Did you know . . . about Buses

According to the National School Bus Information Council, there is no safer way to transport a child than in a yellow school bus. Fatalities involving school bus occupants are rare events even though the nation's 450,000 school buses transport more than 24 million children every single day, completing complete nearly 9 billion student 'to and from school' trips annually.

Photo From Linda Sue Park Visit

Thanks to Mrs. Rutila for sharing this photo of the assembly with Linda Sue Park.

And thank you to Ms. Park for a memorable visit to Martin Luther King Elementary School.

Online Math Resources

When directing your child's online experience, you might find the following resources helpful/useful:

• funbrain.com
• kidsdomain.com
• primarygames.com
• aaamath.com
• aplusmath.com
• coolmath4kids.com
• playkidsgames.com
• mathgoodies.com
• mathtv.com
• counton.org

These sites could be used whenever your child needs or wants some additional math experiences.

MLK's message remembered at memorial groundbreaking

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Presidents, civil rights icons, celebrities and ordinary citizens gathered Monday on the National Mall, where construction is getting under way for a monument honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The monument will be built on a four-acre site near the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream " speech in 1963.

President Bush said that he was proud to dedicate the memorial to "the lasting memory of a great man." "Dr. King showed us that a life of conscious and purpose can lift up many souls, and on this ground a monument will rise that preserves his legacy for the ages," Bush said. "Honoring Dr. King's legacy requires more than building a monument. It requires the ongoing commitment of every American. So we will continue to work for the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected and the American promise is denied to no one."

Bush said that it was fitting to place the King Memorial between the monuments for Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

"By its presence in this place, it will unite the men who declared the promise of America and defended the promise of America with the man who redeemed the promise of America," Bush said.

President Clinton signed legislation that kicked off the project in 1996.

"The monument, however beautiful it turns out to be, will be but a physical manifestation of the monument constructed in the minds and hearts of millions of Americans, who are more just, more decent, more successful, more perfect because he lived," said Clinton.

Clinton also stressed the importance of King's nonviolent message in today's society.

"When the real battlefield is the human heart, civil disobedience works better than suicide bombings. Fighting your opponent with respect and reason works better than aspersion and attack."

Members of the King family also attended the ceremony, along with current and former members of Congress, writer Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey and civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Construction of the $100 million monument is scheduled to be completed in 2008, 40 years after King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Backers have raised more than $65 million, according to The Associated Press. Most of the funding has come from corporate donors including Tommy Hilfiger and General Motors.

The monument's design was inspired by King's stirring sermons and will feature flowing water that will match the cadence of his speech.

According to the memorial's official Web site, visitors entering the memorial will pass through two stones described as the mountain of despair to reach a third, the stone of hope -- echoing King's 1963 speech.

The line "with this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope" will be carved into one side of the entry.

The other side will be inscribed with the words: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, one of King's former lieutenants said that King's words were not important because he said them, but because he lived them.

The King Memorial will be the first monument to a black American on the National Mall.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

No Charging of Lunches

As a gentle reminder, the AAPS does not allow students to "charge" lunches. This means that when a student's lunch account does not have a positive balance, they will be given an alternative lunch (but they will still eat, of course).

To help families keep track of lunch account issues, we offer the following services:

1. All families need to know they can keep track of balances and add money to lunch accounts at ParentOnline. Click here for more information.
   
2. When there is a negative balance in a lunch account, reminders are sent out to families so they can take appropriate action.

If you have questions, feel free to call Mr. Karr.

Re: Returning the Rock

Dear Rocky,

I could barely sleep last night thinking over this difficult decision. Here's what I'm going to do: I'll buy the lunch for Mary on Monday . . . but I still want us to figure out the mystery. Help us understand what we're missing . . .

Below is my analysis of the clues given with my thoughts in red and italics.

Clue from October 20:

Find the one person who likes to rhyme,

And you'll get your rock in the nick of time.

Suspects: kinder teachers, librarian, first grade teachers, reading intervention teacher, music teacher, maybe 2nd grade teachers

For your precious little game, I do hope they win,

OSU the national championship . . . that is a sin.

Not Joyce Griffiths who graduated from The Ohio State University

You asked for a clue, I have given you many,

if you look close you'll find, ten maybe twenty.

Ten or twenty clues? What? Not sure where this multiplicity of clues are . . .

From October 22:

My team was in a very close battle this week but you got the wrong game. Think Orange.

Teams who wear orange: Tennessee, Texas, Auburn?, Clemson, Syracuse, Miami FL, Illinois, others?

On the weekend the clue was given the following orange teams were in close battles:

· Tennessee

· Nebraska who played Texas

This clearly points to Barb Vanek, a Cornhusker.

From October 27:

Some students have seen the rock but they know how to keep a secret. They have even participated in the great caper.

We know the original culprit is not a student.

What have I missed? Are the pictures you've sent real clues?

Anxiously awaiting my rock . . .

Kevin Karr

Linda Sue Park Visits King Tuesday

Newberry Award winning author Linda Sue Park will visit MLK this Tuesday! Students will all participate in an afternoon assembly with the author.

Click on the links above for more information.

Fwd: Returning the Rock

This just in from Rocky Racoon. What should I do?

Begin forwarded message:

Mr. Karr,

Here we are, the week before the big game. I will live up to my end of the bargain and assure you that you will have your rock back before the OSU game. As long as you comply with my simple demands by the end of the week, I will return your rock on Friday. However, you should consider the fact that UM has won many tough games since I have had the rock. If I were to give it back and they lost, maybe it would have something to do with who was holding the rock. Could you ever forgive yourself?

So the situation is as follows. You can easily get your rock back, but are you superstitious? It is kind of a tough decision. I hope you make the right one. Please let me know. If you wish to obtain the rock, you must meet one demand per day. For Monday you must buy lunch for Mary (don't worry, this won't cost you too much money). Please take the night to think it over and let me know what you decide.

Yours Truly,

Rocky Racoon

Rocky and my rock . . .

King of Hearts 5K--Success and Fun!

Everyone had a great time this afternoon at the 3rd Annual King of Hearts 5K. The day started out with a performance by one of the bands from the Ann Arbor School of Rock followed by the Kid Dashes by grade level across the front lawn at King. The 5K main event began about 2:00 with close to 200 participants. I talked with several students who had never ran or walked 3.1 miles before today. They proudly walked across the finish line and were awarded with a medal which they wore proudly. Our fun was capped with food by area merchants and a performance by jazz musicians from our own Huron High School.

Many thanks to Mark Spieles and Cynthia Gur-Arie for making this event happen. Nice work!

Lock-Down Drills

This year the State of Michigan has instituted two new emergency response drills in addition to ten fire and severe weather drills for all public school districts. These new emergency response drills are intended for schools to practice lock-down procedures in response to any exterior or interior intruder threat and are addressed in our school crisis response plan.

We are all highly aware of the most recent cases of school violence across our nation. It is important for a school district to anticipate and prepare for any type of incident. Our intent is not to alarm our students but to prepare them to respond when we initiate a lcck down. Just as our students have learned how to properly respond to fire and severe weather alarms, they also need to be aware of this added incident response.

Over the next few weeks our teachers will be discussing the lock down procedure. We will instruct students in an age appropriate way how they are to respond when we receive the lock down code over the school’s P.A. system. We will stress to students that there are very rare occasions when schools need to be locked down and that their safety is our number one concern. After every classroom has had this discussion we will conduct our first lock down drill. We will use this drill to assess our response and to review our procedures.

The district works very closely with our local law enforcement agencies. They advise us on our safety plans and help train us in our responses. Working together creates not only better responses but can in many instances successfully address any situation before it happens.

I will inform you after we conduct our first lock down drill. You are encouraged to have follow-up discussions with your students about the new lock down procedures and help to reassure them that events necessitating this response are rare occurrences.

If you have any questions about the new lock down drill or our school’s crisis plan please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Speaker on Food Allergies

Dr. Harvey Leo will be the guest speaker at the Lawton PTO meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 at 7:00 P.M. Dr. Leo is one of the doctors from the Allergy and Immunology Associates of Ann Arbor who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of asthma and all immunological disorders. Dr. Leo also worked very closely with a 2005-06 district committee to develop the Food Allergy guidelines now in use by the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Please feel free to attend this informational session at Lawton.

No School--Monday, November 6

As a reminder, there is no school for students on Monday, November 6. This time is set aside for professional development and report card writing.