Enjoy a night off from cooking by ordering dinner at Potomac Pizza and 20% of your tab will benefit the Murch HSA. Good for dining in or carrying out, 4pm-closing, at the Chevy Chase location, 19 Wisconsin Circle, Chevy Chase, MD 20815.

Teachers are welcome — come have dinner with your students! Teachers who sign in at the register receive a $10 Potomac Pizza gift card for their next purchase!

The class with the highest percentage of receipts will receive a free pizza party, courtesy of Potomac Pizza!

• Feb 10-24: The Reach Book Drive, sharing the love.  Click here to donate.

• March 17: The Auction! 7-11pm at Washington Hebrew Congregation. Registration is now open, and you can do it online by clicking here.

• March 5-11: Early-bird bidding on select items in the Online Auction.

Thanks for your support of the Murch HSA!

Practices will resume on Wednesdays after school beginning the first week of March. Additional details to follow. Register your child now at www.notebusters.org.

Do you wonder what information about sexuality is age appropriate for your elementary school children? Are you nervous about starting the discussion or seeking information about what topics to cover at what age? Please join us on March 14 at 7pm in the Lafayette auditorium for a discussion about raising sexually healthy children. Lafayette is located at 5701 Broad Branch Rd, at the corner of Broad Branch and Northampton St, NW.

The speaker will be Deborah Roffman, a distinguished educator, author, consultant and leader in the field of sex education.  Ms. Roffman is known for her wise, warm and practical advice. She is the author of two well-regarded books: Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent’s Guide to Talking Sense about Sex,  and But How Did I Get in There in the First Place?: The Thinking Parent’s Guide to Talking to Young Children about Sex.  She has also written dozens of articles and commentaries on sex education and appeared in every major national newspaper and national network, including HBO and National Public Radio. Roffman teaches human sexuality education in the DC/Maryland region and has presented hundreds of workshops for parents and teachers on how to help young people develop into sexually healthy adults.

INFO SESSION: Monday, March 26th (Monday before Spring Break)

DAY ONE TRYOUTS: Wednesday, April 11th
DAY TWO TRYOUTS: Friday, April 13th

REHEARSAL: Monday, May 7th
DRESS REHEARSAL: Thursday, May 10th

THE SHOW: Friday, May 11th

Adventures with Robots is an after-school science-enrichment program that runs at more than a dozen schools in Washington, DC, and Montgomery County. Over the last year alone, Adventures with Robots have taught more than 1,000 kids, ages 7-10, how to write their first robotics programs or video game programs (or both)!

PLEASE NOTE: Class size is limited to a minimum of 11 students and a maximum of 12 students (i.e., if we do not get at least 11 students registered, the class will be cancelled). If more than 12 students indicate interest, a lottery will be held and you will be notified of the results by Monday, February 27, 2012.

• Dates:  Tuesdays, April 10, 17, 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22
• Time:  3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
• Adult Leader:  Matthew Stone
• Location:  BEN3 (back of the teacher’s parking lot)
• Eligibility: All 2^nd and 3^rd Graders, as well as any 1^st Graders who turned 7 by 10/31/11
• Cost: $90
• Registration due (email or completed form):  Friday, February 24, 2012

How to Register: Registration consists of:  (i) sending an email to murchrobotics@yahoo.com by February 24 providing the information requested below (preferred option); or (ii) completing the form below and returning it to your child’s teacher in his/her Friday folder no later than Friday, February 24.  You will be notified via email by Monday February 27, 2012 if your child has a place in the class, at which point you will be notified of the procedure to pay the fee no later than March 2, 2012. Do NOT include a check with your registration. IF YOU FAIL TO PAY THE COURSE FEES BY FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012, YOUR CHILD’S PLACE WILL BE VACATED AND OFFERED TO ANOTHER STUDENT.
Please contact Matthew Stone at murchrobotics@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

PRINT AND SIGN FORM:

—————————————————————————————————

Student Name:_________________________________________
Gender:______
Grade/Teacher:________________________________________
Child’s Birthday (if 1^st Grade):____________________________Phone:________________________________________________
Parent’s name:________________________________________
Parent’s email:_________________________________________
I have read and understand the General Polices.  Signature:___________________________GENERAL POLICIES: No food consumption during class:  please pack a snack to be consumed after school before the robotics class begins.  Once registered and confirmed, there are no refunds.  We reserve the option of requiring the withdrawal without refund of any child whose behavior prevents the class from proceeding constructively despite the efforts of adult leaders and parents.  Please pick up your child from BEN3 promptly at 4:30 pm.

RSVP Sally Seppanen for either date:

• Thursday, February 16 at 7:30am – 8:15am; or
• Wednesday, April 18 at 6:30pm – 8pm.

You can immediately begin using these new skills to handle stressful situations and begin to build resiliency within yourself and take some of these skills back to your children.
Participants learn simple and effective ways to shift into coherence, a state in which the heart, brain and nervous system are in alignment.                                                                 Learn techniques to:

• Improve your health, well-being and relationships
• Self regulate your emotions
• Make clearer choices and decisions
• Consciously create more flow and ease
• Reduce stress and build resilience

In an effort to accommodate various schedules, this workshop will be offered once before school and once in the evening. The workshop is designed by The Institute of HeartMath, an international education and research organization and given by licensed HeartMath instructor Sally Seppanen. Contact her for more information.

Reach’s mission is to foster the love of literacy while improving the literacy levels of DC public school students. Reach was formed in 2009 out of concern that 87% of DC school children do not read at grade level when they enter high school. Research reveals that students with low literacy skills are 20 times more likely to drop out of school than their highest performing peers. “Training Kids to Teach Kids,” Reach hires and trains high school students to tutor elementary school students. The program is offered in public schools in Wards 5 and 6, where teachers guide Reach tutors in preparing lesson plans grounded in the core components of literacy development. In turn, the high school tutors provide twice-weekly reading instruction to elementary school students in need of support.

Please take this opportunity to contribute to Reach’s efforts to improve literacy among DC students!