Monday Morning Memo

Halloween is Wednesday (as I’m sure you know!) and the excitement will be palpable!  Please be sure that children’s costumes are appropriate – ones they can safely wear all day or out of which they can change early in the day, not so expensive that school activities can ruin them and cause disaster, no frightfully scary masks or even plastic weapons – just good, clean, creative fun!

Parent Teacher Conferences are this Thursday and Friday!  I hope you’ve made an appointment to visit with your child’s teacher as there is much to be gained by these face-to-face meetings.  Remember there will be no classes for students on these days but our extended day program will be available for all day care or for drop-ins during conferences. 

Speaking of extended day, we are making a change in the coverage of our Early Room program

based on the increased growth of participation during the morning.  For many years we have offered all early room care in the south MPR.  As our numbers have increased this year, we feel it is in the best interest of all participants to split the groups by age.  Beginning Monday, October 29^th,  we will have the following age groups report to the identified locations:

Toddler/Preschool/PreK/Kindergarten will be reporting to the ECC Commons

First through eighth graders will be remain in the south MPR

This will allow us to offer developmentally appropriate choices to everyone.  It will also allow us to provide the adequate supervision and interactions important for a positive start to the school day.

As a reminder, all Toddler/Preschool/PreK/Kindergarten children must be signed into Early Room by their parent while the first through eighth graders may sign for themselves.

We are confident that this will be a successful adjustment for all and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.  Please remember that this change begins today – Monday, October 29^th.

Admissions season for the 2013-14 school year is in full swing!  Siblings of current St. Paul’s students and St. Paul’s church members receive admissions priority until Friday, December 7^th.  Please submit your applications to the admissions office as soon as possible.

Get Hooked on a Good Book! - Please mark your calendar for family night at the book fair on Wednesday, November 7th from 3:30 - 5:30 pm in the gymnasium.  Come peruse our fabulous selection of books, read a few with your child or set books aside for class visits on Thursday and Friday.  We will celebrate and encourage reading with buddy D.E.A.R. times (drop everything and read) and an all-school reading time during the week, as well as author visits during each divisional chapel on Thursday.  If you would like to help with the book fair, please see the schedule at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B48A9AA292-book  If you would like to bring treats for class visits during the book fair, please sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B48A9AA292-book1

All School Pencil Collection Project from October 25^th – November 7^th, 2012 -- Atem Akuei is a current second grade student at St. Paul’s whose father is originally from Sudan, Africa. Since Atem was six years old, he has been collecting pencils and school supplies for the children of South Sudan when he learned that children there do not have any support for their education. In fact, they sit under any big tree and write in the dirt with their fingers. Atem has voluntarily given up a lot of things to make sure he can make a difference in the lives of the Sudanese children.  Last year Atem worked hard to meet his goal of collecting and sending 10,000 pencils.  Atem’s previous school and channel 41 honored him last school year for collecting 12,334 pencils!  This year his goal is 20,000 pencils!    Students in St. Paul’s School and St. Paul’s Church members are invited to donate to this worthy project in the next two weeks.

We invite each St. Paul’s student and family to help Atem reach his goal by bringing in new, unopened boxes or bags of pencils anytime between

Wednesday, October 25^th and Wednesday, November 7^th . Pencils can be placed in the large boxes found on each floor of the Lower School, in the blue tub at the greeting spot in ECC, and in the receptacle organized by MS on the third floor. We thank you for supporting the children of South Sudan and Atem Akuei’s honorable mission!  Atem and his mother will be delivering the pencils to the children of South Sudan in December of this year. To learn more about this heartfelt story, go to:  http://tinyurl.com/atem-news   

Several parents and faculty have reported cars coming through the carpool lines with children unbelted and hanging out windows, a very unsafe practice that makes us all nervous.  Please encourage your children to buckle up as soon as they get in the car and stay buckled until leaving the car.  We would hate to see a child get hurt by not adhering to this expectation.

Monday Morning Memo

We welcome Miriam Zavagnin who is returning to the admissions office today following her maternity leave! She has resigned from her position but will be helping during the next two months with the transition to our interim admissions director, Jill McGee.  Jill will serve as the full-time Admissions Director for the remainder of the school year and we will begin a formal search in January to begin in July, 2013.  Jill is the parent of three students who have graduated from St. Paul’s and has been very involved as the Chair, with her husband, Tom, of our capital campaign and many other volunteer positions here and in the greater KC community.  She also works with some of our middle school students in math, and will continue to do so.

            Miriam has promised that she will not be a stranger to our community, and will help fill in for Jill (who has two students graduating this spring) or others as her new schedule will allow.  We are sad to be losing her because she has brought much to our community but certainly know the pull of heartstrings that comes with the arrival of a new baby!

Thanks so much to our ABC Sale Chairs, Kelly Groebl, Jen Martin, and Tracy Weisenfelds and the host of volunteers they recruited.  This sale is a tremendous amount of work for the volunteers but a special community service project for all.  The amount of items they handled is mind-boggling!  Thanks to all who helped, shopped, and donated items.

Our first grade music program is this Thurs., Oct. 25 at 9:00 a.m. in the north wing multipurpose room.  Mrs. Haskamp will have our enthusiastic, energetic first graders singing, playing instruments, and moving with great joy.  Come experience the fun!

This Friday is Spirit Day and Feed-the-Need Chapel Day.  It’s time to break out the St. Paul’s spirit wear and, if you are willing to share with our less fortunate neighbors, to bring a non-perishable item or two for the pantry.  We appreciate your generosity!

Please remember to check class blogs about Halloween guidelines and the party schedule.  We request that student and adult costumes be less than gory, and that weapons, even plastic ones, be saved for the evening “haunt” and not brought to school.  We feel that, as an Episcopal school, we would rather not scare or intimidate our young children, even in the spirit of fun. 

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held next Thursday and Friday, Nov. 1^st and 2^nd and there will be no classes for students on either day.  Our extended day program will be open on both days for those who need full-time care, and for drop-ins of up to an hour for families who just need care during the conference.  Please make sure to make arrangements with Mrs. McDonald for the full-time care by contacting her at kmcdonald@speds.org.  Parents of middle school students are reminded that the teachers would like the students to attend their conferences.

After a long experiment with Good Natured Family Farms Dairy, we have decided to return to using Roberts Dairy as our vendor for lunch milk.  This decision is driven by the additional cost/labor involved with GNFF and the difficulty in keeping our reusable glasses from going into the trash.   Please know that Roberts Dairy is a local business with a bottling plant on Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard and that the products are guaranteed to be free of antibiotics and artificial growth hormone.  The change will become effective on Tuesday Oct. 23^rd, which will mean the return of the individual cartons of milk.