What a Year! Sandwich PTA 2025-2026 End of Year Wrap-Up

As the sun sets on another incredible school year, we want to take a moment to look back and celebrate everything we’ve accomplished together. The 2025-2026 school year was nothing short of legendary for the Sandwich Elementary PTA, our students, faculty, and the entire community!

Thanks to your unmatched generosity, volunteer hours, and school spirit, we didn’t just meet our goals—we smashed them! If you want to see our accomplishments in one beautiful snapshot, check out the image below! 

For a more detailed look, let’s break it all down.

Sandwich PTA Financial & Organizational Milestones

Our biggest goal this year was to maximize the support we pour back into our schools, and our community absolutely delivered:

• Fundraising: Our self-run Fun Run fundraiser was a massive success, bringing in $90,750 from 2,089 individual donations across 40 states! We also raised smaller amounts with our school Celebration Boards and partnerships with organizations such as Mabel’s Labels, Minted, BayState Textiles and the Stop & Shop Community Bag Program that gave small percentages back to our organization which we greatly appreciate.

• A Growing Community: We grew our community to 218 members, which is equal parts parents as it is staff, plus a few community members and students to round us out!

Grade-Level Curriculum & Field Trip Funding

Because we hit our $90,000 Fun Run goal, every single grade level (Pre-K through 6th) received an extra $2,000 to use toward enrichment opportunities for the students. Look at how those funds directly created unforgettable student experiences this year:

Preschool & Kindergarten 

• Preschool: Funded a magical End of Year Celebration with the Toe Jam Puppet Band and a cultural enrichment performance by Big Ryan’s Tall Tales.

• Kindergarten: Covered transportation for a wild day at the Buttonwood Zoo, custom grade-level field trip t-shirts, and a massive series of year-end themed fun days featuring a Game Day, Movie Day, Science Experiment Day, Glow Day, and an outdoor day with an ice cream truck.

1st & 2nd Grade 

• 1st Grade: Sent students out of this world at the Blake Planetarium. They also enjoyed specialized Mindful Movement classes with Align Dance Studio, customized stuffed animal reading dogs, and a celebratory June "Beach Day" complete with ice cream from Salt & Honey.

• 2nd Grade: Funded transportation to the Massachusetts Maritime Museum after an earlier theater trip was snowed out. Plus, every 2nd grader got to take home their very own Terrapin Turtle book to match their classroom learning! Finally specialty supplies for the 2nd grade end of year ABC countdown were funded.

3rd & 4th Grade 

• 3rd Grade: Brought history to life with the annual trip to the Plimouth Patuxet Museums, local downtown Sandwich educational tours at the Sandwich Glass Museum, Dexter Grist Mill and Hoxie House, as well as transit to the Heritage Museums and Gardens for end of year fun.

• 4th Grade: Funded a 3-day bussing rotation to the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve for a hands-on estuary science experience. Students also enjoyed the Amazing Animal Ambassadors live assembly and traveled to the Barnstable Performing Arts Center for the Cape Symphony Orchestra's Young People’s Concert.

5th & 6th Grade 

• 5th Grade: Provided bussing and admission to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, a science field trip to Long Pasture in Barnstable, and funded transportation for students to deliver their own self-published books to the Sandwich Public Library.

• 6th Grade: Covered transit and admission to see The Never Ending Story at the Harwich Junior Theatre and funded their year-end excursion to Oak Crest Cove for pizza and outdoor fun and core memory making moments.

Specialist Departments 

We believe in supporting the spaces that support our kids. This year, over $57,000 went directly into upgrades for school specialists and common spaces:

• Forestdale: We purchased 24 modern hanging yoga mats and bicycles for the gym, alternative seating and tray tables for the library, and funded a stone "Breathing Bench" from Stonewood Products to overlook the new garden beds and provide students with a peaceful space to pause and practice mindful breathing. We also brought "Salt"—the giant walk-in inflatable humpback whale model—to campus for a 2nd-grade science experience!

• Oak Ridge: We funded a 5-saw bundle of ChompSaw Cardboard Saws for safe and quick engineering for art room designs. In addition, new soccer nets, soccer balls, basketballs, and a rolling art cart were purchased to bring more fun during recess. The PTA provided funds to restock the building's student hygiene cart, and dedicated funds toward the 7 C’s student school art contest.

• Special Education & Student Care: Supplied headphone/microphone sets for literacy screenings and distributed funds from the Mary Cox Care Fund via Amazon gift cards to school nurses at both buildings to stock emergency clothes and backup daily snacks.

Large-Scale Enhancements & Big School Spirit!

• Playground Sunshades: We approved funds to acquire and install three large playground sunshades (one for each playground) to keep our kids cool and safe during recess!

• Community Murals: Funded professional artist Nick Zaremba to create a beautiful, 400 sq. ft. mural in the Oak Ridge Main Hallway incorporating student design ideas and nods to the town of Sandwich. Funded Carly Smith to build an “Everyone Learns” mural in the Oak Ridge Library.

• Milestone Celebrations: We funded the 6th-grade graduation breakfast and student parting gifts (custom logo blankets and sunglasses). We also completely funded the 5th/6th grade Hawaiian-themed social dance, making it free for all students! 2nd graders were bused over to Oak Ridge in their final weeks of school to take a tour and get a glimpse into what the next 4 years of their school career will look like.

Community Events & Teacher Appreciation

From the last days of summer through the first day of school and up to the very last week, the PTA hosted 13 major events to bring our families, students and staff together. Among these highlights was the Sugar Plum Fairy Holiday Shopping Event, where volunteers helped around 200 children shop and wrap over 1,400 holiday gifts for family and friends!

Cultural Enrichment OpportunitiesWe also brought amazing cultural enrichment opportunities into the schools, including presentations by authors Susan Verde and local legend G-Pa Rhymes. In addition, we funded presentations and workshops from Ball in the House, Vento Chiaro, and the Wampanoag tribe. Performances and presentations focused on storytelling, music, social emotional learning and more. 

Showing Love to Our Educators

Our teachers are the heart of the Sandwich Elementary schools, and we made sure they felt appreciated:

• We provided catering from Brooklyn Heights Pizza during busy Open House nights.

• We dedicated funds and volunteers for Teacher Appreciation Week to offer meals, a coffee truck from Press Ahead Coffee, and a beautiful custom flower bar.

• We established funds and volunteers to purchase and continually restock the refreshed breakroom including their new refrigerators at both buildings!

Thank You, Sandwich!

None of this would be possible without our dedicated board, our tireless and creative teacher and administrator partners, the local business sponsors, and YOU—the parents, community and family members who show up every single day for our kids.

As we say goodbye to the 2025-2026 school year, we also want to remind you that if you want to get involved in planning next year's Back to School Bash, Open Houses, Fun Run or just be a more involved member in your own way, please reach out. The more the merrier!

Before We Say Goodbye

Our very last event of the school year will be the End Of Year Family Picnic at Oak Ridge on June 22nd 4pm - 6pm. (Rain Date June 23rd)  Families will enjoy food trucks, inflatable activities, face painting, a DJ and opportunities to make more memories with their friends before the start of Summer 2026.

Have a wonderful, safe, and happy summer!