Parent Meerkat Message
From the Desk Of Ms. Webb for the Month of February 2021
Important Dates
Feb 24 Parent In-Person/Remote Choice Survey Closes
Feb 24 District Early Release Day
Mar 1 Begin i-Ready Growth Monitoring
Mar 11 MSIT Community Building Activity 6-7 pm (More information to come)
Mar 8 Teachers Return to Buildings
Mar 15 In-Person Option Students Return to Building
Mar 15 Before and After School Care Begins
Take Care of Your Heart
Heart Health Month
Black History Month meets American Heart Month, Click Here
Rustic Italian Tomato Soup Recipe, Click Here
Children’s Books Whose Characters Defy Stereotypes
In this Language Arts feature, Grace Enriquez, Erika Thulin Dawes, and Summer Clark (Lesley University), Gilberto Lara (University of Texas/San Antonio), and Katie Egan Cunningham (Manhattanville College) spotlight books for elementary and middle-school children in which characters “defy stereotypes, straddle the borders of multiple identities, and live unique intersections of identity”:
- Octopus Stew by Eric Velasquez (Holiday House, 2019)
- Ho’onani: Hula Warrior by Heather Gale, illustrated by Mika Song (Tundra, 2019)
- My Footprints by Bao Phi, illustrated by Basia Tran (Capstone, 2019)
- A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson, illustrated by Nina Crews (Millbrook, 2020)
- Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell (Tu Books/Lee & Low, 2019)
- Blended by Sharon Draper (Atheneum, 2018)
- What Lane? by Torrey Maldonado (Nancy Paulsen, 2020)
- The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (Nancy Paulsen, 2019)
- Stargazing by Jen Wang (First Second, 2019)
- Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed (Nancy Paulsen, 2018)
- King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender (Scholastic, 2020)
- Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices, edited by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (Amulet, 2020)
- Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park (Clarion, 2020)
- Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum (Atheneum, 2019)
“Shattered Stereotypes, Multiple Identities, and Vibrant Intersections: Books That Explore and Celebrate Complex Characters” by Grace Enriquez, Erika Thulin Dawes, Summer Clark, Gilberto Lara, and Katie Egan Cunningham in Language Arts, January 2021 (Vol. 98, #3, pp. 162-171); Enriquez can be reached at genrique@lesley.edu.
NEW ROUND OF P-EBT BENEFITS BRING FOOD ASSISTANCE TO NC FAMILIES
Thousands of North Carolina parents with school-age children will soon begin receiving additional assistance to purchase food through the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program, or P-EBT, which has been renewed for the 2020-21 school year. The federally funded program, which is administered in North Carolina by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Department of Public Instruction, was launched with school closures last spring.
For more information about P-EBT eligibility, about the program, who is eligible, and how families will receive the benefit, please visit www.ncdhhs.gov/PEBT.
STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL
Statewide Tornado Drill scheduled for Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 9:30 AM
Schools and government buildings statewide will hold tornado drills Wednesday, March 10, at 9:30 a.m. to practice their emergency plans. Schools and Central Office locations are asked to prepare for and conduct the drill. Test messages will be broadcast on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radios and the Emergency Alert System. All North Carolinians are encouraged to participate in the drill.
SEVERE WEATHER PREPAREDNESS WEEK
Severe Weather Preparedness Week in North Carolina is March 7-13, 2021. For more information, visit https://www.weather.gov/rah/2021ncswpw.
Morehead Montessori Elementary Magnet School
Website: www.dpsnc.net/morehead
Location: 909 Cobb Street, Durham, NC, USA
Phone: 919-560-3954
Facebook: facebook.com/MoreheadMontessori
Twitter: @MMeerkats