March 27, 2015

By Anonymous -


Good afternoon on this semi-lovely Friday.  I hope you had a chance to enjoy last week with your kids.  The week following Spring Break is usually a challenge for me, going from mostly sedentary to running full speed as we continue with evaluations, testing preparation and interviews.  I was out of the building twice this week for interviews and a job fair at Lindenwood, and will be out at least twice next week for more interviews and a second job fair at Mizzou. 

CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS

This will be a bit lengthy, but I wanted to take the opportunity to recognize some outstanding accomplishments of our students and staff.

On Saturday, March 14th, five LMS students competed in the State MathCounts competition in Columbia, MO.  All five placed in the Top 10 as individuals!
Kevin Jiang (8th-grade) - 2nd place; Moses Schindler (8th-grade) – 3rd place; Akhil Kondepudi (8th-grade) - 5th place; Seema Patil (8th-grade) - 6th place; Jason Ding (6th-grade) - 9th place.
In the Countdown Round, Kevin placed 4th and Moses was 1st.  
The LMS team of Moses, Kevin, Seema, and Akhil was 1st in the team competition.
The top four students in the state advance to the national competition.  Kevin and Moses have won an all-expense paid trip to Boston May 7-10.

On Saturday, 3/22, 20 students from LMS traveled to the campus of Florissant Valley Community College for the 37th Annual Excellence in Mathematics competition.  Our school was well represented by these students.
Team Awards:
6th grade: 1st Place (Stephen Jiang, Jason Ding, Harry Chen, Michael Tu)
7th grade: 2nd Place (Anna Zhong, Lena Liang, Katie Shaw, Kashish Dhawan)
8th grade: 1st Place (Moses Schindler, Akhil Kondepudi, Seema Patil, Jackie Zeng)
Individual Awards:
6th grade: Stephen Jiang - 2nd, Jason Ding - 3rd, Harry Chen - 4th, Michael Tu - 5th
7th grade: Anna Zhong - 3rd, Lena Liang - 6th
8th grade: Moses Schindler - 1st, Akhil Kondepudi - 2nd, 
Seema Patil - 4th, Jackie Zeng - 9th
Estimation Golf:
6th grade: 3rd Place - Alex Zhou, Stephen Jiang, Harry Chen 
7th grade: 3rd Place - Anna Zhong, Katie Shaw, Kashish Dhawan
8th grade: 2nd Place - Moses Schindler, Seema Patil, Akhil Kondepudi

Our 6th grade Literature students have been involved in the WordMasters Challenge this year.  WordMasters is a vocabulary competition for students across the nation, in grades 3 – 8, that is based on completing analogies to better develop verbal reasoning abilities, addressed higher-order thinking skills and emphasizes logic and reasoning comprehension.  Two rounds of this competition have been completed to date. 
Round 1 Team Competition (out of 170 school teams)
183 points out of 200 possible, resulting in 3rd Place Nationally
Round 1 Top Scorers
Sydney Clawson, Austin Gage, Orion Kornfeld, Hugh Chan, Gabe DiAntonio,
Ari Gottesman, Kyle Gyawali, Keegan Hoffman , Eleanor Hohenberg, Grace Hu, Caroline Powell, Will Stoneman, Athena Vinch, Jessica Wild, and Eric Yin. 
Round 2 Team Competition (out of 170 school teams)
192 points out of 200 possible, resulting in 1st Place Nationally
Round 2 Top Scorers
Walter Kornfeld, Michael Tu, Joshua Wolk, Huamin Gao, Sydney Marvin, Jahnavi Vishnubhotla, Jennifer Fan, Lucy Yue, Rohan Kumaran, Austin Gage, Alexander Ye, Ari Gottesman, Ryan Lam, Alex Zhou, Harry Chen, Andrew Johnson, Eric Yin, Udonne Eke-Okoro, Eleanor Hohenberg, Sarah Vaidyan, and Tomi Zigo.

This Wednesday morning, officers from the St. Louis Association of Secondary School Principals came and announced that our own Tiffany Taylor-Johnson has been named this year's Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year for SASSP. Dr. Taylor-Johnson was chosen from a pool of over 600 nominations from the greater St. Louis region.  Please join me in congratulating her for this recognition of her hard work and dedication to the students, staff and parents of LMS.  Dr. Taylor-Johnson will be formally recognized at a banquet in April and also is receiving a $250 scholarship to pass on to sponsor an activity/camp for LMS students.

Thank you, and congratulations, to Aaron Lehde, Betsy Cytron, Michael Faris, Katie Solomon, Scott Harris and the student members of the 7th and 8th Grade Jazz Bands for a wonderful night of jazz last night at the LHWHS Performing Arts Center.  The performances last night were outstanding.

CALENDAR ITEMS

Tuesday, 3/31
Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI); grade 7
Wednesday, 4/1
Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI); grades 6 and 8
LMS Musical; LHWHS Performing Arts Center; 4:30 – 6 pm
Thursday, 4/2
LMS Musical; LHWHS Performing Arts Center; 7 – 8:30 pm
Friday, 4/3
Ram Award Pizza Day

Tuesday, 4/7
Election Day; LMS Library as a Polling Place (more to come about possible traffic impacts)

Monday, 4/13
MAP Testing, Grade 7
Tuesday, 4/14
MAP Testing, Grade 7
LMSPA meeting (open to the public); 1 – 3 pm
Wednesday, 4/15
MAP Testing, Grade 6
Ram Award Cardinal Game
Thursday, 4/16
MAP Testing, Grade 6
NJHS Induction Ceremony; 8:30 – 9:30 am; LMS Cafeteria
Percussion Concert (Grades 6 – 12); 7 – 8:30 pm; LHWHS Performing Arts
     Center
Friday, 4/17
Early Release Day; 12:40 pm

Monday, 4/20
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (English/Language Arts and Science)
Tuesday, 4/21
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (English/Language Arts classroom activity); regular
     schedule
Vocal Music Concert (Grades 5 – 12); 7 – 8:30 pm; LHWHS Performing Arts
     Center
Wednesday, 4/22 
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (English/Language Arts performance task and Science)
Thursday, 4/23
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (English/Language Arts performance task and Science)
Friday, 4/24
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (Math)

Monday, 4/27
Patriot Team field trip
Tuesday, 4/28
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (Math classroom activity); regular schedule
Wednesday, 4/29
MAP Testing, Grade 8 (Math performance task)
Friday, 5/1
Early Release Day; 12:40 pm
8th Grade Semi-Formal; 7:30 – 10 pm

CORRECTIONS/ADDITIONS

NEW ITEMS

Documentary Screening
On Tuesday, April 7 the LMS Diversity Cadre is sponsoring a screening of the documentary Miss Representation, with a group discussion to follow.  This powerful, uncompromising film explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a strong woman.  It's sure to be an informative, eye-opening event.  Participation is limited to the first 60 students who turn in a permission slip, and parents are welcome to attend as well.  The screening will begin at 2:30 in the cafeteria, with the group discussion finishing up in time for the students to take the late bus home at 4:10.  We'd love to see you there, so please watch for the permission slips to come home with your child. (Reminder – If you are able to attend the screening, please refrain from parking in the Circle Drive.  We should have spots available to the side and/or rear of the building.)

La'Due It 5K and 1-mile Fun Run
Join your friends at the La'Due It 5K on Sunday, April 26, at Stacy Park!  This year, we've added a 1-mile fun run!  This event is brought to you by the district P.E. Department and Wellness Committee.  Registration forms are available on PeachJar and atwww.ladueschools.net.  T-shirts and participation awards are guaranteed with pre-registration by April 1st.

After School Activities, Quarter 4
These are now posted on the LMS website, under the Activities tab.

UPDATED ITEMS

MAP Testing update
The new online version of this year’s MAP tests have caused us to adjust our plans and schedule over the past several weeks.  As new information comes out, particularly for the Grade 8 exam, we have seen the need to spread testing over multiple days rather than try to cram everything into a shorter period of time.  If doctor appointments are needed during these 2+ weeks in April, please try to avoid grade level testing dates for your child.  Please remind your students that they can bring their personal headphones or ear buds to school on their testing days.  Since the MAP is now an online exam, certain portions will require them to listen to an audio selection, then answer questions.  We will have a supply of headphones purchased by the school for those students who cannot bring in their own.

REPEAT ITEMS

Ram Award Cardinals Game
Wednesday, April 15 is the Ram Award Cardinals game!  As a reward for students who have earned 100 Ram Awards for showing positive character traits, LMS is taking a field trip to see the Cards versus the Brewers.  Students will be meeting at school at 5:45 pm and return around 10 pm.  In order to participate, students must get a permission slip from the AP office and return it signed with 100 Ram Awards.  There are a limited amount of spots available, so only the first 13 students from each grade level to return their slips can participate.

LEF Benefit
Please join us at the Ladue Education Foundation's 2015 Spring Art Event on Saturday, March 28, 2015.  All proceeds will benefit students and staff
of the Ladue School District.  Use the address below to be taken directly to the event registration:  https://app.etapestry.com/cart/LadueEducationFoundation/default/index.php

2014-2015 Ladue Middle School Yearbook - Ordering deadline extended!
Great news!  If you haven't yet ordered a 2014-2015 Ladue Middle School yearbook, you can still place an order.  The yearbook publisher, Herff Jones, has extended the ordering deadline for our school's yearbook this year.  The site will now be open until March 31, 2015.  The LMS students on the yearbook committee have been working hard all year under the guidance of LMS yearbook faculty sponsors Joan Shacklette and Sharrie Cognac to put together lots of great information, photos and memories from this school year at LMS.
Yearbooks will be distributed at school in May, and students will have opportunities to sign each other's yearbooks on the last day of school.  The price of the LMS yearbook is $28.00.
Click here to place an online order:
http://www.ladue.k12.mo.us/lms/Activities/Yearbook.html
Any questions about LMS yearbook purchases can be directed to Sharrie Cognac at scognac@ladueschools.net.

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.

LMSPA eBlasts
If you are not currently receiving LMSPA email news blasts but would like to, please click on the following link to subscribe:
http://mylmspa.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8186aab01aeae3b063b04d395&id=3b63071451

Board Briefs
Information regarding Ladue Board of Education meetings and work sessions can be found on boardbriefs.blogspot.com

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Greg


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