Turrill Family Newsletter

Dear Turrill Families,

It has been an absolute pleasure meeting you and your amazing children! We're off to a great start at Turrill and it's only going to get better. I am looking forward to a fantastic year together.

Click here to view Turrill's Back-to-School 2024 message from Mrs. Vangel. Within the presentation you will learn valuable information regarding school policies and back-to-school tidbits.

Warmly,

Kelly Vangel

Principal, Turrill Elementary

• Wednesday, 7/31 Kona Ice Day

• Saturday, 8/3 LEAF Live!
• Tuesday, 8/6 Picture Day
• Tuesday, 8/6 LCS Job Fair 1:00-6:00
• Wednesday, 8/21 through Friday, 8/23 No school
• Friday, 8/30 through Monday, 9/2 No School

Turrill will be hosting Kona Ice days at Turrill this year to spread a little frosty joy to our students. Kona Ice treats are $4.00 and will be served from 12:00-3:00 on the dates below. If you would like your child to enjoy a Kona Ice, you may prepay using the link below or send in $4.00 cash with your child on the day of the event (money must come in by 10:30). Funds raised from Kona Ice sales will go towards classroom field trips. Thanks!

• July 31, 2024

• August 28, 2024

• September 30, 2024

• October 30, 2024

• March 19, 2025

• April 30, 2025

• May 28, 2025

• June 11, 2025

Picture Day is Tuesday, August 6th. Picture Day packets will be coming home with your student.

Transportation Deviations

If you have a change in transportation for the end of the day, please contact the school prior to 3:00. This allows us time to get the messages to all the rooms.

Student Transportation Reminders

Turrill has a large number of students who are car riders on a daily basis. If we all follow the car rider protocols and work together with patience, families will be able to move through the area more safely and efficiently.

Student Drop-off: Drop-off begins at 8:45. We have three points of entrance. Door 12 is the E-5, Kindergarten and 1st grade entrance. Main office is the 2nd/3rd grade entrance and door 3 is the 4th/5th grade entrance. See Map below.

When dropping off your child/ren select the appropriate entrance. If you are dropping off more than one child, we suggest that you select one drop area and let all your children exit the vehicle at one spot. A red line is painted on the sidewalk for students’ safety. Students can exit their vehicles and walk behind the painted red line until they get to their particular entrance. Staff will encourage students to stay behind the red line and walk, but it’s always helpful to remind them of this before they exit your vehicle.

If you need to leave your vehicle please pull into one of the parking spaces. Do not leave your vehicle in the drop lane. This causes large back-ups and becomes a safety issue for students and parents.

If you park your car, please walk your child to the curb using one of the cross walks: We do not want students crossing the parking lot and car lanes unaccompanied by an adult.

Only use the lane closest to the curb for drop-off: Do not drop students off unless you are in the lane next to the curb.

There are two ways you can pick up your children. One option is to park your car in one of the designated parking areas and walk up to entrance 12 using the crosswalk. At 3:50, a staff member will be there to check students out to parents as they wait outside. For our children's safety, please note that parents will no longer be able to enter the building at dismissal time.

The second way to pick up students is to wait in the moving vehicle line. Each family will receive a sign with their child's name on it to place on the passenger side of their dashboard. We will use this sign to call out the child's name in the cafeteria. Students will exit out door 11 to meet their family. Staff will direct traffic to move through the parking lot in the most efficient way. This allows several students to be picked up at once.

Patience is the name of the game! Please show patience. We realize waiting in line can be frustrating at times but we will get quicker at dismissal as time progresses. Last year we averaged getting those who walked up to pick up their children in 5 minutes while it took about 12 minutes to get through the entire car queue.

Please move through the parking lot at a slow rate of speed: Regardless of all the protocols driving slow and alert is the best way to keep our students and parents safe.

Thank you again for all your support to make our drop-off and pick-up routines run smooth, safe and efficient for our students, families, and staff!!

I am beyond excited to announce that we are partnering with The Positivity Project at Turrill this year for character trait building. The Positivity Project is currently used at both Rolland Warner and Zemmer campuses, as well as Schickler for 2023-2024. Expenses for this amazing program were covered through scholarship from The Positivity Project and by our own Turrill PTC. To learn more about The Positivity Project, click here to watch Of This, I'm Positive, as well as The Positivity Project's Founding Story

Reading at home with your child is one of the single most important ways to support your child's academic growth. Look for ways to build a literacy partnership between Turrill and home here each month.

We're asking for your help with learning math facts this year. One of the biggest hurdles students can have in math achievement is not knowing basic math facts. Many students can solve elaborate equations and story problems, but can't do it efficiently because they don't know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts. It's not glamorous, but it takes memorizing those pesky facts until students know they quickly. (You know... like we had to do when we were in school)

So what can you do?

• Make memorizing fun and play a game with it, like Red Light, Green Light
• Create flashcards with math facts
• Download an app or find a math fact website
• Quiz each other with math facts
• Use manipulatives, like fingers, cubes, beans, sticks, etc.

For more information on math skills by age level, click here

Breakfast and lunch are FREE again this year; however, we encourage every family to fill out "Free and Reduced Lunch Forms" (now called Education Benefits Form - EBF) every year for a couple of reasons. First, Lapeer Community Schools receives supplemental funding to support at-risk students based on free and reduced lunch numbers. Additionally, the household income threshold for qualifying is relatively low, so why not try? Please read below to find out more information about EBF.

If you would like to apply for free or reduced lunch you can follow this link: https://lapeer.familyportal.cloud// to fill out the application or download, print, and fill out the application below. You will know if you qualify as soon as you apply. They are also available in the school office. Don’t forget you have to fill out one application per family every year.

LCS has been busy this summer! At Turrill, we had HVAC system updates and bathroom renovations. Additionally, construction on Turrill's new multi-purpose room will soon be completed in October. The multi-purpose room is located behind the cafeteria, taking up some of our playground space. You will notice that some of our fence line along the main parking lot will also be utilized as a construction entrance. While we hope that this construction won't impact our daily school lives, we are asking for extra patience as we travel on this new adventure together.

For more information regarding LCS Bond projects, click here.

Calling all volunteers! Turrill has an amazing PTC that needs your help. Check out the newsletter below to find out more.

Please make sure to fill out the LCS Volunteer Application below if you plan to volunteer in your child's classroom, attend parties, chaperone field trips, or volunteer in other capacities.

Each year we need to seek input on our Family Engagement Plan. Below is a link to our plan. Please take some time to review it. If you see anything that needs revision or have any recommendations please email me at kelly.vangel@lapeerschools.org .

Turrill Family Engagement Plan 2024-2025

LEAF, the Lapeer County Education Attainment Fund, promotes fiscal responsibility in children and encourages them to save money for college. LEAF deposit days are listed below:

• November 12
• February 11
• March 18
• April 22

For more information on the LEAF program, please CLICK HERE.

Lapeer Community Schools has Learning Coaches at each building. At Turrill, we are lucky to have two - Mrs. Schuett and Mrs. Weidinger. Learning Coaches are important literacy leaders at each building. They are responsible for student literacy interventions, such as Reading Recovery, as well as coordinating family events, and working with teachers in the classroom. Mrs. Weidinger and Mrs. Schuett have been at Turrill for several years in the coaching role.

Please look for more information brought to you by the coaches this year :)

8:00 Office Opens

8:45 Student Drop off Begins

8:50 Students Allowed to Rooms

8:54 Classes Begin

2024-2025 Recess Schedule:

11:15-11:45 4th - 5th Grades

11:45-12:15 2nd - 3rd Grade and CI Classrooms

12:15-12:45 E5/KDG - 1st Grade

2024-2025 Lunch Schedule:

11:45-12:054th - 5th Grades

12:15-12:35 2nd, 2/3 Split, 3rd Grade, and CI Classrooms

12:45-1:05E5/KDG - 1st Grade

3:50 Dismissal

4:30 Office Closes

As in years past, we plan on offering programs during our intersession weeks. Stay tuned for more information regarding the programming and intersession themes. The dates for intersession are as follows:

1st Intersession: October 21-24 (Monday-Thursday)

2nd Intersession: February 18-21 (Tuesday-Friday)

3rd Intersession: March 24-28 (Monday-Friday)

We have two lovely Mental Health Specialists at Turrill - Miss Chittle and Ms. Schneider. Their role at Turrill is to provide a listening ear to students. They work on social skills, emotions, and so much more with students. Students are able to meet with Miss Chittle and Ms. Schneider with your permission by filling out an Informed Consent Form (pictured below). Informed Consent Forms will be available during Open House night as you meet your child's new teacher.

Click here to explore a valuable mental health resource from Children's Advocacy Centers of Michigan.

Email: kelly.vangel@lapeerschools.org
Website: http://turrill.lapeerschools.org/
Location: 785 S Elm St, Lapeer, MI 48446
Phone: (810) 667-2438
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Turrill-Elementary-1415374235385217/

Mission: We will use our talents and compassion to educate our students in order to create a world in which all children embrace the journey of learning.

Turrill Vision: We are a kind family built on trust.

Turrill Motto: Better together!