Each Friday for the rest of the year, the Intermediate Unit will further their study on Simple Machines. We are working with Lego, a computer tutorial/game at Edheads, rulers, spoons, pencils, pulleys, bikes, etc. As we increase our understanding by doing these various activities and exploring all of the simple machines around us, we are getting ready for our favorite biannual event: Take Apart!

In the last week of May we will spend part of our time working on taking apart a common household item (VCR, Radio, Printer, Toaster, etc.). If you have a non-functioning item that you were just going to throw away, let Heidi know—it might be great for take apart!

We would like to extend congratulations to our alums that recently made the honor roll at Talawanda High School and other area schools.

Last term, 76% of the McGuffey graduates currently in high school were on the honor roll! Congratulations to these students, and all our alums, for their incredible achievements. We couldn’t be more proud.

In April, the upper unit took a trip to Subway. Students had been working on a project to estimate the number of sandwiches, slices of meat, cheese, and tomatoes as well as the cost that it would take to cover the distance from McGuffey to the White House.  Students decided that we would use $5 footlongs as the “standard” sandwich.

It was determined that the distance between the two locations is approximately 420 miles and, using the fact that there are 5820 feet in one mile, found out that this would mean that more than 2 million sandwiches would be needed. This, in turn, means that the cost would be more than 10 million dollars!

The Intermediate and Upper units have been exploring the classic Greek Myths, both during Read Aloud and when we were at Glen Helen. We were all very lucky to have Deborah Lyons PhD, a professor in the Classical Humanities Department at Miami University, come by and talk about our favorite myths and mythological characters.

The book we read from in Read Aloud is D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, in case any of your students are missing these tales over the summer!

On Saturday, May 19, at 11:00am, we will be taking SOAR (Students Outside Active and Running) to the Miami Natural Trails for a McGuffey Community Hike. We will begin by hiking a three mile loop. Immediately following the completion of the walking hike, Heidi will lead a 3 mile run through the same course.

Both hikes are optional, but children will be allowed to count these miles toward their SOAR total. McGuffey families and friends are welcome to join us!

Even though staff will be on the trail, we ask that a guardian participate with your child.

Hope to see you there!

Yesterday McGuffey was visited by Caldecott Honor author and illustrator, David Ezra Stein. His visit was made possible by the Lane Public Library, who brought David to Oxford to visit local schools and libraries. Our Pre-Primary and Primary units spent part of the morning with David.

First he told us a bit about himself, how he loved to draw as a child, and even shared some childhood photos and illustrations. He also talked about his creative process, showing photos of his desk where he works and the couch where he thinks up many of his best ideas!

Then he read two of his books—Leaves and Pouch—leading the children in movements that coordinated with the stories.

Working with the children, he then created a collaborative illustration. Based on the children’s suggestions he drew a picture of the Pre-Primary room with a large spider, who was there for his first day of school. When the joey from his book, Pouch, saw the spider, he got very scared! One of our students helped model what a scared face might look like.

David left us with this one-of-a-kind illustration and several signed copies of his books.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Lane Public Library and David Ezra Stein for such a great experience—it made for an exceptional day!

Please join us for a Building & Grounds Work Day on Saturday, May 12th, starting at 9am. We will tackling a variety of projects from gardening to painting, so please join us, regardless of your skill level! You can participate for some or all of the work session.

Please remember, any maintenance we can perform on the school with parent labor helps the bottom line and keeps costs as low as possible. Your contribution of time is a valuable resource! This is also a great opportunity to get in your work hours before the year ends.

Any questions? Please contact Jon Ralinovsky.

To register your Kroger Plus card for the Community Rewards Program:

• You need to register online at krogercommunityrewards.com.
• Have your Kroger Plus card handy and register your card with your organization after you sign up.
• Click on Sign In/Register
• Click on SIGN UP TODAY in the ‘New Customer?’ box.
• Sign up for a Kroger Rewards Account by entering zip code, clicking on favorite store, entering your email address and creating a password, agreeing to the terms and conditions.
• You will then get a message to check your email inbox and click on the link within the body of the email.
• Click on My Account and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step.
• Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards information and input your Kroger Plus card number.
• Update or confirm your information.
• Enter NPO number or name of organization, select organization from list and click on confirm.
• To verify you are enrolled correctly, you will see your organization’s name on the right side of your information page. (McGuffey’s # is 80713)

REMEMBER, purchases will not count for your group until after you register your card(s). Do you use your phone number at the register instead of a card?  Call 800-576-4377, select option 4 to get your Kroger Plus card number. You must swipe their registered Kroger Plus card or use the phone number that is related to their registered Kroger Plus card when shopping for each purchase to count.

If you still have money on your old Community Rewards card you may still spend it! Just make sure you also have your Krogers plus card on hand as the time of purchase.

QUESTIONS? NEED HELP? Please call Liz at 513-523-7742.