Midway Mustang Memo
February 2020
Dear Parents
The month of February was full of activities and learning! Our Oratorical Contest took place on February 12th, and our participants were amazing! After composing an essay on “Imagine a World Without Boundaries,” our students demonstrated effective communication skills through the delivery of their speeches. Congratulations to Quinn Prater, our Midway representative, who will participate in the district Oratorical Competition on February 25th. Good luck, Quinn!
On February 13th, at our E.L.M. (Extraordinary Leadership Models) Awards ceremony, we celebrated Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. Students received certificates and brag tags for their listening skills and their ability to show empathy.
Later in the month, fathers were dressed in fine attire and daughters looked lovely at the “Sweet Moments” Dance on February 22nd. Thank you to our P.T.O. (especially Kelly Strayer!) for organizing, decorating, and serving at this special event. Denmark High School students were also volunteering their help.
As we continue to recognize joyful readers, Kindergartners who meet their goals in reading steps (30 minutes a day) are recognized on the morning news show. We are excited for these readers as they are building lifelong habits and a love of reading! Be sure to come and check out the Book Fair which begins Monday, March 2nd.
As we continue working with our students on two important Social Emotional Learning competencies, self-awareness and self-monitoring, students set goals and monitor the progress they have made toward achieving their goals. Our spring ASLT (Academic Student Led Team) meetings will be on Monday, March 9th (Kindergarten and First Grade), Tuesday, March 10th (2nd and 3rd Grades), and Wednesday, March 11th (4th and 5th grades). We look forward to seeing you there!
Please be sure to notice our new water bottle filler mounted to the water cooler in the cafeteria. Kudos to Mrs. Shelnutt’s class who initiated the purchase and installation of this device to encourage hydration and good health, as well as to protect our environment and limit the amount of plastic waste that ends up in our oceans. Many thanks to Modern American Woodsmen Financial and our very own P.T.O. for partnering with us and providing the funds to make this project come to fruition.
We are off to a great start with Passion Mondays at Midway! Students are exploring their passions once a month at Midway. Please ask your child what passion group they are in at Midway and what they are doing. We have special guests supporting the Passion Mondays such as students from Denmark, representative from FurKids shelters and a sports broadcaster for UGA.
Safety is extremely important to us. If your child is a car rider, please follow the guidelines of drop-off in the mornings. Highway 9 is a busy road and it is not safe to walk along this route or to cross the bus entrance.
With kind regards,
Jan Munroe, Principal
Daphne Rogers, Assistant Principal
Greg Walkup, Administrative Assistant
Jennifer Brown, Administrative Assistant
Important Dates
February 25th: Family Connect Night-no homework/no studying
March 2-5th: Book Fair
March 9th: ASLT Parent Night for K and 1st 6pm
March 10th: ASLT Parent Night for 2nd and 3rd 6pm
March 11th: ASLT Parent Night for 4th and 5th 6pm
March 12th: Early Release for Parent Conferences
March 13th: No School
March 21st: Mother Son PTO event 6pm
April 6-10: No School -- Spring Break
Midway PTO
Greetings from Midway PTO!
We hope you all had a nice winter break, and we hope you were able to join us for the always-awesome Father-Daughter Dance! Good times were had by all! Check out the pictures from the dance.
As always, we thank you for your continued support. Your financial contributions are allowing the PTO to purchase items that enrich every child’s educational experience at Midway. The new playground equipment is in, and kids are loving it! We are now saving for a third panel, this one being a “memory challenge” themed game. The new panel will be added to the two that were just installed.
Bingo Night was an overwhelming success, and excess proceeds from that event will be put towards the third playground panel and other school initiatives. One of Principal Munroe’s main initiatives is literacy, and a key component of that is having enough books for our students to read. Your book contributions at Bingo Night totaled more than 200! THANK YOU!!!
The Mother/Son event is coming up on Saturday, March 21st. It will start at 6:00 PM in the Midway cafeteria. Look for the flyer in your child’s folder coming home soon. Lab Coat Kids will be performing a science show, and yummy pizza, drinks and snacks will be served. Don’t miss this awesome event!
Finally, please keep April 25th open for the Mustang Trot 5K. More information to come!
Thank you, Midway Families for helping your PTO to offer so much for our Midway Students already this year. We look forward to continued and even greater partnership and success in the months to come! If you’d like a detailed list of everything we’ve accomplished so far this year, please don’t hesitate to email us at: midwayschoolpto@gmail.com
Book Fair
Our Spring Book Fair will begin sales on Tuesday March 2nd and go through March 5th from 7:30-4:30 each day. We are always looking for volunteers, especially for our preview day on February 28th and early in the mornings on each day of Book Fair Sales. Please add your name to the Google Doc if you can volunteer.
Counselor's Corner
Getting assigned reading and projects done can sometimes be a difficult time for a family. Here are some tips when working with your child. Have a scheduled time that your child will work on reading. If they become frustrated or overwhelmed let them take a break for 5-10 minutes and then return to their reading or project. Use a timer for students who have trouble focusing or take too long.
Set up an area for reading that is quiet and has few distractions. A couple of ideas are the kitchen table or bedroom. Make sure there aren’t any distractions like the TV, computer, or radio and that they have the materials they need readily available.
It’s also important to balance family time with academics and technology. Midway Elementary will have their very first Family Connect Night on Tuesday, February 25th. There will be No homework and No Studying assigned this evening! We hope students and their families’ use our Family Connect Nights as a time to reconnect with one another. We encourage you to set aside technology on these evenings and enjoy some fun family time together. Please share pictures of your family playing games, etc. by using the hashtag #MidwayReads and #OneMidway
For more information, please do not hesitate to call or email us.
Dr. Collins and Ms. Driscoll
School Counselors
News from Nurse Monahan
Tips Regarding Clothing
Dress appropriately. Weather changes can vary so much, even in the same day. Layering is best!
Please take the time to label all coats, hats, scarves and gloves with your child’s first and last name.
Pack your child a spare set of clothing. Lunchtime spills and muddy falls are common. The clinic relies on donations and sometimes inventory is low.
Tips for Staying Healthy
Keep hydrated, get a good night sleep, eat healthy foods, practice good hygiene and keep hands clean.
Don’t forget to keep your mind and body healthy too. Your physical and emotional health can benefit from a walk outdoors not to mention a great opportunity to connect with your student.
Remember that all medications (even over the counter) must be brought to the clinic by a parent. Students are not allowed to carry medication.
Please visit the school nurse website by clicking on Midway’s homepage under student services. There are great resources about sickness and our school policy which follows CDC and CHOA guidelines. We appreciate your cooperation in adhering to our illness policy.
From the Midway Café
As we come to the end of February, I hope this finds you well. It’s been a shorter school month with lots of rain, lots of sickness around, yet we still had some fun here in the Mustang Café! We celebrated Valentine’s Day sprinkling love & kindness everywhere, along with important heart-healthy nutrition education facts. I believe it’s been truly was a fabulous February. We also focused on nutrition about spinach & cauliflower as they were our Harvests of the Month.
As we look ahead into March, we’ll be celebrating National School Breakfast Week March 2nd - 6th . This coincides with our Book Fair, so if you bring your child in the morning before school, make time for breakfast with us! We serve up nice warm breakfasts each morning with several choices. We have yummy chocolate muffin tops w/yogurt & on Mondays & Thursdays-these are the kiddos favorites! Other days we have fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, honey buns, maple-mini pancakes, dutch waffles, scrambled eggs, and every day we have a chicken croissant or biscuit and cereal meals. It only costs $1.50 which includes the entrée and 2 sides (choices of fruits & juices) and a milk. We serve breakfast each morning from 7:50 – 8:20am. Also, during that week, we’ll have gift card drawings each day, just to celebrate. Students are entered into the drawing just for having breakfast with us. We’d love to see you there! (Adult meals are $2.10)
Looking forward to March, our Harvests of the Month are kale and carrots. These are part of our menus and served on a regular basis. Each are packed with vitamins & nutrients we need. Fresh mini carrots are one of the favorite sides around here & they’re offered almost every week, with kale & craisin side salads on the menu at least once per month.
We hope to see you soon, and as always please contact me if I can be of any assistance. Your student’s smiling faces truly are the best part of our day!
Have a Marvelous March,
Chris Pruitt
Manager, Mustang Café
Fun things to look for in March:
NSBW – Theme “School Breakfast, Out of this World!” March 2nd – 6th
Dr. Seuss Birthday Party – March 2nd
St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th
REMIND
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Want to be the first to know about school notices & reminders? You can receive a text message right on your phone by texting @midwayfam to the number 81010.
#MidwayReads
School Handbook
Forsyth County Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, or gender in employment decisions or educational programs and activities.
Midway Elementary School
#MidwayReads
Email: jlundstrum@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Website: www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/midway
Location: 4805 Atlanta Highway, Alpharetta, GA, United States
Phone: 770-475-6670
Facebook: facebook.com/midwayes
Twitter: @MidwayES