Friday, January 20 - 8AM Principal Coffee Talk

Join Principal Sofianos for the January Coffee Talk in the MES Auditorium! Please come straight to the auditorium - you do not need to sign in at the front office first. 

Please note that we will do our best to live stream this event if you cannot attend in person. A link will be shared in the MES Community Facebook group when it is available.

Thursday, January 26 - PTA General Meeting

Mark your calendars for the PTA’s next general meeting on Thursday, January 26 at 8am! Please enter through the doors under the awnings at Park Ave. and Virginia Ave.

We are sure to have lots of exciting agenda items, including the review and approval of the amended budget (standard for this midyear meeting!) and the election of a Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee is charged with preparing the slate of PTA Executive Committee Officers for the 2023-24 school year. The Nominating Committee is composed of five members and one alternate. Committee meetings will run from February through early April and will be scheduled per the committee members’ availability. You must be a member of the PTA to serve on the Nominating Committee.

Please contact Emily Cooper before the January 26th PTA meeting if you are interested in serving on the Nominating Committee.

Friday, January 27 - SWAG Playground Cleanup

Come help keep MES at Inman beautiful by joining us for SWAG Campus Clean Up Days this spring! Volunteers will meet at the walker pad after school beginning at 2:45pm. Gloves, garbage bags, and snacks will be provided for everyone. In the event of rain, a make up date will be planned.

Here are all of the planned Campus Clean Up Days for the spring semester:

• Friday, January 27
• Friday, February 10
• Friday, March 17
• Friday, April 21
• Friday, May 12

We will also have two SWAG Parents Coffee and Clean Up Days this spring:

• Friday, March 3rd at 8am
• Friday, May 5th at 8am

Please be sure to sign in at the office before meeting up with us on the walker pad for the parent clean up events. 

Please visit the SWAG Campus Beautification webpage for more information and contact Heather Low with any questions.

Tuesday, January 31 - MES GO Team Meeting

Be sure to tune into this month's Go Team Meeting on Tuesday, January 31st at 5pm. This meeting will be livestreamed on the MES YouTube channel, which can be found HERE.

Please contact Mr. Bookspun with any questions. For more information about the MES Go Team, please click HERE.

Wednesday, February 1 - Comfort Bags for People Experiencing Homelessness A Dolphins Do Good + No Place For Hate® Project

In January and February, the entire MES community will have the opportunity to take part in a community-wide service project to provide a comfort bag of hygiene items to people experiencing homelessness. This is an expansion of a program that MES has participated in for many years called Homeless at Heart. This year there is a classroom learning component and an opportunity for parents and caregivers to pitch in!

Classroom Activities: During the month of January, all MES students will take part in a No Place for Hate® program led by our counselor Ms. Deal in their classrooms. Then, on February 1, MES will participate in the Global School Play Day and students will pack comfort bags which will be donated to Crossroads Community Ministries, an organization that provides resources to people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta.

How You Can Help:

Please donate items by helping us fulfill an Amazon 'Wish' registry to gather the needed items to create comfort bags for people experiencing homelessness. All items will be shipped directly to the school.

IMPORTANT DATES

* On January 27, from 2:45 to 5:00 PM, families are invited to come to MES to help sort the items to get ready for the in-class service project. This is a GREAT do-it-together, hands-on activity for you and your students.

* On February 1, we will need floaters and in-class volunteers to help students pack the bags. Sign Up HERE to help!

Since 2015 APS has implemented the No Place for Hate® initiative District-wide. Each year all APS schools participate in programs around the goal of creating a welcoming community committed to stopping all forms of bias and bullying.

Questions? Email Lorraine Hatch or Robin Deutsch Edwards.

Wednesday, February 1 – Global School Play Day

Global School Play Day is observed annually every first Wednesday in February and this year it will be held on February 1. This will be our second year participating in this event. The Global School Play Day promotes the importance of unstructured (but supervised), regular play for children without the use of screen time or electronics. The campaign was started by a group of six educators in 2015 who realized that playtime for children was decreasing both at home and in school. This will be an amazing day of play!

Friday, February 3 - Lost and Found Donation Day

Are you missing a water bottle or coat? Please be sure to look for it before the next donation day, 2/3/2023! Lost and Found has been moved to the main hall for more visibility, so please try to obtain lost items today!

The following are dates of upcoming donation dates

• Friday, February 3rd
• Friday, March 10th
• Friday, April 21st
• Thursday, May 25th

Please see opportunities to volunteer to help with Lost and Found HERE.

Saturday, March 11 - SAVE THE DATE! Spring Parent Social-Casino Night and Raffle benefitting Morningside Elementary PTA

When: Saturday, March 11th, 2023

6pm-7pm: VIP reception for Family and Business Sponsors

7pm-11pm: Casino Night!

7:15pm-10:15pm: Casino floor gaming open and raffle to follow!

Enjoy a night filled with food, drinks, music, and mingling with fellow Morningside Elementary parents!

Interested in volunteering?

Please contact Justin Hubbarth or Rafael Morales we are building our team and would love to have you.

Raffle Prizes

Work or know someone in the entertainment, sports, or travel industry? Does grandma have a beach house? If you have an experience or item that you would like to offer for our raffle, please contact Lori Brown or Stuart Lake.

Registration For This Year’s MES Family Science Night Is Now Open!

Can I get a robot to clean my room? Do I have a popular first name? How are big heavy airplanes able to stay up in the sky? Find out the answers to all of these questions and more at MES’s Family Science Night (FSN)! All MES students (and their parents, caregivers, and siblings) are invited to attend.

Register Here Today (registration ends January 30th)!

As with prior FSN events, volunteers are a key part of making sure this event runs smoothly and is a wonderful experience for all involved. Let us know if you’re interested in helping!

Now Accepting Submissions For MES Waves - Create Your Own Path

Are you an Artist? Performer? Musician? Author?

MES Needs YOU!!

Now Accepting all submissions for

Written work (poems, short story)

Art (any and all mediums welcome!)

Video (any original work, taped acts welcome!) &

Entertainment (LIVE auditions will be MARCH 13-15, more information coming soon)

SHOWCASE

Live Acts and Videos must be five minutes or less and can include but are not limited to: singing, dancing, instrumental, cultural performances, gymnastics, karate, stand-up comedy, magic acts, and Tik-Tok like submissions. Your creativity is the only limitation!

Art will be displayed at the Showcase on 4/23 and in the MES hall 4/25-4/29

Written work will be offered as part of the Program on 4/23

Please turn in all Visual/Writing submissions to the front office, with attached submission form, or ONLINE no later than Friday, March 24, 2023. 

WAVES is requesting submissions for a student-created logo to represent our theme “CREATE YOUR OWN PATH.” This logo will be used on t-shirts, marketing materials, the school website, and decorations for our show on April 23. If you have a creative student, please ask them to submit their art by WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1. Submissions can be dropped in the WAVES box in the main office or emailed to [email protected]. Ideal logos will utilize less than four colors in the design, to aid in printing. We cannot wait to see what you create!

Calling All Fifth Graders:

We are looking for a group of fifth-grade volunteers interested in helping us run the Art Showcase with jobs ranging from being an MC to helping run the sound booth. If this sounds like something your child would be interested in, please fill out this FORM and we will reach out ASAP

January School Attendance - We're in the Write Place

For the month of January, MES will be running a monthlong initiative to promote school attendance with the theme "We're in the Write Place"!

In support of this effort, we are asking parents to send in notes about the importance of attending school daily and on time. All entries received will be put into a drawing to be sent to the district for a chance for an award. Please send them in with your child(ren) to give them to their teacher who will get them to the Attendance Committee. Thank you!

Donate Prizes to the MES Go B.L.U.E. Weekly Raffle!

Every Friday, we celebrate two of our amazing students for upholding the school code of conduct by holding a raffle for prizes donated by our community. Your prize donations can help motivate our learners to Go B.L.U.E! (Be respectful, Listen and Learn, Use self-control, and Embrace diversity).

If you would like to donate prizes to the MES Go B.L.U.E. weekly raffle, please do so by selecting an item (or items) from our Wish List, and have the item(s) sent to the school address: Behavior Committee 774 VIRGINIA AVE NE. ATLANTA, GA 30306-3631.

Principal's Blog and Coffee Talks

Catch up on Everything MES straight from Principal Sofianos by bookmarking her Principal's Blog and checking back often!

CLICK HERE for the latest blog.

Stay Up to Date with the APS Midtown Cluster

Click HERE for resources directly related to our cluster.

Stay Up to Date with the 2022-2023 APS Calendar 

Click HERE to view the district calendar and start planning for all the breaks.

Click HERE to view the Atlanta BOE 2023 Calendar.

VaHi Elementary Website Updates

For our future VaHi Elementary families - if you looking for information about the new school, please be sure to check out the growing website for the school, as new information is being added on a regular basis! Be sure to use the drop down menus at the top of the page to navigate to the various areas of the page, including a new About Page, information on school policies and procedures for the new school (under the New Students tab), a section dedicated to academics (under the Academics tab), and pages for the school's GO Team and the PTO.

Thank you to our Diamond Dolphin, Dolphin, and Platinum-level sponsors for supporting our school!

For more information about Dolphin Donors, please click HERE.