Mighty McMillan Happenings...

Mrs. Schmitt's Blog

I update my blog on a regular basis, and include information that parents might find helpful.  Please check it out!

Kindergarten Round-Up

If you missed Kindergarten Round-Up on March 21, contact the office to register your child.

Click here for more details

Reading is the Key!

Thanks to Mrs. Lori Goryl and our dear Grandma Dorothy, as well as all of our wonderful volunteers, our Adopt-a-Reader program is in full swing at Mighty McMillan!  Our second through fourth grade students are each assigned a volunteer reader/mentor from now until May and meet for a half an hour a week to work on reading strategies specific to student needs.  Our kindergarteners had a special opportunity to read with an AaR volunteer on Thursday while a first and second grade class attended The Polar Express at our Rocket Center for the Performing Arts.

Below are a few snapshots.

Mrs. Mikesell's Students Cuddle with a Book

At Mighty McMillan, we love it when our students read at home.  Even twenty minutes an evening will make a huge difference in the lives of children.  We know that some parents have little extra time at night to sit down and read with their child.  Mrs. Mikesell cleaned her cupboards and found sets of books on tapes, along with players and head phones that she is loaning her students to encourage reading at home.  As an added bonus, she has given each of them a cuddly stuffed critter to sit and listen to stories too!  Thanks to Mrs. Mikesell for doing whatever it takes for our kids! 

Peer Assisted Learning Strategies

Our district has adopted a reading intervention, K-2, called Peer Assisted Learning Strategies, or PALS for short.  At Mighty McMillan, this has proven to make a huge difference, not only in reading comprehension and fluency, but also our children's learning to cooperate and be a good friend. In essence, the program pairs two students who are evenly matched in their reading skill.  They practice reading strategies together, listening to one another read and use encouraging words to motivate one another.  The program compliments the core reading program and teachers use it 3-4 times a week for about 35 minutes.  We love our PALS!  Recently, Mr. Grant's class completed the program and celebrated their reading successed by scrunching papers that they no longer needed.  The children were very proud of their achievements.

Going Green

In an effort to support our school-wide goal of "Going Green", we have made our school handbook and all of our permission slips and forms electronic.  The following information is for you to review with your child.  Please print and sign the Parent Permission Slip and return it to your child's classroom teacher.  If you cannot print the form, please stop in the school office and we will provide one for you.

Student Handbook - View and review with your child 

Emergency Procedure Card 

Student Study Trips 

Our Mighty McMillan Mission Statement:  "The school community, families and students are partners in building the foundation for students to become decision makers, independent thinkers, and life-long learners.   DREAM, BELIEVE.....ACHIEVE!!"

Information and options available to parents of students attending McMillan Elementary, a Title 1 school, regarding Adequate Yearly Progress may be found by clicking on this link. 

McMillan Elementary is a Preschool through 4th grade building with 300 students, located in a rural setting.  We constantly strive to help all students succeed, both in the classroom and the greater world. 

Our school community consists of families, staff, volunteers, and students.  We share the responsibility of helping all students become successful learners.  McMillan welcomes volunteers, and there are many ways to become involved including: parent/teacher conferences, PTO activities and fundraisers, volunteering in the classroom or field trips, attending family night activities, and volunteering as an Adopt-a-Reader. 

Check us out on Facebook! 

Mighty McMillan School Improvement Goals

Every Fall, after reviewing data from the previous year, our staff comes together to determine our School Improvement Goals for the year.   We have identifed three specific areas and have created S.M.A.R.T. goals.  Our goal for reading is to continue to see growth in the area of reading comprehension.  This includes having our children make connections to the text that they are reading, as well as being able to make inferences, or predictions based on what they have read.  In writing, we are working hard to help our students share details and examples and stay focued on the topic of writing.  In math, our students need a strong foundation in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

We can't do this alone!  With extra practice and support at home, our students will be able to achieve the goals that we have in place.  Please click on the following link for information on ways to help your child at home.     Dream, Believe, Achieve!!!   

http://www.fcrr.org/

Welcome to Mighty McMillan!

We are excited to announce the additon of several new staff to our building.   Mrs. Vandermeer and Mrs. Medema will be teaching our full day kindergarten.  Mrs. Shafer, who is moving from RPEL, will be teaching first grade and we have several new staff in our White Lake preschool programs.  In Lighthouse Learning (formerly Kids Stop) we have Miss Sarah and Miss Jessica.  In our morning Head Start preschool we have Miss Autumn and Miss Katie.  Finally, in our GSRP preschool, we welcome Miss Gina and Miss Erin.

We also have some changes.  Mr. Grant, formerly 1st grade, has moved with his students up to second.  Miss Jessica Raddatz, our ECSE preschool teacher, is now Mrs. Stout.  Congratulations! 

We would also like to congratulate our Speech Teacher Mrs. Symons and her husband for their new addition to their family.  Penelope June was born just after school let out in June.  She is a beautiful little baby girl and brings much joy to her proud parents.

How Are We Doing?

We enjoyed seeing so many families at our parent-teacher conferences last week.  When parents and teachers work together in the name of children, they will continue to be successful.

We want to know how you think we are doing.  Please follow the link below to an annonymous survey that will help us improve in our service to you.  It will take about five minutes to complete and the information will be invaluable.

Thanks for your time and putting the "mighty" into McMillan!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3VRGR7N

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