Roadrunner Rundown | 5/22
- 23 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Table of Contents
Welcome
The countdown is on - only 3 more school days to go! Check out the last week of the school calendar below.
Color Days - Updated to thank our staff who will be moving on!
In honor of outgoing staff, we would like to offer the following addendum to next week’s color days:
Tuesday: in honor of Ms. Brenda Duran, wear ANIMAL print! Or in addition to Brown, don your school pride yellow tees and together we can be swath of yellow with brown dots— like a super speedy cheetah.
Wednesday: In addition to plaid and stripes, it would be splendiferous to see an absolute SEA of AQUAMARINE BLUE in honor of the wonderful Ms. Allie Haddad.
Thursday: True to her whimsical spirit, Mrs. Medwyn Price would love us to wear RAINBOW, her “favorite color.” Tropical vibes still works too… vacation starts now!
Will will miss our parting teachers and students. Please stay in touch and come back and visit us.
Yearbooks Coming Home Next Week!
Exciting news! If you ordered a yearbook, it will come home with your child this Tuesday, May 26th. To help you identify it, here's a sneak peek of the cover.
Special shout out to Selena Melancon, Sarah Farrell & Anjali Keller for their support in putting this beauty together. And a huge, huge thank you to Kelly Larson, our PTA Historian, for leading the charge all year and capturing all these memories!
Join us next week for an end of year meetup at Central Market!
Kick off summer by joining us on the last day of school at Central Market for a meetup! Have your student bring their yearbook for signing and celebrate the end of the school year with us.
Thank Teachers and Staff with Giftcrowd
Contribute before 5/28 at noon
Next week is the last week to contribute to Giftcrowd - contribute before the last day of school - 5/28 at noon.
Giftcrowd great way to say thank you to all of the incredible people who make our school such a wonderful place to be. You can also leave optional text and video messages for the Lee Teachers & Staff, and the amount you contribute is confidential.
These pools are currently open now through 5/28 at 12 pm - contribute today here!
Grade Level Pools (K-6)
6th Grade Band/Orchestra
Instructional Staff: Essential Areas Teachers, SPED Teachers, TAs, Speech
Non-Instructional Staff: Lee Admin team, Front office staff, Medical team, Cafeteria team, Diagnostician and LLSP, Custodial team
3rd Base Team
Back-To-School Shopping Made Easy
Cross next year's supplies off your to do list
Want to skip back-to-school shopping this summer? We've partnered with Impacks to help make life easier. You can order a school supply kit for a limited time with all the supplies your student will need for their upcoming school year.
Go here before July 15 and select your child’s upcoming grade: https://shop.myimpacks.com/school/russell-lee-elementary-austin-tx
Each kit includes everything required, teacher approved. Prices are comparable to Target, and cheaper than Amazon
Check out using a credit/debit card
Consider adding a donation at checkout. Impacks will match the first $5, and all funds will go to supporting our school
The supplies will be shipped directly to Russell Lee Elementary, where you will be able to pick them up during Meet the Teacher
Be sure to purchase your supply kit before the deadline of July 15.
Roadrunner Spotlight
Thanks to our amazing Volunteers of the Year and Exec Board members!
Continued gratitude to these amazing PTA Executive Board members who work so hard to capture and share all the fun happenings in and around Lee!
Kelly Larson has worked all year long as our Historian to capture school events like grade level programs and field trips, as well as PTA sponsored events like Loteria night, school assemblies, Carnival, and Geography day! Today she is receiving all the yearbooks - all 314 of them - and sorting them to be distributed next week! If you are like me and my girls, we're SO excited to see all the magical moments that Lee gives to us each year in one binding! If you have not made a purchase but now would like to, you still can, here! It won't be here in time for the last day of school signing day but you will have the memories! Thank you, Kelly, for capturing and organizing all the moments! Kelly is mom to Beatrix and August.
Kelly Griswold is a master of calendars, organizers and clear concise communication! The most thoughtful leader who prefers to stay out of the spotlight but has so much knowledge and altruism - we are SO very lucky to have her! She has created all the school calendars for us both digitally and paper copies, she has sent out all the weekly Roadrunner Rundowns and reminders. We may be lost without all her guidance! Thank you, Kelly, for all that you share to keep us engaged with our students, staff and famiLEE! Kelly is mom to Hudson and Emmylou.
Volunteers of the YEAR
The PTA Exec board would like to honor Stephanie Chang, Kristy Orr, and Margie Yankeelov as SY 25-26 Volunteers of the year!
Stephanie Chang served as this year's Staff Appreciation chair. She solicited for donations of both in kind and financial contributions from businesses to treat our staff and managed to stay within budget. Staff received monthly tokens of appreciation - think a flower bar, or team building activities like bowling! Staff also received a meal each month - sometimes breakfast and sometimes lunch! Lastly, their lounge was heavily stocked with sparkling water, sodas and snacks each month.
Kristy Orr is a jack of all trades! She served as our Lost & Found Chair - organizing and taking donations of unclaimed clothes to resale shops, the assistant to the PTA Treasurer, a copy cat who helps staff in the workroom making copies and laminating, AND sourcing new folks within the community to serve on the PTA exec board committee next year with the Nomination Committee! I'm sure there are a few other hats she wore to help the students, staff and community this year. Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Kristy! Kristy is mom to Easton and Myla.
Last but certainly not least, Margie Yankeelov! Margie is a lecturer at The University of Texas in the College of Fine Arts - she is a musical wizard for several years she has inspired and encouraged the youth attending Lee Elementary to sing with Lee Sings - teaching them how to use their voice musically! This year when our 6th grade cohort was without a band instructor, Dr. Yankeelov stepped in and led the program by matching the students with the instrument that best suited and interested them, volunteered her time and expertise to teach these students every day The fine arts programs at Lee are superiorly served by Dr. Margie Yankeelov! Thank you, Margie, for all that you have done for our students! Margie is mom to Jack; and is pictured below with students from this week's Band Concert.
Volleyball Camp with Coach Brenda
Open to Rising 5 - 8th Graders
Coach Brenda is hosting a week long volleyball camp in the Lee Gym from August 10 - 14. This is a great opportunity for rising 5th - 8th grade students to build skills, gain confidence, and prepare for middle school tryouts!
Coach Brenda was a 4-year varsity letterman at Del Rio High School. She went on to play collegiate volleyball at Cedar Valley Community College and Prairie View A&M University where she played various positions. She has over 15 years of playing experience and has been leading and developing players since 2016. Coach Brenda focuses on building strong fundamentals, competitive leadership, and confidence in a positive and hard working environment.
Have a student who may be interested - fill out the form here:https://forms.gle/Zg7LtXV4TsSoe7YcA
Recess + AISD Camp Partnership
Get 40% camps for May and 3% goes back to Lee
Find and book your student’s next favorite summer camp or class on Recess!
Through the end of May, Recess is running a special for 40% off ANY activity when using our school’s code at checkout: AISDPARTNERLEE3308
Our school will also get 3% back on every booking! Check out all of the fun options listed on hello-recess.com.
Color Days
We're wrapping up the school year with a little color fun- students are welcome to wear a new color/pattern each day!
5/26 Brown + Yellow Tshirt, or Animal Print to honor Ms. Duran
5/27 Plaids/Stripes, or AQUAMARINE BLUE to honor Ms. Haddad
5/28 Tropical, or Rainbow, to honor Ms. Price
Eastwoods Field Trips
Students will walk to Eastwoods Park for some end of year fun the last two weeks of school - see below for scheduled dates/times. Caregivers are welcome to join! Be on the lookout for more details from your Grade Level Coordinators.
5/26 3rd Grade, 8:30 am
5/27 1st Grade, 8 am
5/27 2nd Grade, 11:15 am
Lost and Found
Last call for lost and found! Be sure to grab your student's things before school ends - all items left at the end of school will be donated.
You can see photos of items waiting to be claimed here.
Lost and Found will be outside by the cafeteria on Thursdays during pickup (weather permitting). If its raining, your student can always grab their items during school hours, or you can stop by via the front desk.
Shop + Support Lee All Year Round
Shop with Pride Socks - All Year
Shop this Lee family-owned lifestyle brand that empowers individuals to take pride in who they. Use promo code lee20 for 20% off and Pride Socks will donate 20% of sales back to Lee PTA! Visit https://pridesocks.com/ to shop.
Name Bubbles - All Year
Use this link to order personalized name labels—they're a simple way to keep track of your child's supplies all year long and avoid a trip to lost and found. When you use our purchase link, a portion of every order goes back to support our school!
Minted - All Year
Visit Minted.com and receive 20% off your purchase and Minted will donate 10% of your purchase to the school! Use code: FUNDRAISERUSSELLLEE
This is a great opportunity to get holiday cards and gifts for the upcoming holiday season.
Questions about Shop with Lee events and or interested in partnering with us on Shop with Lee initiatives at your business? Email fundraising@russellleepta.org.
Lee Calendar
5/25 No School, Memorial Day
5/26 3rd Grade Eastwoods Field Trip, 8:30 am
5/26 5th Grade Stepping Up Ceremony, 4:30 pm
5/27 1st Grade Eastwoods Field Trip, 8 am
5/27 2nd Grade Eastwoods Field Trip, 11:15 am
5/28 6th Grade Graduation, 8 am
5/28 Last Day of School
5/28 School Wide Meetup @ Central Market!
Download a PDF of this month's Calendar below.
Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors
Interested in becoming a corporate sponsor? Check out our Sponsorship packages and reach out here!
Thanks for reading this week's Roadrunner Rundown! Have something to add?
Share your comments or feature suggestions at communications@russellleepta.org or online here.