Turrill Family Newsletter
August 4, 2023
A Message from the Principal
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 a fantastic year together.
Warmly,
Kelly Vangel
Principal, Turrill Elementary
Mark Your Calendars
Important Upcoming Dates
- Wednesday, 8/9 Lapeer Career Fair @ 1:00-6:00 (Lapeer Administration & Service Center)
- Friday, 8/11 Popcorn Day
- Monday, 8/14 Fall Fundraiser packets go home
- Wednesday, 8/23 No school
- Thursday, 8/24 No school
- Friday, 8/25 No school
Important Information
From our Food Service Department
While universal free lunch is being offered this year, we would still like our families to fill out Free & Reduced Lunch forms. 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.
Transportation Deviations
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.
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
School-Home Literacy Partnership
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.
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.
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
Meet the Coaches
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 left her classroom last year to become the LCS District New Teacher Coach, working only with our newest teachers in the district. Mrs. Christian is also an Interventionist in our building.
Please look for more information brought to you by the coaches this year :)
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!