Miller Elementary Weekly Update

Hello Miller Families!

Happy Friday! We hope this weekly update finds your family ready to kick off a fun-filled weekend and it's the first Friday night football game in the Greenhouse!!! Our preschoolers did an amazing job of starting school! They met new friends, played in their classroom and enjoyed some time on our playground. This was such a GREAT WEEK AT MILLER!

As you all know, the first few weeks are an adjustment period for our young children. They are adjusting to being away from home all day or half of the day. They are learning new faces and names both of classmates and staff members. It is expected to see some tears from time to time, but rest assured that we are here to give that extra hug, sit and comfort your child with a calming toy or move into a fun play activity. Once they are settled, it is exciting to see their smiling faces alongside their classmates!

We had our first fire drill today, Friday, August 22nd and our kindergarteners did a great job! We all read a social story about Fire Drills so they knew what to expect. I always come on the announcements and have them begin to evacuate and we don't sound the alarm until everyone is outside. This helps them hear the sound that our alarm makes in the event of an emergency. This is a great time to talk about fire safety and storm safety at your house too. Our next fire drill will be in September on a day that preschool and kindergarten will be in the building.

Kindergarten Only Reminder:

Next Friday we begin our Back to School 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)
• Monday, September 1st - NO SCHOOL - 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)

Preschool Only Reminder:

• No Preschool on Fridays
• No Preschool - Monday 9/1- Labor Day
• All Preschool Attends Tuesday 9/2

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

GO GREENMEN!

Maria Goodman

Miller Elementary Principal

330-954-2189

mgoodman@aurora-schools.org

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

We recently were required to add a new form into our Final Forms titled "Parents Bill of Rights." Dr. Milcetich has previously highlighted much of this information in his opening communication to families.

Everyone will need to log back into Final Forms to access this form and add their signature that you have received this communication. If you could complete this as soon as possible, that would be very helpful. All of your forms must appear GREEN to be COMPLETE. - THANK YOU!

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!

Hello Miller! It has been such a treat to welcome your capable, adorable and kind Kindergarten and Preschool students to our wonderful school! I am honored to introduce myself as the school counselor. I am available to support students and families in the areas of social emotional learning, academics and believe it or not- career exploration. Focusing on student strengths and learning about careers that help our community would be an example of how the career standard is covered in Kindergarten.

The 25-26 school year will be my twenty-first year in education. I have spent the previous years working as a classroom teacher, middle school counselor, and an elementary school counselor. Helping students is what I love to do! When I am not at school, you can usually find me at a sporting event for one of my three children: Dominic (14), Daniel (12) and Elle (12). We live right around the corner in Hudson with my husband, Brian and goldendoodle, Lila.

I encourage and welcome open-communication. During the school day, I provide individual counseling, small group counseling and classroom guidance lessons. Classroom guidance topics will be shared as they are introduced in this newsletter. Should your child be recommended for a small group or individual counseling, I would notify you in order to obtain your consent. Initially, I will ensure that all students continue to transition from summer break to their school day with ease.

This school year, I will be at Miller three days each week. Those days will typically be Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. When I am not at Miller, I’ll be very close at Leighton Elementary working with the third, fourth and fifth graders.

Next week will be a longer one for your child, so I thought it would be beneficial to share Tips for Back to School Anxiety from Akron Children’s Hospital and a resource to help with arrival Separation Anxiety.pdf should your child experience any uncertainty when getting on the bus or out of the car. While I know it’s useful, my hope is that you can simply file this resource and not have to utilize it!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time. I look forward to an excellent school year!

My name is Len Spacek. This school year, I will be supporting students in grades K-5 from a mental health perspective. I will be working with students that are dealing with anxiety, depression, self-regulation, and other aspects of their mental well-being. This may be in an individual setting, a small group setting, or educating classes about tools that can help with emotional wellness.

I have been a teacher and a coach in the Aurora City Schools for twenty-nine years. My first 20 years were spent in the classroom as a language arts teacher at Harmon Middle School. Over the past eight years, along with teaching PE at Leighton Elementary school, I have earned my school counseling license and my license as an LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor). Also, during the past eight years, I have done counseling at Spire Institute in Geneva, Grand River Academy in Ashtabula, and Ubuntu Wellness in Chagrin Falls.

I am looking forward to supporting students in grades K-5 and helping them to become the very best version of themselves.

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:

1. 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.
2. Register Junior and Senior for any transportation needs by emailing transportationinfo@aurora-schools.org
3. 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.
4. 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!

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!

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!

Miller Elementary Principal

Erin Toler : etoler@aurora-schools.org

Miller Elementary Secretary

Email: mgoodman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 646 S Chillicothe Rd, Aurora, OH 44202, USA
Phone: 330-562-6199