Hello, Trailwood Community!

It’s November, Thunderbird families! During this season of gratitude, I am reminded how incredibly grateful I am for our wonderful Trailwood community. Thank you all for making Trailwood the amazing place it is!

October was a busy month, and we hope you had a chance to get in on the fun! We had a beautiful morning for Walk To School Day, and we loved seeing so many families enjoying some time together on the playground. We were also excited to bring back a Trailwood tradition, Movie Night! What a great time the kiddos had watching a movie with friends in the Commons. And, of course, Halloween was a blast! From the parade to the parties, the day was one filled with fun! A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Seipel for putting together another wonderful Trailwood Halloween music video featuring our fabulous Trailwood performers!

November is going to be another exciting month at Trailwood, and we hope you can join us at some of our upcoming events, many of which are happening during Book Fair Week! You’ll find more details below on all the happenings throughout the newsletter, but please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime if you ever have any questions. And, don’t forget that our next PTA meeting will be on Tuesday, November 8^th, at 8:15 am in the Commons. Please join us! 

Cara Peterson

caraelizabeth1@yahoo.com

Mathletics: November 2, 2022

Last Flight Time: November 3, 2022

Picture Retake Day: November 4, 2022

5^th Grade Parent/Guardian Party: November 4, 2022 at 7:00 pm

6^th Grade Parent/Guardian Party: November 5, 2022 at 5:00 pm

MVP training in the Commons: November 7, 2022 at 8:30 am

PTA Meeting in the Commons: November 8, 2022 at 8:15 am

South Area Choral Festival at South: Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

Veterans’ Day Assembly: Friday, November 11, 2022 at 9:00 am

Skate Party at Skate City: Friday, November 11, 2022 at 4:00 pm

2^nd Grade Parent Party: November 11, 2022 at 7:00 pm

5^th and 6^th Grade Band/Strings Concert at South: November 15, 2022 at 7:00 pm

Book Fair: November 16, 2022 – November 19, 2022

Special Person’s Lunch A-K: November 17, 2022

3^rd Grade Musical: November 17, 2022 at 2:15 pm and 6:00 pm

Special Person’s Lunch L-Z: November 18, 2022

Jesse Horn Assembly: November 18, 2002 at 9:30 a.m.

Pancake Breakfast: November 19, 2022 at 8:00 am

Choir Sings at Crown Center: November 29, 2022 at 10:00 am

6^th Grade Staff/Volleyball Game: November 30, 2022 at 3:30 pm

Fall Book Fair Week is always a fun (and busy!) time at Trailwood! Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.

When is the book fair and when will my child shop for books?

The Book Fair will run from Wednesday, 11/16 – Saturday, 11/19. All students will have the opportunity to go through the fair during their assigned library special time. You may also shop with your child after school until 4:00 pm, during the Special Person’s lunches on 11/17 and 11/18 and during the Pancake Breakfast on 11/19 from 8:30 am -12:00 pm.

How does my child pay for books? 

You may send cash with your child, if you prefer. Or, the EASIEST way for kids to shop the fair would be to set up an e-wallet. An e-wallet is a digital payment account that is cash-free and convenient to use. It can be used at the in-person fair, as well as online. Plus, any leftover funds can be saved for future use! You'll find the link to our school's fair homepage here. If you scroll down, you can set up your e-wallet.

How can I help make the Book Fair run smoothly?

To make this fair run, we need VOLUNTEERS and LOTS OF THEM!  If you have any time, please sign up here.

Even if you cannot commit to an hour, we will take whatever you can give. In particular, the time slots during the Special Person's Lunches on Thursday, 11/17 and Friday, 11/18 are very busy. Thank you for considering! Any questions, contact Lori Tritsch.

What is the Special Person’s Lunch that is taking place during Book Fair Week?

Another long-standing Trailwood tradition we are happy to bring back this year is Special Person’s Lunch. This is an opportunity for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other special people in a child’s life to come to school during lunch. 

How do I know when to come to the Special Person’s Lunch?

Students with last names starting with A-K may have their special person(s) come on Thursday, 11/17, and students with last names starting with L-Z may have their special person(s) come on Friday, 11/18. If the special person(s) has multiple siblings they want to connect with during one lunch period, please make plans with the child’s family and teachers. We can have all kids eat at one time if that is the preference. You may purchase a hot lunch at the school for $4.30 or bring in outside food. Only cash will be accepted on this date!

Our lunch schedule is as follows: 

Kindergarten: Burchstead 11:00-11:30 / Seamon 11:03-11:33 

1st Grade: Mellen 11:09-11:39 / Warren 11:12-11:42 / Wilson 11:15-11:45 

2nd Grade: McCullough 11:39-12:09 / Nash 11:42-12:12 / Rawlston 11:45-12:15

3rd Grade: Heitmeyer 12:09-12:39 / Reynolds 12:12-12:42 / Swenson 12:15-12:45

4th Grade: Dennis 12:00-12:30 / Johnson 12:03-12:33 / Steward 12:06-12:36

5th Grade: Beauchamp 12:30-1:00 / Dulle 12:33-1:03 / Williamson 12:36-1:06

6th Grade: Davis 11:30-12:00 / Scott 11:33-12:03 / Waters 11:36-12:06 

There’s also a Pancake Breakfast happening during Book Fair week?!?!

Yes! Kick off your Thanksgiving break with a yummy pancake breakfast in the Commons on Saturday, 11/19, from 8:30 am – 10:30 am. This is another fun Trailwood tradition for families to stop by the school and enjoy some DELICIOUS pancakes and sausage with one another from Chris’ Cakes! This will also be your last chance to visit the Book Fair this fall! Tickets for this event will be available for purchase later this week on the Trailwood PTA website. Stay tuned!

Our fall parent/guardian grade level happy hours are wrapping up, and we’ve had such fun getting together with one another! We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of these events by hosting, donating food and drinks, or purchasing a ticket. Thanks to your generosity, we have raised almost $4,000 for our PTA. These funds help us to provide amazing opportunities for our students and teachers, such as field trips, cultural arts programs, classroom enrichment items, and so much more! We greatly appreciate your support!

2nd grade parents/guardians, tickets are still available for your event here!

Our 1^st Annual Trailwood Bowl-O-Rama was a HUGE success! Kids and adults enjoyed a night of bowling, dancing, showing off some amazing costumes and spending time together – all for a great cause! Thanks to the generosity of our amazing community, we were able to raise enough funds so that EVERY student will receive credits to purchase some new books at the spring book fair! More details to come on this in the spring!

We were so thankful to have some amazing sponsors helping us to reach our goal! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the following individuals and businesses who support our school (and give them a big THANK YOU):

Lane Sponsors:

Behemoth Creative and Marketing (who is also responsible for our AMAZING event advertising)

Faulkner Real Estate

Arctic Wolf

Pretzel Boy’s

Stockyard’s Brewing Company

Greg and Jenny Lee

A&M Home Furnishings

Travel Magic by Leigh

Outlook Creative

Tannin Wine Bar and Kitchen

Food Sponsors:

Meat Mitch

Buffalo State Pizza

Waldo Pizza

Connie’s Cookies

McClain’s Market

Prize Sponsors:

Mrs. Klein, Trailwood Librarian

Half-Price Books

Ceramic Café

Brew Lab Restaurant

Plaza Courtyard by Marriot

MerSea

Leigh McCabe, Authorized Disney Planner

Tommy’s Car Wash

Bob Allen Ford

Urban Slicer

The Tasteful Olive

A Store Named Stuff

Johnny’s Restaurant

Sprouts

Total Bowling

Taco Naco

A&M Home Furnishings

Our many Trailwood events could not happen without the support of our wonderful committee chairs and their teams of volunteers! Please thank these amazing committee chairs for sharing their time and talents with us during the month of October!

Walk To School Day: Lo Hathaway

Movie Night: Stephanie Emert and Victoria Savich

Halloween Parties: Cher Brownback

Bowl-O-Rama: Brett Emert, Lindsay Weiss, Jim Dore, Benjamin McCabe, Vivian Hamilton and Cara Peterson

Parent Equity Team: Vivian Hamilton

Teacher/Staff Mini Grants: Micah Botsford

Have you considered being a Wingman yet this year? We’d love to have you join your child(ren) during their day at Trailwood! You may choose to volunteer for either a full-day or half-day, and your schedule will vary depending on the needs of the day. But, you can plan on spending a portion of the day with your kiddos. Sign up here.

We’d like to thank these awesome dads who volunteered their time during the month of October!

Chris Cheatham

Eric Foreman

Michael Hill

Brad Osborn

Shea McGinnity

The PTA is committed to supporting the students, families, teachers and staff of Trailwood Elementary.  You can help us in this effort by becoming a PTA member.  Becoming a member doesn't obligate you to attend meetings or volunteer; you can be as involved as you would like!  Here is a link to purchase your membership as well as activity fee and yearbook here.

If you choose not to become a member, please remember that you still need to update your information in the directory.  Doing so allows us to communicate with you throughout the school year and gives you access to the online directory.  Families frequently use the directory for birthday party invitations, play dates, sports teams and more.  For them to be able to see your information-please select that you want your information to be published in the directory.

The PTA website is a great resource, and you can access the directory from there.  

https://www.trailwoodpta.com

Please do not hesitate to contact Lori Tritsch if you have any questions.  Thank you for keeping your directory information up to date and for considering a PTA membership purchase this year!

Over the holidays, there are so many opportunities to give back and help others, such as adopting a family to provide gifts and/or a meal.  T-Birds Serve would like to offer your family a few ways to do that through some great Kansas City organizations.  Check out Operation Breakthrough or KVC's Holiday Hero program to learn more.

Through T-Birds Serve, we hope to create a community of compassionate children through engagement and involvement in humanitarian service projects related to aiding, clothing and feeding those in need.  We want to help children understand the importance of giving to others and we hope that they will continue to give as adults.  Our goal is to bring hands-on projects to Trailwood students and families.  Watch for our in-person events coming up in the 2nd semester!

If you'd like to help organize T-Birds Serve events, please contact Karen Badgett.

Screen Free Week will be Monday, 11/7 - Friday, 11/11. Students will take home a slip of paper with 5 boxes to color (representing the 5 days). If they need to use their iPads for schoolwork or homework, that is an exception. We hope to have parents help encourage their children to choose other activities. There are multiple benefits to going screen free including improving physical health, making time for play and exploration, social connections, boosting mood, and building community. 

Students may bring their slips back to school Monday, 11/14 & Tuesday, 11/15. Those who return slips with at least one screen free day completed will have their name in a drawing to win a prize for their grade level!

We hope our Thunderbirds can enjoy a screen free week!

Trailwood will host a Veteran's Day Assembly on Friday, 11/11 at 9:00 am in the gymnasium! Trailwood families are welcome to invite a veteran to attend the assembly, where they will be recognized for their service. Following the assembly, a small reception will be held for our veterans and their Thunderbirds in the multi-purpose room.  

As part of our commitment to education, Trailwood PTA solicits grant applications from Trailwood staff each fall. Mini grants are designed to enhance the intellectual, emotional, physical and social needs of children. After our first round of grant proposals, we were excited to award the following items to the Trailwood community:

2 pop-up canopies for events like T-bird Trot, Field Day, etc.

New soccer nets for the playground

Keyboards for 6th grade writing in ELA

Reading Rods Phonics Readers and Explode the Code Literacy Curriculum for the Resource Room

Enrichment novel sets to go along with our Open Court ELA resource

5101 W 95th St. 

Overland Park, KS 66207