Miller Elementary Weekly Update

Hello Miller Families!

We had such a special two days welcoming all of our kindergarten friends! We laughed, we played, and we learned how to be in school at Miller Elementary. I'm sure you had a lot of emotions preparing to send your little ones off to us each day with tears in your eyes, but I want to let you know that the smiles, laughs, and giggles in our halls were contagious! These young children did a great job learning new routines at school, and we are so very proud of them! We can't wait to see ALL of our kindergartners back at school on Monday!

Next week, we will be opening our doors to our youngest learners, our Preschoolers! Please make sure you follow the arrival and dismissal routines shared in the slides from your child's teacher. We have many staff members on hand to assist with any big feelings and emotions. We will take great care of each child to wipe away any tears, give that extra hug or hold their hand as they head into school! Please see the reminders below about our staggered start days for preschool!

PRESCHOOL

Monday, 8/18 - First Day of School for Assigned Preschool Students (Date Listed in your Placement Email in August)

Tuesday, 8/19 - First Day of School for Assigned Preschool Students (Date Listed in your Placement Email in August)

Each week, you can expect to find important information about what is happening in our school, some photos we have captured throughout the week, and some tips and tricks to help you learn more about our philosophies for teaching young children to meet their social, emotional, and academic needs.

Have a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to meet our Preschoolers in a few days!

HERE WE GO!

Maria Goodman

Miller Elementary Principal

330-954-2189

mgoodman@aurora-schools.org

Incoming Preschool Staggered Start Days

Monday, August 18th- Preschool Staggered Start (Assigned Days Will Be Emailed with Class Placement)
Tuesday, August 19th- Preschool Staggered Start (Assigned Days Will Be Emailed with Class Placement)
Wednesday, August 20th & Thursday, August 21st - ALL Preschool Children Attend

Kindergarten Assessment Days for the KRA

Friday, August 29th - Back to School Assessment Days - K-5 Children A-L attend School and M-Z NO SCHOOL (NO PRESCHOOL)
Monday, September 1st - NO SCHOOL FOR ALL - LABOR DAY
Tuesday, September 2nd - Back to School Assessment Days - K-5 Children M-Z Attend School and A-L NO SCHOOL (ALL PRESCHOOL STILL ATTENDS)

September Dates:

Monday 9/01 - NO SCHOOL Labor Day

Sunday, 9/14 - PTO Fall Flower Fundraiser Pick Up

Tuesday, 9/16 - Miller School Picture Day - More Information Forthcoming

As students begin their educational journey, there are some state-mandated checkpoints and assessments to ensure that we are monitoring your child's growth and development. To accomplish these activities, it's best if we bring small groups of children to school to work on these various assessments.

All K-5 (NOT PRESCHOOL) will be by participating in the Fall Assessment Days on Friday, August 29th, and Tuesday, September 2nd.

Friday, August 29th - Kindergarten KRA-R Assessment Days - Kindergarten Students Whose Last Name Begins with A-L Attend School (M-Z Does not attend school this day)

NO SCHOOL MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st - LABOR DAY

Tuesday, September 2nd - Kindergarten KRA-R Assessment Days - Kindergarten Students Whose Last Name Begins with M-Z Attend School (A-L Does not attend school this day)

In addition to our assessment days, we will be completing many of our kindergarten assessments during our normal school day. These screening assessments are required by the State of Ohio and they provide us with information to better know your child and to kick-start the school year to best meet their needs. We wanted to share what assessments they will be participating in and the expected dates so you know what is happening at school.

The dates listed below show the various windows of time we will be conducting assessments.

Speech & Language Screening - Kindergarten Students (August 26th & August 27th)

Your child will work one-on-one with one of our speech and language pathologists to conduct a speech and language screener.

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA-R) - Kindergarten Students (Aug. 29th & Sept. 2nd)

This assessment looks at your child’s readiness for engaging with instruction aligned to the kindergarten standards. These assessments are completed through observation in the classroom and via an interactive assessment on an iPad. Here are the skills that are checked:

Social Foundations- including social and emotional development
Mathematics
Language and Literacy
Physical Well-being and Motor Development

AIMS Web Benchmarking - (September 9th & 10th)

A 3-minute kindergarten universal screener to check your child's incoming knowledge of letters, sounds, and phonemic awareness.

Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener - (Around the week of September 8th)

Students whose families speak a 2nd language in the home as reported in Final Forms will take a language proficiency screener. This assessment is given by Mrs. Levey or Mrs. Flannery our English Learner educators.

Vision & Hearing Screening - All Kindergarten Students (Month of September & October)

Our school nurse conducted vision and hearing screening at kindergarten registration. She will conduct re-checks on some children and wrap this up on any child that missed registration in the spring.

We will communicate any results that require follow-up or reach out to you if we have any further questions. We are looking forward to getting to know your child a bit more!

The access to your students transportation information will be available on Monday, July 21st through the Bus App, MyRide K-12. If you haven't downloaded the app, the link for this process is found below. You will need your students ID number which can be found next to your students name in Final Forms.

If you haven't already done so, please don't forget to submit:

Alternate bus stop form if your student(s) are needing transportation other than to and from home. This form can be located on the ACSD website under Departments/Transportation. The form is located on the right hand side of the webpage.
Register Junior and Senior for any transportation needs by emailing transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org
Excel Tecc students need to submit the bus request registration form previously sent through Final Forms and/or located on the ACSD website under Departments/Transportation.
Please notify our office if you don't need transportation any time during the school year by emailing transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our office by emailing transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org

If your child will be dropped off or picked up from school, I’ll be sharing more detailed information in upcoming newsletters. Please note that Miller does not have a designated drop-off or pick-up lane. All families must park and walk to the arrival doors. We follow specific arrival and dismissal time frames to help reduce congestion and keep everyone safe. Due to limited parking, this remains one of our biggest logistical challenges. We appreciate your patience, cooperation, and teamwork to help make arrival and dismissal as smooth and safe as possible for all students and families!

Information to Download the My Ride K-12 Bus App

Alternate Bus Stop Form - Email to transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org

At Miller Elementary, all car riders must park their car and walk their child to our main doors or the preschool entrance. We are aware that our parking is very limited and our number one priority is safety in the parking lot. Please drive carefully and look out for little ones.

Preschool Arrival and Dismissal Times:

AM Preschool Arrival 8:45-8:50 & AM Preschool Dismissal 11:30 - Lower Preschool Doors - Door 3

PM Preschool Arrival 12:45-12:50 & PM Preschool Dismissal 3:20 - Upper Main Doors - Door 2

Kindergarten Arrival and Dismissal Times

Upper Main Door Entrance - Door 2

Full Day Kindergarten: Arrival 8:55-9:05 and Dismissal 3:25-3:35

AM 1/2 Day Kindergarten: Arrival 8:55-9:05 & Dismissal 11:40-11:45

PM 1/2 Day Kindergarten: Arrival 12:45-12:50 & Dismissal 3:25-3:35

(We dismiss kindergarten children after preschool.)

Please try to stick to these windows of time in order to smoothly get all children in and out of our building with adult support. Our parking lot is very small and limited. Please be cautious of others and try not to double park. Finally, our accessible parking spaces are reserved for families with the correct car tag. Only families with the correct license plate or tag should be using these spaces. Thank you!

In all our Elementary Buildings, we utilize a Google Form to report attendance, late arrival, early dismissal, and change of transportation such as switching from a bus rider to office pick-up!

To report an absence or change your child to a car rider or bus rider, please click the button below or scan the QR code magnet that we will pass out at Open House. This can be done from any device and your reply will be sent immediately to our secretary, Mrs. Toler.

If your child will be absent, you will use this form to report the absence along with the reason for the absence. We are working really hard to reduce the amount of phone calls, emails, or notes that we receive. We ask that you reserve those modes of communication for emergencies only. Thank you in advance for your help and let us know if you have any questions at all!

Click Here - 25-26 Attendance and Transportation Reporting

Eating lunch at school is another fun and exciting experience! This might be their first time eating in a large group, opening their lunch box or buying a lunch!

A hot lunch may be purchased beginning next week daily or your child can pack a lunch. They also have the option to purchase white or chocolate milk instead of packing a drink. Each child has a lunch account and we will provide you with their lunch account information at Open House. You can add money to their account via a credit card following the directions on the sheet, send in cash or you can send in a check made out to the Aurora City Schools. If you send in money, please place it in an envelope or baggie with your child’s name and a note indicating the money is for lunch. We will deduct the cost of lunch or milk each day that your child makes a purchase. Please make sure your child knows if they are buying or packing a lunch each day. We spend time helping them make their selection at the beginning of the year and soon this is an independent task they complete each day! Some of our classes eat lunch at 11:00 and other classes eat lunch at 12:00. You will find out this specific information from your child's teacher at Open House!

Click Here to View the School Lunch Menu

Click Here to Add Money to Your Child's Lunch Account

You can track your child's lunch account by setting up your profile using the login information from Open House. You may also send in cash or a check written out to the Aurora City Schools.

We have a school nurse, Jackie Pawlowski, on staff during school hours. She is here each day to assist students at a time of need or illness. Here are some important reminders from our school about preparing for the upcoming school year!

You can send on completed medical forms in your child's take home folder or upload documents in Final Forms as soon as you have them returned from your child's health care provider. This includes the preschool medical forms and the kindergarten health forms.
Please make sure your Final Forms medical information is up to date. We will closely read the health sections to address any medical concerns. If your child requires medication (over the counter or prescription) during the school day, we must have a signed Request for Administration of Medication form filled out by your child's doctor. You can find this attached below. If your child requires a medical action plan, we will work with you to finalize these plans and communicate all pertinent information with our school staff.
As a reminder, the vaccination forms for kindergarten children will be due at the start of the school year. If you have already completed this step, thank you! Please see the forms in the kindergarten registration folder and upload any documents to Final Forms or have them ready at Meet and Greet!

Click Here for the Request to Administer Medication Form

The Aurora City Schools use Final Forms to complete necessary back-to-school paperwork and to send out important communication! Final Forms saves data from year-to-year so that you will never need to enter the same information twice. If at any time a phone number, email address, or your contact information changes, we will get a notification that a change has been made so please make updates whenever necessary. Also, if you see a field in red, you will need to make necessary updates in the system. You will need to see all fields green to show that your Final Forms are up to date for the 25-26 school year.

We have many families who have accessed Final Forms and have completed the necessary paperwork. This is one thing you can do now before the hustle and bustle of the beginning of the year! If you are having difficulty with Final Forms, we will be reaching out to families in August when we return to the office.

Click Here to Update Final Forms