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Greetings Mill Creek Families!
Welcome back from Spring Break and we hope you had a restful and enjoyable week off!
Now that April is here, it’s time to dig in and work together in these final 3 months of school to maximize opportunities for your child’s learning and growth. We hope you found your recent parent teacher conference to be informative and worthwhile, as we know our teachers really value that opportunity to speak in depth with you about your child and their learning.
Make Attendance A Priority
For the remainder of the school year, we ask that you please make daily, on time attendance a top priority and be mindful of early dismissal habits as well. Our teachers strive to maximize their teaching and learning time with students each day, all day long. We monitor and track student attendance and tardies every month and reach out to families if absences become excessive.
Spring Testing for 3rd, 4th and 5th Graders
With the arrival of Spring comes standardized testing. In WA state, all 3-5th graders are tested in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math through the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). Additionally, all 5th graders take a Science test called the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS). More information about both of these (and other) assessments can be found on our district website here: HERE
Though we won’t begin testing until May, please mark your calendars now for the dates that our 3rd-5th graders will be testing and please make every possible effort to have your healthy child at school on these dates. If you must excuse your child for medical appointments or any other reason, please try to do this outside of our testing schedule:
May 1st: 5th Grade WCAS
May 7th: ELA Part 1 of SBA (Computer Adaptive Test or CAT)
May 14th: ELA Part 2 of SBA (Performance Task or PT)
May 21st: MATH Part 1 of SBA (Computer Adaptive Test or CAT)
May 23rd: MATH Part 2 of SBA (Performance Test or PT)
Make up testing will take place from May 27th -June 7th.
PTA Thanks and Appreciation
Once again, there is SO much to be thankful for with our incredible PTA! March was filled with great events for both student and families. Our whole school enjoyed another fantastic Science Day filled with amazing hands-on learning experiences from guest presenters. In addition, students got to enjoy Garden Club, Cougar Movers, Spirit (Career!) Day and Popcorn Friday. There was also a STEAM Night with a 5th Grade Science Fair. Families were invited to our Garden Build project, Parents Night Out, Courageous Conversations to Build A Community of Belonging, and an Author Talk with Keith Boykin. WOW. Finally, our teachers truly appreciated the snacks provided during conference week to stay energized for all their conferences. Thank you, PTA!
Parking Lot Guidelines and Safety: We Must All Do Our Part
This month, we are requesting that all our families who drop off and pick up students each day take 5 minutes to review our parking lot guidelines, as our parking lot gets very congested during arrival and dismissal and we must all work together to keep it safe. Our website contains clear guidelines designed put in place to maximize safety and minimize congestion. There you will find a map that diagrams traffic flow, a list of arrival and dismissal procedures, and a short video created by the Mill Creek Police Department that outlines 3 main points:
1. No left turn off 148th Street to Kiss and Go (Drop off/Pick Up) lane
2. No student drop off or pick up in parking lot
3. Right turn only when exiting parking lot
Please visit our website: HERE
to make sure that you know and adhere to what is expected. When everyone knows and adheres to these guidelines, our parking lot is a safe and efficient place for all.
We love celebrating students meeting our behavior expectations. Below are photos of our Cougar Pride Winners! Congratulations!
Happy Spring!
Warmly,
Cindy Foster, Principal
Kristin Dickert, Assistant Principal
David Rymar, Pierce Van Buuren, Maverick Hyppolite, Faaizah Fathim and Jacob Oh
Laela Bauguess, Tinsley Kerr, Mao Duffy, Lily Atkins, Raylan Knowles, Prisha Gupta and Yamilet Lopez Martinez
Novak Korzynek, Deacon Philo, Tia Young, Kriselle Jimson,
Ryan Murphy, Gia Castillo, Chinmayi Bharath, Tate Johnson and Maxwell Makinde
Savannah West and Rithvik Bavandla
April 12 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
April 15 - MCE PTA Membership Meeting
April 19 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
April 25 - MCE PTA Art Walk
April 26 - LIF Day - 2:15 Release
COUNSELING
Dear Families,
In the next few weeks, all MCE students will learn how to use the RULER Blueprint to solve problems and resolve conflicts. The RULER Blueprint is a restorative practice that will help children and adults learn to resolve conflicts, solve problems, and restore relationships. A Blueprint conference is a tool that can be used at home, school, or in the workplace. You can access a copy of the RULER Blueprint for home use from my website under the Social Emotional Learning Resources tab or at this link:
Save the date: Monday, May 6, at 6:30 PM
This year, the PTA’s from MCE and Cedarwood Elementary have teamed up to sponsor three Healthy Minds events. At the next Healthy Minds event, on May 6th, Mrs. Foster and I will continue sharing information about the RULER tools and how to use the RULER Blueprint at home. I hope that you will be able to join us. This final Health Minds event will be at Cedarwood Elementary and parents from both MCE and Cedarwood are encouraged to attend.
What is RULER:
RULER is an approach to social and emotional learning that focuses on emotional intelligence. RULER helps students and the adults in their lives to learn about and manage their emotions. The Everett School District has adopted this Framework to support the SEL lessons provided through Second Step instruction. 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
RULER OVERVIEW
https://www.everettsd.org/domain/1911
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.
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?
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 CLASS AND GARDEN CLUB
Mill Creek Art Walk
· Please mark the date! PTA is having an art walk on April 25th!
· All students are invited to submit one artwork.
· Mrs. Ripley will do a collaborative project with grade levesl to be displayed at the event.
· PTA will share details soon!
Garden Club
Happy spring! It is time to plant, so we are planting radishes, lettuce, beets, collard greens and much more! Students and parent volunteers, please join us Tuesday mornings, 8:30 -9:00. Go to the PTA events for more information and to sign up (K-2 and 3-5 meet every other Tuesday).
All students who plant get to take home packages of free seeds!
MCE Garden Build Day
What a great success! Thanks to all parents, students, and teachers who helped us build our second greenhouse and many other garden items.
A special thanks to Eagle Scout, Alicia, and her family for their generous support.
Thank you all for supporting our garden club and outdoor education program!
Artfully yours,
Cristina Ripley, MCE Art Specialist/Garden PTA Co-Chair
PE NEWS
Our school Field Day is only about 2 months away! I really want to encourage you to come and be a volunteer on this FUN day! To be able to volunteer, you need to be an approved volunteer in the Everett School District. If you haven’t applied or your clearance has expired, please click on the link below to submit your application so you can join us for the Field Day FUN! Applications take at least two weeks to be cleared so please consider submitting your application soon! Volunteer Application For more info, please reach out to the Volunteer Coordinator at 425-385-4100 or email Volunteer@everettsd.org.
I am excited and grateful to shout out two extremely kind and generous businesses in our area that have had a very positive impact on the students at Mill Creek Elementary during our PE classes in the month of March!
Evergreen Lanes bowling alley in Everett has purchased traveling bowling lanes, pins, and balls for the PE classes to use in the Everett School District! They now have two traveling kits so two different schools can teach bowling lessons during the same week. We had a great time bowling on 7 different lanes in PE the first two weeks of March! If you are planning a bowling outing, please consider going to Evergreen Lanes as a thank you for their support of our students and school!
5111 Claremont Way
Everett, WA 98203
425-259-7206
We had an amazingly FABULOUS week of martial arts lessons in PE thanks to Active Martial Arts! Three blackbelts came and instructed every single PE class throughout the week! Active Martial Arts teaches the traditional style of Taekwondo and incorporates aspects of Muay Thai and Boxing. The presentations were filled with energy, engagement, and learning! They taught the students jabs, crosses, kicks, and high blocks but also stressed that you do not use martial arts on your family or friends, just “bad guys.” 😊 They had a wide variety of activities they shared throughout the week. The students were active participants, worked hard, and found a lot of success! Active Martial Arts gifted all 650+ students a martial arts wrist band at the end of each class. I was very impressed with the interest and natural ability shown by many of our students and hope they will consider pursuing the martial arts. Active Martial Arts also gave each student a card for themselves and anyone in their family ages 4-17 to attend a free trial week of martial arts classes at their school! In addition to martial arts classes, they have afterschool programs, Ninja birthday parties, and summer camps that are now open for registration! Their program’s primary focus is Character Development, Leadership Training & Age-Appropriate Life Skills (The Life Skills are…Discipline, Belief, Communication, Respect, Self-Esteem & Honesty!)
I was introduced to Jeff Kyle, owner of Active Martial Arts through our Mill Creek Elementary PTA! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with Active Martial Arts in our PE program here at Mill Creek Elementary. I have tried for the past 3 years to bring a martial arts instructor into our school’s PE program but did not receive interest from the martial arts schools that I had contacted. Not only was Active Martial Arts willing to come present, but they were also very flexible and kindly re-arranged their teaching schedule to be able to come for the entire week and provide lessons to all our classes here at school! They have very generously donated Ninja birthday parties and free martial arts classes to our PTA as well as being a Mill Creek Elementary PTA gold sponsor! Jeff is very community-minded and is quite active in many Mill Creek organizations like Rotary, the MC Festival, Summer Concert Series sponsor, Police Foundation, and was a founding member of the MC Chamber of Commerce. I always appreciate supporting businesses who feed right back into the community so if your child is interested in taking martial arts classes, please consider checking out Active Martial Arts!
122 128th St SE
Everett, WA 98208
206-399-0543
PTA NEWS
MCE PTA is excited about our whole school Art Walk on Thursday, April 25, 2024 from 6-8 pm. Art submissions are due in the MCE office or your student's teacher by Monday, April 15. Flyers and Submission Forms went home this week with all students. They are also available on the MCE PTA website here.
The goal of the art walk is to give all of our students the opportunity to showcase their art work for friends, family and school mates to see. Every student will be able to submit one piece of artwork on any theme that they would like (the caveat being that their art needs to be weapon-free and school appropriate). Along with individual art pieces, we are also hoping to display larger collaborative art projects done by grades, which will either be facilitated by Mrs. Ripley or an art docent through the Art Walk committee. These would be projects which would combine contributions from each student in a given grade to create an amazing work of art for the whole school to see.
Earth Day is Monday April 22 and MCE PTA is planning a community service project. If you are interested in helping, please email vp@mcepta.org.
Do you have a 5th grader? Are you interested in helping with the 5th Grade Celebration? Please email 5thcelebration@mcepta.org. After Spring Break the committee will meet to plan the theme and organize sub committees. 5th Grade Celebration will be June 18 at 1:45pm.
A flyer went home during conferences about 5th Grade Celebration slideshow - please send photos to 5thcelebration@mcepta.org. And ask if you have questions or are unclear on the process.