August 29, 2009

Dear Mark Twain Families,

I hope you and your children had a great first week of school. Please find below a few items of importance. I also want to personally encourage you to attend the PTO meeting on Tuesday, September 1st. You are an important and necessary component of the PTO as we plan for the upcoming year.

See you next week,

Jill Herrera, PTO President

Mark Twain PTO: United We Build Community

Jherrer5@sbcglobal.net

International Baccalaureate/Primary Years Program Ambassador

Dear parents,

You are invited to become a PYP Ambassador. The goal of this parent group is to focus our energies at Mark Twain so that activities connect more directly to our International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. We hope this will help deepen your conversations with your children about their work and encourage meaningful parent-teacher dialogue.

We plan to meet once a month starting in September - time and day still to be arranged to accommodate everyone's schedule.

If you would like to become a PYP Ambassador or if you need more information, please give me a call or send an email.

Thanks for all you do,

Kathleen Blakeslee

IB PYP Coordinator

Mark Twain Elementary

713.295.5230

KBLAKESL@houstonisd.org

Parking Courtesy

The school welcomes and encourages parents to park and walk their children into school each morning. Will you please be reminded to show courtesy to our neighbors by adhering to the following guidelines regarding parking on the street and in school parking lots.

1. Please make sure your car does not block a driveway
2. Please refrain from parking in any driveway
3. Please refrain from parking on the sidewalk
4. Please do not park in any reserved parking places in school parking lots.

Cell Phone Use Prohibited in School Zones

HB 55 -- a new Texas law that takes effect Sept. 1 -- amends the state's Transportation Code, Section 545.425 to prohibit the use of a wireless communication device (WCD) while operating a vehicle within a school crossing zone unless the vehicle is stopped or the WCD is used with a hands-free device. An exception allows the use of WCDs to make emergency calls to specific organizations listed in the law, including police, fire and emergency medical services.

Signs will be posted on September 1st to notify motorists of the new law.* * * * * * *

Sally Foster

The Kickoff for our Fall Fundraiser will be underway on Tuesday, September 1st. Your child(ren) will receive a packet of information regarding Sally Foster. Please look for it in their Tuesday folders.

Green/Brown Folders

Exciting news!! Collaboratively the PTO and the school are making the transition from Red Folders to a Green Folder system in an effort to "Go Green". Although originally we were calling them Green Folders the actual folders are brown, as they are made of recycled paper.

On September 1st we will send home a Brown Folder to every child. If you have not yet signed up for Green Folders there will be a "Green Folder" form in the brown folder. We ask you to complete the form and encourage you to join the effort by agreeing to receive communication electronically.

Beginning September 8th, the PTO Communications Director will compile and edit the weekly Mark Twain Electronic Newsletter. This newsletter will be sent electronically to your e-mail on Tuesday. For those families that have opted out it will be copied and put in the brown folder. The electronic newsletter will have live links that will provide additional information regarding the event. There will still be some paper flyers, as well as student work from your teachers in the folders, but it is our goal to significantly decrease the use of paper.

We appreciate your patience and support in this effort. As we begin this new initiative there will be adjustments and areas for improvement. We will appreciate your feedback and patience as we work to communicate effectively. In advance, thanks again for your support.

Going Green,

Jill Herrera, PTO President

Janet Schwind, Communication Co-Director (Brown Folder Coordinator)

Christine Dobson, Communication Co-Director (Electronic Newsletter Editor)