Housekeeping

A few tidbits to start the week...

• The glorious blue envelopes from the business office should have arrived in many mailboxes last week—which means that tuition is due!  If your LS children have "used" your stamps as stickers, you can walk your envelope to the kind folks in Academy Hall and they will be happy to relieve you of your burden! 

• The Division Heads will be presenting at the next PACA meeting, this Wednesday, December 12th at 8am in the Dining Hall.  Breakfast will be provided by the PACA Board.  Come and join us and hear what is happening in LS, MS and US!  

• A couple of links from the world of education that might be of interest:

Is college becoming irrelevant?  Lots of controversy about this one from the New York Times: Saying No to College

How school environments impact academic dishonesty: The Cheating Epidemic: How School Climates Affect Student Choices

The deal with My BackPack

Greetings from your slacker PACA blogger.  

Several weeks ago, we had a great post from Kevin Dubenion on some of the capabilities of Moodle.  We had lots of nice feedback on that post and it got me thinking about another electronic portal that we have going on at CA: My BackPack.

Reminder!

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is a late start day for faculty development.  School begins at 930am, but childcare is available for kiddos beginning at 730am.

Bring the kids in early and join us at PACA's General Membership meeting tomorrow at 830am  in the Dining Hall.  It is open to everyone! Come and get the scoop on everything happening on Cherry Bottom!

See you then!

A Moodle Muddle

...And now a word from Kevin Dubenion, PACA co-president!

Parents!

I dropped in to have lunch with my 7^th grader last week (Red Velvet FroYo...YUMMERS) and her science teacher (Dr. B) stopped me for a chat. He gave me an in-depth report on a recent homework assignment that was just a bit below par and (get this) told me he had a few ideas that we could try at home to help my lady Vike excel! Certainly, this was fabulous! I mean, where else does this type of interaction occur on a regular basis? Only at CA. But I digress.

Hold the phone

Driving to school this morning, I made sure that I had my cell phone.  The weather was particularly icky and well, it seemed prudent to make sure that I had a reliable means of communication in case of a traffic mishap.  But, if I am honest, I am always checking to see if I have my cell phone—and not just because the school could need me or for safety, but because the phone is vastly important as I go about my day.  I feel weird if I don't have it it with me.

Let's Do Lunch

By this time, most of us have fallen into a comfortable routine at school with the kids.  We've got the rhythm of drop-off, pick-up, homework, extracurriculars, etc.   But it's always good to mix it up and if you've got kids in Lower School, now is the perfect time to do lunch bunch.  

There is lots to be said about the school lunch experience, but as the person in our household who is responsible for feeding everyone, I always appreciate it when someone actually wants to feed ME.  I do not cast stones at anyone who is willing to cook—ever.  

The first time I came to do lunch bunch, I was blown away by the quality of the food—this was not the chipped beef of my own school lunch reminiscence—suffice it to say, our children are not suffering when it comes to mealtime options.  They may make questionable choices...such as two jelly sandwiches, chocolate milk and plain noodles all in the same meal...but that is a whole separate discussion.  

Lower School lunch bunch is a unique phenomenon, because it is likely that our children still might want to see us during the course of their school day (probably something we can't hope for come Middle School) and even better yet, may still want to have conversations with us (something I know we can't hope for in Middle School).  You get to hear all the scoop and get to know your kids' classmates while simultaneously opening milk cartons and reminding them to EAT; occasionally you even get some face time with their teachers, which can be extremely valuable.  

A few notes of caution, however. 

 I would highly recommend NOT coming on taco day (unless you have easy access to a Hazmat suit) or "breakfast for lunch" day (a recent account suggested that there might be a more restrained use of syrup if it was doled out intravenously).  

There will be a shocking amount of food wasted; feel free to wax poetic about starving children—go for the gusto—but it seems to have little or no impact whatsoever.  

Don't get too comfortable, because you'll let a few kids go to bars, take a few bites and you're done.  Lunch is quick, quick, quick.  So, although conversation is kinda the point of this exercise, don't talk too much, because they do need to eat!  

Signing up to do lunch bunch is easy.  Here is the scheduler and here is the link to the menu (beware: taco day is tomorrow!) and lunch times are as follows:

PK:  Lunch is from 12:00-12:30 (arrive at 11:55)
K, 1, or 2:  Lunch is from 11:25-11:50 (arrive 11:20)
3 and 4:  Lunch is from 11:00-11:25 (arrive 10:55)

Happy lunching! 

Bully Pulpit

Bullying is unfortunately a hot news topic these days.  Just recently, I read a horrifying account out of Canada—a 15 year-old girl had committed suicide five weeks after posting a video on YouTube which chronicled her misery as a victim of bullying.   Her video has been now been viewed more than 3.5 million times and is causing a whole nation to re-think official policies and anti-bullying laws.