Miles ELC Newsletter
February 2024
Monthly Site Council and PTA Zoom Link
Location: 1400 East Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone: 520-225-2200
Facebook: Miles Exploratory Learning Center K-8 | Tucson AZ | Facebook
Instagram: Miles ELC (@miles_k8) • Instagram photos and videos
😀Parents, please enter your child's absence via ParentVUE😀
Upcoming Events
Thursday, February 8th and Friday, February 9th- 1/2 Day- Parent Teacher Conferences
Saturday, February 10th- 1:00-3:00- Garden Work Day
Tuesday, February 20th- 5:00-6:00 Site Council and Family Engagement Meeting,
6:00-7:00 p.m. PTO Meeting (Zoom Link in Bio)
Thursday, February 22nd and Friday, February 23rd- Rodeo Break- No School
Monday, February 26th- Friday, March 1st- Love of Reading Week
Wednesday, March 6th- Annual Walk-a-thon
Principal's Corner
Yeehaw Mustangs!
February brings our Love of Reading, all things Black History, the Rodeo, and this year? Leap Year! All fun themes that expand learning opportunities beyond the normal classroom routines. We appreciate your support in helping us bring these themes to life.
Looking ahead there is much more to be excited about. First, the Annual Walk-a-Thon is set for March 6th. The Walk-a-Thon is a great way to get students outside and moving…and bring a bit of cash to the programming at Miles. Forms will be coming home soon for pledge support as we cheer our students on!
April 20th is the day we bring back the carnival to Miles. For those of you who have been part of Miles family for some time, you know the carnival is a wonderful time for us to get together and have fun. Volunteers are needed so contact Grace (Community Liaison; grace.godoy@tusd1.org) with your availability to support some or all or some of the event.
Lastly, this time of year also brings about testing, testing, and more testing. Oh, and a little more testing. It gets to be a lot. We know. The team here at Miles tries to balance out the testing with learning experiences that get students out of the classroom and exploring in different ways. Whether your child is scheduled to test on a certain day, or their classroom has a field trip strategically planned to break up the testing days, attendance matters! We can’t assess nor teach students who are not present. We look forward to seeing your healthy little human here every day!
Have a great Rodeo Mustangs,
Principal Andrea Steele
Miles is so excited for Love of Reading Week! Monday, February 26th- March 1st we are celebrating our love for reading!
We are having a variety of readers coming to different classrooms to help share the love of reading.
The annual Walk-a-thon is coming up on March 6th! All pledges are going to support Miles tax credit to fund programs like ASL, gardening and after school tutoring.
Keep your eye out for the pledge sheet going home within the next few weeks.
We are always needing volunteers for school events, if you would like to volunteer at the Walk-A-Thon contact our community liaison Grace (grace.godoy@tusd1.org)
Counselor's Corner
February 5th -9th is National School Counselor Appreciation Week! Thank you everyone for the love and support! I cannot do this job without the Miles family and TUSD team!
I had the pleasure of attending my first conference with the Arizona School Counselors Association. Hundreds of school counselors across the state of Arizona congregated to sharpen our counseling skills, evaluate our interventions and learn more strategies in meeting the needs of our students. I was able to collect many gems during my time there.
This month we have been focusing on the value of cooperation here at Miles. Apart of strong cooperation is effective communication. One of the sessions at the conference spoke on the value of effective communication and how passive aggression can become a barrier in building relationships.
There are three effects of passive aggression:
- Immediate- feeds into our negativity bias
Intermediate- Threatens our personal relationships
Long term- devalues our self worth
Sometimes kids have a hard time telling others how they truly feel, even as adults. Without a healthy way of communicating, it can cause a hot pot to simmer until it overfills! What do we need to do in order to overcome the challenges of passive aggression. We need to be positive, curious, and courageous.
For example, someone says something to dampen your day, meet that statement with something positive. Ask questions if others are making assumptions about you that are untrue or unnecessary. Even taking ownership of a mistake you made instead of ruminating and fixating on those flaws can demonstrate courage and strength. A counselor shared that another colleague asked how he was selected to be the school's basketball coach if they're under 6ft. This counselor responded with positivity by saying: "I guess that puts me in a rare group of short awesome basketball coaches!" There were so many ways this coach could've responded, but by reframing his perspective of this negative situation into something more productive, he was able to invite a deeper conversation surrounding the assumptions people make about physical characteristics and sports culture.
While combating communication barriers is not easy in the moment, with positivity, curiosity and courage, we can then be able to navigate these difficult moments and build on meaningful, valuable and healthy relationships.
-Alex 🙂
Garden News
Community Liaison News
Hi Miles families! This month I am looking forward to Love of Reading week with your children and the upcoming walk-a-thon.
I can use any volunteers for the walk-a-thon on March 6th and I am always looking for volunteers for our upcoming school carnival on April 20th.
Let me know if you are interested in volunteering in any of our upcoming events!
-Grace