The PTA is in search of Silent Auction Solicitors to help us gather donations by reaching out to local businesses. The co-chairs of the committee will provide you with a list of businesses to contact and a letter to send. If you are able to help, please contact Kathy Etheridge at i8that2@gmail.com. The Silent Auction is the PTA’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Its continued success makes it possible for the PTA to provide our teacher appreciation activities, educational support grants, school-wide assemblies, family fun events, and more. Thank you so much for your help!
Mark your Calendars – we will be holding a new FREE event this year! On Thursday, January 12, the PTA will host a Cozy Reading Night from 6:00-7:45 PM at school. Students are invited to wear their PJs, bring a blanket or stuffed animal, enjoy cookies and milk, and listen to read-alouds from our amazing staff! Cozy Reading Night also celebrates the start of our first SJLES Read-a-thon! The Read-a-thon program is a perfect opportunity to encourage a love of reading while also raising money for the school. Our Read-a-thon will take place after winter break from January 9 – 27 and we’ll communicate the details on how easy it is to participate as it gets closer. All Jaguars and their families are invited to attend Cozy Reading Night, whether or not they choose to participate in the Read-a-thon. See you on January 12!
Read-a-thon is a reading fundraiser that makes it easy, fun and rewarding to practice reading at home and at school! There is no required number of books to read, and no specific time requirement. The goal is simply to have fun reading! Family and friends are invited to support students with a one-time donation. It takes 2 minutes to sign up! All you need is your student’s homeroom teacher code, which can be found right here.
Your child will earn 15% of all donations that they receive to spend in the prize store. Choose from more than 200 fun prizes! Let’s get reading!
HCPSS Board of Education (BOE) is offering two opportunities to share your input on the 2023-2024 school start times decision, which will affect the entire school community. Click here to see the message that was shared via email on Tuesday 12/20. You are invited to share your feedback with the BOE at two public hearings, to be held January 17 and January 26. Pre-registration is required to speak at the hearings, or you may submit written testimony. Please see the BOE’s message for full details on the proposal and directions for submitting your feedback.
It’s not too late to sign up to share your culture at Multicultural Night! Please let us know by this Saturday, January 7, if you’d like to prepare a table display, or be part of the fashion show or talent show. Multicultural Night will be held on February 16 (snow date: February 23). See the signup for more details.
A: Read-a-thon is a reading fundraiser that makes it easy, fun and rewarding to practice reading at home and at school! There is no required number of books to read, and no specific time requirement. The goal is simply to have fun reading! Family and friends are invited to support students with a one-time donation.
Q: How long is the event?
A: The Read-a-thon officially begins on Monday, January 9, and runs through Friday, January 27. We’ll celebrate the start of Read-a-thon at our Cozy Reading Night, held at SJLES on Thursday, January 12, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.!
Q: How do I sign up?
A: Create your account right here by entering your student’s homeroom teacher code, listed below. Then invite family and friends to support your child’s Read-a-thon with a donation. It only takes a few minutes! During the registration process, you’ll have the option to send emails and texts to family and friends directly from the site, or you can have an email sent to your inbox that you’ll be able to forward as you wish. There is no requirement to read a certain number of books or minutes-per-day. However, reading minutes can be logged easily through your account if you wish to track and encourage your child’s reading.
Q: How does my child earn prizes?
Your child will earn 15% of all donations that they receive to spend in the prize store. Choose from more than 200 fun prizes! Stay tuned for more details about redeeming prizes.
Q: Are there sponsorship opportunities for businesses?
A: Do you own or manage a business that you’d like the SJLES community to know about? Read-a-thon offers ad sponsorships so your company’s information can be displayed on all the fundraising pages throughout the program. Go to www.read-a-thon.com/donate and enter code 52158 to learn more.
ALL DAY on Wednesday, December 21, Yama Sushi in Ellicott City will be holding a Restaurant Day fundraiser for the PTA! No flyer or special codes are needed – simply tell your server or cashier that you’re there for SJLES and you’re all set! A generous 25% of sales will be donated back to the PTA to benefit the school community. Yama Sushi is located at 4725 Dorsey Hall Drive, Ellicott City, 21042, and can be reached at 410-997-3688. Thank you for your support!
Multicultural Night will be on February 16 from 6:00-8:00 PM. It is an opportunity for SJLES families to celebrate and share their heritage with the community and for everyone to learn about the rich diversity at our school. Families can sign up here to represent different cultures from around the world by sharing samples of food, creating a table display, or participating in a fashion show or performance. Everyone comes from somewhere – you don’t have to have been born there to sign up. The deadline to sign up is January 7. Thanks for sharing your culture!
Mark your Calendars – we will be holding a new FREE event this year! On Thursday, January 12, the PTA will host a Cozy Reading Night from 6:00-7:45 PM at school. Students are invited to wear their PJs, bring a blanket or stuffed animal, enjoy cookies and milk, and listen to read-alouds from our amazing staff! Cozy Reading Night also celebrates the start of our first SJLES Read-a-thon! The Read-a-thon program is a perfect opportunity to encourage a love of reading while also raising money for the school. Our Read-a-thon will take place after winter break from January 9 – 27 and we’ll communicate the details on how easy it is to participate as it gets closer. All Jaguars and their families are invited to attend Cozy Reading Night, whether or not they choose to participate in the Read-a-thon. See you on January 12!
The PTA started a new Education Enrichment Program this year to help us learn about ideas from the staff to enhance students’ educational experience and provide appropriate funding. We are so appreciative of the teachers who submitted 5 impressive applications for consideration! We are excited to announce that our first Education Enrichment Program will be used to purchase a classroom set of ukuleles to enrich the music curriculum (thank you Mrs. Foster for bringing forth this idea!). In addition, we will be asking the general membership to vote on a budget adjustment to fund a second proposal as well, which will be detailed at next week’s PTA meeting.
