Volunteers needed for Fun Night, April 19

Our amazing Fun Night planning committee has been working for months to make this annual event a success. Now it's time for you to jump in, and all we're asking for is an hour! Fun Night is Friday, April 19, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Room coordinators are needed for the following games:

• Bouncy House
• Fishing
• Football Toss
• T-Shirt Decorating

As the coordinator, all you have to do is make sure the room is set up (with materials provided!) at the start, cleaned up at the end, and staffed throughout the evening. If you recruit three to five friends, you can cover the entire evening. This is a great opportunity to practice your arm-twisting skills on your fellow parents.

Please contact Fun Night co-chairs Amy Greazel Dagreazel1@msn.com and/or Carol Greve Cgreve9@aol.com to sign up. You're not really going to tell these dedicated Mighty Hawk parents that you can't spare a single hour are you?

Please join us for our monthly PTO meeting, Monday, March 11

With a little more than a month to go before our annual Family Fun Night school carnival, Monday's PTO meeting is a great opportunity to hear what we have on tap for this year and learn how you can be involved. Students eagerly anticipate this event every year, and it's a great opportunity for us as parents to give them a fun night with friends in a safe, school community.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the art room. Childcare is available at no cost in the Kindergarten room. Click here for the complete agenda.

Party planners needed for Lucas 50th bash

This spring Lucas Elementary will celebrate its 50th anniversary. A committee is forming to plan the event, tentatively set for Sunday May 5 from 2-4 p.m. If you are interested in helping plan the event, please contact 1st grate teacher Ann Kessler at kessler.ann@iccsd.k12.ia.us

The first planning meeting is scheduled for this Monday, March 4 at 3:15 p.m. (Your faithful blog correspondent apologizes for the late notice. This inadvertently scrolled off the radar amid a hectic week. Apparently snow day + 4-day weekend = mind lost. Who knew?)

If you are in touch with any retired Lucas teachers, staff, and/or principals please contact Ann Kessler so that we can invite them back for the celebration.

Lucas dental screening featured in Press-Citizen

Check out today's Press-Citizen for a front page story and photos about a dental screening program at Lucas (and other ICCSD schools) sponsored by MidWestOne Bank and the University of Iowa College of Dentistry.

Will you answer the call? Seeking volunteers for Lucas events

Are you looking for ways to become more involved in the Lucas community? Why not volunteer at a school event?  Requests for volunteers are sent out as needed, and you may respond according to your own availability.

To be added to the notification list for volunteer opportunities, please contact Nancy Cassady at ncassadyim@gmail.com. Upcoming opportunities include preparing food for the teacher lunch during conferences on Feb. 26, greeting incoming Kindergarten parents as they arrive for registration, also Feb. 26, assisting during picture day (school hours), helping out on Fun Night (evening) and more.

Still on the fence? Check out our Facebook page to read your fellow Lucas parents' thoughts on the importance of participating in school events. We hope to see you soon!

Registration for Fall 2013 Kindergarten is Feb. 26

All elementary schools in Iowa City will hold Kindergarten Registration on Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you have any five-year-old (or soon-to-be five) friends or neighbors who will be starting Kindergarten at Lucas in August, please encourage them to stop by the school with a birth certificate or passport to show that the child will be 5 years old by Sept. 15, 2013. Children do not need to accompany the parents; their Kindergarten introduction will come later this spring when Lucas holds its Kindergarten Roundup on April 18.

Last call for yearbook! Orders due Feb. 14, photo submissions by Feb. 28

The Lucas yearbook is a fun way to look back on your child's year as well as a reference and resource.  Don't miss out on the memories--order your yearbook by Feb. 14! The cost is $8 ($6 for families that qualify for free and reduced-price lunch programs.) Submit your payment to the main office. Include child's name, grade, homeroom. Make checks payable to Lucas Elementary PTO. Yearbooks will arrive this spring.

What is in the yearbook? Lucas children and staff learning and having fun together. The yearbook has candid pictures of the City High homecoming parade, Halloween, classroom and outdoor learning and fun, and club, activity, and group pictures. Each student's school portrait appears on his/her class page, regardless of whether your family purchased copies from the photo vendor. Note, that students whose parents or guardians have requested that their photos not be shared will not be included in the yearbook.

We are also still looking for group photographs for the yearbook. We'd like to include as many activities and groups as possible. Please send digital images via email to junnicole88@gmail.com or burn multiple images onto a labeled CD or USB drive and leave in the PTO mailbox. Important: do not reduce the image size! Photo deadline is Feb. 28, 2013.