Allen Elementary Parent Newsletter

At Allen Elementary, our most important work is helping every child grow as a learner. Each day, our teachers plan lessons that build both skills and confidence—and we are grateful for your partnership in that work!

One of our biggest responsibilities is making sure every student learns to read. Reading is the foundation for all learning. When students become strong readers, they are better prepared to learn new vocabulary, understand stories and informational texts, solve problems, and communicate their ideas clearly. We are committed to teaching reading in a clear, structured, and supportive way for all learners.

We also focus on building strong basic skills like phonics, handwriting, and math facts, and important thinking skills such as solving problems, asking questions, making connections, and explaining their reasoning. These thinking skills help students become confident, independent learners—skills that will last a lifetime.

Families play a key role in supporting learning, and we appreciate everything you do at home. Simple routines like making sure your child gets enough sleep, comes to school on time, reads (or is read to) every day, and talks about what they are learning make a big difference. When school and home work together, students achieve more.

Thank you for being our partners in education. Together, we are giving our students the strong start they deserve!

Sincerely,
Ms. Smith
Principal, Allen Elementary

Wednesday, November 12: Scheduled eLearning Day

Friday, November 18: Chocolate Fundraiser Ends (all money due)

Thursday, November 20: Second Harvest Food Bank (4:00 - 5:00 PM)

Wednesday, November 26 - Friday, November 28: Thanksgiving Break- NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, December 16: Allen Winter Showcase: STEM & Art (5:00 - 6:30 PM)

Thursday, December 18: Second Harvest Food Bank (4:00 - 5:00 PM)

Monday, December 22 - Friday, January 2: Winter Break- NO SCHOOL

Monday, January 5: School resumes after Winter Break

We are excited to invite all families to come see the amazing creativity happening at Allen Elementary! This is an open-house style event, so you can come and go anytime.

Students will be proudly sharing:

• STEM Animation Projects created in class

• Art Gallery Walk featuring beautiful artwork from all grade levels

This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate your child's hard work and explore what they’ve been learning. We hope to see you there!

Tuesday, December 16
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
All families welcome!

Planned eLearning Days:

Our MCS calendar has 3 planned eLearning Days: September 26, November 12, and February 9. On these planned eLearning Days, your students will have work to complete at home. Grades K-4 will send paper packets or iPads home with assignments for students to complete. If students complete the assigned work, they will be marked present. If the work is not completed, they will be marked absent.

Weather-Related eLearning Days:

There may be times when the weather forecast allows us to anticipate a weather-related cancellation of school. On these days, we would send paper packets or iPads home with students the day before. For a weather-related eLearning Day, teachers would hold virtual class time for students and would provide assignments for them to complete at home. Your teacher would communicate that to you on the weather eLearning Day, so be sure to check your Parent Square messages!

Weather Cancellation Days:

There may be days when, due to weather, MCS is cancelled or closed for the day. If that happens, there will be no school and no eLearning for the day. It would be a good old-fashioned snow day! A school make-up day would be scheduled.

MORNING ARRIVAL PreK-4

Drop off:

• Door 3 opens at 7:20 AM. School starts at 7:45 AM. Your student is tardy if they arrive after 7:45 AM.
• IF you are coming to the front office for any reason, please park in a parking spot and not in the drive. Otherwise, you will be asked to move your vehicle.
• If your student arrives at 7:45 or after, please park in a parking spot, come inside, and sign them into school for the day.
• PreK students- stay in your cars until 7:30 AM. Then walk with your child to enter at Door 1A. Have your key tag ready to show our staff.

AFTERNOON DISMISSAL PreK-4

Pick up:

• Car pick-up starts at 2:15 PM.

• Do not pass cars in the line at the front of the school. Please wait in your spot for your student (0-4), and stay with the flow of traffic. This is for the safety of our students and our staff.

• Walkers will be released at the corner of Bradford and Campbell Ave.

• Parents who park and walk up to pick up a student must come to the office door area. Students cannot be released from the office door until all buses have departed.

• PreK parents, please wait in your car until 2:25 PM. At 2:25, preschool parents will be let in for pickup. Have your key tag ready to show our staff.

We work hard to make sure every student gets where they are supposed to go at dismissal. If you need to change the way your student is getting home, you must do one or both of the following:

• Call the office to inform us of the way home change. This must be done BEFORE 1:30, in order to get the communication to everyone for dismissal. If you call after 1:30, we may not be able to get that information to all of our staff who need to know.
• Send a message to your child's teacher through Parent Square. Do not send an email to the teacher during the school day since teachers often don't get to check their email until after school.

It is time for our annual World's Finest Chocolate Fundraiser. It will run from November 3-18. Permission slips were sent home on November 3 and must be filled out, signed and returned in order for your student(s) to take chocolate home to sell. See the attached flyer for the prizes your student(s) can earn.

During the sale, as your student(s) sells each box, if you sign the envelope with the money you are turning in, that is the signal for us to send another box home with your student(s). If you do not wish to sell additional boxes, do not sign the money envelope, just fill out the other fields and send back to school with your student(s).

We want all students to be successful at school. These skills help our students get the most out of their educational experience. Please help us by talking about these skills at home.

November/December Skills for Success:

November 3-14: Effort & Perseverance

November 17- December 5: Responsibility for Actions

December 8-19: Peer Conflict Resolution

Each month we have a classroom competition for the class who has the most days with perfect attendance. The winning class is awarded with a popcorn party!

Perfect Attendance Winners so far this year:

August: Mrs. Grayson's 2nd grade class

September: Mrs. Prater's 2nd grade class AND Mrs. Kissane's 4th grade class

October: Mrs. Prater's 2nd grade class

Many of you are aware of the new attendance laws and requirements. Please make every effort to have your student at school and on time every day. We know kids get sick or have medical appointments, so the most important things to remember are:

1. If your child is absent, call into the school office to let us know they will be absent and why they are absent.

2. Provide a doctor's note for any medical appointments.

Communication is key! Keep us informed so we can document absences accurately.

We are excited to share that our new district-wide communication system, ParentSquare, is now up and running! From now on, all messages from Marion Community Schools and Allen Elementary will be shared through ParentSquare. This means everything you need to know will be in one easy-to-use place.

Your child’s teacher will use ParentSquare to send class updates, reminders, and individual messages. This helps make communication clear, organized, and convenient for families.

Please make sure you are connected in ParentSquare. If you need help getting set up, just stop by the school office—we are happy to assist!

Important: We will no longer be using Class Dojo or Remind. All communication will now come through ParentSquare.

Click on the image to see monthly menus!

We would love to have you join our team! Meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Sign up forms available in the front office.

Upcoming Meetings:

Nov. 11 at 4pm

Dec. 9 at 5pm