Miller Elementary Weekly Update

Hello Miller Families!

I cannot believe we are in the middle of December and the holiday season is upon us!

We have been greeted with some yucky cold and flu viruses throughout our building causing many children and staff members to become ill. Please be extra diligent in following our illness protocols. If your child has a fever or is vomiting, they must be fever free without pain medication for 24 hours before returning to school. This helps to ensure your child isn't returning during the contagious period and thus continuing the spread. We will continue to send out a communication to homerooms if we know of a specific communicable disease being reported by families. Stay healthy out there!

This also is the time of year when we have fun events and activities with our family and friends that will make the holidays extra bright. I like to provide some helpful tips to support you during this busy time. It's important to remember that our young children thrive on routines and knowing what's ahead. Here are a few tips to help during the holiday hustle and bustle.

1: Prioritize the same eating and sleeping routines. Trying to keep some consistency will support their physical and emotional needs.

2: If possible, review the fun activities with your child before they happen. Knowing what's ahead can ease their minds and help them understand what will be happening next. You can use a picture schedule to help them understand what is first, second, or even last.

3: Keep a comfort item close by. A special blanket or stuffed animal can become very helpful when your child feels upset or overwhelmed. This special item can be especially helpful at times of de-escalation.

4: Be open and honest with your family about your routines and expectations. Being forthcoming about your household rules will keep an open line of communication with extended family.

5: ENJOY THE MOMENT! Focus on creating memories with your child and enjoy this special time of year!

Finally, we want to thank all the children and families for participating in our Aurora for Others Coin Wars this past week! Miller Elementary raised over $1500 in this event. Your generosity is always humbling no matter the event we hold to help support others.

Here's to a wonderful week ahead!

Warmly,

Maria Goodman

Miller Elementary School - Principal

330-562-6199

Email mgoodman@aurora-schools.org

Monday, 12/19 - Aurora BOE Meeting @ 7:00 PM- C&I Building

Tuesday, 12/20 - School Wide Pajama Day

Wednesday, 12/21 - Winter Parties for Preschool & Kindergarten

Thursday, 12/22 - Tuesday, 1/3 - Winter Break

Wednesday 1/4 - School Resumes

As a reminder, 2nd-semester tuition payments for preschool and kindergarten will be due on January 16th, 2023. You will be receiving a letter in the mail with your remaining balance and payment options. If you should have any questions after you get the letter, please contact Vicki Wolf at 330-562-6199.

As you are aware, the current cold, flu, COVID, and RSV season has started out pretty unique in Northeast Ohio. We continue to stress the importance of good hygiene, handwashing, and proper sneeze/cough etiquette. Our youngest children are still developing skills to properly cover their cough and how to use tissues. We want to stress the importance of letting your child rest and recuperate when they are ill or showing symptoms.

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 during the day, please know our school nurse, Jackie Pawlowski, will assess your child and make contact with a family member when necessary.
• Students sent home with a fever, may not return to school until they are fever free without medication for at least 24 hours. This means if your child was sent home on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. 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. This also is the protocol if your child is vomiting. They need to be vomit free for 24 hours to return to school.
• We will send a Final Forms notification if there is a communicable disease reported in your child's classroom. This can help you monitor your own child and make informed decisions about symptoms.
• Please make sure your Final Forms medical information is up to date. We will closely read the health section to address any medical concerns.

Finally, please make sure your child has extra clothes in his/her backpack. Accidents and spills happen all the time and they often prefer to have their own clothes instead of wearing our spare clothes.

Greetings Families! I have enjoyed visiting the Kindergarten classrooms this week to continue to teach the students about the ZONES of Regulation. This session, we focused on the yellow zone and feeling frustrated, nervous, silly or excited. Our read-aloud was Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale. The students were able to identify all the parts in the story where the main character was feeling silly, excited and nervous. They also did a wonderful job pointing out the frustration of Clark’s classmates during his times of silliness! We always end our lessons by reminding ourselves that any feeling is okay, and when we identify our feelings it is helpful to us and others.

On another note, a resource of interest is this awesome site shared with me by our Director of Special Services, Mike Maglionico: On Our Sleeves.

This site is a simple way to gather community resources, contacts, talking points and activities to benefit your family’s well-being and mental health over the holidays. I found the How-To articles super helpful because as a counselor and a parent, I know how I want my students and children to think of themselves, but am often refining the process in which I use to correct their thinking in a more positive way. I hope you find this resource helpful!

Lindsey Ambrosia

lambrosia@aurora-schools.org

(330) 562-6199, ext. 5414

Our December weather forecast has been relatively mild, but you never know when the snowflakes will start to accumulate! Please remember that our full-day students will continue to go outside if the feels like temperature is between 15 and 20 degrees or higher. We watch the weather closely as it is important for our children to get outside, run around, and enjoy some fresh air. The playground is a great place to practice social skills such as turn taking, problem solving as well as how to communicate with their friends. Plus, when the snow comes, it provides some fun experiences to build snowmen!

We recommend a warm coat, hats, gloves, snow pants, and boots (when necessary). We work with all children to help them learn how to dress themselves independently and in the correct order. (Snow pants, boots, jacket zipped, hat, and gloves are last). Please make sure all your child's items are labeled with their name. It is important that you check their book bag for an extra set of clothes and socks. Children would rather wear their change of clothes if an accident occurs. Please have your child practice putting on their snow gear at home too!

We want to give another important reminder about the safety in our parking lot and dismissal area. As you know, our parking is very limited. Please try to find a space that will not block others as well as we need to save our handicap-accessible spaces for those with the correct signs. If there is a space open, please use these first in lieu of creating unmarked spots.

Our afternoon dismissal is growing to be problematic so here are some important reminders:

Preschool Dismissal is first at 3:20 PM

Kindergarten Dismissal is second at 3:30 PM

We created the 10-minute delay so we could clear out one group of children and then move to the next group to ensure safe reunification.

Once we have released your child to you, it is best to clear the dismissal area so we can see other families arriving for dismissal and ensure a safe transfer from school to the caregiver. Our front steps, walkway, and grassy areas are not suited as a play area. There is a lot of traffic and commotion with arrival and dismissal and we don't want to see any accidental injuries.

Please remember this is for the safety of our children and families! Thank you for your cooperation!

We have finished explicitly teaching all 9 of our school wide PBIS expectations! These skills have been taught and practiced during the first 9 weeks of the school year so that your children can become responsible, respectful, and problem solvers throughout their school day. It's important to remember that many of these skills will need continued practice and repetition so that they become more automatic. We will continue to take notice of areas of strength and areas we need to practice throughout our school day. Here is a reminder of the big ideas that we have been working on.

• I can use walking feet!
• I can have a safe body!
• I am ready to learn!
• I can share, take turns and wait!
• I can stop, think and do the right thing!
• I can listen and follow directions right away!
• I can clean up!
• I can be a good friend and use kind words!
• I can be a good role model and worry about myself!

We will continue to earn Greenmen Proud Poms and celebrate our great choices. As soon as we fill up our classroom buckets and school wide buckets, we will enjoy some fun rewards! Please let us know if you need any support at home reinforcing any of these skills across other settings at home or in other settings.

There will be times when your child is ill or needs to miss school due to appointments.

We ask that you call Miller School at 330-562-6199 to either speak with Vicki Wolf or leave a message. Please share your child's first name, last name, teacher, and the reason for the absence. If they are going to an appointment, please ask for a doctor's note to have on file here at school. Thank you!

If your family will have a planned absence due to an event or vacation, you will need to fill out a planned absence form for our schools. Please send in a note requesting this form as soon as you know your anticipated date.

If your child is experiencing illness symptoms and you have questions for our school nurse, Jackie Pawlowski, you may call 330-954-2286. She can help answer any questions.

Hello Miller Families!!

1. The Giving Tree - Thank you to our chairs, Kristi Kline and Jen Johnson for coordinating this project. Thank you to all the families who donated! We were able to donate over 400 gift cards to the Center for Hope!!! We also had bags and boxes full of hats, scarves, and gloves that were donated to Leighton Leaders!

2. Thursday, December 8 - Friday, December 9 - Miller's Holiday Shop

Thank you to our chairs, Samantha Nelson and Kate Nixon, for planning this!

3. Thursday, December 8 - Sunday, December 11 - Evexia Community Give Back Days! 8:00am-3:00pm. Just mention PTO when ordering in person or use code PTO to order online. Evexia will give you a 10% discount AND will donate 10% to AEPTO! Flyer is attached.

4. Wednesday, December 21 - Winter Festival classroom parties
Kindergarten AM & Pre-K AM - 10:30am-11:15am
Kindergarten Full Day/PM & Pre-K PM - 2:30pm-3:15pm

If you would like to volunteer, please use the link below to sign up.

Miller Winter Festival Volunteer Sign Up

5. Save the dates for AEPTO winter family fun events!!
Saturday, January 28, 2023 - Join us for a family night at the Cleveland Monsters Hockey game! Please see the updated attached flyer for more details, including how to purchase tickets. Order forms must be turned in by December 21st. You can send the form and payment to Miller. Please make sure it is in a sealed envelope with PTO on the front.

Thursday, February 16, 2023 - Join us for a family night at Kalahari indoor water park! Please see the attached flyer for more details.

Upcoming Events

12/8-12/11 - Evexia Community Give Back Days
12/21 - Winter Festival Class Partie & Monsters Hockey game form and payment due
12/22-1/3 - No School, Winter Break
1/4 - AEPTO Meeting at 10:00am in the C&I Building

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Jen

AEPTO VP-Miller

auroraptomesvp@gmail.com

Maria Goodman

mgoodman@aurora-schools.org

Principal

Vicki Wolf

vwolf@aurora-schools.org

Secretary

Email: mgoodman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 646 S Chillicothe Rd, Aurora, OH 44202, USA
Phone: 330-562-6199