Class Requests … Class Requests.. Plans for next year are underway. In the next few weeks, teachers will be creating class lists for next year. Factors which are considered include gender balance, social/disciplinary issues, perceived learning styles and matches to teaching style (at times) and most especially, a balance of abilities and learning styles. It would be helpful to hear from you ahead of time of any serious considerations you would like us to consider as we go about the balancing of classes. We are very lucky at MPB that all of our teachers are extremely skill and very capable classroom managers. What I am not doing here is opening the opportunity to "pick your teacher"; I am asking to know ahead of time of any serious, learning situations that should be considered as this process begins. Please send these comments in to either Roxie or Colleen in writing by Wednesday, May 14th. These will then be passed along to the teachers creating the lists.

Room Parents/Potlucks… We would like to hit the ground running ,so to speak, by having lead room parents and potluck coordinators more in place… If you are interested in either, please me your willingness and the grade you are looking at…. Lead room parents coordinate parties and other class projects and communications with the class families… Potluck coordinators/hosts work with lead room parents to get the date/locations and parent potlucks off the ground..

Elitch Gardens…. The Catholic Schools Night is Friday May 9th. If you need tickets, you can print them directly off the computer. Go to "ElitchGardens.com"… then to "Tickets"…. promo code (at the same price as formerly offered is "Catholic"…

Got Pictures? … Announcing a fun MPB project. Rob Bieber has consented to putting together our own MPB calendar. These will be available at the Ice Cream Social… The calendar will feature the cutest kids on earth…. ours! (yours actually…).. If you would like your shots from games, parties, first communions, concerts.. -anything MPB - to be considered.. e-mail them to rhbieber@gmail.com.

Well-Deserved…..Sean Buck (MPB graduate)… recently wrote Dr. Hogan a note thanking her and describing 11 awards he has won personally in the sciences… He writes, "I could not have done any of this without you and am always amazed by the quality of the science education you gave me…." It was a gracious gesture on his part and it lets us know that our graduates value the gift their parents gave them through their education at MPB….

Spirit Day………. The 15th will be our Spirit Day . A special hot dog lunch will be served…. the Talent Show will be presented twice at 1:15p.m. and again at 7:00 p.m. Students in
6 through 8 will have Free Dress as an option while
students in K through 5 may have Free Dress OR can participate in a Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character event to raise funds for Rosemary Snow who is walking in the Avon Walk (see attachments)… All this and Mass too…. +Plus.. the Kindergarteners will be crowning the Blessed Mother at the school Mass… - Quite a day…

Surveys/End-of-the-Year Wrap-ups.. At the Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday night, there was some discussion about growth and progress over this year. One item noted was an increasing level of partnership between parents and the school staff. One way this is seen-and there are many- is through participation in surveys like one to parents of jr. hi students distributed in March. A very good sampling (almost 30%) of parents responded to 3 questions generating 12 pages of comments which will help the junior high staff assess parent level of support for various classroom management procedures and help them adjust our program so that all of our students can continue to grow in respect and responsibility. (One interesting piece of data which we mined based on one parent's comment is that of our 116 middle school students, 73 have either NO discipline marks or their marks are for minor infractions for things which in another context would be of no consequence whatsoever- like "talking"…. nothing wrong with that most times- unless the teacher is trying to explain a concept to the whole class at the same time.. ). Our task- and it will ever be thus- is to keep working with our program, systems and procedures so that more and more students can be as successful as the 73 for whom this program is working… To do that, parent feedback is so important.

At the inservices Thursday afternoon and Friday this week, the middle school teachers will begin the analysis of the discipline commentary and begin designing the adjustments they'll be making in the future.

Along these same lines, in another e-mail to go out this week, there will be a survey to all parents around the concept of balance…stress…. and the impact our academic program has. We have bright children… so the question we need to work on is, "How do we balance and honor their active, young minds and keep them challenged and excited about learning WHILE remembering they are children who need time to play, rest, develop talents outside of school subjects and simply "BE"… Balance….. that'll be the question we'll ask.

Volunteer Events.. Thank You…. to Andy Tauer, Sally Ryan and Serena White who coordinated 4 events celebrating the volunteers this year. Over 150 people attended one of the 4 events May 1st….

Girls on the Run….. Today in backpacks of girls in grades 2, 3 and 4 will be
an invitation to join Girls on the Run…. a kind of mini-cross-country effort aimed at girls/fitness, the self esteem that comes with physical efforts… and all kinds of good messages for girls to grow up healthy and strong… Britney Spears wanna-be OR Tawanda…. You choose!

Final Auction Tally.. WOW!
Hello everyone. The 2008 MPB school auction is officially closed out. Attached is a final budget, taking into account all costs and revenues.
Final profit: $59,717.58
Way to go team! This far exceeds our goal, and it's thanks to your hard work and positive energy. -…excerpt from Darcy Garland and Karrie Luedke…