MEADOWLARK NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2018
Dear Meadowlark Families,
October has been a busy month! Thank you for your commitment to attending our parent-teacher conferences. We count it as a privilege to be such an instrumental part of your child's life and we are always excited to partner with you.
Our Fall Parties were a success and there was not a single student short on treat consumption! Thank you for your involvement in sending your child's costume, donating treats for the party, and/or attending the party.
As a staff, we are continuing to work through our redesign process. This month, we held three parent focus group meetings to share our process and gather ideas and questions from our parent stakeholder groups. Our staff has nailed down our vision statement. It states, "To ignite a student's passion to have the freedom to go beyond anything they can imagine." Our next step in the Kansas State Department of Education's Redesign process is to begin setting goals and piloting some things in classrooms. We look forward to continuing to share our journey with you.
Below you will see information about our upcoming Food Drive that will be happening the week of November 5th through 12th. We always have a healthy yet competitive grade level competition!
Dana Matheny, Principal
CALENDAR
November 1
- Quiz Bowl Practice During 5th Grade ELP Time
- Box Top Pick Up
November 2
- Pennies For Patients - 80's Day, Dance Cancer in the Past
- Pennies For Patents Fundraiser Ends
- Quiz Bowl Practice During 5th Grade ELP Time
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally Assembly
November 4
- Daylight Saving Time Ends (clocks fall back 1 hour)
- NO SCHOOL - Professional Learning Day
November 6
- Quiz Bowl Practice During 5th Grade ELP Time
- Andover Food Drive Collection Begins (see items needed below)
November 7
- Quiz Bowl Practice During 5th Grade ELP Time
November 8
- Stack Up in PE (most people cup stacking in one day)
- 2:05 pm - 5th Grade Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl
- 3:45 pm - Monart Drawing in Room108
- 5:00 - 7:00 pm - 5th Grade Tiny House Open House
November 9
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally Assembly
- 2:00 - 3:00 pm - 2nd Grade Building Landforms in the Cafetorium
November 11
- Veterans Day
November 12
- 3:45 pm - After School Spanish Club
November 14
- 10:10 am - Spelling Bee Practice in Room 108
November 15
- Andover Food Drive Collection Ends
- 3:45 pm - Monart Drawing in Room 108
- 7:00 pm - PTO Meeting
November 16
- 5th Grade Food Drive Delivery and work at Andover United Methodist Church
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally Assembly
- 2:00 - 3:00 pm - 2nd Grade Landform Showcase for Parents in the Cafetorium
November 19
- 3:45 pm - After School Spanish Club
November 21 - 23
- NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
November 26
- 3:45 pm - After School Spanish Club
November 29
- 3:45 pm - Monart Drawing in Room 108
- 4:30 pm - Site Council Meeting in MES Library
November 30
- Box Top Pick Up
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally Assembly
- 11:15 am - November Birthday Lunch with Mrs. Matheny
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR STAFF!
BIRTHDAYS IN NOVEMBER!
14 - Sanna Alfers (Resource Teacher)
15 - Brittany Taber (Cook)
17 - Kathryn Rogers (Nurse Aide)
18 - Cathy Huffman (Administrative Assistant)
19 - Cami Kasel (Reading Teacher)
19 - Maria Tatro (ELP Aide)
20 - Laurie Nichols (Paraprofessional)
21 - Polly Haynes (3rd Grade Teacher)
Andover Parent Legislative Council
Educate Andover is a group of parents, grandparents, and community members dedicated to educating the public on issues facing Kansas public schools.
We encourage communication between residents of USD #385 and their legislative representatives. Click on the links below for more information.
THANK YOU PARENTS!
Aimee Steffan with her children Lyncoln, Madison & Auggy.
We still have 1 crockpot needing to be picked up!
ALL-STAR CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM
These students showed ALL the character traits for October!
CUSTODIAN APPRECIATION
A BIG THANK YOU to Fred, Tyler, John, and Patrick for all that you do and keeping our school clean!
BUS DRIVER APPRECIATION
School bus drivers are sometimes the first smiling adult a child sees each morning and the last before they get home. They always brave the weather to get our students safely where they need to be while being a shining example as they do it.
Tuesday, October 16th, was Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Meadowlark students lined up with a banner, clapping and cheering when the drivers pulled into the Meadowlark parking lot. The students had fun doing this and wanted to let the drivers know how much they are appreciated. Thank you, Miss Hoopes, for making the banner!
A BIG THANK YOU to Nick, Latrice, Preston, and Tom for driving our students safely to and from school.
Check out Mrs. McLains Facebook page to see what our students have been doing in art!
Free Art Day, Surprise Animal Drawing, Line & Color Monsters, Textured Monsters, Expressive Pumpkins and much, much more!
HONOR CHOIR
Sport Stacking
In P.E. class your child is participating in an exciting individual and team sport called “sport stacking”. Competitors stack and unstack 12 specially designed high tech cups called “Speed Stacks” in predetermined sequences. Using both hands and activating both sides of their brains, stackers race against the clock to beat their fastest times and compete against each other in relay races. The lessons during this unit will help promote fitness, strength, agility, coordination, and teamwork. I’m excited about sport stacking because it improves hand-eye coordination, ambidexterity, and quickness. Case studies on brain function have proven that activities such as cup stacking help to activate both sides of the brain. To really understand what Sports Stacking is please take a look at the Speed Stacks website at www.speedstacks.com.
If your child is interested in owning their own set of Speed Stacks, please look through the brochure that your child will be bringing home. Students are not required to buy their own set, however, many students like to have their own set so they can do this activity at home. If your child would like to purchase a set please bring cash or check, made payable to Meadowlark Elementary, to Mrs. Crusinberry and get your Sports Stacking gear on the spot. No waiting or paying for shipping. Sales will be on a first come, first serve basis. If you have any questions please email me at crusinbt@usd385.org .
Mrs. Crusinberry, PE Teacher
Book Fair
RED RIBBON WEEK
Students and staff enjoyed dressing up for Red Ribbon Week!
5th Grade Water Festival
All 5th graders went on a field trip and visited the Water Festival at Martin Elementary. At the water festival, we traveled around to different stations. We learned about recycling and played a game to see what you recycle, what you don't, and if you sorted them correctly you won! We also saw pollution in action and saw what an oil leak could do, like destroy a river, lake or other water sources. We made bracelets out of beads that represent the water cycle. We also saw a cow (Tinkerbell) up close. We learned how they milk her and how the milk gets to the store.
By: Ryann P. and Grace L.
THIS IS AMERICA
There's still time to order a DVD!
The cost of a DVD is $18. A portion of the proceeds goes back into the Meadowlark's Music Activity Fund. Make checks payable to Meadowlark.
The 19th annual Careers On Wheels (COWS) event was held for all 3rd graders in the Andover School District.
The first C.O.W.S. event took place in the Andover High School parking lot in the spring of 2000 for every Andover 3rd, 4th, and 5th grader. The career event has since moved to Sunflower, Cottonwood Elementary parking lots and this year at 13th Street Park for all 3rd graders in Andover schools. It is a joint effort coordinated by the 6 elementary school counselors.
A big "Thank You" goes out to all the presenters for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk with our 3rd grade students here at Meadowlark.
SPELLING BEE IS BUZZING THIS WAY!
The time is quickly approaching for our annual Meadowlark spelling bee, which is held on January 10th. This school spelling bee is for grades three, four, and five. Each classroom will be selecting two classroom representatives to participate in the school spelling bee. This selection process will take place in early November in their homeroom classroom. The teacher will conduct a written (October 29th-31st) and then oral (November 1st-6th) spelling bee only with those students that return a spelling bee permission form that has been returned and signed by Wednesday, October 24th. From this classroom bee, two students will be selected to represent their classroom in the school bee. There will be one school spelling bee winner with an alternate chosen as back up. The first place winner will represent our school in the county spelling bee on February 1st in El Dorado.
As a way to prepare for the bee, any student may begin studying right now!! The web address is: www.myspellit.com. The student may practice any of the words on the left hand side of the web screen under the various languages or words you need to know section in order to practice being a good speller. Please contact Mrs. King, Spelling Bee coordinator, with any questions you might have about our bee. Meanwhile………happy spelling!
Box Tops
Clipping Box Tops is an easy way to help earn cash for our school. Each one is worth 10 cents for our school! Just look for the pink Box Top on tons of products. All you need to do is cut them out, glue or tape them to a collection sheet, and send them into school. Each month we will send home a new collection sheet. Be sure to send your sheet back to school by the end of the month, and, don’t worry, it’s okay if it isn’t full. We have a great trophy that the winning class each month will get to keep in their classroom. This year, our goal is to earn $1,000 for our school! For more information on Box Tops, including a list of participating products, go to www.boxtops4education.com. Be sure to sign up as a member (it’s free) so you can check out our school’s earnings and get access to coupons and bonus offers. They also have an app that you can check out! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to help and would love to see this year be one of our best in Box Top earnings!
Amber Kear
Jessica Cicora
Mrs. Weide's 4th grade class won the most Box Top collection for the month of September!
Second time in a row! CONGRATULATIONS!
MUFFINS WITH MOMMY
FALL PARTY CELEBRATIONS
EARN CASH FOR OUR SCHOOL
Dillons Community Rewards Program
Dillon's makes fundraising easy---all you have to do is shop at Dillon's and swipe your Plus Shopper's Card! Go to Dillons.com and sign in or create an account to enroll. This enrollment must be updated every year. Once signed in, update your Community Rewards under your Account Settings. Search for Meadowlark to earn extra $$$ for our school!
Shoparoo
Every photo of a grocery receipt earns money for our school! Free to download, free to use. Nothing to buy or sell. Help us raise thousands of dollars a year!
- Download the Free Shoparoo App in the App Store & Play Store http://www.shoparoo.com/
- Select Meadowlark
- Take pictures of Receipts!
- Watch Meadowlark earn money!
PEACHJAR
Peachjar is simple and fun to use- you'll start to receive emails from us with flyers in them!
You never have to log in! But you can to manage your account preferences. Login information is sent to you. You will regularly receive emails with the latest flyers. They can also be viewed on the Meadowlark website. Simply look for the Peachjar logo! If you aren't receiving emails, create an account.
Meadowlark Elementary School
Email: harveyr@usd385.org
Website: http://meadowlark.usd385.org/
Location: 1411 N Main St, Andover, KS, United States
Phone: 316-218-4630
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meadowlarkelementary