Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School

Parent Newsletter
MVMPCS CALENDAR:
Thurs., 11/14 MVMPCS Drama Performance - Space Pirates, 6:00 p.m. Fri., 11/15MVMPCS Drama PerformanceSpace Pirates, 6:00 p.m. Sat., 11/16 Building & Grounds Volunteer Work Day, 9:00 a.m. Wed., 11/20MMCI Annual Meeting, MVMPCS, 7:00 p.m. Thurs., 11/21Absentee Photo Make-Up Day, 11:00 a.m.1:00 p.m. Fri., 11/22Community Coffee, 9:15 a.m.; 2 hour early dismissal at 12:45 p.m.; no After Care. Mon., 11/254 Hour Late Arrival for Parent Teacher Conferences, K8th Grade Students arrive at 12:45 p.m., No PreK or Pre-School students attend; No Before Care. Tues., 11/263.5 Hour Early Dismissal for Parent Teacher Conferences, Students dismiss at 12:15 p.m.; Lunches served on an early schedule. No After Care. Wed., 11/27Fri., 11/29School ClosedHappy Hanukkah and Happy Thanksgiving! Wed., 12/4Hearing & Vision Re-checks

November 14, 2013

FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear Families, Monday, Nov. 25th and Tuesday, Nov. 26th are ParentTeacher Conference Days. On Monday, school will be delayed 4-hours with teachers holding evening conferences. (Please note, on all delayed school openings three and four year olds do not attend school.) K through 8th grade students arrive at 12:45 p.m. and school begins at 1:00 p.m. There is no Before Care or lunch. Students will attend Specials classes as normally scheduled. On Tuesday, all students arrive on time and K-8th grade will dismiss at 12:15 p.m. for teachers having afternoon conferences. (Three and four-year-olds still dismiss at 11:30 a.m.) Lunches will be served early. There will be no After-Care. Conferences are a wonderful time to meet with your childs teacher, especially if this is your childs first year with their current teacher. They are an excellent way for parents and teachers to develop open communication and to discuss concerns early in the school year. If you havent signed up for Parent/Teacher Conferences there is still time. On line scheduling for conferences is available again this year. Use the instructions below to access the Pick A Time website. Enter the following address in your web browser to access the MVMPCS Conference Schedule: https://pickatime.com/client?ven=11607738&event=254116 You will then need to Register to SIGN IN. Enter your email address and push "Login/Create Account". Fill in the required fields and register. SIGN INIf you've previously registered, all you need to do is enter your email and password. If you have forgotten your password, you can select the Forgot Password button and a new password will be emailed to you. SCHEDULING-You will see a list of teachers. Select the box next to the teacher name(s) that you would like to schedule a conference with. You will then see the schedule of available times for those teachers. Click on a square to schedule that time. You will have the choice of setting a time when you would like an email reminder to be delivered, and you will be prompted to enter in the name of your student. Click on Create Appointment. Repeat until you have a time with each teacher youd like to visit with. You can click on the Printable Schedule link located on the top right corner and print the resulting web page to get a hard copy of your schedule. You will also have the option to email the schedule to yourself. Have a wonderful weekend, Cita

HELP PROVIDE CONFERENCE MEALS FOR STAFF! As you are probably aware, Parent-Teacher Conferences are on 11/25 and 11/26! We, as a community, would like to express our gratitude to the teachers and staff for all of their hard work and dedication by providing meals for them on conference days. Therefore, we will all be pitching in to provide dinner on Mon.,11/25 and lunch on Tues., 11/26. Please click on the links below to sign up for your contribution to the dinner, lunch, or both! In addition to this online sign-up, sign-up sheets are posted in the school entryway. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B084AAAAA2FA46dinner http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B084AAAAA2FA46teacher

Once you have signed up, please plan to drop off your item(s) at pick-up time on the specified date. In addition to food/supply contributions, we would appreciate some help with set-up and clean-up before and after the meals. More information will be sent about that in the near future, so please keep an eye out. We appreciate any help you can give as we work together to support our school staff in their work with our children!
Many thanks, Deb Knox-Teitel, Christy Haybok & Jen Nichols Community Outreach/Hospitality Committee

2-HOUR EARLY DISMISSAL FRIDAY, NOV. 22 MVMPCS students will be dismissed Friday, Nov. 22nd at 12:45 p.m. for a Teacher Work Session. Lunch will be served on an early schedule. ***THERE WILL BE NO AFTER CARE.***

MVMPCS NEWSLETTER
VOLUNTEERS WANTED FOR MVMPCS BLDG. & GROUNDS WORK DAY, SATURDAYNOV. 16 The building and ground committee needs volunteers on Saturday, November 16 at 9:00 a.m. to help spread mulch in the front courtyard. Please email me to let me know if you plan on helping. We need at least 8 people willing to break a sweat! We would also like to borrow a few wheelbarrows, so please let me know if you are able to loan us one. This is a great way to meet your volunteer hours and make a huge impact on the day to day experience of your child. Thanks in advance! Erin Frank kfrank1@mac.com

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CHECK THE LOST AND FOUND

Now that the cooler weather is here, be sure to check the lost and found periodically for discarded jackets, hats, and other missing valuables. The lost and found is located past the computer lab before going into the Sanctuary.
In addition, we have small items such as a Canon camera lens cover, jewelry and a gift card kept in the office. You might be surprised at what you find!

DONATIONS WANTED
MMCI ANNUAL COMMUNITY MEETING ON NOV 20TH

Dear MMCI Community (all parents and staff at MVM and CCM), The MMCI Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the 2013 MMCI Annual Community Meeting and invite everyone to attend on Wednesday, November 20th at 7pm at MVMPCS (217 Dill Avenue in Frederick). This is the meeting where we hold our annual elections for MMCI, MVMPCS, and CCMPCS positions that will open in 2014. There will also be updates about MMCI and its finances, both of the schools operated by MMCI (MVM and CCM), and additional information about the exciting changes that are coming up for MMCI and both schools in the coming months and years. There may be a vote on proposed changes to the MMCI bylaws. Volunteering does not require lots of experience, college degrees, or certifications. The most important things are a heart to serve, the desire to learn and adapt, and the ability to take on challenges until theyre completed. If you are interested in serving on the MMCI BOT, one of the GCs, or next years Nominating Committee, feel free to contact the MMCI Nominating committee by email or letter (placed in the MMCI mailboxes at MVM or CCM). A detailed list of positions and descriptions will come out next week and any proposed changes to the bylaws will be provided to the community by November 6th. Sincerely,

ART ROOM: In addition to clipping box tops for MVMPCS, start saving the entire cardboard cereal and cracker boxes for our MVMPCS Art Room. The boxes can be folded flat to save space. In addition, Ms. Elizabeth can also use empty paper towel rolls and cleaned, empty yogurt containersboth small and large. HEALTH ROOM: Tissues are in high demand during this time of the year and the Health Room would appreciate any donations!

PORTRAIT RETAKE DAY IS THURSDAY, NOV. 21 Photographers from Lifetouch will be at school next Thursday to take absentee photographs and picture retakes. If your child was absent, an order form will be sent home. If you do not receive a form, they are also be available at school. For those students who need a picture retaken, please send a note to your childs teacher along with the unwanted portrait package. Regardless of purchase, all students are photographed for our MVMPCS yearbook. However, a percentage of picture sales benefit the MVMPCS Student Activity Fund that support supplemental educational opportunities such as Study Island, etc. By the way, we received a commission of $1,164 for our fall 2013 photos!

Julie Clark (jclarkad@yahoo.com), Jonal Haley jonelhaley@westat.com), Anna Spencer (annacaro82@hotmail.com), Martina Adkins (martooni@msn.com), and Anthony Rood (anthony.rood@gmail.com)

MVMPCS ATTENDANCE YEAR TO DATE: 96.79% MD STATE REQUIRED ATTENDANCE: 94% *Send absence notes to: Rose.Shapiro@fcps.org