August 16, 2015
Good afternoon. I hope you and your families have enjoyed
your weekend.
We asked teachers to review
afternoon dismissal procedures with students last Friday. I am attaching a copy of the information
teachers covered to the Blackboard Connect email for your reference. A few reminders in addition to the attached
information:
·
If you bring
your child to school by car in the mornings, please be aware that I do not have
staff to supervise the front doors and the lobby until 7:15 am. This will become very important as our
weather turns colder this fall and winter.
·
Please also be
aware that parking in the First National Bank lot to pick up students in the
afternoons is prohibited by businesses at that location. If this practice is continued, I have been
informed that the business owners will contact Ladue Police to begin ticketing
and towing.
From the Office staff:
·
Please call our main number (314-993-3900),
send a note or an email when you plan on picking up your child from school
before our 3:05 pm dismissal.
·
If you could also let our office know when
your student will be arriving late, that would help out a great deal.
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
Thank
you to everyone involved with making our first four days of school successful.
CALENDAR ITEMS
Wednesday, 8/19
LMS Meet The Teacher Night; 6:30 – 8:30
pm
Monday, 8/24
SRI Reading assessments; Grade 7
Tuesday, 8/25
SRI Reading assessments; Grades 6 and 8
After School Activities for Quarter 1
begin (More information to follow.)
Wednesday, 8/26
School Pictures (More information to
follow.)
6th Grade Camp Parent
meeting; 7 – 8:30 pm; LMS Cafeteria
Thursday, 9/3
LMS Fundraiser Kickoff and Assemblies;
LMS Gym
·
8th Grade
– Period 1
·
6th Grade
– Period 2
·
7th Grade
– Period 3
Friday, 9/4
Early Release Day; 12:40 pm;
Professional Development
Monday, 9/7
Labor Day: No School
Tuesday, 9/8 through
Friday, 9/11
Discovery Education testing; Block Day
schedules
Thursday, 9/10
Fundraiser turn in day #1 (all lunches)
CORRECTIONS/ADDITION
NEW ITEMS
MAP
Individual Test Results
My understanding is that 2015 MAP test results for individual
students are being printed at our Administrative Center, with the goal of
mailing these to homes either today or the beginning of next week.
Picture
Packets/Picture Day
Picture Day packets should be going home with students on
Monday, August 17. I am working on the
Picture Day schedule for Wednesday, August 26 and should have this ready
soon. Please be aware that you can order
pictures prior to August 26 by accessing www.WagnerPortraitGroup.com,
using the password LMS. If you wish to
pursue this option, you can full out the envelope attached to the picture
packet and include your online receipt.
After
School Activities
After School Activities for LMS occur on Tuesday and Thursday
afternoons. Activity buses are available
for those who are on regular bus rosters.
Activities for quarter 1 will begin on Tuesday, August 25. We are working on finalizing this list for
quarter 1 and will post a list of activities on our website soon.
Sixth Grade Camp
All 6th graders will
see the camp presentation either Aug, 18, 19, or 20 in their Middle School
Skills class (8th period). All camp paperwork will be sent
home Friday, Aug 21.
Our informational 6th
Grade Camp parent presentation/meeting with a Q & A session will be
held August 26, at 7 PM in the LMS cafeteria. All parents
are encouraged to attend. The students will have already seen this.
7th Grade Trip
To all 7th grade
parents: The permission packets for the
7th grade trip to Trout Lodge and City Museum on Monday, September 21 were
sent home last week. If your child needs another copy please see
the home page of the LMS website. The cost of the trip is $75 and financial aid
is available for any family that requests it. Students that have an out of school suspension
or more than one in school suspension assignment will not be eligible to
attend. We will gladly welcome donations
to help cover the costs of scholarships. We are also in need of parent chaperones. We would ideally like 20 parents for Trout
Lodge and 40 parents for City Museum. Please email lcrabtree@ladueschools.net with any questions. Thank you.
From the LMSPA
An all-day Dine to Donate event for the Ladue Middle School
Parents Association is scheduled at Granite City Food & Brewery in Creve
Coeur on Tuesday, August 25. Please see the attached flyer on the
Blackboard Connect parent email for more information.
From the Nurse
Medication must be brought to the
nurse’s office by a responsible parent or adult. Medications may not be
transported by a student and will not be released to a student.
UPDATED ITEMS
Meet the Teacher Night
Join us from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 pm on Wednesday, August 19, 2015. See the Meet The Teacher Night schedule attached to the Blackboard Connect update for more information.
Join us from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 pm on Wednesday, August 19, 2015. See the Meet The Teacher Night schedule attached to the Blackboard Connect update for more information.
Please Note: There has been a change in shuttle parking
from Ladue Chapel to the South lot at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. The shuttle will run between LMS and LHWHS
from 6 to 9 pm.
REPEAT ITEMS
Fall Parent Conference format
We continue to work on finalizing our format
for Fall Parent Conferences. In years
past, we have scheduled four sets of parents with each core team in 20-minute
increments. Parents enter the designated
classroom and the four team teachers rotate around every five minutes. This was aptly described by a former
administrator as akin to speed dating.
The challenges that we have encountered with this method have included
1) not having enough time slots open for all parents wishing to schedule a
conference, and 2) not providing enough time for much in terms of conversation.
We are looking at options to address the two
challenges listed above and will communicate our final decision soon. At that time, we will make online conference
sign ups available.
Contact
Information
It is important for the middle school to
have the correct contact information, address, and phone numbers for your child
in case of an emergency. Address
changes must be done by contacting our registrar and providing appropriate documentation. Please
take a few minutes to make sure your child’s contact information is correct by
logging on to the Parent Portal. If you have not signed up to access
the Parent Portal, please stop by the middle school with a picture ID and see
our registrar, Ms. Breidenbach. You can also update your information
by contacting our registrar, Ms. Breidenbach at 983-5511.
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
I hope you have a great
Sunday evening.
Thank you,
Greg
