October 9, 2015
Good
afternoon, everyone.
As Quarter 1
comes to an end, we are one-fourth the way through the school year at this
point. Although some days/weeks have
seemed longer than others, overall I think it has gone quickly. I hope that the first nine weeks have gone
(at least reasonably) well for your children and you.
A few quick
items for your information before getting into the bulk of this week’s Update:
·
It
has come to my attention that at least a few parents are stopping on Conway
Road and students are exiting cars in the mornings. I realize that traffic flow on Conway can get
very congested, but please ask that we do not follow this practice for safety
considerations.
·
Next
Monday, we will begin our day with small class meetings. This is the same practice that was used
during the first few days of the school year and is like an Advisory period to
discuss specific topics. Our focus will
be on helping students serve as an ally to their classmates who are the
subjects of bullying or harassment. This
represents the current thinking about bullying prevention by teaching students
to look out for each other. This
reassures the victim and also teaches the offender that their peers are not
supportive of such behaviors. This will
be a timely follow up in respect to our assemblies this morning provided by
Tina Meier of the Megan Meier Foundation.
·
A
representative group of our staff continues to explore master schedule options
for implementation in the 2016-2017 school year. Our goal is to adopt a schedule that allows
us to more effectively meet the instructional needs of our teachers and
students by increasing total time in the core areas. Since the length of our school day is finite,
we are also attempting to maintain as much choice as is possible in our
electives program. Once we have
identified a master schedule format that we feel most effectively meets our
needs, I will share this.
CONGRATULATIONS
and THANKS
Thank you to the Ladue
Education Foundation for funding the Anti-Bullying assemblies this morning by
Tina Meier of the Megan Meier Foundation.
Thank you as well to LMS Teacher Kevin Kearns for submitting the LEF
Grant Proposal.
Congratulations to LMS
Teacher Maria Page for her recognition in the “People On The Move” section of
the St. Louis American (October 8 –
14). Mrs. Page is currently serving her
second term of the McKendree University Alumni Association and also serves on
the university’s Board of Trustees.
CALENDAR ITEMS
Tuesday, 10/13
LMSPA Executive Board meeting; 1 pm
Mentor/Mentee Swimming activity; 3:10 to 5 pm;
LHWHS Pool
Wednesday, 10/14
Hearing Screenings; Grade 7 students and all
students new to Ladue (see below)
Thursday, 10/15
LMS Picture Re-Take Day (see below)
Earthquake Drill; beginning of period 3
Monday, 10/19
Scholastic Book Fair (through Thursday,
10/22); LMS Library
Tuesday, 10/20
LMSPA Fundraiser Product delivery to
school (projected date)
Wednesday, 10/21
Regular student attendance day
LMS Fall Parent Conferences
LMSPA Fundraiser Product pick up
(projected date)
Thursday, 10/22
Early Release day; 12:40 pm
LMS Fall Parent Conferences
LMSPA Fundraiser Product pick up
(projected date)
Friday, 10/23
No School
Wednesday, 11/4
LMS Choir Concert; 7 pm; LHWHS
Performing Arts Center
Thursday, 11/5
Vision
Screenings; Grade 6 students (if your child wears glasses or contacts,
please bring them on this date)
Monday, 11/9
National Blue Ribbon School Recognition
Ceremony; Washington DC (through Tuesday, 11/10)
Tuesday, 11/10
6th Grade Parents to Lunch;
10:38 am
LMSPA Executive Board meeting; 1 pm
Wednesday, 11/11
7th Grade Parents to Lunch;
11:26 am
Orchestra Concert, Grades 7 and 8; 7
pm; LHWHS Performing Arts Center
Thursday, 11/12
Fire Drill (weather permitting); Period
3 (10 am)
8th Grade Parents to Lunch;
12:14 pm
Friday, 11/13
No School; Professional Development Day
for Staff
CORRECTIONS/ADDITION
NEW ITEMS
Wear Pink on October 16
October is breast cancer awareness month.
Announcements will be made to encourage students and staff to wear pink on
Friday, October 16, to raise awareness and show support.
After
School Activities for Quarter 2
A listing of activities beginning next week can be accessed
through the LMS website, including meeting days, sponsors, descriptions and
locations. As in the past, we attempt to
offer a wide range of activities that hopefully appeal to student interest and
need.
A new addition to the activities list for Quarter 2 will be
Academic Support. This will be offered
to students in all grades. Writing,
Science and Math support will be available on Tuesdays, while math and general
academic support will be available on Thursdays. Students must sign up in the AP office
by 1 pm on the day that they want to stay. There is a limit to how many students can
stay, so they should sign up as soon as possible.
A second
new addition to the activities list will be Science Bowl. Students
who are interested in trying out for this year’s Science Bowl teams should
attend a meeting during their lunch time on Wednesday, October 14 in one
the following rooms:
Mrs. Murphy in room 141 during 6th grade lunch
Mr. McMonigle in room 235 during 7th grade lunch
Mr. Long in room 136 during 8th grade lunch
Mrs. Murphy in room 141 during 6th grade lunch
Mr. McMonigle in room 235 during 7th grade lunch
Mr. Long in room 136 during 8th grade lunch
UPDATED ITEMS
Afternoon Carpool Pickup
Several parents have asked
questions of our staff who monitor traffic in the afternoons regarding carpool
procedures. Although these were communicated
at the beginning of the school year, I thought it would be worthwhile to repeat
these. I will condense the following to
keep this as brief as possible:
·
Parents picking
up students after dismissal should line up in the car pool line at the rear of
our building. Staff on duty will assist
drivers when multiple lines are needed.
·
Once buses
depart the Circle Drive, cars in the car pool line then proceed to the front of
the building to pick up students.
·
Parents needing
to pick up students before the end of the school day should park in available
spots and sign their child out through our Welcome Center Office. Please be aware that parking in the Circle
Drive after 2:45 pm is restricted, as buses begin lining up in this area.
REPEAT ITEMS
First
Quarter/Honor Rolls
Students who are on both the First Quarter Academic Honor Roll and
the Citizenship Honor Roll will receive a sticker with their report cards to
place on their LMS planners. The Academic Honor Roll requires a 3.0 grade
point average, and Citizenship requires four or more “Outstanding” grades with
the rest Satisfactory. This is a change from last year in that we have
added the citizenship component to the quarterly recognition. There will
be a different color sticker for each quarter.
Quarter 1 report cards will be provided to parents during fall
conferences. Remaining Quarter 1 report cards will be mailed.
LECC
Book Drive
The Ladue Early Childhood Center will be conducting a book drive
for the month of October. Specific books
(see the list below) will be collected to create an inventory for our Parent
Educators program. A collection box will
be provided to the Welcome Center on or about October 1.
·
Good Night Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)
·
Pete the Cat: I love my White Shoes (Eric
Litwin)
·
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin Jr.)
·
The Crayon Box That Talked (Shane Derolf)
·
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type (Doreen
Cronin)
·
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)
·
The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper)
·
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Mo
Willems)
·
Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See (Bill
Martin Jr.)
·
The Kissing Hand (Audrey Penn)
·
Skippyjon Jones (Judy Schachner)
·
My Very First Mother Goose (Iona Archibald
Opie)
·
Rainbow Fish (Marcus Pfister Herbert)
·
Good Night God Night Construction Site (Sherri
Rinker)
NJHS Fundraiser
The National Junior Honor Society is sponsoring
a fundraiser in memory of their classmate Joseph Goldman,
who passed away last May. The students would like to give a donation
in his name to the Challenger Baseball program, a baseball league for students
with disabilities. Because Joseph loved trains so much, students will
create a “Joseph Goldman Positive Train of Thought” where students
can donate money and be given a paper train car where they can write a memory
about Joseph or (if they never knew Joseph) a positive thought
to share with LMS. Train cars will be sold before school and at
lunch the week of October 12-16. The “Positive Train of
Thought” will be displayed somewhere in the school, once it’s taken down the
train cars with memories of Joseph will be give them to his
parents. Donations for this project will also be accepted at
parent-teacher conferences.
Picture
Re-Take Day
As indicated above, this is scheduled for October 15. This is primarily for 1) those students who
were absent on our original Picture Day on August 26, and 2) those students
whose pictures taken on August 26 have significant flaws. Although students and parents may not wish to
purchase picture packages, we ask that all students have updated/current
pictures for our student database system.
The Picture Re-Take Day schedule will include periods 1 through
4 on October 15. Students wishing
re-takes will need to return their original picture packets to the photographer
on that day. Picture packets may also be
ordered at www.WagnerPortraitGroup.com,
school password LMS.
Ladue
Athletic Booster Club
All parents, teachers and coaches are invited to the Ladue
Athletic Booster Club’s 1st Annual Parent Party. In addition to raising money for Ladue
Athletics, the Booster Club would also like to encourage school spirit and
spend time together as a community. The
event will occur at The Shack (Frontenac) on October 17 from 7 to 11 pm. Tickets are $50 per person and checks can be
made out to The Ladue Athletic Booster Club.
They can be mailed to the Booster Club c/o Ladue High School at 1201
South Warson Road (63124).
Parent Conference Sign Ups
Please be aware that the conference time slot of 3:20 – 3:40 pm on
Wednesday, October 21 has been opened.
You should notice this when accessing the website.
Just a reminder that:
PT Conferences are Wednesday, October 21,
2015 (3:20-7:40
p.m.) and Thursday,
October 22, 2015 (1:20-7:20 p.m.). Your child was given a postcard on Friday, August 28 to take home. Please refer to the post
card for instructions on how to sign up.
To sign up, please visit the following
website:
https://www.myconferencetime.com/laduems/
You may also access the website by
going to our school's webpage using the following link:
http://www.ladue.k12.mo.us/lms/
Prior to signing up,
please carefully review the
instructions that are
provided on the first page of the website.
The online scheduler went
live at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, August 28. Slots fill up very quickly, so please sign
up ASAP.
Lunchtime Lectures
Lunchtime
Lecture series, sponsored by the Ladue Middle School Parent Association, have
begun. The next lecture
will occur on November 4, presented by Joanne Curran (Learning Consultant and
Tutor), who will speak on Homework and Study Strategies. All Lunchtime Lectures will occur in the LMS
Library, beginning at noon for about one hour.
Please be aware that our food allergy protocols prohibit peanut- and/or
tree nut-based food items in our building outside of the Cafeteria and Staff
Lounge.
Annual Hearing Screenings/Grade 7
Hearing screenings are scheduled for October 14, for
all 7th grade students. If you would prefer to not have your
child's hearing screened, please contact Nurse Patrick at cpatrick@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
I hope you and your families
enjoy the weekend. Go Cards!
Thank you,
Greg
