Monday Morning Memo

We had a delightful week of celebrations last week!  We loved having our grandparents visit; enjoyed a terrific Art Fair; and celebrated the last of our 50^th anniversary events.  It was a people-filled, celebratory week!

This week will also be full, particularly with grade-specific activities, most at the end of the week:

            Thursday, May 8 at 9:00 a.m. in the north wing MPR – the Second Grade Music Program

            Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the north wing MPR – the Third Grade Showcase

            Friday, May 9 at 9:30 a.m. in the gym – the Fourth Grade ROAD Rally.  Parents and special friends of our current fourth grade students are invited to attend the ROAD Rally.  Students have had the privilege of working with Ms. Tess Butterfield from the Kansas City Ballet to participate in this exciting program that is specifically geared towards fourth grade students. ROAD’s mission is to motivate children through dance experiences that help them achieve tasks related to life skills and personal achievement. For children, ROAD emphasizes discipline, teamwork, dedication and self-awareness through dance. Come join us for a lively and entertaining celebration of all the students have learned this year. If your child is not in fourth grade but you’re curious about the program or interested in helping support it in future years, feel free to join us.  We think it’s a phenomenal program and, though we don’t know if it’s a possibility for future years, we are thrilled we have had the opportunity to participate this year. 

            Friday, May 9 at 2:00 p.m. in the south wing MPR – the Fifth Grade Mercado.  Students will share all they’ve learned about their Spanish-speaking country and will also be selling small items related to their assigned country.  The students have created their own pesos so no need to bring change or cash.  We hope you can come and partake in the fun.

In addition, and directed toward a wider audience:

            Tuesday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the north wing MPR, we sincerely hope that parents of third through eighth grade students will come hear the presentation by Drs. Kevin and Natasha Burgert regarding raising children in this digital age.  They have good advice, resources, and guidelines that are so important for parents to know.  As a school, we are dealing with more and more challenges to which this technology exposes our students and we need your help in protecting them and directing them toward the great resources that this technology provides.

            Wednesday, May 7, Max Maday will be the Head of School for the Day and he has invited everyone to show patriotic spirit by the wearing of red, white and blue.  He’ll direct some activities on that day, too, of course.

Wednesday, May 7 is also the date of the MS Book Fair.  Fifth through eighth grade students will attend.   Charge slips will be sent home Monday, May 5, for students wishing to charge books to their St. Paul's account.
 Friday, May 9, will be the date of the book swap. This is an opportunity for students in first through fourth grade to bring in books they have finished and exchange them for new reading material.  Please start looking for reading material appropriate for grades 1-4 that you want to give to the swap. You must donate a book in order to participate.   You may get up to five books if you donate at least five books.   You can start bringing books for the swap to school on Tuesday, May 6.

Author Paul Tough, who wrote How Children Succeed, Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, a book that many of our teachers and administrators have read and enjoyed, will speak at the Plaza branch of the library on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m.   We highly recommend this opportunity to you, if you can attend.

If you chose Plan C to pay your tuition for the 2014-2015 school year, please remember that this plan begins in May 2014 and runs through February 2015. Your first payment will happen on May 5—today. Monthly payment amounts of tuition and fees for those not receiving tuition assistance can be found in the table below. These amounts are per child:

Grade	Amount
Kindergarten - 5th grade	$1,076.10
6th grade - 7th grade	$1,181.50
8th grade	$1,166.50
Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten	$   723.40
Toddler half day Tues/Thurs	$   282.50
Toddler half day M-W-F	$   440.50
Toddler 5 day all day	$1,116.50

A-Team fees are as follows:

Day	Charge
All five afternoons	$477/mo
1-4 days/week	$95.40/mo/day

If you received tuition assistance, please refer to the back of your enrollment contract.

If you have more than one child at St. Paul’s for whom you chose Plan C to pay tuition, and/or are having A-Team fees withdrawn, you will see one transaction each month that is the total of all payments due.

Please remember that these monthly payments only cover tuition and fees (and A-Team, if applicable). All other charges (hot lunches, Extended Day, etc.) are billed and must be paid for separately.

Feel free to contact Christina Cutcliffe in the Business Office at ccutcliffe@speds.org with any questions.

If you wish to sign your child(ren) up for Lunch Bunch or Extended Day next year: the sign-up forms for both are now online.

Extended Day: http://www.speds.org/Page/Programs/Extended-Day

Lunch Bunch: http://www.speds.org/Page/Student-Forms

Should you find that you need to make a change to your child’s enrollment in either program after you’ve registered, please DO NOT fill out another form. Instead, send the changes for Extended Day to Karen McDonald (kmcdonald@speds.org), and send the changes for Lunch Bunch to Linda van Thullenar (Lvan@speds.org).

Extended Day will be available the week of Memorial Day.   We will be open Tuesday-Friday.  Please register by May 16^th to Kmcdonald@speds.org if you are interested in joining us on any of those days. Each day will be filled with fun and exciting activities for everyone! It’s a great way to kick off the summer!

The last Parents' Guild Meeting of this school year will be Wednesday, May 14th in the Garden Room at 8:30.  Please feel free to join us, if you’d like to know more about the great work of this dedicated group of parents.

Reminder:  We are sponsoring a blood drive for our neighbors, the Community Blood Bank, on Friday, May 16 from 12:00 – 4:30.  Please come help us save lives by donating a pint of blood for those who so desperately need this precious commodity that we can replenish.

Service hours for the Presidential Service Award will be accepted until the last day of school. If your child has participated in this program, be sure to submit those service hours to Chaplain Castellan by May 22^nd.