2014 Engineering Design Challenge Week!

This year, students are designing and building a device to protect and accurately deliver a dropped egg. The device and its contents represent a care package that must be safely delivered to people in a disaster area with no road access. In a similar fashion to a team of design engineers, students are designing their devices using a number of design constraints including limited supplies. The activity emphasizes the change from potential energy to kinetic energy of the device and its contents and the energy transfer that occurs on impact. Students seem to love this activity every year, and so far this year is not an exception!  

We started the project last week and we're working on it  IN SCHOOL all this week.  This project is not designed to give additional homework at the end of the school year, but instead to have some fun applying science ideas and concepts we've worked on all year.

The testing day is this Thrusday, so be on the lookout for some fun pictures!  Ask your student what they're doing and who their partner is.  I'm loving watching their plans come together already.

• Field Day will be run in two sessions: The K—3rd grade students will participate from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. And the 4th—8th grade students from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Teachers will be looking for at least two parent volunteers each to run stations. Please let you child’s teacher know if you can help.
• Teachers and their parent volunteers are responsible for getting the equipment for their stations.
• We plan to have an all school picnic at lunch time at 11:30.

• Monday – Crazy Day (hair, socks, etc.)
• Tuesday – Fictional Character Day
• Wednesday – Uniform Day (sports, boy scouts, dance)
• Thursday – Decade Day
• Friday – Hat Day

• Doughnuts for the Guys: Dads, Grandfathers, Uncles, Brothers and Others: Please join us Friday, June 6th from 8:15 to 9:00 as we celebrate you—the men who make a difference in the lives of our students. Bring your own coffee cup and a chair or blanket to sit on. Beverages and a doughnuts will be provided.
• Assemblies: We have three assemblies coming up and you are welcome to join us. On June 3rd at 12:30 p.m. Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department will be out to talk to the students about staying safe. On June 4th at 12:15 p.m. we will be holding our Track Club Assembly to announce track club winners. And on June 11th at 12:15 p.m. we will be sending off our MRA 8th graders with an all school graduation assembly.
• Field Day: MRA’s field day is being held Thursday, June 12th. We are in the process of determining stations and times. But we know we will be in need of parent volunteers! Please mark your calendars!
• Summer Reading: Next Monday, June 2nd a Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Journal will be sent home with your child that they received during library time. Please take time to read through it. The students who participate and read 8 books will be able to select a free book from B&N. There are some great books! Studies have proven that kids who read throughout the summer have a better chance at retaining all that they have learned in the previous school year. This also gives your child a goal for the summer and an incentive to get them reading. You can download the journal here if it happens not to make it home. www.bn.com/summerreading Thank you for your continued support in helping our students succeed! Let Iva Quinlan at iquinlan@mra‐k8.com know if you have any questions.
• Adopt‐A‐Project: In order to continue with all of the wonderful work going on here at MRA we will be inviting families to participate in our Adopt‐a‐Summer‐Project program. Projects will include garden care, lawn maintenance and more. Information coming your way soon!
• End of the Year Dance: Our end of year school dance will be held on June 6th starting at 6:00 p.m. Students must be accompanied by an adult . If they are attending with an adult that is not their parent or guardian they must turn in a permission slip beforehand. 
• Summer Newsletter: The June newsletter will be coming out just as school gets out instead of the first of the month. It will contain some wrap up information, but will also include some important information as we go into the summer months.
• Last Day of School: The last day of school is Friday, June 13th. Please join us for lunch at 11:30 and feel free to take your student/s home after we eat. Those who stay for the afternoon will have the opportunity to help teachers clean out classrooms!

• June 6th, after Doughnuts for the Guys, eligible 8th graders will be taking a trip to Sky High in Portland for an 8th grade outing. To be eligible students must have all of their work turned in to all of their teachers no later than June 4th, and they must have successfully completed the requirements and expectations for their 8th grade projects including the paper which is due in final draft on May 28th. Students who don't meet these requirements will be required to attend a study hall on the 6th of June in order to work on catching up. The cost for Sky High will be $20.00 and will include lunch, ice cream and entrance into Sky High. If you aren’t sure of your students progress, please contact Mrs. DP at sdavidsonparker@mra-k8.com.
• June 9th will be a regular school day.
• June 10th - starting in the morning 8th graders will set up in the gym and share their projects with the student body in science fair fashion. At 12:15 p.m. they will give their formal 8th grade project presentations. Students are expected to dress up for this event, and parents and family members are invited to attend.
•  June 11th, 12:15 p.m. We will have an assembly for the 8th graders and the rest of the school.
• June 11th, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. 8th Grade graduation in the school gym. 
• We will be putting together a slide show of the 8th graders. In order to make it special,  we are asking each of you to send pictures of your student to me. We would like to get pictures that show your student at various ages - birth, toddler, early elementary, later elementary and present. So at least 5 pictures with a maximum of 8. You can email those to Mrs. Shelley, put them in her box and she can scan them and return them to you, or put them on a flash drive. The deadline is Monday, June 2nd.