Update From the Board of Trustees

The Board has agreed to be a part of New Hampshire’s Day of Giving- an opportunity to raise funds online for Polaris and to connect our school to a much larger community of givers in New Hampshire and beyond.  We need lots of help planning and implementing a cohesive marketing strategy to get the most out of our participation in the 24 hours of NH Gives, which is scheduled for June 6^th, starting at 6 PM and ending at 6 PM June 7^th.

Our success depends on our volunteer effort.  Please help!!  For more information on NH Gives, please refer to the toolkit for nonprofits on www.nhgives.org

Yearbook

Due to the Holiday weekend, the deadline to order yearbooks has been extended by one day.  Yearbook orders are now DUE no later than Tuesday, May 30th.  All orders must be turned in with payment to your child’s teacher or paid online (https://polariseducationalfoundation.org/) and the form sent to pef@polarischarterschool.org  .

Field Day 

This year’s Field Day will take place on Wednesday, June 14th and it will be held at Camp Carpenter. There will be lots of fun activities and this year we will even have a DJ courtesy of the PEF. In order for this celebration to be a success, we need parent volunteers. Please contact us if you are able to are able to assist.

Sculptor Class Share

For part of their preparation for the third Trimester Learning Celebration, students in Mrs. Rainey’s class have been learning the sign language for the song “Its a Small World.” This corresponds to the trimester theme of “Who Counts.”

Star Students

Congratulations to our students who showed courage: Ella, Evan, Izzy, Kayla, Lilly, Nathan and Tula (not pictured).

Important Dates

• Charter Renewal visit is on Wednesday May 31st
• Intermediate Learning Celebration is June 7th
• Primary Learning Celebration is June 8th
• Field Day June 14th
• Our last day is now Friday, June 16th.
• Conferences are on Wednesday June 14th beginning at 1:30 and on Monday, June 19th.

PEF News

Next PEF Meeting: Monday, June 5 at 7pm at Polaris with special Volunteer Appreciation social prepared by Polaris Staff to begin at 6:30pm  All parents are invited to our next PEF Meeting and Volunteer Appreciation Social on Monday, June 5th at the school.  Every parent, guardian, teacher, administrator and Polaris Board of Trustee are members of the Polaris Educational Foundation. We encourage all Polaris community members to attend these meetings. We have very full agenda and we want to hear your voice. The Volunteer Appreciation Social will begin at 6: 30pm and the meeting will begin at 7pm. We will be voting on next year’s officers and finalizing our budget for the upcoming year. Please attend if you are able.

Read-a-thon- The Polaris Educational Foundation’s Read-A-Thon is officially over.  All reading logs, paper pledge forms (and any checks/cash collected) need to be turned in to your child’s teacher by Tuesday May 30th. Any child who participated in the Read-a-thon, reading at least 420 minutes will be receiving a stainless steel Polaris water bottle. Additionally, any child who raised at least $30 will receive a percentage of their total raised in the form of Barnes & Noble gift cards to buy books of their choice. Classrooms with the most minutes read will also receive a $50 gift card. The PEF is utilizing an online component https://99pledges.com/fund/PolarisReads2017 to aid friends/family to with providing their sponsorships to your child via credit cards. Any online donations need to be filled in to the system by May 30^th as well.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at pef@polarischarterschool.org.

Yearbook–  Don’t miss your one and only opportunity to get OUR FIRST EVER YEARBOOK!! For the low price of only $18 you can own this piece of Polaris history. Please make sure you send exact cash or check made payable to the Polaris Educational Foundation (PEF).  You can also go online to https://polariseducationalfoundation.org/ and click on “Donate Now” and in the notes section indicate your child’s name and type “Yearbook order”.  If you are paying online, you must still turn in your paper form for our record keeping but indicate that you paid online.  Due to the Holiday weekend, the deadline to order yearbooks has been extended by one day.  Yearbook orders are now DUE no later than Tuesday, May 30th. No orders can be accepted after this date.

Pizza Ordering– Reminder: if you wish to place a weekly order, we ask that you please use the order forms.   If for some reason you are not able to use the forms, it is very important that you include your child’s NAME, CLASS, and # of pizza slices and if the pizza is Gluten Free (GF) with the money that you turn in.  Otherwise, your order may not be placed correctly and your child is likely to be disappointed. Thank you!

Box Tops– We will be having a Box Top for Education campaign for Polaris throughout the end of the school year.  Please be saving your Box Tops.  You can send them in to school in a plastic bag and turn them in to the front office.  Thank you.

PEF Elections– The PEF is an amazing organization that could not function if not for the time dedication of parents. For this, we are blessed.  We have the most terrific parents who go above and beyond.  Our officers in the PEF need to shift positions within the PEF and not all can stay in their current role.  Therefore, we have three openings on our board for the positions of Member-at-Large (2) and Event Coordinator.  If you are interested in joining the PEF in a more active role, please contact pef@polarischarterschool.org and a board member will be in contact.  We can use all levels of help/leadership.

Polaris End-of-Year-Picnic  June 3^rd 10:00am- 12:30pm Clough State Park: Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy a splashing and playing with other Polaris families. A Polaris “hub” meeting zone will be established so that new families and those looking for playmates can meet. Bring all the towels, sunscreen, food and beach chairs you need to make this a great morning! This is a great event for new families to come join the fun and meet next year’s classmates. PEF members are always happy to help introduce you and their children to those who attend.

Below, you can find some important dates for your School Calendar:

• Next PEF Meeting– June 5th -6:30/7pm at Polaris
• June 3^rd– 10:00am-12:30pm- Polaris End-of-Year Picnic (Clough State Park)

Update From the Board of Trustees

The Board has agreed to be a part of New Hampshire’s Day of Giving- an opportunity to raise funds online for Polaris and to connect our school to a much larger community of givers in New Hampshire and beyond.  We need lots of help planning and implementing a cohesive marketing strategy to get the most out of our participation in the 24 hours of NH Gives, which is scheduled for June 6^th, starting at 6 PM and ending at 6 PM June 7^th.

We are hosting a kick-off meeting, for planning our participation, on Wednesday, May 24^th, from 1-2:30 PM, at Polaris.  (There is a full day of school on this Wednesday.) We need to decide a theme to entice potential donors to contribute to Polaris, a dollar amount goal for this campaign, help with networking on social media, and fundraising champions, who will drive people to our NH Gives Profile on June 6^th and 7^th.  Our success depends on our volunteer effort.  Please help!!  For more information on NH Gives, please refer to the toolkit for nonprofits on www.nhgives.org

The Board is considering a new policy designed to assist parents with a school-related problem which they would like to have resolved.   Before adopting a new or revised policy, the Board is required to post the item on the agenda at each of two regular meetings.  We must also offer concerned groups and individuals an opportunity to react to new or revised policies.  To raise awareness of the new Parental Concern or Complaint Policy, (KEB,) we have attached the draft of the proposed policy here.  Anyone wishing to respond to the contents of the policy is welcome to do so by either contacting the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Jill Cane, (j.cane@polarischarterschool.org) or to address the Board during the public comment section of the next regular Board of Trustees Meeting, to be held on June 19th at 6 PM.

Lost and Found 

Recognize anything? Our lost and found bins are overflowing with clothing, snow pants, gloves and other miscellaneous items. If we are unable to find the owners, items will be donated at the end of the year.

Buddy Time 

Mrs. Fesh and Mrs. Rainey’s class worked on helping their buddies with their dodecahedron book reports!

Mrs. Rainey’s class has been learning all about volume in Math. Students worked in teams to measure the volume of various boxes. The scribe was responsible for recording information. The measurement masters measured the boxes and the mathematicians calculated the volume.

Stem and Music

This Trimester in STEM primary kids are focusing on Space Science. We are covering the planets in our solar system as well as other things that can be found in the solar system. They will be making pictures of the solar system to use as a reference to see the distance of the planets, the size and the color. We will then go on to talk about their distance from the sun, space travel and what the planets are made up of to help them better understand not only the planet they live on but also the others.

The Intermediate kids are focusing on post Zombie problems. Now that they have the basic layout of Manchester and the area around the school they are starting to brainstorm projects that would build a sustainable society. They will all decide what aspects are the most important to focus on. (Food, Water Purification, Engineering, etc.) They will then be able to choose a focused project to present to the rest of the class that will benefit the group as a whole, (be it in the form or a 3D model, a poster etc.)

In Music, primary kids are reviewing the different categories of instruments, (Reed, Woodwind, String, etc) and sketching instruments, out of their imagination that they would like to craft as well establishing which category they fit in. We will then be creating basic instruments with simple craft supplies. (Maracas, Guitars (with rubber bands and tissue boxes) etc.) This is all to make sure that the kids have a hands on activity to show their understanding about what puts an instrument in which category. For example, percussion instruments are instruments that are hit, or something hits them, while wood winds are instruments you blow into. Each table will be working together to sketch out and then make instruments in each category.

The Intermediate kids are reviewing the parts of a ukulele and learning how to read tab style chords. This is expanding on the music reading skills that they have started to develop in the last two trimesters. The goal in this trimester is for them to learn multiple chords on the ukulele as well as a hand full of songs. If possible, they will have the opportunity to write their own songs (simple of course) to bring together all they have learned about music theory, music symbols and reading different kinds of music.

Perseus Class Share

Ms. Perham’s class learned the song “If You Want to Sing Out” by Cat Stevens and they sang it and shared the lyrics with us. It corresponded with our Core Value of Courage.

Star Students

Our Courageous students that we recognized this week were: Binta, Deepthi, Ellie, Lexi, Khoi, Mara, Raden and Spencer. Super work!

Important Dates

• We will have a FULL day of school on Wednesday, May 24th.
• No school May 29th
• Charter Renewal visit is on Wednesday May 31st
• Intermediate Learning Celebration is June 7th
• Primary Learning Celebration is June 8th
• Our last day is now Friday, June 16th.
• Conferences are on Wednesday June 14th beginning at 1:30 and on Monday, June 19th.

PEF News

Next PEF Meeting: Monday, June 5 at 7pm at Polaris with special Volunteer Appreciation social prepared by Polaris Staff to begin at 6:30pm  All parents are invited to our next PEF Meeting and Volunteer Appreciation Social on Monday, June 5th at the school.  Every parent, guardian, teacher, administrator and Polaris Board of Trustee are members of the Polaris Educational Foundation. We encourage all Polaris community members to attend these meetings. We have very full agenda and we want to hear your voice. The Volunteer Appreciation Social will begin at 6: 30pm and the meeting will begin at 7pm. We will be voting on next year’s officers and finalizing our budget for the upcoming year. Please attend if you are able.

Read-a-thon- The Polaris Educational Foundation’s Read-A-Thon is officially over.  All reading logs, paper pledge forms (and any checks/cash collected) need to be turned in to your child’s teacher by May 30th. Any child who participated in the Read-a-thon, reading at least 420 minutes will be receiving a stainless steel Polaris water bottle. Additionally, any child who raised at least $30 will receive a percentage of their total raised in the form of Barnes & Noble gift cards to buy books of their choice. Classrooms with the most minutes read will also receive a $50 gift card. The PEF is utilizing an online component https://99pledges.com/fund/PolarisReads2017 to aid friends/family to with providing their sponsorships to your child via credit cards. Any online donations need to be filled in to the system by May 30^th as well.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at pef@polarischarterschool.org.

NH GIVES– The Polaris Staff and Board of Trustees are preparing for an upcoming charitable drive, NH GIVES.  They specifically have asked for assistance from Parents.  Any parents who can help would need to be available to meet on Wednesday afternoon at Polaris on May 24^th from 1- 2:30pm.  Parents would be an active member of the Polaris NH Gives planning team- helping to coordinate and promote the Polaris NH Gives website/link (and potentially donate $$$ if they were able though this is not a requirement).  Additionally, if the parent had any photos they are able to bring to the table of their child(ren) that day (electronically) to contribute to the final montage. If you are interested and able to help the school, please either comment here or email us at pef@polarischarterschool.org

Pizza Ordering– Reminder: if you wish to place a monthly order, we ask that you please use the order forms.   If for some reason you are not able to use the forms, it is very important that you include your child’s NAME, CLASS, and # of pizza slices and if the pizza is Gluten Free (GF) with the money that you turn in.  Otherwise, your order may not be placed correctly and your child is likely to be disappointed. Thank you!

Box Tops– We will be having a Box Top for Education campaign for Polaris throughout the end of the school year.  Please be saving your Box Tops.  You can send them in to school in a plastic bag and turn them in to the front office.  Thank you.

PEF Elections– The PEF is an amazing organization that could not function if not for the time dedication of parents. For this, we are blessed.  We have the most terrific parents who go above and beyond.  Our officers in the PEF need to shift positions within the PEF and not all can stay in their current role.  Therefore, we have three openings on our board for the positions of Member-at-Large (2) and Event Coordinator.  If you are interested in joining the PEF in a more active role, please contact pef@polarischarterschool.org and a board member will be in contact.  We can use all levels of help/leadership.

Yearbook–  There will be a yearbook this year for purchase.  The price will be $18.  Please be on the lookout for the order form as you must pre-order a yearbook in order to get one.

Polaris End-of-Year-Picnic  June 3^rd 10:00am- 12:30pm Clough State Park: Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy a splashing and playing with other Polaris families. A Polaris “hub” meeting zone will be established so that new families and those looking for playmates can meet. Bring all the towels, sunscreen, food and beach chairs you need to make this a great morning! This is a great event for new families to come join the fun and meet next year’s classmates. PEF members are always happy to help introduce you and their children to those who attend.

Below, you can find some important dates for your School Calendar:

• Next PEF Meeting– June 5th -6:30/7pm at Polaris

June 3^rd– 10:00am-12:30pm- Polaris End-of-Year Picnic (Clough State Park)

Board News

The next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees will be Monday, May 15th, at 6 pm. The main topics for this meeting include the budget for the 2017-2018 school year, the End-of-Year Teacher-Parent-Board and the Strategic Planning Survey, and the re-authorization process of our Charter.  A professional team of educators will be visiting Polaris on May 31st to review our documentation and to talk with teachers, parents, and Board members. The Co-Directors will have more detailed information about the visitation for any interested parents.  The results of the re-authorization process will be shared with the public.

For those planning to attend the Board Meeting on May 15th, please understand that public comment is allowed at  the start of each meeting.  Members of the public are always welcome to attend the entire open session of the Board of Trustee meeting.

Webinar For Parents

Visiting Author

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of hosting author and illustrator Michelle Nelson-Schmidt at our school. She shared her beautiful artwork, read a couple of her books and shared her personal journey of overcoming many obstacles to get to this point. Most of all, she shared her belief that we can do anything that we set our minds on doing! The first book she read was “Jonathan James and the WhatifMonster.” Jonathan James was a child who worried about all the “what ifs” that could happen. What if he looked silly, what if he wasn’t good at something, what if he loses? That WhatifMonster followed him everywhere until one day he asked “what if you’re wrong.” This story coincided well with our monthly Core Value of Courage. Some of our students even created their own WhatifMonster which is displayed in the Gathering Room. You can learn more about Michelle by visiting her website: https://whatifmonsters.com/about-me/

All of her books center around themes that directly correspond to our Core Values and I highly recommend them!

Core Value – Courage

On Tuesday, we watched a video called “Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Courage.” He was afraid of everything and soon did not even want to leave his room.  One day, he saw a baby bird outside of his window preparing to take her first flight. She did not know if she could fly but she jumped anyway. He was amazed at her bravery. She explained that if you’re not afraid you can’t be brave – true courage is being scared and doing it anyway. He realized that it is okay to be afraid but began confronting his fears and learned that he did have courage. You can view the story here. We listed to the song that accompany’s the video the next day which you can listen to here.

We extended this week’s lessons on Courage by answering the essential questions ‘How can I overcome a fear?’ Some of the suggestions were take a deep breath, tense and then relax your muscles, ask a friend to help you and just dive in.

Star Students

Our Courageous students that we recognized this week were: Bria, Colton G., Ella M., Julia, Logan, Mikail, Rosie and Wendy. Nice job!

Important Dates

• We will have a FULL day of school on Wednesday, May 24th.
• No school May 29th
• Charter Renewal visit is on Wednesday May 31st
• Intermediate Learning Celebration is June 7th
• Primary Learning Celebration is June 8th
• Our last day is now Friday, June 16th.
• Conferences are on Wednesday June 14th beginning at 1:30 and on Monday, June 19th.

PEF News

Next PEF Meeting: Monday, June 5 at 7pm at Polaris with special Volunteer Appreciation social prepared by Polaris staff to begin at 6:30pm.  Every parent, guardian, teacher, administrator and Polaris Board of Trustee are members of the Polaris Educational Foundation. We encourage all Polaris community members to attend these meetings. We have very full agenda and we want to hear your voice. The Volunteer Appreciation Social will begin at 6:30pm and the meeting will begin at 7pm. We will be voting on next year’s officers and finalizing our budget for the upcoming year. Please attend if you are able.

Read-a-thon- The Polaris Educational Foundation will be holding our fifth annual Read-A-Thon. It will run from Friday, May 5^th through Thursday, May 18^th.   This fundraiser is designed to encourage the students to read and build literacy skills, while raising money to support the operation of the Polaris Educational Foundation and events such as school dances, movie nights, End-of-Year Picnic and more!  Any child who raises at least $30 will receive a percentage of their total raised in the form of Barnes & Noble gift cards to buy books of their choice. Classrooms with the most minutes read will also receive a $50 gift card!  This year, in addition to the paper tracking form, we are offering an online component to allow friends and family who are not local to sponsor your child.  Pledges can be made online by visiting https://99pledges.com/fund/PolarisReads2017 and typing your students name in the search bar.  If you need another copy of the forms, please click (HERE)

Please feel free to use the links on the 99Pledges website to share your donation requests on social media or email!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at pef@polarischarterschool.org

Teacher Appreciation Week The PEF would like to take a moment to make a special ‘Thank You’ to all the parents (and children) who took time out of their vacation, evenings and weekends to make Teacher Appreciation Week and the make-over of the Teacher Break room happen. This list is by no means an exhaustive list as we know there were more folks who contributed financially or with direct donations. Many Many THANKS to: Bobbi Jean, Mathias Whitney, Jane Bigelow, Sharon Klardie , Kara Hewitt , The entire Swanson Family, Mr & Mrs Putnam, Melanie Currier, Daniela De Los Reyes , The Paquette family, Miles Martin , Jessica Perkins and The Olibrice family.   And a HUGE ‘Thank You’ to all of the parents who made Teacher Appreciation Week Possible.

After School Enrichment Classes:

Art Class: I Love Paper: Fold it Has been canceled.  Any children who had previously signed up will be refunded.

Stem Fundamentals with Legos 2^nd Sesson 2 May 18^th – June 8th:  3:00pm – 4:30pm for Grades 1 – 4; $71 for 4 Sessions; Power on your engineering skills with Play-Well TEKnologies and tens of thousands of LEGO® parts! Apply real-world concepts in physics, engineering, and architecture through engineer-designed projects such as Snowmobiles, Towers, Catapults, and Battletracks! Design and build as never before, and explore your craziest ideas in a supportive environment. An experienced instructor will challenge new and returning students to engineer at the next level. Science and engineering terms will be explored such as belt movement, overlapping, levers, and rack gears. Abstract concepts will come alive as we build and learn together.  Sign up online for Stem Fundamentals 2^nd Session by clicking THIS LINK.

Pizza Ordering– Reminder: if you wish to place a monthly order, we ask that you please use the order forms.   If for some reason you are not able to use the forms, it is very important that you include your child’s NAME, CLASS, and # of pizza slices and if the pizza is Gluten Free (GF) with the money that you turn in.  Otherwise, your order may not be placed correctly and your child is likely to be disappointed. Thank you!

Box Tops– We will be having a Box Top for Education campaign for Polaris throughout the end of the school year.  Please be saving your Box Tops.  You can send them in to school in a plastic bag and turn them in to the front office.  Thank you.

PEF Elections– The PEF is an amazing organization that could not function if not for the time dedication of parents. For this, we are blessed.  We have the most terrific parents who go above and beyond.  Our officers in the PEF need to shift positions within the PEF and not all can stay in their current role.  Therefore, we have two openings on our board for the positions of Member-at-Large.  If you are interested in joining the PEF in a more active role, please contact pef@polarischarterschool.org and a board member will be in contact.  We can use all levels of help/leadership.

Yearbook–  There will be a yearbook this year for purchase.  In a couple of weeks (or less) a form will be sent around the classrooms for pre-order for yearbooks to be delivered before school get’s out.  More information coming soon.

Below, you can find some important dates for your School Calendar:

• Next PEF Meeting– June 5th -7pm at Polaris
• May 5^th-May18th Read-a-thon
• May 12^th– Movie Night 6pm @ Polaris
• June 3^rd– Polaris End-of-Year Picnic (location TBD)

Science NECAP

Science NECAP testing for students in fourth grade will occur May 9th, 10th and 11th from approximately 9:00-11:00. Please make every effort to have your child here and on time.

Teacher Appreciation

Thank you so much for our wonderful lunch and the amazing transformation of our staff room! Most of all, we appreciate our parents who really go above and beyond to support us.

Core Value – Courage

This month we will talking about ways to show Courage. We began by discussing what it means to be courageous.

On Wednesday we talked about bullying and how it takes a lot of courage to be an Upstander. When we see someone not being treated kindly and we do not do anything we are a bystander which adds to the problem. An Upstander speaks up and stops the problem, even when it might be to a friend. We also talked this week about occasions when we have shown Courage outside of school and at school.

Star Students

Students who really exemplified our Core Value of Trustworthiness were recognized on Monday. Great job Belle, Bindhi, Ella, Madelyn, Tania and Torrey.

Pegasus Class Share

Ms. Gilbert’s class shared ways that they could make our planet better focusing on reduce, reuse and recycle. They really showed how they “give a hoot.”

Important Dates

• We will have a FULL day of school on Wednesday, May 24th.
• No school May 29th
• Charter Renewal visit is on Wednesday May 31st
• Intermediate Learning Celebration is June 7th
• Primary Learning Celebration is June 8th
• Our last day is now Friday, June 16th.
• Conferences are on Wednesday June 14th beginning at 1:30 and on Monday, June 19th.

PEF News

Next PEF Meeting: Thursday, May 11^th at 7pm at Polaris

All parents are invited to our next PEF Meeting on Thursday, May 11th at 7pm at the school.  Every parent, guardian, teacher, administrator and Polaris Board of Trustee are members of the Polaris Educational Foundation. We encourage all Polaris community members to attend these meetings. We have very full agenda and we want to hear your voice. Please attend if you are able.

Read-a-thon- The Polaris Educational Foundation will be holding our fifth annual Read-A-Thon. It will run from Friday, May 5^th through Thursday, May 18^th.   This fundraiser is designed to encourage the students to read and build literacy skills, while raising money to support the operation of the Polaris Educational Foundation and events such as school dances, movie nights, End-of-Year Picnic and more!  Any child who raises at least $30 will receive a percentage of their total raised in the form of Barnes & Noble gift cards to buy books of their choice. Classrooms with the most minutes read will also receive a $50 gift card!  This year, in addition to the paper tracking form, we are offering an online component to allow friends and family who are not local to sponsor your child.  Pledges can be made online by visiting https://99pledges.com/fund/PolarisReads2017 and typing your students name in the search bar.  If you need another copy of the forms, please click HERE.

Please feel free to use the links on the 99Pledges website to share your donation requests on social media or email!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at pef@polarischarterschool.org

Teacher Appreciation Week happens each year during the first week of May.  This year, the PEF, as the Parent Teacher Organization, decided we wanted to do something extra nice for our teachers and take their break room and give it a little makeover.  With some serious scrubbing, cleaning, a few gallons of paint, about 3 hours of online shopping, taking out old furniture, assembling new furniture, bringing in all the new furniture, appliances and accessories and then putting everything together we finally have had a finished product.

We then treated the teachers to a luncheon on Wednesday afternoon from Portland Pie Co. and several parents brought in homemade desserts and decorations.  We hope that all of the teachers and staff know how much the Polaris parents appreciate them and think the world of them!!!!  Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!!!!  Thank you to all of those parents who made this possible.

After School Enrichment Classes:

Art Class: I Love Paper: Fold it Dates: 5/16, 5/23, 5/30, 6/6; $68

This four week session will focus on paper to create dimension. Students will improve spatial reasoning in 3D-from the single dimension that paper represents to the multiple dimensions we can create with folds! First, we will make Pop-Up cards made of, you guessed it, paper! The next two weeks will focus on complex origami folds and how to make paper pop off the “page” in more ways than cards. At the end of the fourth week, students will walk away with a paper lantern, made with the folds they learned in class. We all need a little light in the winter! Sign up for I Love Paper: Fold it by clicking THIS LINK

Stem Fundamentals with Legos 2^nd Sesson 2 May 18^th – June 8th:  3:00pm – 4:30pm for Grades 1 – 4; $71 for 4 Sessions; Power on your engineering skills with Play-Well TEKnologies and tens of thousands of LEGO® parts! Apply real-world concepts in physics, engineering, and architecture through engineer-designed projects such as Snowmobiles, Towers, Catapults, and Battletracks! Design and build as never before, and explore your craziest ideas in a supportive environment. An experienced instructor will challenge new and returning students to engineer at the next level. Science and engineering terms will be explored such as belt movement, overlapping, levers, and rack gears. Abstract concepts will come alive as we build and learn together.  Sign up online for Stem Fundamentals 2^nd Session by clicking THIS LINK.

Family Movie Night: Friday, May 12^th at 6pm-  Join us for pizza, popcorn and Big Hero 6 in the gathering room! We suggest you wear comfy clothes and bring a pillow or blanket or both. Chairs will be set up as well. We have worked to improve the movie quality this time around. The PEF has all the cost of refreshments, the movie license covered so this event is completely free to all Polaris families. Families who have officially enrolled for next year are welcome to join us. All family members are welcome but an adult must accompany children, this is not a drop and go event. Parents who would not mind pitching in a bit or helping with clean up and set up are greatly appreciated! Please e-mail pef@polarischarterschool.org  if you can assist us.

Pizza Ordering– Reminder: if you wish to place a monthly order, we ask that you please use the order forms.   If for some reason you are not able to use the forms, it is very important that you include your child’s NAME, CLASS, and # of pizza slices and if the pizza is Gluten Free (GF) with the money that you turn in.  Otherwise, your order may not be placed correctly and your child is likely to be disappointed. Thank you!

Box Tops– We will be having a Box Top for Education campaign for Polaris throughout the end of the school year.  Please be saving your Box Tops.  You can send them in to school in a plastic bag and turn them in to the front office.  Thank you.

PEF Elections– The PEF is an amazing organization that could not function if not for the time dedication of parents. For this, we are blessed.  We have the most terrific parents who go above and beyond.  Our officers in the PEF need to shift positions within the PEF and not all can stay in their current role.  Therefore, we an opening on our board for the position of Member-at-Larger.  If you are interested in joining the PEF in a more active role, please contact pef@polarischarterschool.org and a board member will be in contact.  We can use all levels of help/leadership.

Below, you can find some important dates for your School Calendar:

• Next PEF Meeting– May 11th -7pm at Polaris
• May 5^th-May18th Read-a-thon
• May 12^th– Movie Night 6pm @ Polaris
• June 3^rd– Polaris End-of-Year Picnic (location TBD)