New Box Tops Contest Under Way

We are almost at the halfway mark of the school year as well as our goal of earning $2,500 from Box Tops for Education! We have collected $1,129.50 toward our goal so far and just received a check for $932.30, half that goes directly back to the classrooms and the other half to the PTA for school initiatives. Thank you so much to all of the parents who have been clipping this year!

The next Box Tops contest is under way. The five students who bring in the most Box Tops before Feb. 19 will receive passes for a free round of mini golf at Wahooz! In addition, Discovery's traveling Box Tops trophy will be passed along to the classroom that brings in the most Box Tops.

There's also another way to earn extra Box Tops this month. Growing Local Learning, a Box Tops program through Albertsons, is offering 20 eBox Tops when you buy any five participating Box Tops products through Feb. 2. Participating in this promotion are General Mills, Mott's, and Hefty Box Tops for Education products. Go to www.growinglocallearning.com for more information!

A Look Back at 2015 and What's Ahead for the New Year

As we kick off 2016, I wanted to share some of Discovery PTA's accomplishments so far this school year.

We have had a flurry of activities so far, including:

• Our successful Kiss the Pig contest and Farmstead night, which raised more than $1,100;
• Double the entries for our annual Reflections arts competition and a great turnout for our Reflections Gallery and Discovery Donuts in November;
• A lot of support for the staff with our Wishing Garden for classroom supplies, a back-to-school breakfast, lunch for parent-teacher conferences, and side dishes for the holiday luncheon;
• The collection of more than 11,000 Box Tops, earning $1,129.50 for our school (we're almost halfway to our goal of $2,500);
• The smoothie station at Walk to School Day in October;
• The purchase of two steps for the monkey bars on the intermediate side;
• The purchase of Scholastic News and Reading A-Z to many classes;
• Partially funding the fourth-grade field trip to Celebration Park; and
• Helping to provide materials and fund the first-grade craft night in December.

Thank you to all the PTA members, staff, and volunteers who got the school year off to a great start.

There's more work ahead for us, and it's never too late to get involved. In addition to providing funding and support for teachers and classrooms, Discovery PTA will be undertaking a massive challenge in 2016 to add playground equipment to the intermediate side as well as some equipment for our special-needs students on the primary side.

Come to the first meeting of the year at 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 5, in the Health Room to find out more about this initiative as well as some other activities that will be planned for 2016.

We need all the help we can get. If you would like to become a PTA member and get involved, come to the meeting or email discoverypta@gmail.com.