Month: October 2012

As promised this weeks blog will focus on the amazing teachers and how they support our students outside their regular work schedule. I think most of us will agree that teachers work incredibly hard for the students every day. Aside from spending 7 hours a day with them in school, they also have to spend a tremendous amount of time preparing lessons that will meet the student’s needs. Then, once the lesson is taught and the students produce the work, teachers need to correct and evaluate the work to see where to go next. Imagine having to invidiually correct 31 6th grade persuasive essays. Believe me, it takes a long time! In addition to this huge commitment many of our teachers go above and beyond organizing and leading various student groups and activities. Take a look at the following list:

• School Site Council
• Peace Patrol
• PTA
• Safety Patrol
• Jr. Achievment
• Jump Rope 4 Heart
• International Games Day
• Service Club
• Student Council
• News broadcast
• Volunteer Tea
• Basketball
• Get Fit Club
• RTI Committee
• Pasta 4 Pennies
• Science Club
• No Place For Hate Committee
• Instructional Leadership Team

All of these groups/teams require a tremendous amount of volunteer time to be successful, but our teachers do so willingly with a lot of enthusiasm. They do so because they know how important it is to the success of our school. The leadership and committment of the teachers is inspiring. As you can see, we have a great group of teachers working hard for the students. This effort will continue to be a cornerstone of our success!

Have a fantastic week, and don’t forget to join us on Wed. Oct 31st  for our Costume Parade starting at 8:30 am on our playground. Some key points to be aware of:

• Students should wear their regular school clothes under their costumes since they will be asked to remove the costume after the parade is over.
• Students must wear shoes
• All costumes should be designed for safe mobility
• No masks, gory or violent themes will be allowed
• If a child wears an inappropriate costume he/she will be asked to change
• Students will be offered an alternative activity if they choose not to participate
• Parents and community members are encouraged to dress up as well!

 

Hi Everyone,

This week I thought I spend a little time discussing the different parent organizations we have on campus. Every school usually has a few and we are no different. The goals of the various organizations are quite different, but they all have a common goal and that is to provide support to the school. McMillin is an amazing school with a tremendous amount of volunteers and because of this our school is a standout in the community. Almost daily, I receive phone calls and visits from parents who are interested in sending their children here and they all same the same thing, “We heard McMillin is a great school!” Although there’s not enough room to accept all request, it does give me a great sense of pride to know that families want to have their children at our school. I must say however, that a big reason we have this reputation is because of the excellent teachers and the community that is committed to making us an excellent school! Below are some of the groups we have and what they do. If you’d like more info on any of them or want to get involved please let me know:

• Most of you probably know that we have a PTA (Parent Teacher Organization). The parents who volunteer to be part of this group give a tremendous amount of time and energy, but it is completely voluntary. Most families contribute financially by becoming members of the PTA (this year membership is only $5!!). Others however have a desire to be directly involved with some of the different events such as our upcoming Fall Festival or our McMillin Idol show to name a couple. The majority of the funds raised by the PTA go directly back to the school providing playground equipment, assemblies, teacher supplies, and just about anything else the school needs to support the students.
• School Site Council is a combination of parents and staff members whose main goal is to oversee the school budget and it goals for the year. On our SSC we have 6 parents (who are elected into office by you) and 6 staff members (elected by other staff). Each year the SSC makes key decisions as to how funding should be utilized to make our school as effecient and successful as possible. Elections are held each year, so if your interested please let us know.
• Another important group is our English Language Advisory Committee. This is a voluntary group of parents who come together to support those students who are learning English. The committee meets once a month and learns what the school is doing with our EL students as well as what parents can do at home to support achievement. In addition, the committee provides recommendations and suggestions to the school so we know what parents need to support their kids. With around 25% of our population being catagorized as English Learners, this is a growing group so it is critical that we have an open source of communication between school and home and our ELAC volunteers is a critical part of our success.

Next week I’ll spend some time introducing you to the different voluteer efforts our teachers participate in. I think you’ll be amazed and in awe (as I am) as to how much time and energy our teachers give on a daily basis 🙂

Well that’s it for now, I hope you all have a phenomenal week!

Mr. Mora

Hopefully everyone had a restful Fall Break! Everyone here at the McMillin is ready for the challenge of the 2nd quarter of school. There will be a couple of breaks along the way:

• Nov 12 Veterans Day
• Nov 19-23 Thanksgiving

Not to mention a few other fun events like:

• Fall Festival Oct 19
• Red Ribbon Week Oct 22-26
• Ability Awareness Day Oct 30
• Literature Parade Oct 31
• Wounded Warrior Jog-A-Thon Nov 30
• Winter Sing Dec 19, 20 , 21

More information on all of these events will be arriving shortly. As always if you are interested in volunteering for any of these events please let us know, we can always use the help! Remember to come back each week for new information!