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|  Hello Brinker Families,
Hope you all enjoyed the 3 day weekend and feel rested and ready to “hit the books†again! Can you believe we are already in week 4 of school? In that time, your PTA has hosted our annual Back 2 Brinker, connected with parents at 2 Parent Info Nights, hosted a Welcome Back Coffee and PTA General Meeting, held multiple trainings for volunteers, as well as all the preparations through the summer for a successful school year. We have sure been busy, but this is only the beginning. September has the even
more community events and programs. Please join us for: - Tuesday Tunes – September 4th
- WatchDOGS Kick Off – September 5th
- Chess Enrichment – September 6th
- Newcomers Coffee – September 7th
- Fall Family Picnic – September 21st
- Kindergarten Coffee- September 28th
Brinker Elementary is a wonderful school, with caring teachers and staff, as well as an
AWESOME Brinker PTA, who is ready to welcome and support you and your child
along his or her educational journey. We want you to feel a part of our Brinker
community. Please let the Brinker PTA help you ease some of the stress of a new
school by keeping you constantly informed, answering your questions and introducing
you to other families who will be dear friends and the support you need during your
years at Brinker Elementary. To our “seasoned†Brinker families, please show your
“Brinker Spirit†and reach out and show everyone how awesome our Brinker community
is.
If you are interested in getting connected, more involved or just want to know PTA is,
feel free to contact me at president@brinkerpta.org. Warmest Regards,
Alison Grzyb |
 | | NEWCOMERS COFFEE Calling all new Brinker Bear parents!
Please join us for a NEWCOMERS COFFEE in the Brinker library on Friday, September 7th at 7:45 am.
Now that the school year is underway, we want to visit and answer any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you!! |
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 | | JOIN THE PTA Ever wonder what joining the PTA can do for your family?
By joining for the first time or renewing your membership each year, the PTA is able to provide student programs to help make EVERYchild’s potential a reality. We encourage parents, grandparents, students, staff, and community members to join.
PTA Membership does NOT require volunteering or any kind of commitment. With your membership, you will help support the programs and events that we provide for ALL students, ALL staff, and ALL families throughout our community. ✔ï¸Tuesday Tunes music program
✔ï¸Teacher Appreciation Events
✔ï¸Curriculum-based Programs such as Rhythm Path, Drum Fit, and theater productions
✔ï¸Brinker Color Fun Run
✔ï¸Field Day
✔ï¸Fall Family Picnic
✔ï¸Class Field Trips
✔ï¸Author Visits
✔ï¸Scientist Visits Click here to access the PTA membership toolkit. By joining the PTA before Sept. 14, your student will be included in and receive a 2018-19 student directory. The directory is only available to PTA members.Please contact, membership@brinkerpta.org with questions.
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 | | B.E.A.R.S CAMPAIGN Do you know what the Brinker PTA’s B.E.A.R.S. Campaign is? Do you want a 2018-2019 Brinker yard sign to show your school spirit? B.E.A.R.S (Benefactors for Educators, Academic Resources and Students) provides:
• Author Visits
• Scientist Visits
• Field Trips
• Library Books
• Student Headphones
• Student Agendas
• Theater Productions
• And many Brinker Community Events including Fall Family Picnic, The Color Fun Run, and Field Day.
B.E.A.R.S. is Brinker PTA’s primary fundraiser which provides our students and teachers with activities, programs, and resources to enrich their school year. B.E.A.R.S. means no stressful door to door selling of cookies, candles, and popcorn. Donations can be made in any amount. With a donation of $100 or more, your family will receive a Brinker Yard Sign. A donation of $250 or more, you will receive a yard sign and 5 books will be donated to the Brinker Library in your family's name.
If you want a yard sign (picture above left), you must donate before October 12th. Click here to go to the Brinker PTA Membership Toolkit to make your donation.
Don't forget to check with your company's HR department to see if they offer corporate matching. We will be happy to help provide any needed school information.
Please contact waysandmeans@brinkerpta.org with any questions.
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 | | WATCHDOGS KICK-OFF PIZZA PARTY We're looking for a few good men!
On Wednesday, September 5 at 6:30 pm, all fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, uncles, and other father figures and their Brinker students are invited to join us in the Brinker cafeteria for an information night to learn about the WatchDOGS program. Pizza will be served and WatchDOGS (both old and new) who attend will have first choice of volunteer dates throughout the school year. Come learn about the program that is a student favorite! For questions, please e-mail watchdogs@brinkerpta.org. |
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 | | FALL FAMILY PICNIC Join the PTA in celebrating our Brinker community and welcoming back our amazing families and staff!
Friday, September 21 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. There will be a DJ, bounce houses, climbing walls, cotton candy, snow cones and more! This year will we will be returning to our roots with an "old school" picnic theme. Bring your blankets, chairs and picnic baskets and join the community FUN! |
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 | | VOLUNTEER INTEREST FORMS If you are looking for a great way to help out directly in your child's classroom please consider volunteering for homeroom or lead homeroom representative. We need strong volunteers to help put together the classroom parties and other class specific events. Click here to log into membership toolkit and complete your "Volunteer Interest" forms to let us know that you are interested in a classroom representative position. Feel free to contact the Grade Level Coordinator at gradelevelreps@brinkerpta.org if you have any questions. |
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PISD VOLUNTEER APPLICATIONS Have you completed your Volunteer Application for the 2018-19 school year? PISD requires all volunteers to complete this application EVERY school year. We encourage ALL parents to complete and submit an application for security clearance - if you are one of our volunteers or just planning to attend a classroom party. Please visit the PISD Volunteer Application page to access the online application - it takes about 5 minutes to complete. If you have questions, contact volunteers@brinkerpta.org. Click here to go to the PISD Volunteer Application page or here to go to directly to the application.
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VIP PROGRAM
Our VIP Program is an awesome, fun way for parents, grandparents or community members, to volunteer and help our Brinker students directly. You commit half an hour a week to assist a student who needs a little extra support in math and/or reading, as well as boosting the student’s confidence in their academics. If you choose to sign up to volunteer, you will submit your available days and times you can be at Brinker to tutor during school hours. You will be paired with a student or may also select whether you prefer to work with the younger or older grades and if you prefer to tutor in reading or math. You do not need to be a teacher or a former teacher to be able to tutor. The students’ teachers will provide you with the assignments and information for each tutoring session. If interested, please e-mail viptutors@brinkerpta.org. There is a great need for tutors, especially during the second semester. Make sure you are approved to volunteer at Brinker. Click here to go to the PISD Volunteer Application page or here to go to directly to the application. There is also a short, required training session to insure you are comfortable with what is being asked of you. Tutoring begins in October and runs through the beginning of May.
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WORKROOM VOLUNTEERS
Are you looking for a way to help out at the school but need flexibility? Then the Brinker Workroom is a great place to volunteer! We need at least 4-5 volunteers each week to help teachers with projects, saving them precious time for lesson planning and other tasks. If you can count, cut and staple, then you can help! Make sure you are approved to volunteer at Brinker. Click here to go to the PISD Volunteer Application page or here to go to directly to the application. Then click here to signup to volunteer. Here's where the flexibility comes in: sign up to help any day of the week, any week you are available, come in anytime from 7:30 AM to 2:45PM, for however long you can stay! The Workroom is located inside the library. If you have any questions, please contact workroom@brinkerpta.org.
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YEARBOOKS FOR SALE/VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR PHOTOGRAPHY The yearbook is an 80 page hardbound book in full color filled with hundreds of photos to remember another great school year at Brinker. Yearbooks may be purchased at the "online" special discount of $25. In person orders are $30. We sell out every year so get your copy TODAY!
To order, click here to go to the Brinker PTA Membership Toolkit. Be sure to purchase your copy before prices increase! **Yearbooks will be delivered directly to your student's classroom for Yearbook Signing Day in May 2019**
PHOTOGRAPHY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – NO PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE required. Just your smartphone. Click here to sign up to cover pictures of a school event via the Brinker PTA Membership Toolkit. ALL parents, not just volunteers, can DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE SHARE APP to upload your Brinker school event pics to the Yearbook website. Pictures can only be accessed by the yearbook Administrators. Our project ID is 911826. Min of 3 Brinker students in a photo.
If you have questions, please contact yearbook@brinkerpta.org. | | 
BOX TOPS
If it is back to school time, it is time to start collecting BOX TOPS! It's easy to participate! Just bring all your box tops from home and drop them in the collection box right outside the gym. Each Box Top you clip and submit is worth 10 cents, and they add up fast! If each Brinker child were to simply clip 10 box tops, it would generate nearly $700 for our school. Imagine the possibilities! Thanks for your support!
Questions? Contact boxtops@brinkerpta.org.
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BRINKER SPIRIT DAYS Show your school spirit by wearing any Brinker Spirit Wear shirt every Friday!
If you pre-ordered Spirit Wear, these orders will be delivered to your oldest child's classroom by September 20.
Any remaining inventory will be sold at the Brinker fall picnic on Friday, September 21. If you have any issues with your spirit wear items or questions about spirit wear orders, please contact spiritwear@brinkerpta.org. .
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 | | 2018-2019 BRINKER CORPORATE SPONSORS
We are excited to share that this year we will introduce a NEW Brinker Corporate Sponsorship program. Our Community Partners team is currently contacting various community organizations to become a sponsor throughout this school year. What does this mean?
If you know a community organization who has interest in becoming a sponsor, they will make a one-time donation for the entire school year with various sponsorship levels, and the donation will go towards student programming, events and field trips to support their learning experience throughout the entire school year.
Our corporate sponsors will receive advertising through the entire school year via our PTA website, newsletters, social media, event banners at fall and spring events, directory presence, yearbook presence and more depending on their level of sponsorship. If you have any community corporate sponsor suggestions, please send them to our team to support their outreach at communitypartners@brinkerpta.org.
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 | | AMAZONSMILE Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to our Brinker PTA. You must register online in order for our PTA to receive these donations. Shop thru smile.amazon.com and use our EIN #, which is 75-2232447.
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 | | TUESDAY TUNES We welcome you to join us for a new Tuesday Tunes season filled with lovely music! Tuesday Tunes is a Brinker PTA program that allows students who have taken formal music lessons to perform in a relaxed environment here at Brinker. Each Tuesday morning, a Brinker student performs their musical instrument in the lobby as students enter the school. Following their performance, the student will be introduced and recognized on the “Good Morning Brinker" broadcast. Any Brinker student who has had two years of formal musical training is invited to perform. Each student can perform once a year; however, if your student wants to courageously start the season for us this September, you will receive a bonus second performance later in the year. Hurry to register, as slots fill up fast! Please click here to sign up. For more information, please email us at tuesdaytunes@brinkerpta.org. |
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TEXAS READING PROGRAMS Every year the Texas Library Association selects a number of books to be nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award, and for the 2x2 reading list. A new list of books is released each year at the Texas Book Festival. These lists will be announced during the first month of school. All of these books can be found in our Brinker Library and at the local public libraries. They may also be requested online through the Plano library website www.planolibrary.org. Brinker PTA recognizes 3rd - 5th grade students who read at least 10 books from the Bluebonnet list, and Kindergarten – 2nd grade students who read at least 15 books from the 2x2 list. Students who read the books, and turn in their reading logs by the deadline, will be invited to participate in an after school celebration at Brinker, during the spring semester. Contact our Literary Enrichment Chair, if you have questions literarysupport@brinkerpta.org.
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REFLECTIONS Brinker Elementary PTA encourages all students to express themselves
and explore their talents through the National PTA Reflections Program. Reflections is PTA’s cornerstone arts program. Each year, students in Grades Pre-K through 12 are recognized for bringing the theme to life through:
• Dance choreography
• Film production
• Literature
• Music composition
• Photography
• Visual arts The theme for 2018-2019 is “Heroes Around Meâ€. Use your imagination to create a film, song, artwork, photograph, poem, short story or dance routine. Click here for the flyer for more information. For questions please contact reflections@brinkerpta.org.
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CHESS ENRICHMENT The Brinker PTA will once again be sponsoring an after-school chess enrichment program starting September 6th. This 8 week program takes place on Thursdays from 4 PM-5:15 PM at the Brinker Library. All skill and grade levels are welcome! Learn more about the program at Back to Brinker. Registration is $180 per student. Click here to register via the Membership Toolkit. Please contact chess@brinkerpta.org with any questions. |
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