Dear Sandra,

We are having a theme this year for the very first time. I borrowed from the movie "Wizard of Oz" and our theme is "There's NO Place like St. Teresa!". I found cute WOZ tins at the 99cent store (for 20 cents each). We plan to fill each one with Hugs & Kisses chocolates for each faculty member as a Welcome back to school treat. We also found WOZ window cling stickers we are going to place around the school. We are thinking of laminating yellow sheets of paper and placing them on the floor in the hallways to lead people 'down the yellow brick road' to our parent meetings. We are putting in our newsletter (also new this year) the phrase 'follow the yellow brick road to success' this school year.

I have drafted a letter from the Parent Group president (that's me) to include in our first issue of the newsletter welcoming everyone back to school. It goes like this (feedback welcome):

Dear Parents, Students, and Faculty of St. Teresa,

Let me be the first to welcome you back to school for another GREAT year at St. Teresa. The PTG has worked very hard over the summer to make this an exciting and fun filled year.

One of our goals this year is to improve communication between parents and the faculty. To this end, we have created this newsletter to update you regarding classroom projects, PTG events, and other school related activities. We also have our very own website which can be accessed from a link found on the school website, www.stteresa.net. We welcome any and all feedback on these two new initiatives. You can email any board member at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your comments. We will also continue the email distribution list that was started last year. If you would like to receive announcements and reminders via email, please contact _____.

Perhaps our most important goal this year is to increase parental involvement in our school. Research shows that the most accurate predictor of a student's achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that student's family is able to become involved in their children's education at school and in the community. "When schools, families, and communities work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more." Whether you have 30 minutes or a couple of hours, your time, your ideas, and your talents are needed. We can match your time constraints and interests to needed tasks. We have many ways in which Moms and Dads can contribute. Please consider volunteering, it really does make a difference in the life of our children!

In case you are unaware, we have a theme this year taken from the classic movie Wizard of Oz – “There’s NO Place Like St. Teresa!” Like the characters in this movie, I hope that each and every one of us strives for knowledge (Scarecrow), for courage over fear and adversity (Lion), and that everything we do comes from our hearts (Tin man). I am confident that like Dorothy, we will find in the end – “There’s NO Place Like St. Teresa!”

We have some very ambitious plans this year, so get ready to follow the ‘yellow brick road’ on a yearlong adventure to our very own Emerald City!

Sincerely,

PTG President

We do not have our website created yet (that is one of our summer projects). Oh and it worked out very nicely that our school colors are GREEN!

I apologize for such a long post!

Hope this helps.

Susanne

I need to come up with a theme for next school year. Anyone have any suggestions on where to find ideas? I'm looking for something already planned out so that a lot of thinking on my part isn't required! Thanks in advance!