Artcot
Artcot is a multicultural arts festival that is held at PD every other year. Multiple rooms at school are assigned a country and the parents running that room create art projects, food samples and other activities that are of interest from that country. Parents and kids visit each room to learn more about the arts and culture of that country.
Art Awareness
This program supplements the school’s art program with in-class, parent-taught, monthly art lessons. You need not be an artist or teacher to volunteer to lead a monthly Art Awareness lesson. The lessons and script are provided to you along with ideas for an end-of-lesson art project. The students love these lessons and it’s a great way to get in your child’s classroom and meet his/her fellow students. Art Awareness lessons are also great to do with another parent.
Assemblies
The PD PTA Assemblies committee researches and contracts up to 4 all-school assemblies throughout the school year.
Author’s Fest
The Author Festival is sponsored annually by the Downers Grove PTA Council and District 58 PTA’s. It gives students the chance to meet and visit with well-known children’s authors and illustrators. Half of the schools in District 58 participate each year on a rotating basis. In addition to school visits, the PTA Council sponsors a Book Sale & Signing, which is open to the public and typically held at The Downers Grove Public Library.
Book Fair
Largest fundraiser for our Learning Resource Center (LRC) where books from outside companies are brought into our school and parents and students purchase books at a discounted price and all proceeds from the book fair go towards purchasing books for our LRC.
Classroom Subscriptions
Teachers choose what outside learning subscriptions they’d like for their classroom and our PTA funds the cost for the subscriptions.
Destination Imagination
PTA supplements some of the cost for the start-up materials to the parent-led teams who want to participate in Destination Imagination. DI is a volunteer-led, educational non-profit organization that teaches 21st century skills and STEM principles to students through creative and collaborative problem-solving challenges.
If you have an interest in starting a Destination Imagination team with PD students, please contact info@piercedownerpta.org
Field Trips
Our PTA supplements a portion of the student cost to attend school-led field trips.
High-Touch High-Tech
This PTA-funded program enhances the current science curriculum. An outside company provides hands-on science projects in the classroom.
Junior Great Books
The PTA funded the books. PTA parent volunteers lead small-group literature programs utilizing the Junior Great books materials. The program helps students develop their reading and thinking skills by asking questions, formulating and sharing opinions, and supporting their ideas with evidence from what they’ve read.
Science Olympiad
This is an every-other-year, PTA-sponsored, hands-on science fun night. Teams of students, led by a parent volunteer, rotate through a series of age-appropriate events throughout different rooms in the school. The rooms are set up and run by PTA volunteers. Science Olympiad gets kids excited about science!
Service Learning Committee
This is a new committee. The idea behind this committee is to create opportunities in our area and surrounding areas that allow students and their families to serve those less fortunate.
STEM Committee
This committee meets 2-3 times a quarter to discuss programs and events that are STEM related as well as opportunities to enhance PD students exposure to STEM topics. The committee usually plans 1 workshop a quarter and makes decisions regarding after-school programs the PTA will sponsor.
Reflections
A Nationally acclaimed PTA-sponsored student recognition program to encourage artistic creativity. Students choose from one or all of the following categories: dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography, or visual arts and create an original artwork based on that year’s theme.
