MLC Weekly News and Notes
January 1st-5th
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
December 23-January -1st - Winter Break
Monday January 1st
HAPPY NEW YEAR! - NO SCHOOL!
Tuesday January 2nd
Welcome back to school!
Students of Color lunch group 6x12 with Alberti
PTSA Meeting in MLC Library @ 6:30 pm
Wednesday January 3rd
Thursday January 4th
SAGA lunch group 7x12 with Erewyn
Friday January 5th
Friday Focus Rotation 4
Coming soon:
January 9th Winter Elective Sign Ups
January 10th-11th & 16th-17th - Conferences
January 15th MLK Day - No School
January 16th Winter Electives Begin
January 26th End of Quarter 2
January 29th Grading/PD Day for staff - No Students
January 30th Start of Quarter 3
January CONFERENCES! (Rescheduled from November)
NOVEMBER CONFERENCES RESCHEDULED FOR EVENINGS IN JANUARY: 10th, 11th,16th , & 17th.
Hello MLC families,
Go HERE (under MLC Updates) to see a link to each teacher's conference schedule. These in-person conferences will be held on 4 evenings from 3:45pm until 6:45pm.
Kindergarten through 6th grade families are invited to sign up for a 20-minute conference with their child's homeroom teacher. Teachers of middle and high school students are scheduling 10-minute conferences. These shortened conference slots provide an opportunity for more parents to meet with the 7x12 teachers.
Conference slots are also available if you wish to meet with counselors, PE, Art and our Media specialists.
Special Education case managers will be available to attend some scheduled conferences. Please email them directly or phone the main office if you would like to invite them.
GO HERE to sign up on the main MLC website.
Winter Electives!
Hello, Marvelous MLC Community.
I am sending out the official call for elective class offerings for our elementary/middle/high school students and know that you have a wealth of knowledge to bring to this program. Inviting our families into the building to lead small groups – while sharing their interests and expertise – is a vital part of making MLC a true community.
This year, we are excited to grow the program by including our 9x12 students, and will need even more volunteers than in the past. Students can also lead electives, so please consider co-teaching with your child or encouraging them to take on this leadership role.
Please use this Google Form https://forms.gle/sw7zktFiXcvZpbrQ9 to communicate your choices with me. It includes more details about the program and ideas if you aren’t quite sure what to teach.
Winter Term Electives: January 16 - March 7 (8 weeks; time commitment is roughly one hour per week for 8 weeks)
1x3 Electives: Wednesdays from 2:25 - 3:10 p.m.
4x6 Electives: Tuesdays/Thursdays from 2:25 - 3:10 p.m.
7x12 Electives: Wednesdays from 2:45 - 3:30 p.m.
Not ready to teach on your own? Sign-up with a friend to co-teach or let me know you’d like to get your feet wet by working alongside an MLC staff member. Once you see how much fun it can be, I know you’ll be hooked and come back for more. Likewise, if you can make most of the 8 sessions work but not all of them, talk to me! I can find a substitute for a day or two that you must miss.
PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR CHOICES ASAP – Deadline has been extended in hopes of getting enough people to support a full elective program!
Many, many thanks,
Dana Lipson
MLC Electives Coordinator
(she/her pronouns)
PTSA News
So Much Gratitude!
'Tis the season to express our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated teachers and staff at MLC for their unwavering commitment and compassion! A warm thank you to the generous MLC families who enthusiastically supported our “Gifts of Gratitude” donation drive. Your contributions allowed us to curate gift bags for every single MLC teacher and staff member, each featuring gift cards, treasures, and tasty treats from (mostly) local businesses. We are deeply appreciative of the entire MLC community who help make this school such a special place.
As the winter break approaches, we wish everyone a rejuvenating time to rest and recharge, and ample opportunities to embrace the enchantment of the season. Here's to a New Year brimming with love, good health, and joy!
The MLC Holiday Meal Fund Offers Ongoing Support
The Holiday Meal Fund supports members of our school community. Food scarcity, housing insecurity, financial stress, and other obstacles to learning are faced daily by MLC students and their families. The Holiday Meal Fund is managed separately from the PTSA general funds. While it is not tax deductible, we are able to provide this directly to MLC families through the MLC Support Team. Your gift will allow MLC families to purchase food and other necessities for the holiday season and throughout the year! Any donations received by Wednesday night will be distributed ahead of this upcoming holiday week.
Click HERE to donate to the MLC Holiday Meal Fund.
If you need assistance or would like to request a grocery card for your family, please fill out this form to contact MLC's Social Worker Clement Wislon and the MLC Support Team.
We also want to give a huge shout out to our local Trader Joe's, who has agreed to sponsor our Meal Fund again this year with a gift card drive. Please show them some love when you're in the neighborhood!
Next Adventure Holiday Giveback Campaign
Local outdoor store Next Adventure is launching a brand new website. To celebrate they are running a “Giveback Campaign” during the month of December and they have chosen MLC PTSA as one of their beneficiaries! 10% of your online purchase amount will be donated to our PTSA for all purchases using our unique code MLC23. Please consider supporting Next Adventure for any of your outdoor gear needs…it’s a win-win!
Please note that this is NOT a discount code, just a code that a customer can put in to show which organization they want Next Adventure to support. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other codes.
BottleDrop: Turn you cans into cash for our school
Grab all those cans and bottles from your holiday festivities and throw them into a MLC labeled BottleDrop blue bag (available in the front office at MLC). Then just drop the bag off at one of the BottleDrop bag collection points and now you have made money for our school. Good work!
You can find all bag collection locations HERE or drop them at one of these places near MLC:
Trader Joe's - NW Glisan and 21st
Fred Meyer - NW Burnside and 20th
New Season's - NW Raleigh and 22nd
Contact Adam Perryman with questions or to get more bags.
Get Involved with our MLC Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)
The PTSA’s role is more important than ever in these post-pandemic and post-strike times as we work to foster connections for parents, teachers, students, and staff, as well as to support critical school needs. Support from families is vital to ensuring the MLC magic we’ve come to know and love can continue. Join us to grow your village and advocate for our students and community!
Participation in PTSA can involve as much or as little time as you have to offer and your level of commitment is up to you. Whether you can share your time or your money and whether it’s a one time contribution or an ongoing commitment, it all adds up.
Please fill out our 2023-24 MLC PTSA Volunteer Opportunities form to learn more about how you can become involved. You may also reach out to Volunteer Coordinator Sierra Stringfield Perryman with any questions or suggestions.
For 11-12th graders - Perelandra Scholars Program at Portland State University!
Registration for the Perelandra Scholars Program at Portland State University is now open for winter term. This program, now in its third year, is designed exclusively for high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit in high-level humanities courses, taught in person on the PSU campus.
The new evening course begins January 23 and is The Idea of the Nation:
In this course we will examine what it means to be a nation, when national identity is a force for liberty and when a source of conflict, how the national idea has developed in America as compared with countries such as India and Israel, and the importance and challenges of national identity today as compared with its alternatives.
Students will get to discuss these topics with international guest speakers via Zoom, including media studies professor Vamsee Juluri (on Hindu nationalism, Bollywood cinema, and global perceptions of India) and political philosophy professor Neil Rogachevsky (on the history and theory of Israel’s declaration of independence).
Course information is at the following link: https://www.pdx.edu/judaic-studies/perelandra-scholars-program
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Gretchen Benner (she/her)
Professional School Counselor
Metropolitan Learning Center
503-916-5737 ext. 76051
Google Voice #: 503-272-1681
MLC High School Work Based Learning Program: Community Partner Interest Form
Questions? Reach out to Tanya Lieb!
