May 2008 News

Our congratulations and great thanks to Sunny Johnson (56 volunteer hours) and Mindy Perry (33 volunteer hours), Madisonville Elementary's Volunteers of the 3rd and 4th Quarters, respectively! On behalf of MES and the MESPTA, we want to thank Sunny, Mindy and all our volunteers for the time and hard work they give to make 2007 - 2008 such a successful year.

As reward for their mothers' efforts, Sunny's daughter, Caroline, and Mindy's daughter, Chloe, will have lunch with Mrs. Spencer. Sunny and Mindy will each receive $25 gift cards as a thank you.

Please consider joining the ranks of volunteers next year working to make MES the best school in St. Tammany, both for our kids and our community. Thanks very much to all our volunteers this year!

At this year's District PTA Awards meeting, MESPTA brought home brought home several awards. Our honors included awards for increasing and reaching our membership goals, having 100+ father members and 50+ grandparent members, 100% faculty and staff participation as well as an award for 10+ merchant members. In addition, our Lighthouse Lagniappe newsletter won the district award for outstanding newsletter for the third straight year (congratulations to our Newsletter Chair, Holly Watson)! Mrs. Spencer was recognized for the school's 100% faculty participation and MES was also recognized for having the highest participation in the Safety Poster contest out of 52 participating schools.

A huge thank you Jamie Boudreaux, our Membership Chair for 2007 - 2008 for all her hard work (we finished the year with 624 members). Jamie's been a mainstay on the board for several years now and she'll be leaving MES this year as her children move on to Madisonville Jr. High. We'll miss you, Jamie!

MES will be holding another tour for prospective families May 28 @ 10:00am. This tour is for students entering kindergarten or first grade for the first time in the St. Tammany Parish Public School System as well as any new residents of the MES school district.

Any child born before October 1, 2002, will be eligible for the first grade, and any child born before October 1, 2003, will be eligible for kindergarten.

Students who attended and completed a public school kindergarten during the 2007-2008 school year will not be required to register again for the first grade.

As a prerequisite to enrollment in any first grade of a public school, every child must have completed a full-year public kindergarten or must have satisfactorily passed academic readiness screening administered by the School System. Students who have completed kindergarten at an accredited private school must furnish proof of attendance.

REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION
The following items are required for student registration:

1. State Certified Birth Certificate
2. Health Record of Required Immunization
3. Proof of Residency
4. Social Security Card
5. Custody Papers (if applicable)

If you have any questions, please contact our office staff. Welcome to our school!

The recycling campaign is winding down. It's the 2nd Grade versus the 3rd Grade, to see which grade can collect the most newspaper and aluminium cans, with a popsicle party on the line for the winners. Children can bring their CLEAN recylcables to their classrooms each morning during the contest and Mr. Stampp's kids will collect the materials. There will also be two boxes in the office for you to drop off more. The last day of the contest is Friday, May 16, so hurry in with those recyclables!

Aluminum cans, in particular, will help in two ways: in addition to reusing materials that otherwise would end up in a landfill, the cans will be donated to Habitat for Humanity to raise money for their mission of providing affordable housing for those in need.

For more information, contact Mr. Stampp. Thank you!!

The Times-Picayune just ran an article about the St. Tammany School Board's efforts to combat cyberbullying. It's something all parents should be aware of these days. You can read the T-P article here.

Congratulations to the MESPTA Board Executive Officers for 2008 - 2009! At the April 24th Art Show and Ice Cream Social, we elected new officers to serve as President (Shane Hodgson), Vice-President (Chantel Lincoln), Treasurer (Ingrid Yancey) and Secretary (Malinda Williams). And if you weren't there, you missed some terrific ice cream, the fantastic company of our faculty and general PTA membership and the breath-taking art work of our children.

There are still open positions on the board for next school year; not all positions require a huge commitment or even that you spend a lot of time at school. All it does require is a mom or dad who's committed to providing their children and all the children of our community with a quality education and a lot of love. If you'd like to find out more, contact a PTA board member today.

Have you heard about our Art Parents program at MES? A group of parents goes from class to class each month, teaching our children about art by focusing on an individual artist and his work. The children learn not just about the artist, but his style, technique and little about the time and culture in which they worked. The 2007 - 2008 school year focused on artist such as da Vinci, Bill Hemmerling, Romare Bearden and Mary Cassat. The children love the opportunity to work with their hands and create something.

It's time to start planning for the 2008 - 2009 Art Parents program. Please consider giving one morning a month next school year to the program. There will be a Art Parents planning meeting at school April 28 @ 2:45pm.

It truly makes a child's day to see their parents so involved in their school. Please consider giving some of your time to this or other great programs at the school. Hope to see you there!

National PTA and Barnesandnoble.com have developed a discounted online bookstore for PTA members featuring over one million titles of books, textbooks, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, and videos. Members will save 5% on all purchases ordered from this site in addition to any normal site discounts of up to 40 %. New titles and special discounts will be featured periodically. Orders of $25.00 or more qualify for Fast & Free delivery within 3 business days or less. See pta.org or barnesandnoble.com for more details.

Our schoolwide plant drive went great! Thanks for all the generous donations of plants and time. The school grounds are now ready for springtime. Congratulations to the winning classes for contributing the most donations. An extra recess was awarded to the children, as well as, hand-made chocolate sunflower suckers.

Our benefactors from “How Does Your Garden Grow?” came to the campus to see the progress of our work. As an added benefit, some of the planted vegetables from the garden were ready to harvest and eat. Thanks again to the terrific efforts of those involved.

Tammy Loupe, our school guidance counselor, has a regular feature on the website. Take a few minutes and check out her latest "Kindness Connection" column.

With the school year winding down, many of you will be thinking about summer camp for the kids. The Times-Picayune recently published a list of summer camps in the area. You can find information about regular day camps online here and specialty camps here. There's also an article with tips on picking the right camp for your child. Good hunting!

The MESPTA is currently planning a special week to honor the dedicated men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating our children. We encourage you all to recognize all the ways teachers contribute to the lives of those children. During this upcoming week, please join the MESPTA as we show our teachers the appreciation they so richly deserve.

We'd like to invite your participation by donating items or a product/service for our random drawings during the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon May 9. Our organization depends on your support and generosity, and we'll be extremely grateful for your assistance. Please send donations to the school "Attention: PTA" no later than April 7, 2008. If you should require additional information, please contact Michelle Bryan (985-792-4793) or Wilhelmina Fulgenzi (985-845-1583).

Thanks so much for your generosity and support of our school!

- The School Board has released the 2008 - 2009 school calendar. You can view it here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required), or find it at the bottom of our Upcoming Events page.

- Ethics reform, a new "Extreme Heat and Hydration Policy" and the extension of grade levels at the alternative school have been on the School Board's agenda of late.

- In case you missed them, a few requests from administration went home recently:

• Please make any transportation changes for your children before 1:45pm. These days, the office is averaging 15-20 calls a day. The end of the day is a VERY hectic time and having so many changes can lead to errors.
• After your child is dropped off in the morning, to avoid traffic delays or accidents, please proceed on CS Owens without stopping, honking or waving to your child/children. Also, if you have any messages or concerns in the mornings, please park and ask the duty personnel rather than discuss your concerns in the car line. Please have your child/children ready to exit the vehicle once you're stopped.
• Please continue to post your child's name in the window of your vehicle. Hang tags are available in the office, or you can request one from your child's teacher.
• The school is trying to coax the grass in the bus loop to grow. Please don't remove the orange cones to park in the area. Additional parking is graciously availble at the church across Hwy 1077.

Thanks very much for your cooperation!

- Ethan Laborde from Mrs. Cumming’s 3rd grade class won a Certificate of Merit from the district PTA for his entry in the "Reflections" Contest. Ethan’s entry won in the Film/Video catagory. His entry will then move to the state level for judging and he will receive the opportunity to attend the PTA awards banquet.

- Have you checked out our online Photo Gallery? It's one of the most popular pages on the MES website! If you have pictures of any school events you'd like to share with the MES family, please contact the Webmaster. We'd love to show off your photos!

- Southwest Airlines Vacations has teamed up with National PTA to offer PTA members an exclusive discount on vacation packages. Members can save 5% on vacation packages to more than 40 exciting destinations, in addition to everyday low rates and ongoing special offers. For more information visit the benefits of membership section from pta.org. Be sure to login using your membership card ID.

Copyright © 2007 Madisonville Elementary School
Last modified: 5/12/2008