Thank you Grady Families for your participation in the gift card give-away on Wednesday. 77 gift cards were donated by families from our school and another 80+ gift cards were funded by money made at the Barnes & Noble Family Night of Reading. A picture of the gift cards donated by families and some of the Barnes & Noble gift cards is attached. Gift card and gift item donations were made by the following families: Patterson, Azevedo, Panos, Andres, Mueller, Matos, Jackson, Sierra, Fitzgerald, Ledford, Dougill, Hammond, Schentrup, Lyons, Boyd, Stemac, Carroll, Sahoo, Andratte and Del Castillo. Some families did not leave their names on the gift cards, and we must simply thank them generally. The teachers loved the gift card give-away and we’ve received several thank you emails from the teachers. The teachers appreciate our strong family supporters and strong PTA, both of which greatly help our school.
Thank you for a fantastic flower day! So far, Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week has been a wonderful success. We started with Monday Breakfast (see a picture of the breakfast display here: Picture), today was flower day and tomorrow is Hats Off To Teachers and Staff. Please have students wear hats to school and consider giving teachers and staff gifts to show appreciation. If you don’t know what kind of gift card or gift your child’s teacher would like, please review teacher profiles here: Teachers; Administration here: Administration; and Specialists here: Specialists.
In addition to the individual teacher gifts given by students directly to their teachers, there will also be a drawing on the Morning Show, for prizes of gift cards and gift items. Thank you to everyone who has donated gift cards and gift items thus far. To donate gift cards and gift items for the Wednesday give-away, please drop them in the front office before 8 am on Wednesday. Please attach a note with your or your child’s name if you’d like it announced on the Morning Show.
To see more information about Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, please click here: Teacher and Staff Appreciation. If you have any questions about Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, please email Avery Maniscalco at [email protected].
Coming up is Grady’s Spring Musical. Grady Elementary PTA has lined up some spectacular raffle baskets and silent auction items for the Spring Musical. To see the items, click here: Baskets and Silent Auction Items.
You can join in the raffle and silent auction even if you don’t plan to attend the Spring Musical. You can buy raffle tickets (1 for $1 or 7 tickets for $5) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (May 11-13) in front of school.
On Wednesday, May 13, we will not only sell raffle tickets, but we will display the baskets that are the raffle prizes (together with boxes for you deposit raffle tickets in), and we will display the silent auction items for viewing and bidding. We will serve free coffee and pastries, too. It should be a lovely morning for a raffle and silent auction get-together.
The winning raffle tickets will be drawn after the Spring Musical, but you need not be present to win, but please place contact information on the back of your raffle ticket! We will contact all winners of raffled and silent auction items, so feel free to buy tickets even if you are not planning to attend the Spring Musical.
Tuesday, May 5, is Flower Day. Please have students bring each of their teachers, and the Grady staff who help our students, a flower to say “thank you for helping us bloom.” The flowers can be hand-made, store bought or picked from your garden (vases are unnecessary as most teachers and staff already have them). Please help shower our teachers and staff in flowers so we can show them just how much they mean to us.
It is not too late to drop a gift card off in the front office for the all-day give-away of gift cards and gift items on Wednesday. Please consider donating a gift card or other gift item of any amount to be given away on Wednesday. To have your child’s name announced when the item is given away, please include a note on the item. Please deliver gift cards and items to the front office today, tomorrow and Wednesday morning. Think of the hard work that teachers do in planning lessons, grading papers, communicating with parents and educating and inspiring our children, and it’s easy to realize just how much they deserve to be appreciated. This is our one-week opportunity to show teachers and staff that we acknowledge and appreciate their effort and commitment, so let’s make it count.
Also, please consider donating a 1.5 hour block or more of time to the Grady Spring Book Fair. Book Fair sales take place from May 13 to May 20, and there are volunteer spots from May 12 (set up) until May 20. We need parents to help children select books, organize books and work the cash register. A complete schedule of volunteer opportunities is available by clicking here: Book Fair Volunteers. You can sign up for your spot just by clicking on it. It is a simple, easy, 1-step way to volunteer. For any Book Fair questions, please contact Mr. Tsourakis at [email protected].
The Grady Elementary PTA Nominating Committee is seeking volunteers for board and committee positions for the 2015-2016 school year. Specifically sought is a Fundraising person to manage the Fall Fundraiser and Tiger Trek and an Events person to plan and execute events at the school. We also need a Social Chair to plan evenings out and social events for our general membership. We need a Dad’s Club Chair to organize events specifically for fathers of Grady students. If you have an interest in one of these roles, or want to talk about customizing a role for yourself based on your talents, please reply by email or write to the Nominating Committee, care of Kris House, at[email protected].
The Grady Elementary Spring Musical featuring the play, How to Be a Pirate: In Seven Easy Songs, is coming up on May 13, from 5 pm to 7:30 pm. In addition to the fantastic student performances, Grady PTA has lined up food trucks, vendors, and a number of silent auction and raffle items, the list of which can be found here: Spring Musical.
Grady Elementary congratulates new Chief of Police for the City of Tampa, Eric Ward. Chief Ward is the husband of first grade teacher, Mrs. Ward. Chief Ward came by the school on Friday and was recognized with a hand-painted banner congratulating him on his achievement. To see a pictures of Chief Ward, Mrs. Ward and her class, as well as a picture of Mrs. Dosal, Mr. Campbell and Chief Ward, with the banner, please click here: TPD Chief Ward Visits Grady Elementary.
City of Tampa Chief of Police, Eric Ward, visited Grady Elementary on Friday, May 1, 2015. Chief Ward has been visiting Grady Elementary for many years, but on Friday, he visited for the first time as Chief. Mrs. Dosal, Mr. Campbell, and Grady students in Mrs. Ward's first grade class gave him a very warm welcome. Congratulations to Chief Ward and to his wife, Alberta Ward, who was Grady Teacher of the Year in 2013. To read an article and see a video about Chief Ward, please click here: Article and Video.
Monday is the first day of Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week. It is a week during which we express our gratitude to the teachers and staff who help our children bloom. Thanks to your donations to the Grady PTA, our children's teachers and staff will enjoy coffee, tea and treats tomorrow morning. This is one of the many nice things you do for our school through your membership in the PTA.
It’s not too late to bring gift cards, or other wonderful items into the office for the all-day Teacher and Staff Give-Away on Wednesday. If you want your child’s name announced as the item is given away, please put your child’s name on a note attached to the gift card or item. Please bring gift cards and items to the front office Monday, Tuesday or on Wednesday morning at the latest. Thank you for these great gifts that the teachers and staff will love.
For more information about Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, click here: http://gradytigers.org/2015/4/teacher-appreciation-week-may.
The Spring Book Fair is coming soon to Grady Elementary and Volunteers are needed to assist from the afternoon of May 12 (set up) all the way to the end of the day on May 20. There will be a special night time event during the Spring Musical on May 13, and we will need many volunteers for that evening. To volunteer for a block of time, please click here to see the available times and dates: http://gradytigers.org/2015-bookfair-volunteers. The volunteer time blocks are set up in mostly 1.5-hour increments, but if you can only volunteer for a portion of the selected period, please note it in the comments. If you have any questions about the Book Fair, please email Mr. Tsourakis at [email protected].
Parents of Fifth Graders, Coleman PTSA has provided us with 3 helpful documents you may want to read. Please click here to see more information: http://gradytigers.org/2015/4/coleman-information-for-fifth-grade-parents.
Dear Members of the Grady Elementary Community,
Construction of the new Grady Elementary perimeter fence has started! Thus far, workers have replaced much of the fence on Church Avenue. The new fence looks fantastic and is made of steel, so it is not only more beautiful, but also more secure than our prior fence. We are so excited to finally see the results of the hard work of so many parents, teachers, staff, volunteers and administrators. When this phase of fence construction is complete, both the north end around the front of the school and the east end along Church Avenue will have a beautiful, strong black painted steel fence.
Now is a great time to sponsor a fence panel. If you sponsor a panel now, your dedication plaque – a 4" X 8" plaque with an inscription of up to three lines, 20 characters per line – will be permanently placed on a brand-new fence panel on the north or east side of the school. You’ll be able to walk by your dedication plaque and enjoy your inscription, and the inscriptions of other Grady families, for years to come. The tax-deductible money you spend, $250 per panel dedication, will help fund the completion of the remainder of the fence. To sponsor a fence panel online using any credit card, please click here: Sponsor A Fence Panel, for our Cisco-certified secure online portal. To print the Sponsor a Fence Panel form and return it to the school with a check for $250 per panel, please click here: Paper Sponsor A Panel Form. To see pictures of the fence construction, please click here: Fence Construction Photo Gallery. Please order your fence panel today so that we can include your inscription in our upcoming plaque order.
Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week is taking place from May 4-8. This year, we are saying to our teachers and staff, “Thank You For Helping Us Bloom.” We will have a different event each day and we need your help to make it special! For more information, and a list of events, please click here: Teacher Appreciation Week. Consider “appreciating” your child’s teacher by organizing parents to sponsor a fence panel in the teacher’s name.
Grady’s Chess Team competed in the Mitchell Gran Prix this weekend. The tournament is a two-part event, but Grady has ended the first stage in an excellent position. To see the Chess Club Team members, and see more information about the event standings, please click here: Chess Team at Gran Prix. The second stage of the chess tournament takes place on May 17, and any Grady student may join our Chess Team to help our school. Students who wish to wear a Grady Chess Team Shirt can order one by clicking here: Chess Team Shirt Order Form.
We hope you are excited about the beautiful new fence that will enhance the security and attractiveness of our school. Please consider sponsoring a panel today.
Sincerely,
Grady Elementary PTA