Carson PTA

Staff Appreciation is coming up...

2009-04-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Join us in celebrating our wonderful Carson Staff:

“You are the APPLE of my eye”

2008 - 2009 Carson Staff Appreciation Week

Monday May 4th
Breakfast buffet - to start your week off right

Wednesday May 6th
Luncheon after school from noon – 1:30 pm

Friday May 8th
Dessert Buffet - to end your week on a sweet note

Tuesday May 5th & Thursday May 7th
Afternoon Snacks

If you would like to volunteer to donate food for the week or time helping with set up. Please contact Sarah volunteer@carsonpta.org or sign up in the Carson office!

Thank You!!!

Movie Night - Take Two!

2009-01-24T08:24:00.000-08:00

Last night was our 2nd official movie night at Carson elementary and it went incredibly well. Our feature presentation was IGOR and it was hot off the presses having being released on Tuesday. We estimate that we had more like 300-350 attendees, but we were ready for more. The 6th graders from Mrs. Dochow's class were set up with treats and pizza in the back of the gym, the pre-order line was separate so those that pre-ordered their pizza could go straight back and pick it up. The Schwann's deliveryman was there with a variety of ice cream treats for sale, and the movie was set up and ready to go right on schedule.

What made this even especially great was that Sarah, our movie night coordinator, was able to contact Exodus, the movie production company, and they sent us a whole box of fabulous items to use as give aways and door prizes! The kids recieved pins, bracelets, or posters on arrival and also were given door prize tickets to be entered to win some bigger prizes. These included, first edition IGOR comics, coloring books, build your own monster kits, board games, and a Wii game! Way to Go Sarah! Our winners were pleased with their goodies.

A huge thank you to all who attended. Our PTA is still working hard to bring the families of Carson great events and opportunities to interact at the school with their student. We appreciate your feedback and your time if you are able to volunteer.

Movie Night Madness!!

2008-11-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, I never cease to be amazed at the turn out at our events! We estimate 400 - 500 people came to watch Kung Fu Panda! There was floor seating for those who came with blankets and pillows, many in jammies, and then there were also chairs set up towards the back.

6th grade sold pizza and Friday treats to raise money for camp. Pizza sold out quickly - if you missed out be sure to pre-order for the next movie night! Fliers will go out in early January.

We also had Schwann's Sundae Cones for sale for $1 each. Schwann's donated 50 cents per cone sold and we raised over $100! They passed out catalogs and if you plan to order, be sure you mention Carson Elementary and we will recieve 10% of your purchase back! This money goes to our general PTA fund - we are hoping to save our movie night income to go towards a BIG popcorn machine. Then we'll be able to offer popcorn for movies nights in the future.

Love the idea of a popcorn machine? Your input counts so please fill out an events feedback form (available on the carson pta homepage) and attend the PTA General membership meetings to have your ideas heard and your vote counted!

Skate Night - Show Your School Spirit!

2008-11-08T20:55:00.001-08:00

Show your school spirit and wear your spirit wear to Skate Night @ Tiffany's Skate Inn!
Wednesday November 12th from 6:00-8:00 pm
$5 per person (quads are an extra $4)
Cash only for skates but Credit Cards are accepted in the snack bar.

We are hoping to have PTA memberships and Spirit Wear available for purchase during skate night if someone volunteers to work the table. If you are interested in getting involved contact our volunteer coordinator Sarah Foreman at volunteer@carsonpta.org

See you at Skate Night!!!

Voting is Cool!

2008-11-04T08:48:00.001-08:00

From the News Tribune, Tacoma, WA November 4, 2008

Across the South Sound, a teachable moment Kids learn that ‘voting is cool’Students from kindergarten to high school voice their opinion through mock elections
DEBBY ABE; debby.abe@thenewstribune.com
Published: November 4th, 2008 12:30 AM | Updated: November 4th, 2008 07:16 AM

As voters across the nation anxiously wait to find out the nation’s next commander in chief, the kids at Carson Elementary School on South Hill already know their student body’s choice for president: Barack Obama.
The school held a mock election Monday, and the senator from Illinois attained a convincing 57.2 percent win over Sen. John McCain’s 41.4 percent. As Carson assistant principal Miles Erdly announced the results to the student body, he reminded the kids, “Once one person is named, what people then need to do is rally behind that individual.

“No matter what the outcome is, we’re not going to tease each other or be negative about it to other people. ”

Good advice for young and old voters alike.

Carson is among an assortment of schools throughout the South Sound using this fall’s election as a “teachable moment.”

Besides their counterparts at Carson Elementary, students at Camelot Elementary and Brigadoon Elementary in the Federal Way area were among the schools holding mock elections Monday. Sandy Heffernan’s fifth-graders at Arlington Elementary in Tacoma already voted and made banners. Seabury School students in Tacoma voted last week.

Plenty more schools will vote today, including: Stafford and Franklin elementary schools and Baker Middle School in Tacoma. Carter Lake Elementary on McChord Air Force Base; Orting Middle School and Kilo, Lakota, Sacajawea, Saghalie, and Sequoyah middle schools in Federal Way.

At Carter Lake, third- through fifth-graders also are studying past and current presidential commercials to discuss purpose and audience.

At Franklin Elementary in Tacoma, Shelly Smith’s fourth-graders have studied the qualifications and duties of the president and the candidates’ backgrounds as they’ve followed the election.

“I want my students to remember the election of 2008 50 years from now because it will be very historic,” Smith said.

The pseudo elections aren’t limited to lower grades. At least one class at Federal Way’s Todd Beamer High School will vote today. At Clover Park High School in Lakewood, Ron Olson’s contemporary world affairs class is conducting an election for all students in the small learning community called “Crossroads Preparatory.” Olson’s class will use the voting data in a research project on youth vote and this year’s election.

Some kids’ votes today will count. Custer Elementary School students in Lakewood and Wainwright Elementary students in Fircrest will elect student body officers.

At 878-student Carson, kindergartners through sixth-graders geared up for Monday’s election using a voting curriculum from the Pierce County Auditor’s Office, Principal Arturo Gonzalez said. Last week, the kids completed pretend voter registration forms and received pretend voter cards.

On Monday, school PTA moms transformed Carson’s entrance foyer into an elaborate election precinct, complete with a 30-foot flag that formed a wall-length curtain. They set up a bank of 30 booths made of the tri-fold presentation boards more often used for science projects.

Class by class, kids and their teachers trotted to the polls throughout the day.

Under the guidance of a PTA volunteer acting as a poll worker, youngsters signed their name on their class’s voter registration list and took a paper ballot to the booth. Once they had marked a box, they folded the paper in half, dropped it in a red, white, and blue ballot box and got a “Voting is Cool” sticker to slap on their shirt.

Every hour, Erdly counted the ballots and updated “Carson Decision 2008” results broadcast to classrooms on the school’s closed-circuit channel. One screen showed the vote percentage for each candidate, and another screen gave bar graphs showing hour-by-hour results as classes voted.

Asked what he thought of the scelection, third-grader Owen Roberts held a pencil from the auditor’s office reading, “Voting is Cool.”

“I voted for John McCain because I think that only people who will fight for America or have already fought for America should be president,” the youngster said.

Plus, McCain was the candidate preferred by his parents.

“And he has a good vice-president, so if he dies, it won’t be like (there’ll be) a horrible president.”

Second-grader Jack Dalton said he chose Obama, the same as his mom, grandma and great-grandma.

“It was pretty fun and interesting,” said Jack, raising his eyebrows. “Now I guess everyone is definitely prepared to vote when they’re 18.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

Staff writer Steve Maynard contributed to this report.

Book Fair Safari Update

2008-10-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Coyotes!
Our book fair has been running for a week already and it's been going very well. Congratulations to Mrs. Hart's class who won our Book Fair Bingo! They will recieve a book of their choice for the classroom library and a popcorn party with a volunteer to read from the book while they munch!
The turnout so far is amazing and today we will get the last few classes through to view the books we have and get a chance to buy. Watch for those wishlists to come home with your child, you will have two more opportunities to shop our book fair:

Friday October 24th from 6 pm - 8 pm during Family Art Night
There will be art projects sponsored by our Art Docent program, including products you can purchase through Kid Kreations and have turned into gifts and keepsakes. There will also be free projects for the kids to work on. We will be displaying our creative coyotes amazing Reflections art work and these will be judged tonight. We will have special guest judges coming in, including Dr. Tony Apostle the Superintendent of Schools, as well as Cheryl Child, the PTA Region 5 Director, and many more community members that will be donating their time for our students.

Saturday October 25th from 9 am - 11 am Breakfast with Books!
Enjoy a light breakfast while Mrs. Peterson, our Carson librarian, reads aloud from select book fair books. There will also be a visit from Curious George! This will be your last chance to shop our book fair until the Spring.

We have currently sold over $6,000 worth of books which means a LOT of books and supplies for our school. Our goal is $10,000 which we hope to earn during our family events. We have also raised over $100 with our One-for-Books donations which will go directly to supporting our Accelerated Reader program and will be used to purchase over 25 tests. We would love to get that up to 100 tests so donate your spare change or loose dollars and that will really add up! For every dollar we raise, Scholastic will match that with book donations to charity organizations, it's a great program where everbody wins.

We hope to see you at one of our fun family events. The students love to share their school with their family!

Volunteers are still needed for these events. If you have an hour or two you could donate, please contact Sarah Foreman at volunteer@carsonpta.org or Susannah Youngquist at vpevents@carsonpta.org or just stop by the book fair today!

THANK YOU!!!!

Book Fair Safari is Almost Here!

2008-10-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

We're counting down the days to our fall Book Fair Safari! Scholastic is delivering tons of titles on October 16th and we will be taking over the stage. A huge thanks to Mrs. Anders for being so flexible and allowing us to take her space for the week!

We are so excited to offer a variety of family events during this book fair including a special Dads/Kids night on October 16th during the Watch D.O.G.S pizza night. Book Fair will also be open during our Art Night on October 24th and again Saturday morning October 25th for Breakfast with Books - we will have a special book character there to visit.

You can see our full calendar on the Carson Book Fair website.
Parents are welcome to visit our book fair during any open hours. Students will have the chance to visit with their classes Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, or visit Wednesday and Friday during lunch and recess if they plan to make a purchase.
***Reminder - there is 8.8% tax on book fair purchases, be sure to keep that in mind if you are sending money in with your students!

Volunteers are still needed to help in a variety of ways including decorations, food, sales, set up, clean up, and more. There is a sign up sheet located outside of the PTA/Parent room at carson - inside the main doors and to the left. You can also email Sarah at volunteer@carsonpta.org to help! There are also many opportunities for Carson Super Acheivers to earn volunteer hours during lunch and recess with teacher/principal permission. They may also help during family events please contact Susannah at vpevents@carsonpta.org to make arrangments.

Can't wait to see you there!

Family Fun Night & Dance is coming...

2008-09-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

This year we've taken the concept of the school dance to a whole new level. Mr. Gonzalez really liked the idea of having a "Passport to the World" themed dance and we have really taken that idea and gone crazy with it!

Our ideas are to have the attendees be treated to a trip around the world by visiting all 7 continents. Upon entering the school they will be given a passport and they will be able to participate in a variety of activities to earn stamps for their passport. At the end of the evening they can turn their passports in for a fortune cookie. If they have at least 5 stamps in their passport they will be entered into a drawing for some cool prizes.

The Continents they will visit are:
Africa: Faces of Carson! Create a self-portrait face to be displayed with our map!
Asia: Leave Your Mark! Mark where they, their parents, or grandparents are from on a giant map of the world.
Australia: Climb Ayers Rock! Take a climb on our rock wall and imagine you are climbing the largest monolith in the world!
Antarctica: Picture It! The 6th graders will be taking pictures with 1 of 4 backgrounds of famous places around the word to choose from and they will be sold for $5.
Europe: Buon Apetito! Enjoy some refreshements being sold by the 6th graders: Pizza $1/slice, Pop or Water $1/each.
N. America: Fame and Fortune! Passport pick up and turn in.
South America: Macarena & More! Participate in a group dance led by our fabulous Tune City DJ's.

It is going to be a really great time for the whole family and we hope to see you there.

We can always use volunteers. We are looking for passport stampers, we'd love to have at least 2 per continet. One of our priorities is to make sure that our volunteers still get to enjoy the events they are helping with. The more volunteers we have the easier it is to make this happen!
"Many hands make light work" ~ Chinese Proverb

Staff & Volunteers eat for free!

One last reminder: Parking at our school is very limited. Show respect for our community and our environment by walking or carpooling. We appreciate your effort!

Back to School BBQ!

2008-08-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Coyotes,
Our school just held it's 1st annual Back to School BBQ and it was a howling success!

The principals spent the evening grilling hot dogs for everyone who came for the event. After spending time with their teachers, and exploring their classrooms, students and families were able to wander through the commons and gym to check out some community programs, school programs, and PTA offerings. Then they headed out to the blacktop to enjoy their free dinner (hotdog, chips, & water) provided by the Carson PTA! You may have noticed our board members there - they had the bright blue T-shirts on.

The 6th graders got a great start on earning thier money for camp, selling sno-cones and friday treats. Kudos to those sixth grade parents who volunteered their time to help with that station.

Our new spiritwear, designed by our own Todd Hayden, was a hot commodity and we ran out of popular sizes. If you missed a chance to purchase some, don't worry, order forms will be going home with students soon so be sure to watch for them!

If the BBQ is any indication, our second year at Carson will be even better than the first. One last special thanks to all of the parents and students who volunteered their time to be part of this event. We did our best to ensure everyone was able to take time to take their children to meet their teachers and make sure they had their dinner. Without you, we would not be able to have these great family events and programs at our school and we truly appreciate your commitment to your children, your school, and it's students.

Check out the pictures of the Back to School BBQ here!

VP of Events

Upcoming Events include Take Family to School Week, Talent Show & Bingo Night

2008-02-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Coyotes!

We are over half-way complete with our inaugural school year at Carson Elementary School. Our PTA has had some very successful events in our first year. Mr. Gonzalez & Mr. Erdly have done a tremendous job leading us and establishing a positive learning environment for students who attend Carson.

Our events this year have brought out many families. Winterfest was a huge success; Ice Skate Night brought out the diehards in tough weather conditions and were looking forward to big turn-outs at our Take Your Family to School Night, Talent Show & Bingo Night.

For more information on any of these events, stay tuned to the website at http://www.carsonpta.org or flyers coming home in your child's folder.

Talk to you later Coyotes,

Carson Webmaster

Kid's Night Out & Winterfest top December Events

2007-11-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Coyotes,

As we move into our 4th month of Carson's school year we are having two very exciting events to end the year.

The first is "Kid's Night Out", sponsored by the 6th Grade Fundraising Team. You can access a flyer for this event here: http://www.carsonpta.org/events/Kid.pdf

The second is "Winterfest", which consists of kid crafts, Santa pictures, light food/drink & musical entertainment courtesy of the Carson Choir. You can access a flyer for this event here: http://www.carsonpta.org/events/winterfestflyer.pdf

It's been a great year at Carson and were looking forward to finishing off strong in 2008!

Bundle up in that cold weather and have a Happy Holidays!

Carson PTA Webmaster

PTA Dance and Book Fair

2007-10-04T21:07:00.001-07:00

Hello Coyotes,

Family Fun Dance Update

After weeks of a back & forth battle between the 80's and Beach Party, a winner was announced on the Carson PTA website. Family Fun Dance on Friday, October 19th will be a "Beach Party Theme"! You can view a flyer of this event by going here: http://www.carsonpta.org/events/beachpartyflyer.pdf

Scholastic Book Fair

The book fair will begin at Carson on Monday, October 22nd in the Auditorium. Each child will visit the Fair with his/her class, and will have the opportunity to purchase their favorite books. Mark your calendar for our Family Night, Wednesday, October 24th @ 5-7pm, where you can shop, join in activities, and enjoy refreshments. You can visit a website devoted to our book fair here:
http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/publish/carsonpta

Talk to you later Coyotes,

Carson Webmaster

First few weeks review

2007-09-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Coyotes,

Make sure to go to www.carsonpta.org and pick which theme you want your first PTA dance to be. Our PTA has kicked off the start of the year with a successful Open House in which we provided over 900 cookies to our future Coyotes. Parents enjoyed juice & muffins as they participated in our 1st annual Cheers & Tears social in the cafeteria on the 1st day of school. Our fundraising team kicked off a fantastic fundraiser, Innisbrook, this past Friday with a great assembly. To keep track of upcoming PTA events at Carson, periodically check our home page. In October we have a Walk your Child to School Day and PTA Family Fun Dance.

Enjoy the weather while it lasts.

Carson PTA Webmaster

Our new neighborhood school has arrived

2007-08-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

It is an exciting time for the Silver Creek community to see the completion of our new neighborhood school, Emma L. Carson Elementary. Carson PTA was established last year and has been actively preparing for the start of the year. To kick off the new year an Open House is planned for Thursday, August 30th from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the school. Please visit our website at www.carsonpta.org for additional information about our PTA including how to join and most importantly how you can volunteer to make this year a success.