MPA Weekly Update - 3/14/2013

In This Issue Dates to Remember Log your volunteer hours online Lost & Found Math Night Yearbook Photos Awards Assembly Group Photo Day Congratulations Walk-A-Thon Spelling Bee Guest Speaker FYI: Dates to Remember March 3/14 - Thursday - Math Night for K-4th grade; Board of Directors Meeting at 6pm 3/18 - Monday - student awards assembly at 2pm; Girl Scout meeting after school 3/19 - Tuesday - Pasta Day 3/20 - Wednesday - Checker Finn speaks at MPA at 5:30pm 3/21 - Ohio Diagnostic Field Test (K-2 Mathematics) 3/25-3/27 IOWA/EXPLORE/PLAN 3/26 - Tuesday - Taco Bowl Day 3/28 - Thursday - Walk-A-Thon    April 4/12 - Friday - Lego Olympiad 4/15 - Monday - Girl Scout meeting after school 4/22 - OAA (3-8 Reading) 4/23 - OAA (3-8 Mathematics) 4/24 - OAA (5 & 8 Science) 4/26 - Friday - Spelling Bee 4/27 - Saturday - State Chemistry Challenge 4/29 - Monday - Girl Scout meeting after school Log your volunteer hours online  Your time is appreciated! Please log your current volunteer hours online, either on the netbook near the sign-in at school, or at home.  We are not using the paper logs to record your hours anymore - all hours MUST be entered into the computer if you want credit for them! Any hours you put in the paper log over the summer or earlier this year WILL be entered for you - you just need to enter your CURRENT hours. Lost and Found  With the changeable weather, it's hard for parents to keep track of what hats, coats, gloves, and boots go to school and come home each day.  Maybe that's why our Lost and Found area is overflowing! Please come in and take a look through the piles to see if you can identify any items missing from your child's wardrobe.  All gear in the Lost and Found area at the beginning of Spring Break WILL be donated to charity, so make sure to stop in this month to take a look! Shop with Scrips Sunday by 7pm  Vacationing during Spring Break? BONUS rebates recently posted for Marriott & more.  Plan ahead & purchase SCRIP cards to pay your way.  Choose from HUNDREDS, including:  Panera, Starbucks, Chipotle, Subway & Wendy's to eat along the way.  Bon Voyage!   Remember to order this Sunday by 7 PM to ensure delivery for next Thursday's folder.  And don't forget that ordering Scrip enters you into the weekly drawing for a bonus gift card, as does using PrestoPay.  Don't miss out on this great way to raise funds for the school without any additional cost to you! Reading Program            Keep reading over spring break! All students should have received a poster to track their progress in the Crushers reading program.  Make sure to keep up with the record-keeping throughout March and over spring break.  Signed charts are due back April 11. Students in grades 2-8 should read 20 minutes for 20 nights. Kindergarten and first should read 20 books.  Questions?  Contact your child's homeroom teacher. Scripps Spelling Bee Results        Congratulations to seventh grader, Ian O., who represented  Menlo Park Academy at the Cleveland Plain Dealer Scripp's Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 2nd. GCCTM Math Competition Results Congratulations to 8th grade math team, who finished 2nd at GCCTM competition last week.  The team included  Gannon I., Brian M., and Alex W.  Way to go, guys! Weekly Update - 3/14/13 Quick Links Menlo Park Academy Website MPA on Facebook Shop with Scrips by 7pm on Sunday Report your volunteer hours School calendar  Classroom Websites (click on Classroom Websites tab) Guest Speaker at MPA Checker Finn   On Wednesday, March 20th the president of the Fordham Institute, Checker Finn will be speaking about the "High Fliers" and how our best and brightest need to be better served. The event will be from 5:30-7:00pm. We will also highlight some of Menlo Park's highly talented students. Light refreshements will be served.  Please feel free to invite interested non-MPA families to attend this event.    Fordham Event Flyer RSVP appreciated 216-5863746    Pi Day and Night a Success!  PI! PIES!! T-SHIRTS! PRIZES!! MPA's classroom Pi events and K-4 Math Night where a huge success!   During the day students in math classes engaged in pi based activities.  We ended the school day with a pie eating contest.  Congratulations to Frasier H. for "having his pi and eating it too!"   Families had fun with interactive math-related puzzles and games for our elementary students at Math night. Math Fishing, Math Cornhole, Fractions Hopscotch, a pi recitation contest (how many digits of pi can you type in 30 seconds?!), Math Baseball, MPA Math Jeopardy!, Flexagons, critical thinking and strategy games, were enjoyed by all while munching on pies!    A huge thanks to the academic enrichment team for creating a successful math night. We (STILL) need your photos for the yearbook! Photos due by 8pm Saturday, March 16th    Do you have any great shots of our students or staff during lunch, recess, electives, or special events like the science fair?  We'd love to see them, and possibly use them to add more fun to this year's yearbook. No guarantees we'll use your photos, but if you've got some good ones, we'd love to check them out!  Please send your photos to pictures@menloparkacademy.com. Thank you! And don't forget, order forms for yearbooks are due THIS FRIDAY, March 15th!  Click here to get a copy of the order form.  And "shout-out" orders are also due on Friday - you can find that order form here.  Get your checks in to the office PRONTO! Student Awards Assembly New date: Monday, 3/18, at 2pm As you already know, the Gradebook system caused a disruption to our report card data for some grades.  With this in mind, we postponed the second trimester awards assembly to Monday, March 18th to ensure that all students who deserve to be recognized will be.  The assembly will begin at 2:00.  Parents are welcome to attend.  Based upon family feedback, we will have all k-8 in the same assembly so that siblings may honor one another's accomplishments.  We are streamlining the event so that this can be done in a reasonable amount of time.  We look forward to recognizing the achievements of all of our spectacular students! Spring Concert Friday, May 3 Mark your calendar for the Spring Concert.  We have lots of talented people helping us plan and prepare for this event.  More information coming soon!   Lost and Found   Last Chance Pick Up   Lost and found items have been placed outside the cafeteria.  If you are attending the Awards Assembly on Monday, stop and take a look.  This is last call for the trimester two collection.  Any items left at the end of the week will be donated to charity. Walk-A-Thon Songwriting Contest Win dress-down passes, plus fame and glory! Create a short song describing what is special about Menlo for ALL to sing during our walkathon.  Set it to a common tune like "Row Your Boat".  Build instruments out of recycled materials to compliment your tune.  WIN - Dress Down Passes (all participants receive one pass, winning song writers receive ten). Sign Up in the Main Office by Friday, March 22 - clickhere for a list of the contest rules and guidelines. Boy's Basketball Update Go Wizards! Last Saturday, both MPA Boys hoops teams had that winning feeling! In the JV Game, 4t grader Alex G. had a season high 13 points and 5th grader Jacob L. had 4 points and 7 rebounds and 5th grader Talon B. played stellar defense grabbing a season high 9 rebounds and the JV Wiazrds beat the Lakewood Nuggets 21-5. The boys led 8-5 at the half and held the Nuggets to zero points in the second half. In the Varsity game, 7th grader Zack P. scored 16 points and grabbed for 14 rebounds and fellow 8th graders Brian M (7 points / 7 rebounds) and Nick H. (4 points / 4 rebounds) made key plays in the last two minutes and the Varisty Wizards beat the Lakewood Knicks 29-23. Both teams played really well and were supported by family and the MPA community at the game. The boys are playing great and exciting basketball so far this spring.  Congratulations! MPA students place well in a variety of contests Congratulations to all of the students who participated in last week's "You Be The Chemist" Challenge.  It really seemed that the children enjoyed themselves and the scores were quite close every round.  MPA's winner is Aidan I., runner-up John H. and alternate Gannon I..  The boys will move on to the state competition on Saturday, April 20th at the Imagination Station in Toledo. Also, last week we continued our tradition of excellence at CONSEF with every MPA student earning a medal - no measly honorable mentions for these kids! Patrick O. and Nell S. got Bronze medals. Asia G, Kenny M and Miles Mason got Silvers and Carolyn H, Dylan Z, Gil H, Hector C, Isabel V, Jacob Daugherty, Kaela R, Lexi S, Logan C, Manus M, Marika O, Olivia M. and Sam P. got Gold medals. Sparsh B. and Delilah S. got Best of Category - the top awards!  Overall we came in second out of 44 schools!    In other news, Nick H. got a silver medal at the BEST Medicine Science and Engineering Fair in Akron.  And Kenny M. (7th grade) came in second in the Biology category at the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair last week! His project was entitled, "What Food Does a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Like the Best". This fair has some very stiff competition, so second place is quite an honor.     Congratulations to all of our budding scientists and engineers - we're so proud of you all! Wanted: Walk-A-Thon volunteers   Thursday, March 28th Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month?  In honor of healthy habits, MPA will once again participate in a fundraiser that will directly involve students and get them some extra exercise!  This event will allow our children to take pride in personally supporting their school while participating in a great, healthy, and fun activity. Upon completion of the 4th Annual Walk-a-Thon, the entire school will take part in an assembly with a Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Dietitian discussing healthy eating and lifestyle. Additionally, students will find out how many laps they completed as a whole, how many miles that is equal to, as well as how much money they raised through their direct efforts! Volunteer to help with the Walk-A-Thon: Dawn Doran, Walk-a-thon Event Chair, and Melissa Adell, Development Coordinator, need your help calculating pledges, watching the course on the day of the event, and making this a great experience for our students. Sign up here to help with the Walk-A-Thon:  http://menloparkacademy.bringit.bz/public/3e388d For additional information on the event and a pledge sheet for your student, please click here. Please contact Melissa Adell (Melissa.Adell@menloparkacademy.com; (216) 539-0422) with any questions. Thanks for your support! Listen for the buzz ...  All-School Spelling Bee will be Friday, 4/26 Haul out those dictionaries - qualifying rounds for the spring spelling bee will be held in classes next week, with winners for each classroom being eligible to participate in the school-wide spelling bee.  Students who qualify for the school-wide bee will receive word study lists on Thursday, March 21st, and their parents will receive e-mails at that time with more information about the event.   Then on Friday, April 26th, the spelling bee begins at 8:45am in the Multi-Purpose Room.  Parents, friends, and family members are welcome to come cheer on the competitors.  Bring your cameras - there's nothing cuter than our pint-size spellers nailing words that are longer than they are! Information can be submitted via email to: communications@menloparkacademy.com for review and inclusion in the weekly update. Submissions are subject to Director approval.

MPA Weekly Update - 3/7/2013

In This Issue Dates to Remember Log your volunteer hours online Math Night Lego Olympiad Invention Convention Time to Invent Yearbook Mohican Meeting Boosters FYI: Dates to Remember March 3/7 - Thursday - Chemistry Competition, 6pm 3/9 - Saturday - Destination Imagination 3/11 - Monday - Second Trimester Awards Assembly    3/12 - Tuesday - Mac N Cheese Day  3/14 - Thursday - Math Night for K-4th grade; Board of Directors Meeting at 6pm 3/18 - Monday - Girl Scout meeting after school 3/19 - Tuesday - Pasta Day 3/21 - Ohio Diagnostic Field Test (K-2 Mathematics) 3/25-3/27 IOWA/EXPLORE/PLAN 3/26 - Tuesday - Taco Bowl Day 3/28 - Thursday - Walk-A-Thon    April 4/12 - Friday - Lego Olympiad 4/15 - Monday - Girl Scout meeting after school 4/22 - OAA (3-8 Reading) 4/23 - OAA (3-8 Mathematics) 4/24 - OAA (5 & 8 Science) 4/26 - Friday - Spelling Bee 4/27 - Saturday - State Chemistry Challenge 4/29 - Monday - Girl Scout meeting after school Local Science Fair Schedule This is a busy week for science fairs. The Northeast Ohio Science Fair is Tuesday (awards ceremony Thursday) at John Carroll University, CONSEF is on Saturday, March 9th at the IX Center and the BEST Medicine Science and Engineering Fair is the same day at the Inventor's Hall of Fame in Akron. All three are open to the public. For information about a specific fair, you can email Mrs. Eby. Best of luck to all our talented contestants! Log your volunteer hours online  Your time is appreciated! Please log your current volunteer hours online, either on the netbook near the sign-in at school, or at home.  We are not using the paper logs to record your hours anymore - all hours MUST be entered into the computer if you want credit for them! Any hours you put in the paper log over the summer or earlier this year WILL be entered for you - you just need to enter your CURRENT hours. Lost and Found  With the changeable weather, it's hard for parents to keep track of what hats, coats, gloves, and boots go to school and come home each day.  Maybe that's why our Lost and Found area is overflowing! Please come in and take a look through the piles to see if you can identify any items missing from your child's wardrobe.  All gear in the Lost and Found area at the beginning of Spring Break WILL be donated to charity, so make sure to stop in this month to take a look! We need your UMBRELLAS!    If you have some new or gently used umbrellas you can donate to the school, the folks who volunteer during car line would be very grateful (not to mention, DRY).  Just drop them off at the office at your convenience.  Thanks so much for your help! Shop with Scrips Sunday by 7pm  Vacationing during Spring Break? BONUS rebates recently posted for Marriott & more.  Plan ahead & purchase SCRIP cards to pay your way.  Choose from HUNDREDS, including:  Panera, Starbucks, Chipotle, Subway & Wendy's to eat along the way.  Bon Voyage!   Remember to order this Sunday by 7 PM to ensure delivery for next Thursday's folder.  And don't forget that ordering Scrip enters you into the weekly drawing for a bonus gift card, as does using PrestoPay.  Don't miss out on this great way to raise funds for the school without any additional cost to you! Weekly Update - 3/7/13 Quick Links Menlo Park Academy Website MPA on Facebook Shop with Scrips by 7pm on Sunday Report your volunteer hours School calendar  Classroom Websites (click on Classroom Websites tab) Dress Down Day on Friday, 3/8/13 Congratulations on a successful tornado drill, students!  Report Cards Important Information Dear Parents of MPA, There was an untimely update done to our grading system, Gradebook, last weekend, while MPA teachers were in the midst of finalizing grades. This has created numerous problems as we have worked to prepare report cards.   After fixing several issues, and handing out report cards today, we discovered that there continue to be problems, particularly with grades 5-8.  If something does not look right to you, please check with Nancy Colby before contacting classroom teachers, as this is a computer program error.     phone:  216-586-3746  email:  admissions@menloparkacademy.com    Ms. Colby will go online with you to identify the issue for your child's report card. MPA will fix the issue and send a new report card home that day. We appreciate your flexibility as we identify and correct these problems.    Have your Pi and eat it, too!  K-4 Math night is Thursday, 3/14/2013 at 6:30pm PI! PIES!! T-SHIRTS! PRIZES!! MPA's K-4 Math Night is FINALLY here! Activities will include fun and interactive math-related puzzles and games for our elementary students. Come and enjoy Math Fishing, Math Cornhole, Fractions Hopscotch, a pi recitation contest (how many digits of pi can you type in 30 seconds?!), Math Baseball, MPA Math Jeopardy!, Flexagons, critical thinking and strategy games, and Clean Up The Money -- all while munching on pies! PRIZES for the winners of Jeopardy!, the pi recitation contest, and Clean Up The Money! T-SHIRTS for the first 100 students to arrive! Don't be irrational and only have a fraction of the fun - get there on time so you can put your name in the Jeopardy drawing, recite pi, have it, and eat it too! Lego Olympiad    Parents, remember that if your child will be staying after school for a Lego Olympiad practice session,please notify the student's homeroom teacher or the office.  The pink attendance forms available in the office are perfect for this!  Also, please be aware that we have added a column to the practice room sign-up sheet so that you can indicate what students will be staying with the adult on the days your team plans to practice.     If your team borrowed any school-owned Legos last year, please make sure they were returned to the school!  We will also be pleased to accept any gently-used Lego sets you may wish to donate to the school.   We look forward to creative building in the next few weeks! Invention Convention Winners! Congratulations to the the following winners of this week's Invention Convention competition: 4th grade: 1st - Valerie L., 2nd - Ella K., 3rd - Andrew K., Honorable Mention - Jack H. 5th/6th grades: 1st - Ryan S., 2nd - Andrew R., 3rd - Krystyna J., Honorable Mention - Rehema K-Z 7th/8th grades: 1st - Nick H., 2nd - Andrew B., 3rd - Fraser H., Honorable Mention - Teresa S.  The first place winners will attend the regional competition at Strongsville high school on May 11th.  Way to go, inventors - and good luck in May! Time-to-Invent Science club for 5th and 6th grade girls Attention parents of 5th and 6th grade girls! Mrs. Eby will be starting a new club for girls who enjoy inventing. Called "Time-to-Invent", it will be held in the science lab after school on Thursdays until 4:15 starting March 14th. The club is $50 for ten sessions and all proceeds go to buying materials and equipment for the science program. It will be filled on a first come, first served basis with a limit of 16 girls. Look for a flyer in this week's Thursday folder. You can email Mrs. Eby for further details or to sign up your 5th or 6th grade daughter. Please contact Caroline Zito (caroline.zito@menloparkacademy.com) if you should need financial assistance to participate in this club. We need your photos for the yearbook!                      This year we're doing our best to finish the yearbook and have it to students by the end of the year ... but that means we have to close out the yearbook in 3 weeks.  We really need more shots of our students or staff during lunch, recess, electives, or special events like the science fair!  Please e-mail photos you'd like to submit to us, and we'll use them to add more depth to our yearbook coverage for the year.  No guarantees we'll use your photos, but if you've got some good ones, we'd love to check them out!  Please send your photos to pictures@menloparkacademy.com. Thank you! Join the Special Events Committee                      New volunteer opportunities await you! The Development Team has evolved in to the Special Events Committee under our new Development Coordinator, Melissa Adell. We have upcoming events that we need you to help us make a success. We can't do it without you. Be our Walk-A-Thon Chairperson! The 2013 Walk-a-thon will take place on March 28th, over the course of several recess periods.   Last year's Walk-A-Thon raised $8,600, and we are seeking a volunteer to help make this event another awesome success. Our Walk-a-thon Chairperson will coordinate the event based on plans that are already in motion. Menlo Park Academy needs your help to make it happen and work with other volunteers to ensure we have a safe and successful event. This position will be flexible, with an estimated commitment of 5 hours/week prior to the event. The week prior to the event, that commitment may increase slightly. Volunteer to help with the Walk-A-Thon: Our esteemed chairperson will need your help calculating pledges, handing out t-shirts, watching the course on the day of the event, and making this a great experience for our students. Sign up here to help with the Walk-A-Thon:  http://menloparkacademy.bringit.bz/public/3e388d For additional information or to commit to serving as the Walk-a-thon Event Chair, please contact Melissa Adell (Melissa.Adell@menloparkacademy.com; (216) 539-0422).  Thanks for your support! Mohican School in the Out-of-Doors Info night on Monday, 3/11/13, for parents of 6th graders Calling all 6th grade parents! There will be an informational meeting on Monday, March 11th at 5:30 in the Science Lab to learn about your child's upcoming trip to Mohican School in the Out-of-Doors. A representative from Mohican will be there with slides and hand-outs to inform you about the trip and answer all your questions. The meeting should last about an hour. Please try to attend as it is your best opportunity to learn about this exciting experience! Medication Reminder It can be hard to remember when you're scraping frost off your car, but allergy season is almost upon us again.  For those of you who have students with seasonal allergies, please remember that any medications which are to be administered at school MUST come in the original container, and MUST be accompanied by a signed doctor's note.  Any questions?  Mrs. Wilson in the school office will be happy to help! Boosters Updates                        Box Tops Keep the box tops coming! The class with the most total box tops at the end of the year will receive a special treat! If you donated 50 or more box tops in December or January, be on the look out for your MPA pencil/s to be delivered in the next few days. Please help us out and make sure that the box tops you send in are not expired and have been trimmed. If your feeling extra helpful, you can also bundle them in sets of 50...it saves us a ton of time! Upcoming Events If you are looking for volunteers hours, the Boosters will be needing alot of help in the near future. Teacher Appreciation week (May 6th- 10th) and Field Day (end of May) are quickly approaching, so keep your eyes and ears open for our call for volunteers to help us pull these 2 events off! Information can be submitted via email to: communications@menloparkacademy.com for review and inclusion in the weekly update. Submissions are subject to Director approval.

MPA Weekly Update - 2/21/2013

In This Issue Dates to Remember Math Interventions Grade Book Invention Convention Dress Code Young Authors' Week FYI: Dates to Remember February 2/21 - Thursday - Boosters Meeting, 6pm 2/22 - Friday - MS Invention Convention workshop after school; Boys' Basketball Tryouts at 4:15pm 2/23 - Saturday - Power of the Pen Regional Competition 2/23 - Saturday - Menlo Park Family Night/Monsters Hockey Game 2/28 - Thursday - End of trimester    March 3/1 - Friday - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (teacher in-service) 3/6 - Wednesday - Invention Convention 3/7 - Thursday - Chemistry Competition, 6pm 3/9 - Saturday - Destination Imagination 3/11 - Monday - Second Trimester Awards Assembly     3/14 - Math Night for K-4th grade    April 4/12 - Friday - Lego Olympiad 4/26 - Friday - Spelling Bee 4/27 - Saturday - State Chemistry Challenge Congratulations  Seventh grader Ian O. will represent MPA at the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Scripps) Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 2, at Cuyahoga Community College.  Congratulations, Ian, and best of luck to you!  Log your volunteer hours online  Your time is appreciated! Please log your current volunteer hours online, either on the netbook near the sign-in at school, or at home.  We are not using the paper logs to record your hours anymore - all hours MUST be entered into the computer if you want credit for them! Any hours you put in the paper log over the summer or earlier this year WILL be entered for you - you just need to enter your CURRENT hours. Math Interventions  Volunteers needed! After analyzing data and creating math activities, we are ready to begin working with students on Singapore gaps.  If you volunteered to help already - THANK YOU!  Mrs. B-W will be contacting you for availability.  If you haven't volunteered and might have some daytime hours available,  pleasecontact Mrs. B-W to sign up. These 5 minute math refreshers do not take special training.   Canned Food Drive              February 8th - March 4th Girl Scout troop 70029 will be collecting canned goods for a Community Service Project for the Fairview Park Food Bank from 2/8--3/4. Collection boxes will be located on the 1st floor. Thank you for your support! Shop with Scrips Sunday by 7pm  Vacationing during Spring Break? BONUS rebates recently posted for Marriott & more.  Plan ahead & purchase SCRIP cards to pay your way.  Choose from HUNDREDS, including:  Panera, Starbucks, Chipotle, Subway & Wendy's to eat along the way.  Bon Voyage!   Remember to order this Sunday by 7 PM to ensure delivery for next Thursday's folder.  And don't forget that ordering Scrip enters you into the weekly drawing for a bonus gift card, as does using PrestoPay.  Don't miss out on this great way to raise funds for the school without any additional cost to you! Weekly Update - 2/21/13 Quick Links Menlo Park Academy Website MPA on Facebook Shop with Scrips by 7pm on Sunday Report your volunteer hours School calendar  Classroom Websites (click on Classroom Websites tab) Reminder:  No school for students next Friday, 3/1/2013, due to a teacher inservice day.  Elective assistants wanted!  Come lend a hand during third trimester Elective assistants are needed on Wednesdays for 2nd and 3rd grade from 2:15 to 3:00.  Please contact Mrs. Carrat carr_jeanne@yahoo.com if you are available. Grade Book     Kindergarten through third grade spent some time with our Grade Book support team creating a more workable document.  Begining third trimester, all k-3 teachers will be using Grade Book to keep parents updated on homework and progress on Ohio State Standards.  Look for more information in the next newsletter to better understand the formatting.   Also, please be aware that Grade Book will be undergoing a large upgrade that needs to be installed starting at 6:00 p.m. Friday, February 22nd and should be completed by 3:00 p.m. Sunday, February 24th. During this time Grade Book and Parent Access will not be available.  So if you need to check on any missed assignments or grades, take care of it early this Friday, or you'll have to wait until Monday. PASSWORDS?  If you do not know the user name and password for accessing Gradebook, please contact Nancy Colby 216-586-3746 or nancy.colby@menloparkacademy.com.  You will find attached a parent manual on how to manuever Gradebook for your information. Invention Convention  Wednesday, 3/6/2013 This fun filled day will showcase the amazing inventions from grades K, 1, and 4-8.  The Awards ceremony will be from 4:00-4:30pm that afternoon.  Only students whose parents will be attending the ceremony should stay after school that day.   We could use parent support in a variety of areas to make this event a success.  Can you lend a hand? In the next weeks, parent assistance could be extremely helpful with Kindergarten Rollercoaster construction and first grade egg drop design.  Contact classroom teachers if you would be interested in these engineering endeavors. On Tuesday, 3/5, we need 4-6 volunteers from 3:30-4:30 to set up tables in the gym for the event.  Pleasecontact Chris Whitman if you can help.  On Wednesday, 3/6, we will need help throughout the day. Please contact Chris Whitman if you can help in any of these areas: 8-9am - Need 4-6 volunteers during drop off to help get the IC participants and their projects safely into school and set up. 9-11am  - Need 2-4 volunteers to assist the teachers in allowing all MPA student to come and view the projects (all that is needed is to make sure the projects are not harmed during the walk through), with 1 or 2 hours shifts 11:45-3pm -  Judges still needed (cannot have a child participating in IC)  4:30- 5pm - Need 4-6 volunteers to help clean up the gym after the awards ceremony. Wednesday - March 6, the cafeteria will be used all day for IC because the church hall is unavailable during Lent.  Parent support would be greatly valued during lunch (11:00-1:00) as we will be eating in the rooms that day.  The more support teacher's have, the less fuss eating in the classrooms will be.  Please contact Mrs. B-W if you are able to come in that day. Destination Imagination  Appraisers needed for Saturday, 3/9/2013 MPA is in need of appraisers to judge for Destination Imagination on Saturday, March 9th.  This competition encourages students to work collaboratively to solve a problem.  The problems require that students combine creativity, science, art, music and performance.   It is an all day affair at Chagrin Middle School.  We have five teams of students participating and we are supposed to supply an equal number of appraisers. If anyone is interested and available, please contact Mrs. Belko.  Thanks, and best of luck to our teams! Dress Code Reminder  Make sure your students are "in code" before they leave the house! MPA's staff has noticed a recent increase in dress code non-compliance.  In order to make sure all of our students are clear on what is and is not allowed in the code, we will have a "Do and Don't" student fashion show this Friday to review proper dress code with students.  Beginning next week, February 25, students not in dress code will be sent to the office.  We will have some replacement garments but not in all sizes.  If your student is not dressed to code and can't find suitable replacement garments in the supply, you will need to come and bring appropriate clothing.  Students who are not in dress code will be required to make up any work missed while they are in the office waiting for appropriate clothing.  Please speak to your children and make them aware that we will be strictly enforcing MPA's dress code  (click link to see the whole policy).  Thank you for supporting us in ensuring that all students are treated equitably in regard to following this school policy.    Please know that student council officers are working with the administrative team to bring back a regularly scheduled dress down day.  Hopefully this will allow students the opportunity to exercise their individual fashion choice in a more regulated manner.  Look for more information on this in coming newsletters.   UNIFORM EXCHANGE: please remember that MPA has a "dress code swap box" located in the hallway outside of the school office.  Bring in your gently-used-but-outgrown school clothes to donate, or check the box to see if there are any in a size your child is growing into.  Much easier than trying to find a source for khakis in February! Young Authors' Week  Begins May 13th On Monday, May 13,MPA will be hosting a guest reader series.  If you know someone (athlete, fireman, policeman, etc.) who might be interested in participating, please contact Mrs. B-W.   Parent leads are also needed to work with students to write letters during lunch/recess requesting guest readers, organize a poetry slam as well as an author study fair.  Contact Mrs. B-W if you are available.  Girls' Basketball                      Championship Tournament Schedule Congratulations to the MPA Girls' Basketball Team on their first season!  The season will be capped by a single elimination tournament, with the first game on Tuesday night (2/26) at 7:00 at the Brookpark Recreation Center against the Brookpark Mercury. If they win there, the team will advance to play the North Olmsted Sparks at North Olmsted Middle School on Saturday, March 2nd, at 10:50am. If they win that 2nd game, they will play for the "C" division title on March 9th, time and place to be announced.  Good luck, ladies - and GO WIZARDS! Information can be submitted via email to: communications@menloparkacademy.com for review and inclusion in the weekly update. Submissions are subject to Director approval.