February 1, 2015
Good afternoon. I hope your weekend has gone well to this
point. We have a pretty busy week coming
up with the third round of Discovery Education testing for the entire building
(see our schedule below in the Calendar section) and LHWHS Counselors meeting
with the current 8th grade students to discuss registration for next
year. In addition, Tuesday is an
election day and the LMS Library is once again designated as a polling
place. I will make every effort to
ensure that parking and traffic are impacted minimally, particularly at
dismissal.
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
Thank you to everyone who
contributed to the Old Bonhomme Elementary “Socks and Sandwiches” service
event, held on Martin Luther King Day.
As a result of our community’s generosity, they were able to make and
deliver over 2000 sandwiches and 1300 pairs of socks to area homeless shelters.
Congratulations to the Ladue Middle School
Science Olympiad teams for placing first and third at yesterday's Regional
Competition. The Competition team
has advanced to the State competition, which will be held in April at
Westminster College. Mrs. Steck and the
Science Olympiad event coaches are very proud of the following students: Kate
Prablek, Justin Chen, Annie Liu, Albert Liu, Seema Patil, Raj Paul, Nevan Giuliani,
Max Kornfeld, Kevin
Jiang, Ethan Wang, Akhil Kondepudi,
Katie Shaw, Gavin
Giuliani, Cindy Wang, Christopher Ye,
Kevin Li, Joji
Sherman, Jack Madden, Felix Hu,
Boran Li, Akshay
Govindan, Shelei Pan, Michael Wayne,
Jeremy Ouyang, Fayzan
Ali, Ansh Rana, Anna Zhong,
Stephen Jiang, Louis
Li, and Alexander Ye. Congratulations as well to our outstanding
LMS Science Olympiad coaches: Amy
Baniak, Brian Scheidt, Christine Allen, Elizabeth Petersen, Emily Chu, Hugh
McMonigle, Kathleen Mercury, Kathy Murphy, Kelly Hake, Laurie Lambie, Peggy
Doty, Mark Biernbaum, Martin Long, Matt Mortillo, Melody Frese, Michael Clay, Paul
Turney, Reva Davis, Sara Eller,
Theo Washington, and
Beth Steck (Coordinator).
Tomorrow begins School
Counselor Appreciation Week. Thank you to
our LMS Counselors (Beth Mothersbaugh, Janey Worthington and Roger Scherck) for
all that they do for our students and staff.
CALENDAR ITEMS
Monday, 2/2
Counselor Appreciation Week
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.
Tuesday, 2/3
Election Day: LMS Library is a polling
place (am and pm parking and traffic may be affected)
Friday, 2/6
Hoops For Heart (PE)
Hidden Valley Ski Trip
Monday, 2/9
Hoops For Heart (PE)
Tuesday, 2/10
LMSPA meeting; 1 – 3 pm
6th Grade Party; 3:10 pm
Wednesday, 2/11
NAEP Testing; selected 8th
grade students; Library & 105
Thursday, 2/12
I AM LMS Day
Friday, 2/13
District Professional Development day
(No School for students)
Saturday, 2/14
VALENTINE’S DAY
Monday, 2/16
No School; Presidents Day
Friday, 2/20
Hidden Valley Ski Trip
Friday, 2/27
Hidden Valley Ski Trip (makeup date)
CORRECTIONS/ADDITIONS
NEW ITEMS
Registration/Scheduling for
next year
I
currently have six staff members who anticipate retiring at the end of this
school year. There are typically changes
in staffing that come unexpectedly, due to family situations and
transfers. With that being taken into
account, I would like to shift emphasis from teacher or team requests for next
year to more specific information about your child’s preferred learning styles,
etc. on the registration form (not on additional notes or in emails).
We will
work with our Human Resources department soon to address our staffing for next
year, but at this moment, I cannot in good faith guarantee teachers and team
configurations at this time.
NJHS Fundraiser
The
members of our National Junior Honor Society chapter will hold a “Pennies for
Patients” fundraiser to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Their goal is to raise $2000 between February
2 and February 11. Activities will
include:
·
Feb 2 through Feb 6: Clean Out Your Console; members will
stand outside at carpool to accept spare change that you may have in your car.
·
Feb 9 through Feb 11: Movie At Lunch; a teacher volunteer
will host a moving in their classroom during lunches. For a $5 donation, students will get three
days of movie watching, plus popcorn and soda.
Thank
you to our NJHS members and sponsors Laila Crabtree and Laurie Lambie for
putting this together.
Hoops For Heart Fundraiser
On February 6 and 9, the LMS PE
Department is sponsoring Hoops for Heart during PE classes for all grade
levels. Hoops For Heart is an exciting fundraising event where students
play basketball and raise money for the American Heart Association. LMS has been a top fundraiser in this effort for
the past ten years. Please join in the
fun and help make this another successful event.
Girl Scout Community Take Action Projects
One of our students
has started a middle school kids book blog as part of her Silver Award project.
Book reviews will be posted each week, along with information about new books
by favorite authors, author visits to the St. Louis area, and guest posts from
other middle school kids. There is a place on the blog to subscribe to
updates by email. Here's the link to the blog:
A second Take Action project is entitled
“Kids Knitting It Forward.” This project
involves knitting
items like baby socks, hats, and scarves for charities such as Newborns in Need
of Eastern Missouri and HavenHouse St. Louis. Knitters of any age and skill
level are welcome. More information can
be found at kidsknittingitforward@gmail.com
and meeting dates/times can be accessed at http://kidsknittingitforward.blogspot.com/
Current 7th grade students/Immunizations for next
year
Students
entering 8th grade in the state of Missouri are required to receive the TDaP
(tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) immunization. This is usually given by a doctor at age 11
or 12. If your child has not received
this immunization, please consult your physician. If you have records showing that your child
has received it, please provide them to the nurse's office.
MAP testing dates (these
should be pretty firm)
6th
Grade: April 27
7th
Grade: April 30
8th
Grade: April 22, 23, and 24
UPDATED ITEMS
REPEAT ITEMS
Selma the movie/free
student tickets
In an unprecedented effort led by a team of African-American
business leaders in New York, organizations across the U.S. coordinated a
massive national campaign to find African-American business leaders to
underwrite free admission to the Oscar-nominated film “SELMA” for students
around the country.
Area theatres are offering free admission to see SELMA to
any 7th, 8th and 9th graders who
show a student ID or report card at any of the following St. Louis locations:
Wehrenberg O’Fallon 15 Cine, AMC Creve Coeur 12, Moolah Theatre and Lounge and
the Regal St. Louis Stadium 18 & IMAX. Ticket are available while
supplies last.
http://selmastudentstickets.com/
Registration for next year
Current
8th grade students:
·
All current 8th graders will have met with their
Counselor, Janey Worthington, by January 29.
Their registration forms are due to their LMS mathematics teacher no
later than February 2. LHWHS counselors
will be at LMS February 3 and 4 to meet with 8th graders individually.
Current
6th and 7th grade students:
·
Beth Mothersbaugh and Roger Scherck will be going into 6th
and 7th grade classrooms (respectively) beginning next week to meet
with students regarding registration for 2015-2016. Students will be provided with Curriculum
Handbooks and registration forms. Forms
will be due to the Welcome Center by February 12. Copies of the Curriculum Handbook and
registration form are also available online on our LMS website, under the
Information tab.
Current
5th grade students:
·
Registration forms for next year’s 6th graders
will be due to the Fifth Grade Center teacher by February 6.
Guest Speaker/LHWHSPA
Join us in the Black Box Theater on February 9 from 7 - 8:30
pm. The LHWHS Parent's Association will host an evening
with Laura Huff, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Director, Eating
Disorders Program, at the St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute.
She will present "Updates on Eating Disorders: What we know
about causes and treatment. How to raise resilient teens who have
a healthy relationship with food and their body.” All parents are
welcome since this is a topic that touches the lives of many: male,
female, and even the student athlete. Invite a friend and join us.
Questions: Elizabeth Cobin, cobin@att.net
8th Grade Video
An 8th grade video will be shown at the Semi-Formal on May 1 and
at the Farewell Assembly on May 22. The parents making it (Amy Walker,
Amy Hobbs, Ben Schilders) need photos from elementary and middle school.
They may be uploaded to the site below, emailed to the address below or hard
copies may be labeled and sent to Mrs. Worthington in the LMS Welcome Center.
To access the gallery and upload photos:
http://dropevent.com/gallery/lmsphotos
Please put your child’s name as the caption
after upload.
To email photos:
lmsphotos@dropevent.com
Please put your child’s name in the subject
line of the email.
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.
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
Thanks for your time and
have a great remainder to your weekend.
Greg
