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May 05, 2009
Week 33 - Monday, May 4 - Friday, May 8
Dear Memorial Parents and Guardians,
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I know there are many plans afoot and if you would like to get into the act, please contact one of the following ladies who will be able to tell you what is in store for our wonderful teachers and staff this week:
8th Grade - Kelly Amadei: letitsnow@maine.rr.com
7th Grade - Jewel Church: jamediaadv@aol.com
6th Grade - Angela Emery: atemery@maine.rr.com
If you don't think you are able to get involved, please consider taking a moment to send a note to a teacher. When I was teaching, the most powerful "presents" I ever received were notes from students or, in some cases, parents sharing a kind word or anecdote about how I impacted them. Now, I'm not saying I received LOTS of notes like this - I can tell you, though, that when I did, they made a difference (and I kept them)!
We had a wonderful last dance on Friday night. We moved the dance to the gym and held our first "Sock Hop." I enjoyed fielding all of the students' questions about what a sock hop was and why we were having one. Once there, students enjoyed the different venue. In addition, students were able to also go to the cafeteria where Mrs. Benson and members of the REACH classes were overseeing the "game room." A number of different gaming systems were set up and students were able to sign up in groups of 4 to play the games with their friends. Thank you to all of the parents who devoted their time on Friday night to chaperoning Memorial's last dance of the 2008-2009 school year. A big thanks to the parents of our 8th grade students who have been doing the chaperoning gig for 3 years! For the rest of our parents, I look forward to enjoying our dances together next year!
On Tuesday night, Mahoney Middle School will hold their Parent Forum. They have graciously invited parents from Memorial to come and hear Deb Dunlap, the Coordinator of the Parent and Family Education Program at Youth Alternatives Ingraham. She will give a talk entitled: Parenting Teens 101: Staying Connected During Early Adolescence. This one-hour workshop will begin at 6:30 in the Mahoney Library. More information about the evening is included below.
Our Parent Forum will be held next Thursday night. For the last 2 years the students on our Civil Rights Team have been coming to school every other Thursday morning at 7 a.m. to talk about school culture and to plan events like our Spaghetti Dinner and to complete some pretty tremendous creative feats like our Civil Rights videos. The students have been working together to plan a Civil Rights Day at Memorial. This day will involve student participation in a variety of activities. They will also be able to hear speakers and see the student-produced Civil Rights video. We wanted to give parents a chance to hear some of the information that our students will be sharing with the student body. To that end, members of our Civil Rights Team will lead the last Parent Forum of the year. They will share some of the information they have collected, with the help of the staff from the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. They will also talk about different ways they have been working to intervene when bullying behavior is seen or hateful speech is heard. We hope to have a big turn out for this event on Thursday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Memorial Middle School library.
Wednesday is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m. Because our teachers will be in meetings, we will not have student activities immediately after school. Students should leave the building at the 11:45 dismissal.
As the warm weather descends upon us, it's important to review the dress code. In accordance with the District’s dress code policy, we will continue to expect students dress appropriately for classes. Hats, bandanas, or any head coverings are not to be worn in the building. Shorts and skirts should pass the "fingertip test." This means that the shorts or skirt should be longer than the longest finger when the student is standing upright with her arms down at her side. Students will not be permitted to wear tank tops or shirts with spaghetti straps or "belly shirts." Boys' pants and shorts must be pulled up to the waist. In addition, students will not be allowed to wear any article of clothing that displays logos or advertisements about tobacco, alcohol or drugs or that have suggestive language or slogans.
If a student's clothing is determined to violate the dress code, students will be asked to change clothes. If the child does not have clothing to change into, parents will be contacted and asked to bring a change of clothes to school. We appreciate your assistance with the enforcement of the dress code.
Athletic teams are in action this week. The schedule can be found below. In addition, the schedules can be found at the "Athletics" link on our website: http://memorial.spsd.org.
Have a great week. As always, please contact me if you have questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Megan Welter
Events this week:
Monday, May 4 - Day #5
2:30 p.m. - Homework Club in room 108
3:45 p.m. - Girls' Lacrosse vs. Massabesic at Mahoney
Tuesday, May 5 - Day #6
Connections day
2:30 p.m. - Homework Club - Room 108
Wednesday, May 6 - Day #1
Early Release student dismissal 11:45 a.m. - Students attend their 1st RA
No Homework Club
4:30 p.m. - Boys' Lacrosse at Gorham
Thursday, May 7 - Day # 2
No Homework Club - staff meeting
3:30 p.m. - Softball at Wescott (bus leaves at 2:30 p.m.)
3:30 p.m. - Baseball at Wescott (bus leaves at 2:30 p.m.)
3:30 p.m. - Boys & Girls' track meet vs. King, Windham & Scarborough at SPHS
4:30 p.m. - Boys' Lacrosse vs. Kennebunk @ Kennebunk
Friday, May 8 - Day # 3
11:15-12:30 - Staff Luncheon in the teachers' room by parents
Next Week + a few dates of note:
Tuesday, May 12 - Last Music Booster meeting of the year - 6:30 p.m. - SPHS cafeteria
Wednesday, May 13 - Progress Reports go home
Wednesday, May 13 - Civil Rights Day - Activities and speakers will be at Memorial
Thursday, May 14 - Parent Forum 6:30 p.m.
Friday, May 15 - Band to Children's parade 9-11 a.m.
Posted by memorial at May 5, 2009 07:28 PM
