Membership Matters


Your PTO membership matters!

Our students need you.  Research shows that building parent involvement in education is the number one thing we can do to create a great school and improve student performance.  

It is important to the school.  The PTO supports the teachers, administrators, and staff and helps create a caring learning environment at the school.  

Your opinion matters.  The PTO wants to hear your thoughts, ideas, and concerns about events, fundraising, and all things happening at school with your children.  

PTO is for every parent.  There is no time commitment or requirement.  You don't have to attend all meetings, all events, or volunteer for everything.  Whatever you can and choose to do benefits the school and your children.

PTO builds community.  The PTO is about parent involvement, not fundraising.  The goal is to help get parents connected to the school.  

Join the PTO

It is quick, easy, and only costs $15.  
Show your support and JOIN TODAY.  
Get Involved! 

Please complete the Volunteer Interest Form and get involved!


Volunteer to help in our Health Room

We need daily help from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. staffing the health room (located in the bookstore). You can sign up for one or multiple days. You can also volunteer for a shorter time frame.

You will be dealing with minor issues like band-aids and ice packs. No medical experience necessary! 


Library News

Library volunteers: Volunteers are needed on Mondays and Wednesday in the library. If you are interested, please use this link to sign up! You may choose as many days as you would like. Thanks so much for participating!

A Note from the Counselors

We hope your school year is off to a great start. Please remember to review the Above the Line procedures with your child. 

The counseling Informed Consent Form may be completed and returned if you are interested in services such as individual and small group counseling for your student. 

Counseling Informed Consent Permission Form

Also, thank you to all who were able to attend the August PTO meeting. Here is the Color Your World With Kindness video referenced in the meeting. 

Color Your World With Kindness
Color Your World With Kindness

PTO Directory

The PTO Online Directory is available online through MySchoolAnywhere.com and on the MySchoolAnywhere App. Only PTO Members may access the online directory.

You may order a printed directory on MySchoolAnywhere when you join the PTO. Printed PTO directories will be delivered early fall. You must order your printed directory by August 31st!  

Contact Karen LaGasse or Leslie Mitchell with any questions.

Instructional Fee

Parents may still pay the $30 Instructional Fee.  Simply send a check payable to Dogwood Elementary School in an envelope labeled with Instructional Fee and your student's name.  

Last year, Instructional Fees were able to provide wonderful resources for every student at Dogwood, such as:
  • Tennessee History for Kids
  • Reading A-Z
  • Student Island
  • Wit and Wisdom
  • Brain Pop, Brain Pop Jr. Brain Pop ESL
  • Accelerated Reader
  • Starfall
  • Bloomz
  • Instructional books
  • Curriculum Associates Test Ready
  • Moose Productions Daily Star Math
Dogwood Fun Run

Our students have spoken! They have asked for a new playground and shade to play under. 

This year, Dogwood has a goal to raise $50,000 toward the new playground with shade!

By partnering with Boosterthon, our students will participate in a two-week, fitness-based fundraiser where they'll learn essential character traits through this year's theme: Mindspark Mystery Lab.

In the past, what we raised through Booserthon allowed us to update our technology including a 70" mobile tv, two carts of 25+ devices per grade level, and an Apple TV for each classroom! 

We are so thankful for this amazing community. Please help us reach our goal this year by connecting with sponsors. 
  • Pledging Opens - August 21st
  • Pep Rally - August 28th
  • Fun Run - September 7th (Save the Date, You're Invited!!)

We will be sharing more information over the next few weeks! 

Boxtops

Send in your Boxtops! The class with the most completed sheets turned in from August 20th - September 28th will receive a pizza party.  Please send completed sheets to the gym daily. We will keep an on-going count to determine the winner.
Dogwood Cross Country Camp

The Dogwood Cross Country team enjoyed an overnight Cross Country Camp Retreat with other GMSD running teams at the Grove at Red Oak Lake. At the retreat, the team got to do a speed workout with local elite runner Angie Zinkus who dressed up as a T-Rex, participate in running form workshops with BPC and Fleet Feet, and made PR/Goal Running Boards. They also enjoyed team building activities including Neon Dodge Ball, boating, ropes course, roasting s'mores, and a water obstacle course. The Dogwood team has 67 runners on the team this year, and their first cross country meet is  Friday, August 24th  at Christian Brothers High School. Coaches Fredrick, Fernandez and Schwarzmann are looking forward to an exciting season!


Shout Outs


The Dogwood community is the best!! There are so many people who serve our students, teachers, and families.  If you have a shout out for a student, teacher, parent, or administrator any time throughout the year, please email it to dogwoodelempto@gmail.com .  





Thank you to everyone who attended our PTO meeting last Tuesday.  

The PTO would also like to thank:

Rosie Naldoza for organizing all school supply purchases through MySchoolBucks.  Rosie did a fantastic job organizing all the sales and delivering the items to students.  Yay, Rosie!

The Dogwood Administrative Team for their tireless efforts every day to create a nurturing learning environment at Dogwood for every student.

Our fantastic teachers and staff!  We know how hard each and every one of you have worked to get the school year off to a fantastic start!

Community Involvement
GMSD School Board Meeting

GMSD School Board Meeting  

When: Monday, August 20th, at 6:30 pm
Where: City Hall

Come learn more about Scouting!

Cub Scout Pack 271 invites all interested 1st - 5th graders to a Welcome Back Social on Sunday, August 26th from 4:00 - 6:00 pm at Houston Levee Park (behind Houston High School).  There will be games and MEMPOPS for the kids! Pack 271 meets most Monday nights from 7:00 - 8:00 pm during the school year at St. George's High School. 
Germantown Girl Scouts

Are you interested in having your daughter join Girl Scouts in the Germantown area?  All parents of kindergarten through 12th grade girls who are looking for troops in Germantown are invited to attend:
 

Thursday, August 30th from 6:30-7:30pm
Faith Presbyterian Church
8816 Poplar Pike in Germantown 

Come hear from local Girl Scouts and Troop Leaders about the exciting opportunities and adventures with Girl Scouts in Germantown!

Do you already know your daughter wants to join a troop, but you can'
t attend the meeting?  Click here to fill out our interest form, and someone will cont
act you in early September about placing your girl with an appropriate troop.
 
**All current Girl Scouts may wear their vests or sashes to school this Friday, August 24th for our Girl Scout assembly day**

Join the Dogwood Team for the St. Jude Walk/Run! 


GMSD is excited to be a flagship sponsor of the St. Jude Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer this year! Each school has a team participating in the event and we want you to join our Dogwood team! The race will be Saturday, September 22 at 9am. The 5K will start on A.W. Willis and will end on the St. Jude campus in a festival. Come join the fun!

Did you know?
  • The average donation to St.Jude is $10
  • St. Jude does not have a patient billing department.
  • Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to more than 80 percent today.
  • St. Jude treats about 8,500 children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases each year. The treatments for pediatric cancer can last up to three years or more and cost on average $425,000 including housing, travel and food. YET NO FAMILY RECEIVES A BILL!
  • The hospital's global outreach efforts transfer the progress achieved in the treatment of childhood cancer in developed countries to those with limited resources. St. Jude has 24 official partner sites in 17 countries in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, the Eastern Mediterranean region and Asia with whom St. Jude freely share research and protocols.
Click here to Join the Dogwood Team   - Be sure you select the Dogwood Team from the list of schools.


Help GMSD and Dogwood make an impact for the families at St. Jude!


Shop and Support the Dogwood PTO
You Don't Want to Miss...
Upcoming Events

Tuesday, August 28
Boosterthon Kick-Off

Friday, August 31
PTO Membership Drive Ends

Monday, September 3
Labor Day - No School
All Day
Friday, September 7
Boosterthon Ends

Friday, September 7 Grandparents' BINGO Night 6:00 PM
Tuesday, September 11 PTO Meeting - State of the School 6:15 PM
Dogwood Elementary PTO | (901) 756-2310 |   Email | Website

Germantown Municipal School District provides equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, handicap/disability, sex, genetics or age.
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