November 15, 2013
Good morning, everyone. I hope your week has gone well.
Professional Development
days are welcomed around here, although I know it must provide challenges for
at least some of you who must coordinate work schedules with kids being
home. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting
in on some of our vertical team meetings this morning and have witnessed some
very productive work.
If you are not familiar with
the format of such days, teachers who work in the same subject areas/grade
levels K-12 meet in the mornings to align our district curriculum, discuss
common questions/issues, and receive professional development pertaining to
their subject areas. The afternoons
typically allow them to sign up from a list of multiple learning sessions that
pertain to their unique needs. This afternoon
will address the use of technology.
Although they don’t occur
often during the school year, PD days are very beneficial and serve to keep us
growing in our skills and abilities. We
hope that the results of such efforts benefit you and your children.
CALENDAR ITEMS
Monday,
November 18
LMS Canned Food
Drive (through November 25)
Wednesday,
November 20
ELL Pie Night –
6:30 pm
Thursday,
November 21
Anticipated
delivery of fundraiser cookie dough (see below)
Tuesday, November 26
LMS Turkey Trot
All School Celebration
Assembly
Wednesday, November 27
through Friday, November 29
No School
Monday, December 2
through Thursday, December 5
Discovery Education testing
– Block Day schedules (Odd, Even, Odd, Even).
Monday, December 9
through Thursday, December 12
SRI (Reading) testing for
students below grade level – Regular schedules.
Wednesday, December 11
LMS Orchestra Concert, LHWHS
Auditorium – 7:00 pm
Thursday, December 12
LMS Band Concert, LHWHS
Auditorium – 7:00 pm
Friday, December 13
Early Release Day
(Professional Development)
I AM LMS Day Activities
Friday, December 20
End of Quarter 2
Monday, December 23
through Friday, January 3
Winter Break for Students
Monday, January 6
School Resumes
NEW ITEMS
National Junior Honor Society
Due to
circumstances beyond our control, the Parc Provence service project field trip
scheduled for Tuesday 11/19 has been cancelled.
Students will meet Wednesday during lunch in room 133 to plan a
fundraiser for Typhoon Haiyan victims.
Students who
think they will qualify for an NJHS application in January
(they can
check webpage for details on qualifications) should be working on community
service hours now. Check our webpage for service work suggestions.
In addition,
eighth graders and their parents need to be aware that becoming a member in the
spring does NOT carry over to the HS. Students will be required to begin the
process, service hours etc. all over again!
For questions,
please email Mrs. Crabtree at lcrabtee@ladueschools.net
or Mrs. Lambie at llambie@ladueschools.net
Late Start/Snow Day procedures
I have attached
information that was recently provided by our Administrative Center in my Blackboard Connect email sent out a few moments ago. It
will also be sent out by the district to all parents via Peachjar.
Important
Notes regarding Late Starts!
• The school Late Start times have
changed! Late Start times on the attached flyer may be different
than what has been previously communicated. Our Administrative Center will be making these
changes to the district website.
UPDATED ITEMS
Ski and Snowboard Club
Parents, is
your child wanting to join our LMS Ski/Snowboarding Club? So far
we have 352 kids who have signed up. Our last official sign-up is Monday
morning (November 18) between 7:30 and 8:15 for those kids who did not make it
on their assigned day. After that, we will evaluate our bus situation.
If there is a bus that is not full we will make an announcement at the
end of the day on Monday letting the students know how many spots (if any) are
left. We would then take additional students beginning Tuesday on a first
come first served basis. However, Monday is the last day to guarantee your
child a spot.
Paperwork is
available on the front of the LMS homepage. The link to the paperwork is
under "Ski Club Information".
If you have
questions, email Mark Biernbaum at: mbiernbaum@ladueschools.net
Fundraiser/Cookie Dough Delivery
We
anticipate that the fundraiser cookie dough will be delivered to LMS on
Thursday, November 21. We will send orders of 4 cookie items or less home
with your student on the bus or in carpool. Orders of 5 or more cookie
items will need to be picked up at LMS on November 21 between 3:15 and 6:00 pm. Since a movie is scheduled in our Cafeteria
after school, large orders can be picked up in the hallway near our Gymnasium
entrance (right off the Circle Drive and close to our back parking lot). Please make arrangements now to pick up your
orders since cookie dough requires refrigeration. Please email Elizabeth
Cobin at Cobin@att.net if you have questions. Thanks.
REPEAT ITEMS
Penny War/Canned Food Drive/Turkey Trot
For those of you new to LMS,
these coordinated activities raise money and food donations for Gateway 180, an
area shelter that distributes food and funds to many area homeless
shelters. These annual events are a
great way for students and staff to serve others as we lead up to the
Thanksgiving holiday and break. A brief
summary of each activity follows:
·
Penny Wars: November 11 – 15. Each grade level will have a jug placed in
the Lobby for donation collection. All pennies and checks (made out to Ladue
Middle School) placed into a jug count as a positive amount for that grade level. All silver
coins and paper money counts as a negative
amount equivalent to that donation
for that grade level. As you can
imagine, the strategy is to load your grade level jug with the most positive
points while adding donations to the other grade level jugs that result in
negative points (okay, Mr. Obvious). The
grade level with the greatest positive amount at the end of the week wins.
·
Canned Food
Drive: November 18 – 25. There will be a competition to see which class
at each grade level brings in the most canned goods. The class with the best overall donations
will earn a pizza party.
Students/parents may choose to bring in money instead of cans. One can equals $0.50. Checks should be made payable to Ladue Middle
School. All cans will be collected in
the “before school waiting area each morning (i.e. Cafeteria or Gym). All students bringing in 100 or more cans
will receive a 100 Can Club Certificate.
This will be displayed in the hallway and their name will be read on the
afternoon announcements. Members of the
100 Can Club will also have an opportunity to throw a pie at, or shave the hair
of, their favorite teacher at an assembly before Thanksgiving break.
·
Turkey Trot:
November 26. We invite all parents to join
their child in the running of this year’s 16th annual Turkey trot
(you can choose to run or walk our one mile course). The top make and female finisher at each
grade level will receive a special trophy.
The top ten male and female finishers at each grade level will receive a
Turkey Trot t-shirt. Parents who plan on
running/walking with their students should meet them on the upper soccer field
behind our Administrative Center. Times
will be subject to weather conditions:
6th
Grade: 1:01 – 1:39 pm
7th
Grade: 11:07 – 11:45 am
8th
Grade: 11:49 – 12:27 pm
· You may purchase a Turkey
Trot t-shirt for your student at http://www.laduespiritstore.com/Turkey-Trot_c27.htm
·
All School
Celebration Assembly: November 26. This
will occur in our Gym at 2:25 pm. The
following groups will be recognized: Winning grade level of the Penny War,
Winning class of the Canned Food Drive, 100 Can Club members, and Turkey Trot
winners.
Discovery Education (DE) Testing
DE exams are given to all
students three times during the school year.
These serve a bench marking assessments to track student progress and
growth, in addition to helping us make appropriate placements in some classes
for the following year. Our next round
of DE testing will occur Monday, December 2 through Thursday, December 5. In order to provide enough time for this, we
will be on a Block Day schedule during these four days.
Girls On Track
The following is from Lisa
Witzofsky:
Girls On Track, an after
school program for LMS girls, will return next semester. Lisa Witzofsky,
one of the parent volunteers, is currently looking for six parents to commit to
one practice day per week – either Tuesday or Thursday. Time frame
February 17th - May 10th. 3:05pm until 4:20pm If you are interested
and/or need additional information, please contact Lisa at blwitz@charter.net or at 314-989-1993. The more coaches we have,
the more girls can participate.
Mothers’ Coffee
Are you an LMS mother interested in exploring
other cultures? Would you be interested
in sharing your culture, your experiences with other mothers? LMS and the ESL Department is planning a
“Mother’s Coffee”. The “coffee” will be
a chance for LMS mothers from various cultures to informally meet and share
their differences and commonalities. The
tentative date for the actual coffee is Monday, December 2. A planning meeting is scheduled for Monday,
November 11 at 10:00 am at the Middle School.
If you are interested in attending either the planning meeting or the
actual “coffee”, or have questions, please contact Lou Galloway-Zapiain lgallowayz@ladueschools.net
, Marie Keath Mkeath@ladueschools.net , or
Dr. Taylor-Johnson ttaylor@ladueschools.net
Dine to
Donate - Restaurant FUNdraiser for LMSPA
Enjoy lunch
out, a night off from cooking, or buy your office lunch and earn money to fund
events and supplies for our kids’ school at the same time!
Bring in the
attached flyer and 20% of purchases will be donated to LMSPA by California
Pizza Kitchen in Creve Coeur on Wednesday, November 20 or Thursday,
November 21. Purchases include
CARRY-OUT, DINE IN or CATERING, any time of the day, lunch or dinner.
Flyer MUST be presented at time of purchase (this has been attached to the Blackboard Connect update sent out a few moments ago). Thank you for your
continued support!
Inclusive Schools Week
Special School
District of St. Louis County has designated the week of December
2nd as Inclusive Schools Week. To support the campaign, Ladue Middle
School will participate in several school-wide activities throughout the week.
The first of which will be "Spread the Word to End the Word". This is
an international campaign to stop the use of the word "retarded".
Students will be asked to sign a pledge committing to stop their use of
the "r" word. Pledge forms will be available to complete before
school and during all lunch periods. The grade level that completes the
most pledges will be recognized. Additionally, students will participate in a
disability awareness discussion during social studies classes on Monday,
December 2nd and Tuesday, December 3rd using resources and materials
provided by Special Olympics and Best Buddies International. Ladue art students
will create art work depicting reasons why they like being part of an inclusive
school. The artwork will be turned into a slide show that will be shown
school-wide during lunch. Sixth grade middle school skills classes will
participate in a disability awareness activity to promote understanding of our
increasing diverse student population. Finally, students with
disabilities will be asked to take part in our school wide "I Am LMS"
days. Willing students will create a presentation or video to share with
the student body explaining who they are, what makes them special, and why they
like being part of an inclusive school. For more information regarding the
"Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign please visit www.r-word.org.
Thanks for your time. I hope you have a great Friday and weekend.
Best,
Greg
