Turrill Family Newsletter

Dear Turrill Families,

It has been an absolute pleasure meeting you and your amazing children! We're off to a great start at Turrill and it's only going to get better. I am looking forward to our year together.

Warmly,

Kelly Vangel

Principal, Turrill Elementary

• Friday, 8/5 Bikes for Books Assembly
• Monday & Tuesday 8/8 & 8/9 Lapeer Health Department conducting annual hearing screenings for KDG, 2nd, & 4th graders
• Monday, 8/15 PTC fall fundraiser kicks off
• Friday, 8/19 Popcorn Day
• Wednesday, 8/24 No school
  
• Thursday, 8/25 No school
  
• Friday, 8/26 No school
  
• Monday, 8/29 Fall fundraiser orders dues
• Thursday, 9/1 PTC mtg @ 9:30

This year Lapeer Community Schools is unable to offer universal free lunches for all students due to lack of grant funds. Therefore, we need families to fill out the Free and Reduced school lunch form below. This form is used for our Title 1 Federal funding allocation. It is important to that we get as many families to fill it out as possible. Forms are confidential and you will find out your eligibility status quickly. Thank you for taking the time. Here is a link to fill it out online.

Free and Reduced Lunch Application

If you have a change in transportation for the end of the day, please contact the school prior to 3:00. This allows us time to get the messages to all the rooms.

Turrill has a large number of students who are car riders on a daily basis. If we all follow the car rider protocols and work together with patience, families will be able to move through the area more safely and efficiently.

Student Drop-off: Drop-off begins at 8:45. We have three points of entrance. Door 12 is the E-5, Kindergarten and 1st grade entrance. Main office is the 5th grade entrance and door 3 is the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade entrance. See Map below.

When dropping off your child/ren select the appropriate entrance. If you are dropping off more than one child, we suggest that you select one drop area and let all your children exit the vehicle at one spot. A red line is painted on the sidewalk for students’ safety. Students can exit their vehicles and walk behind the painted red line until they get to their particular entrance. Staff will encourage students to stay behind the red line but it’s always helpful to remind them of this before they exit your vehicle.

If you need to leave your vehicle please pull into one of the parking spaces. Do not leave your vehicle in the drop lane. This causes large back-ups and becomes a safety issue for students and parents.

If you park your car, please walk your child to the curb using one of the cross walks: We do not want students crossing the parking lot and car lanes unaccompanied by an adult.

Only use the lane closest to the curb for drop-off: Do not drop students off unless you are in the lane next to the curb.

There are two ways you can pick up your children. The first and probably the quickest is to park your car in one of the designated parking areas and walk up to entrance 12 using the crosswalk. At 3:50 we open door 12, and you are allowed to come in to the gym and pick up your children. A staff member will be there to check students out. Once you get your child/ren exit through door 12. Please use the crosswalk when returning to your vehicle.

The second way to pick up your child/ren is to wait in the pick-up line. Each car will get a sign to hang in your window identifying the last name of your student. Staff will call out the name in the gym and the student/s will come to your vehicle exiting out door 11. Please pull forward to the placed outlined on the map. This allows several students to be picked up at once.

Patience is the name of the game! Please show patience. We realize waiting in line can be frustrating at times but we will get quicker at dismissal as time progresses. Last year we averaged getting those who walked up to pick up their children in 5 minutes while it took about 12 minutes to get through the entire car queue.

Please move through the parking lot at a slow rate of speed: Regardless of all the protocols driving slow and alert is the best way to keep our students and parents safe.

Thank you again for all your support to make our drop-off and pick-up routines run smooth, safe and efficient for our students, families, and staff!!

Reading at home with your child is one of the single most important ways to support your child's academic growth. Look for ways to build a literacy partnership between Turrill and home here each month.

We're asking for your help with learning math facts this year. One of the biggest hurdles students can have in math achievement is not knowing basic math facts. Many students can solve elaborate equations and story problems, but can't do it efficiently because they don't know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts. It's not glamorous, but it takes memorizing those pesky facts until students know they quickly. (You know... like we had to do when we were in school)

So what can you do?

• Make memorizing fun and play a game with it, like Red Light, Green Light
• Create flashcards with math facts
• Download an app or find a math fact website
• Quiz each other with math facts
• Use manipulatives, like fingers, cubes, beans, sticks, etc.

For more information on math skills by age level, click here

We've wrapped up our Super Summer Success Reading Program - Oceans of Possibilities this week by raffling off six brand new bicycles donated by the Lapeer Masonic Temple No. 54 in conjunction with the Sisters and Brothers of I.C. Friendship No. 252, OES., the Masonic Charitable Foundation, and our own Lapeer Walmart. We'd like to thank everyone who participated in our summer reading program.

Check out these happy kids who won bikes at our assembly today:

• Charlotte Holton winner of bike #1
• Skylar Holbrook winner of bike #2
• Owen Van den Berg winner of bike #3
• Thomas Sibley winner of bike #4
• Greyson Goemaere winner of bike #5
• Kalen Ankley winner of bike #6

Calling all volunteers! Turrill has an amazing PTC that needs your help. Check out the newsletter below to find out more. Our first meeting is September 1st at 9:30 at Turrill. Hope to see you there!

Please make sure to fill out the LCS Volunteer Application below if you plan to volunteer in your child's classroom, attend parties, chaperone field trips, or volunteer in other capacities.

Each year we need to seek input on our Family Engagement Plan. Below is a link to our plan. Please take some time to review it. If you see anything that needs revision or have any recommendations please email me at kelly.vangel@lapeerschools.org .

Turrill Family Engagement Plan 2022-2023

LEAF, the Lapeer County Education Attainment Fund, is sponsoring a summer reading, math, & science incentive! Your kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grader will receive a $5 deposit incentive for competing and turning in the summer fun sheet below. Print, have fun, and return in the fall.

For more information on the LEAF program, please CLICK HERE.

Lapeer Community Schools has Learning Coaches at each building. At Turrill, we are lucky to have three - Mrs. Schuett, Mrs. Weidinger, and Mrs. Christian. Learning Coaches are important literacy leaders at each building. They are responsible for student literacy interventions, such as Reading Recovery, as well as coordinating family events, and working with teachers in the classroom. Mrs. Weidinger and Mrs. Schuett have been at Turrill for several years in the coaching role while Mrs. Christian recently left her classroom to become the LCS District New Teacher Coach, working only with our newest teachers in the district.

Please look for more information brought to you by the coaches this year :)

8:00 Office Opens

8:45 Student Drop off Begins

8:50 Students Allowed to Rooms

8:54 Classes Begin

2022-2023 Recess Schedule:

11:15-11:45 E5/KDG - 1st Grade

11:45-12:15 2nd - 3rd Grade, 2/3 Split, and CI Classrooms

12:15-12:45 4th - 5th Grade

2022-2023 Lunch Schedule:

11:45-12:05 E5/KDG - 1st Grade

12:15-12:35 2nd, 2/3 Split, 3rd Grade, and CI Classrooms

12:45-1:05 E5-4th - 5th Grade

3:50 Dismissal

4:30 Office Closes

As in years past, we plan on offering programs during our intersession weeks. More information will be coming out shortly regarding the programming and intersession themes. The dates for intersession are as follows:

1st Intersession: October 24-28

2nd Intersession: February 13-17

3rd Intersession: March 20-24

Email: kelly.vangel@lapeerschools.org
Website: http://turrill.lapeerschools.org/
Location: 785 S Elm St, Lapeer, MI 48446
Phone: (810) 667-2438
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Turrill-Elementary-1415374235385217/

Mission: We will use our talents and compassion to educate our students in order to create a world in which all children embrace the journey of learning.

Turrill Vision: We are a kind family built on trust.

Turrill Motto: Better together!