President’s Message #
Dear Abingdon Friends and Families,
At the first grade field trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History last week, it was remarkable to see the awe on students’ faces as they explored the exhibits with much wonder and astonishment. For many students, it was their first visit to this museum. The trip concluded with a class picnic on the National Mall enjoying the views of the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument on a beautifully warm spring day. This field trip illuminates one of the many collaborations on how the Abingdon PTA and our school partner together to support student success. Once again, a heartfelt thank you for the generous grant from our community donor which covered the transportation cost and the first grade teaching team for planning such a remarkable and memorable experience.
At a recent school board meeting, two of Abingdon’s staffers — Ms. Davis and Ms. Palacios — were recognized for their APS career milestones of 30 and 35 years of APS service. It was a joyous celebration to applaud and cheer on Abingdon’s educators. And speaking of supporting educators, please join the PTA in celebrating all of Abingdon’s remarkable educators and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week. We are beyond grateful today — and every day — for our superhero Abingdon staff for inspiring generations of Cardinals and making monumental differences in their lives.
At International Night, a parent inquired about the purpose of the Abingdon PTA. We are the home-school connection, always finding ways to support our school and also ensuring that all students are given the best public education. So many PTA and school activities and events are done with much care and love from our volunteers. I hope you will join us at tomorrow’s virtual general membership meeting to vote on our new PTA officers and review the proposed summer budget.
Stay engaged and connected as we continue to help our Cardinals soar: Facebook, Twitter, www.abingdonpta.org, and WhatsApp groups. As we wrap up the last weeks of school, please be on the lookout for volunteer opportunities to support our students. Reach out to me at [email protected] with any questions or comments.
Gratefully,
Sharon Burd
📅 Dates #
- May 8-12 — Teacher Appreciation Week
- May 9 — Spring Picture Day
- May 9 (7:00 PM) — PTA General Membership Meeting
- May 21 (9:30-11:30 AM) — Abingdon Community Garden Workday
- May 29 — No School (Memorial Day)
- June 9 — Field Day
🆕 New #
👋 PTA General Membership Virtual Meeting on Tuesday, May 9 #
- Who: Teachers, Parents, Guardians, Students, Community Members
- What: May General Membership Virtual Meeting
- Where:
For security reasons, we do not share Zoom meeting codes on our website. Please subscribe to the email edition of our newsletter to make sure you receive PTA meeting codes.
- When: Tuesday, May 9th, 2023, 7:00 PM EST
- Why: We will have a Q&A with Principal Horak, and discuss opportunities to engage with the Abingdon Community. Additionally, we will elect our PTA board candidates for the 2023-2024 school year.
The meeting agenda is available here. Live Spanish translation will be provided.
🎲 Math Dice Victory #
Congratulations to the Abingdon Arithmetic Avengers and Coach Kooiman for their hard work at APS’s 17th Annual Math Dice Tournament! We’re so proud of our flock and cheers to Team AAA for bringing home an award!
💰 Grants Program #
For our last group of grants this school year, the PTA was happy to purchase STEM bins, reflective vests and Math Dice t-shirts for Abingdon students. Learn more here.
🌱 Spring Garden Workday #
We will have a spring garden workday on Sunday, May 21, 2023, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. Help us clean-up our school garden and pick up litter on the school grounds. We’ll also be preparing a sunflower garden!
👉 Reminders #
🙏 Teacher Appreciation Week #
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week! Join us in celebrating our amazing staff next week, May 7-12 in various ways. Print bouquet pdf or bring live flowers Thursday & print and write your “all about my teacher” or note of appreciation. More details about Teacher Appreciation Week at Abingdon are here.
📸 Picture Day is Tuesday, May 9 #
To order photos, visit the Lifetouch site and enter Abingdon’s Picture Day ID: EVTQQX7NR.
The PTA needs help making Abingdon’s Picture Day run smoothly. Individual portraits and class pictures will be taken. If you’re interested in helping, contact [email protected].
💸 Passive Fundraising #
- 🧥 Mabel’s Labels Fundraiser. Help your warm coats and sweatshirts come home each day! Get labels through our Mabel’s Labels Fundraiser and support your Abingdon PTA!
- 🥞 Box Tops. Do you eat Cheerios or Go-GURT? Help us fundraise with BoxTops for Education. More info here: https://www.abingdonpta.org/fundraising/#box-tops-for-education
👉 Miscellaneous Reminders #
- 🐕 Dogs are not permitted on school grounds.
- ✏️ Policy & procedure reminder: If you are visiting Abingdon, you must check into the Front Office. If you are volunteering in the building, you must have a background check done before you start. Please be mindful that while you a welcome community member in our building, any visits to spaces in the building with students must be arranged with a staff member or the PTA.
- 💻 Tech Night: Join us in the school library on June 1 from 6–7 PM for an information session to review ParentVue, the Acceptable Use Policy, how to access all APS resources, along with best practices for Digital Citizenship. Parents of students in all grades are welcome. Detective Tiffanie McGuire of the Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit will give a presentation about Digital Citizenship.
- ✍️ SOL dates:
| Reading | Math | Virginia Studies | Science | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd Grade | May 17 | May 23 | N/A | N/A |
| 4th Grade | May 18 | May 24 | May 31 | N/A |
| 5th Grade | May 19 | May 25 | N/A | June 1 |
🛍️ Abingdon PTA Gift Store: #
If you are interested in purchasing any of the following items, reach out to [email protected]. All proceeds support the Abingdon PTA Budget.
- Abingdon Car Magnet $5
- Abingdon Baseball Cap $15
- Abingdon Holographic Sticker $5
- 2022-2023 Abingdon Yearbook $15
- 2019-2020 Abingdon Yearbook $15
- 2018-2019 Abingdon Yearbook $15
🫶 Volunteer with Us #
- School Garden — To receive updates about garden volunteer opportunities, please sign up here.
- Translators — We are looking for volunteers who could translate PTA flyers in the following languages: Amharic and Arabic. Please contact [email protected] if you can assist with this effort.
- Lost & Found Coordinators — We hope to have a tidy Lost & Found where our Cardinals can easily search for their lost belongings. If you would like to assist in this endeavor, reach out to [email protected].
🙏 Thank You #
- Thank you to all those who volunteered to make International Night a wonderful evening for the entire Abingdon community. Here are some photos of the event.