1. Exploris Spirit Night at Transfer Company tomorrow! 9/3
2. PTO/Directory Signup Form
3. PTO Meeting September 9
4. Curriculum Night Sept 12 & 19
5. School Pictures Sept 18 & 19
6. Raleigh Crossing groundbreaking 
7. Spiritwear on sale
8. September School Newsletter
9. Teacher Snack Stash
10. Start Passive Fundraising! VIC card, Boxtops, and more
11. Get involved with the PTO- open positions
12. Back to School- photos online
13. 2019-20 Exploris Calendar link/help
14. Upcoming Events

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1. Exploris Spirit Night at Transfer Co. Food Hall –  Tuesday! 
Join us for the first PTO Dine-In Fundraiser on Tuesday, September 3 at Transfer Company Food Hall!  Transfer Co. is at 500 E Davie Street, just a few blocks south of the Elementary Campus. There is parking onsite and an easy walk from many downtown locations.

Spirit Night for The Exploris School runs from 3:00 – 8:00 PM. Participating vendors will be donating a portion of their proceeds back to the Exploris PTO!

RSVP Here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1139875149546757/

2. Exploris School Directory Have you filled out the FORM? The PTO is working on this year’s school directory, and we’d love it if all Exploris kids could be listed with their classes! Please opt-in to the school directory by filling out the online form. 
We plan to publish the PTO directory next week. We would appreciate it if you would enter your data prior to 9/3 to make the initial posting as complete as possible. Form: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfUj9d9Z2m3vYwEM2…/viewform

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5. School Pictures! September 18 & 19
Exploris Families – School picture day is right around the corner.  The elementary date is Tuesday September 18th and the middle school date is Wednesday September 19th.  There is a flyer and Q&A on the L.I. Photo website at https://lifelongimpressions.com/exploris-q-and-a/ which notes the details, pricing and includes photo tips.  
You can also enter your email into the actual gallery link which will send you an email notification as soon as the gallery is available to view and order. Gallery Link: https://www.gallery.lifelongimpressions.com/gallery/exp19 As the photographer (and former Exploris parent) Shannon White will only be in the US for 4 weeks and needs to train her order fulfilment assistant, those who place their order within the first week will receive their print orders just two weeks later.  Digital image orders will continue to be fulfilled by an emailed download link immediately after the payment is fully processed.  

http://lifelongimpressions.com/
shannon@lifelongimpressions.com
Mobile: 0447 969 659
Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifelongimpressions/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifelongimpressions/

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6. Construction project to begin next door to Exploris Middle School

7. Exploris Spiritwear  is now available to order! Items are on sale through SEPTEMBER 12 and will be delivered to students some time in October (date TBD).

We have Tshirts, hats, hoodies, magnets, water bottles, and more! See all of the options and online ordering at: Exploris School PTO.

8. Read the September Exploris School Newsletter!
The school publishes a monthly newsletter via MailChimp that is emailed to parents each month.  The September newsletter includes an important update about the Exploris facility plans, along with photos and news from each crew.  To read the September or past newsletters visit: https://www.exploris.org/newsletters/

9. Teacher Snack Stash – This year, crew parents will be responsible for coordinating drink & snack stashes in teacher workrooms – it doesn’t have to be much, but having something to snack on during a long day makes a big difference to our teachers.  While we are getting crew parents set up, lets go ahead and stock the teacher workrooms for the next few weeks! There are signups for each workroom – K-2 Building & 3-5 Building on the elementary campus and the middle school.  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050849AEAF2DA4FA7-k2teacher

10. Get started with Passive Fundraising!

Please participate in these easy grocery, packaging, and shopping fundraisers for our school!  Information has been updated for the 2019-20 school year: 

https://explorispto.org/fundraising/passivefundraising/

11. Get involved with the PTO! 

Immediate Volunteer Needs – The PTO Board has a few open positions.  Please contact Allie at Volunteers@ExplorisPTO.org if you are interested in any of these roles or would like to learn more.

• Office Coverage Coordinator – Coordinate with office staff and volunteers to ensure that the office at each campus is manned while the staff is out of the office or attending to other matters.
• Dine in Night Coordinator – Organize monthly restaurant fundraisers and promote through PTO newsletter, posters, Facebook posts, etc to ensure high participation
• Crew Parents – One of the goals for the PTO is to support our teachers as well as possible, and our Crew Parents are our direct connection between Teachers and the PTO.  The crew parent role has changed from past years, so please review the following expectations. Please contact Gineen at gineen.bowman@gmail.com for questions or if you are interested in serving as a crew parent.
  • Organize parent volunteers as needed (SignUp Genius is great!)
    • Ongoing classroom needs
    • PTO Projects (Art By Me, Auction, etc)
    • Field Trips
    • Special Events
  • Assemble Birthday Baskets for your classroom teachers
    • Birthday cards, their favorite treat, a small gift card for coffee or dinner
    • Parents can send in items or you can collect money
  • Teacher Treats
    • Each grade will be responsible for providing teacher treats and coffee once every 3 months.
    • It is up to you how you send in treats, but no pressure – our teachers are so thankful for everything we do!

12. Back to School! 

We’ve had a great start to the 2019-20 School Year at Exploris!  Thanks to everyone for sharing photos for our First Day of School photo album on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/explorispto/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1318476728312406

If you need the school supply lists, carpool map, lunch order forms and more please visit our Back To School Checklist here. 

13. Calendar

The 2019-20 Exploris and PTO Calendar links are here:

https://explorispto.org/about/calendar/

You can keep up with Exploris events by subscribing to the Google Calendar. First click on the Calendar, then click on the + button in the lower right corner of the calendar. If you don’t already have a Google account, you will need to set one up, which is easy and free.  After subscribing, all Exploris events will also be displayed on your calendar. Questions? Check the Exploris Google Calendar FAQ.

If you need help putting the calendar on your iPhone calendar, here are directions:

• To start with, you’ll need a Google account. If you don’t already have one, here’s how to sign up: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/2465776 
• Next, you’ll need to add the Exploris calendar to your Google Calendar. To do this, visit the PTO calendar page and click the plus button at the bottom.
  https://explorispto.org/parent-info/calendar/ 
• Then, you’ll need to tell your iPhone to sync your Google Calendar events. Here’s instructions for how to do that:
  https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/99358
• Finally, visit Google’s calendar sync page on your computer to tell it that you want to sync the Exploris calendar to your phone:
  https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect

• September 2: School Closed for Labor Day
• September 3: Exploris Spirit Night at Transfer Company Food Hall
• September 9:  PTO Meeting, 6:30pm at the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
• September 17: Picture day at Elementary
• September 18: Picture day at Middle
• Monday, September 30: – Teacher Workday
• October 4 (3:15pm) – October 14 (8am) – Fall Break

Thanks for reading the “Monday Minute”!  We publish this Exploris PTO blog post each Monday during the school year.  

If you would like to submit information, please email your text (copy ready), photos, and links to Dana Deaton at explorisptonews@gmail.com .