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MUDBUG MONTHLY
From The Principal’s Desk
Web Sites
http://marreroacademy.jpschools.org
http://marreroacademy.wikispaces.com
http://menus.jppss.k12.la.us/cafeteriaM
enus
Dear Mudbug Parents,
I would like to begin by thanking everyone who supported Marrero Academy’s fundraising
efforts in the Gretna Jubilee by either sponsoring the event, volunteering, assisting with
class projects and baskets, making bows, getting donations, purchasing tickets, selling
tickets, attending the gala, bidding on (and winning) auction items, setting up, tearing
down, and any combination of the above. Mudbug parents rock!
Marrero Academy sponsors contributed $12,500 to the event and we had record breaking ticket sales - 325 tickets sold! We haven’t received a report on the profits from the
auction or the Jubilee as a whole yet, but we’ll let you know how we fared as soon as we
know.
I would also like to thank the families who worked so hard on our other recent fundraiser, the World’s Finest Chocolate candy sale. Ms. Ohmer’s class takes the prize for selling the most chocolate. Jayla McKinley was the top seller, selling ten cases of chocolate. Saige Bartholomew (and her brother Wade) was the second place seller for the
second year in a row, selling 6 cases. Hailey Garcia, James Johnson, Raegan Marvin, and
Abbriella Rodriguez all tied for third place, selling 5 cases each. These students were
recognized at the March P.T.O. meeting.
On a more serious note, I want to remind parents of the upcoming LEAP and iLEAP science and social studies assessments for students in grades 3-5. All students will take
the science portion of the test on Tuesday, April 14; the social studies assessment will
be given on Wednesday, April 15. Please be sure your child(ren) are prepared each morning with a good night’s rest, a sufficient breakfast, and a great big hug. Also, please
make every effort to be on time each morning so your child will be able to test on schedule with his or her classmates.
Finally, and most importantly, please enjoy some quality family time with your children
during the five-day weekend beginning Thursday, April 2nd as we celebrate the spring
season.
Sincerely,
_ÉÇwt `A YÉáàxÜ
Volume 7, Issue 8
September,
2013
Marrero Academy
for
Advanced Studies
2820 Mt. Kennedy Drive
Marrero, LA 70072
Dates to Remember
4/2
4/3
4/7
4/8
4/9
Spring Fling
Spring Break begins
Dress-down for PAWS
Awards- Gr. 2/3 - 10:00
Awards Gr. 4/5 - 10:10
Gr. 2 visits the CAC
4/10 Awards K/1 - 9:30
Popcorn & Pickles
4/11 Dad’s Club Mtg. 9:00
4/14 Interims issued
Gr. 3-5 LEAP/iLEAP
Science
4/15 Gr. 3-5 LEAP/iLEAP
Social Studies
Gr. 5 Dance Challenge
4/16 LEAP/iLEAP make-ups
4/17 LEAP/iLEAP make-ups
Last day to pay for
Yearbooks ($20)
4/22 Spring Pictures taken
4/23 Gr. 2 to Lion King, Jr.
Texas Roadhouse
4/24 Pre-K Global Wildlife
4/27 K-Children’s Museum
Gr. 5 visits Ruppel
4/28 5th Grade Zephyr’s
Rotolo’s Night
4/29 P.T.O. Meeting
Statement
_ItMission
is our mission to prepare students for college
É and career readiness by
increasing literacy in
reading, writing, lanÇ guage,
speaking, and listening; and by building
fluency and conceptual
understanding in mathematics.
As soon as we return from our Spring break, the students will begin working
on word families and reading sentences. They will also continue to fine-tune
their individual sentence writing skills. In math, the students will be learning addition and subtraction.
PRE-K NEWS
In Science, the students will study about farm animals and zoo animals. They will visit Global Wildlife
on April 24th where they will see some of the animals we will study. Near the end of April, the students
will also learn about seeds, plants, and how they grow. They will plant seeds in class and watch those
seeds turn into sprouts and finally into plants.
Be on the lookout for our end-of-the-year T-shirt order forms sometime in April. Our end-of-theyear program will be on Tuesday, May 19th at 2:00 so be sure to mark your calendars.
The month of April promises lots of exciting learning opportunities for our little ones.
KINDERGARTEN KORNER
Mrs. LeBlanc and Ms. Ohmer would like to thank all of the families who came out to the Jubilee! It was a
huge success! Mrs. LeBlanc’s class project and basket brought in $650 for Marrero Academy! Ms. Ohmer’s class
project and baskets brought in $730! We couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks so much for all of your support!
Kindergarten is continuing to work on comprehension skills. Every afternoon we play comprehension games on
the Promethean board. The kids are enjoying the friendly competition between the tigers and the frogs and
learning at the same time! We are also working on our editing skills through the use of CUPS ~ Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation and Spelling. The students are getting really good at spotting those errors!
Our next field trip will be to the Louisiana Children’s Museum on Monday, April 27th. We will be taking a guided
tour called Literacy Pathways. This program motivates early language and literary skills through hands-on learning. We are certainly looking forward to it. Permission slips will be sent home when we return from the break. Our
Kindergarten end-of-the-year program is also closer than you think! Show-off Day is Monday, May 18th. More
information will be coming home soon about the program and ordering T-shirts.
MRS. NEWMAN’S NEWS
Younger students are continuing their exploration of geometry to include 3D shapes in the real world. They are
creating a variety of different structures with the 3D imaging program, SketchUp, and are capturing videos of
3D shapes around the school. Older students are also continuing their study of 2D and 3D shapes and are using
the formulas for calculating the area of different polygons and the volume of rectangular and triangular prisms.
They are incorporating these shapes into their architectural designs for a school using SketchUp. Students will
begin to learn to write computer programs. They will use the programming language, Scratch, to write computer
code for multimedia projects that involve creativity, logical reasoning, and mathematical ideas.
Student Council will be collecting money for PAWS, a non- profit organization that is dedicated to the
humane and loving treatment of stray and homeless animals. PAWS’ mission is to rescue, shelter, and
adopt healthy dogs and cats and provide educational and charitable services to pet owners.
Donate $1 to PAWS on Tues. – Fri., April 7-10, and receive a Dress-down pass.
FIRST GRADE NEWS
Thank you so much for making the Jubilee the huge success that it was! We would like to give a special thanks to
the parents who helped with our baskets and projects. Also, thank you so much to those who bought tickets and
those who sponsored the event. We couldn’t do all we did without you!
We would also like to thank the parents who have volunteered for our Spring Fling. It’s tomorrow, so you still
have time to volunteer. The booths can’t work themselves. We can only have them if we have parent support to
run them. We hope to see you there!
It’s hard to believe we are in the fourth quarter of the school. year Please remind your child to stay focused.
SECOND GRADE NEWS
Happy Spring! The 2nd graders did a wonderful job with their PTO performance, AND our encore performances
on March 20th. Thanks to the parents who helped make our Jubilee baskets and projects SO amazing.
Our upcoming field trip to the Contemporary Arts Center will be on April 9th. On this field trip students will
enjoy short classes where they will gain singing, dancing, and theatre skills. Our 2nd
field trip will be to see the JPPSS production of The Lion King, Jr on April 23rd. In
class we will continue retelling as we dive into Charlotte’s Web. In Math, our primary
focus throughout the month will be on Geometry.
THIRD GRADE NEWS
Wow, it’s spring!
Before we move into what’s happening in April, I would like to say how hard the third
graders worked on Phase 1 of the PARCC assessment. It was a difficult week, but the
children did a great job. Remember, testing is not over yet. The iLEAP Science and Social Studies assessments
will be given the week of April 13th. Please make sure your child(ren) get a good night’s sleep and a healthy
breakfast on test days.
In ELA class, the students will read The Louisiana Purchase. This book is being read so students will learn and
be able to identify the important parts of a history book. Also, the students will use The Louisiana Purchase to
study cause and effect. In grammar, they will learn irregular plurals and prepositions. We are SO happy Mrs.
Brewer is returning to school after the spring break. YAY!!!!
In Math, the students will continue working on fractions. When we complete our unit on fractions, we will move
on to generating and organizing data (Ex: bar graphs). Students should continue memorizing their multiplication
facts.
The students will blast off into a new unit on the solar system in science. We will learn about the planets and
other aspects of the solar system. In social studies, the students will learn about citizens’ rights and responsibilities, as well as patriotic symbols. Please make sure your child is working on the social studies project due on
April 9th. The social studies project will help students learn about the three branches of government, which is a
tested iLEAP skill.
Don’t forget, third grade performs at the next PTO meeting on April 29th.
FOURTH GRADE NEWS
Fourth grade has been hard at work prepping for LEAP and the remaining PARCC assessments. We are
really enjoying reviewing what we have learned in science and social studies and making connections
across the units. We are writing in LEAP format and taking practice tests.
In ELA we are going to wrap-up our exploration of the Greeks with a research project and presentations. This will give us a chance to research some of the things we are interested in and show off what
we know to our classmates.
In math we have started our unit on money and hope to have it mastered by the end of the month. We
LOVE this amazing weather and are wishing away the April showers. Hopefully the warmth is here to
FIFTH GRADE NEWS
Thanks to everyone who supported the Gretna Jubilee. It was a great success!
We are looking forward to our field trip to the Zephyr’s Game on April 28th. This is a positive behavior and work
ethic reward for all students who maintain an A/B average in conduct and who fulfill their First in Math and KidBiz homework requirements.
In ELA, the students will be working on reading and writing different styles of poetry. We will continue reading
and writing using the PARCC format in preparation for the End-of-Year assessments.
In Social Studies, students will be reading and writing using the iLEAP format. We will continue learning about the
events that led up to the Revolutionary War.
In Math, we will be finishing with our required 5th grade standards soon. We will be reviewing those skills learned
but will also start learning sixth grade skills.
FRENCH
As we near the end of the year, Mudbugs are putting it all together. In the upper
grades, we are learning how to talk about la famille (family), and practicing our conversational skills when meeting new people. We are also focusing on French culture
in Louisiana: how French culture has influenced our past and how it is still present
in Louisiana and New Orleans today. For les petits (little ones), we are continuing
to familiarize ourselves with the sight and sounds of French language through
song, dance and drama. C’est fantastique!
LIBRARY NEWS
The school year is flying by, and I have several announcements to make as we
start thinking about wrapping up before summer:
We have a little over a month to complete our challenge of reading 300,000 minutes as a school by
May 8th. As of March 24th, we have 203,692 minutes and are ranked 18th in the country. Each child was given
an individual goal of 900 minutes. So far, we have 16 students who have reached that goal. That means only 16
students will be throwing a pie in my face! I know so many more would enjoy that opportunity, so please encourage your Mudbug to log in his or her minutes. Ms. Dozier’s class is responsible for logging in over half of
the minutes spent reading. I certainly appreciate all the reading her class has done, but for the sake of competition, I will issue a challenge: the class that increases their reading minutes the most during the month
of April will receive a Popsicle Party!
Congratulations to Sammy Ghivizzani and Karli Aguilar-Burst! They will be attending the National Academic Games Tournament in Orlando, Florida at the end of April. Wish them luck! Congratulations are also in
order for Senora Rodgers (pictured below with her trophy) for being undefeated in Equations!
Finally, I would like to set the date of May 8th for returning all materials and clearing fines. Please
clear fines as soon as possible to avoid missing any end-of-the-year field trips.
Coaches’ Corner
Our Mudbugs have been working on jump rope skills in physical education
class. Jumping rope is an excellent cardiovascular exercise and can greatly
improve footwork needed in many sports. Many professional athletes include jumping rope in their training. For some spectacular jump rope performances, look up Buddy Lee or the Firecracker’s Jump Rope Team on
YouTube.
6
5
Grade 5 field trip
Kinder field trip
Academic Games
Nationals
Ruppel Tour
28
27
26
21
20
19
LEAP/iLEAP
Interims Issued
LEAP/iLEAP
(Science)
P.T.O. Meeting
1st and 3rd grades
perform
29
PK field trip
Texas Roadhouse
Night
Spring Pictures
30
Grade 2 field trip
24
17
Grades K and 1
Awards 9:30
10
3
Fri
23
16
Grade 2 field trip
Grades 4 and 5
Awards 10:10
9
2
Thu
22
(Social Studies)
15
Grades 2 and 3
Awards 10:00
8
(April 2-6)
Spring Break
Spring Fling
1
Wed
14
13
begins.
Donate $1 and get a
dress-down pass.
PAWS fundraiser
7
Tue
12
Happy Easter!
Mon
Sun
25
18
9:00
Dad’s Club Meeting
11
4
Sat