Come one, come all to the 20th annual SPES Variety Show April 24th at 6pm! Students are working hard to prepare for the big show that is just around the corner.  Skip the lines and pre-purchase your admission/ donations, shining stars, and flowers! Intermission is short and the lines are long! Save your time and sanity and pre-purchase Variety Show items!

Flowers will be available through April 17th only, while Admission Donations and Shining Stars are available both online and in-person at the event. If you plan to purchase shining stars at the event, come prepared with cash in small bills please.

All donations are tax-deductible, and any proceeds earned from the show will be donated to the Anne Arundel Medical Center's Fortney Breast Center to honor SPES Community Members who have bravely fought breast cancer.

We’re excited to invite you to a fun and engaging Family Math Night hosted by Mathnasium! Join us for hands-on activities, games, and challenges designed to make math enjoyable for everyone. Whether your child loves math or needs a confidence boost, this is all about making math approachable and exciting for all. We hope to see you there for a night of learning, laughter, and family fun!

To help this night run smoothly we are in need of some volunteers to help with the games, set-up and clean-up. Mathnasium staff will be on-site to work with volunteers who will mainly get to run games for the event. Volunteers are asked to arrive by 5:30pm. If you are able to volunteer please email spelementarypto@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 8th @ 6:00pm 

You are warmly invited to attend our upcoming April PTO meeting, which will be held virtually to make it easy for everyone to join. During the meeting we will discuss our upcoming Variety Show, Purple Up Breakfast planning, Book Fair organization, New Board Member nominations and preparing for end of the year festivities!  

Whether you're a regular attendee or joining for the first time, we'd love to have you join us! 

April Google Meet

We know...we are barely settling into Spring Break and have to start thinking about next school year?! YUP.
 
Nominations are officially open for anyone interested in a more direct way to enrich the school experience for all SPES students. Serving on the executive board is a great way to uphold the SPES Bobcat traditions we all love while introducing new and exciting ideas. For continuity, some of the current board have already offered up their nomination to remain for another school year. However, fresh eyes and minds are welcomed and any current board member will participate in the same nomination and voting process as everyone.  

Here is the breakdown:

• Nominations can be made NOW through April 15th. 
• Voting will take place at the May 5th PTO Meeting (in-person). 
• June - turnover and passing down of records. 
• June 30th - current PTO Board members depart. 
• July 1st - new PTO board steps in.

We fully recognize the level of responsibility these roles can hold but truly believe the time investment is worth it to see how a PTO can support its students. Each role is unique and can be personalized to the individual volunteer and their bandwidth. Working as a team entirely makes the dream come true! Nominations and questions can be sent to spelementarypto@gmail.com along with reading more information on our website. 

Thank you to the volunteers who came out to help with weeding and spreading mulch in our school courtyard! Teachers, parents and even students worked hard this month to make our courtyard Spring ready!  A special thanks to the Kindness Club as they spent the afternoon helping take care of their school and assisting others.  

This learning space is starting to look ready for our students to use! Hopefully we will be back in in the garden after spring break to plant and maintain our hard work so be on the lookout for ways you can get involved!

We are thrilled to announce the completion of our "Shine Bright- Read Every Night" Read-a-thon! Thank you to all our Bobcats and families for your enthusiasm and dedication to reading. Readers logged over 43,000 minutes and raised nearly $10,500! 

From March 13th - 23rd, students across all grade levels dove into books, explored new stories, and built strong reading habits. We are so proud of their hard work and commitment!

To celebrate their achievements, students earned prizes based on their participation and reading milestones. Awards and prizes will be distributed after spring break, and we look forward to recognizing our top readers and classrooms soon!

We are in need of a few volunteers to help with our upcoming Vision and Hearing Screening (walking students to and from class). 

• Tuesday, April 14 (8:00am - 12:30pm) Two or three volunteers are needed
• Tuesday, April 28 (8:00am - 11:00am) One or two volunteers are needed

If you are able to help out on these days for all or part of the time listed above please email spelementaryptocomms@gmail.com

We are also always looking for volunteers for:

• Chessie & Bobcat Book Club Reading Programs
• Lunch or Recess Monitors
• Kindergarten Workbook Page Organization
  
  

Click the button below to learn more and sign up!

Remember all volunteers must have an up-to-date background check. Information about this process can be found on the PTO and AACPS websites.  

April is Month of the Military Child, and in SPES tradition, the PTO is hosting a Purple Up Breakfast where military families at SPES are invited to be guests of honor at a special breakfast just before school.

Help is needed to make this morning special, including food and tableware donations as well as setting up or cleaning up on the day of the breakfast. If you're interested in helping with the event, please reach out to Leslie Adamczyk (leslieadamczyk@gmail.com) or Caitlyn Johnson (caitlyn.rush@gmail.com). 

The PTO hosted a fresh salad bar luncheon on Unity Day, March 17th. Thank you to the Teacher Appreciation Committee for always thinking of our teachers!

We can't wait until next month to celebrate Teacher Appreciation week the first week in May. Stay tuned for more info coming soon!

Our Spring Book fair will be twice as exciting with Buy One Get One Specials! Stay tuned for more details to be announced about how your students can participate and for volunteer sign-ups!