from your president - mary munford pta · from your president by ali rios hello mmes families! ......

Volume 15, Edition 4 June 2013

From Your President By Ali Rios Hello MMES Families! I am honored to serve as Mary Munford Elementary PTA President for the upcoming school year! Munford is where my family has spent the last six years, and will hopefully spend the next seven. My husband and I feel so fortunate to be able to send our girls off to a school they adore, are proud of and happily walk in those doors everyday! As the year comes to an end I want to say “thank you” to the PTA Exec-utive Board, for your countless hours of time and wonderful talents. Thank you to the Committee Chairs and the parents who serve on those committees for the time and effort you have all given. A very special thanks to Allie Woodruff for her extraordinary leadership as President, and to Mary-Margaret Park for keeping our budget in line. Thank you Mr. Muzik, for your guidance and support year after year. And thank you, teachers, for teaching, guiding and caring for our young people. We are almost there, lazy days of summer await...but your PTA won't rest for long. We are already working on next year’s budgets, pro-grams, and events all to benefit our school and children. We hope you take the summer to think about how you would like to volunteer with the PTA or in the school. Mary Munford has an amazing team of teach-ers, support staff and administration, but they can't do it alone. We all want the best for our kids, they always excel when parents and guardi-ans are actively involved in their education!

This summer, be safe, be happy and enjoy every day!

Ali Rios PTA President 2013 - 2014

In This Issue... From Your President -Page 1

Lego Robotics - Page 2

Minds In Motion - Page 2

“SUPERMAN” - Page 3

Teacher Appreciation - Page 3

Athletics At MM - Page 4

International Night - Page 5

Summer Reading Guide - Page 6

New PTA Board - Page 7

Seussical Review - Page 8

Upcoming Events Friday, June 7 JUNE JUBILEE - Grandpar-ents and Special Friends Day, Talent Show and More! 4:30 - 5:30 pm Class visits

5:30 pm - Picnic (Catered Dinner)

7:00 pm - Talent Show

Friday, June 14 Graduation Ceremony and Reception for Fifth Graders

Friday, June 14

Last Day of School Happy Summer!

By George Nyfeler

We are looking for a few more coaches/assistant coaches for 4th

/5th

grade Lego Robo�cs. We have enough kids

signed up for 4 teams, but so far have only enough coaches for 2 teams (2 coaches are required per team). Last

year we were able to accept every interested child. Please help us do that again this coming school year. The

season begins with the start of the new school year in September and runs about ten weeks, ending on the

compe��on date in mid-November on a Saturday.

Feel free to contact George Nyfeler with ques�ons about what is involved with coaching (804-277-4231 office,

484-4992 cell or [email protected]).

Note that these 4th

/5th

grade teams are being finalized in the next week or

two, while the Jr. Lego Robo�cs teams (1st

, 2nd

, 3rd

grades) will not be orga-

nized un�l the first week of school in September.

Of 26 teams compe�ng at Maggie Walker Governor’s School at the 2012 com-

pe��on, one of the matchups (shown at le;) involved two of our three Mary

Munford teams. BE A PART OF OUR TRADITION OF LEGO ROBOTICS SUCCESS!

Calling All Lego Fans . . . WE NEED YOU!Calling All Lego Fans . . . WE NEED YOU!Calling All Lego Fans . . . WE NEED YOU!Calling All Lego Fans . . . WE NEED YOU!

Contributed by Mrs. Dunn, 4th Grade Teacher

Munford 4th graders, along with 4th graders in five other area schools, danced their hearts out and wowed Carpenter Theater audiences on May 3 and 4, in the annual Minds In Motion performances. While the venue changed this year, the phenomenal dancing and energy we've come to ex-pect from the Richmond Ballet's Minds in Motion program remained the same. Congratulations, 4th graders, for rocking that stage!

Here’s what the Richmond Times Dispatch posted on May 4, 2013 about this year’s program:

The Epic of Gilgamesh performance is the culmination of the Richmond Ballet’s Minds in Motion 18th-year celebration. The 1,400 area fourth-graders and professional dancers this year partnered with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities on an anti-bullying theme.

The children also learn discipline, dedication and self-awareness. “One of the things we’re most proud of is the way our program corre-lates so well with the academic curriculum,” says Minds In Motion Di-rector Cat Studdard. “It helps the students learn their regular require-ments in a completely new way that helps them retain the information more effectively. It’s in their bodies, as well as their minds.”

Minds In Motion Minds In Motion Minds In Motion Minds In Motion ---- 4th Graders Produce Another Epic Event!4th Graders Produce Another Epic Event!4th Graders Produce Another Epic Event!4th Graders Produce Another Epic Event!

Thank You from the Spirit Store!

As of May, you have helped MME raise more than $2200 through the sale of MME merchandise. Amazing! We have had a blast serving the MME community throughout the year at our big events and with our on-line partner Zimmzang.com. Thank you to all who have supported us by purchasing items, volunteering at the table, and to all you wonderful teachers who distributed orders in your classrooms. We could not have done this without you! The year isn’t over yet though, new sport-style water bottles, acrylic tumblers, and athletic bags will be on sale at Grandparent's Day & June Jubilee and on the last day of school on the front steps. Pick these up and show your MME spirit all through the summer! Go Monarchs!

Megan Pollard & Lucy Ackerly

Mr. SUPER Bennett Wins Lottery Prize!Mr. SUPER Bennett Wins Lottery Prize!Mr. SUPER Bennett Wins Lottery Prize!Mr. SUPER Bennett Wins Lottery Prize!

Press Release Issued by the Virginia Lottery, May 13, 2013

There are some amazing teachers out there. “Super Teachers,” in fact, and many of them are right here in Virginia. John Bennett is one of those teachers and that’s why he was selected to receive the 2013 Virginia Lottery Super Teacher award.

John Bennett was awarded the Super Teacher prize in a surprise presen-tation at Mary Munford Elementary School in front of students, faculty and special guests. The award, sponsored by the Virginia Lottery, the Virginia PTA and Virginia-based The Supply Room Companies, con-sists of a $2,000 cash prize and an additional $2,000 classroom credit from The Supply Room Companies. Later this fall, each of the eight schools where a winning teacher was

honored will participate in a Facebook contest in which the public will vote for one of those schools to receive $5,000 in classroom supplies from The Supply Room Companies. This is the sixth year for the Virginia Lottery Super Teacher awards. Each year, the Lottery asks for nominations from all across the state and, this year, nearly 800 nominations were received. Eight teachers are selected – one from each of eight geographic regions across the state – to win. John Bennett is the fifth public school teacher to receive the Super Teacher Award for 2013. Three more surprise presentations will occur this spring. “There are guitars on one wall, hand tools on another ,and learning prompts throughout. To teach grammar, he con-structs silly/fun stories about the students, which include their unique personalities, interests, and strengths,” said nominator, Andrew Sharp, a parent of one of Mr. Bennett’s students. “He uses group work [and] student projects ex-tensively, encouraging students to creatively dialogue with each other and play an active role in shaping the assign-ment itself. In this way he demonstrates to them that he trusts their ability to take charge of their own education and to work in constructive ways with others.” The judges selected the eight winners based on the strength of the nominations and educators’ qualities as exemplified by the nominator. Each nomination included answers to four questions addressing everything from the teacher’s passion for and commitment to the profession, to innovation and creativity in the class-room, to how they involve the parents of their students. Congratulations MR. BENNETT – SUPER TEACHER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Thanks again to SPARC for spending the year with our Third Graders.! The students attended a

SPARC class once a week throughout the year, which culminated in a terrific performance that

taught us all a little about healthy foods and eating habits! Who knew that so many fruits and vegeta-

bles could sing, dance and act!?!?!?

Th�� y� ea ��r� �n� st�� f��

��N��S�IC S ho"# Ye��!

Munford Physical Education Raises Healthy Kids and Money For Good Cause

Contributed by Gary Lewis, MM Physical Education Teacher

On April 17th Munford's tennis team won third place in the annual Young Aces Open Tennis Tournament held at VCU. They team was competing against all the other elemen-tary schools in the City of Richmond. The team consisted of Gavin Telfer, Afton Strick-land, Mo Carpenter, Riley Wilkes, Mariposa Seitz, Gus Guarnieri, Helena Huff, and Elizabeth Thorne. Congratulations Team!

On April 19th Munford hosted a Jump Rope for Heart/ field day event to benefit the American Heart Association. All students participated in the event except for the 4th grade who were on a field trip that day. It was a great day for the activities, and we had really nice weather. Thanks to all of the VCU student teachers who helped plan, organize and run the event. I would also like to thank all of the parent volunteers who came out to help make sure it was a success. The kids had a great time and all of the teachers felt like it was a success al-so.

Mary Waitt from 5th grade Mr. Lombardi's class is t he top fundraiser for Mary Munford. Mary Munford raised ov er $5000 dollars for the American Heart association th is year. Way to go Mary Waitt and Mary Munford School!

BIKE/WALK TO SCHOOL DAY

Thanks to all our wonderful volunteers who organized and worked the Bike to School Day in May. We had a GREAT turnout and a lot of fun. It was such a success that we plan to have another simi-lar event next September! Special thanks to our parent "mechanics" Bobb Seitz, Ralph Morgan and Rueben Rios who were joined by Andy Brower and Chris Lombardi on bike tune-up detail. We hope many of you decide to continue biking to school. Mr. Muzik has ordered a second bike rack that will accommodate all of our newest bikers! RIDE ON!

Contributed by Maggi Tinsley

April’s International Night 2013 gave more than 250 members of the Munford community the opportunity to learn about a number of countries and traditions from around the globe. Students and parents enjoyed the evening’s festival at-mosphere, traveling between performances in the auditorium and activities in the cafeteria – and experiencing a Kung Fu demonstration en route!

The successful class-participation game dubbed “Where in the World is Mr. Muzik?” challenged students to visit tables where images and artifacts clued them in to what country each represented. This year, eight countries were represented: USA (Ms. Callis), Egypt (Ms. Kulp), Hong Kong (Ms. Gordon & Ms. Miller), Italy (Mr. Lombar-di), Ecuador (Mr. Bennett), Madagascar (Ms. Bowden), Russia (Ms. Williams), and Thailand (Ms. Carpenter) – a big thanks goes out to these teachers, as well as to the many parent volunteers who staffed the tables. Every student who visited each table in the cafeteria on April 23 wrote their guesses on a form that earned him or her an interna-tionally themed prize.

Other stations offered hands-on engagement with activities from another part of the world. Students crafted African mancala “count and capture” games from egg cartons and beans. Considered the oldest game in the world, mancala has been represented in Egyptian ruins dated from 1400 B.C.E. The decoration and creation of mancala boards is said to represent agriculture and landscape; the board depicts land be-ing turned into a productive field. International Night committee member Christina Nagi and her family returned this year with their popular origami table, both demonstrating and guiding new hands at the Japanese art of paper folding.

In the auditorium, new performances alternated with the play by Munford’s Spanish-language El Pajaro Rojo Thea-ter, this year presenting Caperucita (Little Red Riding Hood), under the direction of committee member Corinna Sherlip. Performers included Ava, James and Simon Nagi; Andres and Lola Brozna; Julia and Travis Baker; Catie and Connor Anderson; Aviva Pressley; Julia, Maria and Santiago Finch; Francesca Pelagatti; and Anne-Kinsey Wash.

Audience members also enjoyed the young dancers of Nrityani-ketan School of Bharatanatyam, dedicated to the promotion of South Indian classical dance in Virginia. (Learn more at www.nrityaniketan.com.) And River City Taiko brought in the big drums for their ensemble drumming based on traditional Japa-

nese rhythms and incorporating new compositions. Most of the drum used by River City Taiko are made out of wine barrels covered on each end with rawhide. (Learn more at RiverCityTai-ko.org.) Thanks to committee member Melody Cann for serving as stage manager and performer liaison!

Additionally, Munford parent Beth Allums, a Youth Program Coordinator for Compass USA, displayed photos and answered questions about hosting a French exchange student, while Sifu Marcus “Moy Yee Tung” Evans demonstrated Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu, which he has studied for 26 years and taught for the last 14 years. His Elite Training Academy teaches this complete and effective self-defense system to men, women and children. (Learn more at www.etakungfu.com.) International Night co-chairs Maggi Tinsley and Jul ie Ann Wash thank everyone for attending and look forward to offering a new array of internation al attractions in 2014!

Mary Munford Goes Global At International Night

YES, MONARCHS . . . SUMMER IS FOR READING!

Summer is almost here! One way to fill up a day with no school is to find a great book and do some reading. Part of the fun of summer, is getting to pick the books that interest you. You can read a whole series or try different stories or even read some non-fiction. The choice is yours. A good place to start is the Richmond Schools Summer Reading List. The list has some interesting book choices and prizes available for your effort.

City of Richmond Summer Reading List:

Additionally, both K-2nd and 3rd-5th have lists of series and authors that are recommended by RPS. For the complete list, go to www.richmond.k12.va.us and click on the Featured Link, Summer Reading.

Ask a Teacher

No one knows more about what kids are reading than our own Mary Munford teachers. These great teachers have over 20 reviewers at their disposal daily. Remember that reading something on your level will make it more fun so do not be afraid to ask your teacher for some titles you may like. Here are some suggestions for guiding your summer reading choices from a few teachers that you know.

Mr. Lombardi (5 th Grade Teacher)

Gary Paulsen is master of the adventure story. Check out books like Hatchet and the other books with Brian Robeson as the protagonist. He's also written a considerable amount of great historical fiction. Everyone goes crazy for the series these days - books like Harry Potter, The 39 Clues, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson, etc. There's lots of great reading to be found there, but venture off and attempt something new. Try a totally different genre. If you're into fantasy and sci-fi, give realistic or historical fiction a try, and vice versa. A great place to start is with a list of Newbery medal and honor books.

Ms. Schwarz (4th Grade Teacher)

I love Dan Gutman's baseball series, The Baseball Adventure Series. From my days in elementary school, I remember my fourth grade teacher reading Judy Blume books aloud to the class. (Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing, Other-wise Known as Shelia the Great).

Miss Williams (2nd Grade Teacher)

Many of the second graders in my class this year, have gotten into the "My Weird School" series (by Dan Gutman). These are fun, humorous summer books that would be great for parents and kids to read to-gether. If you are looking for a good mystery series, Nate the Great, or A to Z mysteries are good reads as well. When I was in elementary school I loved the Babysitters Club series.

Kindergarten - Second Grade

America, The Beautiful by Katherine Bates

Funny Farm by Mark Teague

Henry Aaron’s Dream by Matt Tavares

Mouse Shapes by Ellen Walsh

Oprah, the Little Speaker by Carole Boston

Pete at the Beach by James Dean

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas

Split Splat by Amy Gibson

These Hands by Margaret H. Maso

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham

Third Grade - Fifth Grade

Bully by Patricia Polacco

Emily’s Fortune by Phyllis Naylor

Game Changers by Mike Lupica

Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Shang

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr. (illustrated by Kadir Nelson)

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies

Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer

Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea

Stallion by Starlight by Mary Pope Osborne

Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli

�M�S C��e

Community of Caring is a PTA support-ed effort that provides various type of support to the Greater MM community. This support can come in the way of meals and other expressions of sympathy or assistance for those experiencing a difficult time in their lives.

We have also helped the PTA at Bellevue Elementary School in Churchill this year by providing treats for their teachers and staff during teacher appreciation week and during parent-teacher conferences and by donating nov-els for small group reading for their 3rd -5th grade accel-erated readers.

Thanks to those that have helped support our many Com-munity of Caring projects these last few months. Without your support this work would not be possible. If you would like to be notified of future Community of Caring needs, please send your name and email address to Sarah Gobble at [email protected].

S�r� K. G��

Three Munford third grade students played baseball

on the Richmond Li<le League Yankees team, which

won the Minors Championship game on May 30,

2013. The Yankees beat the

Reds by a score of 9 – 4. The

Munford members of the

Yankees team are Grant

Smith, Wya' Nyfeler, and

A.J. McNamara. Congratula-

�ons to our Munford baseball

STARS! (And thanks to

George Nyfeler for catching

these pics!)

Munford Boys Bat Way to Victory!Munford Boys Bat Way to Victory!Munford Boys Bat Way to Victory!Munford Boys Bat Way to Victory!

Boxtops Never Go On Va-cation!! These tiny squares can be found on over 300 products...and online all year long! Just go to www.btfe.com for a complete listing!

Simply clip & save, then turn in your boxtops at Mary Munford. The school receives 10 cents for every boxtop that we collect! Save up your box-tops all Summer, and drop them off at school

Join The Cub Scouts!

Do you have a rising 1st thru 5th grade boy in-terested in becoming a Cub Scout? We are now recruiting for the 2013 -2014 school year. If in-terested, please contact Cathy Rodriguez - Cub Master Pack 440 at [email protected] ; or

804-837-9394.

Mary Munford 2013 - 14 Executive Board and Standing Committee Chairs

Principal Greg Muzik President Ali Rios President Elect Jessica Hendri cks VP Membership Kelli Smith VP Programs Dana Kuhlen Secretary Joi Lenczow ski Treasurer Mary-Margar et Park Principal's Teacher Appointee Paula Katz Communications Chair Mary Carpenter Curriculum Chair Kathy Peaseley Legislation Chair Mark Smith Interior Beautification Chair Mandy Patterson Buildings & Grounds Chair Amie Knapp Appreciation/Orientation Chair Alonsa Riddle Volunteer Coordination Chair Kirsta Millar Community of Caring Sarah Gobble Extracurricular Activities Chair LaTasha Traynham Soccer Chair Wilcox Dunn Environmental Chair Allie Woodruff Fundraising Chair Meredith DeGuenther Alumni Relations Chair Sherry Hutter

SUESSICAL STARS BRING DOWN THE HOUSE!SUESSICAL STARS BRING DOWN THE HOUSE!SUESSICAL STARS BRING DOWN THE HOUSE!SUESSICAL STARS BRING DOWN THE HOUSE! ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS IN THE

MARY MUNFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

THE MONARCH MESSAGE Put your ad in the homes of families committed to public-school education and its

involvement in the community—they want to support your business!

Published four times a year: September, December, February and May

Reaches 550 Families in the Mary Munford Neighborhood

Advertising fees go to Munford PTA and directly benefit the school and its students!

BUSINESS CARD $25 QUARTER PAGE $40

HALF -PAGE $70 FULL -PAGE $100

2012-2013 Publication Schedule

To place an ad, or for more information, contact the Newsletter Editor,

Sharon Maitland Moon at [email protected]

M ARY MUNFORD MODEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 211 WESTMORELAND AVENUE RICHMOND , VIRGINIA 23226

(804) 780-6267

ISSUE DEADLINE PUB. DATE

September 9/4/12 9/10/12

December 11/27/12 12/3/12

February 1/28/13 2/4/13

May 4/29/13 5/6/13

The world of Seuss is filled with references to village folks

coming together to accomplish a goal. Nowhere was that

more evident in the SPARC produc�on this year where the

Munford village of parents, friends, teachers, children,

and SPARC staff pulled together an awesome produc�on

of Seussical the Musical. BRAVO everyone! (Cast photos

courtesy of Karen Lindsey and family. Thank you!)

from your president - mary munford pta · from your president by ali rios hello mmes families! ......

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