On Saturday May 7th, the Mallon Planetarium at Arcola Intermediate School hosted its Annual Star Party from 6PM-10PM. Although the weather was poor, we were prepared with many different STEM and space themed activities for families to participate in. We hosted somewhere around 280 visitors throughout the evening, and everyone seemed to leave with a smile on their faces and a renewed interest at looking up at the sky. We had 11 awesome Arcola students who ran all the activities, 5 Methacton High School Students who came to help our Arcola Students, and 3 district teachers who came to help supervise.

The Arcola spring concert took place on Tuesday, May 10th. It was the first spring concert since 2019, and the performances were outstanding! We look forward to the Band and Orchestra concert on Wednesday, May 18th, at 7:00 PM.

Algebra I Keystones are scheduled for 5/18, 5/19.

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Sadly, suicide completion rates are at a 30-year high. Anxiety, depression, and self-harm are also on the increase, particularly among adolescents. The Methacton web site has a list of hotline numbers for various agencies in the “Informational Resources & Hotlines” section (https://www.methacton.org/Page/283). If you have any questions or concerns about your student, please reach out to their school counselor to see how they can help.

We also offer a whole library of materials on various mental health and wellness topics for parents and students to read, print, and use. There are tips on how to feel less stressed or lonely, how to cope with anxiety and grief, and dealing with social media, among many others. Click this link and use the username of "arcola" and the password "arcola" to check them out!

https://plus.woodburnpress.com/arcola-intermediate-school

A Math Virtual Helpdesk is available to students who need assistance Monday through Thursday from 7:00 - 8:00 PM. This is a great opportunity for students who need assistance! Please see the attached flyer for details.

Every day Methacton teachers and staff members go above and beyond for our children. The past year has been a challenging one, but our teachers and staff rose to the challenge for our kids. Now is our chance to SHARE THE LOVE!

SHARE THE LOVE is an opportunity to show Methacton teachers & staff our love, thanks, and gratitude during Teacher Appreciation Month. Recognize your child's current and former teachers with a SHARE THE LOVE certificate and personal message. New this year, custom messages for each certificate!

https://www.methactonfoundation.org/news.../share-the-love/

Thank you for sharing (and showing) the love!

On Friday, June 3rd, 8th grade students are invited to the Party Barn at Northern Star Farm. There will be music, dance, paintball arcade stations, and hayrides. Please see the attached flyer for details with how to sign up for the event. Hard copies are also available in the main office. Thank you to the Arcola Home and School Association for organizing this opportunity for our students!

The Methacton Backpack program is up and running in each of our buildings and serves district families in need with supplemental food and non-food items. This program helps create food stability for breakfast and lunch when our students are not in school. Weekly, the program sends home a bag of breakfast, lunch, and snack items for the weekend and holiday breaks for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. Families who qualify for free/reduced meals are eligible to participate in the Backpack Program. Please contact the school counselor if you would like to register your child for the Backpack program.

In order to continue to sustain the program please consider contributing and donating items to the program. Items can be donated directly to the school or you can place an order through Amazon and ship it directly to our school from the Amazon page.

Methacton Backpack's Amazon Wishlist

Please remember to select, “No Weekend Delivery.”

What items can I donate?

Individual Serving Food Items

· Single serving boxes of milk (shelf-stable/not refrigerated)

· Mini cereal boxes

· Canned soup (cans with “pop tops”)

· Oatmeal Packs or cups

· Applesauce and fruit cups

· Chef Boyardee, Hormel, Dint Moore Meals, etc.

· Easy Mac Cups

· Cracker packs

· Sweet snacks: Fruit snacks, pudding, granola bars, individual bags of cookies, etc.

· Salty snacks: pretzel packs, goldfish crackers, popcorn, etc.

· 100% juice boxes