January Bulldog Bulletin

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Email: kmerritt@msdwt.k12.in.us
Website: www.sm.msdwt.k12.in.us
Location: 8250 Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: (317) 259-5462
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpringMillElementary/
Twitter: @springmillelem

January

9 - Students Return From Break

11 - Poetry Workshops (3rd and 5th Grade)

15 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

1/16 - 3/1 - WIDA Testing Window for EL Students

22 - Poetry Workshops (2nd Grade)

1/22 - 1/26 - You Matter Spirit Week - see the flyer pictured below

1/25 - 1/26 - Winter Candy Grams - 5th Grade Field Trip Fundraiser (see flyer for details)

29 - Afterschool Clubs Begin

30 - Bus Evacuation Drill

February

2/5 - 2/9 - Body Safety Week

8 - IREAD3/ILEARN Night (2nd and 3rd Grade)

14 - Valentine Classroom Parties

19 - No School - President's Day

22 - PTO Parent Mix and Mingle Night

22 - Bus Driver Appreciation Day

28 - Spring Mill Spotlight at School Board Meeting

Dear Spring Mill Bulldogs,

Welcome back! We all needed our winter break to rest up and recharge from the first semester. But, it warmed our hearts to see the beautiful smiling faces of our students as they returned to school. Teachers have revisited our school improvement goals, set their intentions for a new year, and are collaborating on how to not only meet, but to exceed, all of our goals this semester.

Prior to break, we conducted NWEA reading and math assessments for all students in grades K-5. This is a district-wide assessment and the data is analyzed to determine our progress as a school, as a district, and as an indicator of student success for both IREAD3 and ILEARN. With the help of our leadership team, Ms. Merritt and I set our school goal of 60% of our students meeting their grade level achievement goals by the end of the year for both reading and math. We are excited to share that we EXCEEDED our goal and have NWEA achievement and growth data higher than we have had in many years! For reading, 73.61% of our students met their achievement goals and we have the highest growth among all MSDWT schools. For math, 69.90% of our students met their achievement goals and we have the highest growth among all MSDWT schools. Naturally, it feels great to achieve this level of success. But, what truly makes it so exciting is knowing that our students are growing, the hard work by all of us is paying off, and others can see just how amazingly smart and capable our students are.

We are beyond proud of our student achievement and growth but we want more in 2024! We want to see ALL of our students meet their achievement and growth goals, our teachers to continue growing through our GYTO collaboration, behaviors continue to decrease, and seeing our school family continue to strengthen. We are committed to the growth and success of Spring Mill and are blessed to have dedicated and hard working teachers, as well as a supportive PTO, to help make it happen.

Thank you for all of your support.

Mrs. Lou Ann Keeling, Assistant Principal

#goodBetterBEST

#excellentonpurpose

#whyWT

Our next round of afterschool clubs will begin Monday, January 29. Please look for a flyer to come home next week with details and a form to sign-up. We are thankful for our hard working teachers who are willing to provide fun academic and athletic experiences for our students.

Hello Bulldog Families,

Happy New Year! We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and are so happy to be back(!!!) and starting an exciting second semester at Spring Mill!

We kicked off the new year with a wonderful welcome back staff appreciation breakfast, and have lots of fantastic events planned for 2024. Mark your calendars for our first Dine-to-Donate of the year: January 23rd from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm at Chick-fil-A in West Carmel (by the SuperTarget at Michigan and 99th Street). Get breakfast, lunch, or dinner while you “eat more chikin” and give back to Spring Mill PTO!

Stay up to date on all the upcoming events by checking our website, www.springmillpto.com, or following us on social media at /SpringMillPTO on Facebook or @SpringMillPTO on Instagram.

Here’s to a great 2024 at Spring Mill. Go Bulldogs!

SME PTO

www.springmillpto.com

We are excited to be in a new year with new goals and an intense focus to finish this semester strong! This includes keeping our building expectations and procedures consistent. Our Behavior Support Team, Mr. Kershaw, Mr. Ward, Mr. Jones, and Ms. Anderson, were able to meet with each classroom to have behavior expectation talks with the students. Students were reminded of our three Bulldog Expectations: Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible. The team spoke with the students about what these expectations should look like in all areas of our building including: the hallway, restrooms, cafeteria, playground, and the bus.

We need your help! Please help remind your student what being safe, respectful, and responsible looks like in and out of school. If we can be a collaborative team to emphasize behavior expectations, our teachers are able to maximize the time spent on instruction and our students will get the most out of their learning in an educational environment that they deserve.

As we begin a new semester with many new students at Spring Mill, we need to review transportation expectations and are asking for your help and support ensuring our students remain safe.

For car riders, teachers are outside to supervise students being released from their cars and walking down the sidewalk until 7:38 am. During this time, it is critical that parents do not attempt to drive out of the line until directed to do so by teachers, never park in the lot next to the car rider line and have students walk over, or drive in an unsafe manner to get to the drop-off area. Our top priority is the safety of our students and behavior such as this puts our students at risk of being hit by a car.

When teachers enter the building at 7:38 am and cars are still in line, or approaching the building, they must drive to the front of the building, park in a designated parking spot, and walk their children into the building. We have had numerous instances of parents releasing students, without teacher permission or supervision, to run down the sidewalk in an attempt to get into the building or even dropping them off at the cafe door and driving away. This is a huge safety concern and cannot happen. We realize it can be an inconvenience to park and walk your student inside, but we must enforce this rule for the safety of our students. If this is a repeated occurrence, students will need to ride their assigned bus to and from school.

For bus riders, it is imperative that our essential agreements of be safe, be responsible, and be respectful carry over onto the bus ride and at the bus stop. Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right, and can be suspended or revoked by our transportation department. Our drivers work hard to ensure all students are safe and violence, disrespect, defiance, screaming, or other aggressive and inappropriate behaviors can have a direct impact on their ability to safely do their job and will not be tolerated. Please remind your students of the expectations each and every day to be able to ride the bus.

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE GREAT NORTH RUN: The 20th running of the Great North Run is happening March 9, 2024. This event includes a Family Fun Run/Walk, 5k, and 10k races that start at North Central High School. It is a great way to be a part of the WT community and raise money for Spring Mill. Come out and walk, run, or just have fun! Registration is now open for the 2024 Great North Run and Fitness Fair! Register early and save:

https://runsignup.com/Race/IN/Indianapolis/GreatNorthRun

All proceeds help to fund classroom grants, student scholarships, and transformational programming for the students, teachers, and staff of Washington Township Schools!

For the month of January, our Bulldog Bone Behavior Program will focus on the skill of safety in the classroom, cafeteria, playground, and hallways/bathrooms. The definition we will use for our discussions of safety, as well as the weekly focus, is anything that people do to protect themselves or others from harmful accidents. People can prevent accidents by following safety measures. Students were introduced to this focus in August as we began our school year and it is being repeated now to remind students of our expectations as we return from a long winter break. When you are talking with your child/children about their day, you can incorporate it into your discussions and practice the skill of Safety at home as well.