If they have not done so already, the students will soon be coming home speaking a bit of French. Yesterday the students were singing French songs, and soon they will be sampling French food. Here are a few basic vocabulary words and phrases that parents can use dans le français:
- School – L’école
- Time for school. – C’est le temps pour aller à l’école.
- Backpack – Sac à dos
- Do you have your backpack? – Avez-vous votre sac à dos?
- Lunch = Déjeuner
- Remember to take your lunch. – Souvenez-vous de prendre votre déjeuner.
- Snack – Casse-croûte
- What do you want for snack? – Que voulez-vous pour le casse-croûte ?
- I love you very much – Je vous aime très beaucoup.
You can make your own translations online at: http://webtranslation.paralink.com/
Yesterday each student in the Upper Unit received their own iPad! Until the end of the school year, each student will have an iPad to use for school work both at school and at home.
As technology becomes more prevalent in the classroom, we felt it was important to give our older students their own machines to improve their efficiency and workflow. We selected iPads because of their relative low cost in comparison to laptops and the huge selection of educational apps. Students will be able to use their machines to complete all their assignments, including word processing, spread sheets, and presentations.
One of the things we’re most excited about is giving each student productivity tools to help them take notes and schedule assignments. Organizational skills are fantastic to learn at this age, and will be invaluable in high school and beyond.
We can’t wait to see what our students can achieve this year!
Please join us for our first Building & Grounds work day on September 25, from 2–5pm. We will tackling a variety of projects from gardening to painting, so please join us, regardless of your skill level!
We will be providing child care in an effort to have as many folks on hand as possible. Please remember, any maintenance we can perform on the school with parent labor helps the bottom line and keeps costs as low as possible.
In order for us to have an accurate head count, please email Wendy Duvall if you are planning to attend. In your email, indicate if you will need child care, and the names and ages of the children.
At 5pm, we’ll pull out the grill and some other entertainment for a grill-out. Please join us for dinner and some social time after all your hard work!
Wednesday, September 1 is the first early dismissal day. Unless otherwise notified, school will now dismiss at 2:35pm on Wednesdays. If school is ever delayed on a Wednesday due to snow or ice, school will dismiss at 3:25pm, as stated in the Weather/Calamity Plan.
Monday, September 6 is Labor Day and school will not be in session on that day. Please check for other important September dates on the Calendar.
Are you forgetting to check the McGuffey website every day for news? We’ve got an answer! Simply scroll down to the fourth box on the right, and enter your email address. We’ll drop you a line every time we update.
Remember, this year we will no longer be publishing a weekly newsletter, so this website will be our primary form of communication for announcements, events, and stories of interest. We hope to update daily, so make to sure to keep in touch! Not only does this allow us to conserve resources, but it will be the fastest and most efficient way for us to communicate.
For those of you who are tech-savvy, you can easily add us to your RSS feed. We’ve provided this link in the website footer to make this as easy as possible.
Our eighth-grade scholars have taken an interest in the history, literature, and drama of the holocaust and its impact on young people. At the moment, the students are reading The Diary of Anne Frank in Language Arts. In Drama they are exploring the experiences of young survivors by reading the play No Fading Star by Celeste Raspanti, to be followed by a reading (and perhaps a performance of the play I Never Saw Another Butterfly, also by Celeste Raspanti. The play is the tale of the Terezin concentration camp, near Prague. Here is the synopsis from the Dramatic Publishing Company:
“Over 15,000 Jewish children passed through Terezin, and only about a hundred were still alive when Terezin was liberated at the end of the war. One of the survivors, Raja, having lived through it all, teaching the children when there was nothing to teach with, helping to give them hope when there was little enough reason for hope, creating a little world of laughter, of flowers and butterflies behind the barbed wire, tells the true story of the children. It’s her play and it’s theirs. There were no butterflies at Terezin, of course, but for the children, butterflies became a symbol of defiance, making it possible for them to live on and play happily while waiting to be transported.”
Much of the dialog in I Never Saw Another Butterfly is taken from actual prose and poems written by those doomed children. Please be prepared to discuss this tragic time in our planet’s history with your children, as they come to grips with man’s inhumanity to man.
Our daily schedule is now online in the password protected Parents area. Please take a look and see what your child’s day looks like!
A number of forms have been sent to parents in the past month. We know this is a lot of paperwork, but it is a necessary part of starting the school year.
We hope the list below helps clarify what paperwork is applicable to your child. Please click on the name of the form to download it in a PDF format.
All Students
Enrollment/Emergency/Trip form
Parent Input Form
Family Hours Planning Form
TSD Transportation Request Form
Fifth Graders (due to State of Ohio health report requirements)
Health Information Form
Dental Examination Report
New Students
Health Information Form
Dental Examination Report
Request for Records (1st–8th Grades only)
Media Release Form
Copy of Birth Certificate
Kindergarten
Kindergarten Questionnaire
As needed
Extended Day Enrollment Form
Divorce/custody decree
As we ease ourselves out of summer and into the school year, please take a moment to review our lunch, transportation, and calamity information.
And before you go shopping, be sure to consult the School Supply List!
