The Ram Report

If you have access to the internet at home, here is things that your child can access at home. All they have to do is log into their portal by clicking here or going to the website below.

https://myapps.classlink.com/home

Reading

Amira Learning

Classworks

Epic

Beanstack

Read Theory (Grades 3-5)

Mathematics

i-Ready (Fluency Flight)

We are so proud of our students who earned All A Honor Roll and A/B Honor Roll. We will host our academic honors day for Quarter 1 on November 22, 2024. An invite will be sent to all parents who have children who will be receiving the award.

Congratulations to the students listed below for making the Principal's Honor Roll, A/B Honor Roll, and the NBA list for Quarter 1.

The students listed above have been not been absent from school or class. They have no tardies and no early checkouts.

The Family-School Partnership Program encourages the recognition of the many engaged parents across the state during Family Engagement Month (FEM). Each November, schools are invited to participate in celebrating family engagement through a variety of activities and initiatives.

We will be hosting the following events for families to get involved in the school and participate in activities with their child. We invite you all to visit your child's classroom and help around the school on November 21st and November 22nd. Please let your child's teacher know in what way you would like to volunteer.

We are thankful for our families and we encourage you to take this time to spend in your child's classroom.

National Family Literacy Month is celebrated every November and is a way to encourage families to read and learn together. Use this month to create a bond with your family while improving family members' literacy. Need some ideas to get started? Try one (or all) of these!

• Cozy up and read a book. Grab your family, some hot chocolate, and take turns reading. If you have older children, pick out a chapter book that you can enjoy all month long.
• Enjoy listening to audiobooks on Library2Go and Hoopla. Do you have any trips planned? Check out an audiobook for the family from the library and listen on the drive. (My seven-year-old and I have been enjoying listening to the Whatever After, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Harry Potter book series – all available on Hoopla!)
• Write notes of appreciation to each other. Writing is a very important part of literacy and November is a great time to share what you’re thankful for. Let your family members know how you appreciate them AND improve your literacy by writing them notes of appreciation.
• Discuss what you’ve read. Can’t agree on a book to read together? Come together as a family to share and discuss what you’ve been reading – this will improve reading comprehension.
• Read, read, read! This shouldn’t just apply for November – NEVER STOP READING!

Information taken from Fort Smith Library (https://www.fortsmithlibrary.org/node/11316)

Mt. Carmel will host our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, November 14, 2024. Please refer to the lunch schedule on the back of this page. We can only call students out of class if it is their lunchtime, so please plan accordingly. School Nutrition will be serving sliced turkey with gravy, cornbread stuffing, carrot soufflé, green beans, dessert, and a drink.

We do ask that each guest RSVP and pre-pay in advance. The payment form will be sent home in your child's Wednesday folder on Wednesday, November 6th. Please return the form and payment back to the school no later than Tuesday, November 12th.This will help us prepare the appropriate amount of food and it will speed up the lunch line. Students do not need to pre-pay.

Please click the link below to let us know what you plan to eat. This will help us with meal preparation.

Link: https://forms.gle/qPsPJXaBBPN538Wf9

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

Progress for Term 2 | 4.5 Weeks will be available in Infinite Campus on Thursday, November 7th. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you do not have access and will need a paper copy.

Did you know regular school attendance is key to your child's academic success and future opportunities? This fall, any student with perfect attendance along with tardies/late check-ins AND no early check-outs will receive a sweet treat AND be entered into a drawing for a grand prize!

Congratulations to our Rams who were here for the ENTIRE month of October! This means they were on time, present each day, and stayed for the duration of the school day. As you know, regular attendance is essential for a child's education because it ensures consistent learning, supports social development, builds positive routines, fosters emotional stability, and improves long-term academic success.

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.

Congratulations to our Students of the Month for October.

Artemis Ferguson-Bryant

Aaron Scott

Abigail Smart

Felicity Deese

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 November.

Week of November 4, 2024 | Sacrifice: A loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause

Week of November 11, 2024 | Patriotism & Citizenship: Respect and devotion to one’s country

Week of November 18, 2024 | Judicious: Having, showing, or done with good judgment or sense of empathy

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 to Remember

Tuesday, November 5th: No School for Students | Teacher Work Day

Friday, November 8th-National STEM/STEAM Day

Thursday, November 14th:Thanksgiving Lunch

Thursday, November 14th: Family Pajama Day

Happy American Education Week

Monday, November 18th: Thankful for an education. Wear a Mt. Carmel shirt or your favorite collegiate shirt. '

Tuesday, November 19th: School can be challenging, but we won't sweat it. Wear school appropriate sweatpants, joggers, or a track suit.

Wednesday, November 20th: We are grateful for an education. Wear your smile and your favorite fall shirt.

Thursday, November 21st: We are thankful for our team. Wear your favorite jersey.

Thursday, November 21st: National Family Involvement Day | Check with your student’s teacher to see how you can help.

Friday, November 22nd: We're Living the Dream: Wear school appropriate pajamas.

Friday, November 22nd: All Hands on Deck Day | Check with your student’s teacher to see how you can help.

Monday, November 25th-Friday, November 29th: No School | Thanksgiving Break

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 no later than 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