Welcome to our once-a-month newsletter that features a recap of the monthly PTA Meeting, upcoming events, and ways to get involved in the Roosevelt community.

Fundraising

Great news!! We are off to a really great start with donations this year. Thanks to your generosity, we are already over 30% of our way to our annual goal of $78,000. It’s not too late to give to the PTA! Donate to the annual Enrichment Fund here, and learn more about corporate matching here. Your company may match your contribution dollar-for-dollar!

Roosevelt Pond and Reading Garden

The PTA is undertaking much needed repairs to the pond outside the school library in order to protect our precious fish and turtles. We are seeking community members who may have expertise in either fencing or residential pond maintenance. If you know someone, please reach out to Whitney here.

Get ready for a Spooktacular time

Thank you to everyone that attended the Family Dinner Dance! It was a great way to kick off the year. Our next event is on October 25 from 6:00-8:00pm. Spooktacular Bingo is THE event of the year – come in costume and there’ll be bingo, big prizes, and a little bit of “boo”!  The event will include snacks but not dinner. Tickets are $5 a person or $20 for a family! We ask that you RSVP and pay in advance via our @RooseveltPTARaccoons Paypal, but we will also sell tickets at the door. We are looking for volunteers to help set up and run the event, please sign up here. Volunteering at PTA events requires no school district background checks. 

Eat out for the PTA

Mountain Mikes Pizza, Wednesday October 16, 3121 Jefferson Ave, Redwood City — Flyer: Mountain Mikes10.16.24 jp

Redwood City Barbeque, Wednesday November 20, 640 Woodside Road, Redwood City 

October PTA Meeting

Save the date for the October PTA Meeting on Tuesday October 22 at 6pm. Meetings are held virtually and in person. We will be seeking community input on a Reading Garden to be designed outside the Roosevelt Library, neighboring the pond. Join virtually here: http://meet.google.com/ydb-vdpo-xrt

Key dates in October

10/14 Indigenous People’s Day – no school
10/15 School Site Council meeting 4pm
10/16 Mountain Mikes Pizza restaurant fundraiser
10/17 Coffee with the Principal 8:30am
10/22 PTA meeting, 6pm
10/25 Spooktacular Bingo Halloween Party

If you missed the PTA Information Night meeting this week, not to worry, this newsletter is here to inform you of all-things-PTA! 

Who is the PTA and where do the funds go?

The PTA’s goal is to build community, raise money and enrich our student’s experience at Roosevelt.  The PTA Board is comprised of parent volunteers who love to give back to our school community. We are still seeking the following board members: Assistant Treasurer – some accounting experience preferred. Vice President – assist the president and volunteer as next president. VP of IT – help with technical issues, maintain website, update technology for PTA finance and communications. If you would like to get involved, email us here.

The bulk of the PTA’s funding comes from our Annual Enrichment Fund and the spring Jog-a-thon fundraiser. Money raised funds school improvement projects, special events, and enrichment programs like garden and field trips. Check out the graph here to see the breakdown.

How are we doing so far?

We are happy to announce that we are off to a good start this year! We’ve raised 18% of our annual goal. Thank you to everyone that has donated to the Roosevelt Enrichment Fund. There’s still plenty of time to contribute a “100% Pledge” of $350 per child or $500 per family. Donate here. Your company may offer a corporate match program for charitable contributions – go to this page for more information. 

How can you get involved?

We are always seeking new parents to get involved. Parent volunteers can help as little or as much as they are able. This year, we are seeking help in the garden, with our website, and with events and fundraising. Visit our volunteer sign-up to find all the opportunities and reach out to us if you have any questions – we’d love to have you join us! Note that the PTA reimburses for fingerprinting required for classroom and field trip volunteers. You can also join the PTA  and become a voting member! The cost is $5 per member for an annual membership that needs to be renewed each school year.

Attending PTA meetings is another way to stay in touch. PTA meetings happen monthly on the last Tuesday of the month at 6pm, and occur simultaneously in person and virtually. Our inclusive community welcomes everyone and at each meeting we offer translation. We hope to see you at the September 24 meeting (virtual meeting link). 

Room Parents needed

Looking for a way to support your teacher this year? Consider becoming a Room Parent. We still need room parents in many classes. If interested, please reach out to Elizabeth Feig (elirahan@gmail.com), Room Parent Coordinator, to volunteer or ask questions. 

What’s coming up?

Family Dinner Dance – Friday, September 6, 6-8pm
Roosevelt students, family and staff will enjoy pasta dinner, a photo corner and DJ dancing.  This is a great way to welcome everyone back for another great year. Tickets are only $5 a person or $20 for a family! Pay in advance via @RooseveltPTARaccoons on Paypal or at the door. Sign up here to volunteer to set-up, serve food, or clean up – anything you can do, we appreciate. 

Restaurant fundraisers – A percentage of all sales goes to the Roosevelt PTA!
Corner Yogurt: Friday September 13, 1501 Woodside Rd, Redwood City
Mountain Mikes Pizza, Wednesday October 16th, 3121 Jefferson Ave, Redwood City

Key dates in September and October

9/2 Labor Day – no school
9/6 Family Dinner Dance, 6-8pm
9/13 Corner Yogurt restaurant fundraiser
9/24 PTA meeting, 6pm in person and virtual
9/30 No school
10/16 Mountain Mikes Pizza restaurant fundraiser
10/22 PTA meeting, 6pm
10/25 Spooktacular Bingo Halloween Party

Maze Days is our annual event to kick off the new school year and to introduce families to school services, the PTA and their new teachers! Maze Days are on Friday, August 9, 8:30-11am and 12-2:30pm. Parent volunteers that speak English and Spanish are needed for various roles to help out. No experience necessary!  Sign up to help

School uniform approved Spiritwear will no longer be sold at Maze Days. Grab it in our online shop or get vintage spirit wear in limited sizes at Maze Days.

Happy end-of-the-school-year! Roosevelt PTA wishes you an excellent summer and thanks our school community for your support this school year. This newsletter looks back on our efforts and forward to the next school year. 

We did it! Fundraising updates

Congratulations Raccoons! Thanks to your hard work, we raised $95,000 this year; that is 125% of our goal!!! Together with a one time gift of $25,000 we will be able to bring some exciting new improvements and programs to campus.

Pond and Reading Garden
We all love the pond, and now it’s going to be even better! We plan to improve the area outside the library and pond with creative seating, shade, and landscaping to create a calming outdoor space for students to read and enjoy the fish pond. We will also be able to make much needed repairs to the pond to protect our precious fish. 

Garden is back!
We are very excited to re-introduce the garden program for all grades next year. In partnership with Each Green Corner, a local non-profit, each class will have access to vital education on natural ecosystems and food production while playing in the dirt.

More support for field trips and outdoor education
Our students benefit so much from field trips and outdoor education. Next year we will be able to provide more support for these vital programs so teachers can help expand minds and horizons for all children.

Jog-a-thon wrap-up

Jog-a-thon was a great day for our runners, and we raised $37,272. Congratulations to our Grand Prize winner, Anders Onguka and Runner Up: Lauren Buck! We should be proud that 203 students raised money, 144 students met the goal of $80 and 10 classes + 8th grade made their goal. The winning classes are Ms. Kamlley, Mrs. Torres, Ms. Mallari, Ms. Barrios, Mrs. Tsuchiyama, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Heon, Mrs. Emery, Ms. Lunde, Mrs. Holland and 8th grade!  

Thank you to our generous sponsors for covering our costs (Dehoff’s Key Market, Woodside Pediatric Dentistry, W.L. Butler, Andrews Orthodontics, CSI Electrical Contractors, Inc, Mountain Mike’s Pizza, Burgos Design Group, Creative Gates, Allison Fujimoto Sotheby’s Realtor, & Donut King) and to all the volunteers who make Jog-a-thon our best community event. 

Water Party this week!

Since we made our school-wide Jog-a-thon goal the students have earned a Water Party on Thursday June 6, 11:30am-1:30pm. We are looking for a few volunteers to help. If you’re available please sign up here. 

Looking forward 

PTA is powered by parents!
As our children graduate, we need parents of younger children to carry on the work of the PTA. We are still looking for a vice president to replace our president in 2025-26. We need an assistant treasurer to learn the job and take over for our treasurer after her term. We also have a newly created role to help guide the garden and pond program.  Please reach out to president@roosevelt-pta.com if you are interested in these or any other small roles. 

Spirit Wear
Stock up on spirit wear for the new school year! New Roosevelt spirit wear is available and going forward can be purchased on demand at the Roosevelt Swag Shop: https://roosefelt.myshopify.com/. Sample sizes will be available at Maze Days, but the new spirit wear will be sold online only.  Excess inventory of vintage spirit wear- in limited sizes-  will be sold at Maze Days for 1/2 price.

Save the dates!

• Kinder Playdate: Saturday 8/3, 10am-12pm on the upper campus playground. Join this playdate for incoming kindergarten and TK students to get to know each other before school starts.
• Maze Days: Friday 8/9, 8:30-11am and 12-2:30pm. Come for back to school information in addition to your class assignments. 
• First Day of School: Wednesday, August 14

Have a wonderful summer!

3 weeks to Jog-a-thon! 

Get ready for our annual Roosevelt School Jog-a-thon! With just 3 weeks to go, it’s time to start fundraising for this exciting event on May 16th. Each student’s goal is to raise $80 to help support PTA-funded programs like art and music, field trips, and family fun nights. So far only 50 of 469 (or 11%) of students have started online fundraising. There’s still plenty of time to get started!

Fundraising isn’t just about supporting our school; it’s also an opportunity for students to win exciting prizes like trips to Great America and bowling. Every $20 they raise puts the student in the raffle for great (donated) prizes. Visit the JAT website for details and get ready to make a difference! Be sure to look in your email for your 99 Pledges personalized fundraising site, or follow the instructions on this link to set up a page.

With special thanks to our local sponsors for their generous donations that help pay for the Jog-a-thon event: Dehoffs’s Key Market, Woodside Pediatric Dentistry, Today Sotheby’s International Realty, CSI Electric, Andrews Orthodontics, Burgos Design Group, Mountain Mike’s, Creative Gates,   W.L. Butler, and Donut King Redwood City. Be sure to visit their businesses to show your support!

Volunteers needed for Jog-a-thon

Jog-a-thon volunteers are needed between the hours of 7am and 1:30pm on the day of the event.  If you are interested in helping (even just part of the time!) please sign up for a shift (or 2!). You can escort your child’s class down to the field, take photos, help set-up or break down and more! Sign up here

Join the PTA Board

Join our PTA Board! As we look ahead to the new school year, we have exciting opportunities for parent community members to become involved. While our current PTA members’ children are transitioning to upper grades, we’re eager to welcome parents from lower grades (K, 1, or 2) to bring fresh perspectives to our team. We’re seeking candidates for various positions. If you’re passionate about making a difference in our school community, we encourage you to reach out to PTA President, Whitney for more information. 

New Raccoon Swag

Ready to rock some Roosevelt Raccoons pride with our school uniform-approved swag? Check out our selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and more featuring the new Raccoons logo! Make your purchases in our swag shop here.

PTA Meeting in May

The last PTA Meeting of the year Tuesday, May 28 at 6pm. We will be wrapping up the school year and voting for new PTA positions. Please join us to help make next year be the best it can be! The meeting takes place in person in the staff room and virtually with this link.

Key Dates in May

5/6-10 Mental Health Awareness Week
5/6-10 Teacher Appreciation Week
5/9 8th grade car wash
5/10 Variety Show, McKinley auditorium 6pm
5/16 Jog-a-thon
5/23 Coffee with the Principal
5/27 Memorial Day – no school
5/28 PTA meeting 6pm

PTA Fundraising update

Great news: we are well on our way to making our $77,000 fundraising goal this year! We’re very optimistic about bringing the garden program back for the 24/25 school year. In the meantime, our community is helping to take care of the garden through maintenance days and recently, a local Cub Scout Troop volunteered and weeded the garden. Thank you! Fundraising is critical in the last 5 months of the school year. Look for ways you can give with an Easter See’s Candy fundraiser, restaurant nights, and of course our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Jog-a-thon.

Jog-a-thon news

On May 16, 2024, Roosevelt students will participate in our 6th annual Jog-a-thon (JAT), the primary annual fundraiser that raises money to pay for the programs funded by the Roosevelt PTA! With your help, we hope to raise approximately $80 per student. New this year, we will be creating fundraising webpages for all students who are in the school’s Online Directory. If you opted out of being in the directory, but would like to have a JAT fundraising site auto-created for your student, please send your student’s name and your email to Jenny Barnes at jenny@roosevelt-pta.com. If you have any JAT questions, come by the PTA table at the Reading Fair on Friday, February 9 at 5:30pm.

Volunteer opportunities with the PTA

We are always providing ways for you to get involved in the Roosevelt community. Volunteering is a great way to get to know people and give back! Here are a few volunteer opportunities we are looking to fill:

IT & Web Support
Are you tech savvy and have a few extra hours to lend the PTA support? We need to upgrade crucial infrastructure such as: website security, wordpress, email, website content. Please contact Whitney at whitney@roosevelt-pta if you can help with one or all of these needs. 

Variety Show
The Variety Show is happening again this year in May. It’s a wonderful event full of students dancing, singing and sharing their talents with the Roosevelt community. We need a parent volunteer to take the helm and participate in auditions and pra

ctices, day-of logistics (lighting/sound/program), and concessions. The total commitment is 12-16 hours: please contact Whitney to volunteer.

Eat out for the PTA

Please join us for our next Roosevelt restaurant fundraiser on Thursday, February 15th (all day) at Redwood City Barbeque, 640 Woodside Rd. Mention Roosevelt School and a portion of your purchase will be donated to the PTA. Save the date for Chipotle on Tuesday, March 5th (4:00-8:00pm), 861 Middlefield Rd (english flyer, spanish flyer)

Key Dates in February

2 Upper campus celebrates 100th day of school
5 No school for staff professional development
8 Reading Fair boards due
9 Reading Fair family event 5:30pm
12-16 8th graders at Yosemite
19-23 Presidents’ Week – no school
27 School Site Council meeting 4pm
27 PTA meeting 6pm