the mandeville messengermandevillemiddle.stpsb.org/documents/fourthnewsletter2015.pdf · mandeville...

Mandeville Middle Messenger March 2015

The Mandeville Messenger

What’s Going On?

2525 Soult Street Mandeville , LA 70448

MandevilleMiddle.stpsb.org

March 2015

A Message from the Assistant Principal, Sherri Barton

Inside This Issue PTA Reflections 2

Thanks to our Sponsors 3

A Special Thanks 5

Classroom News 7

Upcoming Events 10

Dear Parents and Students,

It’s difficult to believe this is the final newsletter of the

year. Although we had all begun to wonder if spring

weather was ever going to arrive, it finally did so. Sixth

graders are eagerly anticipating their special end-of-the

year-activities, and our fifth grade students can’t wait to

take their places as the leaders of the school. Fourth

graders and their parents are happy to realize they have

successfully navigated the transition to middle school.

As we move toward the conclusion of the school year, we

do need your help with getting car line students to school

on time each day. The bell for students to be in the building rings at 7:30 a.m.

Car line is light between 7 a.m. and 7:20 a.m. Those who wait until after that

time generally face the inevitable backlog that ends up causing students to be

tardy. It’s important for students to be here to begin the day with their teachers

and classmates. Thanks for helping us do a better job of this the remainder of

the school year.

On Saturday, March 7th, our MMS Fitness Team participated in the Middle

School Fitness Meet held at Lakeshore High School. Grant Cogan, Ryan Jar-

Follow me to Page 4


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PTA Contests -

The 2014-2015 National PTA Reflections theme was "The

World would be a better place if..." Students around the

country submitted their interpretations in the 6 catego-

ries including visual arts, photography, literature, music

composition, dance choreography and film production.

Eight of our students, reported in the last newsletter, won

awards at the District level of competition and advanced

to the state level. We are thrilled to report that Leah

Savoy and Daniel Roach won the State's Outstanding Interpretation Award for Music

Composition and Film Production, respectively. Their art works have been sent off to the

National level of the Reflections contest. Good luck kids! We will hear about these results

in May.

This year's Safety Poster contest was themed "Stranger Danger."

In the District level of the Safety Poster contest Mandeville Middle is proud to announce

the following students achievements: Kaylee Barbari and Angele Boulanger won the Ex-

cellence Award in the Intermediate division. Ann Crabtree and Victoria Vinet won the

Merit Award in the Middle division. Great job kids and thanks for submitting your art-

work!

Kaylee Barbari won the State Award of Excellence in the Middle division for her Safety

Poster. Congratulations Kaylee!

Thanks students for participating and putting forth your best efforts. All the judges

along the way were impressed by your interpretations.

PTA REFLECTIONS


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To Our Volunteers and Sponsors

WE THANK YOU!

Our volunteers and sponsors contribute to our school in countless ways. Volunteers help reinforce to kids that their education IS important. Sponsors make all the “extras” possible. You both reinforce the partnerships between MMS and the community.

A BIG THANKS to all of our

MMS Volunteers

Ginny Guillory Jill Savoy Linda Roach Jackie Hyer Jennifer Cardinal Chrissy Bourlet Kim Lavelle

Corporate Sponsors

Gold Sponsors: Spartan Industrial Products Florida Marine Transporters

Bronze Sponsors: Rachel Moak—Younique Miller Orthodontics Le-Vel Tonic Chiropractic Julie Schwarz, Avon Guerilla Baseball


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vis, Claire Rush and Caitlyn Sinon did a great job representing our school. Caitlyn placed 1st in the Shuttle Run, 2nd in Pull-

ups, and 3rd in the 50-yard Dash, finishing 2nd overall for Girls, which means she advanced to the State Parish Fitness Meet at LSU

where she will represent St. Tammany. Way to go, Caitlyn! In addition, Claire won a 2nd place medal in the Curl-ups, Ryan won a

4th place in the Long Jump, and Grant placed 4th in both the 600-yard Dash and the Pull-ups. Congratulations to these students and

to Coach Gaines and Coach Champagne!

MMS had numerous students who placed in the PTA Safety Poster and Reflections Contests. Students whose Safety Posters re-

ceived awards were Angele Boulanger, Kaylee Barberi, Ann Crabtree, and Victoria Vinet. Reflections winners included Dylan Lin-

go (Photography), Daniel Roach (Film Production), Taylor Mason (Literature), Leah Savoy and Elaina Bachman (Music),

and Victoria Bourlet and Jacelyn Stelly (Visual Arts). How proud Ms. Hart and I were to join these students and their parents at the

annual banquet recognizing them for their unique, creative abilities. We were also pleased to recognize our Educator of Distinction

for this year, Mrs. Ann Reed, sixth grade math and science teacher who is retiring this year.

Talented Art students are recent recipients of special recognition, as well. Work by Anthony Bosco was selected to represent St.

Tammany Parish Schools 4th – 6th graders for the Louisiana School Boards Association annual art contest. In addition, work created

by Madison Pittman was chosen to grace the cover of the 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for STPSB and additional

works by Sara Hossain, Anthony Bosco, and Angele Boulanger were selected to be included within the document. Congratu-

lations to these students and their teacher, Ms. Robyn Kennedy!

We also appreciate the efforts of our PTA in building community through many special events this year. Pizza with Dad and Moz-

zarella with Mom, both in their second year, continue to be huge hits with everyone involved. It was wonderful to see our students

and their parents enjoying food, bingo and fun together. In addition, there are the many other activities PTA has long supported

which continue to make MMS such a great community. Thanks to everyone for your generosity with Food Drive. We are hoping

to reach 10,000 items by the end of the school year, so please keep up the good work.

Ms. Hart and I and our wonderful faculty and staff could not provide all we do for your children without the tireless, gracious assis-

tance of our parents. Not only are you generous in support of our students, but the recent Teacher Appreciation Week made each of

us feel pampered and appreciated. We are grateful to Jill Savoy and Ginny Guillory , who organized the week’s activities, as well

as to the many other volunteers who gave of their creativity, time, energy and talent to make this an amazing and special week.

Thank you for helping to “set the stage for success” with us each day and for entrusting your children to us. We look forward to

your joining us for the many activities that conclude our school year. As always, please feel free to contact us at any time with your

ideas and concerns.

Sincerely,

Sherri Barton

Assistant Principal

Continued from Page 1

Thanks to Domino’s Pizza for

donating pizza

coupons for the 2nd

quarter Honor Roll Students!


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A Special Thank You... Thank you to everyone that helped to make Faculty and Staff Appreciation Week so spe-

cial! The teachers and staff enjoyed their treats as well as their luncheon on Thursday. As

a result of the generosity of the following local businesses each member of our faculty

and staff received a door prize at the luncheon.

Abita BBQ

All Wrapped Up

Bella Salon

Bistro Byronz

Blue Harbor

Bosco's

Bra Genie

Coffee Rani

Das Schulerhaus

Dominos

Friendly Video

K Gee's

Liz's

Mainstream Boutique

Massage Envy

Niche Home

Nothshore Office Equipment

Painting with a Twist

Rusty Pelican

Subway

TCBY

Triple Nickel

UFC Gym

Usual Suspects

Please keep these sponsors in mind when shopping locally!


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Mandeville Middle School’s Sixth grader, Sam Dehmer, has been notified by the Na-

tional Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the

2015 Louisiana National Geographic State Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.

The contest will be held Friday, March 27, 2015.

This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its

27th year. School Bees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students

throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a

qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National

Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50

states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. terri-

tories to compete in the state Bees.

Each state champion will receive $100, the “National Geographic Atlas of the World,

10th Edition,” a medal, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the Na-

tional Geographic Bee Championship to be held at National Geographic Society head-

quarters, May 11-13, 2015. The national champion will receive a $50,000 college schol-

arship and lifetime membership in the Society. The national champion will also travel

(along with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands, where

he/she will experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the is-

lands’ unique wildlife and landscapes. Travel for the trip is provided by Lindblad Expe-

ditions and National Geographic. Visit www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee for more

information on the National Geographic Bee.

National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD will air the 2015 National Geograph-

ic Bee Championship final round, moderated by award-winning journalist Soledad

O’Brien, on Friday, May 15, at 8 p.m. ET. The final round will be aired later on public

television stations. Check local television listings for air date and time in your area.

All of us at Mandeville Middle congratulate Sam on this accomplishment, and wish

him well in the upcoming competition!

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee


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A Message From 6th Grade

It is almost impossible to believe that sixth grade students have wrapped up their first series of standardized tests and are looking at only two more months before Mandeville Mid-dle is but a treasured memory. In the meantime, however, they have been and will be as busy as ever. Students are looking forward to their sixth grade field trip in the next several weeks to Turtle Cove. For those unfamiliar with the facility, Southeastern University's Environmental Re-search Station in Manchac/Maurepas will introduce MMS students to the marsh and swamp in South Louisiana. During the trip, the staff with take students on a tour where they will learn about coastal wetland loss problems as well as partici-pate in hands-on activities such as testing water quality, dipping nets for aquatic species, and conducting field sur-veys of specific animal and plant species. ELA classes completed a historical fiction novel based on the Civil War entitled, Across Five Aprils. Currently, these classes are beginning a unit on the Renaissance in Reading which will tie in closely with Social Studies and the quickly approaching Renaissance Festival. Both April and May will be filled with memorable experiences for the sixth graders such as their last Art Fest, Junior High Day, the Sixth Grade Social, the class picnic, and so much more. Classrooms in the 400 wing are actively embracing valuable learning strategies, math concepts, and life skills that

will follow them on to junior high and beyond...and they are having fun and making memories along the way.


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With all of the exciting learning opportunities, happening in fifth grade, the end of the year will be here before we know it! Fifth graders will be studying the fantasy genre this quarter including the novel, James and the Giant Peach. They will explore the opposition of good versus evil, the value in courage, adventure, forgiveness, and honesty. Students will be able to research the history and use of special effects in movies to see how imagination and creativity brings about progress and change. In Social Studies, students will continue focusing on the inter-action of early settlers in America. They will be studying the lives of settlers in the 13 colonies. Students will describe how the colonies developed including how settlers contributed to the success of each colony and how some colonies struggled to succeed. Maps will be created by students to show the variety among the three major regions of the Thirteen Colonies. We will explore the New England colonies, the Middle colonies and the Southern colonies and compare and con-trast the climate, temperature, soils, elevations and other factors which have an influence on the economy of the colonies. During Math, students will be studying measurement with customary units and the metric system. Students will solve real life problems which include unit conversions of standard as well as metric measures. In Science class, students will be learning about the spheres of the Earth and will include the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere. In all subject areas, 5th grade students will enjoy lessons and activities which are engaging, hands-on

and interactive as they work in cooperative teams to incorporate a variety of technological resources.


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Fourth grade worked hard in all subjects during the third 9 weeks. Fraction action was what math was all about. We covered many new fraction skills, and ELA worked hard on writing using evidence from several different pieces of lit-erature. ELA had many interesting things going on in the hallway. Mrs. Willis’ and Mrs. Deibel’s students created restaurant menus featuring delicious adjectives. Mrs. Deibel had her kids make a book cover for Genres, and Mrs. Willis’ stu-dents are doing mini story boards with traditional litera-ture and plays. Mrs. Holloway and Mrs. Schoen’s classes worked with Scholastic news articles for comparing and contrasting and other fun activities. Mrs. Schoen’s stu-dents also created funny limericks for St. Patrick’s Day. Science was an entire unit on plants, animals, and ecosys-tems. We had many projects lining the 4th grade hallways for this unit of study. Mrs. Reinhardt’s class worked on their “Louisiana Animal” research project. Ms. Busby’s students did an “Ecosystems and Animals” project. Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Ponsetti’s classes did colorful bro-chures for their ecosystems, and Mrs. Wagner’s students also created ribbon food chains. Ms. Folse’s students made plant projects and created their own new animal with special adaptations. In Social Studies, the fourth graders have worked hard on Economics and Government. Mrs.

Ponsetti, Mrs. Diebel, and Mrs. Willis’ classes worked on creating their own Louisiana product.

Many economics and government lapbooks and foldables were created. Ms. Folse and Mrs. Hol-

loway’s classes created marvelous Mardi Gras themed state float projects. Fourth grade has been

very busy with the many engaging activities and projects!


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Dates to Remember:

March 30 - April 6 Spring Holidays April 14-15 ILeap/Leap Testing May 4-7 PARCC testing May 22 Last day of school (1/2 day)

MMS-Samaritan Center Food Drive

Since our last newsletter was published, we have col-lected another 1,729 items for the 3rd quarter (874 items in January and 914 items in February). We also collect-ed 1,196 items in March. We are now at 8,023 items year-to-date. Our goal is to reach 10,000 items, so we only have 1,977 more items to go! We will have two more food drives before the end of school. The classes that brought in the most items for the 3rd quarter were Mrs. Schoen, Ms. Kastner, and Mrs. Reed. Congratulations! Their students received a popsicle party. The classes that bring in the most items for the 4

th quarter will receive a

popsicle party. The classes that bring in the most items for the 2nd

se-mester will receive a snowball party at the end of the year! Let’s keep those donations coming! Thank you for all that you do to help those in need in our community!

Bank at School

MMS PTA and Whitney Bank offer a great pro-

gram to our students and teachers. Students are

able to open a REAL bank account at school

through Whitney Bank and learn how to save money. They will re-

ceive monthly statements to teach them how to balance their account

and watch their savings grow. Thanks to our wonderful PTA they

also receive a small treat each time they make a deposit, PLUS have

their name entered in a raffle for a gift bag each Bank Day.

The tellers are 6th graders who filled out an application and were in-

terviewed to be selected. They are more than happy to help their fel-

low students bank at school.

The remaining bank day is April 7th.

The tellers are: Brian Baudoin, Anna Carter, Abby Gourgues and Ca-

den Dugas.


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12

2360 Fifth Street

Mandeville, LA 70448

985-629-2082


13

1357 N. Causeway Blvd

Mandeville, LA 70471

Phone: (985) 778-0880


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Holiday Camps

Summer Camps

Hitting Classes

Pitching Classes

3555 Hwy 190, next to Kmart in Mandeville

www.guerillabaseball.com Phone: 985-377-9249

[email protected]

Guerilla Baseball

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