Archives for April 2013

This year’s celebration of our Polaris students’ accomplishments will be Thursday, May 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. and will feature musical performances, art displays, and class productions.

We have Biker Jim’s Food Truck as well as the Cake Crumbs Cupcake Truck confirmed and are working on two more food trucks to help us celebrate the evening with great food for the family. Vendors have graciously agreed to donate a percentage of their sales for the evening back to Polaris. So the more people eat, the happier everyone will be. The offerings are sure to be delicious, so please plan to eat dinner at school! Watch for menus in upcoming editions of the ePost.

Finally, there will be a silent auction of all the fabulous Buy-A-Share experiences provided by the classrooms. Please mark your calendars for this not to be missed event!

What is the Gala anyways? I know when my family first came to Polaris and we started hearing the buzz about Gala, I pictured elegant evening wear and a parent only event. The Gala is not fancy and it is definitely not a parent only event. This event, which will be held on Thursday, May 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the school, is a community event for the entire family. It is the culmination of much of the wonderful music and art that the children have produced throughout the year. Each class will be performing, there will be beautiful art displayed throughout the school and there will be plenty of food and festivity. So, bring the whole family, invite the grandparents and come celebrate the closing of another wonderful year of learning, fun and creativity at Polaris.

In lieu of classroom baskets for fundraising at the Gala this year, we are asking that each classroom provide a minimum of one buy-a-share experience hosted by a family or group of families. Of course, the more events that are offered, the better!

Buy-a-Shares are a fun way of meeting new people, creating memorable experiences and perhaps even learning new things. More specifically, a Buy-a-Share is a community-building, fundraising event for which shares are purchased to attend.

(The staff offered up their Buy-a-Shares in the Fall). The events can cater to either kids/families or to adults only and will be a great way to get kids an parents together over the summer!

Kid and family event ideas:

• Jewelry-making
• Rocket launching
• Potato blasting
• Cooking or crafting
• Spa day
• Bowling, skating or pool party
• Sleep-over
• Sports outing
• Theatre performance
• Museum adventure
• Meet interesting people event
• Cookie or cupcake decorating
• Movie or game night
• Scrabble or chess tourney
• Pizza or tea party
• Art lesson
• Parents’ night out

Adult event ideas:

• Ethnic or themed dinner party
• Wine, whiskey, Scotch or beer tasting
• Golfing
• Cocktail party
• Bunco, LRC or Texas hold ’em night
• Learn to make sushi or bread
• or…
• Casino trip
• Weekend brunch
• Hiking or biking event
• Book, CD or DVD exchange
• Movie or game night

These events give 100 percent of the profit to the school PTO fund. Hosts cover all expenses (don’t hesitate to ask a business to donate for your event). Buy-a-shares are offered at a fixed price per share.If an event requires additional money for admission, gambling, etc.please indicate this when you submit your BAS information.

Please, get creative, join up with a friend, and host a Buy-a-Share event to benefit Polaris at Ebert PTO and have some fun!

Buy-a-Shares will be offered first-come, first-served at the Gala on May 16, with any remaining shares to be offered via email SlyReply for one week following the event.

Please submit BAS contributions by May 10 by email to Tammy Chamberlain at tammychamberlain@hotmail.com. Buy-a-Share forms that can be printed and submitted to the office will be coming via email from your room parents. Thank you!

Please join us on Saturday, May 18, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. to help make the school yard pretty! Bring shovels, brooms, wheelbarrows, flowers/ferns to plant, and people/kid energy! We will supply donuts, coffee, juice, and some directions on what to do.

Questions? Please contact Kirsti Peterson at kirstilpeterson@gmail.com or Judy Harris at jlbloomharris@yahoo.com.

To volunteer please sign up. This will help us track the number of donuts to bring

Thank you to all the performers who shared their talents and all artists and artisans who displayed their beautiful wares at the Love of the Arts event last Thursday evening. Each artist contributed a portion of their sales to the Art program which helps Danny Mey tremendously with procurement of high quality materials to use in his classes with our children. Thanks also to Angie Brown, Sara Crippen, John Dimos, Amy Breaux, Melissa Leffingwell, Renee Martinez-Stone (Medium Winner), Laura Landauer (Sizzlin’ Winner), Ann Fleming, Brian Nelson (Vegetarian

Winner), Annabel Adler and Laurie Hipley (Mild Winner), who all donated their fabulous chilis to provide tasty and belly warming dinners to so many of us. And finally, a big thank you to Jane Hartgrove who dished up fresh and tasty sushi all evening and then generously donated a portion of her sales as well! It was a Win Win night for everyone!

Pepperoni is American’s favorite pizza topping, with over 36 percent of all orders featuring this meat topping. Whatever your favorite topping, Park Hill’s Allegra’s Pizza is donating 10 percent of orders placed in April to Polaris! Be sure to mention Polaris @ Ebert when placing your order so the school receives credit. Orders can be called in or placed online. Allegra’s offers free delivery to Stapleton, Park Hill, Mayfair and Montclair. This is a great way to enjoy a wonderful pizza and earn money for our school! Click here for Allegra’s menu and to place orders online.

Save the date for Community FUNdraiser Dinner and Dessert nights in May:

• Tuesday, May 14 at Smashburger in Quebec Square. Click here for the flyer.
• Thursday, May 23 at Menchie’s on 8th & Colorado Blvd. and the Northfield location. Click here for the flyer.

All fifth graders will participate in the 27th annual DPS Shakespeare Festival on Friday, April 26 at the Denver Center For Performing Arts Complex. Polaris will be performing on the Curtain Stage from 10:45-11:18 a.m. This likely will be a tent stage on the grass in Sculpture Park, but that is subject to change. They are performing, “As You Like It” in period costumes. Students are responsible for their costumes. The DPS Shakespeare website, http://shakespeare.dpsk12.org/, is a great resource for costume ideas. Polaris has a few costumes for students to borrow. They are mostly accessory pieces like capes, hats and vests, but there are a few shirts, knickers (short pants) and dresses as well. Students need to request costumes no later than Tuesday, April 23.

Parents are welcome to join us at the Festival. In fact, each classroom needs 2 or 3 chaperones to walk with us to the DCPA. We will return to Polaris at about 12:30 p.m. Please contact your student’s teacher or Corrilee Kielmeyer to volunteer. The students will also be performing these scenes at the Polaris Gala on May 16.

Congratulations to fourth graders Ben Parent, Frankie Nuffer-Rodriguez, and Alex Smy! Their artwork, “Polarai Budg, Polaris Franko, Polaris Jelius”, fiber art, received a KUDOS Ribbon for excellent integration! It is humorous and fun! They will be recognized at the 2D Reception and Awards Ceremony on Monday, April 22 at 6 p.m. at the Denver Public Library.

This year’s celebration of our Polaris students’ accomplishments will be Thursday, May 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. and will feature musical performances, art displays, and class productions.

Biker Jim’s Food Truck and the Cake Crumbs Cupcake Truck will be serving great food for the family. We are working to secure two more food trucks to help us celebrate. Each vendor has graciously agreed to donate a percentage of their sales for the evening back to Polaris. So the more people eat, the happier everyone will be. The offerings are sure to be delicious, so please plan to eat dinner at school! Watch for menus in upcoming ePosts.

Finally, there will be a silent auction of all the fabulous Buy-A-Share experiences provided by the classrooms. Please mark your calendars for this not-to-be-missed event!

Each person in America eats about 46 pizza slices a year. Are you on track so far this year? Fortunately the Polaris Community Dinner FUNdraiser can help all month long! Allegra’s Pizza in Park Hill is donating 10% of orders made by the Polaris @ Ebert community from April 1-30. The school’s community includes parents, grandparents, staff, faculty, friends, etc. Be sure to mention Polaris @ Ebert when placing your order so the school receives credit. Orders can be called in or placed online. Allegra’s offers free delivery to Stapleton, Park Hill, Mayfair and Montclair. This is a great way to enjoy a wonderful pizza and earn money for our school! Look for flyers in the Thursday folders. Click here for Allegra’s menu and to place orders online.

Save the date for Community FUNdraiser Night on Tuesday, May 14 at Smashburger in Quebec Square. Click here for the flyer.

April Grocery Cards are here and waiting for your pick up in the school office. Please stop in with your check (made out to Polaris PTO) or cash before the end of the month. May will be the LAST month for grocery cards ordered for this school year.

PLAN AHEAD FOR THE SUMMER – if you would like additional grocery cards for summer time shopping, please contact Molly Kirschling at 303-875-6936 or paulnmolly@gmail.com before April 15 to have those summertime cards ready for pick-up by May 1.

CARDS STILL AVAILABLE

We have some remaining $50 reloadable cards to Safeway and King Soopers available! The benefits of re-loadable cards are that you can reuse them again and again, reloading in whatever amount you would like and receive the benefits of both the grocery card program (like gas discounts) and your credit card program (like earning mileage points) and no more little plastic cards in the landfills. Remaining stock of grocery cards and Recycled Billboard Bags with the Polaris logo tag will be sold at For the Love of Art tonight, or you may contact Molly Kirschling at 303-875-6936 or paulnmolly@gmail.com.

Click the banner below to order your 2013 / 2014 supplies through EduKit.

Thursday afternoon enrichment class

Would you like your child to learn to “code” by creating animated stories, video games, and interactive art? Then sign up for Scratch Lab which has a new Spring session starting today. For all the details click here.