Are you interested in volunteering at Cook-Wissahickon but not sure if you have all the needed clearances in place? Join us on Thursday, 1/31 from 12:30-1:30 at the school.

You can complete the required paperwork and clearances, including:

• Volunteer Orientation Certificate
• Volunteer Code of Conduct
• Child Abuse History Clearance
• State Criminal Background Check
• Volunteer Affirmation (may only take the place of FBI Background Check if you have lived in PA for 10+ years)

Can’t make it on January 31? No problem! You can complete the orientation and find all the necessary paperwork on the FACE website. Just visit https://www.philasd.org/face/volunteer/

Not sure if you’re already cleared to volunteer? Email David Furioni at cwvista@phennd.org or Dan McGurk at cookwisshsa@gmail.com.

Call FACE liaison John Holland at 215-400-5878 with questions.

We hope everyone had a great Winter Break! Happy 2019! Here’s a look at some events coming up this month:

• 1/2: School resumes after Winter Break
• 1/10: HSA Meeting at 6:30 pm at Scanlon’s Saloon – find last month’s meeting minutes here
• 1/15: WSC (Green Committee) Meeting at 6:30 pm at the Foodery
• 1/16: Dine to Donate at Couch Tomato from 11 am to 10 pm. Dine in or take out! Use the code CookWiss when ordering. Invite friends and family!
• 1/17: 2018-19 Winter Arts Showcase from 6-8 pm at CW
• 1/18: No School
• 1/21: No School
• 1/24: Parent Meeting for Students in Musical
• 1/21 from 9 am to 2 pm: Join the WSC along with volunteers from Villanova and Jefferson to help with a school grounds work day. Kids welcome—come from whatever amount of time you can help. Sign up here. Cancelled due to weather. Rescheduled Date TBD.
• RESCHEDULED 1/29: K-4 musical featuring 5th grade at 2 pm in the Cafeteria
• 1/28-2/1: Book Fair! Click here for details, including the schedule for when classes will shop. Create an account to sign up to volunteer, shop online from 1/23-2/5, or even create an e-wallet that students can use to shop instead of sending cash! Book fair will be open to parents during conferences, too!
• 1/30: 12:24 Dismissal – Report Card Conferences
• 1/31: 12:24 Dismissal – Report Card Conferences
• 1/31: Join the WSC for a fundraiser at California Pizza Kitchen on City Ave! 20% of your check will go to supporting Wissahickon Sustainability Council’s efforts to green and maintain Cook-Wissahickon’s outdoor spaces and provide educational opportunities for students. Bring this flyer to be sure that your meal is included in the fundraiser.
• 2/1: 12:24 Dismissal – Report Card Conferences

Reminders:

• HSA Membership: Thanks to everyone who has already joined! If you haven’t yet – it’s not too late. Join Now!
• If you know someone who is not receiving HSA emails, please forward this and ask them to sign up here to be added to the list.

Volunteer Needs
Thanks to everyone who has volunteered so far this school year—there were many events and volunteer needs in 2018 and we’re so grateful for your help! Interested in volunteering in 2019? Please make sure you have all your clearances so you’re eligible to help!

50th Anniversary Fundraising Drive

The Cook-Wissahickon School will be celebrating its 50th birthday during the 2019 school year! To honor the occasion, we are asking each family to contribute $10, $25, or $50. Our goal is to raise $4,000 from Cook-Wissahickon families and relatives. Those funds will be used to improve the basketball courts, support student activities, provide funds to teachers so that they can offer more learning tools to your children, and offer scholarships for summer learning opportunities for our teachers, with the larger goal of strengthening and building on the 50-year history of our wonderful school. Every family that contributes will be listed and thanked on our web page! Click here to donate to our fundraising drive via PayPal (add memo line: CW-HSA Fundraiser 2019). Or, you can send a check payable to Cook-Wissahickon HSA and send it to school in an envelope marked “HSA.” Thank you for your support!

Students will have a chance to shop and buy gifts for friends and family this week—12/10-13! See schedule below for times classes will be visiting the Holiday Shop.* Students who want to shop should bring money in an envelope on their scheduled day!
If you’d like to volunteer, there are still a few open spots—please sign up here.

The Cook-Wiss HSA coordinates the sale of soft pretzels every Tuesday during the school year for students and staff members to purchase. Each pretzel ordered costs $.50 and must be pre-ordered by the deadline to ensure your child will receive a pretzel. Pretzels are delivered to the students on Tuesday mornings before their lunch period.
Payment, along with the Pretzel Order Form, should be sent in an envelope marked with the student’s name and amount enclosed. The amount in the envelope must be exact. NO REFUNDS or change! You can pay by cash, check payable to Cook Wiss HSA, or PayPal https://paypal.me/cookwisshsa
If paying by PayPal, please write your child(ren)’s name(s) in the memo line and indicate that it’s for Pretzel Orders.

Important Dates

• 12/10-13: It’s Holiday Shop time! Students will have a chance to shop and buy gifts! If you can volunteer, please sign up here. Be on the lookout for a schedule of when each class will have the opportunity to shop. Students who want to shop should bring money in an envelope on their scheduled day!
  12/11: Dress Rehearsal for All City Choir at Temple Performing Arts Center from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.
  12/12: All City Elementary and Middle School Choral Concert at Temple Performing Arts Center at 7:00 pm. This event is FREE to attend!
  12/13: HSA Meeting at 5 pm at Cook-Wissahickon. All are welcome to attend and learn what’s new with fundraising, the Class Parent Program, the 5K, and other big events. Find minutes from past meetings here.
  12/14: Science Fair for grades 4-8. Do you have a background in science, medicine, engineering, or education? iPraxis, which partners with our school, is seeking volunteers to help judge the science fair projects. You can sign up to help in the morning (8:15 am to 12 pm), in the afternoon (12 pm to 4 pm), or all day (8:15 am to 4 pm). Breakfast and lunch are provided depending on your volunteer slot (both if you volunteer all day)! Sign up here. 
  12/15: Join the Choir for their fun Flapjack Fundraiser at Applebee’s in Andorra from 8 to 10 am—choir students will serve you pancakes! Tickets are $10. Want to volunteer or sign up to donate a gift basket? Sign up here.
  12/15: Good luck to the Wiz Kids, our First Lego League team, heading to Central High School for their Qualifier to compete against 36 other teams in Philadelphia!
  12/18: Join the Wissahickon Sustainability Council for a meeting at 6:30 pm at The Foodery in Roxborough or at the school on 12/19 at 4 pm.
  12/21: Dental Day. Smile.org is coming and will be offering a full range of dental services to all students who return the consent form that was sent home with students in November.
• 12/21: Pretzel Orders for 1/8-3/12/19 Due. 
  12/24-1/1: Winter Break – No School
  

Reminders:

• HSA Membership: Thanks to everyone who has already joined! If you haven’t yet – it’s not too late. Join Now!
• Are you not receiving HSA emails? Please sign up here to be added to the list.
• The School Nurse page on the CW School Website has been updated with some important forms and information. Visit https://cookwissahickon.philasd.org/school-nurse/

Volunteer Update

We want to thank everyone who has volunteered so far this year—for events, field trips, and for other school needs! We appreciate all you do to support Cook-Wiss!
Interested in volunteering? Please make sure you have all your clearances and then click on any of the choices below to sign up!

• Holiday Shop
  
• Science Fair Judges
  
• Choir Flapjack Fundraiser
• Pretzels
  
• Email our volunteer coordinator with any questions.

Giving Thanks!
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our Special NUT Day on 11/21! We raised $240 for the North Light Community Center!
Thank you, too, to the Wissahickon Sustainability Council and the volunteers who participated in a school grounds clean-up day last month! They weeded, raked, picked up trash, and built a new bench for the front of school!
Congrats to the CW Choir for their perfomance in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade! They were awesome!

The next few weeks are busy at Cook-Wissahickon. Below is a rundown of what’s coming up and a few important notices:

• 11/6: Election Day – No School
• 11/6: WSC Clean-Up Day: Join the Green Committee from 9:30-12:30 for a clean-up day of weeding, maintenance, and help building a new bench for the children’s play area! Kids welcome! Sign up here!
• 11/7,8,9: Report Card Conferences and 12:24 Dismissals
• 11/8: HSA meeting at 6:30 at Cook-Wissahickon (please note the updated day and location for this month’s meeting!). Join us for our monthly HSA meeting—all are welcome! Check out the agenda here and find past meeting minutes here! Come out for a discussion about fundraising goals, to vote on where the money is going, and more. Questions or comments? Email us.
• 11/12: Veterans Day – No School
• 11/13: Family Fun & Fit Night from 5-6 pm for Grades K-2 in the CW Gym
• 11/14: Family Fun & Fit Night from 5-6 pm for Grades 3-5 in the CW Gym
• 11/15: Family Fun & Fit Night from 5-6 pm for Grades 6-8 in the CW Gym
• 11/15: All City Rehearsal for Elementary & Middle School Choir at Tilden
• 11/17: Give Kids Sight Day
• 11/21: Thanksgiving Day Parade rehearsal at the Art Museum for Choir
• 11/22-23: Thanksgiving Break – No School
• 11/22: Choir performing in Thanksgiving Day Parade
• 11/27: WSC Meeting at 6:30 at Foodery Roxborough or
• 11/28: WSC Meeting at 4:00 at CW
• 11/28: All City Rehearsal for Elementary & Middle School Choir at Tilden

HSA Membership: If you aren’t a member yet, it’s not too late. Join Now! Classes with 90% participation by 11/9 will win a pizza party!

School District Survey: Love or hate the new earlier start (and end) to the school year? Wish Spring Break were still a full week? Now is your chance to share your thoughts—the district is asking for feedback. Take the survey.

Classroom Parent Program: We are in the process of kicking on our 2018-19 Classroom Parent Program! This program helps with so much, from organizing donations for the teachers, volunteering for field trips, and helping to increase parent involvement in our school—but we can’t do it without you!  So far, we have substantial coverage in K, 1st, and 2nd grades, and have leaders identified for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. We still need leaders for Middle School. The CW HSA will be staffing a table this Wednesday & Thursday during the parent-teacher conferences. If you are interested in getting involved with this program in any way or have questions, please stop by. If you have any other questions, ideas, or concerns, please stop by. We’d love to hear from you! You can also always email the HSA or our volunteer coordinator with any questions.

Volunteer Corner: Do you want to volunteer at CW this year? Please make sure you have all your clearances and then sign up for what you can help with! Check out our current needs here.

Parent & Community Advisory Council: The Philadelphia Board of Education is looking for applicants for its newly created Parent & Community Advisory Council. Interested? You can get more information or apply online here. The deadline for applying is November 9. The application should only take about 15 minutes to fill out.

Donate Games to the Afterschool Program: The CW Afterschool program wants to update its supply of games and activities for students. If you have new or gently used games you’d like to donate, please consider giving to the afterschool program. See Ms. Smith for more details or questions! Thanks!

Note of Thanks From the HSA President: A huge thanks goes out to all the volunteers and guests who braved the sudden change in the weather to join us in the schoolyard for our Movie Night featuring Beauty and the Beast. Movie night would not have been as much fun without the great crowd. And the crowd would not have had an event if not for all of the volunteers. It means a lot to me to see everyone enjoying their night together back at the school. It’s super encouraging to see all the families together, meeting each other, and coming out for a good cause. Thanks to PA Rep Pam DeLissio for coming out and talking to our families. Thanks to Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym for sending her support. All told we raised $934.24 for improvements in the Cafetorium to support our Cook-Wiss Theater Department.
Thanks also to all those who came out for and volunteered for the Art Department’s 7th Annual Harvest Festival! It was a great evening!

—Dan McGurk, HSA President

The 7th Annual Harvest Festival Art Fundraiser is coming up on Thursday, October 25 from 4:30-6:30 pm in the CW Cafeteria. If you pre-register, it’s $10 for 50 tickets. Your student can return the form to his or her homeroom teacher or to Ms. Kimmel’s mailbox in the office. Student names, homerooms, and grades must be provided as well as the amount of tickets with correct amount included. You can also purchase tickets at the door for $10 for 40 tickets. Tickets can be used for pumkin painting, light food & refreshments, a card-making craft station, and games & prizes. All money raised will go toward supporting the art department.

Of course, the success of this event depends on volunteers! If you are able, please sign up to help out! We’re so grateful for any time you can volunteer. Signup here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4cabae2ba5fa7-cook

Also, the Wissahickon Sustainability Council (aka CW’s Green Committee) is raffling off an awesome Halloween Lap Quilt – tickets will be available for purchase at the Harvest Festival (and you can see the quilt in person) or you can buy tickets ahead of time via paypal for $5 per ticket or $20 for 5 tickets! Visit paypal.me/cookwisswsc to purchase tickets. Put your contact information in the “special instructions” on Paypal when purchasing and you’ll be emailed a picture of your raffle tickets. They’ll be picking a winner on 10/25 at the end of Harvest Festival – and don’t worry, if you aren’t there at the time of drawing, they’ll contact you to let you know you won! Money raised through this particular fundraiser will go to the WSC to help fund maintenance costs for schoolyard cleanups, tree mulching, and meadow maintenance.

Important Dates

• 10/4: HSA Meeting at 5pm at Cook-Wissahickon. Preview the agenda here! Find minutes from past meetings here.
• 10/5: Half Day with 12:24 Dismissal
• 10/5: Good luck to the CW Robotics League—they’re going to the Philly Robotics Expo at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania.
• 10/6: The CW Choir is performing at the Temple football game (currently scheduled for 12pm)
• 10/12: Movie Night. Watch Beauty and the Beast in the CW Schoolyard at dusk! Get details here or sign up to volunteer here!
• 10/16: Join the Wissahickon Sustainability Council for a meeting at 6:30 at The Foodery in Roxborough or at the school on 10/17 at 4pm.
• 10/19: The CW Choir is performing at University of Pennsylvania at 7pm!
• 10/25: Harvest Festival at CW (4:30-6:30pm). Come out for a fun event to help support the art department. Look for information coming home from school soon about purchasing tickets for fun activities, refreshments, and more! We also need volunteers to make the event a success. If you can, please sign up here!

Reminders:

• HSA Membership: Thanks to everyone who has already joined! If you haven’t yet – it’s not too late. Join Now! We’ve extended the deadline for classes to win a pizza party. Class with most members by 10/1 will win a pizza party. Then, any classes wtih 90% membership by 11/9 will win a pizza party!
• NUT Days: If you missed the pay-ahead deadline earlier this year, you have another chance! If you want to start paying ahead from October on, please download the updated form here.
• Pretzel Order Forms are due 10/3! All students will receive a free pretzel on 10/2! If you have some time on Tuesday mornings, please sign up to help distribute pretzels!
• School selection process opened Friday, Sept. 21 and will be open through Friday, Nov. 2.

Volunteer Needs

Do you want to volunteer at CW this year? Please make sure you have all your clearances and then sign up for what you can help with!

Click on any of the choices to sign up!

• Pretzel Day Volunteer Needs: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4cabae2ba5fa7-pretzel
• Movie Night: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4cabae2ba5fa7-cookwiss1
• Harvest Festival: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4cabae2ba5fa7-cook
• Morning Schoolyard Support: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4cabae2ba5fa7-cook1
• 2018-2019 Classroom Parents Program – We Need You! Our Class Parent Program helps with so much, from organizing donations for the teachers, volunteering for field trips, and helping to increase parent involvement in our school – but we can’t do it without you! If you’re interested in signing up or learning more about the program, please email Ashley Rummelt at Cookwiss2019volunteer@gmail.com. We’re looking for both Head Class Parents to help steer the program, as well as Supporting Class Parents who may have limited time but still would like to contribute. Whatever your capacity, we’d love to have you! Thank you for considering

Thanks to everyone who joined the HSA this year! As of 9/23/18. Close to 20% of families have joined so far and Rooms 106, K2, and 208 are in the lead for the most members. All classrooms with 90% membership by Oct. 1 will win a pizza party. If you haven’t joined yet, fill out the Google Form now or download a membership form here (You can pay dues via cash, check, or PayPal).

NUT Days: On Fridays and half days throughout the year, students can dress down (No Uniform Today) for $1! This year, we started offering a few option so pay ahead—pay for the year, pay 2 times a year, or if you prefer keep paying by the day! If you want to start paying ahead from October on, please download the updated form here.

Pretzel Order Forms were sent home last week. If you didn’t receive it, downoald one here. Orders for 10/9-12/18 are due 10/3. All students will receive a free pretzel on 10/2!

For anyone interested in volunteering at school this year, Cook-Wissahickon is holding a Volunteer Orientation on 9/25. One session will be held from 9:30-10:15am and another from 1:30-2:15pm! Download the Volunteer Orientation Flyer for more information. If you can’t attend in person, visit https://www.philasd.org/face/volunteer and click “Volunteer Orientation.”

The school selection process opened Friday, Sept. 21 and will be open through Friday, Nov. 2. Presenters from various High Schools will be visiting CW to speak to 8th-grade students (families are welcome to attend) this week:

• Monday, 9/24: CARVER at 1:30PM
• Tuesday, 9/25: Parkway NW at 1:30PM
• Wednesday, 9/26: SLA@Beeber at 2:00PM
• Thursday, 9/27: Central at 1:30PM
• Friday, 9/28: Bodine at 1:30PM

• 10/4: HSA Meeting at 5pm at Cook-Wissahickon
• 10/5: Half Day with 12:24 Dismissal
• 10/12: Movie Night showing Beauty and the Beast in the CW Schoolyard at Dusk (Want to volunteer? Sign up here!)
• 10/25: Harvest Festival at CW (4:30-6:30pm) – Look for more information in the coming weeks!

We hope to see lots of new and familiar faces at Back-to-School Night on Thursday, September 13 from 5:30 to 7:30pm!

Hopefully your student brought home several forms in his or her weekly Wednesday folder this week, but in case something was missing or never made its way into your student’s hands, here are links to paperwork we want to make sure you have:

• Join the HSA: You can download a form here or fill out the Google Form to join. All are welcome to join and attend HSA Meetings, but only dues-paying members can vote at meetings. Dues are $5 per family. And good news, we now accept cash, check, or payment via PayPal! Check out the form or link for details.
• NUT Days: On Fridays and half days throughout the year, students can dress down (No Uniform Today) for $1! It’s a great fundraiser for the HSA and helps pay for lots of field trip buses and more. And more great news, if you prefer to pay in advance instead of trying to remember and searching for $1 bills on Friday mornings, you can pay ahead—pay for the year, pay 2 times a year, or if you prefer keep paying by the day! All the details and the form can be found here!
• Uniforms: Embroidered uniform options will now be ordered quarterly. The next order will be placed 9/21 with orders expected back for distribution on 10/10. Download the order form here.
• How to Get Involved with the CW HSA: Check out some ways you might be able to help out here! We’re looking forward to a great year.

Thanks for your continued support! If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please let us know. Email cookwisshsa@gmail.com!