APRIL NEWS HOUND

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PTA Newsletter

M a g n o l i a T ra c e E l e m e n t a r y 1 4 0 5 H w y . 1 0 8 8 • M a n d e v i l l e , L A 7 0 4 4 8

9 8 5 - 6 2 6 - 8 2 3 8

March 27, 2022

Dear Maggie Families,

Thank you for an amazing month in March and we are looking forward to another one in April. Our month was full of learning activities, Cultural Arts Day, Boosterthon, PBIS Day, Professional Learning, and more. Mr. John and our PTA did an exceptional job with going to Ghana for Cultural Arts day. It was a treat and a blessing to hear from our very own Mr. John and the country in which he grew up. Our students received lessons of a lifetime on this special day. In addition, to Cultural Arts day our third graders received dictionaries from Mandeville Rotary Club. We learned the longest word in the dictionary, and we learned the importance of knowing the meanings of words. K-Kids is back to meeting in person. We enjoyed our time with Kiwanis Club members and local high school Key Club members. We appreciate their support with our Terrific Kids Ceremony. Be on the look-out for a flyer being sent home about their Easter Bunny Pancake Breakfast. Magnolia Trace students as part of our K-Kids service project, Operation Gratitude, collected items for local service providers in our community and they made special treats for service workers.

Our Boosterthon was a great success. We raised money to go towards buying new cafeteria tables, classroom materials and technology. Exact amount raised will be reported in our next newsletter. We are forever grateful to the support of our families and friends. The students have enjoyed daily incentives. Thank you to all the volunteers and people who helped make this fundraiser a success. While Spring brings us many activities, our teachers have been maximizing their instructional time. Our third graders are preparing for the annual LEAP test and our second graders are working on continuing to develop their academic skills. End of the year assessments will be administered at the end of this nine weeks, and we will be analyzing student growth. It is hard to believe we are already in the last quarter of the school year. As I reflect on the year so far, I am AMAZED by how much we have already accomplished. I am excited about our end of the year annual review to share all that has happened. It truly takes a village, and I could not be prouder of our Magnolia Trace Family.

I would like to welcome, Mrs. Gabrielle Unda, to our MTE team. She is a parish wide assistant principal who has been placed at MTE for the last nine weeks. She will learn from our community and offer her services as well. She is an administrator and will be leading different activities at our school. We are super excited to have her, and we welcome her with open arms. Many of you have already met Mrs. Michelle Weber our new full time school nurse. She has been with us for 6 weeks. It truly is an asset to have a full-time nurse at our school! I also want to welcome Mrs. Kim Wood and Mrs. Starlen Palmer who have taken teacher maternity leaves. They are both certified teachers who have walked into their classrooms and are doing a phenomenal job with our students. Our faculty and staff have been so genuine welcoming everyone and assisting where needed. I am forever grateful for the outpouring of love and care given to everyone who comes to our school.

I do want to encourage families to continue to get involved in our school. We are taking nominations for our board and in the coming month we will be putting information out about other ways to be involved. If you ever have any questions, praise or concerns please feel free to contact your child’s teacher. If it is school related feel free to contact me at Jamie.breaux@stspb.org. We are in this together creating a positive and safe learning environment for our students. Thanks again for all you do and for sharing your most precious gifts with us. Sincerely, Jamie Breaux MTE Principal

Table of Contents:

Principal’s Pen 1

From the PTA President 2

Grade Level Updates 3

What’s Happening at MTE

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Staff Spotlights

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Student Spotlights & Sponsors

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Upcoming Events

April 4th – Bingo Reading Popsicle Recess Reward

April 5th – April 8th – Field Trips to Instigator Farm

April 7th - Chuck E. Cheese Family Night

April 11th – 18th Spring Break

April 25th – K-Kids

April 26th – Terrific Kids 9:45

April 27th – May 1st – Leap Testing

April 27th – May 9th – 2nd grade Mastery Testing

April 25th – May 13th – Dibels EOY

April 29th – Spirit Day/Award

PTA President’s Letter

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Magnolia Trace 2021 - 2022

PTA Executive Board

Happy Spring, Maggie Families!

March was a fun month! Everyone had a week off for Mardi Gras, was challenged to complete Book Bingo, traveled to Ghana for Cultural Arts Day, and we ran our hearts out at the Maggiethon! I can’t believe is it now April and we only have a short while left in school this year. I’m so happy to see everything return to “normal” after two years of restrictions from the pandemic. I know it will take awhile for everyone to get adjusted, but we truly are happy to see parents back in the building aiding and volunteering!

Thank you so much to Shannon LeDoux, the VP of Cultural Arts; she planned and executed an amazing Cultural Arts day full of hands-on learning! I know the kids were so excited to hear from Mr. John, the head custodian, since he was born in Ghana. He wore traditional clothing and share the highlights of life in Ghana. We also want to thank the 30 volunteers that worked in each station! We were overjoyed to see so many parents – smiling faces and happy hearts! We loved having each of you a part of our special day.

We also want to thank Alicia Sykes, the VP of Awards; she stepped up in a big way this month and served as the liaison and Chair for our Maggiethon Fun Run. This year we chose a different path that will hopefully help us raise more money for the school and PTA, but it means the PTA volunteers are more hands-on with all the coordinating that needs to be done. The kids really enjoy the experience of Boosterthon because of the focus on fitness, leadership, and character. The run is the best part – they dance, skip, hop, and run 30-35 laps to high-energy music. We’ll have more to report about the success of this event in the next newsletter!

Last, but not least, Staff Appreciation week is coming up in May – our planning begins now for a week-long celebration of their dedication to MTE and the education and lives of our children. Be on the look-out for donation and volunteer opportunities. Our theme is Building a Brighter Future – which we have all seen this year!

We’ve had a great year so far, and I can’t believe there are only 2 months of it left! We are currently looking for volunteers to serve on the Board as committee chairs for 2021-2022. If you are interested, or know someone who is, please email Ms. Breaux. She will forward information to the nominating committee. It is so rewarding for not only us, but for our children and school as well. Everything the PTA does makes an impact on students’ lives at MTE!

Cheerfully,

Ashley Dragon Ashley Dragon

President

Stephanie Cook Shannon LeDoux

Alicia Sykes Vice Presidents

Tonya Deville Secretary

Shannon Holland

Treasurer

Please email us at

magnoliatraceelementary

pta@gmail.com

Restaurant Nights

Chuck E. Cheese– April 7th

Beginning at 3pm

What’s Happening at MTE?!?!

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2nd Grade Can you believe that we are in the last nine weeks? It will be a whirlwind of activity these last nine weeks. We have already celebrated our Book Bingo day with popsicles, Easter parties, and Field trips to InstaGator. We have more fun planned for the month of May with a water day and end of school year fun activities. In reading, we are tackling our last unit with great stories about the environment, and important figures in history. Text features, story structure, author’s purpose, and understanding the main topic and key details of a text will still be spiraled throughout these nine weeks. Our writing topics will focus on book reviews and opinions. In math, we are continuing with learning about data and graphing, money, and measurement. We will also start the last module of math, which will focus on telling time, geometry, and fractions. Please continue to practice counting money to reinforce skills being taught in class. In science, we will be taking a deeper dive into living things and their habitats. Students will continue to learn about plant growth. In Social Studies, we will wrap things up with Louisiana customs and cultures. Continue to keep checking your child’s take home folders for upcoming events for the end of the year. Let’s finish strong. We have almost third graders!

3rd Grade Third graders are looking forward to an amazing April. We have lots of interesting things to learn in all subjects. In Math, students will begin studying Module 6, Collecting and Displaying Data. Students apply their knowledge of fractions from Unit 5 as they estimate lengths to the nearest halves and fourths of an inch and record that information in bar graphs and line plots. Students answer “how many more” and “how many less” questions about scaled bar graphs. Please continue to practice flash cards at home to help ensure their multiplication fluency. Students also have log ins for Reflex and Frax and can use this at home. In ELA, students will continue their study of The Louisiana Purchase. Students read literary and informational texts to learn about the Louisiana Purchase and the characteristics of pioneers during this time period. While exploring these texts, including quotes from primary source documents, students develop their understanding of narrative writing and make connections between sentences and paragraphs in a text. Students express their understanding of the Louisiana Purchase by explaining the events leading up to the acquisition of the territory and the result of those events. In Social Studies, students investigate the relationship between different economic concepts and the role of individuals in the economy. Students will be discussing economic vocabulary. They will be participating in discussions on how our choices play a role in economics. In Science, students will begin their study of fossils. Students will develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth and death. Our school year has really flown by and spring fever will be creeping in soon. Please continue to remind your child to work hard and stay focused. LEAP Testing will be April 27-May 3. Please do not schedule appointments for this week.

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To all, Thank you to the PTA for the support throughout they ear, but especially dur-ing Square-One Art. The Blue Dog was a great success!!! This year has been fast and fun-filled: finger knitting, graffiti, blue Dog, and to close out the year; melted wax prints. To my students, keep learning and experimenting.

LOVE,

MS. WATTERS!!!

Dear Parents, We have purchased several new titles for our library with the profits from the sales. Thank you again for supporting our spring Book Fair.

During the remainder of the school year the children will be using the online catalog to help them locate a book in the library. We will also be reading books of different genres aloud to expose your child to a few of the amazing titles we have in our MTE library. We have a broad collection of books to choose from. We hope that there is something that appeals to your child. Please continue to have conversations with your son or daughter about what he/she is reading. Your interest truly does make a difference.

“The whole world opened up to me when I learned to read” – Mary McCleod Bethune Thank you,

Cheryl Blank and Joanne Santos

Coach’s Corner With the weather changing for the better, it is a great time of year to explore a wonderful resource available to us in St. Tammany Parish, the Tammany Trace. This railway turned to bike path is 31 miles long, running from Covington to Slidell. It has several trailheads along the way and plenty of beautiful scenery. So air up those bike tires and get to pedaling. Coach Dusang, Physical Education Teacher

The March teacher and staff appreciation theme was 'Shake Your Shamrocks' ! Everyone really loved the variety of goodies. For the month of April, we will remind our teachers and staff that “Some Bunny Loves You”. The event will be held on Friday April 8th. Be on the look out for a Sign-up genius to be posted next week.

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Leah Veillette Mia Martin Lulu Borsheim Drake Guidry Malaya Lott Max Breakfield Allison Talbot Madison Jones Ducota Seymour Jaxon Hoffman Lily Guidry

Greyson Campo Eve Poore Tyler Allo Anna England Legend Cavaretta Isabela Fernandes Griffin Shires

Sparrow Richard Jade Mitchell Grace Ervasti Eliana Mistretta

Construction Updates:

Slab is being poured and starting in April the building will start to be erect. Most of the first floor will be coming up this month. Once the building starts coming up construc-tion will be moving quickly. We are on target and excited about the new building!

Reading is Fundamental! From Our Children, National PTA parental magazine

Like many families navigating this difficult time, we have our children’s well-being and academics on our minds. Have you spent the past 18 months organizing, planning and stressing about your child’s learning? Are you wondering what one thing you can do that is proven to help your child the most? Well, reading is the answer!

The disruption in learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to real learning losses. According to a recent study, students across the board lost percentile points in reading and math during the 2020-2021 school year. While it sounds grim, we know that reading is one of the best things children can do to maintain learning and expand their skills and knowledge. And, with the right books and activities, reading can be both educational and fun.

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) recognizes this and has developed a new initiative—Rally to Read 100—for the 2021-2022 school year. Rally to Read 100 offers six months of engaging reading themes, read-alouds from notable authors and illustrators, and an array of reading activities and resources to motivate and encourage frequent reading. The initiative also challenges elementary classrooms to read one hundred books by Read Across America Day, March 2, 2022.

You can help your child and their classroom rally to read by supporting their reading at home!

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PTA Volunteer of the Month: This month I would like to recognize the entire Executive Board – Shannon Ledoux, Stephanie Cook, Ali-cia Sykes, Tonya Deville, and Shannon Holland. Words can’t describe how valuable these ladies are to me, to PTA, and to MTE. The hard work they put in is nothing less than extraordinary. They care deeply about the school and all of the students in it. They are willing to serve in any circumstance. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their dedication to our team and to MTE!

Cultural Arts Day

Our trip to Ghana was awesome—special thanks to all of the amazing volunteers!! It was so great to have everyone on campus . An extra special thank you to Mr. John who spoke to the kids about language, school, transporta-tion and food. He had such an interesting perspective being from Ghana and coming to the states less than 20 years ago. We really appreciate him sharing lots of information with us! Be sure to ask your child about their experience because they did and learned a lot! The kids: - made keychains with African beads (ask them to put on their backpacks!!)

- learned Ghana has 49 languages and our own Mr John speaks 10 of them. - in music stations, students played bells and drums, making beautiful music. Thank you Mrs. Ganucheau - played soccer with Coach⚽ - learned the Ghana version of “head, shoulders, knees and toes” - colored Kente cloth and wrote their names using the Ghanaian alphabet ✍ - created their own djembe drum - ate plantains and chocolate, which they learned were 2 of the major agricultural crops in Ghana

Thank you to everyone! It was fantastic!!

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Staff Spotlights

Kylie Topey, 2nd Grade Student Teacher 1st year at MTE Quote: "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." -Maya Angelou Fun fact: I love to bake, travel, and shop!

Name: Janet Thompson Position: Certified Tutor This is my first year at MTE. Quote: Do small things with great love. - Mother Theresa Fun fact: I have been married for 20 years and have 2 daughters. Maggie attended MTE and Lizzie is in 2nd grade. (No, my daughter was not named after our mascot but she loved hearing her name all the time while at MTE!). Julie Kuylen, 2nd Grade Teacher

This is my 13th year teaching. I have taught first grade for 6 years and 2nd grade for 6 years. I love teaching 2nd grade the best! My passion is children’s literature. I love sharing books with my class. “Reading gives us somewhere to go, when we have to stay where we are!” –Mason Cooley Favorite Quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” –Maya Angelou Fun Fact: I love to travel and to read! My favorite book is Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes. My favorite trip was my 28th wedding anniversary to Hawaii. I love sharing all of my journeys with my students. I learn as much from them as they do from me!

Michelle D. Weber, BSN, RN School Nurse I have been at MTE for 6 weeks. Meaningful quote: “Try to not dream your life but rather live your dream.” Fun Fact: I am a sucker for a beautiful orchid - I’ve finally learned how to keep them reblooming and have had up to 7 at one time. LOL

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Madeleine Abadie, Student Teacher This is my first year teaching at MTE, but I actually went to school here for K-3rd grade. I think it is pretty cool that I get to finish school back where I started! A quote that means something to me: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) Something interesting about myself: I am devoted to my faith, which moti-vates me in every area of my life! This summer, I will be going on a mission trip to Africa to spread the love of Jesus to hundreds of kiddos! Kristie Vicknair, Math Tutor This is my first year at MTE. Meaningful quote: “If you believe, you will achieve” Fun fact: I ran 2 marathons: Disney World (2002) and NYC (2008)

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Thanks to our Sponsors!