Monday Morning Memo

Monday Morning Memo

April 29, 2013

What a busy, exciting week we had last week!  Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day brought in hundreds of visitors who were so eagerly greeted and enjoyed by their grandchild or special person.  Thanks to Katie Gregg for orchestrating this event.  The Art Fair brought in more people to enjoy the talented work of our young artists and the amazing amount of work done by our art teachers, Shirley Laird and Cheryl Crumpecker, to set up the displays and show the work of their prodigies.  The Preschool Music Demonstration and then the Toddler Music Demonstration not only showcased the musical program offered our youngest students but also gave their parents and guests a workout!  Thanks to Missy Haskamp and the classroom teachers for making these happen for us.

Sixth graders, Colin M., Julia K., and Gage K., participated in the state MCTM (Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics) contest Saturday at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.  The students were among 700 4th-8th graders from across the state participating.  They represented our school well and we appreciate their talents and contributions on behalf of our school.  Thanks, too, to Mrs. McMullen who was there with them.

This week the third graders perform in their showcase on Thursday, May 2^nd at 7:00 in the south wing MPR.  Third graders are eager to share their musical talents with their parents and friends.  Come enjoy this program, directed by Mrs. Everly.

If you will have a preschool or pre-kindergarten child at St. Paul’s in 2013-2014 and are planning to register for A-Team, please don’t forget that registration for the 2013-2014 school year is online!  Note that, as was the case this year, A-Team drop-ins are not available -- you must pre-register your child for A-Team by Tuesday, April 30—tomorrow. More information about A-Team and the online form can be found here: http://www.speds.org/current-parents-and-students/inside-st-pauls/student-forms/.  If you have questions, please contact Linda van Thullenar, lvan@speds.org.

Middle School Book Fair on Wednesday, May 1 in the third floor commons: The theme of "Get Hooked on a Good Book" continues this spring with the middle school book fair.  Students in the 5th-8th grades will have the opportunity to purchase books, as well as order required summer reading for incoming freshmen at the high schools of choice for our students.   Charge slip approval forms are being sent home.

The first payment for next year’s tuition for those on the monthly payment plan is this Wednesday, May 1.  As a reminder:  all tuitions are binding after that date, regardless of your chosen payment plan.  And we look forward to working with each of you next year!

Last Week to Order School Supplies!  You may pre-purchase a school supply pack for next fall.  The packets are ordered through Innisbrook School Supplies and are priced at the school’s cost.  Kindergarten – 8^th grade art supplies are included in the packets or you may order them separately using the order form in option 2.  This opportunity is offered as a convenience for St. Paul’s families.  Parents are free to choose the supply pack or shop on their own.  Order dates:  Monday, April 15 – Friday, May 3.  There are two ways to place your order:

1)  Order online at www.ordermypack.com , select Buy School Supplies, and enter our school number: 120688.  Pay with a credit card at checkout.  A convenience charge of $1.50 per pack will be added to all online orders.

2)  Complete and return an order form to the school front desk.  Charges will be billed to your school account in August.  Click here to view lists and order supplies: http://www.speds.org/current-parents-and-students/inside-st-pauls/school-supplies/  If you are unable to print what you need, please contact Linda van Thullenar and she will send them to you.

All supply packets will be delivered directly to school and distributed to students at Open House on Wednesday, August 14^th.

Deadline ahead for the Chris Cakes Challenge!  Friday, May 3^rd is the final day to make a pledge to the 2012-2013 St. Paul’s Annual Fund.  We have already surpassed last year’s current families’ participation rate, but we are still far from our goal of 100% participation.  Any grade level that reaches 100% participation will be invited to an all-you-can-eat pancake buffet presented by Chris Cakes KC.  If you haven’t experienced their high flying pancake flipping, it is well worth the minimum family donation of $25 to see the spectacle and enjoy the buffet.  You can find the family participation percentages in the lower school hallway display case as well as the Annual Fund bulletin board in the main hall.

8th Grade: 47%          

7th Grade: 63%

6th Grade: 62%

5th Grade: 68%

4th Grade: 55%

3rd Grade: 51%

2nd Grade: 56%

1st Grade: 73%

Kindergarten: 53%

Pre-Kindergarten: 54%

Pre-School: 50%

Toddler: 58%

Book Swap for 1^st – 4^th graders on May 10: Get ready to clean out those book shelves!  Students in the 1st-4th grades will have the option of participating in a book swap for new summer reading material.  Boxes for book donations will be in classrooms beginning Monday, May 5th and will be available until the book swap on Friday, May 10th.  For every book donated, a "new" book may be chosen.  Maximum of 5 books.  Please note: The purpose of the swap is for summer reading material.  Books must be at least at the 1st -2nd grade reading level. Board books and non-reading material will not be accepted. 

Due to changes in our demographics and demand, we have altered our Toddler program next year to better meet the needs and requests of parents.  In an effort to keep all of our parents informed, we wanted to outline the toddler class options for next fall.  As we have in the past few years, we will continue our popular 5 full day toddler class (M-F 8:00-3:30pm).  In addition, we will now offer both a 3 half-day class (MWF 8:00-11:45am), AND a 2 half-day class (TTh 8:00-11:45am).  This change actually allows us to enroll more students while having fewer students in the classrooms on any given day, thus giving us one of the lowest student-to-teacher ratios in the city for children of this age.  Because we can now enroll additional students, we have opened limited new spots in our toddler program.  Please let friends and neighbors know about these spots, as they will fill quickly.  Thank you for always being amazing Ambassadors for St. Paul’s.

President’s Volunteer Service Award:  Thus far, ten St. Paul’s students have offered  50+ hours of community service and will receive an award next fall. Email confirmations are being sent to those ten families.  If you do not receive an e-mail and believe your student has earned at least 50 hours, please e-mail the chaplain.  It is not too late to enroll your student and  turn in hours that will apply towards this year’s School of Service.  Enrollment forms are available on our SPEDS website.  Remember, all acts of volunteer service apply, beginning June of 2012 through May of 2013.  For example, students who are participating in fundraising events in honor of our Haiti project need to keep track of those hours and turn them in.  If you have questions, please e-mail the chaplain: pbauer@speds.org

Below are the chapter and national results for the FLES and Grand Concours.  100,000 French students participated in the contest in February and March.  There are no chapter results for the FLES as we are the only school in Kansas City that participated.  For the 7^th and 8^th graders our chapter includes Sion, Pembroke, Barstow, St. Teresa’s, and Thomas Jefferson Independent.  Félicitations à tous les élèves.  Madame et Mademoiselle are very proud of all the students!

FLES- National Ranking                               

7th –    Merdedith N, Emily L, Colin McC, Julia H

8th -     Gage K, Jack M

9th -     Ella A, Alex A, Margaret G, Julia K                          

10th -   Caroline P, Elsa P                             

Grand Concours – 7^th Grade                                      

Chapter Ranking                                                                                 National Ranking

            1                      Carol Ann G                                                               3

            3                      Jensen P                                                                      5         

            4                      Daisy B, Natalie K, Layne S                                      6

            5                      Caroline S                                                                   7                                 

6                      Ella L

            8                      Zach T

           10                    Caroline R                                                        

Grand Concours – 8th Grade

Chapter Ranking                                                                                 National Ranking

            1                      Katia H                                                                        4                                 

2                      Taylor L                                                                      5                     

            3                      Lilly H                                                                         6

            6                      Taylor N                                                                      9

            7                      Megan L                                                                    10

8                      Philip B                                                    

            9                      Lilly L

            10                    Josh L

Alumni that placed nationally are:  Lucy S and Emma R - Pembroke

                                                         Sophia P and Gillian C – St. Teresa’s  

Congratulations to eighth graders awarded scholarships to St. Teresa’s Academy:  Claire McC, the Alumnae Scholarship; Caroline McD, the Presidential Scholarship; and Serena J and Cora M for the Windmoor Scholarships.  If others have received scholarships, please let us know so we can let the community share in your good fortune!

  

Monday Morning Memo

MONDAY MORNING MEMO

April 22, 2013

Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day for students in kindergarten, fourth, and eighth grades is this Wednesday, April 24.  For those of you new to the school who may wonder why we only honor these three grades of grandparents, it is because we have such an overwhelming turnout that we cannot accommodate more!  So annually we focus on these three grades so students have this day for these special people three times in the student’s “career” at St. Paul’s!  We look forward to welcoming them.  Faculty and staff will be parking off campus on that day to allow as many parking spaces as possible for our guests but those of you hosting less ambulatory grandparents may want to drop them off and pick them up at the entrance to our school building, as all events will take place in the school.  Thank you!

The Art Fair is also this Wednesday, from 3:30 – 7:30 p.m. in our gym.  Several works of art created by kindergarten through eighth grade students will be on display for just this one day!  It’s the best art show in town because you know the artists and their work is varied and great to see.  Come enjoy the talents of your children and their friends, as elicited by art teachers, Cheryl Crumpecker and Shirley Laird.

Preschool and toddler music demonstrations are this week!  Thursday, Apr. 25 at 9:00 our preschool parents are invited to join us for a chapel singalong and an explanation of the demonstrations in which parents and children will take part – and then the fun begins!  On Friday, Apr. 26 at 9:15 our toddler parents are invited to join us for a similar event.  Please come prepared to participate – not just watch!

We are pleased to announce that Matt Ronan will be the second grade associate teacher for next year.  Matt has been teaching, primarily music, most of his life, went back to school to get a Master’s degree in education and become certified, and has substituted, accompanied, and assisted throughout the school for three years now.  We welcome him to our staff!

If you will have a toddler, preschool, or pre-kindergarten child at St. Paul’s in 2013-2014 and are planning to register for either A-Team or Lunch Bunch, please don’t forget that registration for the 2013-2014 school year is online! Note that, as was the case this year, A-Team drop-ins are not available—you must pre-register your child by April 30. More information about both programs and the online form can be found here: http://www.speds.org/current-parents-and-students/inside-st-pauls/student-forms/. If you have questions about either program, please contact Linda van Thullenar, lvan@speds.org. 

Friday is Spirit Day and Feed the Need Friday so wear your St. Paul's colors and bring a food or toiletry item for the pantry, if you will.  The item of the week being sought by the church is toilet paper, but all non-perishable items are SO welcome.

A message from the Search Committee:  Your voice matters! We want to hear from all parents, administration, faculty and staff.  All mothers and fathers are encouraged to complete the Head of School Search online survey, if you have not already done so. Even if you attended a focus group session, you may have more to say, and we’d love to hear it. The survey is only available until Wednesday, April 24^th, so act now!    http://tinyurl.com/SPEDSHeadSurvey Thanks again to those of you who attended a focus group meeting and/or completed the online survey. Your input is very important to us! Please contact Amy Holewinski (amydholewinski@yahoo.com)  or Laurie Robinson (lauriemrobinson@me.com) with any questions.

Our Service Club is meeting at the church on Tuesday, April 23 to do volunteer hours in our pantry until 5:00 pm.  Snacks will be provided.  Middle School students may come without a parent, others need a parent sponsor/helper per three students.  Please join us.  To RSVP, e-mail the chaplain at pbauer@speds.org

Please join the Parents' Guild Book Club on Tuesday, April 30th at 8:30 am in the Garden Room of the church for discussion of the novel The Cutting Season by award-winning author Attica Locke.  Michelle Johnson, our Diversity Coordinator at St. Paul's, has agreed to lead the discussion of this book.  The Cutting Season is a page-turning mystery that involves intriguing issues of race in Louisiana in both modern times and during the slavery era.  It should provide a fun, interesting and thoughtful discussion.  We hope you will join us!  Questions? Please contact Joanne Reardon at 816-532-6181.

During the long weekend of April 11 to 14, fifteen seventh and eighth grade Spanish students, accompanied by Sra. Reynolds, traveled to El Lago de Bosque in northern Minnesota to participate in a four-day immersion experience.  The camp is located outside Bemidji, MN and is one of fifteen language learning programs sponsored by Concordia College.

During the program, adult counselors, many of them native speakers, converse only in Spanish with the students and their teachers or chaperones.  The activities revolve around the theme country or civilization, this year the Ruta Maya, which examined the Mayan culture.  Students participated in many activities, including games, cooking, singing, dancing, all focused on the target culture and all conducted in Spanish.  Even the cuisine for the camp reflects the food of the theme countries.

Several St. Paul’s students successfully participated in the “Super Español” challenge, which involves speaking only in Spanish for a period of about four hours.  Two students, Cora M. and Drake R. received counselor awards for “speaking the most Spanish always.”  This was the second year for Drake to receive this award.  Additionally, during the closing banquet, Sra. Reynolds, our teacher and chaperon for the trip, was presented with a plaque honoring five years of service to the goal of language learning! 

The students who enthusiastically participated and were a cooperative, energetic group were:  Haley B., Ashley B., Oliver C., Elyse C., Jade C., Grace C., Natalie D., Zach J., Cora M., Caroline M., Charlie M., Drake R., Rian S., Liam T., and Sydney W. Pictured below are the girls in their room but we were pleased that Oliver, Zach, Charlie, Drake, Rian, and Liam were also present – Mrs. Reynolds just didn’t go into their room for a picture!

You can own a piece of OUR history!   The long anticipated 50^th Anniversary history of St. Paul’s is now available.  Here on Main Street:  Celebrating 50 Years at St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School, by Trudi Galblum and Marcia McMullen can be yours for the modest price of $25 each.  This special book covers the school’s history, from Dr. Clifford Nobes’ vision to start the school through the present day, along with 23 profiles of former students, photographs and archival materials.  The book is full of colorful images, has a hardcover with a dust jacket, measures 10.5” X 8.5” and is 96 pages long.  To order your book, go to https://speds2.ejoinme.org/bookorder.  You are going to want one of these for each of your children so that they can share it with your grandchildren and beyond when we are celebrating the 100^th Anniversary. 

One of our parishioners was taking pictures around the church and was reported to the police as a “suspected pedophile”.  This was extremely embarrassing to the parishioner and, while we appreciate parents being alert to people they do not recognize or who are taking pictures, we would appreciate parents reporting these incidents to either the security guard, the school or the church personnel to allow us to investigate first.  Thank you.

Monday Morning Memo

There will be a large funeral this Friday for former parent, Bob Keatley, at 4:30 p.m.  In order to allow for the large number of people expected and to prevent those attending from being hampered by our carpool dismissal, we will be dismissing early this Friday – at 3:00 p.m. 

Stanford Achievement Tests will be administered on Monday through Thursday mornings this week to 3^rd – 7^th grade students.  Please do not come into the classrooms during testing time.  If you need to leave a message for your child, please leave it at the receptionist’s desk.  We hope all students who are feeling well enough to be at school will be here on time and ready to take the tests.

Southern Teachers Agency will be here today and tomorrow to conduct focus groups to determine the qualities the school seeks in its next Head of School.  We hope you have either signed up for a focus group or will complete the survey to assist in creating the profile for the next Head. 

Speaking of which, a number of you have begun to bid me farewell and I wanted to remind you that this is premature, as I will be here through the next school year – retiring at the end of June, 2014.  I know that it doesn’t seem possible that this much work would be happening now for that retirement date, but this is standard operating procedure for independent school Head searches.  Nothing has slowed down for me and I doubt that it will in the next 15 months!

Eighth graders will be hosting us for World Culture Night this Thursday from 4:30 – 6:30.  The students select a country with which to become more familiar, create a website with their information, dress in costumes of the country, and serve food represented of that part of the world.  It is a celebration for the whole family to enjoy!

If you will have a toddler, preschool, or pre-kindergarten child at St. Paul’s in 2013-2014 and are planning to register for either A-Team or Lunch Bunch, please don’t forget that registration for the 2013-2014 school year is online! Note that, as was the case this year, A-Team drop-ins are not available—you must pre-register your child by April 30. More information about both programs and the online form can be found here: http://www.speds.org/current-parents-and-students/inside-st-pauls/student-forms/. If you have questions about either program, please contact Linda van Thullenar, lvan@speds.org.

Middle school parents and students are reminded that this is mid-point in the quarter and a review of  student grades would be appropriate.  There are still several good weeks ahead during which students can make good progress, so let’s help the students stay on task.

It's time to order school supplies for next year!  You may pre-purchase a school supply pack for next fall.  The packets are ordered through Innisbrook School Supplies and are priced at the school’s cost.  Kindergarten – 8^th grade art supplies are included in the packets or you may order them separately using the order form in option 2.  This opportunity is offered as a convenience for St. Paul’s families.  Parents are free to choose the supply pack or shop on their own. Order dates:  Monday, April 15 – Friday, May 3.  There are two ways to place your order:

1)  Order online at www.ordermypack.com , select Buy School Supplies, and enter our school number: 120688.  Pay with a credit card at checkout.  A convenience charge of $1.50 per pack will be added to all online orders.

2)  Complete and return an order form to the school front desk.  Charges will be billed to your school account in August.  Click here to view lists and order supplies: http://www.speds.org/current-parents-and-students/inside-st-pauls/school-supplies/  If you are unable to print what you need, please contact Linda van Thullenar and she will send them to you.

All supply packets will be delivered directly to school and distributed to students at Open House on Wednesday, August 14^th.

Service Club Dates:  Calling all St. Paul’s students and parents.  We have two service opportunities for the remainder of the 2012-13 school  year.  This is a great opportunity to have fun, connect with others and participate in meaningful community service.

   Tuesday, April 23:  We will go to the St. Paul’s Food Pantry and work to re-package items.  Let’s gather at the church after school. Snacks will be provided and then we’ll get to work.  Students in ECC and Lower School are asked to have a parent. (Parents may chaperone their child plus a friend or two.)  Middle School students may come alone.  Please RSVP at pbauer@speds.org

    Tuesday, May 14:  3:30-5:00 TBA. But please save the date!

Lynnette Rempel has let us know that she will be taking a Sabbatical from St. Paul’s in order to devote more time to her family.  While St. Paul’s does not have a Sabbatical per se, this is our way of saying that we don’t want to say “good-bye” to Lynnette and she does not want to say “good-bye” to us.  The plan is that, in the near future, she will be able to return to bring her gifts and talents to our school but, right now, she needs to take a break. 

One of our graduates, Aaron B., is the star of the current production at The Coterie, “Bud, not Buddy”.  The production runs from April 9 – May 19 and this experienced actor, who is still in high school!, is making quite a name for himself as an actor/comedian.  We’re very proud of this talented young man!

We will be honoring Celeste Haas at Friday’s All School Chapel. Celeste is with the Childrens’ Spot and has worked with our students in Speech Therapy at St. Paul’s for 25 years. It has been a wonderful collaboration and we look forward to working together for many more years.