Month: September 2014

I want to personally thank each one of you for all your support during this First Quarter! We’ve had a fantastic start and just in case you didn’t know here are some of our highlights:

 

• We opened the school year with over close to 900 students. All classrooms are being used and are mostly full.
• We said goodbye to a couple of our fabulous teachers (Mrs. Cruz and Mrs. Whelihan), but welcomed a few great new teachers (Miss Lopez, Mrs. Elbel, Mrs. Cardenas, Miss Oliveri)
• The new Common Core Standards are being fully implemented for the first time.
• McMillin is now a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) school. Please talk to your teacher about the guidelines regarding students bringing iPads, laptops, Kindles, etc.
• 409 out of 880 students with perfect attendance in the 1st quarter

FAMILY FUN
Parents often ask how they can support their children during vacation, below are some great suggestions thanks to one of our fabulous teachers (Ms. Guthrie):

Tuesday, Sept. 23rd​
Fourth Tuesday

• San Diego Air & Space Museum (Not valid for special exhibitions)
• San Diego Automotive Museum (Last admission 3:45pm)
• San Diego Hall of Champions
• SELECT House of Pacific Relations International Cottages
• The Timken Museum of Art is always free.

Tuesday, Sept. 30th – No free museums except Timken is always free.

Tuesday, Oct. 7th
First Tuesday

• Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
• Centro Cultural de la Raza
• San Diego Model Railroad Museum
• San Diego Natural History Museum (Not valid for 3-D films)
• The Timken Museum of Art is always free.

​If you were unaware of Free Tuesdays, here’s the link: http://www.balboapark.org/visit/tuesdays

Here’s their calendar of events: http://www.balboapark.org/calendar​

I noticed there are Great White Shark and Mummies movies playing; a “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” at the Air and Space; the Mingei International Museum has a Mask display (may be some scary ones to some kids); Science Museum has “ILLUSION: Nothing Is As It Seems” display; and the San Diego Railroad Museum has “Tinxten: A Century of Tinplate Trains

UPCOMING OCTOBER EVENTS

• APEX Fun Run Pep Rally Oct. 7th
• Military Families Meeting Oct 15
• APEX Fun Run Oct 16
• Fall Festival Oct 17
• Ability Awareness Day Oct 21
• Coffee with the Principal Oct 30
• Literature Parade Oct 31

CHARGERS WIN!!! Sorry just had to start with that one 🙂

Well hard to believe , but this is the final week of our 1st quarter. As a reminder, we will continue to be on a minimum day schedule all week due to Parent-Teacher Conferences.  We anticipate this final week being extremely hot and will take the necessary steps to keep the kids comfortable. Likely, any day reaching temperatures over 90 degrees will result in a lunch recess schedule where students will either be supervised in the auditorium or in their classrooms. As a point of interest all of our students and staff are fortunate they will be working in air conditioned facilities. I heard on the news today, that some schools in the San Diego Unified District would be dismissing early since some of their schools do not have air conditioning! Make sure to let your kids know how lucky they are, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it…haha 🙂

Achievement Assembly will be on Thursday
This special assembly gives us a chance to recognize the hard work of many of our students. Students receive this award for either academics, citizenship, or a combination of both. We invite all parents and family members to join us in celebrating the students efforts. Below is the schedule for our assembly on Thursday:

8:30-9:00 AM:               TK & Kinder Classes
9:15-10:05 AM:              Fifth and Sixth Grade Classes
10:40-11:30 AM:            Third and Fourth Grade Classes
12:00-12:50 PM:            First and Second Grade Classes

Attendance Assembly on Friday
It’s been a great 1st quarter, with 409 students having perfect attendance! Wow, impressive!! Keep up the great work parents and thank you for making school a priority. Below is the schedule for our assembly on Friday:

8:30-9:00 AM:               AM  TK & Kinder Classes
9:15-10:15 AM:              Fifth and Sixth Grade Classes
10:40-11:35 AM:            Third and Fourth Grade Classes
12:00-1:00 PM:              PM TK, First and Second Grade Classes

 

 

School Site Council
On Wednesday we will be having our first meeting with our new Council members. This year your Site Council reps are Miss Christina Hernandez (6th grade teacher), Mrs. Shannen McKinney (RSP teacher), Mrs. Jennifer Romo (Kinder teacher), Mr. Lohner (TK teacher), Mr. Ralph Dearie (custodian), and parents Mrs. Nancy Ledesma, Mrs. Martha Ricoy, Mrs. Rukiye Karabacak, Mr. Christopher Esch, Mr. Steven Rivera, Mr. Michael Darwich and myself.

The school site council is a group of teachers, parents, classified employees, and administration that work together to develop, review and evaluate school improvement programs and school budgets. Our Council will meet once a month.

Free Microsoft Office Opportunity!!
Sometimes (not often) things in life can be FREE! Click on the link to get all the necessary information. Office365FLYER

Homework
Interesting information regarding homework…Homework or No Homework. If you have any questions or concerns related to homework, please talk to your teachers during your parent teacher conference.

Awareness
Parents please be diligent in talking to your children to stay away from strangers, especially when coming and going from school. Recently there have been reports of a gentleman “hanging around” the school. He’s an older, white haired man that has been seen on a bicycle. He has done nothing illegal and as far as we know has not acted inappropriately with any of our students. The CVPD has been notified as has spoken with the gentleman, but we encourage you to be vigilant with your children. Encourage them to walk in groups and to report any and everything to you that may be of concern. We have every reason to believe that our children are safe, but awareness and communication will ensure that there safety remains intact.

Parent Teacher Conferences
Begins on Thursday Sept. 11. Early dismissal for students will go from Sept. 11 until Sept. 19. Please do your best to attend the conference as this is your best opportunity to know how your child is doing and how you can help them at home.

First, I hope you all enjoyed a well deserved Labor Day break. Second, I want to thank all of our McMillin staff and families that spent a warm Sunday cheering on our hometown Padres. I want to thank Walmart for their generous support in providing all of the food during our tailgate. I’d also like to thank Mr. Steve Eicher, one of our McMillin parents,  for providing some great music and emceeing our tailgate party. He did a great job, look him up at http://www.uniquemobilesounds.com/blog/ for your next event. Even though the Dodgers got a little lucky, we had a great time and look forward to next year.

 

Important Reminders for the week:

• Sept 3- 6th grade Cookie Dough pick up
• Sept 4-Fall picture make-up day
• Sept 4-6th grade camp parent meeting (5 pm)
• Sept 5- School Dance (4pm to 6 pm)