Mrs. Goodman's Message
Hello Miller Families!
We celebrated 2 special staff members in our building this week for Custodian Appreciation Day this past Monday! Mr. Jimmy and Mr. Anthony are the two custodians here at Miller who help to keep our building safe and clean each day. Additionally, they are present throughout our building helping children solve a problem, help unscrew a tricky water bottle or assist in cleaning up a messy milk spill in the cafeteria. We appreciate all that they do for us every day!
We are excited to share that we have filled our Greenmen PBIS POM POM JAR! We have been working hard as a school learning our expectations and many classrooms have enjoyed some special celebrations. Now it is time to celebrate as a school! We are going to have a SUPERHERO OR PRINCESS DAY on Thursday, October 12th! Your child can wear a special superhero, princess or cape outfit to school next Thursday. We have included a video how to make a t-shirt cape for free if your child doesn't have anything superhero or princess! We also will have a special assembly with Officer Tritto and Officer Alex from the Aurora Police Department to share important reminders about strangers, staying with a trusted adult, and safety tips during the Fall Season!
Finally, this is a friendly reminder that next week we will have a 4-day weekend with NO SCHOOL on Friday, October 13th and Monday, October 16th. We have our staff professional development day on Monday the 16th to continue to grow our skills that we can bring back to our classrooms.
Have a great weekend!
GO GREENMEN!
Maria Goodman
Miller Elementary Principal
330-954-2189
Important Dates and Events
October
- Wednesday, 10/11 - PTO Meeting at 10:00 AM - Aurora Conference Center
- Friday, 10/13 - No School - NEOEA Day
- Monday, 10/16 - No School - Teacher In-Service Day
- Thursday, 10/19 - Parent Teacher Conferences (Scheduled with Classroom Teachers)
- Tuesday, 10/24 - Parent Teacher Conferences (Scheduled with Classroom Teachers)
- Tuesday, 10/31 - Fall Festival & Costume Parade (More Information Forthcoming)
Fall Parent Teacher Conferences
It is hard to believe how quickly the beginning months of the year are passing by! Each fall, we spend time connecting with families either with a parent-teacher conference or parent-school team meeting. Conferences will be offered on Thursday, October 19th and Tuesday, October 24th. There may be some additional days and times and your child's teacher will communicate more specific information. This year, conferences will be held at school with your child’s teacher, but if that does not work for your family schedule, you can discuss other options with your child's teacher such as a phone conference or virtual meeting. We are very excited to meet with each of you to share all of the successes your child has experienced since starting preschool or kindergarten and what we have in store for the months ahead!
Fall Festival Party
This year, we want to celebrate the fall season with our students as well as enjoy the traditions of dressing up in costumes at school. We want to share some of the guidelines that we will be implementing for our Fall Parties so you can plan accordingly.
Preschool Fall Festival: Tuesday, October 31st, 10:15AM & 2:00PM
Kindergarten Fall Festival: Tuesday, October 31st, 10:15AM (AM Kinder) & 2:00PM (Full Day & PM Kinder)
- At Miller, we are asking that your child brings their costume to school in a bag and they will change before our party times. If your child needs to wear a portion of their costume (specific pants, leggings, or shirt) throughout the day, that is perfectly OK. Please advise that costumes need to be functional, school safe, no weapons can accompany a costume, and no full face coverings.
- We will be working with our PTO headroom parents to plan fun games or activities, and specific visitors will be allowed into our school for the Fall Festival Party. All visitors will be checking in and no other siblings or guests will be able to attend. Thank you for your cooperation.
- We will have a weather-permitting outdoor costume parade where you can come up to the school and view all your wonderful children! A specific map will be shared closer to the date of our party but you can expect it to start at 10:15 for AM classes and 2:00 for PM/Full Day classes. If the weather conditions are poor, the outdoor parade will be canceled and we will not hold an indoor event.
- The PTO will be supplying a sweet treat for our party and more information about the snack will be forthcoming.
Please advise that our costume guidelines may be different from the other buildings. Our children will not be wearing their costumes all day due to some challenges with restroom breaks throughout the day. We have learned from past experience that many costumes zip and snap in the back and children cannot manage this in the restroom independently.
Preschool Enrollment for the Current 23-24 School Year
We are currently accepting names of families interested in having their child be a part of our integrated preschool program for the current 2023-2024 school year. We still have openings in preschool and we will be holding screening days to meet potential children and explain more about our program. In addition, if you know of any families who might be interested in their child being a part of our preschool program, please feel free to pass this message along!
We have attached the preschool waiting list form below so we can collect the names of all interested families. We will reach out to families in the next week or two when we host our screening days. Children must be 3 years old, potty trained, have clear communication skills, and demonstrate age-expected social and emotional skills to be considered as a peer for our integrated program. If you have any questions, you can email Lauren Barker at lbarker@aurora-schools.org.
School Wide PBIS Skill of the Week
Our PBIS skill of cleaning up right away is reinforced with a Greenmen Proud Pom. When we see a child "cleaning up right away" they earn a pom and help to fill our class bucket and school bucket. You can try this at home to encourage the skill of cleaning up at home too!
Updates From Our School Counselor ~ Mrs. Ambrosia
Welcome to October! As this month comes around each year, I take it as a sign that we are familiar with our school routines and beginning to become more comfortable inside our classrooms. It’s a great time to consider the way we and others feel inside our classroom. October is National Bullying Prevention month across our country. At Miller, we are focusing on how we can use kindness with our peers, especially during recess. Please consider using the Kindness Challenge at home as a talking point with your family. It’s a great reminder of small tasks we can complete to let those around us know we care. When we transition into Fall, as parents, we find ourselves moving from one activity to the next in order to benefit our children. It’s important to remember to take care of ourselves, too. Included is an article to remind all parents that self-care is key to survival. It’s what keeps us moving and at our best. The stress ball activity may be of interest to your family during one of our longer weekends coming up. Finally, during classroom guidance lessons, when focusing on how to be safe and have fun on the playground, the Kindergarteners and I discussed a few different things we could try when we weren’t exactly sure what to do on the playground. If you show them our playground visual below, they should be able to tell you all about it! This plan should work for any unstructured play time. Enjoy!
20 Micro (Yet Mighty) Self-Care Challenges That Make Any Day Better
5 Easy Steps to Make a DIY Stress Ball
Mrs. Lindsey Ambrosia
School Counselor
330.562.6199, ext. 5414
Updates From Nurse Jackie Pawlowski
Here are some important reminders to ensure the safety of our school community each day:
- Check your child each day for illness symptoms. If they begin to feel ill, please know she will assess your child and make contact with a family member when necessary.
- Students sent home with a fever or vomiting, may not return to school until they are fever or vomit-free without medication for at least 24 hours. This means if your child was sent home on Tuesday with a fever, he/she may not return to school until Thursday. If your child does return the next day, our school will be calling for you to come and pick him/her up. Please help to support our efforts in this area.
- We will use Final Forms to communicate any health concerns or communicable diseases that may arise in your child's class. Such examples include strep throat, pink eye, and COVID. This will allow you to closely monitor your child for any similar symptoms.
- Please make sure your Final Forms medical information is up to date. We will closely read the health sections to address any medical concerns.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email our school nurse Jackie Pawlowski at jpawlowski@aurora-schools.org.
Miller Elementary: Preschool & Kindergarten
Principal
Vicki Wolf
Secretary
Email: mgoodman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 646 S Chillicothe Rd, Aurora, OH 44202, USA
Phone: 330-562-6199