The Ram Report

International Dot Day is all about celebrating each person’s unique contributions and encouraging creativity, so it’s a great chance for families to bond over fun, artistic projects and foster a love for creative expression. This day is a global celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration, inspired by the children's book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Take a moment to share the book with your child. We will celebrate Dot Day at Mt. Carmel by wearing anything with dots on our clothes on Monday, September 16th. We look forward to seeing how creative you can be with your dots.

International Dot Day provides a wonderful opportunity to explore and celebrate creativity together. Here are a few ways to engage:

1. Read the Book: Start by reading The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. It’s a story about a young girl named Vashti who discovers her own creative potential through the simple act of making a dot.

2. Dot Art Projects: Encourage children to create their own dot-inspired artwork. This could be drawing, painting, or even creating dot patterns with various materials like stickers, beads, or buttons.

3. Explore Creativity: Use the day to explore other creative activities. You could try making dot-themed crafts, experimenting with different art techniques, or even creating dot-based designs in digital art programs.

4. Celebrate Uniqueness: Discuss the message of the book about the importance of self-expression and embracing one's unique talents. You might talk about how everyone has their own special skills and how creativity comes in many forms.

5. Share and Reflect: Share the children’s creations with family and friends. Reflect on what was learned and how it felt to express themselves creatively.

Hispanic Heritage Month, observed from September 15th to October 15th, is a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions, culture, and history of Hispanic and Latino Americans. For our Rams, it's an opportunity to engage children in learning about and appreciating Hispanic heritage through various activities and resources. Here are ways that we will get involved at Mt. Carmel by:

• Exploring History: We will introduce children to important historical figures and events in Hispanic history via our WRAM news.
• Creating Crafts and Art: In art, students will create art projects inspired by Hispanic traditions.
  
• Engaging in a Community Event: We plan to hold our annual Hispanic Heritage festival on October 11th. Parents are welcome to attend.
• Reading Children Books: This month, we will share children's books written by or about Hispanic authors

Take a moment to enjoy the story, Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson. This story is a story about appreciating differences, happiness, and inequity.

Once you have read or listened to the story, have your child participate in an “I am Thankful for...” Photo Hunt. Your child can hunt for photos at home of all the things they are thankful for. The photos could include family members, vacations, school photos, pictures of friends, objects, or special memories in their lifetime. If photos are not available, children can draw pictures of what they are thankful for. This could include many things around their home, neighborhood, school, family, and friends.

Yearbooks are on sale!

Don't miss out on the opportunity to savor your child's best school year yet. Order your yearbook today! Click here to order your MCES Yearbook for the year 2024-2025. Don't delay - the deadline to order a yearbook for this school year is March 31, 2025.

Fifth grade ads will be available until March 1, 2025. Do not miss the opportunity to give your 5th grader a shout out in the yearbook.

The school code is 722925.

Our Student Council is a group of elected students working together with Ms. Warren, advisor, within the framework of a constitution or bylaws to provide a means for student expression and assistance in school affairs and activities. Our student council give opportunities for students to have an experience in leadership. This is done through projects and activities. Our student councils work to:

• PROMOTE CITIZENSHIP
• PROMOTE SCHOLARSHIP
• PROMOTE LEADERSHIP
• PROMOTE HUMAN RELATIONS
• PROMOTE CULTURAL VALUES

Take a moment to see the candidates. Voting occurred on Monday, September 15, 2024. We are pleased to announce the the following students will serve as the our 2024-2025 Student Council Officers:

President: Mason Green
Vice President: Dillion Smith
Treasurer: Pharren Wilson
Secretary: Uriah Crowder

Congratulations to the following students for making our flag football and cheerleading team.

Football Players for 2024-2025

Ram Cheerleaders for 2024-2025

Sophia Trujillo
Aaliyah Morris
Taylyn Jamison
Mackenzie Brown
Emerson Williams
Nathan Macias
Jasiel Martinez
Gabriella Campbell
Pharren Willson
Uriah Crowder
Trinity Williams
Imani Daniel
Alaina Perez Gourdine
Kyra Springer
Lucie Price
Mmesoma Egbunine
Mahala Cooper
Chy'Na Lawrence
Harley Cook
Jesse Tarplin
Morgan Tarplin
Camille Ragan
Makayla Reese
Brooklyn Hardeman
Iker Santiago
Aiden Perez-Gourdine

Congratulations to our Students of the Month for August. These students portrayed one of the following character traits: Empathy, Active Listening, Inclusion, Honesty, or Integrity during the month of August.

Congratulations to the following students:
Traye Terrell
Bryson Holloway
Colton Crowley
Jesse Tarplin
Timmie Allison
Johnastin Berry
Peyton Metellus
Daniel Abundez Castro
Esteban Orozco Rojas
Randall Wordlaw
Yaritza Arroyo-Martinez
Brantley Warren
Luis Galvan
Eileen Alcantar
Willow McIlwain
Nevelin Avila Bautista
Dezaria Gibson
Evi Ogba
Damaya Stringer
Santi Macias
Alaina Perez-Gourdine

Georgia Reads Day is a unique opportunity to create awareness about the need to improve literacy skills in all age groups, engage in community reading activities and participate in the reading activities at Mt. Carmel. We are offering times for parents and community members to come and read to a selected class. If you are interested in being a class reader, please click the link here.

What is character education? Character Education is a learning process that enables students and adults in a school setting to understand, care about, and act on core ethical values such as honesty, respect, and responsibility for self and others. Below are the weekly character traits for the month of September.

Week of September 16, 2024 | Self-Control: The willpower to control actions and emotions

Week of September 23, 2024 | Empowered: To make stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and decisions

Week of September 30, 2024 | Tolerance: Respecting the individual differences, views, and beliefs of others

To ensure that you have all the important dates for this year, be sure to visit our school website to access our year at a glance calendar. Click here to access our school calendar.

Important Dates

September 15-October 15

Hispanic Heritage Month

Sunday, September 15th

International Dot Day

Monday, September 16th

Wear polka dots or dots to school.

Wednesday, September 18th

Student Performance Data Meeting (Virtual)

Grades K-2

6:30 PM

Click here to access thee meeting.

Thursday, September 19th

Student Performance Data Meeting (Virtual)

Grades 3-5

6:30 PM

Click here to access thee meeting.

As school we want to get better at improving our school culture and get a pulse on the issues that matter to you. We've signed up to a new service that will send you regular, short, anonymous surveys making it quick and easy to get your voice heard.

Please click the link below to sign up https://app.satchelpulse.com/parents?country=us

Please use the school ID (code) 615702 when prompted to join the school.

Student handbooks are updated and distributed to families electronically at the beginning of each school year. For questions or information concerning the handbooks, please contact Dr. Boone.

MCES 24-25 Handbook

DCSS 24-25 Handbook (English | Spanish)

Parents, grandparents, guardians, and other family members are always invited to eat lunch with their children. Prior to arriving for lunch, you will have to notify the teachers with a 24 hour notice that you would like to join your child/children for lunch. This will help us to streamline the process and be sure that we have adequate space for visitors.

When planning to eat lunch with your child, please DO NOT bring any food from outside vendors, fast food lunches or carbonated drinks to cafeteria. Be sure to bring proper identification and sign into the front office before going to the cafeteria.

Also, please adhere to our café expectations & procedures as follows:

a. Everyone is to stay in his/her seat.
b. No talking, if the cone at your child's table is turned to red.
c. Clean up your area when you are finished eating.

Grade Level Lunch Times

10:15-10:50 Kindergarten

10:35-11:15 2nd Grade

10:55-11:30 3rd Grade

11:15-11:55 1st Grade

11:35-12:10 4th Grade

11:50-12:30 5th Grade

School Lunch Menu

Click here for the school breakfast and lunch menu.

Nutritional Analysis

Click here for the nutritional analysis of the items that are on the menu.

Cost for meals for guests is $2.00 for breakfast and $4.00 for lunch (be sure to have exact change).

This year, all students (K-5) will use agendas in conjunction with AVID Elementary. Through the implementation of AVID Elementary, students develop the academic habits they will need to be successful in middle school, high school, and college, in an age-appropriate and challenging way. Children learn about organization, study skills, communication, and self-advocacy. AVID Elementary students take structured notes and answer and ask high-level questions that go beyond routine answers.

AVID states that “ When students effectively manage their time, it helps them to meet classroom deadlines, increase the quality of their work, reduce their stress, and accomplish their goals, while also helping to ensure that they have time for other interests and passions.”

All agendas are $7. To purchase your child's student agenda, please use the link below

https://mces.revtrak.net/student-fees/#/list

Parents are required to complete a Free and Reduced Meal Application in order to qualify for free or reduced meals. Meals will no longer be free. Parents will be required to send money for breakfast and lunch until the free/reduced meal application is approved. You can use schoolcafe.com to load money to your child's account or send cash for meals.

Note: If you receive notice that your child has a negative balance, please contact Mrs. Muhammad at 770-651-4201. She will be able to provide you more information on the balance.

Note: If your child has a negative lunch balance, they will not be accepted into any MCES extracurricular activities until that balance is cleared.

We do not allow whole birthday cakes or any birthday treats that are not individually wrapped. We enjoy

honoring our students on their birthday. We announce the birthday child’s name on the morning announcements and allow families to bring in treats within the guidelines below.

▪ Snacks must be store bought AND prepackaged/individually wrapped. [No exceptions!]

▪ Cupcakes must be individually packaged in container or prepackaged wrapping. [No exceptions!]

▪ Any treat should be served during recess.

▪ No invitations to birthday parties should be sent to school unless an invitation is available for every student in the class. A list of student names will not be permitted to be sent home.

When buying treats, please be sure to speak with your child's teachers. Some students have food allergies. Also, you may want to think about non-food items. The items listed below will still make your child feel special and they will last a lot longer than a food item.

• A game for the classroom
• A classroom book (A nice touch would be having your child pick it out, sign it, and date it.)
• A classroom set of items for each child to keep such as pencils, pens, erasers, markers, etc.

Above is an image of what is defined as individually wrapped cupcakes.

All afternoon dismissal and transportation changes must be made in writing. Also, if there is someone other than yourself picking your child up from car riders, please email the name of the person AND provide them with either your child's car rider number or the car rider tag. If he or she does not have the car rider hang tag, please let them know that we will ask to see their license prior to releasing any student. This is to protect the safety of your child. Please make all transportation changes prior to 1:30 PM.

Click here to make a transportation change.

There are some days that your child's bus may be late due to busses being combined or a substitute bus driver driving a new route. If you would like to know if your child's bus will be late, you may locate that information here. This information is updated each morning and each afternoon.

Here Comes the Bus is available for parents and students to download now. The highly-rated free app currently has over a million users. To sign up, visit the Apple or Android store, or visit www.herecomesthebus.com. The code needed to complete the registration process is 79003. Students are still encouraged to arrive at their stop five minutes early and to follow any additional instructions given by drivers.

As your children board the bus each morning, please help us and remind them of our bus rules. Students should stay seated in assigned seat, there is to be no eating or drinking on the bus and students should use their inside voices. Students should also keep their hands and other objects to themselves while riding the bus.

School bus transportation is a privilege afforded pupils by the Board of Education. It is not a right. To protect the safety and well-being of all involved, pupils must adhere to established bus conduct rules. Bus transportation privilege may be revoked if the pupil does not observe bus conduct expectations.

Ms. Lizzy Kilgore is our District Bilingual Liaison. Please contact her if you need help with translating or interpreting.

Phone: 770.651.2223

Email: lizzy.kilgore@dcssga.org