09/08 McMicken Family Connection

Dear McMicken Families,

It has been a fantastic beginning to the 2022-23 school year. After our summer preparations, it was great to finally welcome our Cougars back into the building! Our main focus for the beginning of the school year is to launch our strong structures to ensure a safe and productive learning environment for all. We reinforced our expectations for common areas in our PBIS Stations, which included routines for cafeteria, playground, hallway, and more. I even had a chance to teach students about our COUGAR Learner Habits and The Learning Pit. You can support at home by asking Cougars about what they are learning about what it means to be a good learner at McMicken: Collaborative, Optimistic, Understanding, Growing, Aware and Resilient. Our students are being taught what this looks like both in our social emotional learning as well as in academic areas. Last, but not least, we have had some great opportunities to practice our Dream It. Believe It. Achieve It. Exceed It! chant to reinforce our bold goals for the year ahead.

☺Principal Haas

Listen to our Principal's Welcome Back book by clicking the picture!

"In this heartfelt story about courage, change, and moving on, a girl and her companion fox travel together away from a sorrowful past, through challenging and stormy times, toward color and light and life. Along the way, they find friends to guide and support them, and when the new day dawns, it is full of promise. With gorgeous, richly realized illustrations and immense hope at its heart, Rain Before Rainbows holds out a ray of sunshine for anyone looking for light."

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Children's Festival, is celebrated in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other countries in East and Southeast Asia. This year, the festival falls on Saturday, September 10, 2022.

Traditionally, it is meant to mark the last harvest of the year, and is a time to enjoy the successful reaping of rice and wheat with food offerings made in honor of the moon. In Asian culture, roundness symbolizes completeness and togetherness. A full moon symbolizes prosperity and reunion for the whole family. On this day, it is believed that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn on the Lunar calendar.

Today, families and friends gather to eat round mooncakes and to watch the moon. Families will buy their children various lanterns, snacks and masks. Lanterns of all size and shapes, are carried and displayed – symbolic beacons that light people's path to prosperity and good fortune. Children also listen to folktales about the Moon Goddess, the Jade Rabbit, or Chú Cuội, the man on the moon.

To learn more about the Mid-Autumn Festival, consider:

• Watching the movie Over the Moon on Netflix, directed by Glen Keane and written by Audrey Wells;
• Reading books about the Mid-Autumn Festival like:
• The Shadow in the Moon by Christina Matula
• Mooncakes by Loretta Seto
• Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong
• Moon Pops by Baek Hee-na
• Sự tích chú Cuội The Legend of Cuoi, the Man on the Moon by Tiny Wrist
• Ced in the City Presents Happy Chuseok by Roosevelt Edwards

We are excited to bring back our "Families as Partners" and PTO (Parent-Teacher Organization) events this year! These groups will focus on ideas and actions to support the growth of our school and students.

If you have not signed up during "Back to School Night" and you are interested in receiving more information about these groups, please complete this form or scan the QR code to fill out the interest form.

We will contact you in a few weeks with more information. For any questions, please contact Annie Nguyen at annie.nguyen@highlineschools.org.

If your child will not be in school, for any reason, you must call the school office every day your child is out. Please call 206.631.4300 to report the absence. Please review the Attendance Basics for our policies. More information can be found on the Attendance page of the school's website.

A missed absence, for any reason and for any amount of time, is a missed opportunity for learning. Help your child succeed by building the habit of good attendance early. Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college - and at work.

Did you know students can suffer academically if they miss 10% of the school year, or about 18 days? That's just one day every two weeks. Research shows that missing 2-3 days a month can result in:

• 3rd grade students falling behind in reading
• 6th grade students failing courses
• Teens dropping out of high school

Sporadic absences matter too. Just one or two days a month can add up before you know it!

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school and themselves.

If you are facing challenges related to health care, unstable housing, transportation or lack of food, our school can help. Ryan Bunda, our school counselor, can connect you to services for the whole family. Contact Ryan Bunda by texting or calling 425.298.5329 or emailing Ryan.Bunda@highlineschools.org.

Please try to schedule all appointments and vacations when school is not in session. It is important your student does not miss valuable learning time. If you need to take your student out of school early, please check into the office. You will need to sign your student out.

Students will not be released the last 15 minutes of the school day. It is disruptive to classrooms, which are transitioning to dismissal procedures. Also, please plan ahead as last-minute changes to dismissal plans are not guaranteed. If there are any changes to your daily dismissal routine, please call the front office no later than 2:00pm.

School Hours

Doors open at 8:20 A.M.

Doors close at 4:00 P.M.

Please make sure your student arrives on time. All students are in their classrooms at 8:45am, ready to learn. For student safety, please make sure you pick up your student promptly after school. We have limited staff to supervise children not picked up on time. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Please keep updated on COVID guidelines. There are buttons at the end of this newsletter that will have updates throughout the school year. For the start of our school year, you can look at this one-pager for current guidelines for McMicken Heights.

If you would like your child to have the option to test at school, you can complete the Highline Public School's COVID testing consent form. It only needs to be completed once this school year.

September's Monthly Focus: We are C.O.U.G.A.R.S.

Weekly Focus (Sept. 12-16): We are Collaborative!

A quote to think about: "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

When we are collaborative, it looks like:

• Working effectively in groups or partnerships

• Seeking opportunities to learn and get to know one another

When we are collaborative, it sounds like:

• Communicating well with others

• Encouraging and complementing one another

• Asking questions to understand each other

When we are collaborative, it feels like:

• Being included and valuing those around us

• Being connected to each other

Friday, October 14: No School for Students (Pre-K to 12)

For more information, visit https://kcls.org/studyzoneplus/.

Zoom Meeting ID: 848 1415 3950; Passcode: 883304

Study Zone Tutors (grades K-12) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4-6pm.

Math Club (grades K-8) on Thursdays 5:30-7:30pm.

Reading Buddies (grades K-6 & ELL to grade 12) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30pm.

Kids and Teen Talk Time (grades K-12) on Thursdays from 4-5pm.

Study Zone Plus volunteers offer academic support for students in grades K-12. Log in during open hours for:

• Free homework help
• Access to KCLS librarians
• Language and reading support
• Social activities

Type your requested activity in the Chat or wait for the Greeter to call on you. Students will be moved to breakout rooms for the service they choose.

Study Zone Plus programs will be closed August 26-September 11, November 21-24, December 19-29, January 16, February 20-23, and June 19-29.

Contact us for support or with questions.

McMicken Heights Elementary School

https://mcmicken.highlineschools.org

Phone: (206) 631-4300

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