Parent Association Newsletters
 A Flurry of Spring Activities It’s May and that means the end of the school year is right around the corner. If you’re like me, this year has absolutely flown by, especially for the board! In just the past few weeks, the board sponsored Robotics Week, Book Club, a SAW fundraiser, Spring Swap, Family Game Day Round Two, Staff Appreciation Week, and we've been recruiting for next year’s board. I'd like to give a huge shoutout to all the board members for working on and organizing a string of back to back events despite everything else that’s happening in their lives. And of course, a huge thank you to the broader community in all the ways you support us either by volunteering, bringing in your swap items, donating over $4,800 for SAW, bringing something for the SAW potluck, and just showing up. We see you and we appreciate you! It has been so rewarding to see both the entire parent community come together to show appreciation to the staff, and then to see the joy and smiles emanating from staff all week for their appreciation for the parent community. It felt extra special this year as we eased out of a pandemic and got to connect face to face again. Read below to see all of the things the PA did for SAW, as well as some love letters we received back from staff. We have an exciting group of board applicants for next year and we hope everyone votes in the coming elections. The election is not competitive (please vote for everyone suggested), and we need at least 25% of the community to vote for it to be valid. Wishing all the mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day! With love, Jessica Lin President, MCH Parent Association  MCH Parent Association Special Meeting June 12 Each year the MCH Parent Association holds an election for our Board of Directors. Our bylaws dictate that 25% of our MCH Parent Community must participate in the election to be valid. Please watch your email the week of May 31st for information on how to vote. On Monday, June 12th, at 7:30pm on Zoom, we'll be holding a special meeting to certify and announce the election results. This meeting usually takes about five minutes and we encourage you to join us and meet the new board of the MCH Parent Association. Email us for the Zoom meeting link.  Staff Appreciation Week is a Wrap! Last week, the PA organized quite a celebration for teachers and staff! It was thrilling to be back on campus with in-person events. Here’s the run down on everything we were able to do thanks to your generous donations and potluck contributions. “Thank you so much to all the parents! This week has made me feel the love that parents have for the staff at MCH! I especially want to thank all the parents who worked so hard to contribute to the potluck lunch. It was so heartwarming to see. And also huge thanks to the parents who were restocking the snack cart in the staff lounge so frequently! Such thoughtful snacks and small gifts there - it was really kind and made my day! The coffee cart was also a great idea and it was nice to see parents there interacting with staff as well. Thank you parents!” Monday and Friday mornings, the teachers visited the coffee cart on the Foxglove patio for (unlimited) tasty drinks and breakfast treats. This has been a staff favorite in the past and we were excited to double up on this particular item this year. Tuesday was a hot taco bar with all the fixings. On Thursday, we brought back the uber popular, parent-cooked potluck lunch with lovely dishes from many different cuisines. The onsite Ooni pizza oven with made-to-order pizzas was very popular (shoutout to the two families from Horsetail)! For both lunches, takeout containers were provided so the leftovers could be taken home and shared, ensuring very little if any food was wasted. “Dear parents, thank you so much for the lovely lunches! The tacos were just delicious and so perfect, and then the potluck just topped the tacos! A pizza oven? Pulled pork? Coleslaw? Cookies, crepes, cake, salad?! A true smorgasbord! So delicious! I loved all the various dishes - so multi-cultural and all filled with flavor!” On Wednesday, the PA delivered beautiful Gratitude Trees with handwritten notes from families for our teachers and staff. In the staff lounge, we set up a Staff Appreciation Station stocked with snacks and small non-food items (enamel pins, plant seeds, iron-on patches, chapstick, gum and notes of affirmation). The cart was refilled twice-a-day throughout the week and was a huge hit! We originally planned to stock it on Monday and refill it once on Wednesday, but it was so popular that we dedicated more time and funding to keeping it well stocked all week. Finally, staff were able to select a $50 gift card from one of five local/mission-driven businesses: The Recology Store, Frankie & Jo's Ice Cream, 21 Acres Farm Market, Ben Franklin Crafts, and Metier Brewing Company. “Thank you for everything that you do! The MCH community wouldn't be the same without the amazing parents. You have all gone above and beyond to show your appreciation for the MCH staff and we felt it all week. Thank you for raising money to treat us and take time out of your day to share your homecooked meals with us. The potluck was full of such amazing food that had something for everyone. We are so grateful to have such a supportive, uplifting community surrounding us.” Finally, on Sunday morning, parents and staff teamed up for the Adopt-a-Highway roadside cleanup. Working side-by-side (with almost double the usual turnout), we collected 40 garbage bags full of trash along two miles of State Route 202. Even a black bear and a dozen snakes couldn’t stop us from cleaning up tons of plastic, bottles, tires, an iPhone, fast food and snack wrappers, a ladder, and plenty of other non-biodegradable items. All of this would not have been possible without the generous gifts from you – we raised nearly $5,000 and had over 30 families contribute to the potluck lunch! We truly do have an amazing community here at MCH, and the PA is grateful to you!  Spring Swap and Family Game Day Round 2 On Sunday, April 23, we held our Spring Swap and Family Game Day joint event at the Sammamish Boys and Girls Club. Families came to enjoy board games and pick out clothing and books from within the community. We filled up many bins of items that families dropped off, and ultimately were also able to donate a large amount of clothing and books to KidVantage (formerly Eastside Baby Center). Thank you to all the families that participated in the swap! And if you missed out this year, don’t worry – we plan to have another Spring Swap next year! Alongside Spring Swap, we hosted Round Two of Family Game Day. This time, it was a bring-your-own-games affair and folks delivered. From giant jenga, to a variety of card and board games, plus a balloon pit and a snacks table – the kiddos and their families had plenty of fun. Look out for Family Game Day Round Three (outdoor games) at the MCH PA Camping event in late June!  Robotics Week Follow Up The event was in the first week of April. Many thanks to the volunteers, staff members, PA members and to the school for making this event possible. We worked on a Musical project, and we did robots race, the faster you clap your hands the faster your robot will go! We used block programming as an educational programming language to learn programming basics. We also used the Ed mat, which is a smart robotics mat with barcodes to activate the robot to perform different tasks, like sumo wrestling. Our music specialist, Ms. Becky, showed us the musical notes of the “Twinkle Twinkle little star” song, and students showed her how to download that note to the robot and hear the robot singing it. Some students programmed their robots to sing different songs, like the “Jingle Bells.” One student was concerned the robots would be scary, but after he was done with the first project, he said he had fun with the hand-sized orange robot and was even thinking of adding new ideas to the project! Experiences like this event help children to expand their perspective on the world around them. If your child is interested in robotics and you would like to help them with self-learning at home, an Edison Robot kit is available to borrowing from the school, complete with clear instructions so to help your child get started. Students already learned the complete programming cycle during Robotics Week. Interested students can submit their work by visiting National Robotics Week, clicking "Get Involved" and then "Submit Your Event or Activity." Please email Sulafa Talha for any questions or assistance.  Upcoming Book Clubs New participants are always welcome! Even if you have not read the book, come visit us on Zoom each month to explore great reads and get to know your fellow MCH parents. We’re a very casual bunch who always enjoy laughter and camaraderie. For our May gathering, we are reading Horse by Geraldine Brooks, a novel rooted in actual events. The author's website describes the novel as “[a] discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history." “Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.” —TIME Check out this Q&A with the author to hear her compelling reasons for writing this novel. We hope you'll join us on Zoom, May 18th at 7:30 pm. We will be gathering in-person on the evening of June 16th to celebrate another year of great reads. Join us (newcomers welcome!) to chat about our summer reading lists and adventures. No official book to read this month, just bring a title or two share. Details to follow in the June newsletter.  Camping Trip Update!
The camping trip is fully booked and with a waitlist! We will be corresponding directly with families who have signed up. For those of you not wanting to camp, but interested in stopping by to say hi, we will share our planned itinerary in the June newsletter.
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