April showers bring May flowers...

I'm sure that all of you remember this joke- If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?  The answer- Pilgrims!  Now think about it.  When was the last time that you had a good laugh, I mean a really good laugh.  Mine was driving with Lauren.  She is a pretty good driver and hopes to get her license on her birthday, June 1st.  The picture to the left (complete with her Justin Bieber t-shirt from the concert) was a shot I took without her knowing while driving our Acadia.  She honestly wanted nothing to do with driving "the big truck", but she did a great job.  You might even be able to notice that she's smiling while she's driving.  We laughed about how fast she was driving, how close she was to the gas pump, and ended with her telling me that driving "the big truck" was easier than driving her car.  The best part, and the one that made me laugh the hardest, is the picture on the right.  Lauren pulled the Acadia into the garage and said, "I park better than mom!"  It made us laugh because Lauren has issues parking in parking lots with no one around, but for some reason it was easier parking in the garage.  I hope that if you didn't laugh this week at school that you find something to laugh about today.

Calendar
It's Staff Appreciation Week!
Monday, May 2nd             College/Team Up Day (Wear your favorite team gear!)
                                            Charity kickball game  5PM
Tuesday, May 3rd              Comfy Day (Does this really need an explanation?)
                                            Staff recognition awarsd in the Little Theater at 8:15
Wednesday, May 4th         Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!)
                                            Mrs. Hemmer visits 9:00-12:00
                                            A-team meeting 1:30-3:30PM
Thursday, May 5th            Cinco de Mayo (Taco bar for lunch! Sign up here.)
Friday, May 6th                 Thank You Day (Give a note to a colleague or colleagues and wear your                                               jeans!)

Tweets, quotes, and blogs
"The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder."- Thomas Carlyle, writer and historian
"Whatever it takes to finish things, finish.  You will learn more from a glorious failure than you ever will from something you never finished."- Neil Gaiman, writer

(from Pinterest)

"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself."- Henry Ford, industrialist
6 Reasons Running a Marathon Is Like Being an Educator (blog co-written by @awelcome and me)
"You are too important to the bigger picture to just fall off the canvas."- Johnnie Dent, writer

(from PixTeller)

"Beginning in itself has no value.  It is an end which makes beginning meaningful--we must end what we begin."- Amit Kalantri, writer
"If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary."- Jim Rohn, entrepreneur and motivational speaker
Are Teachers Architects or Masons (from @ajjuliani)
"One important key to success is self-confidence.  An important key to self-confidence is preparation."- Arthur Ashe, tennis player
#mertonint on Twitter@mertonint on Twitter
Merton Intermediate School Facebook page
Family smore for 4.29.16.
Principals' Board presentation 4.25.16

#semicolonEDU
Please find time to read this powerful blog, The Semicolon and The Nerdy Teacher.  It was written in July of 2015, but the message is something that we can all learn from.  The semicolon is a punctuation mark that signifies a pause in a piece of writing.  Sometimes in life we need to take a pause, too.  If you have a chance, take some time to speak with a student, colleague, or family member about how their day is going.  Just a little time, and someone to listen, might be all that they need.

A new Monday tradition?  Let's do this again!
64.  What's so important about the number 64?  It's the number of hours some of our students go without hearing something positive from an adult between the time they leave us on Friday and the time we see them again on Monday.  Try to say something positive to our kids today, and then greet them, individually, with a positive on Monday.  In fact, let's greet the kids at the doors Monday morning to get their week started out right!

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend with family and friends.  I'll be running a half-marathon in Eau Claire with some principal friends who have never run a half-marathon before.
Jay
"Take care of our kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself."- John Gunnell (@gunnellAP)