Parents Association Events

All School Picnic: The All School picnic is held in the fall at Snowden Field.  (Snowden Field is GSL’s athletic field; it is located on Harbert, east past the Easy Way on Cooper.)  There is no charge to attend, food and drink are provided and it is a great way to meet lots of families and let your kids see the whole school together.  Spiritwear is available for purchase. Bring a blanket and/or folding lawn chairs.   

Anchor Auction: The Anchor Auction is the main fundraising event sponsored by the Parents’ Association.  Held off-site in April, this event is a fun adult evening, complete with dinner, with fabulous live and silent auction items to bid on.  Parents are encouraged to donate items to the auction!  (Tangible items, services, parties, vacation home usage, etc.)  Often parents from a class or who are friends will arrange to sit together at a reserved table or bid together on one of the parties. Past proceeds have gone to renovate playgrounds and bathrooms, buy computers and other things to support the school.  This event needs MANY volunteers, both in planning and execution.  Each class will make an art project to be auctioned off at the party and parents are needed to help complete these projects.  Artistic talent is helpful BUT NOT REQUIRED! 

Back to School Night: This evening (adults-only!) event is held shortly after the beginning of school to acquaint you with the school, the faculty, and the classes.
At 6:00 pm, prior to the headmaster’s remarks in the sanctuary, there is an Activities sign up in Trezevant Hall (adjacent to the sanctuary, entrance off LeMaster or the Peabody entrance).  This sign up time is a great way to get an overview of all the various activities happening in the school throughout the year. At 7:00 pm, everyone gathers in the sanctuary for introductions and remarks from Tom Beazley, headmaster.  Parents are then dismissed by grade to go visit the classrooms and meet the teachers. 

Book Conversations
At Grace-St. Luke’s, we encourage our students to be life-long learners. As parents, we can model life-long learning by reading, learning, and engaging in the acquisition of new knowledge. Book Conversations brings together parent-peers to engage in thought-provoking information and ideas, to have enlightening conversation to help us all be better parents and more effective supportive partners in our child's education.

Book Fair:  The Book Fair is scheduled on a Sunday evening in the fall from 6-9 pm at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in the Laurelwood Shopping Center. A percentage of everything purchased (with some exclusions) will go directly to GSL.

Book Swap: This popular event is usually held in February in McClure Hall (on the main campus where the stage is) and culminates with the Italian Dinner (details to follow).  Bring in your gently used books, videos, DVDs and computer games, ANY KIND (adult or children), to designated drop off spots in the preceding weeks.  Your bags of items need to be clearly marked with your child’s name.  Your child(ren) will receive credit for each book brought and will be able to  “shop” using the credits; the whole family is allowed to shop among the donations with the credits. If you don’t donate books, you may send money with your child to buy a book or two and save the disappointment of not being able to shop.

Booster Club
Through your Family Membership, you help the Booster Club continue to provide quality additions, enhancements, and benefits to our young athletes and sports enthusiasts. What’s more, your family will receive FREE ADMISSION to all GSL Home games for grades 1-8 (including football, baseball, volleyball, basketball, and softball). Click this link to print the Booster Club membership form: http://www.gslschool.org/AthBoosterMembers.pdf

Boosterthon Fun Run
This exciting event combines fitness, education, and character initiatives for our children.  There is a pep rally kickoff for our students to explain the fundraiser and get them excited about participating.  The event emphasizes fitness is fun!  Students are challenged to get pledges for each lap that they run on the day of the event.  This is a community-based event with parents, friends, and relatives invited to participate.

Father-Daughter Dance:
a special night out for Fathers and Daughters (4th-8th grade).  The themed night of dinner and dancing is held in Trezevant Hall.  Look for sign up sheets to come home in the Thursday folder following Christmas break.

Grandparents’ Day: This event is a joint effort between the GSL Parents’ Association and the Development office.  While it is officially called Grandparents’ Day, the Development office is happy to send an invitation to any “special person” in your children’s life, such as a favorite aunt or godparent or even a special friend.  At the event, the guests have a continental breakfast, chapel service and then visit the classrooms.  Grandparent’s Day is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving; it is also an early dismissal day.  Parking is limited so you might want to consider dropping off and picking up your child and grandparents.

GSL Night Out at the Grizzlies is a night out for parents or the whole family.  GSL reserves blocks of tickets to a Grizzlies game.  Sign up sheets are sent home in advance in order to reserve your seats with GSL friends and families.

Italian Dinner: This dinner is a fundraiser for the 8th grade.  The 8th grade parents organize the dinner and the 8th grade students act as waiters/waitresses for the tables (bring tip $!).  It is a lot of fun and, after a delicious dinner, you can peruse the Book Swap offerings (see above) 

Mother-Son Road Rally
The Mother-Son event is the GSL compliment to the Father-Daughter dance.  In years past, mother and son combos have gone bowling, attended the movies, and played softball.  Three years ago, the PA decided on a permanent theme of the Mother-Son Road Rally.  Participating couples are divided into team by grade level and sent to solve clues about town.  Teams are judged on their travel time and percentage of correct answers. The winning team receives bragging rights, a dress down day, and pizza party.
This event is scheduled for the Sunday afternoon on the same weekend as the Father-Daughter dance.  The Mother-Son Road Rally is for boys grades 4 - 8.

Parent to Parent
Starting on Thursday, September 6, Jamie Baker and GSL parent Susan Knight will facilitate Parent-to-Parent, a six-session training program for parents who are concerned about the dangers and challenges of today's “Toxic Culture.” Sessions will be offered at 8:00 and noon (BYO-Brown Bag Lunch) in McClure Hall. Session dates (all Thursdays) are September 6, 13, 20, 27 and October 4, 18. Parent*To*Parent is a series of six 30-minute DVD presentations led by Bill Oliver, the program’s nationally-renowned creator.
•            Each session lasts no longer than one hour.
•            Each of the six Parent*To*Parent sessions includes a viewing of the video followed by a group discussion. Parents leave with concrete advice and parenting techniques to help incorporate this new information into their everyday lives and families.
All parents of children in grades 4-8 are urged to participate in this acclaimed and highly-successful program.

September 6  is “Put Yourself in The Way.”
September 13 "Awareness is Your Best Friend"
September 20"Remember the Difference"
September 27"Expect and Inspect"
October 4 "Never Trust the Net"
October 18"Traps to Avoid"
To learn more about the Parent*To*Parent program,
visit www.thepassagegroup.com

School Supplies are returning this year due to popular demand.  The Parents’ Association takes all the work out of gathering school supplies over the summer. The PA gets the classroom lists for each classroom and orders the supplies.  Supplies are placed on the child’s desk at the first of the year. Orders must be placed in the spring to assure delivery of supplies in the fall. Look for sign up sheets in the late spring.

Spirit Wear
Spirit Wear consists of all the GSL-logo clothing items—such as hats, tie-dye shirts and sweatpants—that are NOT part of the official school uniform. It also includes GSL sweatshirts and fleeces, which can be worn as part of the uniform during winter. Spirit Wear is available for sale at selected special events throughout the year, as well as every Friday morning from 7:45 to 8:30 at the Spirt Wear store (3rd floor of the Administrative Office). Any Spirit Wear you select is charged to your school account and you will be billed for it on a future invoice.

Teacher Appreciation Week is a weeklong celebration to honor our teachers. Each day is celebrated in a different way to make the teachers feel special. At the end of the week, parents are asked to come watch the classrooms while teachers go to a catered luncheon.  This event is sponsored and financed by the Parents’ Association; additional gifts (except for a flower from each child on flower day) are not expected.

Uniform Exchange is a service the Parents Association provides for rising 1st through 8th graders.  Parents have the opportunity to consign and purchase gently worn uniform items at 60% off of the original prices.  The Parents Association keeps $1 from each item sold.  Volunteers will be needed in May to help with pre-sale preparation, receiving of clothing, setting up, staffing and cleaning up the sale.  Volunteers get to shop early.