Principal Update
Mills Elementary, December 5, 2022- December 9, 2022
Congrats to our Teacher of the Year Finalists! ๐๐
Please send your congratulations to our 3 Teacher of the Year Finalists! They are Sarah Austin, Megan Hodgins, and Missy Robinson!
These ladies were selected by their peers and represent the very best of what Mills staff exemplify daily. A Teacher of the Year winner will be announced later this week and will go on to represent Mills Elementary at the Austin ISD Teacher of the Year banquet held in the Spring semester.
Counselors' Corner
Join Ms. Whatley and Ms. Edwards on January 11, 2023, at 3:30pm in the Mills library! They will be the special guests for the January Principal Coffee.
From our Counselors:
At Mills, the end of October and the entire month of November was a schoolwide opportunity for students and teachers to focus on empathy and compassion. Teachers integrated these concepts into their daily instruction through LA and Social Studies, SEL lessons, and informal conversations. Empathy is the feeling of understanding how someone else is feeling, and compassion is the helping action that results from that feeling. Student activities focused on these two concepts and culminated in a class project with each student writing about a promise to show compassion in a very specific way. Each student wrote or drew their promise on the back of their โcompassion linkโ, and then the students connected their promises together to form a classroom community Compassion Chain. The students really loved this project and felt proud of their class chains. They understood that when we add our promises together, we โlevel upโ the atmosphere of compassion and safety at school.
By the end of November, every class completed their Compassion Chains. On December 2, Mills Mountain Lions came together for a schoolwide assembly where the class chains were linked together to make giant Compassion Chain, representing a united commitment to build and maintain a safe and caring community. The chain will be on display at Mills for all to see.
Resources we used were Howard B. Wigglebottom Listening With My Heart , Have You Filled a Bucket Today, Listens with My Heart, Stand In My Shoes, One by Kathryn Otoshi, and Each Kindness.
Below are some links that we used during our lessons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXAo_5voOP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAFq6PcFYgI
https://www.happify.com/hd/ripple-effect-of-one-small-act-of-kindness/
Kindness: The World We Make | Ripple Effect | Pay It Forward | Kindness Video
This Week & Looking Ahead
Dec 5- December CAC Meeting via Zoom
Dec 8- Short Cycle Assessments #2 3rd-5th Grades
Dec 8- 3rd Grade Field Trip The Nutcracker at the Long Center
Dec 10- Dirt Club (Campus Beautification) Meet Up 9am-12pm
Dec 12-HSR Lessons Kinder-5th Grade
Dec 16- Mills Spelling Bee
Dec 22- January 9- Student Holiday/Winter Break
Jan 10- First day of classes for Spring Semester
Jan 11- Principal Coffee & PTA Meeting, 3:30pm Library
Jan 16- MLK Holiday, No School
Jan 23- January CAC Meeting via Zoom
Jan 31- 100th Day of School!
Last week's Principal Update
Odom Elementary Adopt A Family
Thank you, Mills PTA, for this wonderful opportunity to support families in need. We appreciate those who have signed up to help support families from our sister school, Odom Elementary.
Help if you can! Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050a4aa8ab2ba4f58-odom5