We are excited to participate in the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Math-a-thon program this year at Amana. St. Jude's Hospital is located in Memphis, Tennessee and is one of the world's premier pediatric cancer research centers. It's mission is to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic disease through research and treatment. St Jude's services are available to any child regardless of ability to pay, and it is amazing to note that 84 cents of each dollar raised goes directly to research.

The math-a-thon has been around for more than 30 years, and is America's largest educational - based fundraiser. Scholastic has put together a fun free math curriculum supplement for grades k-8. Each grade level has been aligned to the National Math Standards and will help students practice and prepare for CRCT standardized testing.

On Friday, November 6, 2009 your students will participate in the "kick-off" of the math-a-thon. Please join us as we introduce the students to a charitable event where our children are directly helping needy children across the US. On Friday the students will learn what the math-a-thon is and who benefits from participation. They will be given a permission slip to bring home to be signed by their parent or guardian. This should come back to school on Monday, and students who have permission will be given their math books. The students are asked to collect donation promises from family and friends and then begin working through the math problems in their Funbook. Completed Funbooks and collected donations will be due back between Monday, November 30th and December 2nd. Prizes are awarded for different levels of donations and will be discussed at the "kick-off".

Please join us for the kick-off on Friday, at these times:

• 8:10 a.m. in the multi-purpose room if your student is in grades k-2
• 8:45 a.m. in the multi-purpose room if your student is in grades 3-5
• 12:20 p.m. in the multi-purpose room if your student is in grades 6-8.

Thank you in advance for your support of such a worthy cause. Please go to www.stjude.org or www.mathathon.org if you would like more information or call Ms. Morrison, Mr. Credi, or Ms. LoCurto at Amana.

Sincerely,

The Grade Level Administrators