P T A N E W S L E T T E R M A Y 20 1 6
I can’t believe the year is coming to an end. It has flown
by. Personally, I have had such a great time and being new
to the area met many wonderful people and am so happy to
be a part of this community. I am looking forward to next
year and getting to know even more of you.
We have 1 more General PTA meeting on May 12 at
6:00pm. The new officers will be voted on at this meeting.
We would love to see your smiling faces there.
In this Issue
 May Calendar
2
 Principal’s Message
3
 Grade Level Updates
4
 Library News /
Coach’s Corner
5
 School Updates
6-7
 MTE Sponsors
8-10
Our last Big Science lesson was interesting. Who knew it
would be so much fun dissecting Owl Pellets. Thank you
Stacy Frazier for all your great lessons this year.
Now that testing is over for the 3rd graders, they are in
the home stretch to “graduating” MTE. We will miss all our
wonderful 3rd graders and their parents.
I hope you have a great and safe summer. Thank you for
all your help, support and participation this year with the
PTA events we have had. We couldn’t have done it without
you. I have enjoyed all the fun things we are able to do to
bring the families at MTE together and all we can provide
for our students and teachers. Next year is going to be
amazing. If you need anything over the summer feel free to
reach out to me either by email or by our Facebook page,
MTE PTA.
Sincerely,
Lauren Rickels
Interim President
[email protected]
Dates to Remember
May 4– Volunteer Tea
May 6– Middle School Visits
May 10– Art Night/ Musical/
PTA meeting
May 16– 3rd grade picnic
May 18– AR Day / Water Day
May 19– Talent Show
May 20– Last Day of School
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Magnolia Trace
News Hound
May 2016
SUN
1
MON
2
TUE
3
WED
4
THU
5
Volunteer Tea
8
15
9
10
1st grade
visits
Art Night
PTA Meeting
Musical
16
17
11
18
FRI
6
SAT
7
Middle School
Visits
12
Terrific Kids
Awards
19
Picnic Passage Talent Show
for 3rd Grade Rehearsal
Talent Show
AR day/ PBIS Yearbook
Signing
Water Day
22
23
24
25
29
30
31
26
13
14
PTA Snack
20
21
Last Day
1/2 Day of
School
27
28
Page 2
From the Principal’s Desk
This is our final newsletter for the year. We have accomplished a
lot this year with your children. We have worked very hard
collaboratively to provide the best possible education for our
students. When parents and teachers work closely together,
children thrive. By the time you get this newsletter we will have
finished standardized testing with our third graders. We
probably will not have scores until the very end of school.
Hopefully we will be able to mail them out with your final report
card. Remember that if you have moved during the year, we have to know your
correct address. Otherwise, your child’s report card will be returned to school in
the mail. The office will be closed for about 5 weeks during the summer.
If your child has special needs, you may send that information to me in a short
letter if your child will be at Magnolia Trace next year. You may not request a
specific teacher. You may let me know about your child’s special needs, and the
type of teacher he or she works best with. I must have these letters by May 15th.
Please make them brief!
Parents, we love for you to have the opportunity to eat lunch with your child in our
cafeteria. Please remember that fast food is not allowed in our cafeteria. We
have won national awards for the quality of our cafeteria lunches. Please give them
a try when you come to visit. I encourage you to have your children eat our
cafeteria lunches as well. Remember that siblings may not go out to recess with
our students for safety reasons. We ask that you not take pictures of our
students on the playground to post on social media. There are state privacy laws
that restrict this practice.
As the year ends, and some of you are moving on to middle schools, please consider
donating your child’s outgrown uniforms to our office. We use them when children
have accidents at school, such as getting up close and personal with a mud puddle.
We can use uniform tops and bottoms.
I hope your child has had a wonderful year at Magnolia Trace. Please continue to
be involved in your child’s school next year. Our children want our time. That is
the most precious thing you can give to your child. Have a wonderful summer with
your family. Make some memories together!
Melanie Edwards
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What’s Going On
Wow! This year has flown by. April was an exciting month. We are so grateful to all
of our parent volunteers. Relay Recess and Staff Appreciation Week were wonderful.
The teachers are still enjoying the many gifts and treats from our week of being spoiled.
We are lucky to work in a school where parents are willing to share their time with the
teachers and students. May will also be a busy month. The students are looking forward
to our Annual Art Show and Musical on May 10. They are also excited about the upcoming
AR/ PBIS Day and yearbook signing on May 18 and 19. Though May will be a fun filled
month, please continue to remind your child the importance of staying focused and putting
forth effort. They will soon be the Top Dogs and need to set a great example for the
first graders coming to visit us from Marigny Elementary. Thank you for sharing your
children with us. Have a wonderful summer. See you next year.
We want to thank our PTA for helping with the cost of our field trip to Destrehan
Plantation. The students enjoyed learning about Louisiana history. We also want to
express our gratitude to both parents and students for a wonderful teacher
appreciation week. Our final month of third grade will be filled with more exciting
events. Students will take tours of Mandeville Middle and Lake Harbor Middle on
May 6. Be sure to join us on May 10 at 6pm for the MTE Musical and Art Show.
Third graders will commemorate the end of the year with a playground picnic on May
16. Students are looking forward to celebrating AR/PBIS Day on May 18. Our third
graders will reach for the stars as they entertain us at the annual MTE Talent Show
on May 19. We wish all of our students a fun and safe summer!
We have reached the end of the year! This month we will
be having Music Centers and an end of the year review. Even
bigger news is our musical “Seussical Jr”. We will have two
performances. The first performance is at the last PTA meeting
on Tuesday, May 10, at 6pm. The second performance is during
school on Thursday, May 12, at 2pm.
It has been a wonderful year of music and it has been a
pleasure teaching our children at MTE!
Loving my job,
Norma Ganucheau
Page 4
Library News
Dear parents,
Please note the following important dates:
May 06, 2016: Last day for students to check out library books.
May 12, 2016: All library book are due by this date.
Last day of regularly scheduled class visits.
Last day the library will be open in the morning before first bell.
May 13, 2016: Library is closed.
May 18, 2016: PBIS/AR Day.
The PBIS/AR Day is quickly approaching. Congratulations to all of the children for reaching their goal! We have an exciting
agenda to celebrate their hard work, including guest performer Frank Levy, water events, and a BMX show. The students have far exceeded
the school-wide goal of earning 20,000 AR points. At the time of this printing, the total earned by MTE students is 24,798.6 AR points.
Thank you for your support of the Magnolia Trace Elementary library during the Spring Book Fair. You helped raise $5,436.02
Scholastic Dollars to purchase updated reference sources, new books, the BookFlix annual subscription, and other library materials. We
could not offer as great a variety of books and services without your generous support throughout the year.
The upcoming summer break is the perfect time to indulge your child’s love of reading while maintaining or improving their
literacy skills. The St. Tammany Parish Library has a Summer Reading Program every year that includes book clubs, story time, special
performers, incentives for meeting reading goals, and much more. Detailed information, schedules, and suggested reading lists will be
available sometime in May on the St. Tammany Parish Library website (http://www.sttammanylibrary.org).
Your child may also enjoy participating in The Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award. It is a reading enrichment program of the
Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library designed for children in grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. Children cast their vote on their
favorite title from a selected list of books, including the following. Additional information and a full list of titles can be found at http://
www.state.lib.la.us/literacy-and-reading/louisiana-young-readers-choice.
Almost Super by Marion Jensen – BL: 4.2 – AR Pts: 7.0. [Heroes, action, humor, fantasy, family]
Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate – BL: 3.7 – Pts: 0.5. [Nonfiction, animals,
treatment of animals in captivity]
Kung Pow Chicken: Let’s Get Cracking by Cyndi Marko – BL: 3.0 – AR Pts: 0.5. [Fantasy, action, animals, humor, heroes, graphic
novel elements]
Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse by Torben Kuhlmann – BL: 4.6 – AR Pts:0.5. [Animals, historical
fiction, STEM, adventure]
The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock – BL: 4.4 –
AR Pts: 0.5. [Biography: Vasya Kandinsky, art, synesthesia]
Odd, Weird & Little by Patrick Jennings – BL: 3.9 – AR Pts: 3.0. [Friendship, bullying, animals]
Kimberly Vincent
MTE Librarian
Coach’s Corner
Neighborhood swimming pools are opening and everyone is
excited to jump in. Swimming is a great no impact exercise that can provide
a cardio workout and a total body workout. Even if the kids are not
swimming laps, the resistance of the water as they play, can build muscles.
Unfortunately, there are many dangers at a pool. Always be aware of the
depth of a pool so you don’t dive in the low water or jump into water that is too deep for an inexperienced swimmer. Children,
even good swimmers, should always have adult supervision. And don’t forget the sun block.
Coach Dusang
Physical Education Teacher
Page 5
Wow what a fabulous and exciting time it has been in Big Science this
year. Our little Maggies had so much fun exploring the Outdoor
Classroom. The students were introduced to Koi fish in our pond,
vegetables growing in our gardens, and new fossils in our boneyard!!!! We
wrapped up the year in the science classroom where students took part in
their first dissection....Owl Pellets!!! New, hands-on, scientific discoveries took
place all year long for our students. I want to thank all of the volunteers and
teachers that helped during the lessons. Your help was greatly needed and
appreciated! Of course none of this would be possible without the support of
our fabulous PTA!!!! The PTA provides this UNIQUE learning experience
Family Nights
Thank you to everyone who came out to Sonic Drive-In last month! We had a great turnout.
and raised lots of money for the school.
We have just one remaining fundraiser to finish out the school year:
Zoes Kitchen: May 12th from 5-9pm. 15% of sales will be donated. Students from selected
classes will have artwork on display for sale in the restaurant the night of the fundraiser. We
will also have our regularly scheduled Dominos night, May 18th.
We want to hear from you! The M TE P TA w ould love to hear about your experience
with this year’s Restaurant Fundraisers. Please take a few moments to fill out the survey at
this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CK8HY7M.
If you have questions or problems with the survey please email [email protected].
Thank you in advance for helping to make our fundraisers a success!
Special thanks to our Volunteer of the Month!
The Volunteers of the Month are Laura Cangiamilla and Danielle Campos.
Laura has been a tremendous help to the PTA this year with the newsletter,
yearbook, and anything else we asked her to help with. We can't thank her enough.
Danielle, thank you for all your hard work on Teacher Appreciation week. We couldn't have done it without
you!
snack sales
The next Snack Day is scheduled for Friday, May 13th. If your child has not
purchased a snack card, you can purchase a freezie pop on Snack Day for 75¢.
A reminder will be sent home the week of Snack Day.
Relay Recess
Relay Recess was a HUGE success. Thank you to everyone who
purchased a t-shirt, sponsored the event, or colored a coloring
page in honor of a family member or friend. The students,
teachers, and volunteers all had so much fun. This year, Relay
Recess meant a lot to our MTE family and we were all touched
to dedicate the event in memory of Mrs. Rouquette. We raised
over $2,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Page 6
Teacher appreciation week was perfect. We love making the teachers feel special.
They do so much for us and we can’t thank them enough. Thank you so much to
Danielle Campos, Stacy Frazier & Amanda Tresch for all their hard work on Teacher Appreciation Week. The whole week was wonderful and we couldn’t have done it
without you. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and donated items for the
week. The teachers loved all their yummy treats.
Lake Harbor Middle School
Placement letter for 2016-2017 School Year
We will soon begin the process of assigning students to classrooms for next year.
It is important that you are aware of the procedures that we will follow in assigning
students. Placement is made on a random basis, and classes are balanced in regard
to race, gender, behavior, ability level, special education needs, and regular education accommodations. We do get input from your child’s 3rd grade teachers as well.
Before assignments are made in May, parents are welcome to send a letter by mail,
email or hold a telephone conference with an administrator to discuss the special
needs of their child. We do NOT accept requests for specific
teachers. If you would like to communicate any concerns to a
LHM administrator, Mrs. Patin will be handling placement of all
4th grade students. Please communicate this information to
her by Friday, May 6th. Her email is [email protected].
It is always helpful to know any special concerns or needs you
have regarding your child's placement. As administrators, we
feel that you know your child better than we do, and we know
the teachers better than you do. Working together, we can find the best match for
your child and his/her teacher. We appreciate your input into this process!
Special thanks to Brownie Troop 30196
for sponsoring the Sundae Bar for
Teacher Appreciation!
THANK YOU Braton Manville of
Kelli’s Kreative Dance for donating your
DJ services during Relay Recess. The
students and teachers loved dancing to
some great music!
Page 7
985-727-9924
The MTE PTA would like to give a big “Thank You” to
Rob Furman, CPA, of Griffin and Co. for donating his
time and tax services toward completion of the MTE PTA
tax return. Please keep Griffin & Co. in mind if you are
in need of accounting or tax assistance throughout the
year.
Page 8
2040 Hwy 59
Suite H
Mandeville, LA 70471 (By Bosco’s)
(504) 909-3223 (504) 8841331
www.thibodeauxdance.com [email protected]
HALLER GLASS
Mark Haller
www.hallerglass.com
(615)714-6125
[email protected]
Elizabeth W Tamor
Chief Learning Officer
SELAHEC
985.345.1119 p
985.345.1157 f
www.selahec.org
Promoting Kids into Health Careers
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