​The Miner PTO wishes to express its gratitude to People. Animals. Love. for the three years of after school services provided to Miner’s students, families, and community. PAL has been vital part of our school family since the 2016-2017 school year and we are disheartened to see PAL depart.

PAL brought to Miner a much more structured and rigorous program and curriculum than what existed here before, but one that was also fun, engaging, and focused on the animal world! It has been wonderful to see the joy on students’ faces during the various assemblies with special animal guests - even the scaly ones! And students have loved the opportunity to observe and care for their classroom pets in the “PAL Room.”

Over the years there have been a few bumps, but PAL has worked sincerely with parents and administrators to resolve any issues. But by far the feedback has been positive from students and parents alike, and PAL has really made a difference in so many lives.

The PTO would like to thank past PAL managers Ms. Knudsen and Mr. Greer, and current Miner site director Ms. Branch for their dedication, service, and leadership. The heart of PAL is the teachers, who have been wonderful and loved by our students. We’re especially grateful for Mr. Okesie, a PAL teacher so well loved by older students that he has served as a long-term classroom substitute teacher this year in the 5th grade!

We wish PAL good fortune in their core mission of sharing the love of animals with those in special need, and thank them again for their time with us here as part of the Miner family!

- Miner Parent Teacher Organization

We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Robinson, our incredible PE teacher, and his team of volunteers, for planning an awesome Field Day!  He organized the whole day for all the kids (and managed to choose the sunniest day of the week).  And to top it off, he even took a few turns in the dunk tank! Special thanks also go out to all the teacher, staff, and parent volunteers who were able to support our students.  Without you all, the day wouldn’t have been nearly as fun for the kids!

Thank you to everyone who participated in Field Day!

On Thursday, May 30, the Large Group Instruction Room was transformed into a gorgeous art gallery for the first ever Miner Art Show.  Some of our incredibly talented Miner Bears exhibited various works of art, and all were excited to show off their amazing projects.  The walls and tables were adorned with paintings and sculptures that left parents and staff in awe of the talent of our students.

Huge thanks go to our amazing art teacher Ms. Rosettie for planning the event, and her team of volunteers for setting up the art gallery.  This was a new event hosted by the school, but the excitement shared by parents and students alike made it a sure favorite!  We are already looking forward to next year's Miner Art Show!

Thank you to all who attended and were able to enjoy the artwork of our Mighty Miner Bears!

Results from the election for SY19-20 PTO Executive Board were announced last night at the final PTO General Meeting of the year. Those elected to the Board are:
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• President: Julie Muir (PreK-4 parent, incumbent)
• Vice-President: Portia Terry (2nd grade parent)
• Treasurer: Jamie Milhous (PreK-3 parent)
• Secretary: Keana Bedney-Wallace (PreK-3 parent)
• Teacher Representative: Tarren Cummings (ECE educator, incumbent)

Their terms began at the conclusion of the meeting.

Principal Jackson is also a member of the PTO Executive Board.

​Congratulations!

Over the past month, teachers, staff, and parents at Miner have held elections for their respective representatives to Miner's LSAT for SY19-20. Results from these elections were announced last night at the final PTO General Meeting of the year. LSAT representatives for SY19-20 are:
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Teachers

• Ms. Pitoniak (K)
  
• Dr. Ramsey (school psychologist)
  
• Ms. Smith (4th)
  
• Mr. Yoho (K)
• Ms. Luttmer (ECE, WTU Building Rep)

Staff

• TBD, to be elected this fall

Parents

• Tammy Alexander (4th, current LSAT member)
  
• Sherilyn Rigby (PreK-4)
  
• Sara Saxton (K and PreK-3, current LSAT member)
  
• Bernadette Wittschen (K)
• Julie Muir (PTO Representative)

Community Member

• To be chosen later

Their terms begin July 1.

​Congratulations!

​For the last few days the PTO has been celebrating two very important groups of people in our student's lives:  teachers and mothers.  To all the people who fill those roles, we say THANK YOU!

Miner Elementary School is fortunate to have an amazing, hard-working, and extremely dedicated group of teachers who fill their days not only educating our children, but also helping shape them into model students and citizens. As a small token of our appreciation, the Miner PTO sponsored a breakfast last Friday during Teacher Appreciation Week to thank them and all of Miner's staff for everything they do.  But this breakfast would not have happened without the PTO's Appreciation and Recognition Committee or the many families who donated food and/or time to help make it a success.  We would like to give a special thank you to Jessica and Justin Burniske and Emily Cahill for organizing the event.

Additionally, with the help of our social workers Ms. Kraemer and Ms. Woodard, the PTO sponsored Mother’s Day Flowers for some of our moms and mother-figures who could use some extra support this Mother’s Day.  Thank you to the Family Support Committee for putting smiles on a few amazing moms’ faces with a bouquet of roses on their special day.

We are so grateful to our Miner teachers, our Miner moms, and our Miner families who help out with events like these.  Thank you!

​As we come to the end of the school year, we are conducting a "Year In Review" survey to take stock of the PTO's activities this past school year: what we accomplished (well or otherwise), what we need to do better, and how useful our activities and events were. At our June meeting we will go over the results of the survey.  Regardless of whether you plan to attend the meeting and provide feedback in person, or if you won't be able to attend at all, we'd love to get your thoughts on this topic prior to the meeting. We've created this short and anonymous survey to collect feedback. We’ll leave the survey open through the end of May.

You can click here to fill out the survey. Additionally, copies will be sent home in your student's folder next week and will be available in the main office.

Thank you so much for your continued support of the Miner PTO.  We are always looking for ways to improve, and we appreciate your opinions.

​On April 22, Miner’s smallest Bears celebrated Earth Day with a celebration on the ECE playground.  The PreK Parent Committee and the School Garden Team joined forces to organize an event with a variety of stations for the students to explore and learn about the environment around them.  Students were able to practice sorting and recycling; they planted seeds to take home and grow; they made bird feeders out of Cheerios and filled up the bird feeders on the playground with bird seed; they tasted different foods that grow in a garden; and finally they painted an Earth Day banner to hang in the school.

The day would not have been such a success without the hard work of our teacher, staff, and parent volunteers.  We are so fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community at Miner, and to everyone who played a part in the role—even if only as an attendee—we are grateful for your support of our students and our school.  

​On Friday, April 12th, The Miner PTO Family Engagement and Events Committee hosted the Third Annual Miner Spring Dance.  Approximately 290 Miner Family members enjoyed an evening of fun, dancing, food, and an overall good time.  The evening consisted of Miner Bears and their families dressed up all while dancing under enchanted cherry blossoms!  

We crowned the 2019 royal court to showcase students who have excelled this school year.  There was a cool raffle where one lucky family won an iPad!

The Miner PTO would like to thank the many parent volunteers and donors who helped to make the evening a huge success.  We would also like to thank the staff members, whose contributions to the planning and execution were immeasurable.  We would like to give a special thanks to Principal Jackson for his leadership as well as Ms. Offor for her countless hours in planning and securing catering for the event; Ms. Olazo and her team for the beautiful decorations in the gym; and Ms. Kirby for transforming the cafeteria into the Miner Restaurant :-) Also, thank you to Ms. Rosettie for providing the arts & crafts activity and for designing the Miner Boutique sign.

The Family Events and Engagement committee would like to personally thank the treasurer Ryan Cahill for your patience and for securing the many Amazon orders :-)

Jill Da Silva and Concetta Aires, thank you for coordinating the volunteers and donations that were vital in pulling this all together.  Dave Treat, thanks for cutting down the branches used for the decorations.

Thank you again for continued support of Miner!

Ms. Dorsey and Ms. Jones 
Family Engagement and Events Co-Chairs

​On Saturday the Miner PTO hosted Miner's 4th Annual Community Yard Sale.  The event was a huge success, and the PTO would like to thank the families, teachers, staff, and members of the community who played such a huge part.  Even though the event was earlier in the year than it has been in the past, we still managed to receive more donations than ever before.  The PTO is incredibly grateful for the support this community event continues to receive.

This year the PTO raised over $2,000 for the PTO’s general fund.  This money will be used to directly benefit Miner's students and teachers for the remainder of this school year. This includes field trips, school events and activities, classroom libraries and technology, or whatever else may be needed to ensure that our Mighty Bear scholars receive the best possible academic, social, and emotional experience.

The PTO leadership would like to thank everyone who took part in the Community Yard Sale—if you donated, volunteered, baked, shopped, or helped spread the word, you played a role in making this event a success.  To the many volunteers who took time on Friday to set up and on Saturday to sell, roam, pack up, and haul everything away, we thank you for all of your hard work!  The PTO also wishes to thank everyone who contributed to the bake sale. Your delicious goodies made the event even sweeter!

And last but certainly not least, The PTO would like to give special thanks to Maggie Ben-Or, Sara Saxton, and David Treat for serving as co-chairs of the event planning committee. Your hard work is greatly appreciated!