Fundraisers

As a PTO, we invest all donations and event proceeds into school resources, student support (e.g. food pantry), staff appreciation (e.g. teacher record day lunch) or community building initiatives (e.g. `VIP breakfast'). Your participation in restaurant give-back nights, PJ & popcorn contributions, and monetary donations are greatly appreciated and help fund events year-round.

Occasionally, we collect funds towards specific, one-time investments. We invite proposals from all teachers, and the projects below are examples of their innovative ideas that foster innovative learning at Marquette. If you would like to give towards something more concrete, this is your chance!

Please note: You can also donate in cash or with a check, made payable to "Marquette PTO" and dropped off at the front desk. If you would like it to count towards a specific goal, just let us know in the check memo.

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2023/2024 Donation Campaigns

Art Room SuppliesMrs. Gillis writes: "We have a lot of art supplies in our art classroom that need to be organized in a way so students can use them independently, safely, and with minimum waste in all grade levels (e.g. chalk pastels, liquid watercolor paints, printing ink). In addition, having such supplies set up for easy use and clean up saves time for students and me and lets us spend more time on the actual projects. Dollar tree has [cost efficient] products that I can re purpose."

New Gym EquipmentFrom Mr. Gomes, "I would like to replace worn out PE equipment. I have not received any funds from the corporation since my first year arriving at Marquette. I would like to replace our jump ropes, hoops and the bladder for our omnikin ball. The money would purchase 36 ropes, 24 hoops and 1 bladder. I plan on donating our worn out equipment to the classroom teachers to use during recess time."

PAST DONATION CAMPAIGNS

May 2023: Two Compost Bins

Since the old compost bins collapsed, we are raising funds for two new bins that will be shared among multiple classes and will help keep the garden area looking neat. Being able to compost encourages students to use the garden areas more, and teaches valuable lessons about nutrition, food waste, plant growth, and decomposers.

$175 of donations went towards the bins.

May 2023 : Indoor Garden

Mrs V writes: "The tower garden has enhanced my own teaching greatly! The children are excited to watch the plants grow and to learn about the different things that are growing. They are also very excited to eat the plants that are edible! Right now we have tomatoes growing and the kids love to come in and check on their progress each day. Using the tower helps us to learn about plants and how they grow, which is an Indiana state standard."

$150 of donations for new supplies to keep the garden growing!

January 2023 : Popcorn Machine

Our trusty popcorn machine unfortunately broke and we needed a new machine that can handle the high volume of popcorn we make each month.

$278 of donations went towards the cost of a new machine ($407).

January 2023 : Multi slab Clay Cutter

Mrs Gillis (Art) writes: "Multi slab clay cutter allows to cut a clay block in slabs of even thickness in seconds. Unlike single slab cutters, this cutter also allows to precut clay for coil rolling. Having this cutter will help me to expand the variety of clay projects in all grade levels because it will cut preparation time tremendously. And having pre-cut slabs will reduce students’ level of frustration when trying to roll their own slabs, as it is quite tricky."

$55 of donations went towards 1 multi slab clay cutter.

September 2022 : Grow Lights

Our school is in possession of three tower gardens, but two of them require new grow lights to produce. Mrs V writes: "The tower garden has enhanced my own teaching greatly! The children are excited to watch the plants grow and to learn about the different things that are growing. They are also very excited to eat the plants that are edible! The other two classrooms will benefit in similar ways, with older students being able to participate more in the care and maintenance of the tower gardens."

$11 of donations went towards new grow lights for Mrs Bulaoro's Early Childhood classroom ($348). If we get more donations, we can also outfit the third tower garden with new lights for another classroom.

September 2022 : 12 months of science

Mrs Huff (Lower Elementary) writes: "Generation Genius is a fun and exciting way to incorporate more science into our classroom. Students will be able to use Generation Genius along with Montessori materials and other science/STEM activities to gain a better understanding of the world around them. Indiana has also adopted new science standards that are in alignment with NGSS standards. This program has already added them to their curriculum! "

$11 of donations went towards a yearly science subscription ($125).

April 2022 : 3 Electric Pencil Sharpeners for Art

Ms Gillis writes: "Our art classroom is in need of heavy duty electric sharpeners for sharpening colored pencils. Electric sharpeners are more durable, sharpen faster and better compared to the manual hand sharpeners. As a result electric sharpeners produce less pencil waste because pencils don't break as much and pencils will last longer.

Using electric sharpeners will promote students’ independence, reduce frustration, and set students up for success. Students will also be more likely to use a wider variety of colors and have more successful and appealing work as they will not avoid broken pencils as much."

$105 of donations went towards 3 heavy-duty pencil sharpeners.

March 2022 : Computer Mice for Early Childhood Classrooms

Ms V writes: "The kindergarten students have a very difficult time with the track pads on the chrome books. NWEA test scores have been affected by the children’s inability to use these trackpads. In order to facilitate the usage of technology we, as the Early Childhood team, would like to purchase a classroom set of mice for each of our 7 classrooms. We believe that having a child-friendly mouse for each child to use will decrease their frustration with the trackpad, as well as increase their performance on NWEA and any other computer based assignments."

$674 of donations went towards the overall cost of $1,363.30 = 70 computer mice x $15.19 each.

February 2022 : School gardens

Ms Searcy writes: "Winter sowing uses empty milk/water jugs as tiny greenhouses (we will send out a call for empty jugs). The lids are removed and jugs are cut, leaving a hinge near the handle. Drainage holes are added at the bottom, soil and seeds are added, then jugs are taped back up, labeled with the plant type and date, and placed outside between January and April. The containers will be open to receive snow and rain and will produce hardy seedlings when it’s their natural time to sprout. We will plant mostly native, perennial flowering plants, with a few annuals that will bloom before school ends or still be blooming when we return in August.

The children will participate in the starting of seeds, and planting out of seedlings. They will learn about perennials vs. annuals, cold hardiness of different plants, and will be able to observe the growth cycles."

This project will provide resources for all classroom gardens. Ms Searcy will provide the teachers with a how-to video and will be available to help with planning, planting, and care over the summer.

$150 of donations went towards seeds, potting soil, building supplies.