Author: Van Am Gram

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Angel wings…

Full moon…allergy season…buckets of much-needed rain…indoor recess…football Friday on the cusp of the Autumnal Equinox…need we say more?!  🙂  It was a busy day filled with rally, Hans and Franz The POWER of Miller reminders (Do YOU have Miller POWER?!), older learners believe2assisting little learners, Panther football readers, and the announcement of our Yearbook and Student Honor Council staffs (more on these two groups in later blogs).  In the midst of the hustle and bustle, several friends stopped by to read poems or journal entries to me throughout the day (I enJOY this opportunity whenever I can grab it!).  One particular writer shared a personal story spiraling from a literature group discussion in class this week.  This young writer reflected on losing a sibling at a young age…”she’s my personal angel now and lightly flies around all day long looking after me…” (talk about profound, emotional statements).  This child’s message to take each day for the gift it is, to “lighten up” with others, and to show those random acts of kindness and compassion daily goes well beyond eight years of life so far.

I remember being told as a child, “The reason angels can fly is they take themselves so lightly.”  Here’s hoping we heed the lesson and all learn to take ourselves a little more lightly…and maybe we will earn those angel wings after all!  🙂

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A special tour…

IMG_3230The elementary princiPALs were treated this afternoon to a special tour of the new Midlothian Heritage High School by princiPAL, Krista Tipton.  This impressive learning environment of creative spaces and educational places for 21st century learners IMG_3233and leaders will open in August 2014.  Filled with innovative state-of-the-art features, the new school invites students from the moment you step inside the building.  Most impressive, though, is the extensive knowledge and obvious passion Mrs. Tipton conveys as she shares the planning and construction story of MHHS.

Heritage literally means “given or handed down from the past.”  It’s exciting to see strong MISD traditions being honored and cherished in a beautiful new educational setting.  Congratulations, Mrs. Tipton!

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Safety First!

Learners and classroom leaders alike deserve a safe, safetypiccaring learning environment; it is critical to personal excellence and success daily.  Likewise, good communication and collaboration build trust in our learning community.  As expected, throughout the year our school will be involved in ongoing crisis response drills and training.  We practice three important responses:

  • Evacuation:  Probably known to you and me as a fire drill, everyone is evacuated from the building to an on-site area or off-site area for direction.  We practice these drills monthly and work each time to safely increase our speed of exit.
  • Shelter-in-Place:  Similar to a “soft” lockdown, everyone comes inside (including anyone in our car lines).  We bring upstairs classrooms to downstairs classrooms to stay-put inside the building until danger has passed.
  • Lockdown:  Everyone locks into their areas; immediate hallway/bathroom areas are swept.  No one goes in or out of our building until directed by law enforcement.

All three drills are rehearsed and various scenarios presented at times to help students and staff members become stronger problem solvers in response to a crisis.  While we never do any procedure to purposely scare a child, practicing each response is critical to the overall success of facing a real emergency situation should the need arise.  Should you have questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact our school office or me for specific assistance.  As my friends reminded me today, “safety always comes first, Mrs. Van!”

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Calling all DADs…

There are multiple opportunities to volunteer, mentor, and participate in our learning community daily…being involved is a special part of the LME family experience after all!  One unique daily volunteerwordleopportunity involves our DADs (Dads Assisting Daily) during morning arrival.  If you can smile, shake hands, give high-fives, share positive words of morning encouragement, and help others get their school day going, then we need you!  Come by any morning about 7:15, get your badge from the front office, and join the safety patrol and staff members on duty until 7:45 a.m. to meet and greet our learning community.  We run two drop-off lines each morning for convenience and we need you!  Special thanks to Dale McCaskill who started this great program three years ago (even though the boys have moved on, come by to join us or drive thru and sing to us anytime).  Thanks to our new SRO, Officer Ray Hall, for assisting each week as your schedule allows too.

Just like our enrollment, we look forward to growing this program even more in the year ahead!

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Teamwork and Dreamwork

There is a little friend I’ve “adopted” this year (really, this child has adopted me).  From the first day, first moment of introduction, a connection was formed:

  • Teacher:  …and this is Mrs. Van; she’s the boss of our school.
  • Child:  Why do you want that job?
  • Me:  I’ve been asking myself that question for years…

It’s been “on” ever since that first encounter.  This child seeks me out daily to interact, comment, and share a special observation or two along the way.  Take this conversation:

  • Child:  (Getting out of the car to walk with me) I need to eat breakfast today.
  • Me:  Wonderful, because here we are!
  • Child:  This is the lunchroom, NOT the breakfast room.  Where is the breakfast room, boss of the school?

Or how about this observation:

  • Child:  I need Monday off for ‘labors’ (Labor Day)
  • Me:  Well, you will have Monday off in fact!
  • Child:  I guess you are smart enough to be the boss of the school ’cause we need rest from all this school work we have to do the first week.

After another weekend, this was our morning encounter:

  • Child:  So boss, I went fishin’ this past weekend.
  • Me:  I enJOY fishing!  Did you catch anything for supper?
  • Child:  No, it’s called fishin’ and not catchin’…we ate hamburgers instead.

Then, there’s one of my favorites I overheard during lunch last week:

  • Another child to my little friend:  How do you know she’s the Boss of the school anyway?
  • My friend:  Do you not listen to her at rally and on the mornin’ ‘nouncements everyday?  ‘Cause she just is and ’cause she carries keys and open doors and serves breakfast in the lunch room and helps children and teachers and ’cause everybody says so…
  • Other child:  Well, who made her that?
  • My friend:  Well, God of course ’cause she’s got a direct line.  (Don’t I hope?!)  🙂

teamworkToday, while walking through the classroom of this friend, the child asked to speak “private” with me.  🙂  We decided to go for a little walk and run a couple of errands together in the school.  During our walk, we stopped in the lounge to fill my glass with ice and the child noticed the staff board with pictures:

  • Child:  So all these people work with you, Boss, to make our school work.
  • Me:  That’s right!  It takes all of us working together as a team to help you reach your dream everyday.
  • Child:  Well, Mrs. Miller must’ve had a dream to build this school ’cause we sure work as a team here at Miller everyday and nobody wants to cross you or her, Boss.

It does take the entire team working together to make dreams come true for our learners.  Just like my little friend, I believe in the POWER of LME and in the POWER of Mrs. Miller’s “dream” too!  Dream on, Team Miller!  🙂

Note:  …and for those of you curious to know, this child knows my real name but prefers to call me “Boss of the School…out of respect.”  🙂  I love my job! 

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The POWER of LME!

It probably goes without saying that two heads are always better than one…especially when our own Miller Power Team (Hans and Franz) are involved.  These guys made a special appearance this morning during Rally to “pump us up” about the The Power of Miller, our campus-wide FUNdraiser for this school year.  Because we believe in the POWER of our learners, their classroom leaders, and our learning community, we believe we can impact our own lives and the lives of those around us in a POWERful way this year.

In place of previous programs and companies, we are completely doing our own idea this year and we need your support!  Please watch for The POWER of Miller family packet coming home today.  In this packet, you will find:

  • Letter about the event on 9/26/2013 (white copy);
  • POWER of Miller Family Charity Voting Ballot (1/2 blue sheet);
  • POWER of Miller Reservation and Celebration Permission Form (bright orange dual form);
  • POWER of Miller Scorecard (white cardstock form for collecting sponsors).

You will send back everything to your child’s homeroom teacher except the letter explaining our event by Sept. 25th.  Please let us know if you have questions too.

It is our sincere hope and desire to always emPOWER our learners and their families to succeed everyday.  We greatly anticipate your support and encouragement as we truly discover The POWER of LaRue Miller specials teamElementary!

Note:  Special thanks to our dynamic Specials Team who took on this huge project; thanks, Hans and Franz…we’ll be seeing you again soon!  🙂

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Volunteers are vital!

volunteers1You may have heard the saying, “Volunteers don’t get paid because they’re worthless but because they’re priceless.”  We are so blessed at LME to have the hardest working volunteers in our growing learning community everyday!  Just today, these ladies answered the call to assist with our upcoming LME “The POWER of Miller” fundraiser kick-off by preparing family packets to go home tomorrow (more on this tomorrow).  Conversation, laughter, and great work ensued; they had the job completed in no time and asked for more!  🙂  volunteers2Special thanks today goes to Jennifer Davis, Rachel Hedgcoth, Brandy Ricketts, Sherry Emerson, Cathy Jackson, Jennifer Campbell, Amy Hubbard, and Sarah Johnson.  Mrs. Huff says, “You ROCK!”  🙂

Tonight, we had several of our Head Start families participate in their first family meeting of the school year.  Thanks to two of our HS moms for volunteering to represent our campus and program on the Region 10 District Policy Council tonight too!

As our own Mrs. Miller always says, “The goal is simple…to help you achieve yours.”  We are truly grateful to our vital volunteers who help us achieve all our goals everyday!

Note:  We need our D.A.D.S. to answer the call and help us out each morning!  Please join us in the car lines to greet and assist our learners coming into the building each day.

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Homecoming 2013

Homecoming…a time to come home to traditions, fellowship, 12homecomingand fun.  In the elementary world especially, our young learners may not completely comprehend the hoopla, but they most certainly love a great parade…and they squeal with delight when our Midlothian Panther Football Readers catch up to them too!

The annual Homecoming Parade has traditionally been a big deal in Midlothian ISD and this year is certainly no exception!  Our supportive learning community, students, and staff members truly enJOY showcasing their hometown Panther Pride and Spirit.  Please mark your calendar for this year’s parade on Friday, September 27 at 3 p.m.  Don’t forget to get your tickets early for the big game and come out to support the MHS Panthers as they tackle the Grand Prairie Gophers at 7:30 p.m. at the MISD Multi-Purpose Stadium. Download PDF for details.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Turtles and pathways…

During walkabout today, I had a wonderfully delightful turtlepicconversation with a friend who shared this great artwork and talked about sea turtles.

  • Did you know that female sea turtles swim to shore between May and August to dig nests in the sand and lay their eggs?
  • Did you know that months later, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles follow the pure light of the moon back to the surf and their families?
  • Did you know sea turtles loved the sea?  🙂

Sea turtles instinctively crawl toward the brightest light.  On an undeveloped beach, this light would naturally be the moon, but on a developed beach area, this light comes from homes, businesses, or other sources.  Sometimes this artificial light causes the baby turtles to move in the wrong direction, thus creating a bad outcome for all.

In the course our conversation, it occurred to me again how we sometimes face this same challenge when making good choices here at school (and I spend a great deal of time talking and modeling ‘good choices’ you know!).  🙂  This particular little friend spends some time with me occasionally for “refreshers.”  It’s simple really:  rather than follow the path of a good choice, we get distracted by something artificially bright moving us in the wrong direction.  Often times, we sabotage ourselves.  Just like the sea turtles, we forget to follow our path and allow meaningless things to keep us from being our personal best.

What a powerful analogy, huh?!  Just like this positive opportunity today, I encourage you to take time to talk with your child about those busy, meaningless distractions that get in the way and how best to focus on the priorities leading to ultimate success.  Just like those sea turtles, there’s an ocean of possible pathways if we follow the pure light.

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We LOVE our grandparents!

AveryIt’s been noted, “Education is simply the soul of society as it passes from one generation to the next…”  Our campus was filled to overflowing today with great wisdom and life as we celebrated our beloved grandparents during all Jimmysix lunch periods.  Our tables, bellies, and hearts were filled to capacity with food, fellowship, and family fun.  Special thanks to our extraordinary PTO for sponsoring this event.  Most importantly, many thanks to the grandparents and parents who chose to participate, smiled and laughed, modeled stellar table manners, shared great stories, and assisted patiently throughout the event.

Our young Fisherstudents proudly stand on your shoulders of strong foundations as they continue to learn, grow, and love into the next generation.  Have a blessed weekend, LME!  🙂