Monday Morning Memo

Reminder:  NO LUNCH SERVED ON FRIDAY!  This Friday, we will have the last event in our 50th anniversary – a Pillars of St. Paul’s luncheon to thank former rectors, heads, trustees, and teachers for the school they have established and maintained in this first fifty years.  For the occasion, we are taking the lunchroom and teachers and students will be dining in their classrooms or having a picnic outside, but ALL need to bring a lunch.

Jenny Wyllie, our first grade associate but a fully certified teacher with years of experience at second grade, will be our new second grade teacher next year.  We had a number of fine candidates for the position but Jenny’s experience and proven competence won her the position.

Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day for students in kindergarten, 4th and 8th grades is this Wednesday, Apr. 30.  We have so much support from our wonderful grandparents that it is not possible for us to invite all of them from each of the grades, so we include these grades each year with the hope that all grandparents will be able to celebrate with us three times during their children’s tenure here.  Grandparents have received an invitation with the details about times and the schedule but, if you have questions, please contact Katie Gregg at 816-268-6541 or the main number at 816-931-8614.

The Art Fair is also this Wednesday,  Apr. 30 from 3:30 – 7:30 in our gym.  Each student from kindergarten through 8th grade has at least four pieces of his/her art work on display – a gallery display provided for us by our art teachers:  Ms. Laird and Mrs. Crumpecker.

I am sorry to report that Ms. Laird will be unable to attend the Art Fair, as her father passed away on Saturday.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

From the Admissions Office:  As a reminder to our returning families, your 2014-15 enrollment agreements are binding as of May 1, 2014. Should you decide, for any reason, to withdraw your student(s) from St. Paul’s after April 30, 2014 (which we sincerely hope will not be the case!), you will still be responsible for payment of the full year’s tuition and fees.  If you have any questions about this, please contact Jill McGee in the Admissions Office:  816-268-6542 .

Don't forget to cast your vote for next year's Parents' Guild board of officers. The Parents’ Guild could not do all of the wonderful work it does without YOU!  Please submit your vote by following this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9BSMRXQ
You have until May 7, 2014 to complete your vote. Thank you for being an active part of our community!

Max M. will be Head of School for the Day on Wednesday, May 7 and has declared the dress to be that with an American Day theme!  So start planning your red, white and blue, patriotic attire for next Wednesday and also prepare for a new eighth grade leader for the day.

We will be sponsoring a blood drive on Friday, May 16 from 12:00 noon to 4:30 p.m. in our gym.
Community Blood Center needs to collect 580 units of blood daily to meet the needs of area hospital patients. As there is no substitute for blood, they rely on volunteer donors like you, to supply life-saving blood and blood components to 70 hospitals in Kansas and Missouri. As a special reward for St. Paul’s Blood Donors:  Register for our Blood Drive and receive a “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon for Schlitterbahn Water Park.  If you have any questions about donating blood, please contact the Community Blood Center at 1-888-647-4040 or visit  https://www.esavealifenow.org/index.cfm?group=op&hlc=stpauls&hostlookupcode=stpauls
 If you have any questions about the blood drive, contact Jill McGee, our site coordinator at jmcgee@speds.org.

The middle school book fair will be Wednesday, May 7.  Fifth through eighth grade will attend.  Charge slips will be sent home Monday, May 5, for students wishing to charge books to their St. Paul's account.

The book swap will be Friday, May 9.   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 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.

Reminder - 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.  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:  Tuesday, April 15 – Friday, May 2.  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.  There is no longer a convenience charge for this service!
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/Page/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 13th.

Tuesday, May 6th , 6:30 pm – Technology and Your Child: Parents of 4th-8th grade students are invited to join us for the second installment of this conversation with Drs. Kevin and Natasha Burgert. Last month they spoke to parents of younger students, and the presentation was very well received. Don’t miss this important conversation on parenting and technology. The doctors will discuss how to successfully navigate a child's growing independence on the Internet, and will offer foundational boundaries and expectations for a child's early tech devices. From these essential starting blocks, they will discuss tips for avoiding unintentional negative and risky online exposures, teaching first steps in online communications. Finally, they will briefly discuss active monitoring for online safety, and consequences to a child's intentional misuse.

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

This is a special week for the grandparents and special friends of our kindergarten, fourth, and eighth grade students!  Our special day for these guests will be this Wednesday, with kindergarten grandparents and special friends coming for the morning and fourth and eighth grade special guests coming for the afternoon.  [For those of you who are new to the school, we have to limit the participation to these grades because of the outstanding participation we receive, which precludes us from being able to accommodate all of our grandparents and special friends.  But your child’s time will come – three times during your time at our school!]  Please see the school website for a complete schedule of events for our kindergarten, fourth, and eighth grade guests.

The Art Fair – the showcase of our k – 8th grade students’ art work throughout the year – will be on display for your enjoyment this Wednesday.  The fair will be open from 3:30 – 7:00 and we hope you’ll stop by to marvel at the work of your children, as directed by our art teachers, Mrs. Crumpecker and Ms. Laird.  It’s worth the visit and these teachers have worked all weekend long to display the children’s work.

There is a noon dismissal for ALL students this Friday for faculty to pursue professional development.  There will be only one carpool dismissal and that will be at 12:00 noon on Friday.  This will be a longer carpool, due to the numbers of students being dismissed, so please be patient with us!

Friday is also Spirit Day so encourage your children to show their school pride by wearing their St. Paul’s logo t-shirts! 

We had a successful lock-down drill this morning!  This drill is a practice -- in case there is a stranger who is considered dangerous in the building or a situation outside the building that requires us to be safely tucked away inside our rooms.  All went well and we worked to ensure that the children were not frightened by the experience.

Thank you to all of our current families for the smooth re-enrollment process this spring.  This is a reminder that the cancellation policy states that you must withdrawal by May 1, 2012 in order to forfeit only the deposit.  After May 1, you become responsible for 50% of the full year tuition.  After June 15, 2012, families are responsible for 100% of the tuition regardless of whether the student attends.  Please contact Miriam Zavagnin immediately if you plan to withdraw.  Needless to say, we sincerely hope to see all of you return next year!

Stay up to date on the latest happenings with our school calendar. Bookmark the calendar page on our website and check back often to see what is going on at St. Paul's.

The Service Club meets after school this Tuesday, April 24, for an approximately 60 minute meeting.  We will be distributing baked goods from the cyber bake-sale.  All k-5 are welcome with a parent and Middle Schoolers may come alone. Let me know to expect you by e-mailing me at pbauer@speds.org.    We will meet in the main hallway of the south building.  A snack will be provided.

The Cyber Bake Sale is here.  Generous donations are welcome for the baked offerings which will be delivered to your child’s classroom Tuesday after school.  They may be picked up during the day on Tuesday if that is preferred.

This year we are not suggesting a price per item with the hope that people will be especially generous.  All proceeds go to the recovery effort in Harveyville, Kansas which had nearly half of their town destroyed.  To purchase an item:

1.       To see the list of available items, click the bake sale link on the SPEDS chaplain’s blog:  http://spedsnolan.blogspot.com/   
2.  Email me with the item you wish to purchase:  pbauer@speds.org 
3.  Checks are to be delivered by students to the chaplain’s office on Tuesday, April 24.   They may be made out to SPEDS with a “Harveyville” notation.

Ted van Thullenar, our Middle School Division Head, submitted a proposal to present at our association’s annual conference and was just notified that it was selected!  The Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) works with over 80 independent schools in the Midwest region of the US and holds an annual conference each year in November.  We are proud of the fact that Ted will be talking about transitioning to Middle School.

The Middle School Book Fair for grades 5-8 will be on Wednesday, May 2nd, in the middle school commons. This is a great time to stock up on some summer reading material and for the 8th graders to purchase their freshman required reading. Let Your Imagination Soar: Read!

Service Hours are due May 23 for the President’s Volunteer Service Award.  Remember that 50 hours are needed to earn a certificate and pin.  8th graders who have participated on the Chapel Leadership Team receive 22 hours of credit per quarter. Captains have a total of 45 hours. Please e-mail Chaplain Nolan with hour updates or ask your student to stop by the chaplain’s office for service hour record coupons.

Gregory W, one of our eighth graders, has earned the distinction of being an Eagle Scout!  We are proud of the work he has done to achieve this honor.

Joshua M, one of our first graders, submitted a YouTube video in a LegoLand competition in order to earn a place on the Junior Construction Panel and he won!   There were 133 entries and they picked 12 children from the KC area, ages 6-12, to be on the panel. We thought you would enjoy seeing his creative entry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSNLv82oAk&feature=youtu.be

Gillian C, an eighth grader, was awarded the Windmoor Scholarship at St. Teresa’s Academy for next year.  Sophia P, an eighth grader, was awarded the Alumnae Scholarship at STA.  Congratulations to these ladies for the awards they earned through their hard work here!

The following students qualified for State Recognition in Duke University Talent Identification Program:  Haley B, Philip B. Elyse C, Clayton F, Lilly H, Lilly L, Monty L, Caroline McD, Danny T, and Sydney W.  This program seeks to identify, through standardized testing results, academically talented students and to offer those who qualify summer enrichment opportunities.  Congratulations to these students for their hard work, too!