November is Healthy Lifestyles Month.  Try Texas PTA's Healthy@Home Idea Sheet bingo to practice healthy habits with your family.  The bingo sheet is available here.

 
November is Children's Grief Awareness Month. Register for a webinar on November 10th at 2 p.m. EST entitled The Power of Partnership: A Conversation with National PTA and First Book to discuss the value of partnership, the importance of community, and exciting new resources and support for the childhood bereavement field as part of PTA's Healthy Minds initiative.

Webinar Registration - Zoom

In the latest Notes From the Backpack podcast, Episode 48, Supporting Students of Color, Dr. Shawn Jones, psychologist and professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University, offers guidance on creating schools that better serve students of color.  Listen to the podcast here:  Supporting Students of Color - Podcast | National PTA

This week is Red Ribbon Week.  Red Ribbon week began in 1985 as a response to the murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena, an act that led people in communities across the country to begin wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raising awareness about the destruction caused by drugs in America. In 1988, National Family Partnership sponsored the first National Red Ribbon Celebration.  Red Ribbon week is celebrated annually from October 23-31 and serves as a way for people to come together to keep children, families, and communities safe, healthy,  and drug-free.  NFP suggests the following ways that families can observe this week at home: 

• Use Red Ribbon Week as an opportunity to continue talking to your kids about drugs. Let them know that alcohol and drug use will not be tolerated.
• Enter the Red Ribbon Photo Contest for a chance to win an iPad for you and your family - and $1,000 for your child's school:  2021 Red Ribbon Photo Contest
• Encourage your kids and other students to take a stab at creating the 2022 National Red Ribbon Theme. Gain national recognition and $500 of Red Ribbon theme merchandise for your child's school. This year's theme was created by Marin Wurst, a 7th grader at Solon Middle School in Solon, Ohio.
• Watch Natural High’s free celebrity drug prevention videos with your child and use their discussion questions to have a conversation with them about drugs and alcohol.
• For more activity ideas, go to:  Red Ribbon Week Activities for Parents. 

Schimelpfenig Middle School will be observing Red Ribbon week starting today with theme days and events.  

• Celebrate Arts & Humanities Month! Halloween is next week! Encourage your child’s creativity by challenging them to create a spooky piece of art. Then share it with National PTA by using #PTAReflections.

• In the latest Notes From the Backpack podcast episode, host and guest Dr. Sameer Hinduja tackles cyberbullying, dangerous social media challenges and more. Listen now.

• National PTA thanks everyone who participated in National Unity Day.  Together we sent a visual message that no child should ever experience bullying. Check out their post and get involved in National Bullying Prevention Month.

You may have noticed that our Fall Social/Fall Treat, originally scheduled for Friday, October 29th, is no longer on the calendar.  PISD recently issued new PTA guidelines, allowing for larger group social events on campus, and we have rescheduled our Social for mid-January.  We will announce more details about the Schimelpfenig PTA Winter Social in this newsletter and on our website, so stay tuned!

Help your Schimelpfenig PTA reach 600 members by October 31st and earn the Snappy Increase award!  We currently have 521 members, we need 79 more members to reach our goal of 600, one more than last year! Click Here to Join!

Parents, Students, Grandparents and other Community Members can join to support Schimelpfenig PTA.  

Thank you in advance for your support!

1. Donate to the PTA online!

Your generous TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation will fund programs, social events, and classroom materials for students as well as SMS staff wish list items.  

We thank you in advance for your contributions!

Please visit here to donate online!

2. You just keep shopping – let these stores do the donating for you!

Visit our Fundraising Page here for more information.

Link your Kroger or Tom Thumb rewards cards to Schimelpfenig to help our school raise money. The stores will donate a percentage back to the school help show their support for the local communities.

• Kroger Community Rewards Program
• Tom Thumb Good Neighbor Program  
• Office Depot
• Box Tops
• Amazon Smile – Same products and prices as Amazon.  Their foundation matches a percentage of your purchases to donate to nonprofits like our school!  So easy and you are helping by shopping.

3. World Wear Project – Clean out your clutter of old toys, kitchen items, unused towels and bedding and of course CLOTHES!  Bring them up to the BIG BLUE Bin located in the west parking lot.  

From Plano ISD to National PTA and many organizations in-between, there are a lot of seminars, talks, podcasts, and other opportunities to gain information and enrichment for both students and their families.  

One program that we at Schimelpfenig PTA sponsor every year is the National PTA Reflections program.  The Reflections program provides opportunities for recognition and access to the arts which boost student confidence and success in the arts and in life. Each year, over 300,000 students in Pre-K through Grade 12 create original works of art in response to a student-selected theme. This 50+ year-old program helps students explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful in school and in life. The 2021–2022 Reflections theme is I Will Change the World By…  Students submit their completed works of art in one or all of the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts.  Submissions at Schimelpfenig are due by Monday, November 8th.  For program rules and eligibility, please visit our website HERE.

This year, we have enrolled in National PTA's School of Excellence program, the goal of which is to improve the lines of communication and critical thinking between PTA, school administrators, and our community.  Next week, we will be including a survey in this newsletter that we ask you to complete as step two in our year-long commitment to identifying and implementing an action plan for school improvement.

Plano ISD has a wonderful parent education program this year, with a variety of topics available every month virtually and weekly Lunch and Learn topics meeting in-person.  Please check the QR code or click HERE for the October calendar. Offerings this week include Building Bridges between Parents and Child: A Substance Abuse Prevention Workshop on Monday and Wednesday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. and Rituals and Routines: Why Have Them? on Tuesday and Thursday from 2:15-3:15 p.m.

Remember that Tuesday, October 19 is Schimelpfenig MS school photo retake day!

Unity Day, started by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center in October 2011, is the signature event of National Bullying Prevention Month. This is a day when we can come together in one giant, ORANGE message of hope and support. The call to action is simple: wear and share the color orange. This vibrant statement becomes a conversation starter, showing support for students who have been bullied and for bullying prevention.

Anyone who doesn't update by the end of this week (October 22nd) will no longer receive the newsletter

Don't forget to update your parent and student information on our SMS PTA website to stay connected with us! 

This will ensure that you receive our eNews newsletters, special eBlasts and other important PTA news during this school year.

This day aims to raise awareness around mental health matters, communicate the importance of destigmatizing mental health, and rally communities in advocating for a world with mental health education and support for all. This year, the World Mental Health Federation calls attention to the barriers in accessing mental health systems and support in an unequal world.  Learn more and discover tools, resources and more by visiting the campaign toolkits developed by the World Mental Health Federation and the World Health Organization.

• Listen to National PTA's Notes latest from the Backpack podcast:  What is Social Emotional Learning, Anyway? What life skills does your child need to thrive? There’s a lot of learning happening in schools that goes beyond academics. Karen Van Ausdal talks about what Social and Emotional Learning looks like, why it’s important and how families can help. Listen now.

• October is LGBTQ+ History Month.  National PTA believes that schools should be a safe, supportive and respectful environment for all students.  PTAs believe that every child deserves to go to school excited to learn—without the fear of bullying, violence or discrimination.  To read more and find out how you can become an advocate for LGBTQ youth in our community, click here:  LGBTQ Community Inclusivity in PTA - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• October is National Arts and Humanities Month.  Encourage your student to enter the National PTA Reflections program.  (See information below about how to participate in our SMS PTA Reflections program.)

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers,

Recently there have been a number of worrisome headlines about social media, such as illegal and dangerous ‘challenges’ that have resulted in the destruction of school property by students. 

We all want our teens to use common courtesy whether they're online or offline. 

On behalf of our PTA, we are sharing two resources that we hope will help you and the youth in your household to have a positive, open dialogue about these current events and issues.

Have The Smart Talk. 

This is a free online tool from National PTA that guides kids and caregivers through a conversation together about social media, technology, apps, etc., and helps families set (or revisit) household rules. 

Note: The Smart Talk originally was designed for kids getting their first device, so older teens may feel the tool is not for them, but the actual content is great for kids of any age. Give it a try if you are feeling unsure how to have this conversation, or feel unsure about what topics to address – or simply use it as inspiration for an offline talk with your teen.

Check out the TikTok Guide for Parents. 

This downloadable guide (PDF file) covers a lot of ground about how TikTok works, how to use the safety features and privacy settings, step-by-step instructions on how to report inappropriate content in the app, and more. 

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and we know kids can experience a lot of social pressures that feel amplified by our increasingly digital lives. It can be hard to know how to broach these topics with our kids, so we hope these two resources help make it a little easier.