MEADOWLARK NEWSLETTER
MAY 2019
Dear Families,
Happy May!
It is so hard to believe that we have a few more weeks left of the 2018-2019 school year. I hope that this year has been a great one for your student and your family. We were thrilled to have all the students attend the Meadowlark Groundbreaking Ceremony on Wednesday, April 24th. It was a great celebration of honoring our past and looking forward to our future. Andy Willhaus, the Hutton Construction Superintendent for the new Meadowlark, came to visit our students at our pep rally last Friday. The students had the opportunity to ask him questions and he shared some fascinating facts with the students! The kids loved the fact that his "office" was out of his truck but now his office is in a trailer. If you haven't had the opportunity to see the architects' renderings of the new building, please feel free to stop by and look at our displays in the foyer. These are the same displays that were available at our Showcase Night. Speaking of Showcase Night, thank you to those of you that attended! We had 80% of our students and families in participation!
While the formal Redesign process through KSDE is coming to a close, our work is really just beginning! We are excited to focus on our 4 student-centered goals: Collaboration, Support Systems, Learning Opportunities, and Showcase. Our Redesign team will be presenting to KSDE on Monday and to the Board of Education on May 13th. I will update you on our recommendations to the Board in the June newsletter.
Thanks for your support!
Dana Matheny, Principal
CALENDAR
- 7:30 am - 4th Grade Field Trip to Topeka
- 5th Grade Amazing Race
May 2
- 8:00 am - Meadowlark Milers (all students)
- 9:00 am - Kdg & 3rd Grade Field Trip to Tanganika
- 9:30 am - 1st Grade Field Trip to Kake Studio
- 10:05 am - 5th Grade ELP Field Trip to ACMS
- 3:45 pm - After School Monart Drawing
May 3
- NO SCHOOL FOR KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS
- Kindergarten Visitation for New 2019-2020 Students
- 8:45 am - 3rd Grade Kansas Kids Fitness Day @ ACHS
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally
- 9:30 am - 2nd Grade Popping Popcorn
May 5
Cinco de Mayo
May 6-10
- Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6
- 3:45 pm - After School Spanish Club
- 3:45 pm - STUCO Meeting
May 7
- 8:00 am - Meadowlark Milers (all students)
- 4:00 pm - Meadowlark Milers Red Bud Family Fun Run
May 8
- 8:50 am - Variety Show Mic Check/Rehearsal on Stage
- PTO Teacher Appreciation Lunch
May 9
- 5th Grade Field Trip to Camp Hyde
- 3:45 pm - After School Monart Drawing
May 10
- Last day to check out library books
- 8:50 am - "TEAM SCHNAK STRONG" ASSEMBLY
- 9:30 pm - 4th Grade (Mrs. Wiltse's class) Mother's Day Tea in Classroom
- 11:00 am - May Birthday Lunch with Mrs. Matheny
- 2:30 pm - 4th Grade (Mrs. Weide's class) Mother's Day Tea in Classroom
May 12
- Mother's Day
May 13
- All Library Books Due
- 8:45 am - 5th Grade Kickball/Cookout
- 11:00 am - June Birthday Lunch with Mrs. Matheny
May 14
- 11:00 am - July Birthday Lunch with Mrs. Matheny
- 3:00 pm - Pie in the Face Assembly
- 5:00 pm - Spring Fling Band Concert
May 15
- 2:30 pm - 5th Grade Wax Museum
May 16
- 4th Quarter Reading Logs Due
- 9:00 am - Talent Show
- 11:00 am - DJ Dance Party
- 1:40 pm - 5th Grade Growing Up Video
- 3:45 pm - After School Monart Drawing
- 6:00 pm - PTO Meeting
May 17
- 9 - 11 am - 3rd - 5th Grade Fun In The Sun
- 8:50 am - All-Star Pep Rally
- 9:00 - 11:00 am - 3rd - 5th Fun In The Sun
- 11:15 am - July Birthday Lunch With Mrs. Matheny
- 1:00 - 3:00 pm - Kdg - 2nd Grade Fun In The Sun
May 19
- AHS & ACHS Graduation Ceremony
May 20
- Meadowlark College
May 21
- Box Top Pick Up
- Reading Incentive - Bounce Houses
- 2:00 pm - 5th Grade Promotion
May 22
- CAMP OUT
- Distribute 4th Quarter Report Cards
- Last Day for Students/Dismiss 2 Hours Early
- 9:00 am - All-Star Pep Rally - Hero Awards
May 23
- NO SCHOOL - Summer Break
BIRTHDAYS IN MAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR STAFF!!
7 - Ashley Wiltse - 4th Grade Teacher
9 - Angie Collinsworth - Library Clerk
18 - Grandma Martha - Volunteer
Board of Education Announces 2019 Outstanding Service Awards
Alicia Moss - Golden Apple Award
Given to a certified staff member with four or more years in USD 385 who demonstrates educational effectiveness.
Mrs. Moss helps her students grow and succeed in 5th grade to prepare them for middle school. She is part of the building committee for USD385 and was a big part of the recent success with the Valentines boxes for the children's hospital. She works daily to think of new, creative ways for kids to succeed in school and life.
Thank you, Mrs. Moss, for all you do every day.
Amber Kear - Helping Hand Award
Goes to a school volunteer in each school who has given outstanding contributions to the building that significantly impacted students.
Amber Kear is the Helping Hand Award winner for Meadowlark Elementary. Currently, Amber is the PTO Vice President and has served in many volunteer roles at Meadowlark. She has been instrumental in leading their Helping Hands initiative, which supports the school by having volunteers available at morning drop off, lunch, and at pick up during the first few weeks of school. Amber also brought the Box Top initiative back to life! From gathering the collected box tops from classrooms monthly to awarding the winning class candy and a trophy, Amber has helped Meadowlark raise more than $2,000 in two years. Amber is a "go-to" volunteer for the building and they know she will come with a smiling face and a willing spirit.
Congratulations, Amber, and thank you for all you do!
Medications in the Health Office
Groundbreaking Event
Wednesday, April 24th
Project Update
The dirt work crew is making some progress on site while fighting the random rain over the last couple of weeks. They have stripped the topsoil off most of the site and have laid out the front pond and started cutting soil off the building pad and using that material to start filling the low areas that need to be built up. They started to demo the trees on site and will have a large bonfire to get rid of them without hauling them off-site.
Andrew Willhaus
Superintendent
Hutton Construction
American Answers Contest
Several Meadowlark Elementary fifth grade students competed in the America Answers Contest on Wednesday, April 17th. The quiz is a self-scoring, computer contest of 100 multiple-choice questions to be answered by the group. Areas covered include math, geography, government, sports, spelling, science, literature, English, history, general information, and just plain fun trivia. Several students selected the team’s answers on the computer, while the others read through the questions and answers. Each question offered two chances to answer correctly. Points were awarded based on how fast the question was answered by the group, as well as how accurate. No adult assistance was given! The students scored a total of 1152 points with 93% accuracy! This great score earned them 9th place in the National competition against 85 other 5th grade teams.
The 2019 America Answers team members: Isaac B., Ashley K., Kendall D., Gwyn P., Bella H., Nick P., Max B., Ellis N., Logan H., and Carsten D.
Congratulations to the team for all their hard work!!!
William Allen White Challenge Winners
The overall winner for the state of Kansas off the 3rd through the 5th-grade list was the book "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker.
"At the Hop"
3rd & 4th Grade Music Program
The 3rd and 4th Graders did a wonderful job as they traveled back in time to the music of the 1950's.... We are so proud of these kids and appreciate all of the hard work that went into preparing for the show, "At the Hop." A big thank you to the MES PTO for your help and support this year with all of the musical shows. Mrs. Matheny along with the MES staff have been so flexible and willing to jump in to help as well. Amber Kear and Punkin Hale have been great helpers with anything that we needed along the way to make these great memories for our families.. We look forward to next year.!. Please let me know if you ever want to be a part of helping with these shows.
Musically yours,
Mrs. Middleton
Senior Walk
Fitne$$ For Fund$
Thank you for making Fitness for Funds 2019 a HUGE success!
As of Friday, April 26th, students' have raised $22,585!
Prizes will be given out soon!
The entire school will have a DJ Dance Party (split among grades K-1, 2-3 and 4-5) on May 16th.
Students who raised $150 or more in sponsor donations will get to Throw a Pie in a teacher's or administrator's face!
Thank you so much for supporting this yearly event, our sole fundraiser, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting Meadowlark.
Box Tops for Education
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!
This year's earnings: $667
Amber Kear
Jessica Cicora
Mrs. Wiltse's 4th Grade class collected the most Box Tops in March!
Skating in P.E.
I would like to give a BIG Thank you to Donna Dingus for not only helping students get their skates and gear on but also assisting several students when they were skating. Donna also provided each student with a smarty on their last day!
Students will also be bringing home a complimentary skate pass to the Carousel Skate Rink!
Mrs. Crusinberry
P.E. Teacher
ALL-STAR CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM
These students showed ALL the Character Traits in April!
Summer Camps
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.
2019-2020 CALENDAR
How to 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!
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