It's That Time Again. Time for ... Dragon Dash!!

Dragon Dash fundraising kicked off on Friday, September 13. The PTO hosted a fun and entertaining pep rally at the school for students and teachers (watch our InstaStory from the pep rally), and race packets were sent home with every child. Make sure to check out the Dragon Dash section of the website for how to get started.

Our total school goal is $38,000. If every student raises $75 we can meet that. Better yet, we can surpass our goal if you raise more! Our school reach goal is $48,000, and, to put that in perspective, last year we raised $45,000 so we KNOW we can do it!

Proceeds are benefiting teachers in their classrooms, purchasing new curriculum, supporting mindfulness in the classrooms and funding other projects around school. And we get to raise the money all while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Everybody can win! 

To make it even more fun, we are offering all kinds of individual goal incentives, daily raffle prizes for students bringing in donations and team rewards. The very TOP earner in the school will even win an Amazon Kindle AND a $25 Amazon gift card! Check out more of our awesome incentives here.

We have all kinds of fun prizes in store for the students … learn more here.

Special thanks to this year’s Dragon Dash sponsors: Cumberland Cooling; Alive Nashville; Chris Billingslea, Realtor; FAST SIGNS of Hendersonvile; and Nashville Dance Cooperative.

Shipt and Planet Fundraiser Offer New Fundraising Opportunity for Dan Mills

Do you use Shipt grocery delivery service?? If so, there is a very easy way to give back 3% of what you spend to our PTO!

In your cell phone App Store, search for and download the free Planet Fundraiser app.

Then follow the in-app instructions to register and sign in. Once signed in, select “Add Campaign” and search for and select “Dan Mills Elementary PTO.”

Finally, in order to obtain the 3% reward from Shipt to PTO, go into your email and find the receipt email from Shipt. (This email will have the subject line: “Your Shipt grocery order receipt”. ) Forward this email to submit@planetfundraiser.com

Repeat every time you order Shipt!

Elaborating on our Plans for Dragon Dash Fundraising Money

Our fundraising goal for the Dragon Dash is $30,000. I know we’ve shared that the money raised will go towards updating the school library, adding a basketball court and giving funds to teachers, but maybe you’re wondering why exactly we are wanting to do those things. Let’s go into a little more detail:

1. Library Redesign ($12,000+) - Our current school building was designed and built around 2001-02. The library was provided with standard furniture and it hasn’t been replaced or updated since. The vision is to take the current library space and make it a little more welcoming and versatile. We want to include some more flexible seating spaces so kids can grab a book, get comfortable and read. Wooden chairs just aren’t quite as inviting as a soft chair or comfortable couch! Some teachers also have book clubs that meet regularly, and we would like to include an area where these students could meet as a group in a creative space so they can delve in and explore the texts in a group discussion. Ms. Criswell, the administration and the PTO are excited with the prospect of transforming the library into a fun, inviting, cozy and comfortable space for inspire reading for all ages!

2. Financial Support for Teachers ($8,000+) - As you likely know, teachers spend a lot of their own money on special classroom projects or on classroom supplies. It’s also no secret that teachers are underpaid. So we can help them by providing them with the funds and resources they need to help their students. They can purchase those items that will make a lesson come to life or they can buy that bookshelf and fill it with books. Whatever they choose, it will ultimately benefit all of the students at Dan Mills!

3. Basketball Court (approx. $3,000) - This project has been on the wish list for a while. The playground out front is fantastic, but it’s really designed with the younger students in mind. We would love to build a small half court in the front field to provide an area where all students can play four square or basketball. It’ll offer more options to all our students and teachers, and foster more physical activity!

4. Picnic Tables (approx. $1000) - Students enjoy being outside, and we would love to add some tables near the front playground so teachers can take their students outside for a lesson or a special lunch. These tables would also provide seating after school for parents who enjoy bringing their children to the playground before or after school, as well as to the larger community who use the front playground in the evenings and on weekends.

Now, obviously, if you’ve done the math, that doesn’t all add up to $30,000. The additional money will allow us to increase the budget on the school library redesign as well as add to our general PTO budget. As a PTO we are continuously funding curriculum requests for the teachers, paying for the house parties at Sky High, buying needed equipment for the classrooms and entire school, supplementing field trips so all students can attend and paying for many other things that impact our school. Your donations are not wasted and are always much appreciated!

It's Dragon Dash Time!

Dragon Dash fundraising kicked off on Friday, September 14. Race packets were sent home with every student, an email was sent, posts were made on Facebook and Instagram and Principal Yates did a call out. We hope you got the information. ;) Make sure to check out the Dragon Dash section of our website for how to get started.

Our total school goal for this year is $30,000. If every student raises just $60 we can meet that. Better yet, we can surpass our goal if you raise more! To make it fun we are offering all kinds of individual goal incentives, bi-weekly raffle prizes for students who register and team rewards. The very TOP earner in the school will even win an Amazon Kindle! And meeting our school goal earns all students ONE WEEK of NO SSA! Check out more of our awesome incentives here.

Just look at some of these cool prizes! Click here to see how to earn these and more.

Now, you might be wondering why such a large fundraising goal? Where is the money going? Well, we at the Dan Mills PTO are committed to supporting our teachers at this school. And they need our support! A portion of the proceeds from Dragon Dash will go directly to all teachers for them to use in their classrooms. This helps supplement their limited budgets. The rest of the money raised will go towards funding a design update in the school library, installing a basketball court and adding picnic tables to the front lawn. What’s even better is we get to raise the money all while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Everybody can win! 

Last year we raised more than $35,000, so we’re optimistic we can do it again this year. And look at all the fun had at the race last year. How can you resist such an amazing event?!

Special thanks to all our 2018 Dragon Dash sponsors - Cumberland Cooling, 10:10 Creative, The Foundry Chiropractic & Upper Cervical and East Nasty.

Thank You For An Awesome 2017-18 School Year!

Now that the dust has settled after end-of-school madness, we at the Dan Mills Elementary PTO want to say a big THANK YOU to the parents and community who have supported our school this past year. It has been an amazing one!

With your help and support we achieved every goal we had in fundraising this year, and then some! We hosted four fundraisers this year - Songwriters in the Round, Dragon Dash, Dragon Jubilee and Spring Auction - raising a net of more than $50,000!! Wow.

This is because of YOU, and your school thanks you.

If you wonder what we did with some of that money, take a look below and see the things YOU helped fund.

Item	Amount
Student Achievement Incentives Includes House field trips to Sky High	~$1,500
Capital Improvements Includes Closed Circuit TV System, Security door	~$4,500
Curriculum Includes IXL, Study Island and Southern Word	~$7,300
Dragon Dash Teacher Funds Money given to all teachers to use for their classroom	~$3,600
Literacy Includes literacy kits and books for library	~$20,500
Philanthropy Includes donation to Inglewood Elementary	~$1,000
Professional Development By teacher request	~$1,500
Supplies/Equipment Includes P.E. equipment and copy paper for school	~$3,500
Teacher Appreciation Because we love our teachers!	~$4,200

On your mark. Get set. Let's Dragon Dash!!

Dragon Dash fundraising kicked off on Friday, September 15. The PTO hosted a fun and entertaining pep rally at the school for students and teachers, and race packets were sent home with every child. Make sure to check out the Dragon Dash section of the website for how to get started.

Our total school goal is $20,000. If every student raises just $50 we can meet that. Better yet, we can surpass our goal if you raise more! Proceeds are benefiting teachers in their classrooms, funding new computers and purchasing literacy kits for classrooms. And we get to raise the money all while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Everybody can win! 

To make it even more fun, we are offering all kinds of individual goal incentives, daily raffle prizes for students bringing in donations and team rewards. The very TOP earner in the school will even win an Amazon Kindle! Check out more of our awesome incentives here.

Thanks to Emily Masters and her dance students for coordinating the cheer and dance portion of our pep rally.