Dear Janney Parents: 

Come to the PTA meeting tonight at 7:15 IN THE LIBRARY and hear Deborah Roffman speak. This promises to be interesting! She will speak about "Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parents' Guide to Talking Sense about Sex."  We
could all use some guidance on what can seem like a tricky topic when talking to our kids.

If you've missed out on auction action so far then listen up! Tonight is the close of the online auction so get on and bid. There are some really great items, and tomorrow will be too late! Click on the link at www.janneyschool.org.

Have a great week,

PTA Treasurer's Note

Those of you who donated to the PTA's Student Support Fund (SSF) during calendar year 2007 should have received letters last week confirming those contributions for tax purposes. Unfortunately, the date in the heading of some of those letters is incorrect; it reads January 30, 2007, rather than January 30, 2008. (The dates for school and calendar years in the body of the letter are correct). In addition, for donors who contributed on more than one date by credit card the total contributions listed in the letter may not include all payments; replacement letters are being sent in those cases. Finally, separate letters were sent for amounts donated during school year 2006-2007 and the current school year, so donors who contributed in calendar year 2007 during both school years should have received two letters.

The Janney Players Present Damn Yankees February 22nd and 23rd

Are you ready for baseball? Nothing could get you in the mood for the season more than seeing our own Janney Players as they present Damn Yankees, a devilish musical comedy set during the 1950s in Washington, DC. This Broadway musical has charmed audiences for 50 years, and this year the Janney Players become the underdog Washington Senators (with under-worldly powers), as they chase the New York Yankees for the Pennant. Will they be able to stop the Yankees from their domination of the League?

The shows are Friday, February 22nd at 7:00 pm, and Saturday, February 23rd, at 2:00 pm at Deal Middle School. Tickets are $5 for general seating and $15 for reserved seating. There is free, but limited, parking at Deal. Refreshments will be sold during intermission.

Bring the whole family and have yourself a ball as you watch the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders put on another terrific show.

Props Needed for Damn Yankees

The Janney musical is in desperate need of ONE additional prop! Thanks very much to all
who came through for us with our requests from last week, Elizabeth Vaden, Lisa
Wackler, and Karen Martin.  

We need a wooden park bench. Please let Kate Taylor (537-1828; taylorkl@georgetown.edu) know if you can help out.

Do you have a pile of Box Tops somewhere in your kitchen? Our next Box Tops submission deadline is coming up on February 29th. Please turn them in now, so we can count and sort them. Last October we collected $225 worth of Box Tops, which was then matched by neighborhood realtor Susan Jaquet. Let's see if we can top that amount this time around. Questions? Please email Julie Schapire at jschapire@yahoo.com or Sherry Cohen at jaynsherry@starpower.net.

Auction Thanks

An event such as Carnevale-Janney Auction 2008 doesn't happen without the help of many, many parents. This year, we are grateful to the legions of adults and kids who took time out of their weekend (or the days leading up to the auction) to accomplish a myriad of tasks. We specifically would like to thank the coordinators of each area who headed up their specific areas:  Sam Corrigan and Cheryl Ohlson on food, Belle Belew and Josh Sarnoff on bars, Lisa Wackler on check-in, Jill Palmer on check-out, Mary Agnes Carey and Ross Brennan on clean-up. Their cheerfulness and efficiency made planning the auction a breeze and helped the evening run smoothly.

We would also like to thank the following worker bees who did their part as well.

It takes a special kind of person willing to give up precious Saturday morning hours lounging around the house in pajamas. Fortunately for us, we had a great group of people who helped on Saturday morning, who were able to take directives and not even argue. Don't you wish your kids could do that? Our compliant and energetic set-up crew included: Jeff Ashford, Cal Eigsti, Sharon McGrath, Kevin Kennelly, Julie Slattery, Mark Bauman, Chip Henstenburg, Lucy Smiles, Ricky Feller, Kate Taylor, Bill Feeney, and Stan Torgovitsky. People who helped clean out Melissa's basement, drive all of the stuff over to the Katzen Center, and then unload again were Ann Misback, Jenny Allen, Libby Vandivier, Rennie Anderson, Lilly Abbey, Jane Feller, Maria Forman, and Annie Blackwell. Making it all look beautiful, both in the display of items and in the decorations were Allison Feeney, Jenny Craig, Lisa Kennelly, Glinda Cooper, Mary Beth McMahon, Mary Dasso, Cathy Sledz, Kuniko Davidson, Mark Davidson, Phillipa Tarrant, and Cathy Player. Thanks, too, to the student helpers, both Janney students and alumni alike: Emma Whitehead, Eva Monroe, Tessa Torgovitsky, Ellie and Isaac Sarnoff, Claire Dempsey, Marisa Remez, Matthew Dulaney, Ransom and Colton Kennelly.

The check-in crew got the party started. Lisa's team included: Kirk and Elizabeth Rankin, Pam Fox and Mark Popovich, Lee Coykendall, Jeff Ashford, Nancy Sassa, Sharon McGrath, and Christine Dulaney.

Cheryl and Sam of the food committee thank all of those who helped create the wonderful array of desserts and snacks. We couldn't have done it with out the generosity, support, and creativity of:  Melissa Block, Glinda Cooper, Jill Cork, Christine Dulaney, Sherry Ettleson, Lynda Faulk, Gerry Gretschel , Melinda Johnson, Jelena Kecmanovic, Amy Morrill-Bijeau, Willa Morris, Michael Oliphant, Carol Piwowarski, Linda Predovsky, Anne Prince, Charla Rath, Cynthia Schiffrin, Laura St. Martin, Nancie Thomas, and Carol Volk.  A very special thank you to Rosie Iapalucci whose beautifully created specialty desserts were the picture of perfection.

No one pours a drink better than the bar crew, Belle and Josh, and we add our kudos to the following bartenders: Joel Gewirtz, Dan Rosenthal, Chris Kojm, Bill Feeney, Dan Weiss, Ricky Feller, Malin Kerwin, Mauricio Orellana, Mike Remez, David Hamlin, and John Kostyak.

How about Jill's check-out crew? Thanks to them, no one had to stand in line longer than five minutes. Thanks go to Dianne Torresen, Rick Dulaney, Dianne Bock, Leslie Page, Joni Veith, Lora Iannotti, Ray Boshara, Stacie Harrison, Marla Viorst, Malin Kerwin , Cal Eigsti, Sara Schwartzendruber, Dan Charles, Susanne and Manuel Schiffler, Chris and Elizabeth Vaden, Claudia Piras, Cathy Burgess, and Greg Beumel.

Thanks to the awesome clean-up team we set a record of 90 minutes. Lots of people offered to help at the last minute so we may not have everyone: Eva Anifantis, James Rubin, Mauricio Orellana and Claudia Piras, Dianne Bock, Marie Koczela, Tad DiBiase, David Facchinato, Glinda Cooper, Hedda Garland, Camille Martone, John Borazzo, and Carol Piwowarski.

Finally, thanks to Scott Cartland who stayed throughout the event, helped clean up when the auction finished, and opened up Janney so items could be returned to the school Saturday night.

Thanks again one and all for the help and apologies now to anyone we overlooked.

The Second Grade Math Lunch Bunch has been in full swing for quite a few weeks. During this time we have played some interesting new games and built some pretty amazing structures.  Now we're going to shift gears with a change in time and place. Our last lunchtime meeting was Tuesday, February 5. We are taking off the week of February 11-15 for re-tooling. Our new time and place will be

Fridays, beginning February 22
8:15 am-8:40 am; in the library, on the rug

The program is open to all second graders who wish to participate. There is no participation form to complete. Children simply come to the library at 8:15 on Friday. This format will be most conducive to collaboratively solving interesting problems and stretching mental math strategies and skills. The format will be similar to what happens in the 3rd/4th MathCounts Club and the 5th/6th MathCounts Club. The content will be targeted to challenge second graders.

For the first couple of weeks I will have 5th and 6th grade MathCounts students in the front hall and outside the library to help escort the children to our meeting place, to help them follow our new format,  and to escort them to their classrooms at 8:40.

If you have questions, contact me either at janneymath@yahoo.com or by leaving a message in the office.