Mill Run Register
Newsletter for Mill Run Elementary Volume 48 December 2014 Vickers’ Views: December At-A-Glance As I type my monthly newsle er ar cle, I am excitedly awai ng the arrival of many of you to OUR school, as this is the day of our annual SCA Warming Tree will continue until th Turkey Feast. We will soon be serving nearly 2,000 turkey meals. We December 12 ! Please consider sending in new hats, gloves, scarves, and thermal had six wonderful volunteers here this morning to help with the set- socks. These will be shared with our up, and everyone just seems to be in the best of spirits. I was raised friends in Sterling, VA! by my own parents to love tradi ons and to do everything within my power to perpetuate them. The Mill Run Turkey Feast is one of the Dec. 1 : Science Expo packets go home very best tradi ons that we have here, and the excitement is Dec. 3 : Mt. Lion Pride Citizenship Breakfast @ 7:50 palpable with our students, their parents, and our staff. am (by invitation) Dec. 4 : This is a me of year when many of us become especially nostalgic, PTO Gift Card Orders Due and we cleave ghtly to our families and to our own tradi ons. As I Snowman Contest info sent home look back to all that has happened here at Mill Run in November and Dec. 5 : PTO Movie Night from 6:30-9:00 p.m. project myself forward through Winter Break, I can’t help but focus Dec. 9 : PTO Board Meeting in Lounge @ 2:50 pm. on some of the special events that have become hallmarks of our Dec. 10 : Science Expo backboard orders due outstanding school. This month, we have held our Run for Fun, the Family Heritage Fes val, the Scholas c Book Fair, and now the Turkey Dec. 12 : Donuts w/ Dads from 7:00-7:45 a.m. in Feast. In December, we will have our Donuts with Dads breakfast, gym & café the PTO’s Movie Night, and nearly everyone’s favorite…the Holiday Adventures in Folklore Assembly for grades 1-3 @ 8:30 a.m. Sing-along! Coupled with the many special things that you are doing with your own families at home, it is no wonder that our children are Final day of SCA Warming Tree Cookies to Cure Childhood Cancer event so bright-eyed during this me of year! from 5:30-9:00 p.m. in gym We whole-heartedly believe that children learn best and retain the Dec. 16 : 5th grade Geography Bee in café @ 8:30 a.m. informa on that they learn most completely when they can make a Dec. 17 : 5th graders walk to Eagle Ridge for personal connec on with the material and when the material is holiday band concert @ 9:20 a.m. taught in an interes ng, engaging manner. Over the past few Dec. 18 : months, I have personally witnessed some of the finest teaching that PTO Care & Share breakfast for staff I have ever seen in my thirty years as a public school educator here in Dec. 19 : Holiday Sing-along @ 8:30 a.m. Virginia. I have marveled over how our teachers plan lessons to Class Parties @ 1:00 p.m. maximize their students’ ac ve engagement, and I have been thrilled Dec. 20- Jan. 4 : Winter Break! to see and hear your children respond with a clarity of understanding. In fact, your kids con nue to demonstrate an amazing level of insigh ulness in their learning. As we move toward December, I want to take a moment to reflect upon the many things for which I am most thankful. Not only do I have a beau ful family, but I also have the ul mate job and profession. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to serve as Mill Run’s principal, in a community that places the highest value on educa ng the complete child. I invite all of you to reflect upon your own blessings during this season. Do you know that through our recent campaign of giving, we raised over $2700? The PTO will use these funds to purchase gi cards for the essen als (food, clothing, and gasoline) for local families-in-need. Without ques on, these items are essen al to our existence; but we are leaving out another key need that we have as human beings…LOVE! Even in the toughest of mes, we can always fall back on the fact that there are many people in our lives who love and depend upon us. Let’s not lose sight of this fact. We thank you for allowing us to play (what we believe is) a significant role in your children’s lives. They are most certainly amongst our greatest treasures! Have a blessed holiday season! Kindest regards, Paul L. Vickers
Congratulations to Mill Run’s October Super Citizens!! Each month teachers select one student from their class who has demonstrated character traits that are consistent with creating a respectful and caring school climate.
Noelle Middleton Abby Hardy Maddie Downer Kyna Marimuthu Ranson Thayambath McKenna Schauss Campbell Taylor Isabella Arnold Ruby Edwards Aneesh Pabolu Colin Greise Amy Taylor Evan Fornino Brady Louis Landon Foley Rachel White Krish Yalavarthy Adithya Subramanian AJ VanDyke Will Hornbeck Brandon Fornino Aaron Rodriguez Raaga Kodali Jimmy McManus Cara Roser Aditya Amdekar Sahana Sreeham Jack Bickmann Neel Patwardhan Cole Allen Madison Hunt Rohit Prasanna Ahyan Baqar Shravya Raj Adriana Barsoom Helen Levy Carrie Burkart Madison Gilliam Sarah Nguyen Michael Hargenrater
Resources for Parents and Students on the Web Mill Run Website: http://www.lcps.org/millrun Loudoun County Public Schools: http://www.lcps.org Cornely’s Conversation
The month of December… I’m sure many of you are thinking, “Wow! Where did the year go?!?!” I know this is certainly the case for my family. As I reflect on this school year thus far, I have an overwhelming feeling of pride, joy, and apprecia on for all stakeholders in our Mill Run Community. As Mr. Vickers men oned in his newsle er ar cle, so many of our families par cipated in the annual Mill Run For Fun and our Family Heritage Fes val, which helped raise nearly $3,000 to support our families in need. In addi on to this outstanding accomplishment, so many of you have made dona ons toward helping Mill Run families in need. This was made possible because of you and your efforts to support others in our community. From the bo om of my heart, thank you so much for your generous and kind hearts! This support, without a doubt, will have a las ng impression on all of our families for many years to come! With a slight shi of focus, I wanted to con nue to encourage our children to read throughout the month of December and especially over the winter break. Reading is the most powerful gi our children can possess, and that is why it makes it that much more important for children to have books or a Kindle in their hands. Below are a few ways you can insert comprehension ques ons into your conversa on with your students. Addi onally, if you are looking for a book to read during the month of December, you may wish to visit my blog. I am featuring a “Book of the Month” for all to consider. • When reading a picture book, look at the illustra ons and have your child ask him/herself what the main idea of the picture is. What is this picture trying to tell me? • Check out a variety of genres from the library. With each new genre, prac ce finding the main idea so that your child is exposed to a variety of texts. • Have your child make a connec on to the text. If your child can connect to what s/he is reading, it will be easier to understand the main idea of the text. • Have your child prac ce asking him/herself ques ons like: “What ques ons do I ask myself to find the main idea when I am reading?” or “What does the author want me to learn?” or “What is the big idea of what I am reading?” • Find examples of main idea/comprehension tests online. Explore how they are worded with your child. Help him or her understand the way tests ask students to state the main idea. Examples: “This story is mainly about _____?” or “Which best states the main idea of ______?” or “Which of the following is a theme of _____?” or “What is the main idea of paragraph 1 of this passage?” I am so thankful to be a part of this wonderful Mill Run family and am so excited to con nue such a beau ful rela onship with you and your family!
Please Label Jackets Now that the weather is getting a bit cooler, please make sure to write your children’s names inside their jackets. You would be surprised how many jackets are left at school each year and never reclaimed. At the end of each year, we wash our lost and found items and give them to charity. We always check for identification labels and return them to the appropriate children first. Please remember that you can find our Lost and Found in the two wardrobe cabinets outside of the gym. Veltri’s Vision By: Marisa Veltri, Administrative Intern
It is hard to believe that we are about to enter a new year…2015! I would like to extend a warm holiday greeting to all of our Mill Run families. I hope that all of you will have the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends this holiday season. Please remember to continue looking inside of your child(s) yellow Thursday folder, as well as checking the Calendar of Events on Mill Run’s webpage for more information. Staying connected is a very important part of your child(s) education! Thank you for being a part of that! I look forward to seeing all of you in the New Year. Season’s Greetings!
Sincerely,
Ma!sa
When Loudoun County experiences inclement weather conditions the safety of our students and staff is the most important consideration. In the event that weather or other reasons require either closing or delaying the opening of school, plan to receive up to the minute noti ication via e-mail, a cell phone call, or text message by registering with Loudoun Alert. You may register for this free service by accessing the LCPS Closings and Delays page via the “site shortcuts” pull down menu on the Mill Run home page. Parents have shared that often Loudoun Alert reported school closings before TV and radio stations began broadcasting the information. Please plan to use this valuable resource.
B - I - N - G - O !! Save the Date!
BINGO Night
Friday, January 9th (**Note: THIS IS A CHANGE IN DATE**)
Be on the lookout for detailed information coming home soon in your Thursday Folders. Library News
Birthday Book Club 2014-2015 We would like to thank the following students for dona ng a new book to the Mill Run Elementary library to celebrate a birthday. If you are interested in dona ng a Birthday Book, informa on can be found on the Library Web Page. November 2014 A Vandara…Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters December 2014 R. Ma as…My Li le Kay Learns the Golden Rule Z. Fisher…I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters J. Baker…Green Glass House J. Baker…Beast Quest: Vedra and Krimon the Twin Dragons J. Baker…The Mischevians J. Baker… Beast Quest: Spiros the host Phoenix
Library News
Thank you for suppor ng our Scholas c Book Fair. Our book fair profits become Scholas c Dollars which support our school-wide “Free” Book Fair which is scheduled for April 2015. Each student will choose one free book to keep. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped make the book fair possible. Mrs. Cook and I really appreciate your help. January 2015 will be our Book Swap. Each student will choose a gently used book during scheduled library class during the month of January. If you have gently used books suitable for students in grades kindergarten through fi h, please consider dona ng them to our 2nd Annual Book Swap.
Movie Night This Friday, December 5th! Featuring: The Lego Movie & Monsters University Bring your pillows and blankets and join us for some family fun! Doors open at 6:30 and the movies start at 7pm. As always, this event is free to attend but bring your appetites because pizza, snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. We look forward to seeing you at the movies! Counselor’s Corner
The “Character Word” for the month of December is Compassion. Guidance lessons in the classroom will focus on Compassion in the three major developmental skill areas: academic, social and career. We want to encourage group and individual responsibility for demonstrating Compassion. Academically, students will understand how being considerate, courteous and helpful benefits all in the classroom. Socially, the students will understand the concept of Compassion as it applies to friendships and putting kindness into action. Career objectives include applying the concept of Compassion to listen to all and working cooperatively to meet goals and as a component of being a responsible citizen. Please ask your children to tell you about what they learned in their guidance lesson.
The December Mountain Lion’s Pride Citizenship Breakfast will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd. A gentle reminder to parents, if you are unable to attend the Mountain Lion’s Pride breakfast when your child is receiving a reward, please let the guidance counselors and/or the classroom teacher know.
We would like to take this opportunity to give a special THANK YOU to all of the families, Girl Scouts and Daisy Troop who have donated to the Friday Backpack Program and to those that very generously provided full Thanksgiving Dinners to 8 of our families. Your kindness and compassion for others in our community is what makes Mill Run such a special place for all. In October we also held our Annual Holiday Food Drive, classrooms collected over 75 boxes of non-perishable food items which were donated to both Loudoun Interfaith and LINK. Thank You for you continued commitment and generosity to helping others in need.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ALERT: Parents need to be looking for Middle School Information to start coming home in January which will include Parent Information Night, Band Instrument Night and Course Selections. Please feel free to contact your grade-level counselor at any time with your questions or concerns so that we may discuss them with you. It is our pleasure to be able to provide support and information to the students and families of Mill Run. Sara Millikin (K-2) Michele Kovach (3-5)
THANK YOU!! The Care & Share Committee sends a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make the 'Soup & Salad Teacher Luncheon' a huge success on 11/18. We had great participation from our wonderful volunteers, and the teachers really appreciated everything. Thank you for your generous (and delicious) donations! Next on the Care & Share calendar is our 'Teacher Breakfast' on December 18th. Please be on the lookout for the SignUp Genius for volunteer food items. If you would like to be on the volunteer email list for the Care & Share events, please send your name and email address to [email protected]. We couldn't do it without all our generous volunteers! PTO NEWS
November came and went in a flash and here we are bundled up for winter. It was a fantastic month! Our Run for Fun was a great success. Thank you to Sunny Trippel and Katie Herbert for your work on this wonderful project. We are grateful to everyone who brought in coins, bought bracelets, and came out for the run. Your efforts are going a long way for families right here at Mill Run. The PTO hosted a delicious Soup and Salad luncheon for our staff during American Education week. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this effort and to our awesome Care and Share committee for bringing it all together. There were so many wonderful soups! We hope everyone enjoyed American Education Week. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped with the book fair and Turkey Feast day. We couldn’t do it without you! December brings some favorite PTO events. Movie night is Friday, December 5th. Our featured movie is “Lego Movie” and our G rated option is “Monster’s University.” Admission is free we’ll have some great snacks so don’t miss out on this fun family evening. Donuts with Dad will be on Friday morning, December 12. Get your orders in now for your donuts. We invite everyone to come to the monthly PTO meeting on December 9 to hear special guest, Suzanne Ortmann speak. She is Mill Run’s Green Kids representative and will be discussing the program and some of the lessons happening in classrooms. The PTO gift card fundraiser is going on now. Hurry and get your orders in by Dec 4th. Gift card pick-up will be December 17th. More details to come in Thursday folders. I would like to remind all parents of our free money programs and how important these are to our fundraising efforts. As you embark on holiday shopping, don’t forget to use the Amazon link on the front page of the Mill Run website. By accessing Amazon through this portal every time you shop, Mill Run receives up to 7% back on your purchases. Don’t forget to relink your Harris Teeter and Giant shoppers cards. And keep sending in the pink Box Tops. Last year, we raised over $9000 through these free money programs. Thank you for your help in making these programs continue to contribute to our school. The PTO has a few open positions and we’re here to help you find a way to get involved. We are currently seeking 2 volunteers to attend the monthly LEAP (Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents) meetings at the Loudoun County Admin building and bring the information back to us. For more information, check the Loudoun County Education website and feel free to email me. If you’re wondering how to find out about volunteering at a PTO event, you can contact Christine Andretta, our volunteer coordinator. Our contact information can be found on the PTO tab of the Mill Run website. Best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday season! Kristy McGehee PTO President
Be the change you want to see in the world. -Gandhi Breaking Box Tops News!!!
Thank you to all who sent in box tops during the month of October. Mill Run collected 2,236 box tops, bringing in $223.60 for the school. Here are our monthly winners:
1st Place = Colbert (367) 2nd Place = Hoyler (289) 3rd Place = Wojick (229)
* Please ensure that Box Tops have not expired prior to submitting to your teacher!
Visit http://www.boxtops4education.com for more information. Contact Kim Miller [email protected] with any questions!
Mill Run Spirit Store Hours: Every Thursday Morning, 7:35-7:50am
Assorted Pencils: $ .50 Paw Clip Bookmarks: $.50 MRE Swirl Eraser: $.50 Paw Pride Ruler: $1.00 Halloween Pens: $1.00 Pencil Sharpeners: $.25 Paw Pride Car Magnet $5.00
The Spirit Store is run by parent volunteers. Children of our volunteers are welcome to help also! If you are interested, please contact Julia Boland. Contact: Julia Boland [email protected] with any questions.
Absentee Phone Line If your child is absent for any reason, please make sure to call the Mill Run Absentee Phone Line, (571) 252-2162, on the day or days your child is not in school. When possible, we would like to receive your call before our work day begins at 7:30 am. Also, please call the absentee number if your child will be tardy that day to prevent a phone call having to be made home. The absentee phone line is available for your use 24 hours a day, everyday. You can also save time and email us about your child’s absence - [email protected] Follow us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/MillRunPTO MILL RUN PTO 2014-2015 CULTUR AL ART S PROGRAM Adventures In Folklore Friday – December 12, 2014 1 show for grades 1- 3, 8:30am Enjoy multi-cultural tales hosted by Rowby, a friendly green alien who loves sharing stories he collects from Planet Earth. Each show includes four stories:
• Jack and the Beanstalk: a Celtic rendition, with music and narration by world-renowned harpist Robin Williamson • Dogs and Masters: a romp through the parks of Paris with animated cut-outs and music • Kamala's Drum: a Himalayan folk tale about the spirit of generosity • The Three Little Pigs: a fast-paced, rap version of the popular tale
Puppetry is the art of transforming inanimate objects into believable characters. There are many different kinds of puppets that are usually distinguished by how they are manipulated. In this show we are using primarily hand puppets, but there are some rod puppets such as the two - dimensional ones used in DOGS and the monkey in THE DRUM. Games From Around The World Tuesday – January 20, 2015 (3 shows, all grades 8:30, 9:45, 11:45) World Class children's educator and entertainer Greg Kaler has just returned from a five-month stint of performing school shows across the globe! Greg has brought back some games he learned from the countries where he performed, which he is incorporating into this year’s school assembly. His new show is both fun and educational, and involves many students from the audience. There is an important message in the program as well: the importance of cooperation, if you try your best, you are a winner and if you had fun, you won! The games and activities showcased in the program are from China, Viet Nam, England, Africa, Australia and a new game from America. China...... Taijai Rouliqiu Ball, Flower Sticks and RibbonTwirling Viet Nam...... Jianzi or Da Cau (the national sport) England ...... Shuttleball Africa ...... The Diabolo Australia ...... Boomerangs There are other games and surprises along the way, plus catchy music with each activity. To finish the show Greg offers an activity to everyone who would like to participate! Both students and teachers alike will leave the performance area inspired, entertained, educated, and wishing for more!
If I Ran The Show Monday – March 2, 2015 (3 shows, all grades 8:30, 9:45, 11:45) The new assembly is a play on the titles If I Ran the Circus & If I Ran The Zoo. Books that are expected to be in the show include; The Sneetches, Oh, The Places You’ll Go, Scrambled Eggs Super, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, and Yertle The Turtle. These are subject to change of course. The assembly runs 40-45 minutes and is suited to elementary school aged children and teachers. Dean Alan uses magic, music, audience participation and other theatrical hi-jinx to bring the books and characters of Dr. Seuss alive. Plus he shares many interesting facts about the how the various stories were created. All in all, it’s a fantastic assembly to get every charged up about reading! PTO Meetings for the School Year December 9th January 13th February 10th March 10th April 14th May 12th
Meetings are held on Tuesdays at 2:45 p.m. in the library at Mill Run.
All are welcome, including children! We encourage your participation and feedback.
If due to a disability, you need assistance to enable you to meaningfully participate in any activities listed in this newsletter, please contact Mr. Vickers in the Mill Run office at (571) 252-2160 at least five working days prior to the event. if the event is not at Mill Run, he will direct you to the appropriate resource.
Mill Run Elementary is dedicated to continuous school improvement. A formal School Improvement Plan has been developed by staff, parents, and community members. The plan is reviewed on an ongoing basis. A copy is available in the school office and the school library. You may also call us at (571) 252-2160 to have a copy sent home with your child. We welcome your input!
MILL RUN SCHOOL MOTTO Today... I will do more than I have to, I will treat others as I want to be treated, And I will try to become a better person.
MANY THANKS TO OUR COMMUNITY SPONSORS!