There’s never something NOT going on at MVES! What an exciting place to be and how lucky we all are to be part of the fun. Here are many of the items that your PTO has worked on from December through March:
- Popcorn Friday December, January, February, and March: Patty Craig is our popcorn queen! Each month she’s organized a team to pop and bring a little extra fun to the day for our favorite students at MVES. This Friday, April 1st will be our next Popcorn Friday. Don’t forget your quarter!
- Family BINGO Night: BINGO night was a huge success thanks to our fabulous volunteers and sponsors! It’s an annual all-time family favorite that’s not to miss. This year we surprised Mrs. Fisher with a good-bye cake as the kids sang our Mountain View School Song with the Cougar Mascot. A big congrats to the Samavedam family for being our TV Raffle winner! And a sincere thank you to our prize sponsor Howell Solutions and concessions sponsor Harris Teeter who helped make this night a success.
- December Cougar Spirit Night at Glory Days: Restaurant family nights are always fun! As you know, this year the teachers have teamed up to be our guest stars at these events. The 3rd and 4th Grade Teams brought out the crowd to Glory Days, bringing in $150 in FREE MONEY for MVES!
- Recycle Electronics: This is a FREE MONEY program we really need to spread the word about. Please donate your old hand-held electronics and ink cartridges to the MVES PTO. It’s environmentally friendly and we have a chance to bring in lots of extra free money for Mountain View. For details, please visit www.mountainviewpto.org.
- Yearbook Cover Contest: A special THANK YOU to all who participated in this year’s Yearbook Cover Contest. The theme was “Roaring into the Future.” We received 50 COUGARRIFIC designs and we’re looking forward to June to see who made the cover! Yearbook sales are underway with a hard cut-off date of April 15th (because of vendor contract). See the cover entries and download the order form at www.mountainviewpto.org.
- Cougar Bank: We’ve got young marketers in training! The MVES Cougar Bank Marketing Teams each created web posts on the PTO website this winter. They learned how to create web posts, insert graphics, format text and then got to see their works live all, in one hour. What a terrific learning experience to give our students! See the most recent post on the PTO website – and it’s not too late to open a Cougar Bank Account. Whether you’re saving for college, a future first car, or an XBox360, the interest rate can’t be beat…that’s FREE MONEY in your pocket!
- Box Tops: Congrats to the Brokopp/Corry/Robinson Team for their class win! They enjoyed a fun pizza party for bringing in the most Box Tops this winter. All together, MVES brought in an impressive almost $900 in Box Tops. Awesome collecting and keep clipping!
- Brick Paver Sales: The Landscape Committee has sold another round of bricks to complete a new landing and bench. We were able to make sure that every brick sold will be installed in late April as part of our Earth Day/Arbor Day celebrations. Keep your eyes out for a tree planting flyer soon! We’re looking for classes that are interested in donating and planting a tree as part of our botany project on the front lawn.
- January Cougar Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A: Hands down, this is the kids’ choice for restaurant nights! MVES Celebrities the 1st Grade Team and Ms. Marcy brought a steady wave of cougars out to “Eat Mor Chikin.” This night brought a fabulous $275 in FREE MONEY to MVES!
- Principal’s Day: Prince William County has a special day to honor the extraordinary principals in our county. On behalf of all of our members, the PTO surprised Ms. Barton and Mrs. Jordan with a special treat so let them know we truly appreciate all they do to make us the best school in PWC!
- “Souper Bowl” Teacher Appreciation – At MVES, we love to show our teachers how much we appreciate them. A quick call to action through the PTO Volunteer Manager system and a yummy soup lunch was at the school, ready to surprise the teachers. Parents, thank you for being so generous! Teachers, thank you for your commitment to our children! Did you know that 100% of the teachers at MVES are PTO members? Thank you for your support!
- School Counselors Day: It’s nice to have a day to acknowledge the wonderful support staff at MVES that are critical to our children’s growth. The PTO surprised Mrs. Cole and Ms. Tracy with a yummy treat and thanked them, on behalf of all of you, for the wonderful guidance they’re giving our children to help them grow into outstanding citizens. Thank you for being the heart of MVES!
- Valentine Grams: Our cougars were thrilled with this year’s twist on Valentine Grams – SMENCILS! (aka smelly pencils) They love to receive your words of encouragement to make them feel special this day, and every day. We had a strong group of volunteers that were more organized than ever and made sure the students had a very Happy Valentine’s Day!
- Membership Survey: We’re always looking for new ideas and suggestions to keep the PTO strong and serving the needs of MVES. The survey provided us with terrific information and ideas to bring into the next school year. Thank you for your help and your opinions. It’s teachers, parents and students together that makes MVES so impressive. Thank you for Jumping In!
- Family Literacy Night: If you didn’t make this event, you absolutely MUST next year! PWC’s Dr. Scott kicked off the night to roars of laughter while reading from his book “The Great M&M Caper” with the Cougar Mascot sitting in the crowd. Ms. Marcy also brought in athletic stars from Battlefield High School to read to the students at rotating stations throughout the gym. The PTO also contributed supplies for the evening. Looking forward to a new Dr. Scott book soon!
- “This Spud’s for You” Teacher Appreciation: Holidays make a great excuse for even more teacher appreciation fun! PTO Volunteers treated the teachers to a baked potato lunch stuffed with everything from chili to bacon to sour cream to chives…and let’s not forget the yummy desserts. Thank you for showing these teachers just how special they really are!
- Art & Writing Contest – The art and writing contest showcased the MVES talents in visual and literary arts. This year’s theme was “One Nation…” The works were displayed at the MVES Talent Show and will be displayed in the MVES lobby through April 1st. Contest winners were announced at the talent show and are posted online at www.mountainviewpto.org. Congratulations to our very talented Cougars!
- MVES Talent Show “A Cougar Star is Born:” The 72 acts of the evening showcased the performing talents of our cougarrific cougars! There was dancing, singing, piano playing, karate and so much more. And did you catch that awesome teacher act at the end? A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to our co-chairs Martha Cutsinger and Cindy Buckley and their entire volunteer team who continued the tradition of this impressive event. And another big thanks to Harris Teeter for their support (they are so good to us!). What a fun evening…and start planning your performance for next year!
- Silent Auction: The Silent Auction for Technology was a new event added this year that was a real crowd pleaser. The classes exceeded our expectations, creating fabulous themed baskets from gardening, crafts, games, bath, Legos, movies, and more. We had no idea there was so much talent for this at MVES! The teachers and staff even auctioned off their time for fun activities with students. We can’t thank the teachers and volunteers enough for their dedication to this project. And it was worth it! We brought in $2,800 for new computers at MVES!
- Art Enrichment Class: The PTO is working to bring more affordable classes and clubs to MVES. Mr. Skelton worked with PTO volunteers to create an enrichment class for students. By his volunteering to have two sessions with two different age groups, we really are able to reach as many students as possible. Thank you Mr. Skelton and we hope to offer this again next year! Can’t wait to see the work the students create…
- Nominations for Next Year: Nominations for PTO Board positions were due on March 22nd at the Membership Meeting. The ballot is uncontested so the 2011-2012 MVES PTO Board will be officially appointed in May with Candice Helmlinger as President, Cindy Buckley as Vice President, Eryn Cadoff as Treasurer, and Frannie Barnes as Secretary.
And the year is not over yet! Coming soon: Earth Day/Arbor Day Tree Planting, 5K Race for Technology, Teacher Appreciation Week , Donuts for Divas, Donuts for Dads, and the 5th Grade Dance!
