Our Teachers are Stars & May 4th is Their Day to Shine!

Let your favorite teacher know how much you appreciate all their hard work, care, expertise and dedication. Have a Shining Star delivered to them on May 4th - National Teacher Appreciation Day!

Make a gift to the Amherst Education Foundation (AEF) in honor of a teacher and AEF will deliver a note of appreciation to your teacher. And your tax-deductible gift will go to support important work in our schools next year.

Click on the image to print out a form & mail it in today! Or visit www.amhersteducationfoundation.org. Thanks!

Sign up for the Wildwood Blog

Future Wildwood Families: Would you like to receive the WW blog via email? Each day there are new items posted to the blog, you’ll receive an email with that day’s information.

To sign up, go to www.wildwoodpto.org . On the right side, look for “Receive the Blog by Email”. Click that link, and follow the instructions.

This is a great way to make sure you don’t miss any news because you forgot to check the blog!

Rotary Club of Amherst Gives $25,000 to build the Crocker Farm Play Ground

The Crocker Farm PGO is pleased to announce that our community has been awarded the Rotary Club of Amherst $25,000 Community Grant for the playground!

Thanks to this generous award, we only need to raise $5,300 more to reach the $43,400 needed to build a new playground!

Please consider helping us reach this final goal by participating in one of the following fund raisers:

Multi-Arts Raffle Multi Arts is sponsoring a raffle with all proceeds benefiting the Crocker Farm Playground Initiative. Raffle ticket costs $15 for 1 or 2 for $20. The winner will receive a free Multi-Arts camp session (up to a $585 value) good for summer 2010. The raffle runs until May 4th.

Town Fair Fundraiser on May 8^th The CF PGO and Rotary Club of Amherst are partnering up to ask for donations from Town Fair attendees as well as run a 50/50 raffle. Simply sign up for a shift as long or as short as you need. We will be working from 11 AM – 6 PM on the Town Common.

Electronics Collection Fundraiser on May 15^th Sign up to work a short shift between 8 AM and 1 PM or for a small disposal fee per item, electronics may be brought to the Crocker Farm parking lot for recycling. Residents of surrounding communities are welcome.

Items may include, but are not limited to, computer monitors, laptops, CPUs, servers, CD rom/DVD drives, speakers, mice, keyboards, plugs, computer wires/parts/accessories, copy/fax/scanner/printers, phones and phone systems of any kind, UPS (computer battery backup systems), camera/video/audio equipment, DVD players, stereos, VCRs, walkmans, iPods and accessories, microwaves, air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers, hot water tanks/heaters, washing machines, dryers, stoves, and dishwashers. All items must be empty and contain no gasoline, oil, or water.

Buy one of those fabulous “I helped build the Crocker Farm Playground” t-shirts for $10 or just simply donate to the playground effort through AEF or the PGO.

Anything you do helps bring the playground to fruition. Our sincere thanks goes out to everyone who donated their money or time to get us this far.

Questions? Please contact Becky at 230-3306 or email the PGO at crockerfarmpgo@gmail.com.

Chess Club information for Wildwood next fall

We want to extend an invitation for all of the children and parents from Mark’s Meadow to participate in Wildwood’s highly successful parent-run afterschool chess club. Up to 100 kids participate in this club every year, and it has become a beloved and much-anticipated tradition at our school. Look for a sign-up sheet in your child’s backpack next fall.

I have had a wonderful experience leading the chess club for the last three years with the help of other parent volunteers, and now with my daughter graduating, I’m looking to pass the hat to the next parent or group of parent leaders. I’m hoping some of these volunteers will be among you, the new members of our school community.

Here’s what‘s needed:

1. administration that can be done at home, ie: collecting forms and assigning kids to groups (no chess knowledge required). Helps to be able to create spreadsheets and email lists. Approximate time required: 3 hours each semester.
2. leading weekly 1 hour chess club sessions for beginning, intermediate or advanced players. Knowledge of chess is pretty important. I generally give a 15-20 minute ‘lesson’ at the start of each session, then let them just play each other for the rest of the time. Time: 2 hours each week
3. organizing snack (no chess knowledge required). We usually have a sign up sheet at beginning of session and parents bring snack throughout.
4. overseeing the operation – working with the club leaders to determine best days, printing and distributing the sign-up forms, sending group emails, generally keeping track. Time: 7 hours per semester
   

Please email me or call 212.595.3585 if you would like to take part in this fun activity with the kids. The materials have already been purchased, and a successful organizational structure is already in place. We could really use your help to keep this wonderful activity going, and it’s a fun way to volunteer at the school and get to know the children.

I look forward to meeting you,

Mat Lebowitz
mat@mlcreative.com
212.595.3585