The Grizzly Roar
April 23 2016; issue 68

Bike Safety

The Huntsville Police Department states that children should be in third (3rd) grade before riding bicycles to school and a helmet is required.
Mountain Gap PTA Needs Your Input to Finish the National School of Excellence Application - Watch for the Final Survey Next Week
 
At the beginning of the school year, Mountain Gap PTA announced that we were applying for the National PTA School of Excellence recognition as a part of our 50th Anniversary celebration.  From your initial survey responses, National PTA generated a customized Roadmap to Excellence which provided specific recommendations for improving our family-school partnership and achieving excellence.  Your PTA has been working on the suggestions made in the Roadmap to Excellence throughout this school year. A final School of Excellence survey has been home with each student or you may click here to complete the survey online.  All responses will be confidential and should be completed and returned to the school by  May 6.  At the completion, you will have the opportunity to print your confirmation page and be entered into a drawing for a $25 prepaid VISA.  
 
In order to achieve the School of Excellence recognition, our local unit PTA will have to show improvement in results from the initial survey to the final survey which are identical.  Click here to review the PowerPoint presentation showing the results of our initial survey.  If you have any questions, please email  mountaingapptapresident@gmail.com .
 
Wouldn't it be wonderful for Mountain Gap to be recognized as a
National PTA School of Excellence as we finish celebrating our
50th Anniversary?  Please help us make this a reality.
Have you completed Infosnap?  Snapcodes have already been sent out via email to parents.  We currently have 20% of our returning students registered for next year.  Help us reach our goal to have 100% of our returning students registered by  May 13th .   Register your students today!  For assistance call 428-7720 ext 2.
Mountain Gap PTA, Heather Bardwell, and Leslie Graham Receive  Awards from Alabama PTA and Huntsville Council of PTAs
 
At the Alabama PTA Annual State Convention held on April 2 in Montgomery, Alabama, Mountain Gap PTA was recognized with two state awards in the areas of Supporting Student Success and Sharing Power.  Leslie Graham, 8th grade English, was recognized as the Alabama PTA Middle School Teacher of the Year. 
 
The Huntsville Council of PTAs has notified us that Mountain Gap PTA will be recognized with three city wide awards in the areas of Communicating Effectively, Supporting Student Success, and Sharing Power.  Mrs. Heather Bardwell will be recognized as the Huntsville Council of PTAs Middle School Principal of the Year, and Leslie Graham will be recognized as the Huntsville Council of PTAs Middle School Teacher of the Year.  The Awards Ceremony will be held on  April 26th at Burritt Museum. 
Lunchroom Volunteers

Volunteers are needed to help with Kindergarten every day in the cafeteria. Grades 1 - 5 need volunteers every Friday.

If you can volunteer, please contact Michelle Marsden at 256-797-8773 or michellemarsden@yahool.com. 
Tutoring Thursdays

Thursday, April 28 is the last day for tutoring this school year.

  • National Junior Honor Society is sponsoring Tutoring Thursdays from 3-4:30 in room 207 (eighth grade hall). Students from every grade are welcome to attend. NJHS is able to help with all subjects (including Algebra I) and all grade levels.
  • Students need to bring homework with them when they attend tutoring. If they have special assignments/instructions, you can email this information to leslie.graham@hsv-k12.org as needed. 
  • Students are allowed to attend even if they just need a study space and not a tutor.
  • Students are allowed to bring snacks with them.
  • Students should be picked up from the middle school side of the school at 4:30 PM.
  • Students do not have to stay the entire time. If they need to leave before 4:30, please pick them up directly from room 207.
Thank you,
Leslie Graham
English 8/English 8 Honors
Mountain Gap School
3rd Annual Grizzly 5K/Fun Run

The 3rd Annual Grizzly 5K/Fun Run will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2016.  

Use discount code MGSP8 to save $3 on registration. Click here to register.
You MUST register by May 2 to be guaranteed a t-shirt.


Prizes from Fleet Feet will be awarded to the top three finishers (5k) in all age groups.

Volunteers are also needed to make this a successful community event. Please consider donating a little of your time for our students and faculty. Click here to volunteer. 


PTA will be sponsoring a catered luncheon for the teachers on Thursday, April 28. 

Individual classrooms are being handled by the room parent or upper class parent     support team. 
Spring Concerts

Mountain Gap Bands
Monday, May 9
6:30 pm
Grissom High School

Mountain Gap Choirs
Thursday, May 12
6:30 pm
Latham United Methodist Church  
Testing

ACT Aspire testing will take place  Monday, May 2nd - Thursday, May 5th .  Our goal is 99% attendance for students. Please make sure that doctor's appointments are in the afternoon that week. Once students begin the test, they are not allowed to leave. 

Thank you in advance for having your students on time and in school each day.

Volleyball Tryouts

May 9-10 after school until 4:30

Anyone trying out must have a current physical. You can go to the Sportsmed physical on Saturday, May 7th for $10.
Required  Summer Reading

Summer Robotics Camp Registration NOW OPEN
5th Annual Summer Engineering Camp (SEC) 4 Robotics
Dates: June 6th - 10th, 2016
Time: 8:00am - 3:00pm
Locations: Columbia High School
Grissom High School
New Century High School
Cost: FREE for Huntsville City Schools Students
 
The Camp will be for Rising 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the Huntsville City Schools District. This is a 5 day (7 hours/day) camp where we teach the students about multiple aspects of engineering and how to build a fully automated LEGO Mindstorms (rising 5th & 6th grade students) or Vex Robot (rising 7th & 8th grade students). Professional Engineers serve as camp mentors. Industry professionals share presentations each day.

Lunch and snacks will be provided. All students will receive a camp T-shirt.

Click here to register 
SchoolCast

SchoolCast is in connection with iNow and information is uploaded nightly. If you are not receiving emails, texts, or phone calls from Mrs. Bardwell, you should contact the school (256-428-7720) and request your student's parent letter to be sent home so you can manage your iNow settings.
Need help with homework?

Homework Alabama offers FREE online tutoring and academic resources from Tutor.com for Alabama residents from kindergarten students through college, plus adult learners. Get help in math, science, English, social studies or writing from a live tutor. Tutors are available 3 p.m. - 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. The Tutor.com SkillsCenter Resource Library is available 24/7. The services can be accessed from an Alabama public library, from your home computer or from your mobile device.
 
Receive one-to-one, real-time assistance with your job search. Online tutors are available to help navigate job sites, complete applications, write/review resumes and cover letters and even practice for an interview. You can take a career assessment, search job openings and download resume samples and templates on the 24/7 SkillsCenter Resource Library.

Click here to access the resources

Attention: 8th Grade Parents

We are looking for a number of volunteers to help with our 8th grade picnic which will begin immediately following the awards ceremony on the last day of school (around  11am  on  May 26 ). 

If you are interested in helping in any way, please text or call Melanie Jones at 513-2500 or email her at 
melanieshayjones@yahoo.com .  We are in need of volunteers to help with this event and we're also collecting donations to cover expenses.  Thanks to anyone willing to help!

MGS P-8 Students of the Month

The Mountain Gap student of the month is chosen based on qualities such as character, leadership, and citizenship, not necessarily academics. The student of the month must be a diligent student, completing his/her assignments on time, showing strong effort to learn the subjects. The student of the month demonstrates excellent behavior inside and outside the classroom, is well mannered, and respectful to both peers and teachers.  Lastly, the student of the month shows exemplar character through his/her compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism, and loyalty in creating a positive school environment.
A student can only be awarded once a year. One girl and one boy from each grade will be selected each month. 

K - Haryln Kendrick, Eli Cooper
1 - Anabell Cockrelle, Andrew Rawlins
2 - Madilynn Bachman, Kade Capasso
3 - Riley Mitchell, Shawn Whitt
4 - Ashlen Hollingshead, Cole McNeal
5 - Mae Hunnicutt, Jake Harbour
6 - DD Bocchino, Caedon Conner
7 - Allie Harbour, Anna Price Slagle
8 - Abigail Donham, Joshua Manigan

We encourage parents to stop in and see our April Superheroes bulletin boards!!

Lower grade bulletin board is located across from the large cafeteria. The upper grade bulletin board is located next to the girls' locker room.
PTA Membership

Have you joined PTA? Please share the membership form with grandparents, neighbors and community members. 

School Calendar

For all school clubs and after school activities, please check the calendar on our school website.

To help minimize the amount of calls to the school regarding events, please check out the school website for important events on our school calendar.
 
Please stay in the know! 
 
Go to  www.mountaingapschool.org and click on the calendar icon at the top right of the page.
Boxtops for Education

The last day to submit Boxtops is May 1.

The container is next to the welcome center. Be sure to include student and teacher's names. 

50+ Boxtops = Nifty Fifty Party
150+ Boxtops = Pie a Teacher
300+ Boxtops = Water Balloon Fight 

Current Boxtops  file as of 4/6  
Publix Partners

Please ask the cashier to scan your card every time you shop your local Publix. For every $37,500 spent cumulatively by our school's participants, Publix will award our PTA $250. You may check the board at customer service for our quarterly cumulative total.

If you do not have a Publix Partners card, stop by the Welcome Center to pick one up.
Upper Grades Parent Support

If you are interested in volunteering for 6th, 7th, or 8th grade support please contact the representatives below:

6th grade - Christa Brockway ccecil523@hotmail.com

7th grade - Mandy Nelson mandynelson735@gmail.com

8th grade - Melanie Jones melanieshayjones@yahoo.com

Mountain Gap Basics  at a Glance

Click  here to read 

UPDATED 1/31/16
Need to contact a school counselor?

Did you know that our school counselors have their own page on the school website? Check it out for all the services they offer.  Click  HERE .
Community Bulletin Board

Our Mountain Gap families are welcome to submit a note for this section of the newsletter. Email  mgsptaevents@gmail.com .
       
Community Sponsors

If you own a business, you can have your logo in the newsletter each week. Email  mgsptaevents@gmail.com for info.

Thank you to our community sponsors for their donation to our PTA so that we can help the many different programs within our school succeed! 



New anti-spam laws require us to have parents/staff who want to receive the newsletter to sign up each year. To join the mailing list, please send your email address to   
Mountain Gap P-8 School | 821 Mountain Gap Road | Huntsville | AL | 35803
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