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Pinkerton PTO Accomplishments 

Thank you to all the moms, dads, and grandparents who give your time and money to make Pinkerton Elementary such an exceptional place for our kids. Our Pinkerton families are the best!

 

Looking Back and Planning Ahead

 

Pinkerton parents, in conjunction with the PTO, have been hard at work this year!  As we start the new year, it seems appropriate to take a look back at all we’ve accomplished this year for Pinkerton and to plan ahead for FALL 2016.

  

PTO Objective 1: To support the students and faculty of Pinkerton Elementary School in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Showing Appreciation to Staff

A new hospitality team was created to host faculty appreciation breakfasts, lunch or treats.  They hosted the first breakfast for the staff in December. It was very well received by all the Pinkerton staff.  The PTO also hosted another successful holiday teacher luncheon off campus in December and we appreciate all the volunteers that made this happen! 

 

We provided a staff lunch during book fair this spring and will provide snacks for the staff during STAAR testing in May.  We really appreciate our Hospitality volunteers.  They make our Pinkerton staff feel very appreciated!

 

Supporting teacher passions

Mr. Upchurch recently requested funds for grade level book clubs.  He orders sets of books that the students want to read and that are relatable to IB.  They read together and discuss common threads of the book.  This is a great cooperative learning project!

 

The PTO purchased DRUMFit for the PE department this spring.  Mrs. Michaelis was super excited to have a new tool to use in PE. This kit draws physical and musical abilities.  We can't wait to see the first Drumfit performance!

 

The art kiln was delivered in March to Mrs. Huckle.  It will be fun to see the amazing creations that come home soon!

 

PTO Objective 2: To promote the welfare of students in the home, school and community.

Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles

We had lots of walkers (students, parents and siblings) at our Walk to School Day in the fall and students had a lot of fun participating in Red Ribbon week.  We also have parent representatives that serve on the Student Health Advisory Council through CISD.  

 

We encourage families to participate in our annual Pinky Hustle fun run.  It is a great event that raises money for our school, but also encourages family fitness.

 

PTO Objective 3: To develop a closer connection between school and home by encouraging parent involvement.

Keeping Families Informed

Our new and improved PTO website was implemented in August 2015.  We have over 95% of Pinkerton families that created an account on our website! Thank you! We also distributed the 2015-2016 school directory in October to all families that ordered one.  Newsletters go out to families each Friday with pertinent, up to date information.

 

Building Community

Since Pinkerton isn’t a typical neighborhood school, it is important to highlight ways we try to bring together the Pinkerton community.  The Dad’s Club organized the CHS Homecoming parade float this year. The PTO continues to host spirit nights each month (they are a great way to see Pinkerton friends!).  We encourage spirt at the school too.  The spirit wear team launched a new line of really cute Pinkerton spirit wear and encouraged students to participate in spirit days (every Friday).  The two classes with the most spirit were awarded the spirit sticks for the week.  Pinkerton Pete, our new school mascot, made his debut this fall.  And our fall family picnic, Pinky Palooza, was a ton of fun with inflatables, live music, food trucks and more!

 

Volunteer Coordination

We are fortunate at Pinkerton to have such an involved group of parents.  Between Dad of the Day, Salad Bar volunteers, Garden volunteers, library volunteers, workroom volunteers, classroom room parents and classroom volunteers, we are a busy group!   

 

PTO Objective 4: To improve the environment at the school through volunteer and financial support in conjunction with the promotion of events which affect Pinkerton and the Coppell ISD.

 

Supporting the School Financially

Our Write a Check campaign reached our goal within the first 5 days of the campaign! The PTO purchased Spanish materials and curriculum to start off the year for our new Spanish teacher, Señora Holguin.  The PTO supports IB at Pinkerton with funds to send our teachers to additional IB training. The fall book fair raised $1,997 in funds that went right back to the Pinkerton library. The PTO has sponsored two grade level IB related field trips so far this year: 5th grade visited the Dallas Arboretum as part of their IB Unit, and 2nd grade visited “Christmas Around the World” at the Gaylord to enhance their unit  "Where We Are in Place and Time" called Cultural Celebrations.  We also purchased an art kiln for the art program.  It is set to be delivered in early February.  Community partners and restaurants also help support our school by giving a percent back to us for dining with them or shopping with them. Spirit Nights, Box Tops, Amazon, Tom Thumb, Grow It and Kroger are just a few that we have relationships with to help us financially.  When we shop or go out to eat in coordination with these events, we are all supporting Pinkerton.

 

An allocation committee was recently created (it consists of parents from each grade level) to research various school needs and wants, items we need now and will need/want in the next few years.  

 

Maintaining & Enhancing Pinkerton Assets 

The Pinkerton Patch (our school garden) is in the process of getting cleaned up and looking its best!  We hosted our first garden work day of 2016 recently.  We also have a Garden Vision Committee in place to come up with a long term plan for the garden and outdoor learning area.  

 

We entered into a partnership with Real School Gardens this spring. This is an investment in our Pinkerton Patch. Our goal is to train our teachers on aspects of the garden and outdoor learning.  Check out the website:  http://www.realschoolgardens.org for more information on this exciting new program for Pinkerton!