Midway Mustang Memo
September 2020
Mustang Families
Dear Parents and Families,
We hope everyone had a safe and restful Fall Break. We can’t believe we are already moving into October. Thank you to all families that participated in our Virtual Curriculum Nights on September 9th & 10th. Students have been learning about Habit #1--“Being Proactive.” As we help our students learn about this important life skill, we want them to understand we are responsible for our words, actions, and attitudes. We do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is looking. We take ownership of our mistakes. Continue to think about ways you can help your child to develop characteristics of “Being Proactive” at home. In October, we will be working on Habit #2 –“Beginning with the End in Mind.”
We would like to congratulate Ms. Molly Asp who will represent Midway Elementary as our Teacher of the Year! We are extremely proud of our teachers who are passionate about learning and are dedicated to our students.
Mary Pope Osborne says, “Reading is a passport to countless adventures.” As we visit classrooms each day, we love seeing students read various genres of books. We celebrate the growth of our students as they continue to record steps in their Reading Logs. Please remember to visit the Midway Lending Library at the front doors of the school. We encourage students to take a book of interest as well as leave another to share with community members. As you read with your child at home, please find this helpful article from the Reading Is Fundamental Organization to support literacy in new and creative ways.
Our Midway Community is so generous and thoughtful. We are grateful for several members who have helped during the start up of this new school year. These donations support both our students and staff at Midway. Thank you to parents, Brandy Hoffmeister and Kimberly Meiss, for donating masks – a gift from the heart. Thank you to First Redeemer Church, Walmart, and Titan Investigative Alliance for donating backpacks, school supplies, hand sanitizer, and treats. Also, many thanks to several of our virtual students and their families for donating hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, and wipes as well as creating safety posters about hand-washing.
We are excited to have added additional Water Bottle Filler Stations throughout the building this year. Modern Woodmen of America and our Midway PTO helped us get our first refill station installed in our Café last spring. Recently, the school was able to purchase two additional refill stations for the front hallway in our upper building and for the lower building. When students refill their water bottles, each station actually keeps track of the number of plastic water bottles that would normally be filling up local landfills. Students are learning about their positive impact on the environment, how they can be good stewards of the community, and are also demonstrating “Being Proactive.”
On October 22nd & 23rd, we will have Early Release days for students. These days are set aside for parent/student/teacher conferences. More information will be forthcoming from your child’s teacher.
With warm regards,
Jan Munroe
Daphne Rogers
Jennifer Brown
Important Dates
October 8th and 14th: Picture Day
Face to face students-October 8th
Virtual students-October 8th & October 14th
October 12th- 25th: Virtual Book Fair
October 22nd and 23rd: Early Release/Parent Teacher Conferences
November 3rd: No School
Backpack Donations
Thank you to First Redeemer Church, Walmart, and Titan Investigative Alliance for donating backpacks, school supplies, hand sanitizer, and treats.
Thank you!
Ms. Asp, Midway's Teacher of the Year
Mask Donations
Masks from The Miess Family & Hoffmeister Family
Mask Donations
Masks from The Miess Family & Hoffmeister Family
Supplies and Poster
Counselor's Corner
Social and Emotional Wellness (SEL) are extremely important to a child’s development and growth. There are several ways you can work on this at home with your child. Here are a few suggestions:
· Help your child label their emotions.
· Develop a daily schedule or chore chart for your child.
· Set small goals as a family to help them learn the process of attaining a goal for themselves.
· Teach your child how to give and receive compliments.
· Make lists of pros and cons with your child when planning.
· Model how to get the help you need.
· Discuss “the why” behind decision with your child. This teaches them about morals and ethics within your family.
· Talk about why something might not be safe to do or see.
Take a moment and pick one of two of these skills to work on with your child. They will help your child with their interactions with others and success as an adult.
As always, please feel free to contact one of us for more information.
Dr. Collins and Ms. Driscoll
Holiday House
The holiday season will be here soon! In Forsyth County, we have a tradition of working together to take care of those in our community. Six years ago, a partnership between the local businesses, nonprofit agencies, faith community, and the school system resulted in the The Place Holiday House program.
This year due to Covid the The Place Holiday House format will be a little different. Instead of parents shopping for gifts for their children, we will ask for a wish list for each child and have our volunteers bag the gifts. Once gifts are ready, parents will receive a text message on where and when to pickup toys. We hope to provide assistance to families again this year with the generous support of our faith, business, and school communities.
See attachments for more information.
News from Nurse Berry
Thank you to all the parents who have supplied paperwork regarding their child’s health condition, and medication if applicable. If your child has a health condition and you need an action plan please let me know. As a reminder, you can always keep medication in the clinic to help your child be more comfortable at school, things like Tylenol and cough drops can help avoid telephone calls home. However, only parents can bring medication to the clinic, children cannot carry medicine to school.
If your child was a new student this year and you were unable to have the 3300 form (Vision/hearing/dental/bmi form) completed at that time of registration, I will need to the form completed and turned in no later than 11/05/20220. If you have any questions regarding the form, please contact me via email or call me.
Encourage your students to build healthy habits by eating well, sleeping enough and washing hands frequently to avoid getting sick. With Covid 19 this year it is even more important to obtain the flu shot for your child. The flu shot are available now thru most primary care doctors.!! There will still be the annual community annual flu clinic held at Browns Bridge Chruch in October, more information will follow. . As always, if your child has a communicable disease, please notify the teacher and nurse.
Visit the Midway Elementary website, click Student Services then School Nurse for useful information about illness, Covid 19, and school health policies.
News from Midway PTO
Greetings Midway Students and Families -
Our Membership Drive is in full swing. Please consider joining your Midway PTO if you haven’t done so already. Thanks to all those who have joined! Our membership drive goal is to raise $15,000 before the Thanksgiving Break. If about half of our families join, we’ll meet that goal. Other ways to help are purchasing spirit wear.
Spirit Wear -
We have also had new Midway Shirts made so our children can show their Midway Spirit! Pictures of the available shirts are below. Each shirt is $15.
Please indicate your shirt and size preference, and make checks payable to Midway PTO. Checks can be placed in your child’s folder, dropped off at the front desk or mailed to the school (to the attention of Midway PTO). Limited sizes are available (Youth Extra Small, Youth Small, Youth Medium, Youth Large and Youth Extra Large), so get your order in quickly to ensure your first choice!
We also have a few awesome Midway Tumblers left for $20 each.
Finally, we are seeking to grow our PTO Board and Committee Chairs. To learn more about who we are and what we do, please visit midwaypto.org. If you are interested in learning more, please send us an email at MidwaySchoolPTO@gmail.com
Thank you for your continued support!
Midway Tumbler $20
Midway Tumblers $20
Shirts-$15
Shirts-$15
From the Midway Café
Happy Fall y’all! What a great start we’ve had to our school year! Things are different, but with change there’s always an opportunity for growth. We hope you’re experiencing good things as we all live out this adventure together.
Some of the change we’re experiencing here in the café is that our menu is a little more limited due to the guidelines and restrictions implemented to make sure everything is safe for our kiddos and because of availability in some instances. We’re serving each item in a wrapped or covered container and our students take meals back to class each day. Extra measures are being taken for sanitation and everyone wears a mask. Whatever it takes, that’s what we’ll do to keep our food safe for all!
If you haven’t heard, USDA has extended a waiver on behalf of school meals. From now until the end of December or until funds run out, each student (face to face & virtual) can receive a free breakfast and lunch if they would like it. Please see the attachment below for more info and especially note the pick-up sites for virtual student’s meals, as Midway is not one of those sites.
We are so excited to be here each day and each of you are in our thoughts and prayers. Stay safe and enjoy each day as it comes. Look for small blessings when things are tough, it’ll help get us all through.
Believing we’ll all be together again soon!
Chris Pruitt
Mustang Café Manager
Career Connections
Academics truly come to life when our Midway Mustangs are able to connect their academics to experts in the field! Please fill out information below in link if yourself, spouse, a family member, and/or friend is willing to connect w/ our classrooms virtually to share about their career field, expertise, and/or passions that they have.
Technology Information
Parents have an important role in online safely as well. At Forsyth County Schools, we value the rich learning experiences that technology brings to our classrooms. We believe that our students must be taught how to use online resources responsibly. With parents and guardians as our partners, we can help our students to gain skills, understanding, and mind-sets that will enable them to be responsible and safe in digital environments. Please follow this link for more information on how Forsyth County and parents can help their students stay safe in a digital world.
Use your student's log in information when looking at Itslearning. Parents can see the planner and other information.
Itslearning parent info guide
Please contact Jennifer Lundstrum if you have any other questions.
MyFCS CLASSLINK
MyOn
Dreambox
Book Fair is Coming!
October 4th-10th Fire Prevention Week
Kids learn best in a hands-on, interactive way. At Sparky.org, kids can find games, activities, and more to help them learn essential fire safety while playing games they will love.
General Reminders
We already have a growing collection of items in the lost and found. Please write your child's name inside their jackets, sweaters, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc!
REMIND
Get up to date info from Midway on your phone!
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 573 828 4436
Midway Elementary
School Handbook
Midway Elementary School
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
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.