PTO News and Notes

The Fall Picnic picnicked, the Sunshine Committee shone, and other minor triumphs.

Oct 20, 2023

Leopard Laps begins on Monday
Chimm Restaurant fundraiser this Tuesday evening
Fall Picnic was a great success
Sunshine on a cloudy day
Doughnut fundraiser, now and forever

Leopard Laps to begin endless circular procession on Monday

The PTO is excited to remind everyone that youth motility aficionado Randi Jennings is set to kick off the Leopard Laps program next week:

Leopard Laps starting Monday, October 23rd!

Who: All Johnson K-4th graders! Families welcome, too!

When: 7:30-7:50, every school morning, weather and schedule permitting

Where: The track around the green-top by the big playground

Join any time! Get in a few laps at the end of the walk to school, after carpool drop off, or right off the bus. No sign up needed!

If you would not like your child to participate, please email Ms. Liz at merline1@charlottesvilleschools.org or notify your child’s teacher.

Leopard Laps is an easy way to wake up the mind and body first thing in the morning, helping kids get in the right headspace for maximum learning, all while having a pleasant chat with friends. And Randi has assured us that it won’t look or feel anything like this at all:

Eat at Chimm Restaurant in Fifth Street Station on Tuesday, earn money for the PTO

If you order dinner at Chimm—5th Street location only!—on Tuesday, October 24 between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., the wonderful folks at Chimm will donate a portion of those sales to the Johnson PTO. Just tell your server that you’re there for the Johnson Elementary fundraiser, and we’ll get some money! If you prefer to order online, just be sure to click the Fundraisers button on the menu, and then Johnson Elementary. Our button should be live on their menu on Tuesday evening when ordering here.

Great Fall Picnic, or Greatest Fall Picnic?

Many thanks to everyone who came out on Tuesday evening for the annual Fall Picnic! Over 300 hot dogs and dozens more similarly tubular veggie/plant concoctions were consumed, scores of treats were won during the cakewalk, and plenty of delicious dishes were shared. Much community togetherness was reported, though—full disclosure—this humble reporter was unable to independently verify claims of widespread amity and neighborliness because of a Little League-related scheduling conflict. Evidence gathered by freelance photographer Kristin Brubaker, as seen below, does indeed indicate that a pleasant time under a beautiful sky was enjoyed by many.

Sunshine Committee serves up goodies on a dreary day

Jenn Maeng and a handful of you, you wonderful people, showed the Johnson staff a little bit of appreciation for all they do this fine fall morning with a generous display of seasonal food and drinks in the teachers’ lounges. It may not seem like much, but we hope a pumpkin-y muffin and a warm cup of pumpkin-spice coffee or apple cinnamon tea is a small gesture that communicates how much the teachers and staff mean to us.

Here is a brief personal anecdote about the bringing of Sunshine: your humble PTO news correspondent last week bought two boxes of seasonally appropriate tea for this morning’s spread. Then, said correspondent’s mother used said correspondent’s house as a waiting room between doctor’s visits. The tea looked so appealing there on the countertop—left out as an incredibly ineffective reminder to bring it to school on Friday morning—in its unopened purple box and so near the electric kettle, that she made herself a nice cup. And this is why 39, instead of a full 40, bags of tea were delivered to the teachers’ lounge this morning.

The point of this story is that we’ve all got a lot going on. Even if you only deliver 97.5% of what you promised, and even if you have to run to Wegmans after you dropped your kid off Friday morning because you completely forgot to pick up the apple cider you were supposed to bring, too—even the smallest, incompetently-completed gesture is noticed and appreciated. Thanks to Jenn and all who took a few minutes, or sent us some dollars, to show the teachers some love.

Krispy Kreme fundraiser rolls forever on

Finally, a reminder that you can buy a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts for $15, and the PTO gets a cool $7.50. You just make the purchase at this link, and then walk into any Krispy Kreme in the country with the redemption code they send you. Please continue to indulge in this fashion so that the PTO can continue to host Fall Picnics, and bring tasty treats to teachers, and maybe install a water cooler in the downstairs teachers’ lounge someday soon, along with all the other fun things we’re trying to do for the Johnson community this year.

Thanks as always for your help! Have a wonderful weekend.