Walk On!

It was great to see so many families at Open House.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.  We had a series of student "meetings" last week, where I first actually introduced myself to the students.  Until the "meetings," I think some of them were not entirely sure who I was, and they treated me with some distance and caution.  After the meetings, the children have been very friendly and loving. 

It turns out that both Mrs. Millham and I like to play the guitar and sing, so we taught the students our new school song, "At Malletts Bay."  Ask them to sing it for you!

We are coming up on a busy month in October.  We have a "Principal's Challenge" for Walk to School Day," Wednesday October 6th.  Check the website for more details.  One third grader was so excited that she went home after the 3rd grade meeting and made her poster already!

The week of October 4th - 8th we will also be doing our annual NECAP testing.  Mrs. Millham talked with the students about the importance of MBS pride, and of doing their personal best on the test.  Of course, teachers have also spent time in classrooms talking with students about the test and preparing them by spending time on some sample problems that are "released" from previous years' tests. 


Students were eager to show their parents "Study Island."  This new online program allows students to do some self-paced practice for tests such as the NECAP, and gives teachers "real time" data on how well students seem to know particular concepts or skills.  You can access Study Island from home or from the library; if you are having any trouble getting on, your child's teacher can help out.

The week of October 11th - 15th we'll be kicking off our new "Farm to School" project with some taste tests in the cafe on Tuesday and Thursday.  Students will be involved in handing out the taste tests, rating the samples, and collecting and tallying the data.  Local farmers will be visiting us to show their produce and talk about their role in our community.

Looking ahead to November, we are going to do another "Principal's Challenge" centered around nominating and voting for a school mascot.  Since the middle and high school both have mascots, we think MBS needs a mascot!  We'll run the challenge as a "campaign," and our MBS "citizens" will vote for their favorite mascot on voting day.