Lower School

August 29, 2012

What a great start to the 2012-2013 school year!  A highlight for me was watching eight lower school students participate in the all school assembly titled, “Marshmallow Challenge”.  I was impressed by their creativity, confidence, and positive effort.  This is a testament to what we do here at MPA and what you do at home each and every day.

Yes, celebrations and assemblies are great community builders and create a positive school atmosphere.  This is important because research tells us school ambience can actually make or break a school program.  What we must also understand is that the day to day expectations actually create the conditions necessary for successful celebrations and a positive school atmosphere.

When I visited the Kindergarten students on Wednesday morning, they were getting ready to write in their journals.  When I stopped in to read a story to a first grade classroom, they were discussing similarities and differences between frogs and turtles.  On Tuesday, I watched our second grade students learn computer skills with our Technology Coordinator.  Walking into a third grade class, I found them returning from the library and beginning a lesson on writing.  And, on the first day of school, I witnessed a MPA fourth grade student showing a new to MPA fourth grade student how to open his locker.

These experience are not as big or exciting as the celebrations and assemblies, but they create a culture of learning, respect, and excitement about learning and MPA that carries over to these events.  As you take time to visit with your child about the school day, note both the variety and the consistency in the conversation.  The MPA Lower School teachers are excited about the year and look forward to each and every one of those learning opportunities.  Please feel free to share any great conversations about your child’s day with their teacher.  Many times, those stories are the highlight of their day.

Sincerely,

Tony Reimers

PreK-8 Director

Mounds Park Academy

August 20, 2012

Dear Lower School Families,

Welcome to the 2012-2013
school year!  June and July have been
exciting months for us in the Lower School. 
In that time, our Character Happens At Mounds Park (CHAMP) committee
worked hard to create a literacy focus for our program during the 2012-2013
school year.  At the same time, another
group of teachers researched reading assessments and tools for the classroom.  Not only do we know from advances in brain
research that reading with a child has intellectual, emotional, and physical
benefits that can enhance the child’s development but that the amount of
reading and writing students do both in and out of school is positively related
to their overall academic achievement.

Thanks to the Office of
Admission, we continue to welcome new families to Lower School.  These new
students and a projected retention number near 95% and well above the
independent school norm, have filled both PreK and grade 4 to capacity.  A sincere thank you to all of you who have
reached out to new students and their families. 
These gestures make a tremendous difference in the comfort level of both
the students and parents as they start the year at MPA.  The MPA Lower School has also hired Ms. Liz
Wanzek to teach Lower School French, Ms. Debbie LaChapelle to teach a section
of Kindergarten, and added Lower School Spanish to Kathleen Sheridan’s current
teaching assignment.  We welcome them to
Lower School and look forward to all they bring to our community of learners.

Our first day of school is
Monday, August 27th. School begins at
8:30am.  It is important throughout the
year that the students arrive on time so they feel a part of the class from the
beginning of the day and are aware of everything that is happening on that
particular day.  It can be distracting to
students already in the classroom when students arrive late or after a lesson
has already started.

If you would like a reminder about the Lower School uniform
requirements, you can access this information here. If you would like to purchase the MPA fleece,
our Spirit Shop will be open for your convenience at Back-to-School night.

Panther Club will be available on the first day of school. 
It is imperative that you make use of this extended day opportunity if you
arrive early or pick up your student after 3:30 p.m.  Your child’s safety is
our biggest concern.  We do not want your student to be without adult
supervision at any time.  If your child is not picked up by 3:30 p.m., they
are asked to join Panther Club so you will always know where to find
them.  Please do not ask your child to avoid Panther Club.  It puts
them in an awkward position.  On occasion, we find a student hiding in the
building and they tell us their parents do not want them to go to Panther
Club.  If the cost of Panther Club is a burden to you, please discuss it
with us.  We can typically work something out rather than have your
student unsupervised.  The fee in the morning remains at $6.00 per
day.  Children arriving before 8:15 a.m. must go to Panther Club.  They
may come as early as 7:00 a.m.  If they are in Panther Club they will be
dismissed at 8:25 a.m. walked to their classroom.  If they arrive after
8:15 a.m. they may go directly to their locker to get ready for the day and on to
their classroom.  The fee for the
afternoon remains at $10.00 per day.  It begins right after dismissal and
runs until 6:00pm. There is a $1.00 per minute/per child late fee if you arrive
to pick up your child after 6:00 p.m. The late fee is due at the time of pick
up.  The Panther Club fee includes a snack, supervised play, and an
activity every day.                    

Kindergarten Round-Up will be held in the kindergarten classrooms on Tuesday,
August 21^st, at 5:30 p.m.  Children
and parents can come at 5:30 p.m. with their supplies so the students have a
chance to see the room and meet their teachers. 
At 6:00 p.m. the children will be escorted outside to play at the
playground while the adults have a meeting with the homeroom teachers to hear
about the year.  We feel this is the best
way for the students to see the school for the first time and for the parents
to hear important information from the teachers.  KG families are welcome back on Thursday
evening if they would like to meet the specialists and have the children see
the other rooms they will be using throughout the year.

Back-To-School night is
Thursday, August 23.  Even if your child has been at the school for a number
of years, this is an important event for them. 
Our first day of school goes smoothly because of the time spent at
school on this evening.  Students have a
chance to meet their teachers, specialists, and see where they will be sitting
and storing their materials.  They feel
ready to learn on that first day of school because Back-To-School night
alleviates a lot of anxiety for them.  The
evening begins for you any time between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.  All
of the classrooms will be open from 5:30 p.m.-6:45 p.m. to give you enough
time to see all of them.  When you enter
through the South Entrance, please stop to fill out a nametag.  We will have colored dots for you to add to
your nametags.  These will designate the
grade level of your child/children and will make it easier for grade levels to
find each other as you wander throughout the building.

Hopefully you will be laden
with all of your child’s school supplies, as part of the evening is
devoted to helping your child organize their supplies in both their desk and
their locker.  It is also a time to visit
with the classroom teachers and receive materials from them.  We are certain your student will also want to
revisit all of their specialists who will be in their own classrooms.  If you are new to the school, it will be
beneficial to your student to see where their other classes are held.  Feel free to visit these places in any order
you wish.  This open format provides a
comfortable setting for both parents and students, and allows the families to
stay together as a unit throughout the evening.

When you have completed your
visits to the classrooms, please join other families outside on the playground
for socialization and ice cream. 

Please fill out and return
the following forms.

Field Trip Permission Slip

Registration for Pick Up
(If someone other than a parent will be picking up)

Emergency Card (K-4) (Remember to keep the emergency card updated
throughout the year as this is the only way we can contact you in the case of
an emergency.)

Volunteer Sheet(s) –We really do need and appreciate your help.

            -Weekly Lunch
Table Supervision Volunteer (K-4)

            -Duty
Free Lunch Volunteer (K-4)

Directory Order Form

Twins Game Ticket(s) Order Form

After School Chart

The online Community Directory Password is:
ls1panthers

On the Lower School section of the MPA website at,
you will find the supply list, uniform policy, and the request to allow the nurse to administer medication. The
medication form needs to be filled out and returned in order to be valid.

We are looking forward to
meeting all of you!  We will be near
the South Entrance on Back-To-School Night and hope you stop by and say hello.

Sincerely,

Tony Reimers                                       Marina
Dale

PreK-8 Director                                     Assistant
Lower School Director

May 3, 2012

On Monday afternoon, after our students left for the day, I sat down at my desk to read a newsletter titled, excellence & ethics.  The article that most interested me was one that listed 20 things schools can do to promote kindness and prevent bullying.  While this article was well written and useful to us as a school, I found another article in this newsletter that I would like to share with you.

Dr. Michele Borba is the parenting expert on NBC’s “Today” show and was the author of the article I am referring to.

She begins her article by answering the question, “What are three things parents can do to raise kids who are kind?”

1. Consciously model kind behavior.  Whenever you do a kind act, tell your child how good it makes you feel.
2. Be explicit about your expectations: “Unkindness is hurtful.  I expect you to treat everyone kindly.”
3. Look for opportunities for your child to be kind and then acknowledge it: “That was a very kind thing to do.”

I share this with you as we continue our work together.  By combining your effort at home with our effort here at school, we maximize the opportunities to create a culture of character!

Thank you,

Tony Reimers
PreK-8 Director

April 5, 2012

Ms. Rossbach and I have a rhythm to our teaching life at Mounds Park Academy that has developed over the past 22 years of our collaboration on the Lower School music and art show.  We’ve worked with many teachers over the years, including student teachers, and now are happy to collaborate with Ms. Abbe Bloem and Ms. Sonka.  We’ve guided hundreds upon hundreds of Lower School students, children that we see as young artists, through the process of skill development and personal growth in music and art.
 
Each spring at this time the rhythm of our teaching reaches a fast pace as we pull together the children’s work for the Lower School Art and Music event. Both students and teachers put in much time and energy, and are highly focused on sharing all the great learning that has taken place; for the essence of music and art is that they must be shared!

Lower School students at Mounds Park Academy experience a powerful combination of intellect and emotion as they learn music and visual art.  Our focus has always been that our students will “know how” rather than “know that”.  Here’s an example:  The second graders know how to play music in ensemble. They may or may not know that J. S. Bach was born in 1685.  The second graders know how to create a 3-d form from their 2-d design.  They may or may not know that Henry Moore worked in bronze.  Our students do know many facts, but facts can be “googled”.  What they really need as young artists is the experience of doing—hands on in music and hands on in art!

Sharing through music performance and visual art shows are crucial to a strong art and music education.  Musical performance and art shows are the culmination of skills and the personal growth that each student has cultivated this school year.  The students bring their music and art work to our community as a way to communicate directly with us and draw us into their understanding.  Because music and art can express feelings and emotions in ways that defy precise verbal definition, they have an intrinsic, communicative value. And, yes, children as young as Kindergarteners are well aware of the power of music and art.  They may not be able to put it into words, but our expectation would be that they will sing, dance, play, paint, draw, and sculpt what they need to tell us.

Ms. Rossbach and I (along with Ms. Abbe Bloem and Ms. Sonka) look forward to seeing you at this year’s Lower School Art and Music Show, “Making Connections” on Thursday, April 12 with the art opening at 5:30 and the music performance at 7:00.  We are so very proud of the music and art that the Lower School students have to share with you.

Ms. Espeland, Lower School Music
 

April 5, 2012

February 2, 2012

We teach students to think independently, communicate effectively and act with respect and integrity in a diverse community that models intellectual ambition, global responsibility and the joy of learning.”

Our Lower School service-learning project brought our Mounds Park Academy mission statement to life.  When we learned about an orphanage in Jamaica we realized we could help improve the quality of their living conditions. In our diverse community we started brainstorming how we could make a difference for 35 children and their staff. Students joyfully and independently created things to be sold at our Baa Baa Boutique in December. Students communicated our efforts through art, written expression, dramatic commercials, and verbal presentations. It was an honor to witness their process of exploring all the intellectual opportunities. Students increased their vocabulary, social awareness, and integrated all areas of learning into this one activity.  They realized that their hands could reach across an ocean and bring a smile to another human being. I remember Bob Kreischer, the founder of Mounds Park Academy, using the phrase, “‘I can do’ attitude.” Well “I can” and “we did”. Both phrases can be used

Global responsibility reached a new height. We thought it was within our means to purchase a goat and a few chickens for the orphanage.  However, our MPA ambitions and generous spirit exceeded our expectations of purchasing chickens and a goat. We did so much more! We purchased chickens, two goats and contributed to the solar water system they desperately needed. We also gave them 200 books, boxes of crayons, drawing paper, craypas, paint sets and brushes. We raised an impressive $1,100.30 through our entrepreneurial activities.

I look forward to representing my school community at the Garland Children Home in Jamaica. The Lower School students were kind enough to decorate t-shirts that I would be wearing during our intense days of repairing, installing, and renovating the orphanage facilities. Hopefully this will help them make another connection with our friends in Jamaica.

I am so grateful for this experience and look forward to sharing it with all of you when I return home.  I will give Billy Bob Joe Buddy and Bobetben a kiss when I see them! (These are the goat names that won the lower school raffle contest:)

Sincerely,

Kristine Petersen
Kindergarten teacher

February 2, 2012

Just like most Independent College Preparatory schools, we print our Mission Statement on nearly all our official documents and communications. You can also find our Mission Statement in multiple places on our website.

What you may not know is that we also have many philosophy statements and papers that guide our work as well. Just this week, I have read both the music education and math education philosophy statements.  And last week, I had the privilege of sitting down with our Admissions Director, Renette Stinson, and looking at the MPA Kindergarten Philosophy. It is my pleasure to share that philosophy with you below. I hope that you enjoy the passion and dedication to student learning. If you have any questions or concerns about this philosophy, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Sincerely,
Tony Reimers
PreK-8 Director

MPA Kindergarten Philosophy

The MPA Kindergarten program is designed for children who are at least 5 years old by September 1 of the academic year. The full day program allows for exposure to a wide spectrum of subjects. Specialists teach specific classes throughout the day including:

• Physical Education
• Spanish or French class
• Music
• Art
• Computer
• Library

Kindergarten at MPA is a program embracing the philosophy of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Children’s growth and learning are supported through developmentally appropriate curriculum that is tailored to the specific needs and interests of the students. Our unique teacher-created interdisciplinary curriculum is constructed to be flexible, responsive to the needs of the whole child and designed to support each student as they build upon their foundation of learning. Life skills are developed through the carefully constructed daily routines of the kindergarten classroom. Literacy development permeates every aspect of classroom learning through daily opportunities for shared reading, independent book exploration, writing, interactive read-aloud, developing comprehension, word study, phonics instruction, vocabulary development and a variety of relevant print-rich classroom experiences.

As well as supporting literacy development, the kindergarten curriculum promotes math learning through exploration of patterning, number sense, problem solving and exposure to a variety of math concepts that will be built upon further in each academic year including time, fractions, money and geometry.

Each unit of study is multi-disciplinary and includes learning in the areas of science or social studies as well as literacy and math.  Social studies and science topics are explored through themed units and include concepts that are meaningful to kindergarten students such as community, weather, maps and a variety of animal studies.

By the end of the year, Kindergartners will have developed both academically and emotionally as part of a community of learners that possess the confidence, independence and curiosity to be successful in their First Grade year at MPA!

January 12, 2012

The first grade students could not have been more excited for Tuesday’s Blood Drive. They have been anticipating this event since they first learned about our Service Learning Project in November.  Since then, the first grade students worked with the Upper School Student Council Members to make signs, stickers, and thank you cards, they learned about the need for blood from a classroom parent, Dr. Dick Marnach, worked to recruit donors, and wrote stories and practiced reading books so they would be prepared for Tuesday’s event. The students wore their Blood Drive T-shirts with pride and did an amazing job reading to donors and/or handing out thank-you notes.  Thank you to all of the adult assistance in collecting donors, volunteering, and donating blood!  It was an incredible success having first grade students involved in such a wonderful event.

On behalf of the Upper School Student Council and First Grade Classes, we would like to thank everyone for supporting us with this year’s Blood Drive.  It was an incredibly successful event. We collected 40 units on a goal of 38!

November 29, 2011

Successful schools for young learners provide assessment, feedback, and evaluation that promotes quality learning. As a Lower School, it is our goal to exceed those baseline expectations. As you read this article, our Lower School teachers are busy finalizing a first trimester report card for you and your child. During the week of December 5, 2011, you will receive your child’s report card and gain access to an online version of that report card. You will also receive a letter that contains a User ID and Password that you will need in order to access this online report card.

While we are planning to send you a hard copy of the Trimester I report card, Trimester II and Trimester III reports will only be available electronically. You may print a report card from your computer after any trimester. Our teachers have worked hard to make the transition to online reporting and we hope you enjoy the access to these reports. As you read through the report card, please take a moment to appreciate the depth of the report and look for patterns. It is important to note that work habits, attitude, personal growth, and social growth are assessed along with academic progress.

I would also encourage you to contact our teachers with any positive comments about their work or questions that you have about your child’s report.

November 2, 2011

Think about the last thing you read. Did you read it because you had to read it or because you wanted to read it? As adults, most of our reading is because we want to read. I read in a recent article titled, Turn Your boys INTO READERS!, that most men state, “They hated to read as a kid!” However, when questioned further, they remember reading lots of Mad magazines, comics, Boys’ Life and war histories. Less specifically, they read things they wanted to read or things they wanted to read about.

Research tells us that literacy is the most important factor in students finding success at school. This article points out, girls outscore boys in reading proficiency levels. So what can we do to change this trend?

According to Pam Allyn, it can be accomplished in four easy steps. Ritual, Environment, Access, Dialogue (READ). Creating a ritual for reading includes reading everyday. You might even incorporate movement into the daily reading ritual. Be creative.

In my opinion, and through my experiences, the second step, creating the environment, is the most important for boys. When creating the
ideal environment for your child, be sure to ask him some very important questions. Do you like to read by yourself? Do you like some background noise or do you prefer a quiet room. Having your child create the environment makes it fun and creates ownership.

If your child likes to read magazines, give him access to more magazines. If he likes to read fantasy, give him access to more fantasy. When they do chose a book, ask them why they chose the book. Was it the topic? Was it the author? What is a story about their favorite superhero? Whatever it was, give him access to read that which excites him.

Making reading a conversation piece (dialogue) is the fourth step in this journey. Ask him questions about what he is reading. Read aloud with your child. Make reading a social event that you share together. If they sense excitement from you, they will catch the feeling.

While I believe this four step technique can be successful for both boys and girls, it is a must for many boys. If you would like a top 20 list of books for boys, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Enjoy reading with your child!