eScrip is proven to be a fantastic resource for fundraising where participating business partners contribute a percentage of your grocery loyalty cards, credit card, and debit/ATM card purchases to the school, group or organization of your choice.

This committee is responsible for enrolling members from the Cottage Lake Community in the eScrip program, and working with eScrip to keep the PTA Board informed about the latest fundraising opportunities.

The Cottage Lake PTA receives percentages of sales from several local and online businesses. When shopping with these companies and identifying yourself as a Cottage Lake PTA family (by using cards from Jamba Juice, PCC and Dominoes, or by shopping online and linking to businesses such as Amazon.com, Greenraising, Avon, etc. from our PTA page) the percentages we receive can reach 50%! This committee is responsible for advertising these opportunities, finding new fundraising affiliates and administering the programs.

The Popcorn Committee oversees the sale of popcorn during recess each Friday, orders popcorn supplies, and is responsible for maintenance of the popcorn machine. Popcorn Fridays are very popular at Cottage Lake and bring in money to help us fund essential PTA programs.

This committee organizes the purchase and sale of Cottage Lake logo items like t-shirts, sweatshirts, fleece, etc. Volunteers will help to select the items to be offered for sale, market and sell them, collect money and distribute items ordered.

Through experiments, demonstrations, data and diagrams, children will learn about landforms (erosion, deposition, stream tables, topographical maps) variables (pendulums, buoyancy) levers and pulleys (force, simple machines) and more.

Each classroom needs two volunteers to teach art! As an art docent, you will be in your child’s classroom once a month to help students gain an appreciation for art by leading a class discussion and art project. We will help to train you and there is a pre-planned curriculum at your disposal. You do not have to be an art scholar or renowned artist; anyone can do this! To do this job, you simply must love art and love kids! This requires 30-60 minutes of classroom time each month in addition to some planning time. This is a FANTASTIC way to get to know the students in your child’s class and the kids always love Art Docent days!

(After School Advancement Program / A.S.A.P.)
The Enrichment Learning committee develops and manages a schedule of optional before and after school classes for Cottage Lake students in areas such as art, creative writing, drama, gardening, physical fitness, and second language learning. Enrichment class instructors include adults in our community as well as Cottage Lake parents. Volunteers can help with supervision, scheduling, record keeping, and many other components of this program.

Each year, the PTA Reflections Program challenges students to create art inspired by a specific theme, and students submit entries to a local PTA or PTSA. Nationally, the program has six arts areas—dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts—and four grade divisions—primary, intermediate, middle/junior, and senior. Awards include scholarship monies, district, state, or national recognition.

All students at Cottage Lake are invited to participate!

This committee will promote the program, set deadlines, offer a workshop or two for kids to create entries, and arrange for local judging, recognition of participants, and meet deadlines of PTA council judging.

This program is intended to provide a healthy breakfast for our students before the school day starts. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day; children have been shown to learn, work, and play better when they eat a healthy breakfast. Our Breakfast Club volunteers ensure that there are no children in our school community who start their school day off hungry.

Volunteers on this committee arrange for refreshments at general PTA meetings, PTA board meetings, the Welcome Back Parent Coffee and other special functions. This is one of the best avenues within PTA volunteering to interact with other families at school – kids and parents! This committee works closely with the Vice-President of Events on the CLPTA Executive Board.

This committee will solicit contributions, purchase healthy snacks, and arrange delivery of the snacks to students during the standardized MSP testing that occurs in the spring for 3rd-6th graders.

Outreach Committee
This committee reaches out to Cottage Lake families who are going through trials of many kinds. Please consider volunteering to help with sending cards to those who are sick and meals to families in crisis. Time commitment will vary as needs arise. Additionally, this committee organizes supplies and food for families in our school community that need assistance.

The committee also works with HopeLink and the student council to coordinate a holiday toy drive and/or food drive and usually a coin drive in the spring. Other social service projects may be undertaken at the discretion of the committee.

This committee coordinates Staff Appreciation events throughout the year to honor the sacrifice and dedication of all Cottage Lake Staff members. This includes quarterly lunches, recognition of staff birthdays, and staff appreciation week (typically in May). This committee is always looking for fun and creative ways to show the CLE staff how much we value their efforts and dedication to our children. Join this team and help us demonstrate how much we truly appreciate the investment the Cottage Lake staff makes in our families!

The Cottage Lake PTA sponsored Walk-a-Thon is a huge fundraiser for the PTA. Students commit to collect donations to sponsor their walk, which occurs during school hours and the entire school/faculty is invited to participate. There is music, dancing and a raffle for prizes. The kids love this event and the PTA counts on the donations to help fund programs and supplies for our school.

The Auction committee is responsible for procuring items for the CLPTA annual silent auction. Additionally, this committee will package and prepare items for display at the auction, and run the event itself. The popular CLPTA Auction brings in a significant percentage of our yearly budget and is coupled with a fun community night such as Spring Fling or Winter Fest.

This committee is responsible for planning the yearly Winter Fest that is coupled with CLPTA yearly silent auction. Responsibilities include planning food and free fun activities for Cottage Lake Families.

The Monster Mash is an annual fall community night sponsored by the CLPTA. Held at the end of October, kids and parents are invited to come to the event in costume (no scary costumes, please!), enjoy some treats, meet other families, dance, and have fun.

This committee is responsible for planning the event and coordinating volunteers for the event.

This committee will work to put on our annual Cottage Lake Follies, the spring talent show that packs the house! Volunteers will be needed to help with paperwork, rehearsals, decorations, promotion, back-stage management of the performers, etc. This is a great opportunity to work with the kids & have fun!

The Follies committee encourages all students, no matter what level of talent, to participate and perform!

The Cottage Lake PTA runs a recycling program in the school cafeteria during lunchtime. Working with the company, Terracycle, we encourage students to recycle their used Capri Sun juice pouches, chip bags, and other featured products. Responsibilities for this program include educating students on proper recycling practices, overseeing the sorting and shipping of recycled material, and involving the Cottage Lake Student Council in the sorting. Recycled material must be removed from cafeteria each Friday. Help us keep our school clean and green!

There is a lot of flexibility with this committee. If you have new green ideas you'd like to see implemented on the Cottage Lake campus, we want to hear about them!

This committee is looking for people to help cut, count & bundle UPC symbols/lids from Campbell’s (we order balls, books, art supplies ect. from a catalog) & Box Top’s from General Mills & other participating product (we get cash for these. ). We also collect used cell phones, pc, ink/laser cartridges (we get cash for theses as well.) This is a no brainer, get the kids involved, sit in front of the TV project. We turn “Trash into Cash.”

The Gardening Committee will work with students and teachers to develop and maintain student gardens and the Waterwise Garden on the Cottage Lake campus. The student gardens are located in the raised beds between the gym and Building B. We’ll work with teachers and students on fun projects utilizing the garden space. You can work with students or simply garden. There are lots of things to do! Design and planting ideas welcome!

This committee defines for the community the benefits of membership in the PTA and actively recruits members.

PTA supports the goals of educators and helps foster a sense of community at Cottage Lake Elementary. Through numerous fundraising efforts, CLPTA supplements district approved curriculum with extra programs, materials, books and equipment.
CLPTA helps families connect to school through school enhancement activities, volunteering opportunities, and community events.

This committee plans and implements a membership drive, complete with a theme, incentives, rewards, etc. There are many, many resources available online from the State PTA Website to help with this. (It’s simpler than it sounds!) The committee is also responsible for online registration of all Cottage Lake PTA members and maintenance of the membership roster, membership forms and distributing membership cards and directories. A fun committee to be on!

We are striving for 100% membership!

This is a crucial job within the Cottage Lake PTA. The nominating committee selects nominees for the incoming PTA Executive Committee each year. Positions on the Executive Committee include: President, Vice-President of Events, Vice-President of Communications, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each of these roles is required for any PTA to function well and be in compliance with insurance requirements.

If you're good at networking and want a short-term commitment in the spring, this is the volunteer position for you.

The Legislative Committee works to provide PTA members with information about educational issues in Washington State. The committee educates members about how both the State and National PTA are working to advance educational issues in the legislature.

Information can be disseminated through the PTA newsletters and at PTA meetings. One or two representatives are invited to attend the State PTA legislative assembly in October and the Education Focus Day in Olympia in February. If you want to be involved in the big picture, this is the committee for you!

This committee plans and implements speakers for our parent population. Past Parent Education programs have included Love and Logic, Birds+Bees+Kids, Skin Cancer Education, Math Homework Help for Parents and many others. Parent Education Programs are supported through the PTA yearly budget.

Cottage Lake PTA is sponsoring a new program for our school called Watch D.O.G.S (Dads of Great Students). It is a father involvement initiative - WatchDOGS are fathers, grandfathers, step-fathers, uncles, and other father figures who volunteer to participate in a variety of school activities. WatchDOGS provides positive male role models for the students and enhances school security. Learn more about WatchDOGS by visiting their website. Ready to volunteer? Have any questions? Please contact David Johnson at johnson.gdavid@live.com for more information.

Awards & Grants
This committee oversees the distribution of grant monies from the Curriculum Enhancement Fund in the Cottage Lake Elementary PTA budget. All teachers and staff are invited to apply to the PTA for monies for materials and programs that supplement classroom instruction.

In addition, this committee solicits nominations for recipients of both the Golden Acorn Award (awarded to the CL teacher of the year) and the Golden Sailboat Award (awarded to the CL volunteer of the year). The Awards and Grants expense line item is one of the largest in the PTA budget. You can play a role in deciding where our money goes and help to recognize those outstanding people in our school community. Three or four meetings a year will be held to review grant requests and award nominations.

This committee is in charge of writing grants to secure additional funding for our school.

There is lots of money out there, and this is one way we can raise money for Cottage Lake programs and/or equipment without asking parents to foot the bill! There is no specific time commitment or timeline necessary to get started. Any deadlines for grant request submissions would be set by the benefactors.

Three volunteers are needed from which to coordinate two audits of the PTA financial information. Audits are required in January and in June. This is a one-time commitment of a few hours to go through a checklist provided by the State PTA and verify the integrity of the Cottage Lake PTA financial reporting. Meeting times are flexible. Financial and/or accounting experience is not necessary because the PTA checklist is a great guide! We are required by our insurance company to have three people share this task. Please offer us a few hours of your time!

The Cottage Lake PTA contributes monies and equipment to the school for emergency preparedness. Being prepared is the best defense against an emergency. Frequently in the Northwest, we experience unexpected, unpredictable weather patterns that can quickly cause emergency scenarios. Help this committee by maintaining the emergency supplies kept on school grounds in a container car. The CLPTA maintains 3 days of supplies in the event that students are unable to be picked up by parents.

This committee is responsible for inventory of all emergency supplies and for educating parents and staff regarding emergency procedures.

This committee handles the design, coordination, sales, and distribution of the yearbook at the end of the year. You will capture memories and collect photos from school and PTA events throughout the year, coordinating with other parent photographers and completing a layout for the yearbook.

The Student Directory is created to unite and strengthen our school community and to better facilitate communication. It includes information on students, guardians (both primary and secondary), teachers and the PTA (including officers and committee chairs). It is distributed free of charge to PTA members or can be purchased by non-members in the school office. The primary skills needed are word processing skills. This job can be done at home.