Staff Appreciation committee continued to show our staff how thankful we are for them by providing hearty snacks and treats at 3 Staff Development meetings in January and February. The spreads included: assortment of salty and sweet snack items in January, baked mozzarella cheese sticks and marinara sauce, trio of berries, sugar cookies and chocolate in early February and veggie platter, dip, grapes, munchies, with cookies and milk for the final February meeting. A big thank-you goes out to: Sara Ceteznick, Carrie Spencer, Tandi Begin, Lisa Small, Kammy Lull, Connie Fortier, Stacy Jarvis, Kym Clayton, Johanna Range, Shannon Holliway, Kathy Dillon, Stacy Heller, Katie Brown and Kris Broenneke for their continued donations and support of this program.

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Family Bingo Night Thank you to all who came to support our Annual Family Bingo Night! We had a huge turnout, with almost 500 people in attendance for a fun evening of bingo and brownies. It was great to spend the evening with friends, families, and staff in our amazing Sunny Hills Community. The evening was filled with Bingo, prizes, friends, fun, and BROWNIES! Thanks to all who made this year's event such a success - our amazing event chair - Kim Spataro, our fabulous bingo callers (including Principal Sarah White and fourth-grade teacher Derona Burkholder, pictured here), an awesome team of parent volunteers, and to everyone who pitched in to make the clean-up so quick and easy. We hope you had a wonderful time! Reflections Reception Three Sunny Hills artists will advance to State contest This year Sunny Hills students submitted 57 pieces to the school level Reflections contest. Of those 57, twelve were selected to advance to the District level. The District Reflections reception was held January 8th, to honor the school level winners, and to announce the students whose works would be advancing to the state level of competition. Congratulations to the three Sunny Hills students whose pieces will be advancing to the state contest: Esteban O., 4th grade video entry; Digant D., 3rd grade visual arts entry; and Sai M. 2nd grade visual arts entry. The winners of the state contest will be announced May 5th at the Washington State PTA Convention.

January General Membership Meeting During our PTA General Membership Meeting on January 25th, we elected our Nominating Committee; announced several upcoming events and programs; got a report from the Washington State PTA's Legislative Focus Day; and had the opportunity to hear about and sign up to attend ISF's biggest fundraiser of the year in May, the Nourish Every Mind Luncheon. Immediately following our meeting, we had Special Guest Pat Kilwine, owner of Soulstice Yoga, give an exclusive presentation and taste of yoga to our Sunny Hills parents. Thank you to all who attended!

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Issaquah Meals Program The Sunny Hills PTA would like to say a BIG “Thank You” to Sunny Hills Girl Scout Troop 42936 for preparing and serving a hot, delicious, home cooked Lasagna dinner to approximately 50 patrons of the Issaquah Meals Program. The whole troop worked together to prepare the meal and then Girl Scouts Josie R., Abbey G., and Avery M. served the meal Monday night to the patrons, and did so with BIG smiles on their faces! A huge thank you also to Girl Scout Moms Lori R., Amy G. and Shelby M. for all of their coordination, serving and clean up. We still have a need for a group to volunteer for Monday, May 27th, so if you have a group of friends, a girl scout troop, or a boy scout troop that would like to help, please let me know. Three kids and three adults are perfect for helping with serving and the rest of your group can contribute to the cost and help prepare the meal. Please contact Sheila Barlow at smbarlow1@comcast.net for more information.

February

Parent & Teacher Social Hooray for our first ever PTA Parent & Teacher Social Feb. 4th at Capri Cellars in Issaquah! Thanks to all who took part in this well-attended event - and huge thanks to event chair Stacy Heller for putting together such a successful evening! After-school Movie The After-School Movie Event on Feb. 13th was a great success! Thank you to everyone who volunteered for this event. It takes many, many parents to pull it off, and we are so fortunate to have had the help of Megan Haas, Tracy Drake, Diana Tam, Eloisa Tang (snack lady extraordinaire), Gina Pijpker, Jaime Menold, Amy Wisler, Monica Rockwell, Amy Gathright, Sally Porter, Lisa Small, Cami Blumenthal, Carmen McCartney, Danielle MIller (the AV lady), Becky Hall, Kristi Kratochvil, Cindy Harron, & Dana Abugow. Not to mention the assistance of Ms. Duncan for her mats, Mr Clausen for his AV help to run the movie, and Rich, the fabulous custodian, who always makes sure we have our chairs and tables moved quickly to get the kids all set up in time. On behalf of the PTA and all who took advantage of this fun event, many thanks to co-chairs Shirley Murphy, Shelby Morton, and Jenell Tamaela. And of course, thank you to all of you who sent your kids to join us to watch the movie. This PTA event

is a fun and profitable fund raiser that helps support our school. We will see you again next Fall for our next movie! Eager Reader We wrapped up our Eager Reader program last week. Thanks to all the students who read and logged minutes, their parents who approved minutes, and the many volunteers who helped keep things going every week - working hard, as you can see in this picture. And huge thanks, of course, to our fabulous event chairs, Becky Hall and Shawna Borichewski!

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Science Fair Assemblies As a kick-off to the Sunny Hills Science Fair which will take place on March 14th, 2013, the Pacific Science Center ‘s “Science on Wheels” came to Sunny Hills on Monday 11th February.

Carrie Pucko from the Pacific Science Center put on two “Super Cool Science Shows”. All teachers, students and parent volunteers who attended agree that the show really was “super cool”! Carrie used liquid nitrogen, lots of props, costumes, audience volunteers along with plenty of humor and fun (we loved the Einstein wig) to demonstrate that we are all scientists. By using balloons, balls, rubber tubes and many other props, Carrie showed the audience what happens to molecules when they get super cold. And of course, the

much talked about show finale – we got to see what

happened when Carrie ate a graham cracker that had been placed in liquid nitrogen – smokin’ nostrils! Susan Roberts and Edel Black would like to thank everybody who made these Assemblies possible, in particular Tia Kleinkopf for all her work organising the Assembly times, the MPR and putting everything in place to enable Carrie to put on two great shows. Huge thanks also to the office staff and to all the teachers for enabling student attendance. Also to Lisa Small, Danielle Miller and Pailin Huang for their assistance and support. We are looking forward to a great Science Fair on Thursday March 14th.

B&N Book Fair **Shop online through March 7

Wow! What a turnout for our Barnes & Noble book fair on

Saturday! Thank you to our fantastic guest readers for sharing your weekend with us - Ms. Dunn, Ms. Sylvers, Ms. Winn, and Ms. Melton. Many thanks to all the families who came by to listen, browse, and shop - and help support our school library! Special thanks to chair Jaime Menold for putting on such a successful event! **You can still help. Shop online through March 7 and enter Book Fair ID 11017159. The Sunny Hills Library will receive 20% of your purchase! **

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WHAT’S COMING UP Sunny Hills PTA Community Outreach Program Did you know that Tiger Mountain Alternative High School has students that do not have regular access to a healthy, nutritious breakfast, or even food on weekends and evenings? Since there is no PTA at this school to help raise money for these basic needs, the Principal at Tiger Mountain has asked Sunny Hills Elementary to help with donations of food, basic toiletry items, and also grocery store or gas gift cards during the month of March. Some suggestions of how you can help with food donations are: Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars, healthy cereal, healthy snacks, tuna and salmon, peanut butter, pasta and sauce, nuts and dried fruit, and chunky soups. Suggested toiletry items are: razors, shaving cream, tooth paste and tooth brushes. Food and Gas cards are greatly appreciated as well. There will be a donation bin in the office beginning the first week of March and running through the end of March. The next time you are at the grocery store or Costco, if you can pick up an extra box or can of healthy, nutritious food and a toiletry item or two and bring them in to the office donation bin or send them in with your child for donation that would be wonderful! Your generosity would be greatly appreciated by a student in need that is working hard to finish school and succeed! If you have any questions, please contact Sheila Barlow at 425-351-9377 or smbarlow1@comcast.net.

Science Fair Thursday, March 14, 4-8 pm, Sunny Hills gym The goal of the Science Fair is to encourage students to explore science in a fun, relaxing environment and to share what they learn with their peers, teachers and parents. Don’t miss this fun annual event! In addition to student exhibits, there will be some exciting exhibits from outside organization on display. 2013-2014 Executive Committee Slate At our March 21 PTA General Membership Meeting, we will be voting in our 2013-2014 PTA Executive Officers, who will take office July 1. The PTA Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following slate of officers: President - Kym Clayton Vice President - Monica Rockwell Secretary - Jennifer Murai Treasurer - Mark Hill We will also be voting in a PTA President to serve for the remainder of this school year, after our current PTA President Danielle Miller moves to Oregon. Current PTA Vice President Kym Clayton has graciously offered to serve out the remainder of Danielle’s term. Please plan to attend the meeting to vote!

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March PTA General Membership Meeting / Election of 2013-2014 Exec. Committee

Thursday, March 21st from 6:30pm-7:15pm in the Sunny Hills library Please plan to join us for our next PTA General Membership Meeting on Thursday, March 21st from 6:30pm-7:15pm in the Sunny Hills library. We will be electing our incredible nominees for our 2013-2014 PTA Executive Committee; announcing who was chosen as our Golden Acorn, Outstanding Advocate and Outstanding Teacher awards; sharing several PTA announcements for upcoming programs and events; and voting in a new PTA President for the remainder of the school year (please see my article in the Pony Express for more details about my pending move to Oregon). Your feedback and participating at our meetings is always welcome and appreciated. Immediately following our meeting we will hear from one of our very own Sunny Hills parents, Tori Berntsen, a certified Love and Logic Facilitator, who will give her very popular 90 minute seminar on the Parenting With Love and Logic Series. Child care will be offered in the MPR for both our General Membership Meeting as well as our Love and Logic seminar with a reservation only. Please contact Danielle Miller to make your child care reservation as soon as possible. Space is limited. Parent Education Programs Exclusive Sunny Hills Parent Ed Opportunity-

Be the Best Parent You Can Be! Parenting With Love and Logic, with Tori Berntsen, March 21st from 7:15pm-8:45pm in the Sunny Hills Library

Immediately following our General Membership Meeting on March 21st , we will hear from one of our very own Sunny Hills parents, Tori Berntsen, a certified Love and Logic Facilitator, who will give her very popular 90 minute seminar on the Parenting With Love and Logic Series. It will be from 7:15pm to 8:45pm, in the Sunny Hills Library. Love and Logic is an approach to raising kids that provides loving support from parents while at the same time expecting kids to be respectful and responsible. Come and learn to build and refine the skills necessary to parent children of all ages. Child care will be offered for both our General Membership Meeting as well as our Love and Logic seminar with a reservation only. Please contact Danielle Miller ( sunnyhillsptapresidents@gmail.com) to make your child care reservation as soon as possible. Space is limited. Yearbook Orders Due Deadline is March 22 Now taking orders for the 2012-2013 yearbook! The cost is $16 per yearbook. Order anytime until March 22, 2013 – but we encourage you to ORDER NOW and avoid last-minute panic in March. [Order online] [Questions? Contact Milla Ciobanu or Shelby Morton]

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WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?

Labels for Education (LFE) Questions? Contact Karen Goo

Have you filled up your Labels for Education collection bag with LFE barcodes and caps that came home with your student in December? Please drop them off in the LFE/Box Tops collection box located in the office so Sunny Hills can earn FREE arts, athletics and educational items! Labels for Education UPCs/barcodes and caps are found on over 2,500 products, including BIC products, Post cereals, V8 drinks, Spaghetti O’s, Prego sauces, Swanson’s broths, Pop Secret popcorn, and Pepperidge Farm snacks (including goldfish crackers!). Please visit the Labels for Education website for a complete list of participating products. The Issaquah Meals Program Needs You! Questions? Contact Sheila Barlow

We still have a need for a group to volunteer for Monday, May 27th, so if you have a group of friends, a girl scout troop, or a boy scout troop that would like to help, please let me know. Three kids and three adults are perfect for helping with serving and the rest of your group can contribute to the cost and help prepare the meal.

WSPTA & ISSAQUAH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION WSPTA Focus Day Sunny Hills PTA and Issaquah PTSA Council were well represented at WSPTA Legislative Focus Day in Olympia today - which included a meeting with Ross Hunter, Marcie Maxwell, Rodney Tom, Andy Hill, and Kathy Dahlqust, followed by a rally. Some of the attendees included Caroline Brown, Novella Fraser, Betsy Cohen, Lida Buckner and Kym Clayton. Hope more people will plan to attend with us next year!

WSPTA Updates Push open that door! TAKE ACTION With its ruling on revenue Thursday, the state Supreme Court cracked open the door to amply fund our children’s education. Now it is up to us to push it wide open. Please contact your legislators and tell them to pay for the education promised our children and required by the state constitution. Kids have waited long enough for basic education. Our students need counselors, librarians and classroom teachers. They need books and safe buildings. They need access to classes that prepare them to step into the world of work or move onto college. They need basic education. Please, TAKE ACTION. Push open that door. Why Washington State PTA opposes two-thirds requirements Court throws out two-thirds vote to raise taxes

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ISF Updates Nourish Every Mind Count Down March 1st marks 69 days to one of the best events of the spring—the 15th Annual Nourish Every Mind Benefit Luncheon. If you want to become part of the team ensuring the event’s success, join us as a Table Captain. Cathia Geller, our intrepid Table Captain Chair, can tell you everything you need to know at our March 22 Table Captain Kick-Off. Contact Cathia at cathia@cathiageller.com. You’re also welcome to come as a guest – just let us know! It’s Time to Speak Your Mind about Building Better Schools You have ideas on how to make our schools better. Share them with those who can help implement change. The Community Forums Network is hosting the third survey in its Education Funding series. Your responses will be compiled and packaged as a “Where’s the consensus?” REPORT for policy makers and the media. BONUS! By taking the survey, you’ll qualify the Foundation for a grant of up to $2,500. Follow the link, CommunityForumsNetwork.org, complete the survey and select Issaquah Schools Foundation as the

beneficiary. Hurry, the survey closes on March 31. THANK YOU! Did You Get Your Year-End Tax Receipt? Letters were mailed at the beginning of February. Email Tina Weber, tweber@issaquahschoolsfoundation.org if you didn’t receive yours.