Thank you to the PTO for the gifts of 2007-2008. . .

June 9, 2008

Mrs. Ellen Goldsher
Mrs. Jami Sharfman
Co-Presidents
Braeside School PTO

Dear Ellen and Jami:

On behalf of the students and staff at Braeside School, I would like to thank the PTO for its wonderful generosity and support to the IMC during the 2007-2008 school year. During the past year, the PTO provided for the following needs and special programs:

- Costs for the 19th Annual Writing Conference including:
- Guest speaker Brenda A. Ferber
- Gifts for twelve critiquing group leaders
- Lunch for 32 adults
- Postage and supplies
- Storyteller Peter Cook for the Book Fair
- Interpreter Jamie Drake for Peter Cook
- Visiting author Kevin Luthardt for grades K-1
- Visiting author Helen Lester for grades K-3
- Part of the cost for visiting author/illustrator team Kate and Sarah Klise for grades 4-5
- Storytellers Eth-Noh-Tec; Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo and Nancy Wang for grades K-5
- Lunch for Eth-Noh-Tec and staff
- Lunch for storytellers Motoko and Eshu Bumpus
- 16-volume set of the Britannica Student Encyclopedia
- Nineteen books for the IMC collection
- DVD Player
- Three sets of computer speakers
- Three computer to LCD projector adapters
- Printer for Mrs. Kritzman
- Two overhead projectors
- One overhead projector cart
- Three printer cartridges for the IMC printer

I believe that some of the most valuable experiences we can offer our students come with our visiting authors, illustrators, and storytellers. These are made possible with the support of the PTO and the 112 Education Foundation. Here at Braeside we can provide an amazing richness of diversity because we are able to bring in extra presenters with the PTO’s help. This year we have had African-American, Chinese-American, Japanese-American, Japanese/Filipino-American, Bangladeshi-American, and deaf storytellers. I wish that all of the parents could see the difference that these presenters make in our students’ lives.

Thank you for all that you do to make these programs possible. Your support touches all students and staff members and will continue to affect us all in the years to come.

Gratefully yours,
Anne Shimojima
IMC Director

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Dear Ellen and Jami:

On behalf of the students and staff at Braeside School, I would like to thank the PTO for all of its wonderful support this past school year. Because of your generosity, we were able to provide the following:

• Visiting author Laurie Friedman for grades 2-4
• Visiting author Dan Gutman for grades 3-5
• Visiting author Kevin O’Malley for grades K-5 (partial fee to supplement 112 Education Foundation gift)
• Visiting storyteller Dan Keding
• Visiting storyteller LaRon Williams
• Airfare and staff lunch for visiting poet Jack Prelutsky
• The 18th Annual Writing Conference, including:
Guest speaker Franny Billingsley
Gifts for 14 group leaders
Lunch for 33 adults
All supplies and postage
• 70 copies of the computer program MediaBlender
• 4 laser printers for classrooms
• 25-128 MB Kingston flash drives for one 5th grade classroom

This year we experienced a wealth of creative presenters and our students were immeasurably enriched. Please know what a difference you have made in the lives of every student and every staff member. We are so very grateful!

Yours truly,
Anne Shimojima
IMC Director