Boon Elementary PTA

	STAFF APPRECIATION The staff (teachers and support personnel) will be working very hard to ensure that your children get the best educational experience possible. There are many opportunities to show our appreciation, like bringing snacks for the teachers lounge. Staff appreciation week is also a wonderful chance to simply say ‘THANK YOU’. To get involved, contact Susan Foley.
	CHESS CLUB Could your child actually choose to play chess over video games? This is an after school program will be presented by USA Chess, a nationally renowned children’s chess academy and the premier chess academy of the Southwest. For all ages and abilities, this one hour weekly program will provide instruction and an opportunity to practice skills learned each week. For more information, contact: Tamera Feito
	PATRIOT PRESS The Patriot Press is a publishing program designed to promote literacy and encourage creativity. Students in K – 6th grade will have the opportunity to write and illustrate a real book! Each finished copy will remain in the school library until the student graduates from the 6th grade. Parents will have the chance to purchase additional copies for home. Who wouldn’t want a copy for their personal library?!? Volunteers are needed to guide students in the publishing process in these areas: editing, student conferences, typing and book making. If you have questions or would like to volunteer please contact Beth Swanson or Stacy Swierenga.
	ARTS IN EDUCATION As we all know, many of public education programs have been cut in recent years to make room for other federally mandated programs. Therefore, piggybacking off of the Reflections program, the PTA and Boon Elementary will promote and further develop our need for artistic expression in our children’s lives through Arts in Education. It has been proven that children who study the arts have stronger math and science skills. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the arts encourage “Right brained” thinking and challenge children to use creative skills in producing works in the arts. For more information, contact: info@BoonElementaryPTA.com
	REFLECTIONS – “Wow!” The National PTA believes all children deserve a quality arts education, and encourages students to pursue artistic expression through participation in its annual Reflections Program. Through the Reflections Program, all students have the opportunity to express themselves and receive positive recognition for their efforts. The Reflections theme for the 2008-9 school-year is “Wow!”, and all entries must be based on this theme. All Boon students are eligible to participate and can submit entries in one or more of these six categories: Literature, Musical Composition, Photography, Visual Arts, Dance Choreography and Film/Video Production. The due date for entries in this year’s program is Thursday, October 30, 2008. All entries must be delivered to the Boon Elementary School office with a completed and signed entry form by that date. Entries are judged at the local level, and a selected number are then sent on to the council, state and possibly national levels.Click Entry form or Rules for on line copies of these documents, or pick up copies from the school office. For more information contact: Sue Sergeant.
	STUDENT PHILANTHROPY - STARS STARS is an acronym for "Students Taking A Right Stand" and is a program teaming sixth graders with Allen Community Outreach. ACO requests different essentials each month and involved sixth graders are responsible for making posters to get the word out. On a monthly basis needed items are donated by Boon families and collected by the sixth graders. Everybody wins with this program!! For more information, contact: Judi Wohead, Cherrie Vedane or Jean Mattock.
We offer Love and Logic parenting classes.	Love and Logic® Parenting Techniques Do you have problems getting kids to: - school on time without loosing your mind - do chores - do their homework - treat you with respect - stop bickering - use manners at the table? Becoming a Love and Logic parent & Early Childhood Parenting Made fun programs by Love and Logic are very easy to learn and produces amazing results. If you are dealing with any of the issues listed above, you would benefit from Love and Logic. If you would like to feel more confident as a parent, have more fun parenting and feel more relaxed at the end of the day, click here to check out the Love and Logic website or contact Amy Egan for more information.
	FIELD DAY Field day is fun filled day for Boon students. Coach Sweet organizes the activities with lots of water games, games of skill as well as games of luck. It is a day that the kids really look forward to and is a great way to wrap up the school year. It is also a wonderful time for parents to get involved by volunteering. The more volunteers we have, the more fun is had by all!! For more information, contact: info@BoonElementaryPTA.com.
	Spelling Bee Boon's 3rd Annual Spelling Bee. Could you spell appoggiatura? That was the winning word in the 2005 Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year Boon will participate in the Dallas Morning News Spelling Bee which is a sponsor of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Grades 1st through 6th will hold individual classroom spelling bees throughout the month of January. Then the top winners of each classroom will compete against a corresponding grade level on. Check the calendar for dates and times to check out the grade level competition and see who is the school champion. That student will represent Boon in the district and county Spelling Bees. Start studying! For more information contact Sue McCann or Deborah Licare
	Youth Protection: This chairman is responsible for helping the school counselor implement Red Ribbon week. Red Ribbon week has daily activities to support their campaign of "Say No to Drugs". This week will occur in October. This chair will assist the school/PTA in any other safety programs for the school. Contact Mary Beth Donohue with any questions and/or ideas.
	Destination ImagiNation Destination ImagiNation (DI) is a creativity and problem-solving program for children from elementary age to college age. Teams of 5 -7 members compete in various challenges stressing complex thinking, problem solving and above all, creativity. Teams will be registered at the regional level (we are in the Northeast Texas Region or NExT) and at the national level and participate at a certain competition level, based on the age of the oldest team member: · Rising Stars: grades K-2 or 5-9 years old (non-competitive) · Elementary: grades 3-5 or no student above 12 · Middle: grades 6-8 or no student above 15 After forming, each team chooses a Team Challenge, which they work to solve until the first competition. The Team Manager of each team serves only as a supervisor and chaperone; he or she is prohibited from assisting the team in their solution. The team works together to find their solution, to present it on tournament day and to solve their Instant Challenge. Regional competition will be held on February 28th in Plano. Teams that place first or second will advance to State competition on April 3-4th in Houston. The winning State teams will advance to Global finals in Tennessee in May. Information including team manager help and Team Challenge previews can be found on the national website: *idodi.org. Calendar and training information can be found on the regional website: next.texasdi.org*. If your child is interested in participating in DI or you want more information, plan on attending the DI meeting following our PTA meeting on Thursday, September 11th. There will also be a DI awareness meeting for all of Allen and the Northeast Texas Region at Boon on Tuesday, September 30, beginning at 6:30pm.

	For more information contact Tamra Feito.
	Environmental Committee The goals of the Environmental Committee are to promote environmental education, develop programs to enhance the beauty of the school and community, encourage student participation in local environmental contests, and to develop and promote reduce/reuse/recycle/rebuy school initiatives. Boon’s Environmental Committee also supports the student Boon Environmental Club. The Boon Environmental Club is a student club that meets after school. Club students learn how to help the environment through many hands on activities. Boon Elementary is a recognized Go Green Initiative School. For more information, please contact info@BoonElementaryPTA.com.
	TALENT SHOW We are happy to announce that we will be having our first variety show at Boon Elementary sponsored by our PTA. It will be on Friday, May 15th beginning at 6:30 p.m.! All Boon students are invited to be a part of the variety show. We look forward to seeing the many talents of our students. Decide on an act e.g., singing, dancing, playing instruments, juggling, magic show, etc. Students must be a Boon student, they may perform solo or with other Boon students. Performances should be no more than 2-3 minutes long. All acts must follow the variety show guidelines and fill out a permission slip. We are looking for interested 6th graders to MC the variety show. MCs must also fill out a permission slip and follow the guidelines. Variety show guidelines and permission slips can be picked up in the front office. Return permission form to the front office no later than Tuesday, February 24th. This will be *first come first perform* so only the first 30 slips received will be allowed to participate. Get them in early! The acts will be notified after the February 24th deadline with additional information. We would like to thank the variety show committee in advance: Holle McSpadden, Kim Martin, Kelly Hoefler, Susan Schafer and Carolyn Magee. If you have any questions please contact Susan Schafer.