Lot's of News

MCAS Testing Starts: 3/25 Tuesday. Check with your teachers to see what you child's testing schedule is.

RECYCLE PARTY: Saturday March 29th: Mark's Meadow Gym. 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Please come and help the Recycle Team sort printer cartridges and earn some dollars for the PGG. The more the merrier. Call Tracy Hightower to volunteer, for details on this PGG fund raising program and on how you can help! 413-657-6879. Your efforts in this program pay for Field trips, 5th and 6th grade Yoga, Science Night and much much more.

Go, Kids Art, Go: 3/29 Saturday: 11AM to 5PM Barnes Art Gallery click here for information about Art Gallery.

Walking with Dinosaurs - Thanks to Scott McGinley you now have this to explore. The Live Experience! First New England Performance in 65 Million Years! Although there is no school matinees, this is an exclusive discount offer for teachers, students, and parents. Discounted tickets for shows on Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28th at the Mullins Center. To check out the show and purchase tickets go to http://www.dinosaurlive.com/ . Enter the code "GSMC" to receive a $5 discount off Thursday and Friday night shows! For groups of 10 or more please call 413-545-3332.

Meetings :
PGG: April 1st, 6:30 to 8:00 PM Mark's Meadow Library
SGC: April 3rd, 3:30 to 5:00 PM
DIVERSITY: April 15th 6:30 to 8:00PM Open Forum and movie (OFF TRACK)

SCIENCE NIGHT AT MARK'S MEADOW? WEDNESDAY APRIL 9th, 6pm-7:30pm
SAVE THE DATE!

Fund Raising, how are we doing?
Bake Sale at Family Movie Night: $70
Brown Envelope Fund raiser: as of March 21st $436. Send in your contributions our goal is $3000
Family Photo's Project: $270.75
Stop and Shop: $452.96 with only 32 families participating. Sign your card up now.
Box Tops: $145 +
Target. $174 with only 32 cards signed up.

Multicultural Fair, What you need to know!

FASHION SHOW PREPARATION
If you are interested in helping organize the Multicultural Fair Fashion Show, please consider attending our organizing meeting on Monday, March 10 at 3:15 PM in Mr. Scott's classroom (Room 150).

We will be discussing the structure of the show, how to organize costumes backstage, create a logical sequence of presentations, audio/visual ideas, and anything else that comes up. For more information, please contact Scott McGinley, Kindergarten teacher, at mcginleys@arps.org.

MULTICULTURAL FAIR COORDINATION MEETING
In Nick's Office 2:30 Wednesday, March 12th. Come and join the team of dedicated volunteers working to have a successful night for our community.

CALLING ALL FAMILIES FOR THE MULTICULTURAL FAIR
If you haven't gotten a call from your room parent yet regarding bringing something to the Multicultural fair these are some of the things we need. Please come and share your cultural heritage at our annual Multicultural Fair. March 19th, at 6:15 PM. It is completely up to you what you bring in. You might want to think about what is special about your family’s tradition. Things you might want to know about the Fair.

• You can bring in photographs, artwork, books, artifacts, music, games, instruments, clothing, dolls/puppets, farm/agricultural displays, an art activity or even cds/dvds that represent your heritage. You can be creative.
• You can dress in your traditional or celebratory dress.
• This year the items might be grouped by theme or you may share a room with other families from the same geographic area.
• Do you know of any other families who would like to participate?
• You can come into the school to set up anytime between 4-5:30 p.m. or drop the items off earlier in the week or day.
• The exhibit viewing time will be one hour. A staff person or another member of the Mark’s Meadow community will be able to relieve you for 30 minutes so that you can enjoy the rest of the exhibits.
• During the eating and performance time in the gym, we will lock the doors to the classrooms.
• At 8 p.m. the doors will be reopened for cleaning and packing up.
• When you arrive to set up you will be told what room to go to.
• Do you have a specific item that the children can look for as part of the scavenger hunt?
• Please label your items
  

BRING IN TRADITIONAL FARE TO SHARE

• You can bring in a tasting or “finger food” that could be a part of your exhibit area or if you bring in a larger dish it will be served later in the evening in the gym.
• Label all dishes with your child’s name
• Bring in a serving utensil (also labeled)
• Precut desserts
• Please bring in an ingredients card, some community members have allergies or dietary restrictions
• Name the country of origin
• Remember this is a Mark’s Meadow sampling, not a full dinner
• We do not have any place to reheat or refrigerate foods
  

THANK YOU for your offering!

REMINDERS and fun things to do.

• Rock n' Read : 3/3, All day Monday
  
• PGG meeting: Meeting Tuesday 3/4, 6:30PM, Special guests include School Committee candidates.
• Fathers' Group: Tuesday 3/3 10AM to 11:30AM. Fathers don't forget the opportunity to participate in FATHER'S GROUP. Tuesday March 4th in the basement of the Unitarian Church located at 121 North Pleasant Street. Sponsored by The Amherst Family Center and Family Outreach of Amherst.
• SCG meeting: Thursday 3/6, 3:30PM Nick's office. Open meeting anyone is welcome. Please fill out your own school improvement plan by clicking here and downloading a file. (also see below in next post)
  
• Family Movie Night: Friday 3/7, 6:45PM Movie will be Babe or Honey I Shrunk the Kids
  
• Multicultural Fair: 3/19 6:15 Only 2 weeks away...please bring in your volunteer form. We especially need parent volunteers to set up the exhibits and bring in cultural artifacts.
  
• Science Night: We have a date: 4/9th. 6:00 to 7:30PM Please come.
• Internet Safety and Savvy: Wednesday, 3/12 7:00PM - 8:30PM at Amherst High School Library. An important look into the online lives of are students! The ARHS Parent Center will be sponsoring a workshop for parents and guardians titled "Internet Safety and Savvy" teen's safety while surfing the Web, as well as posting to such sites as MySpace and UTube.
  Cynthia Boyle, Director of Community Education and Outreach for the Northwest District Attorney's Office, and an expert in this field, will conduct the workshop. Ms. Boyle is very up to date on the sites that are popular with ARHS students and other teens. This workshop will offer you an important glimpse into the online lives of ARMS and ARHS students. Other topics covered will include: social networking sites, cyber bullying, Internet lingo, online gaming, instant messaging, chat rooms, and bash boards. Online safety tips and family contracts regarding Internet use will also be discussed as important tools for keeping our young people safe while online now and in the future.
• Walking with Dinosaurs - Thanks to Scott McGinley you now have this to explore. The Live Experience! First New England Performance in 65 Million Years! Although there is no school matinees, this is an exclusive discount offer for teachers, students, and parents. Discounted tickets for shows on Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28th at the Mullins Center. To check out the show and purchase tickets go to http://www.dinosaurlive.com/ . Enter the code "GSMC" to receive a $5 discount off Thursday and Friday night shows! For groups of 10 or more please call 413-545-3332.
  
  
  

Open Forum: What are your ideas for School Improvement?

Click here to download and print a file that will help us understand your ideas for the School Improvement Plan. Please link to this document hit the print button and express your ideas for the improvement of Mark's Meadow. When you are done with the document email it to Marksmeadow@gmail.com or bring it into the office.