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Greetings Mill Creek Families,
The weather has certainly been playing tricks on us but hopefully, the old saying will prove to be true: “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”
Let’s hope that we’ll see signs of Spring in the new month!
Here’s what you need to know for March:
FAMILY STAKEHOLDER SURVEY: WE NEED YOUR INPUT
As part of our school and district-wide focus on continuous school improvement, we create a School Improvement Plan each year. An important piece of data that we use to formulate this plan is family perception data about Mill Creek Elementary. For this reason, we are once again seeking your input.
This month, we are asking every family to once again please complete our Annual Family School Stakeholder Survey. Mill Creek families can find survey information on our school website in the School Announcements section.
HERE is a direct link to the 57 question survey, seeking input about your student needs, our school communication, our school environment, our school’s safety and more.
Thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully respond to the questions asked, and for your help as we continually respond to the emerging needs in our school! We are hoping that we will hear from EVERY FAMILY in our school, as your feedback truly matters to us. The survey window will close on March 29.
FAMILY HANDBOOK: A FEW REMINDERS
Our school’s Parent Handbook is located on our school’s website in the Quicklinks section.
It can be reached directly HERE
As Spring approaches, we’re asking families to please review 2 areas in our handbook, located on pages 12 and 14:
DRESS AND APPEARANCE
Student dress will be regulated, as needed, to preserve a positive and focused learning environment and to assure the safety and well-being of all students. Dress which presents a health or safety hazard, damages school property, or which creates a material and substantial disruption of the educational process is prohibited as per Everett Public Schools policy 3224. School officials will work with students, parents, and teachers to communicate descriptions of dress considered disruptive to the educational process. The following are general guidelines for appropriate dress:
All Clothing/Accessories: No obscene, vulgar or suggestive logos or slogans, or tobacco, alcohol, drug or gang references are allowed.
Tops: Shirts should cover the shoulders and be long enough to cover the mid-section of the body.
Pants/shorts/skirts: Pants must be secured at the waist and cover the stomach and underwear. Shorts and skirts must reach below the child's fingertips when his/her/their arms are extended downward.
Hats: All hats, stocking caps and hoods are to be removed while inside the building. The exception would be crazy hat day, if scheduled.
Shoes: Please help your child make good, safe choices for school. Heels and flip flops may interfere with activities or play. Rollers in shoes are not allowed inside the building or on the playground during school hours.
Fragrances: Perfume is discouraged or should be used in moderation so as not to distract, disrupt or offend others. Many people are allergic to perfume. These standards will be applied in a consistent and nondiscriminatory manner.
PE: Physical Education is a part of the basic education curriculum required for each child. Your child will have PE each week. Your child’s teacher will notify you of scheduled PE days. Students must wear lace-up or Velcro (not slip-on) sport shoes with non-marking soles on their PE days (a special pair may be kept in your child’s locker at school). Clothing should allow for a wide range of motion and strenuous physical activity.
These standards will be applied in a consistent and nondiscriminatory manner.
CELL PHONES
Everett Public Schools provides students with the technology they need during the school day to access digital and online learning experiences. Elementary students who choose to bring cell phones and other Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) to school may only use them before or after the school day. During the school day, all cell phones and other PEDs must be powered off and stored (e.g., in the student’s backpack, locker, other district provided storage). For more information about PED use at school, please refer to Policy 3246 and Procedure 3246P.
The bus ride to and from school is considered part of the school day. Phones must remain in student backpacks while on the bus.
Improper use of a cell phone, including taking pictures will result in it being confiscated, and a parent will be required to pick it up from the office.
Teachers will also be reviewing these guidelines with our students, with a specific emphasis on hats, which are not allowed inside our school, tops, which should cover the shoulders and mid-section and smart watches. Many students have smart watches that function as cell phones and may have internet access. We are noticing that, increasingly, these are causing a distraction to the learning environment. Smart watches are a type of cell phone/PED that also should be stored appropriately during the school day, as stated. As always, students who need to make an occasional phone call to a parent or guardian during the school day may do so with staff permission, using our school phones in the classroom and office. In an emergency, students will be able to retrieve stored cell phones/smart watches to communicate with their family.
YOU’RE INVITED: PLEASE JOIN US!
Our school community is invited to attend the Everett Public Schools Foundation 30th Annual Benefit Event, a short Movie Premiere of SAMMY- a RUDY inspired story. This fundraising event will highlight the work of the Foundation and show how your support will have an impact on student success and well-being for all students in the Everett Public Schools! Join the fun and wear your favorite “Team Swag”!
To register, go to www.epsfoundation.org or https://www.smore.com/aed0r
Please be sure to choose Principal Cindy Foster when you complete your registration. Hope to see you there!!
PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE WEEK IS COMING UP:
The second opportunity for parents and teachers to conference about student progress takes place this month, during the week of March 25-29. Students will be released early at 1:00 on March 22 and March 25-29 for this purpose. Please look for email communication from teachers to schedule your conference. If you have questions, please contact your child’s teacher. Thank you for making time for this important conversation to help us work together on your child’s behalf. It is our goal to have 100% of our families attend a parent/teacher conference.
Please read on for more important information and thank you for your efforts to be an informed member of our school community.
We love celebrating students meeting our behavior expectations. Below are photos of our Cougar Pride Winners! Congratulations!
Respectfully,
Cindy Foster, Principal
Kristin Dickert, Assistant Principal
February Cougar Pride Winners
Austin Guam, Nirvana Kuruppu, Karter-Jean King, Amelia Kimble and Sahildeep Singh
Judi Al Sayed, Nava Benaderet, Ray Orren, Rainie Lagasse and Anna Motti
Lidia Sents, Iliya Stakhnyuk, Emilio Escobar Ruiz, Olivier Dubrulle and Avery Edelman
Teresa Shin, Sawyer Fein, Alejandro Galvan, Penelope Amador, Vihaan Puri and Samuel Jimenez
March 1 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
March 4 - Kindergarten registration begins
March 8 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
March 15 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
March 15 - Spirit Day - Career Day
March 22 - Early Release 1pm
March 20 - Science Day
March 25 - 29 - Parent conferences - Early release 1pm
March 28 - STEAM Night 6-8pm
COUNSELING
Dear Families:
In addition to Second Step, this year, students have been learning lessons from RULER, an approach to social and emotional learning that focuses emotional intelligence. RULER helps students and the adults in their lives to learn about and manage their emotions. This is important for success in nearly every aspect of our lives—for attention, memory, and learning, for making and keeping friends, for healthy decision-making, and for our overall well-being.
Adult learning is a core component of the RULER approach, and we will spend this year building our own skills of emotional intelligence, introducing the four RULER strategies to students, and creating opportunities for you to learn too.
In adopting RULER, we hope to strengthen our skills of emotional intelligence, to build a stronger community, and prepare our students in their transition to kindergarten and beyond. We would love for you to be part of a conversation with families and staff to learn more about this work. You can learn more about RULER by going to the RULER Family Resource page at:
https://www.rulerapproach.org/how-it-works/family-engagement/
We are excited to work together to build our emotional intelligence skills.
Sincerely,
Mary Donnelly
School Counselor
Mill Creek Elementary
February 2024
Spring Book Fair Coming in March! More Information to come in the March letter.
Checkout: Students will be able to continue to check out books each library visit when they bring back their other books.
Library Books during school holidays and closures: If your child has library books out and you receive a library email notification, please know that the due dates are automatically one week from the date they check out their books. If you have sent the book to school there is a chance it is in their book bin and sitting there to be checked back in. All books will be checked on their next library day, so if your child is not in library due to a holiday or school closure, please be patient and wait one week after that school closure to ensure the books are checked back in. If you continue to receive the notice after that, please email me.
Next Holiday/Closure: Feb 2 Non student day and Mid-Winter Break February 19 - 20
Friday Library Emails: Each Friday you will receive an email that indicates books your child checked out. This does not mean they are late. Due dates are on the notice. Please make sure they get renewed or returned on their next library day.
No Library hours outside of school this year due to meetings and events.
Library Wishes Club: This is a great way to support the library to honor your child by ordering a book from the Amazon list to donate to the library. Mrs. Williams will put a sticker in the book with your child’s name on it and let them check it out first!
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/TG8RJKQKGT35/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex?
PE NEWS
June 4th is our school’s Field Day and we will need over 100 volunteers to help make it a wonderful day for the kids! We will need people to run the stations, set up, and clean up! Please mark this day on your calendar as it is a lot of fun and we hope you will come be a part of it! Step #1 is to make sure you are a school district approved volunteer. Please remember that your district volunteer approval is only good for 2 years and then needs to be renewed. We would be so appreciative if you fill out your online application or renewal right away so we know you are cleared and there aren’t any glitches as we approach Field Day. The online application is very easy and you can start the application/renewal process just by clicking - Volunteer Application. (For more info, please reach out to the Volunteer Coordinator at 425-385-4100 or email Volunteer@everettsd.org.)
We started a fun, new PE competition in January. It is called the “Fastest Class Challenge!” Each class is given 5 minutes to run around the gym inside the running path. Every time a student makes a lap and runs by me, I click the counter for a lap point. To get a “fair” score between classes, we divide the final lap count for the class by the number of runners in their class that day. The 3rd-5th grade classes compete against each other and the Kindergarten-2nd grade classes compete against each other. The “Fastest Class” in each group is awarded the PE “Fastest Class” trophy, they have their picture taken with the trophy and it is put up on the gym wall, and then the class gets to display the trophy in their classroom until the next challenge! We will be doing the challenge 3 times a year in the fall, winter, and spring. I really like this challenge as the entire class is working together and every single person’s laps truly make a difference for their class score. The students were very excited and motivated to do the run and to hear if their class was the “Fastest Class!”
FASTEST CLASS CHALLENGE
3-5th Grade: Mrs. Brunswick-Nelson's 4/5 HC class was the winning class!
Kindergarten-2nd Grade: Mrs. Hills/Tracy's 2nd grade class was the winning class!
Congratulations to our two winning classes as well as to all our runners! I was very proud of every one one of you! I hope you are all proud of yourselves! Keep running! ☺
Kim Lobe
Health and Fitness Teacher
MUSIC NEWS
Save the date for our Spring Concert!
Attention! Attention! Get ready to mark your calendars because our highly anticipated Spring Concert is just a couple months away! Join us for an evening filled with enchanting melodies and captivating performances by our talented students. It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate their hard work and dedication throughout the year. Stay tuned for more details, but for now, be sure to save the date and prepare for a magical musical experience that you won't want to miss!
If you’ve already put these on your calendar, check the time as it may have changed!
May 9 - 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade Spring Concert
1st grade at 5:45 pm
3rd grade at 6:30 pm with Roach’s 2nd graders
5th grade at 7:15 pm with Brunswick-Nelson’s 4th graders
May 23 - Kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th grade Spring Concert
Kindergarten at 5:45 pm
2nd grade at 6:30 pm
4th grade at 7:15 pm with Murphy’s 3rd graders
Keep an eye on your inbox for an email from jhafner@everettsd.org with more details about the concert.. Sometimes emails can sneak into spam folders, so be sure to check there as well to ensure you don't miss out on any important updates. We can't wait to share this musical celebration with you and your family!
Best regards,
Joni Hafner
Music Teacher
Mill Creek Elementary
ART NEWS
Everett School District Art Show
30 of our students have art on display from February 21st to March 28th at the Community Resource Center. If you love art, please visit to see amazing creative art from 12 elementary schools from across the Everett School District!
MCE ART SHOW in April:
All students will submit one artwork, and more details will be shared before spring break. Art can be created at school or at home.
An opportunity for all students, K-12, Doodles for Google!
From Google:
We are excited to share that the 2024 Doodle for Google prompt is:
“My wish for the next 25 years”
This year’s contest was inspired by Googles’ recent 25th birthday, and to celebrate, Google is asking students to think about what the next 25 years might be like! Imagine the future like it’s a giant blank playground, waiting for your awesome ideas to bring it to life. What cool things could happen – in our neighborhoods, schools, and whole world? What can you imagine, where no dream is too big or small?
For more information, please Ctrl/click this link:
Submission open until March 14th!
55 students will be named winners from their state/territory.
Four finalists will win a $5,000 scholarship and one winning student will receive:
- A $30,000 college scholarship
- A $50,000 Google for Education technology package for their school
- Their artwork will be placed on the Google homepage for a day!
Artfully yours,
Cristina Ripley, MCE Art Specialist
PTA NEWS
MCE PTA is very excited for all the events we have planned in March.
We are wrapping up our 2nd annual Black History Month Book Discussion with an Author Chat. Please join us Thursday March 21 for a virtual chat with Keith Boykin, author of "Why Does Everything Have to be About Race?" Keep an eye out for more info coming soon or if you have questions, please email president@mcepta.org.
MCE PTA is partnering with Cedar Wood Elementary PTA to sponsor a 2-part virtual workshop on Courageous Conversations and Creating a Culture of Belonging. Space is limited and registration is required. Please click here to register.
In Part One (March 11), Courageous Conversations with Children, we will learn why it is important to build our stamina for uncomfortable topics and how to approach difficult dialogue. We’ll also explore resources for using children’s literature to broaden understanding and perspective.
In Part Two (March 18), Building a Culture of Belonging, we will practice our courageous conversation skills as we navigate a framework of belonging. Together, we will explore the importance of diversity and dignity, understand how belonging is constructed—or destroyed—and identify areas of growth for ourselves and our community.
Science Day is Wednesday March 20! Volunteer sign-ups are live on our website here. Please remember that in order to volunteer you need to be an approved volunteer through Everett Public Schools. You will not be allowed to volunteer if you are not approved or your approval has expired.
We will end the month on a high note with STEAM night on Thursday, March 28. This is a family event and with the help of the National PTA grant we won, we will be hosting different Family Engineering Challenges. Fifth grade students will have the opportunity to present science projects they have worked on. We need additional volunteers to help plan and put on the event. If you are interested, please email president@mcepta.org.
We look forward to seeing everyone soon!