In Touch & In Tune

First Day Flowers - 08/28/2024

In the beginning, our first board chair grew beautiful zinnias. So he thought it would be nice as all children entered to give them a flower. These flowers then went to the classrooms and into a vase symbolizing the children in the class, coming together to create a beautiful arrangement. As time went on others brought in flowers from their garden to add to the zinnias, which created the annual tradition of First Day Flowers. ~ June Morrone, IDCS Founder

IDEA - 09/12/2024

What is I.D.E.A.?

The Integrated Day Education Alliance is a parent/caregiver organization similar to the PTA or PTOs you might see at other schools. IDEA sponsors fun and educational events throughout the school year. All of the money raised by IDEA fundraisers goes to classroom expenses, field trips, IDEA supplies, 8th grade graduation, annual picnic, last day of school pizza party, and events.

How do I get involved?

Britton Wilson, is our IDEA Chairperson for the 2024-2025 school year. You can reach out to Britton via email at [email protected] or join one of our IDEA meetings where future events and fundraisers are discussed and decided (see schedule below).

Events

Part of IDEA is planning fun, educational, and informative events for IDCS families to attend. Our first IDEA event of the year, Back to School Pizza & Potluck, is on Thursday, September 12th from 5:30 p.m .to 7:00 p.m. We hope to see you there! We also have events planned for October 10, 2024 and April 4, 2025.

Planning Meetings

Don't forget to join our first IDEA Planning Meeting of the school year, Monday, September 16, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. All IDEA Planning Meetings are hybrid. A link for the virtual meeting will be posted at idcs.org and sent to parents directly in email/text. Meetings are typically held on the 3rd Monday of the Month at 6:00 p.m. Future meetings are scheduled for 10/21/24, 11/18/24, 12/16/24, 1/27/25, 2/24/25, 3/17/25, 4/21/25, 5/19/25, 6/16/25.

Fundraisers

IDEA plans and runs a variety of fundraisers to support IDCS throughout the year:

School Store: Ongoing, funds raised go into the general IDEA fund.

Mums: September, funds raised go into the general IDEA fund.

Picture Day: September 25, 2024, funds raised go towards providing each student a free yearbook in June.

Pies: October/November, funds raised go into the general IDEA fund.

Basket Raffle: April, funds raised go into the general IDEA fund.

2024-2025 IDEA Officers

President: Britton Wilson

Vice President: Amethyst Dube

Treasurer: Jessica Heffernan

Secretary: Kristin Maletz

Want more info?

Visit idcs.org/idea/

History of the Bread Feast

The IDCS Bread Feast is a tradition that originated with the Integrated Day program at the Buckingham Elementary School. It was started by a teacher who brought the idea from another school as a way to foster a stronger sense of community among classes.

Bread is an item that is common to all cultures and dates back many years. Originally the feast was only a celebration of bread. With nutrition concerns, it has now expanded to include fruit. Food allergies are talked about and taken into consideration. Many of the classes either bake bread or study the science and history of bread. Over time the classes have read and written about it as well.

This event is held towards the end of the first marking period to celebrate the hard work done by all. It is set up so that children can mix and eat with siblings or learning buddies. Leftovers have always been donated to the soup kitchen.

The Bread Feast now includes Caring and Sharing which is a schoolwide service learning day with children working on a variety of short term projects that benefit the community. Caring and Sharing had previously been held at night but was moved to the day time so that more students could become involved. Ideas for the projects are identified by the students after class discussions.

Our next Bread Feast will be on Tuesday, November 26th.