Hello, Murch community!

 

 

A hearty well done to 4^th grader Justin Atwood, who, as one of two Murch representatives, won the Cluster Spelling Bee on Wednesday! 

Justin now moves up to the citywide Spelling Bee competition on March 22.  Congratulations to Justin and to his coach, third-grade teacher Ms. Friedman.

 

In other good news, Murch has a brand new Web site www.murchschool.org, and it looks fabulous, is extremely informative, and very user friendly. Many thanks to HSA Communications Chair Robin Schepper and Murch Mustang Express co-editor Laura Kaiser for making this dream a reality.

 

As part of Murch's commemoration of African-American Heritage Month, next week the fifth grade presents "Jubilee: A Story of the Harlem Renaissance" to the third and fourth grades as well as to parents on Monday at 1:30 p.m. On Friday, Baba Jamal Koram, an African griot, or storyteller, will be performing for all students in two cultural arts assemblies.

 

Please make sure you mark February 25 on your calendar as your first opportunity to provide input into the Murch strategic planning process.  Email messages, a flier, and a special Connect Ed message next week will help to remind you; we want your input into the direction our school should take in the coming years.

 

Parents who have been concerned about indoor recess this week, take heart: We are getting some assistance from DCPS snow removal crews. I've cautioned them that they must take great care with our new playground, but I'm hopeful that they will be able to remove at least some of our snow while keeping our beautiful play area intact. In the meantime, classes are taking turns in the gym on indoor recess days to give our little ones a little activity break.

 

This is a big week in auction news. First, I hope you all have your tickets. We have had a good response rate so far, but please take a minute to mail in your reply card or jump on-line to buy them at www.murchschool.org. Second, please open your child's backpack on Friday right away to check out your hot-off-the press 2010 auction catalog should be in there, ready for your reading pleasure.  Keep a highlighter handy so you can start marking items that pique your interest and all the things that you want to bid on. Even more exciting, starting today you can bid on a selection of terrific items online including Capitals tickets, restaurants, and even wine tasting. Please note that you will need to sign in and click online auction in the left column of the auction site. And please note, only items whose catlog numbers start with OL are available for online bidding.

Please support Murch as we try new things to "Bring on the Blue" - and "Bring it Online!" 

Please keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and no snow next week.

-Dawn Ellis, principal

 

 

 

 

Both projects have been more than a year in the dreaming and planning. The Murch Web site, designed by Van Studios, uses new content management software that makes it easier for people - parent volunteers, like us - to edit and update information on a regular basis. This will go a long way toward increasing communication for our school, creating a reliable, up-to-date source of information about what's happening and how our school works, and engaging all members of the Murch community - administrators, teachers, staff, parents, students, alumni - to share their stories and knowledge.

 

To keep things fresh, we look forward to receiving news items, photos, announcements, and ideas from parents, staff, and especially students. Just as we have in the Mustang Express, we will continue to spotlight student reporting, art, and photos on the Web site. We welcome students to join the journalism team by contacting us.

 

We are also excited to present the first phase of the annual spring auction online. With a click of your mouse, you can bid on scores of fabulous items Feb. 19-28. These are but a fraction of the items that will be available on March 6, so please plan to attend the live auction party at Hebrew Congregation as well.

 

We urge you to explore the new murchschool.org site and let us know what you think. Some highlights: