On Friday, January 24, 2014, Grady students had fun at Tiger Trek, our walk-a-thon.  The students were cheered on by volunteers and were pumped up by music played by Mr. Florio.  At the conclusion of the walk, every student received a free Whole Foods shopping bag and filled his or her bag with many prizes from our sponsors including 365 breakfast bars from Whole Foods, Gogurts from the PTA, and dental hygiene supplies, T-shirts, sunglasses, pencils and backpacks from Abdoney Ortho and South Tampa Pediatric Dentistry.  It was cool and sunny outside; a perfect day for exercise.  To see some photos of the Tiger Trek volunteers, please click the link:  http://gradytigers.org/tiger-trek-2014.  

Thank you to our Grady students and parents for their work in collecting pledges.  Thank you to Grady’s teachers, sponsors and volunteers for their work in making the event a success.  PTA VP of Fundraising, Jessica Schentrup, who organized Tiger Trek and secured substantial corporate and family sponsors, deserves a very special shout out for her fantastic work on this event.  

Notably, Tiger Trek generated $13,600 in revenue; $4,900 from corporate and family sponsors and $8,700 from pledges from Grady families.  All of this money will be reinvested in the school and will enhance students’ educational experience at Grady Elementary. 

Also, because next Friday is Fair Day and there is no school, the February doughnut sale to support the Fifth Grade will take place on Friday, February 14 from 7:30 am until 8:00 am in the car line loop.  Also in February and March, Grady Girl Scout Troop 2003 will be selling Girl Scout cookies at a table in front of the school between 7:30 am and 8 am on Friday, February 21; Wednesday, February 26; and Wednesday, March 5.  Cookies are $4 box. 

The Kindergarten Round Up is February 6 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am.  If you know someone considering sending their child to Kindergarten at Grady, please tell them about this event.  The Kindergarten is also hosting a Valentine’s Day Program on February 14.

Please keep sending Box Tops in for the Box Top Competition.  February 14 is the last day to submit Box Tops for the contest.

Jump Rope for Heart will take place on February 21, 2014.  We will soon have a volunteer sign up form available on the Grady website for anyone who would like to volunteer to help with Jump Rope for Heart.

Next, we want to let you know about an opportunity to advertise in the yearbook. We are offering businesses a great opportunity to promote themselves to Grady Elementary School students, parents and faculty while also showing support for our school by sponsoring our yearbook.  We are selling yearbook page sponsorships for $30 each.  For each sponsorship, your business logo will be printed at the bottom of a yearbook page.  An example of how a page sponsorship would look is included in this email.  If you are interested, please click on the attached form, fill it out and return it to the school before February 14.  Please contact Yearbook Advisor, Janneth Romero, at [email protected] with any yearbook questions.

Finally, we hope that parents of students in third, fourth and fifth grades are getting excited about the students meeting author Augusta Scattergood this Friday.  On January 31, 2014, Grady Elementary will host multiple presentations to students by author Augusta Scattergood in connection with Battle of the Books. Ms. Scattergood will speak to students about character development, and more generally about how to become an author. This presentation will be especially meaningful for the fourth grade, as each fourth grader is reading Ms. Scattergood’s book, Glory Be, in connection with Battle of the Books.  Grady teachers secured Ms. Scattergood’s attendance and the PTA paid her speaking fee.  Ms. Scattergood’s  presentation is a perfect example of the PTA partnering with Grady Elementary to provide educational enhancements for our children.  We are looking forward to spending the monies raised during Tiger Trek and the other wonderful events we've had this year to further enhance everyone’s experience at our school.