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Murdock Newsletter

March 7, 2007

Calendar
March 7-6th grade and Jr. High quiz bowl hosted by Louisville
March 8 & 9 – NO SCHOOL – Spring Break
March 8 & 9-Boys state basketball
March 10-7th grade girls tournament in Lincoln
March 11-Daylight Savings time
March 15 - Booster Club Meeting at 7:00
March 16 - Malcolm Music Contest
March 17-Saint Patrick’s Day
March 23-Music invitational at Springfield-Platteview schools.

Spring Forward… SOONER
An idea Benjamin Franklin came up with more than 200 years ago is why summer days today seem so very, very long. Nearly everyone’s heard the expression “Spring forward, fall back.” Each spring most Americans move their clocks forward one hour. When so-called standard time returns each fall, they reset them back one hour.
Wait a minute! How can you “save” daylight at all? Well, actually, we just call it daylight-saving time. A more accurate description would be “daylight-shifting time,” as a Web site called WebExhibits points out.
Because of the changing seasons, we already have more daylight hours in the summer, explains Tom Priddy, director of the agricultural weather center for the University of Kentucky. Seasons change because the earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis. Depending on how far north or south of the equator you live, you get longer periods of daylight in the summer and shorter periods in the winter.
Now, if you set clocks forward one hour in the summer on top of all that extra sunlight, you get the sensation of even longer days. Assume the sun comes up at 5 a.m. and sets at 8 p.m. on standard time. If you shift the clocks forward, sunrise comes at 6 a.m. and sunset at 9 p.m. If you don’t get up until 7 a.m. anyway, when sunrise comes makes no difference to you. But you sure could make use of sunset coming an hour later! That’s how daylight-saving time works.
Daylight savings time will take place this Sunday, March 11, and if it seems to you like it has arrived earlier than usual, you would be right. Daylight Savings Time has varied through the decades. But for 20 years, Americans set their clocks one hour forward on the first Sunday in April.
In an effort to save energy, the United States will make its annual move to Daylight Savings Time on March 11, to make use of longer hours of natural light. Beginning this year, daylight savings time will now begin on the second Sunday in March, and end on the first Sunday in November. The extension means that daylight savings time will now start three weeks earlier than before, and end a week later.

7 Tips so You Don't Lose Sleep Because of Daylight Savings Time:

1) Gradually go to bed earlier in the three or four nights leading up to Daylight Savings Time. While it may be hard to suddenly go to bed an hour earlier one night, ramping back your bedtime in 15 minute increments in the few nights before Saturday can make the transition easier.

2) Lower the lights in your room earlier so your brain gets the signal that it's time to start winding down.

3) Establish a relaxing bedtime routine that prepares your brain and body for sleep. Take a hot bath or read a relaxing book prior to going to sleep.

4) Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol close to bedtime. Since you'll be going to bed earlier, drink water with dinner instead of coffee or soda.

5) If it's still light outside when you put the kids to bed, make sure to close any blinds and draperies so the room is as dark as possible.

6) Take a nap if you feel a bit groggy come Sunday afternoon, but make sure it's not within a few hours of your regular bedtime, which can disrupt your sleep in the middle of the night.

7) Use Daylight Savings Time as a reminder to evaluate your sleep environment for a better year-round sleep experience, including your mattress and bedding. If you wake up often with an aching back, that could be a sign that it's time to consider investing in a new mattress. If that's the case, look for a mattress that is comfortable and provides correct back support.

Visit SleepSoundly.com for more information

Don’t forget to change your smoke alarm batteries also!

Additional Music Contest picked up
Malcolm previously had the choirs the same day as the bands and small ensembles. They have changed them to Thursday evening. This adjustment interferes with the Elmwood-Murdock bus route so music teacher, Betty Colbert decided to pick up an additional music contest this year to accommodate the choirs. The new contest will be hosted by Springfield-Platteview which will be closer than traveling to Malcolm a second time. Transportation for the parents should be more convenient as well.
Our best wishes go out to all those participating in BOTH contests. May each of you do your very best!

Inspirational
Be ye fishers of men. You catch them and He will clean them.
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
God doesn't call the qualified He qualifies the called.
The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.
We do not change the message the message changes us.
You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.

Saturday’s boys Knightstar basketball tournament moved to Sunday and Monday due to snow.
Mark Luetchens canceled all games Saturday due to the blizzard conditions. Games resumed all day Sunday and concluded Monday evening. The final game will be played Thursday evening for one of the brackets. Adjustments were made with both the game playing time as well as the days. The originally scheduled two full day tournament was adjusted by shortening the playing time of each game to get more games squeezed in.
Mark Luetchens said, “Basically a two day tournament was played in one day. It was pretty challenging because of the snow.”
Three different brackets were played-the whole 6th grade, the 7th grade B bracket, and the 8th grade C team bracket. The tournament was an all boys tournament. 23 different teams traveled from North Bend to Fort Calhoun to Norris to Blair.
The Elmwood-Murdock 6th grade lost their 1st game. They came back to win the next two which put them in first place of that bracket. They were pretty excited.

Norris won the overall champion game for the 6th grade.
Mark said, “Participants thought it went well. We had a hospitality room for the coaches and officials this year and that went well. We provided doughnuts, cookies, pizza, tea & coffee. It was a place to get away from the crowd & relax between games. We’ve held it for several years & plan to continue.”

As basketball concludes, golf, track, and preparation for little league baseball and softball begin
Please remember to sign up for summer baseball/softball at your earliest convenience. The registration form is available under the Knightstars link on the school's website. Please mail your form(s) to Jean Baumeister at the following address: 35817 Mckelvie Road, Murdock, NE 68407. The deadline for this is February 28 as we need to know who is playing so we can form the teams. Late fees will be imposed for entries received after his date.

Spring Break Spent in a Winter Blizzard
Elmwood-Murdock students spend their Spring Break snowed in. As students watch for school closings across the bottom of the TV screen, they know their school will not appear as they already don’t have school because of the scheduled spring break. A two hour late start on Monday compensates a bit for getting gypped out of two snow days. The second half of spring break comes this Thursday and Friday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate to allow some FUN for the kids!
Even though the storm caused great difficulty, we are very thankful to be more fortunate than New York!

News to the Editor
- Please send all your Murdock area news to me. Birthdays, anniversaries, announcements, events or news are welcome and will be added to the upcoming newsletter. Thanks in advance for all your help.

Teri Bowman
Editor@murdocknebraska.com