Turrill Family Newsletter
September 4, 2023
A Message from the Principal
Dear Turrill Families,
Can you believe we've been in school for almost 7 weeks now? Time is flying! As we enter into the fall season, take the time to enjoy the leaves changing, football games, and family time together. Like the leaves, your children are changing each day, becoming more brilliant and unique. Fall field trips are being planned, parent teacher conferences are on the horizon, and everything will be flavored with pumpkin spice soon :) Just like us, everything in fall is #BetterTogether
Warmly,
Kelly Vangel
Mark Your Calendars
Important Upcoming Dates
- 9/1 & 9/4 NO school
- 9/5 & 9/6 5th grade band begins (Tuesdays & Wednesdays)
- 9/11 School Picture Day in the morning
- 9/14 PTC Meeting 9:30
- 9/18 & 9/20 Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:30
- 9/22 & 9/25 NO school
Important Information
From our Food Service Department
Dear Families,
We're SO excited to provide free breakfast and lunch to our students this year; however, we need your help. We are asking ALL families to complete the Free and Reduced Lunch Forms (YES, even though everyone is free this year). Filling out the form is quick and easy. Simply follow this link ( lapeer.familyportal.cloud ) to get started. If you would like to know why these forms are so vital to our school, please read below.
Warmly,
Kelly Vangel
The Free and Reduced Application has changed to the Application for Summer EBT and Education Benefits
The Application for Summer EBT and Education Benefits with the Michigan School Meals Program collects information needed to ensure the school receives state and federal funding for education programs. Without this information, LCS could lose important state funding for educational programs that our students are entitled to. These supplemental grants and programs have the potential to offer supports and services for our students including, but not limited to:
- Title I A, Title II A, At-risk (31a), E-Rate, etc.
- Teaching supplies and materials
- Professional Learning for staff
- Parent and Community engagement supplies and activities
- Technology
Why is LCS requesting financial information?
The School Meals and Summer EBT Application determines eligibility of a student or household. The total count of eligible students is used to determine the funding amounts that will be made available to a school. The more forms returned the better.
What do I need to do? Please visit lapeer.familyportal.cloud to complete an application online. Your assistance in helping us maintain our current funding levels is appreciated.
What else might my student or household be eligible for? Based on the information you gave on your School Meals and Summer EBT Application, your child may qualify for other programs such as:
- Summer EBT
- Pay to play or Pay to Participate
- Potential household support for cable and internet
- Test Fees
If a paper copy or help is needed to complete the form, please contact Chell Alvis @ (810) 538-1648.
Sincerely,
Your Food and Nutrition Team Joanne VanHouten
Tabetha Siegler
Chell Alvis
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences will be Monday, September 18th and Wednesday, September 20 from 4:00-7:30. As in years past, we will be offering two options for conferences: ZOOM or face-to-face. Be on the lookout for a Sign-Up Genius later this week to register for a 10-15 minute conference time with your child's teacher.
How to Establish Home Routines with Adam Saenz
Disruption and significant change in a child’s life can lead to learning setbacks. We may not think of something as ordinary as consistent meals and bedtimes as being important in the life of a child, but the truth is that consistency in daily life routines goes a long way to helping a child feel safe, and when children feel safe, they are in the best place to learn—both at home and at school.
Please see the invitation below to attend a short, but highly-relevant webinar with Dr. Adam Saenz aimed at helping parents establish routines at home:
You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Sep 14, 2023 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Dr. Adam Sáenz: How to Establish Routines at Home
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89047456047?pwd=ak1xRDQxMmM2ZmtpR1kyR3JBK3Y3QT09
Passcode: k3UZpW
IDs Please
Please remember to always bring identification when picking up your child and let all people listed on your child's contact list know to do this as well. Even though we may know who you are, there are times when we have a substitute in the office who will ask everyone to show their ID prior to releasing students.
West Genesee Street Water Main Project
Please be advised that West Genesee Street will be closed and may cause late buses. Please see the following important information regarding bus transportation: https://tinyurl.com/5ct3yh9c
Student Transportation Reminders
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 2nd/3rd grade entrance and door 3 is the 4th/5th 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.
Student Pick-Up Reminders
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. For the safety of our students, parents who enter the building to pick up their child/ren in the cafeteria at the end of the day will be asked to produce a photo ID if our staff does not recognize you. 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!!
Multi-Purpose Addition Construction Beginning Soon
Multi-Purpose Addition Construction Beginning Soon
Construction on Turrill's new multi-purpose room will begin soon. The multi-purpose room will be located behind the cafeteria, taking up some of our playground space. During construction, which will last throughout the 23-24 school year, the construction site will be fenced off to keep our students, staff, and families safe. You will notice that some of our fence line along the main parking lot will also be utilized as a construction entrance. While we hope that this construction won't impact our daily school lives, we are asking for extra patience as we travel on this new adventure together.
For more information regarding LCS Bond projects, click here.
Building Positive Behavior with Positivity Project
I am beyond excited to announce that we are partnering with The Positivity Project at Turrill this year for character trait building. The Positivity Project is currently used at both Rolland Warner and Zemmer campuses, as well as Schickler for 2023-2024. Expenses for this amazing program were covered through scholarship from The Positivity Project and by our own Turrill PTC. To learn more about The Positivity Project, click here to watch Of This, I'm Positive, as well as The Positivity Project's Founding Story
Academics
Parent’s Read-At-Home Plan for Student Success
Be on the lookout for September Reading Logs! Students have a goal of reading at home for at least 20 minutes every day and completing a reading log throughout the month.
Reading with your child is a proven way to promote early literacy. One of the most important things you can do to prepare your child for his/her future is helping to make sure that your child is reading at grade level by third grade. You can influence your child’s success in school by making reading a daily routine in your home. Research shows that students who read at least 20 minutes per day score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests. Do you want to help your child to be successful in school? They simply need to read.
WHAT CAN I DO TO SUPPORT MY CHILD? Read at home with your child daily (at least 20 minutes) with books they enjoy.
Some ways to do this:
- Read out loud to your child.
- Listen to your child read.
- Echo read (you read a line, then they repeat).
- Read together at the same time.
- Reread or retell favorite stories.
- Talk to your child about the reading.
As you read:
- Ask your child to share what they remember.
- Ask questions about the reading.
- Talk about your favorite parts.
- Talk about what you have learned.
- Talk about how the pictures in the book connect to the words on the page.
- Help connect the reading to your child’s life or other books they’ve read.
Math Facts
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
Get Involved
PTC News
Calling all volunteers! Turrill has an amazing PTC that needs your help. Check out the newsletter below to find out more. Our next meeting is September 14th at 9:30 at Turrill or on Facebook Live. 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.
Turrill 2023-2024 Family Engagement Plan
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 .
LEAF Deposit Days
LEAF, the Lapeer County Education Attainment Fund, promotes fiscal responsibility in children and encourages them to save money for college. LEAF deposit days are listed below:
- November 9
- February 29
- April 18
- May 23
For more information on the LEAF program, please CLICK HERE.
Coaches' Corner
Reading Recovery
Lapeer Community Schools is a proud district that offers Reading Recovery services at each elementary building. Reading Recovery is a short-term tutoring intervention that provides one-on-one tutoring to first-grade students who are struggling in reading and writing. The goals of Reading Recovery include promoting literacy skills, reducing the number of students who are struggling to read, and preventing long-term reading difficulties. Reading Recovery supplements classroom teaching with tutoring sessions, generally conducted as pull-out sessions during the school day. Tutoring is delivered by trained Reading Recovery teachers in daily 30-minute sessions over the course of 12–20 weeks. Reading Recovery was developed in the 1970s by Marie Clay and is practiced all over the world.
At Turrill, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Weidinger, Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Grim, and Mrs. Schuett teach Reading Recovery lessons to some very lucky first graders. Mrs. Vangel is also a Reading Recovery teacher, but is not currently seeing students. To learn more about Reading Recovery, click here or have a chat with Mrs. Vangel.
Mrs. Schuett
Mrs. Christian
Mrs. Weidinger
Calendar & Daily Schedule
Bell Schedule:
8:00 Office Opens
8:45 Student Drop off Begins
8:50 Students Allowed to Rooms
8:54 Classes Begin
2023-2024 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
2023-2024 Lunch Schedule:
11:45-12:05 E5/KDG - 1st Grade
12:15-12:35 2nd, 3rd Grade, and CI Classrooms
12:45-1:05 E5-4th - 5th Grade
3:50 Dismissal
4:30 Office Closes
School Intersessions
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 23-27
2nd Intersession: February 19-23
3rd Intersession: March 18-22
Turrill Elementary
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/
Turrill Motto: Better together!