School Support
Hospitality
The TJS Hospitality Committee provides the teachers, staff, and members of our school community with food and beverages for events throughout the year such as the Teachers' Back to School Breakfast, Parent Teacher Conference Lunches, Veterans Day Celebration, and Teachers Appreciation Week. The purpose is another way to demonstrate appreciation on behalf of the school community for our valued teachers and staff for all they do each day for our students. Organizers are responsible for sourcing and ordering food, drinks, and decorations within the PTO established budget, coordinating with the front office on scheduling, event set up and clean up, etc.
TJS Learning Garden
Our Learning Garden was built in 2018, to provide an outdoor classroom for our children to have an opportunity to bring their lessons "to life". They LOVE to be outside, get their hands dirty, work together, and see what they can grow. We coordinate lessons with the teachers to get each class out at least once in the fall and at least once in the spring. Depending on what we are planting, some of the grades come out twice per season, once to plant and once to harvest. Each class usually has a lesson that the teacher does with half of the children, while the Garden Committee runs the garden activity with the other half and then we switch. We have made insect houses, planted pollinator gardens, learned about herbs and spices, planted and harvested various vegetables, touched the parts of a pumpkin, and have even done a lettuce tasting with the 5th graders every year with their lettuce as some examples.
Lessons that we have in the garden have ranged from social studies topics, to understanding the food chain, pollinators and our environment, helpful insects, organic gardening, herbs and spices and the history of the spice trade, where our food comes from, labeling and understanding parts of plants and flower bulbs, stored energy, seeds and so much more.
Playing in the dirt ranks as a favorite activity, and it is always a hit when they find worms, or other fun bugs. Rakes, watering cans, and special tools are all shared and eagerly awaited to have a chance to use. Raking leaves sometimes ends up being the favorite activity for some...along with watering, weeding and of course planting seeds, flowers and harvesting things they have grown. Most children eagerly step up to be helpers to try new things, or take extra responsibility. The 30-40 minutes in the garden is full of smiles and brings the kids, parents and teachers out of the regular routine of their day and everything else seems to melt away. In a world full of screens, and an "on-demand" society, working in a garden teaches patience, mindfulness and so many of life's bigger lessons beyond learning about plants and science. Although it is only a little sliver of time, we always have fun.
In the words of Audrey Hepburn and one of my favorite quotes: "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."
School Pictures
Work with the School Photographer and the TJS front office starting in the early summer to set up a mutually convenient date for student and teacher photos. Set up after-school sibling photos for the same designated day. Be present at TJS on Picture Day to ensure a smooth operation. The committee is one person.
Playground Committee
The TJS Playground Committee is dedicated to making improvements to the TJS playground and field equipment. We can’t accomplish this without the support of TJS families and our community. Throughout, this year the TJS PTO will initiate various events which will invite our families to donate their time, talent and/or financial support towards raising funds to achieve our fundraising goal. Every type of support is valued and hugely appreciated! Help us bring the noise back to our playground and provide our children with a safe and beautiful outdoor space that will fill the air with the sound of children playing.
If you wish to make an initial donation to our new TJS Playground Fund, please click here
