Miller Elementary Weekly Update
Week of January 19th, 2025!
Hello Miller Families,
I hope this weekly message finds your family bundled up and staying cozy. Superintendent Mr. Roberto has sent out communication that SCHOOL is CANCELLED for TUESDAY 1/21 and WEDNESDAY 1/22 due to extreme cold temperatures. We look forward to seeing your children back to school on Thursday, 1/23 pending no additional changes in our weather!
We took advantage of the "heat wave" this past Friday and finally could get some time outside sledding, building snowmen, and playing with all our friends! We captured a few photos from recess and I hope you can see the excitement on their faces. I would suggest checking your child's backpack or snow gear bag for wet gloves, socks and clothing. This would be a great time to check for an extra pair of socks too! Just imagine 75 little ones dressing for outdoor recess with snow pants, jackets, boots, hats, and gloves! It's quite an endeavor, but your children are doing a great job becoming more independent with their gear and knowing how to put each item on. Please remember that many hats, gloves, and snow pants look the same so labeling all items is very helpful.
Don't forget to save the date for the Miller Elementary BINGO Night on Thursday, January 30th at 6:30 PM in the Leighton Elementary Cafeteria. We are looking forward to this fun-filled event for all Miller Elementary families.
Take care and stay warm in the days ahead!
Maria Goodman
Miller Elementary Principal
330-954-2189
As a reminder, 2nd-semester tuition payments for preschool and kindergarten will be due on January 15th, 2025. We will send letters in the mail with your remaining balance and payment options before winter break. If you want to change your payment method, please reach out to our office to share your requested change. At this time, we will automatically charge the credit card we have on file with the remaining balance the week of January 20th if we have not received a check, cash or a new credit card number. If you have any questions after you get the letter, please contact Erin Toler at 330-562-6199.
Wearable Device Reminder
Upon return from winter break, we have more children wearing devices such as Smart Watches or Apple Watches. We have been experiencing timers going off, alerts from messages and Siri turning on unexpectedly. Children can wear a device if it's used as a watch and not for communication during school hours. If it is a distraction, we will ask your child to take it off and place it in their book back or on the teachers desk. Please do not text or call your child during the school day as all communication needs to come through the school to ensure messages are delivered correctly and appropriately. Finally, if you could check all settings on your child's wearable device that ensures it is silenced during the school day, this is much appreciated.
As a reminder from our handbook: Any watches (i.e. Apple Watch, Gizmo Watch, or Wearable Device) should be used as a watch only for the day. If they are found to be used as cell phones then they will be treated in the same manner as cell phones and asked not to be visible or worn during the school day except with the teacher's permission. Children are not to communicate via text or phone call during school hours. All communication will occur between the school and the family. Students assume all responsibility for objects brought to school.
We have recently discovered our QR code for our transportation link is NOT WORKING. We are working to fix this as quickly as possible. Our Transportation/Attendance Google Form IS WORKING so you can continue to use the link and button below. We just wanted to inform families that if you are using the QR code, we are working to fix it at this time. Thank you!
It's that time of year where we begin to have students who meet the benchmarks set forth in HB 410 for absences. Please be aware that if your child meets one of those, a letter must be sent from the school alerting you. Please also be reminded that it doesn't matter whether the absences are excused or unexcused. We have to track the hours missed regardless and communicate to you when benchmarks have been met.
This is also the time of year that planned absences often get scheduled. We have attached our planned absence form and policy. Please make sure you read through this important message and understand that planned absences and absences due to illness all count for missed hours. If you have any further questions, please let me know!
Important Dates and Events
JANUARY
- Monday, 1/20/25 - NO SCHOOL (MLK Jr. Day)
- Thursday, 1/30/25 - Miller Elementary Family BINGO Night - We will hold this in the Leighton Elementary Cafeteria to have more space (6:30PM-7:30PM)
FEBRUARY
- Thursday, 2/13/25 - End of Trimester 2
- Thursday, 2/13/25 - Valentine's Day Celebration at 10:30 AM & 2:00 PM
- Friday, 2/14/25 - NO SCHOOL (Staff PD Day)
- Monday, 2/17/25 - NO SCHOOL (Presidents' Day)
- Tuesday, 2/18/25 - Kick Off to Kindergarten Parent Meeting @ AHS Auditorium 6:30-7:30 PM
- Friday, 2/21/25 - Trimester 2 Gather Reports Live
SAVE THE DATE
Kick Off to Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 School Year
Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 - 6:30-7:30 PM at the High School Auditorium - This is a parent only meeting for families that has a child who will enroll in kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year. More detailed information will be shared after the new year and posted on our district web page. For our current Miller Preschool Families, this informational night will review the exciting transition to kindergarten. Your child is already enrolled in the Aurora Schools, but you will follow an alternate process to enroll for kindergarten which we will review at this meeting. (There will be a Welcome to Craddock and First Grade Parent Meeting in the spring. More information to come!)
Happy New Year, Miller Families! It was great to start off the year by meeting with Kindergarteners to review our expectations: be responsible, be a problem solver and be respectful. Kindergarteners also learned that self-care is important. To go along with that theme, they listened to NOODLE and the NO BONES DAY by Jonathan Graziano as a reminder to take time to relax when our bodies send us those signals. Moving forward, we will be learning about identifying feelings. We will use the ZONES of Regulation to introduce this topic. The ZONES of Regulation helps categorize feelings. As a Kindergarten student, your child will be able to identify how they feel and practice selecting a coping skill or strategy if they choose to feel differently. In class, we will learn that all feelings are okay! We will continue working on identifying feelings, learning new coping skills and discussing what “triggers,” or events, may cause us to feel a certain way. Please enjoy these read-alouds from The ZONES Book Nook to help your child practice identifying feelings.
Separately, another resource that has been helpful is 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. 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!
Mrs. Lindsey Ambrosia
(330) 562-6199, ext. 5414
Here are some important illness updates during the cold and flu season!
- It is important to check your child each day for symptoms of illness as you know them best. If they become I'll during the day, or are injured, we will reach out to you and let you know if their symptoms are worsening. We call home for injuries, fevers, and continued sickness. We do not call home for every trip to the nurse for a band-aid, ice pack or upset tummy. We certainly will call if symptoms worsen. We sometimes use our School Nurse Cell Phone
- Students sent home with a fever, vomiting or diarrhea may not return to school until they are free of these symptoms or 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 24 hours later. If your child does return the next day, our school will be calling for you to come pick him/her up. Please help to support our efforts in this area.
- We are required to report to families if there is a confirmed communicable disease in your child's class. This could include strep, pink eye, COVID, RSV, hand-foot and mouth or other illnesses.
Finally, please make sure your child has extra clothes in his/her backpack. Accidents and spills happen all the time and it's safe to always have their own clothes in their book bag instead of wearing our spare clothes.
Miller Elementary: Preschool & Kindergarten
Miller Elementary Principal
Erin Toler : etoler@aurora-schools.org
Miller Elementary Secretary
Email: mgoodman@aurora-schools.org
Website: aurora-schools.org
Location: 646 S Chillicothe Rd, Aurora, OH 44202, USA
Phone: 330-562-6199