We can’t believe that in just a few short weeks we’ll be off on Winter Break! As students and teachers are planning their own ways to celebrate the holidays in school, we have a few PTO-sponsored events coming up to round out 2021:
On Wednesday, December 8th we will have a Dining Day Out at Martin’s Grill. It’s a half-day for students, so you can plan your after-school lunch or dinner at Martin’s Grill. A percentage of all sales will go to Hollymead on the 8th!
On Friday, December 10th, Hollymead will be hosting a Kids Night Out. Weather permitting, the event will be held outside (and so far the weather is looking great!)
Thank you to everyone who has participated in a fundraising events or donated to the PTO this year. We’re excited to share that we were able to grant funds for three grade-level grants at our PTO meeting on December 1st. Thanks to this community’s generosity, we were able to help purchase materials for tee-shirt decorating for second graders, new books for third graders, and new “Genius Hour” supplies for fifth graders. Thank you again!
Relatedly, as you go about your holiday shopping this year, don’t forget to:
Collect and scan those Box Tops receipts! Box Tops recently added tons of Betty Crocker mixes to its list of eligible products just in time for holiday baking!
Set up Hollymead as your designated charity on Amazon Smile.
We are hoping to host more in-person events in the spring, and your donations will help make it possible for everyone to attend and have a great time as a Hollymead Community!
Until then, thank you for all of your support, and Go Hornets!
The last time we wrote we were prepping for Halloween, and now, in what seems like a blink of an eye, we’re getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year already, and in the spirit of the holiday, we’d like to take the time to give a few shout-outs this month. So, without further ado, thank you to:
Our Hospitality Chairs, Alison Agarwall and Shannon Hall, who have been keeping our teachers and staff stocked with snacks.
Our Attractions Book volunteer, Kate DeLuca, for running our successful recent fundraiser, netting nearly $2,000.
Our Dining Night Out volunteers, Kristen Jones and Nicole Felini, who schedule the delicious meal nights that bring extra business to our locally owned restaurants while raising funds for Hollymead.
Our SpiritWear volunteers, Tiffany Lynch and Jonelle Kinback for getting a storefront set up in time for orders to ship before the holidays.
Our copies volunteer, Briana Reid, who copies the flyers that are sent home with students to remind families and caregivers about important upcoming events
All of our Hollymead teachers and staff who do an amazing job of keeping our kids safe and healthy during this school year
Our community for always being so generous in support of our Hollymead Hornets!
As we head into the last month of the year, please keep the Hollymead PTO in mind for charitable donations. The PTO supports several initiatives designed to ensure that all of our Hollymead kids have the very best educational experience. Most recently we were asked to fund two teacher grants (one for a book series for 3rd Grade and 5th Grade “Genius Hour” supplies) thanks to our community’s generosity. In the second half of the year, we hope to sponsor a few larger projects to help improve our school, as well as (hopefully!) a spring Fun Fair. Remember that you can donate to Hollymead’s PTO either with a check or through the PayPal link on our website.
Thank you all again for being such an awesome community. We wish all of our staff and families a happy Thanksgiving!
We hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather! Thank you to everyone who came out to our movie night on Friday. We loved finally being able to get together (safely!) and enjoy some time with the broader Hollymead community. We hope to be able to do one or two more COVID-conscious events before the end of the year, so stay tuned!
Speaking of upcoming events, we hope that everyone can join us for our next PTO Meeting, which will take place on November 3rd at 7:30PM. During this meeting we will be discussing important initiatives such as community-building events, fundraising opportunities, and how we can use PTO funds and resources to best serve the Hollymead community. All meetings will be on Zoom for the rest of the calendar year, so please feel free to join us virtually and help us brainstorm upcoming PTO activities!
Thank you again for all of your support and engagement. Go Hornets!
Hello, Hollymead! We hope everyone was able to join the awesome Virtual Back to School Night on the 23rd. Thank you to all of the staff members who took time to put together helpful presentations, answer questions, and give us a glimpse into classroom life. As families and caregivers, it’s always nice to have a reminder that our children are in such wonderful hands!
We have a few current and upcoming events in the next few weeks that we want to make sure everyone is aware of. First, your student should have received an Attractions Book in their backpacks this week. The Attractions Book is a great way for the Hollymead community to support both the PTO and local organizations! You can learn more about the Attractions Book fundraiser further on in this newsletter. In addition to the Attractions Book, we will also be having our first Dining Night Out on Wednesday, October 6th. We’re excited to be offering our first food truck DNO experience with Popitos Pizza! Our wonderful Staff Appreciation and DNO volunteers are also collaborating this month so that families and caregivers can sponsor pizzas for Hollymead staff. More information about DNO and Staff Appreciation will come home on September 27th, but please mark your calendars now for the 6th!
As always, thank you all for your support. We hope to see everyone at our next PTO meeting on Wednesday, October 6th at 7:30 PM. Yes–it’s the same night as the DNO, so hopefully everyone will have delicious pizza in hand!
We are so excited to be kicking off another year. Although things still aren’t exactly back to “normal,” we’re grateful to all of the teachers, staff, families, and students who are already banding together to make this year great!
The fall has historically been a busy time for the PTO as we organize events for the Hollymead community. This year, we will be rearranging and/or reimagining several events so that we can hold them safely (either as virtual/outdoor events or in the spring, when in-person events will hopefully feel a little safer). That said, we still plan to be quite busy this fall, and we invite you to join our first PTO meeting on September 15th at 7:30 PM so you can hear all about the activities we will be supporting over the next few months! Our first meeting will be held over Zoom.
Whether you’re able to join us on Wednesday or not, please know that we are always looking for volunteers to help us throughout the year. Some of our upcoming opportunities for volunteering include helping to create the Hollymead Directory, helping with yearbook compilation and design, and volunteering for our (spring!) book fair. If you’re interested in learning more about opportunities to help support Hollymead teachers, staff, and students, please either fill out this form or email hollymeadptovolunteer@gmail.com.
Greetings, Hollymead! We’re one week in and we hope you’re as excited to be back at school as we are. It was amazing to see so many smiling eyes during orientation – thanks for stopping by the PTO table and introducing yourself!
Like many of you, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to have a year full of fun PTO-sponsored activities, and hope to see much more of both children and families. The success of those activities depend on you – your time and donations – so please watch your students’ take home folders, PTO social media, and this newsletter for information on how you can contribute. We all thank you!
Thank you, Hollymead, for a year we’ll not soon forget. We’ve been so proud of how the Hollymead community has stepped up to make sure our students and staff had all the things they needed to make this challenging year go as smoothly as possible. You’ve turned in your Box Tops, emptied your closets of shoes, Dined Out, kept kids reading, made magic, created an amazing yearbook, showed tons of teacher appreciation, and got competitive with a raffle. All those things allowed the PTO to purchase different kinds of playground equipment, buy outdoor seating pads, help adapt classrooms, and keep our teachers and staff fueled.
Hollymead is an incredibly special community. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the ways, big and small, that each of you have contributed. A strong PTO and family involvement really does make a huge difference – that’s you!
Enjoy your summer! Congratulations to our fabulous 5th graders and those who will be moving on. For all you returning to Hollymead in the fall, we look forward to seeing you again soon. Go Hornets!
Crystal Pariseau & Amy Cochran
YEARBOOKS
LAST CALL FOR YEARBOOKS! The yearbooks are in and are being distributed to students. If you have not purchased a yearbook, but wish to buy one, please contact hollymeadPTOpresident@gmail.com. There are a very limited number of yearbooks left, and they will be sold on a first come first served basis.
SILENT AUCTION SUCCESS
A big thank you to Ann Lawrence Grasty for organizing a very fun and successful auction. And a big thank you to all of the teachers that participated by volunteering their time and creativity. The auction provided options to bid on a variety of 43 items. In total we had 306 bids, raising $1,848.57 for your Hollymead PTO!
JOIN THE PTO
We’re looking for a few fun people! PTO Board positions will be open for the coming school year as well as event chairs. If you’re looking for a way to meet a great group of people, be more involved in your student’s school activities, and have fun along the way, there’s a spot for you on the PTO. Everything from helping out with an event to Board positions like Treasurer, Vice President, and more will be open for the coming year. Check out the PRO site forjob descriptions, or email hollymeadptovolunteer@gmail.com or hollymeadPTOpresident@gmail.com with any questions. We’d love to have you!
FIELD ‘DAY’ IS THIS WEEK!
The fun, annual tradition of field day is here! On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kona Ice will be at Hollymead. Virtual students can stop by between 11:30 & 11:50 for their shaved ice. Asynchronous activities will be posted daily in Seesaw. If you would like to share some pictures of your family partaking in the challenges, you can post pictures to Ms. Kopley’s Seesaw page.
NEED LABELS?
As you are prepare for summer camps and summer school, consider Mabel’s Labels. From the school search, look for Hollymead, and 20% of all purchases will then support your Hollymead PTO.
HOLLYMEAD MURAL FEATURED ON NBC 29
Did you see Hollymead featured on NBC29?! Ms. Foster and Charlottesville illustrator, Scott DuBar, worked with students to create a mural for our school!
Please join me in thanking the 2020-21 Hollymead PTO Board and Activity Chairs. Every one of these people volunteered significant time and energy to make sure Hollymead had a great year, and we are so appreciative!
Hello Hollymead! It’s hard to believe that the end of the year will soon be here, but exciting to look ahead to summer and be out in the sunshine. Have your students told you about the new cushions they’ve been sitting on during lunch and outdoor time? The PTO was pleased to purchase branded stadium cushions with pockets for all Hollymead in person students so they can take work or lunch outside and have a little protection from wet or muddy grass. Thank you to all who have donated to the PTO through direct contributions, box top and grocery card scans, and fundraisers to make purchases like these possible for our students!
BOOKFAIR
The Hollymead Bookfair may have looked different this year being entirely online, but our community still stepped up to show it’s love of reading! Huge thanks go out to 4th grade parent Vanitha Perumal and librarian Joette Crone for organizing such a smooth event. Over $2,800 was raised this year, most of which will be invested into our very own library. Way to go, Hollymead!
STAFF APPRECIATION
Hollymead LOVES our staff! Teacher and staff appreciation week 2020 was a blast, thanks to generous family donations and the hard work of 3rd grade parent Corey Hawker & team. All 75 of our teachers, cafeteria workers, office staff, bus drivers, and assistants received gift cards, giant Hollymead beach towels, and delicous gourmet popsicles from La Flor Michoacana (a Hollymead-family owned business). The Attractions coupons company also donated free 2021 books for our entire staff. Thank you to all who helped us recognize those who work so hard for our students every day!
MAGIC SHOW
3-2-1 Presto! The Hollymead/Baker Butler magic show with Wes Iseli was a great success! It was fun to join friends from another school and watch the illusions, as well as learn some magic ourselves. Many thanks to Baker Butler’s Allison Ochs and Hollymead’s Amy Cochran (5th grade parent & PTO Co-President) for organizing the show, as well as Avenue Realty for stepping up to serve as the last minute venue host when there were technological challenges. It was a fun and magical night!
SHOES, SHOES, SHOES
Hollymead’s newest fundraiser, the Got Sneakers drive, exceeded our expectations. Piles and piles of pairs of shoes were donated by the community, which we sent in to be given to people in need or repurposed into new surfaces such as playgrounds and track. Hollymead received a good sized check, and we are very grateful for the time of 3nd and 5th grade parent Kate DeLuca in organizing both the fundraiser and lots of old shoes.
HUNGER HEROS DRIVE
Thank you Hollymead Hornets for participating in the Hunger Heroes Drive for the Blue Ridge Food Bank. We are excited to share that Hollymead collected 177 lbs of food that will help provide 148 meals to our community members.
Thank you so much for your donations that help combat food insecurity!
JOIN THE PTO!
We’re looking for a few fun people! PTO Board positions will be open for the coming school year as well as event chairs. If you’re looking for a way to meet a great group of people, be more involved in your student’s school activities, and have fun along the way, there’s a spot for you on the PTO. Everything from helping out with an event to Board positions like Treasurer, Vice President, and more will be open for the coming year. Check out the PRO site forjob descriptions, or email hollymeadptovolunteer@gmail.com or hollymeadPTOpresident@gmail.com with any questions. We’d love to have you!
SILENT AUCTION STARTS MAY 21ST
Hollymead’s PTO will be hosting a silent auction running May 21st through May 29th! Look to Hollymead’s PTO Facebook page for more information. Any questions please email Ann Lawrencewith your ideas.
JUNE DINING DAY OUT
Dining DAY Out! Support a local business and our school by visiting Daily Grind
anytime on Friday, June 4th, from 7 am – 7 pm. Treat yourself and your family to coffee,
smoothies or ice cream! Just remember to drop your receipt in the bin before you
leave. A portion of all receipts will be donated to the Hollymead PTO. Thank you for
supporting our community!
CUB SCOUT PACK 206 CLEAN-UP
Cub Scout Pack 206 is a chartered organization of the Hollymead PTO. On May 8th, 17 scouts and their families came to Hollymead to clean up the outdoor classroom. They removed all of the brush and fallen limbs from around the stage, weeded all of the gardening beds, washed off the benches, and repaired one of the beds that had started to come apart. The kids had a lot of fun, and look forward to doing another project for Hollymead in the fall.
POP-UP CLASS FLAVORS OF BELGIUM!
This week, Tuesday, May 18th at 6:30 pm is the first class
Alliance Française de Charlottesville is offering a new pop-up class (3 lessons of 1 hour each)! Come and explore Belgium with its rich architecture and art. This Pop-Up is the perfect class for beginners in French to start exploring new topics.
Hollymead’s PTO will be hosting a silent auction running May 21-29 and we are looking for donations. We know this has been a challenging year for businesses so we are also thinking out of the box. Donations of a skill, talent, time, or a unique experience could be accepted. Feeling short on time or talent? We welcome cash donations that we may build experiences and gift baskets using local businesses. We are accepting donations with a minimum value of 20 dollars and the deadline for donations is May 14th. Thank you so much for your consideration and support, please email Ann Lawrence with your ideas.
SIT-UPONS HAVE ARRIVED
Check out these awesome cushions the PTO bought for our Hybrid students outside. Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support.
Hollymead Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization 
