September tuition and annual fees for the 2010-11 school year is due by July 15th.  Thanks!

http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/attraction/The-Acorn-A-School-for-Young-Children-3501-Broadway-San-Antonio-TX-78209-US?xrs=pp10-social-phase2-badge-preschool-LOCAL-san-antonio-tx-usa-The-Acorn-A-School-for-Young-Children-3501-Broadway-San-Antonio-TX-78209-US

Once again The Acorn has been nominated for best preschool in San Antonio!  We were voted #1 in 2009, and with your votes, we can do it again in 2010!

Thanks!!!!

The Acorn was voted Best Preschool in San Antonio for 2009, and this year's nominations are open until June 17th.  Click  For preschool
in San Antonio, TX">logo and vote for us!  Have a good summer!

Inside this Newsletter
Thanks You’s; Mother’s Days
Brick Walkway
Return Prize Cards to Office

We are so very grateful to everyone who has made donations over the past six weeks:  Kimi and Marshall Lasswell, Yardley and Bruce Bowen, Lisa and Jeff Rouse, Juliette and Marc Laliberte, Stephanie and Brett Alvheim, and grandparents Paula and Dan Butt, and Gerry and Randy Fleuriet, and alumni Blair and Dan Perry.  With all of these invaluable donations, all of your help, and the generous bidding at the Fundraiser, we have successfully covered our operating deficit for this school year, which is quite an achievement in this tough economy.  We thank you so much, and we truly appreciate all of your support in helping us create a fun, developmentally appropriate start to your children’s education here at The Acorn!

 Mother’s Days:  May brings the very special Mother’s Day Celebrations at The Acorn!  Below is the schedule of each class’s time to honor our Acorn Moms!  Please be sure to make arrangements for siblings, as this is your Acorn child’s special time to be with you on your day!  Thanks!
Day Time Class
Mon., 5/3 2:15 3 Day PM
Tues., 5/4 2:15 4 Day PM
Wed., 5/5 9:00 5 Day AM
Wed., 5/5 11:30 Kindergarten
Th., 5/6 9:00 2 Day AM
Th., 5/6 2:15 5 Year
Fri, 5/7 9:00 3 Day AM

Acorn Memorial Brick Walkway:  Would you like a special way to be a part of The Acorn’s history?  You can order your child’s name engraved on an Acorn walkway brick!  We frequently glance out the window to see alumni walking up and down the path, looking at their brick and those of their friends.  For a $75 donation, a child, parent, grandparent, etc., can have their name engraved on a brick and be remembered forever.  Some people have even engraved their company name.  When we have the reunion of all the graduating high school seniors each year here at the school, one of the highlights will be the children finding their bricks again.  We have over 600 bricks in the walkway now, and it increases every year.  We add in lots of bricks each summer so please take this opportunity to be to be included in this Acorn “monument’.  This will be your last opportunity this year, and every Acorn child really should have a brick by which to be remembered.
  
The baby chicks are scheduled to hatch out on Mon. and Tues., April 19th and 20th, Fiesta week!

 The 4 day pm and 5 yr. class fiesta is Tuesday afternoon, 4/20.  The 3 day am and 5 day am fiesta is Wednesday morning, 4/21.  The Kindergarten and 2 day fiesta is Thursday, 4/22.

Reminder:  Upcoming Holiday Fiesta: Friday, April 23 – NO SCHOOL
 
Note:  Please return all of your green cards that you were given to help obtain prizes, even if they weren’t able to give anything this year.  We’ll need to have them all in order to be organized for next year’s Fundraiser.  Thanks!

On our links page, there is an excellent article from the Alliance for Childhood concerning the critical importance of play in every child’s live.  We know you’ll find it interesting and full of valuable ideas.

Rich and Jo

Saturday Afternoon, May 1st, 2010, 1:00 - 3:00 P.M.

All high school seniors who attended The Acorn for preschool and/or kindergarten are invited to a reunion at the school!

Please come and share memories, photos, and future plans!  Students and parents are invited.

Light snacks and beverages will be served.

RSVP to Rich or Jo, 826-8804, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rich Lange, director, will host a tour of the school on Saturday, May 1st, 2010, at 10:00 a.m.  for parents interested in enrolling their children.  Parents will see the classrooms, as well as hear an in-depth description of the philosophy of the school and the developmental approach to learning.

The tour takes approximately 1 1/2 hrs. and is for adults only.  Parents must attend a tour in order to be eligible to enroll their child.  Please give us a call if you are interested in attending.  Thanks!

WHAT A FUN EVENING FOR EVERYONE at this year’s 30th Anniversary Celebration and Fundraiser!  The San Antonio Country Club played the perfect host to a wonderful event.  We had a fine variety of hors d’oeuvres, delicious desserts, and an excellent selection of wines to sample.  The music of Bepko, Fletcher, Santos and Rose was great for listening and dancing!  It was a special treat to see so many Acorn graduates and alumni families!  We enjoyed reminiscing as we looked through photo albums and loved watching 30 years of Acorn children on the big 8’ screen – that same DVD is on sale in the office for $10.    More than 265 people were in attendance -what great participation! With your devoted hard work, you all helped us raise almost $30,000 from the silent auction, and our Second Chance table brought in over $1300.  That is really terrific!  From the bottom of our hearts, we thank all of you that worked so hard to make this such a big success. We are so glad that most of our current families, many grandparents, alumni, graduates, and a lot of next year’s new families were able to come!

TOP WINNERS!!!!
Thanks to everyone for helping to sell so many tickets.  Earnings from ticket sales are estimated to be almost $15,000.  The top prize of a $2000 certificate of deposit, underwritten by Rackspace, was won by alumni parent Gordon Smith.  The second place prize of a $1000 certificate of deposit, also underwritten by Rackspace, was won by Acorn dad Andrew Dahm.  How exciting!  A list of prize winners and top bidders is below -  congratulations to one and all!

SILENT AUCTION!
Our silent auction offered some great merchandise again this year, with over 150 specialty items available for bid.  Thanks to the parents who helped with checkout and closing auction tables at the party: Kim Grossett, Mary Stevens, Dana and Barrow Hamilton, Micki Philbin, Sharon Cate, Amy and Chris Foster, Natalie Loomis, Amy Contreras, Cheryl Shoup, Lori George, Angel Blakey, Mary Ellen Spencer, Maria Corona, Jo Mrvichin, and Kitty and Rich Lange.  We really appreciate all of their hard work.

CLASS PROJECTS!
The teachers led the children in making their creative class projects for the auction.  The amazing Kindergarten Story Quilt, by Cindy Metzroth and Wendy Starnes, made by the children and the teachers, featuring the children’s artwork was purchased by the Jayaram Family. The Five Year Old “Black and White: A Contemporary Art Piece, is now owned by the King family.  The Five Day Morning Class Mosaic Table was won by the deLeon Family. The Four Day Class Original Cookbook, Handprint Bag and Accessories, decorated by the children and teachers, and Photographs by Natalie Matthews, went to the Alvheim Family.  The Three Day PM Little Lambs Park Bench and Flower Pots embellished by the children and teachers, now belongs to the Christen Family. The Three Day Morning “Honey Bees” Handprint Quilt, by Jenny Fish and quilted by Jo Mrvichin is at home with the Anderson Family.  The Two Day Handprint Quilt, made and quilted by Jo Mrvichin and painted by the children and teachers went to Angela Garcia.   Thanks to all of you for your generous bids and to all of our dedicated teachers for your wonderful creative talents!

If you or a friend of yours who attended were the high bidder on any item that you did not pick up at the party, or if anyone you sold a ticket to won a prize, please come in to the office as soon as possible to pay for and claim your item.  Thanks!  (We have a number of items that arrived late or received no bid – information about these is coming after Spring Break!)

Also, if you have any outstanding green cards or paperwork regarding the fundraiser, please return it to the office, so we can organize everything for next year.  Thanks!

ACORN PARENTS ARE TERRIFIC!
A huge undertaking like this couldn’t possibly become a reality without the help of many, many wonderful people.  We appreciate everyone’s participation in making the celebration such a huge success!

We are very grateful to so many people who put in a lot of effort on our fundraiser:  Amanda King, Shawne Zakaria, Jean Hanor, Jill Raike, Blyth Treuhaft, Melanie Adams, Burgin Lambrecht, Jamaica Saporsky, Kim Kacprowicz, Riley Forner, Jason Burge, Elena Osegueara, and Amy White were all the coordinators of our prize acquirers for the various prize categories.   Jamaica Saporsky, Kim Kacprowicz, Sarah Harding, and Kim Grossett offered valuable support in the office for our final verifying and organizing prizes and auction items.  Elizabeth Tichy added her own sparkle to the silent auction, as well as the lovely flowers for the tables.  Stephanie Alvheim and Anne Krause organized and manned our second chance drawing.  Cristiana Jacobs and her Umami Paper designed and printed our tickets, and Fasclampitt Paper Store provided discounted paper.  Kelly Goff created the attractive passports.  Magda Strash hosted our kickoff coffee. We thank all of the parents who spent many hours Saturday helping to transport everything over to the San Antonio Country Club, setting up and organizing the silent auction, as well as those that worked during the party and helpers who boxed up everything and transported it back to school: Matt West, Brad Sharpe, Jill Fleuriet, Ray Lopez, Riley Forner, Dana Hamilton, Rakel Lunbery, Diana Hard, Kristina Savona, Elizabeth and Bill Tichy, Roxanne and Tim Brown, Josh Rivas, Melanie and Scott Teer, Jean Hanor, Jess Lundgren, Kimi Lasswell, Amanda Sylvie, Joy Connell, John White, Eric Jarzombek, Kelly Goff, Anne Krause, Stephanie Alvheim, Natalie Zavala, Heidi and Ryan Hodge, Rebecca Andujar, Cindy Hinds, Jackie Belcher, Kim Grossett, Jo, Kitty and Rich.  They all worked so hard and with the help of many others did a magnificent job for The Acorn!  Thank you all so much for all of your hard work in making the fundraiser such a huge success!

In addition to those mentioned above, we send heartfelt Acorn thanks to:
Families who gave donations toward underwriting expenses:  Rackspace and alumni parents Elizabeth and Graham Weston, Juliette and Marc Laliberte, Jean and Charlie Hanor, Jill Fleuriet and Bill Spedding, Wendy New and Chip Malin, Natalie and Gerardo Zavala, Laura and Lew Moorman, the Kindergarten and Three Day Morning Class Parents, grandparents Harriett and Jim Blakey, alumni Kellene and Larry Davis, Nina and Rick Jordan, and Jake Cherry, Acorn friends Janie and Jim Worth,  and Jenny Fish and Jo Mrvichin
We give big Acorn thanks to parent Cindy Gabriel, and Gabriels’ Liquors, as well as West Stone, and also to Republic National Distributing Co. for donating all the wine
Those who helped during the final drawing, closing auction tables, and giving out prizes and auction items and being cashiers
Bepko, Fletcher, Santos and Rose for their fine playing during the event
The children and all of the teachers for creating all of the wonderful class projects
Eric Jarzombek for donating the helium and blowing up all of the balloons
Kim Grossett,  Jo Mrvichin, and Rich Lange for the final effort in the office before the event, and for staying late all week organizing, and Thursday night for the predrawing
Everyone who helped with setup and cleanup on Saturday
Thanks in advance to those who will assist with Thank You letters to our donors

We thank Amy Corbyn of A&E Photography, who donated her time to photograph the evening.  You can view them and place orders at aandephotography.com   .  Click Acorn photos, and log in with the password     talloaks

In an effort to recognize so many wonderful parents, grandparents, and teachers that were extra helpful, we undoubtedly have not included everyone we should have and we apologize.  Truly, Acorn parents really are the greatest!  Thank you for all you do to support The Acorn; we couldn’t continue to thrive without you!

We certainly appreciate all of the businesses who donated prizes.  We hope that you will patronize them and mention your thanks for their helping The Acorn.

Please collect your prizes and auction items as soon as possible.  Any prizes not collected by April 20th become the property of The Acorn.  (We really don’t want the prizes; we just want the room in the office and want to make sure they are delivered soon!)  Also, some prizes are dated tickets or have expiration dates, and we want you to have them in time to use them.  So please pick up your prizes and those of your family and friends this week.  In addition, if you have any outstanding green prize cards, please turn them in to the office. 

If you have any suggestions for improvements for next year’s event, please let us know right away while it’s fresh in your minds.  Thanks again for such a fun and successful Fundraiser, and for bidding so generously to help The Acorn.   

Rich and Jo