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Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School

Parent Newsletter
MVMPCS CALENDAR:
Wed., 8/28Back to School Night, 6-8 p.m. Mon., 9/02Labor Day, School Closed Thurs., 9/05Rosh Hashanah, School Closed, Fri., 9/20 School Closed for Fair Day Mon., 9/232 Hour Early Dismissal for Students at 1:45 p.m., Teacher Work Session, No After Care. Fri., 10/18School Closed for Students, Professional Development Day Fri., 10/25School Closed for Students, Teacher Work Day

August 22, 2013

FROM THE PRINCIPAL


What a great start to the 2013- 2014 school year! It was great to see everyone after a short summer break. I would like to give thanks to Mr. Dave, Ms. Missy, Mr. Larry and numerous parent volunteers for a wonderful job moving furniture and cleaning the building this summer. On August 13th, our new and returning staff were eager to get into their classrooms and began setting up in preparation of Open House. Thanks to everyone for all of their efforts. We welcomed many new staff to the building this year. They include: Kim Cowles (Primary), Alison Flanagan (Primary IA), Claudia Neally (Floating Primary IA), Victoria Mason (Upper Elem. IA), Erica Chavez (Spanish), Cindy Estep (MS Math), Lindsay Seebach (Special Education) and Elizabeth Benefiel (Art). Please mark your calendars for Back to School Night on Wednesday, August 28th from 6-8 PM. I look forward to seeing all returning families and meeting the new families to MVMPCS. During this night, representatives from the Board of Trustees (BOT) and Governing Council (GC) will be introduced and available to answer questions. We will also have committee chairs available to answer questions about their committees. Please take the time to talk with your elective body and identify committees that you would like to volunteer on. At Back to School Night we will begin with a general gathering in the sanctuary from 6:00 to 6:30PM. During this time staff, BOT and GC members will be introduced and Ms. King will review last years MSA scores and attendance. After the presentation, parents will visit individual classrooms for 30 minutes and will be given specific classroom information by the teachers. There will be three sessions for classroom visitations from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. This will allow families with multiple children at MVMPCS, an opportunity to visit multiple classrooms. Again this year, Venus Elliott, Upper Elem. teacher will present Montessori 101 during session 3. This session is very informative for parents new to the Montessori method of education. Have a wonderful weekend. Cita King, Principal GC and committee representatives will be at the school starting at 5:30 on Back to School. Please join us and learn about opportunities at the school.

EAT HEALTHY CHALLENGE Once again this year, FCPS and Summers Farm are teaming up for the Eat Healthy Challenge. Students are to eat healthy and record their meals for the week of September 2-6, 2013. Elementary students who participate in this program will receive a free admission to Summers Farm. Your child will be bringing home a flyer with more details and will be due back to Ms. Darlene by Thursday, September 12. On the back of the flyer there is a program titled, Pumpkin Bucks for P.E. For every Friday or Saturday evening admission ticket that is purchased for full price during September 27 through October 26, Summers Farm will donate $1.00 to our school for P.E. supplies. Plus FCPS will match the total funds donated to our school making the total $2.00 per full-price admission ticket purchased. The funds raised will be used for P.E. supplies. Ms. Darlene, PE Teacher FROM THE SCHOOL OFFICE Forms, forms, forms! Parents certainly have their own homework to do this week! Please return the following forms to your childs teacher as soon as possible: Yellow Confidential Health Information Card Green Emergency Student Information Card Carpool and Early Closing/Daycare Arrangement form MMCI Before and After Care Registration form Carline and Parking Lot Procedures form Free or Reduced-Price Meal form (as applicable)

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms. Debbie or Ms. Rose Ann in the school office at 301-668-5013.

SCHOOL LUNCH UPDATE! MVMPCS lunch menus are located on the FCPS website under the meals tab (Elementary Menus, Charter Schools). In addition to the daily menu, there is helpful information about the cost of meals and how to sign up for online payments through myschoolbucks.com. Students no longer have to pre-order lunches, a daily count is taken each morning in the classroom. Free or Reduced-Price Meal forms are in your childs Thursday folder.

MVMPCS NEWSLETTER

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PARENTS, KEEP INFORMED WITH NEWS FROM MVMPCSSIGN UP FOR GOOGLE GROUPS! We use Google Groups to communicate with the MVMPCS community. Follow these instructions to get signed up: Using your web browser, go to this address: https://sites.google.com/a/mvmpcs.org/mvmpcs-forum-registration/?pli=1

1. Fill out the form using your Google account information and choose the groups that you would like to receive updates
from. (See below if you need to create a Google account.)

2. Click Submit to sign up and agree to the terms of use.

3. Your request will now be Pending. Before your request can be approved you will need to be verified as a member
of the MVMPCS community (alum, staff, teacher, parent, etc.).

4. Once approved, you will receive an email with a link to the Group that you signed up for.
To access the Groups in the future, a link can be found on the school website at education.fcps.org/mvmpcs/forums
Choosing Your Groups
Here is a brief description of what information will be provided in each Google Group.

MVMPCS Urgent Updates Forum Information the school urgently wishes to communicate to parents and staff, such as school closings, malfunctioning A/ C, etc. Only school administration & the school secretary will be able to post to this group. We strongly encourage you to sign up for this group! MVMPCS School News Forum This forum will help keep you current with school activities in general, such as newsletter postings, GC meeting announcements & agenda, etc. Only school administration, staff, the GC chair, BOT President, and committee chairs will be able to post to this group. MVMPCS Community Chat Forum Communicates activities that are community related, such as play dates, car pools, etc. All members will be able to post to this group.

OVERSTOCKAVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE 2012-13 YEARBOOKS AND PANORAMIC PHOTO OF ENTIRE SCHOOL 2012-13 Yearbooks - $20 2012-13 Panoramic Photos - $16 Pick up in the school office. Checks should be made payable to MVMPCS.

VIEW THE NEW MVMPCS LOGO OPTIONS! The MVMPCS Governing Council has been working with Ludwing Najera, the parent of two MVMPCS students, and a graphic designer with more than 15 years of creative experience, to create a new logo and brand identity for the school. The team has gone through two rounds of the design process and now it is time for Round 3, which involves seeking comments from the entire MVMPCS community. See all the logo design possibilities and comment on them at this link: http://bitly.com/mvmpcslogo. They are also posted inside the school entrance. All members of the community are welcome to make comments and suggestions about any of the draft designs, especially relating to colors, fonts, and themes. The GC will review comments at our next public meeting on Monday, September 9th and discuss next steps at that time. Special thanks to Ludwing for sharing his talents with our community, and creating these great designs!

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