On December 11, we kicked off our Annual Fund online fundraising campaign. This year donating is easy than ever. Simply click on the “Donate” tab. Your contribution ensures that our PTO programs remain fully funded during the next school year.

Donations to the Annual Fund allow PTO to support the faculty and staff, students, and families that make our school community such an incredibly nurturing and enriching environment. As a few examples, this year the PTO budget has already afforded the following opportunities:

• Classroom stipends across all grades for curriculum support
• Class field trips such as the 1st grade Fall expedition to Honey Pot Orchards
• Teacher mini-grants (first of two rounds) – 7 grants awarded for a total of $3,771.24 which encompass such endeavors as on-site school curriculum enrichment, multicultural books, licenses for an ELA Personalized Digital Learning Platform, snowshoes for PE, and e-books
• Funding for professional development training in areas such as mindfulness and yoga to enhance the classroom experience and support diverse learners
• On-site curriculum enrichment such as The Golden Door Performance: student-incorporated play infused with music, history and interactive storytelling

As a parent/guardian of a Dallin student you are automatically a member of our PTO! But to help fundraise we don’t ask you to sell tchotchkes to family or work colleagues, or help your student with door-to-door sales. Instead, we ask for a donation to the Annual Fund so that our PTO programs can remain fully funded.

Please contribute today!

Whether you SHOP…Dallin’s Holiday Shopping Day at Maxima Gift Center is Thursday, December 7th!  On that day, be sure to take your lists to Maxima and tell them that you are a Dallin shopper so that a percentage of your purchases will benefit our PTO.  Maxima is located at 212 Mass Ave (next door to Art Beat), and the store hours on our shopping day are 10 AM – 8 PM.

…or SHIP…Did you know that you can help the PTO when you shop on Amazon Smile? Well, you can! Just follow the directions of the PTO website: https://dallinpto.org/other-ways-to-contribute/

If you were thinking of contributing to a good cause in the spirit of holiday giving, the town’s holiday gift drive is under way!

The Holiday Help Program is part of Arlington’s Department of Health and Human Services. As in previous years, Dallin has been asked once again to join efforts across town to help out children of local families in need of community support. We have signed up to help 5 families (10 children).

How does the program work? You sign up to purchase an item, buy it, label it (no wrapping), and drop it off at Dallin.

If you’re able to help by buying an item from the list, or teaming with another family to buy something from the list, please know that your help will be greatly appreciated and that you’ll be making a child’s holiday more special.

Please sign up to participate here:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050a44aead28a75-dallin

The deadline to bring gifts in is Friday, December 8th to the Dallin and Sunday, December 10th to one of our houses, and the signup page has all the details as well as our contact information for any questions.

Thank you!

Come join us for the next meeting on Wednesday, December 7 at 7PM in the Dallin Library!

Topics to include:

• Holiday Help
• Head Lice Treatment Demo

NITWITS HEAD LICE TREATMENT DEMO

No more Parent-Lice-Stress!  At the next PTO Meeting, NitWits Head Lice Specialist and Educator, Kathy Little, will demonstrate how to easily and effectively detect and treat head lice naturally at home, and keep head lice from coming back. Her humorous and engaging presentation debunks the most common myths about head lice, and educates parents and childcare providers on best practices to be able to safely and sanely manage head lice at home and in school communities. Free educational materials and a free NitWits nit comb ($15 retail) for all attendees.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Curious about what your PTO is all about? Want to learn about the incredible enrichment opportunities our children are experiencing at Dallin? Want to coordinate or volunteer at a PTO event, or see when the next community event is? How about donate to the Annual Fund? You’re in the right place!

The PTO website has been designed to keep the Dallin community informed of all PTO happenings in a centralized and interactive manner. The website is a response to the great success of our first online Annual Fund Drive last year, hosted on the GoFundMe platform. Based on feedback from families, it became clear the PTO needed its own online donation system that would be easy to use and access by our families. Equally important, the PTO recognized a big need for streamlining the information about the Who, the What, and the How, of the PTO. Our hope is that by having all this information available in one place, we create a greater sense of community and make it easy for everyone to participate in the awesome engagement opportunities our Dallin community offers for parents and teachers.

Deepest thanks for the hours, ideas, and dedication of many parents who were involved in this effort. We welcome your questions or feedback!

Happy navigating!

Your PTO Board