January 11, 2015
Good morning. I hope your weekend is going well. I am in the office for a few hours,
attempting to catch up on tasks (fewer distractions than at home) and wanted to
get this out before the day transitioned to football playoff games.
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
Congratulations to LMS
Science teacher, Harold Webb, for the recent release of his first podcast
(entitled “The Chalkboard Podcast”). I
had the chance to listen last Friday and enjoyed hearing the views of his
colleagues and students about what makes teaching and learning so magical. Soon after its release, a person who reviews
podcasts (with 22,000 followers) picked it up and gave it a great review.
direct website: thechalkboardpodcast.libsyn.com
Twitter search for @Chalkboardpod
Facebook search for The Chalkboard Podcast
CALENDAR ITEMS
Tuesday, 1/13
Official start date for 3rd
Quarter After School Activities (some began last week due to unique
circumstances)
Thursday, 1/15
8th Grade Parents To Lunch
and Principal Meeting (Library)
Friday, 1/16
Early Release Day at 12:40
pm/Professional Development sessions
Monday, 1/19
No School; Dr. Martin Luther King Day
holiday
Friday, 1/23
6th Grade Parents To Lunch
and Principal Meeting (Library)
Hidden Valley Ski Trip
LHWHS Community Basketball Chili Supper;
5 – 7 pm; HS Cafeteria (see below)
Thursday, 1/29
7th Grade Parents To Lunch
and Principal Meeting (Library) – originally scheduled
for 1/22
Friday, 1/30
Hidden Valley Ski Trip
Monday, 2/2
Discovery Education (DE) testing, round
3 (through Thursday, 2/5). Block Day
schedules.
·
2/2: Blue/Odd
·
2/3: Blue/Even
·
2/4: White/Odd
·
2/5: White/Even
High School counselors begin meeting
with current grade 8 students regarding registration for next year.
Friday, 2/6
Hidden Valley Ski Trip
CORRECTIONS/ADDITIONS
In my 12/29
message, I incorrectly listed the Friday, January 30 Ski Trip as occurring on
Thursday, January 29. I have corrected
this in the Calendar Items above.
NEW ITEMS
Basketball Chili Supper
The
Ladue School District’s Annual Chili Supper and Basketball night will occur on
Friday, January 23, from 5 – 7 pm, in the LHWHS Cafeteria. All LECC, Elementary, Middle and High School
families are encouraged to attend. Costs
are $6 per person in advance and $8 at the door that evening. Ticket purchases include: 1) Chili and BBQ
dinner; 2) entrance to the Ladue girls JV and Varsity games; and 3) related
activities, entertainment and fun. You
are asked to rsvp by January 16 to Committee Chair Audrey Mack at 314-997-5039
or to aemack@swbell.net
Payment
and registration may also be made online at www.laduehighpa.com
Community Service Project
Please
help Social Justice Club and Character Council with their collection of new
socks to help keep the homeless of St. Louis warm. Bring a package or two
of new, warm socks and place them in the box in the front lobby. The
drive begins on Monday, Jan. 12 and ends on Jan. 16. The socks
will be sent to Old Bonhomme and included in their annual "Socks and
Sandwiches" service project. Thanks in advance!
NAEP Exam (Grade 8)
For
the past several years, LMS has been selected to participate in the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam.
First administered in 1969, NAEP is the largest
nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and
can do in various subject areas. It is administered by the National Center for
Education Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education. NAEP is
different from state assessments because it provides a common measure of
student achievement across the country. The results of NAEP are released as The
Nation's Report Card, which provides information about student achievement to
educators, parents, policymakers, and the public.
Approximately ninety current 8th
grade students have been randomly selected by NAEP to take this exam on
February 11. Parents of selected
students should have already received a letter from me last week, included in
our report card mailing.
I Am LMS Day
On February 12, we will conduct our annual I Am
LMS Day, which celebrates and raises awareness of our rich, diverse student,
staff, and community population.
Sessions developed by our Diversity Committee and student Diversity
Council will be held on that day, at each grade level.
LMS Master Schedule
Since the beginning of this school
year, we have been evaluating our current eight-period master schedule to see
if it meets our needs in terms of instruction, learning, and achievement. This study has been conducted by a
representative group of administrators, counselors and building teachers.
One of the advantages of our current
schedule is that it offers more opportunities for student choice in terms of
electives than that found in other middle schools. One of the disadvantages is that it requires
us to hold class periods on an average of about forty-three minutes each – not considered
sufficient by myself and other members of our committee.
The committee has examined many
alternate schedule formats, looking closely at the potential advantages and
disadvantages of each. In an attempt to
extend the duration of class periods, we worked with the knowledge that 1) we
have only so much time available in our school day and 2) when you add
something in one area, you will more than likely need to take something away in
another. With time running very short in
order to begin preparing for the 2015-2016 registration process, it was
determined that we would continue with our eight-period day for the coming
school year. We may make some “tweaks”
in terms of our current format to better meet our needs, but will maintain our
basic format rather than implement something quickly without figuring out all
the angles and impacts fully.
Our committee will continue to study
possibilities this spring and next fall for a master schedule adjustment for
the 2016-2017 school year. I will do my
best to keep you updated on this process.
Recycling Drive
Midwest Recycling Center will be
holding a free community-wide electronic recycling drive at LMS on Saturday,
April 25, from 10 am to 1 pm (rain or shine).
Please reference their website at www.midwrc.net
under the Public Recycling Events tab for more information as the date
approaches. Information should be
available in terms of acceptable and restricted items.
UPDATED ITEMS
REPEAT ITEMS
Parking at dismissal/First National
Bank
A
business in that building is having issues with parents parking in our customer
and employee lot during pickup hours.
This creates issues for their customers coming to transact business and
employees returning to work and trying to find a parking place.
Yearbooks On Sale
Yearbooks
are on sale now.
Orders
can be placed by going to www.yearbookordercenter.com
and
entering #8647 to order (or there is a link under the Activities tab on the LMS
webpage). Phone orders can also be made
by calling 1-866-287-3096. Please email any questions to Sharrie Cognac,
one of our yearbook sponsors. She can be
contacted at scognac@ladueschools.net
LMSPA eBlasts
If you are
not currently receiving LMSPA email news blasts but would like to, please click
on the following link to subscribe:
Board Briefs
Information
regarding Ladue Board of Education meetings and work sessions can be found on boardbriefs.blogspot.com
Thank you for your time on
this rather lengthy message. Please take
care this afternoon with the anticipated winter weather moving into our area.
Greg
