October 2014 - Millbrook Elementary

Millbrook Elementary Magnet School
“A family of lifelong learners committed to developing International citizens
and academic excellence through inquiry”
1520 East Millbrook Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Office—919-850-8700
Fax—919-850-9709
October 2014 Issue
From the Principal’s Desk...
Team Millbrook,
We have had a wonderful start to the 2014-15 school year. Thank you for all that you have done to support your
child’s education. We are a team and all have to work together for each student to work to his/her fullest potential.
We have had several new staff members who have joined Team Millbrook this year. Please join me in welcoming
Holli Tyner - kindergarten teacher, Laura Hansen - 1st grade teacher, Meghan Maher - 3rd grade teacher, Caleb
Klingler - 3rd grade teacher, Mary Courteney Green - 3rd grade teacher, Zach Griffin - 5th grade teacher, Soni
Randolph - 5th grade (Soni taught at Millbrook from 2008-12), Natalie Avilez - Spanish teacher, Matt Caddell - PE
teacher and Tabitha Wills - speech pathologist. Additionally, we have a new school social
worker, Molly McNeill, a new CIS Graduation Coach, Kelly Harvell, and a SIOP coach, Kim
Amico. All of our new team members have already proven to be positive additions to
our school family.
Our mission statement at Millbrook is “A family of lifelong learners committed to developing
international citizens and academic excellence through inquiry.” With our PYP program, a
program that has as its main focus a commitment to structured inquiry as a vehicle for
learning, we want to make sure that all of our students embody the PYP Learner Profile and
PYP Attitudes. These attitudes and attributes help to create a global-minded and
international citizen. My hope is that all parents, educators, and students at Millbrook
Elementary will embrace our mission statement.
Thank you for your support of Millbrook Elementary and Team Millbrook. I look forward to continuing a wonderful
and productive school year. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Paula Trantham, Principal
Message from the President...
Hello MEMS Families,
I hope you are all getting into a routine and are off to a great start to the school year. Thank you to everyone who
attended skate night! We had 271 skaters along with their families out supporting our school. We made over $400!
I hope to see you at our next Family Spirit Night at McDonalds on October 7 between 4:30-7:30.
If you have not joined the PTA, I hope you will consider being part of this amazing organization. Right now we have
about 200 members and would like to grow that number to 300 or more. It is not just about volunteering and
fundraising but having a voice for your child and other children across the nation. The PTA does so much for our
teachers and students. Here at Millbrook we support curriculum and supply grants for teachers, we communicate
with families through our monthly newsletter, we supplement books for the library, we purchase technology, we
organize cultural arts experiences for all students, and we provide family nights for meeting other parents and for
students to socialize and so much more.
I hope you will consider joining this amazing organization. You
can find membership forms online, in the office or look for one in
your child’s Monday folder.
Happy fall,
Sue Reynolds, PTA President
CHEETAH CHATTER
Introducing the
MEMS Chess Club!
Open to all 3-5 grade students
When: Every Tuesday,
beginning Oct. 14
Where: Science Room
Time: 7:15am-7:45am
No experience necessary. Bring chess sets from home if
you have one! For information please email:
Christine VanNice- cvannice8@gmail.com
Boosterthon
McTeachers' Night!
On Tuesday, October 7, 2014 from 4:30
p.m. to 7:30 p.m., MEMS will
celebrate McTeacher’s Night at the
McDonald’s located at 4212 Wake
Forest Rd. (near New Hope).
Teachers, staff, and parents will be working at McDonald’s
– seating customers, running games, taking food orders
and serving dinner – while the students get a chance to
hear their teachers say,
“Do you want fries with that?”
McDONALD’S will have a SPECIAL GUEST! Come join
the fun and meet RONALD McDONALD!!!
Don't forget that our major PTA fund- A portion of all of the sales made that evening will go
raiser is coming up in November! Stu- directly to our school. Tell your neighbors! Bring your family
dents will be seeking pledges from
and friends to support our school!
friends and family near and far, and we
will be cheering them on at their Fun
Run on November 20! Please plan to
join us if you can!
MEMS Spirit Days
Students: Remember to show your Cheetah pride every Friday! Wear your MEMS shirt or anything blue and
yellow!
All-Stars
Congratulations to the following TEAM Millbrook All Stars
for the month of September!
These students are always working hard to Treat others
with Empathy, Exercise Cooperation, Act with Respect, and
Model Integrity. They are fantastic all-around teammates
and we look forward to celebrating them each month!
Kindergarten
Monica
Jathian
Ahmad
Shabina
First Grade
Jounte
Bella
Steven
Kyora
Ezra
Taylor
Second Grade
Fourth Grade
Lucas
Monserratt
Sa'Rye
Kelechi
Nancy
Sallamata
Dustin
Kyra
Joyce
Lauryn
Ymoni
Third Grade
Jeraldy
Khalifeh
Markell
Ni'Kayla
Kamora
Tajah
Fifth Grade
Miguel
Hailey
Coral
Kebonique
Angelina
“The World Would Be A
Better Place If...”
2014-15 Reflections Contest
The National PTA Reflections Program is an arts
recognition and achievement program for Pre-K- 12th
grade students. It offers these students opportunities to
express themselves creatively in six different art
categories: composition, dance, film, literature,
photography, and visual arts.
If your child is interested in participating please return the
intent form you received and we will give you more
information along with the rules. You can also explore the
Reflections Website:
http://www.wakepta.org/reflections-program/
We are looking for a parent volunteer to help Christy
Bigelow organize the Reflections contest.
If you are interested please email Sue Reynolds at
memspta@gmail.com. Thanks!
Newspapers Needed!!
5th grade needs newspapers - LOTS of newspapers - for
Batik Week, an artist in residency program . Please help
by saving your newspapers and bringing them to school. A
collection bin will be placed in the front office. Thank you!
Thank You!
Thank you to the following businesses who supported
MEMS in September:
United Skates • McDonald's • Target • Harris Teeter
Pelican's SnoBalls • Dang Good Dogs • SportsClips
October 2014
SUN
5
MON
6
TUE
WED
7
2:30pm– 3:45pm
5th grade Pieces of Gold
THU
FRI
1
Interims go
home
2
3
8
9
10
A Day
MEMS Spirit Day
16
17 Early Release
SAT
4
MEMS Spirit Day
11
McTeacher Spirit
Night, 4:30-7:30
12
19
26
13
14
2:30pm– 3:45pm
Columbus 5th grade Pieces of Gold
Day
Chess Club 7:15 am
15
20
22
A Day
21
2:30pm– 3:45pm
5th grade Pieces of Gold
Chess Club 7:15am
27 A Day
18
23
24
25
MEMS Spirit Day
28 End 1st Quarter 29
Case 21 Science (5th)
Welcome To Our World
2:30pm– 3:45pm 5th
grade POG
Chess Club 7:15am
Teacher
Workday
30
31
Case 21 Math
(Grades 3-5)
Halloween
MEMS Spirit Day
November 2014
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
4
2:30pm—3:45pm
5th grade POG
6
5
Report Cards go
home
7 Early Release
10
11
12
13
14 A Day
MEMS Spirit Day
15
16
17
18
2:30pm-3:45pm
5th grade POG
Chess Club
7:15am
19
20
21
MEMS Spirit Day
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
A Day
2:30pm– 3:45pm 5th
grade Pieces of Gold
Vacation Day
Thanksgiving
Holiday
Holiday
2
Daylight
Savings Time
Ends
3
9
Veteran’s
Day
Holiday
Chess Club
7:15am
8
MEMS Spirit Day
Lunch Menu
IB PYP World School
The PYP News
for Kids
PYP News for Kids Journalists
October 2014
Dates to remember:
The PYP News for Kids is created by kids and for
kids! You will find lots of interesting information
about
upcoming events, activities in classes,
action taken by students and much more! f you
would like to submit an idea for an article for the
PYP News for Kids, please give it to Mrs. Grabiec
or your teacher. We would love to know what you
are doing to make a better and more peaceful
world! Read on to find out what our journalists
October 7, 2014
Early Release– Oct 17
Spotlight on Student Action
by Jayla and Marina, 5th grade
Yaidely is a student in Ms.
Baer’s fifth grade class.
Mrs. Estok, our ELL teacher,
nominated her for
the
Spotlight on Student
Action. She has been working with Yaidely for 4
years. “I didn’t know any
English when I first came to
this school,” Yaidely said.
Mrs. Estok told us, “Yaidely
is a leader and very proud
of her accomplishments.
She is a risk-taker and
shows empathy.” Yaidely
said she works hard and focuses on staying on the
path to be a professional
Mrs. Estok and her grandma both support this
dream. Yaidely is very appreciative of Mrs. Estok.
She knows that Mrs. Estok
wants her and other students to stay committed to
their work because she
knows that working hard
helps you to get better at
things.
No School– Oct 29
October 28, 2014
Halloween
October 31, 2014
Millbrook Mission Statement: a family of lifelong learners committed to developing
international citizens and academic excellence through inquiry
Rosa Parks– A Risk Taker
Rosa Parks was born in
Tuskegee, Alabama while
there was segregation.
Segregation was where
people were judged and
separated by their looks.
By Kyra, 4th grade
Rosa had to drink out of
different water
fountains
that were labeled colored
and white. She felt
disappointed by segregation.
When Rosa got older, she
decided to take a stand
against it. Rosa got on a bus
and sat in the second section
that was labeled the black
and white section. A white
man got on the bus, and the
bus driver asked her to get
How We Organize Ourselves
up. She did not get up
because she had paid for the
seat, and she wanted to show
that
segregation was
wrong. The bus driver called
the police because Rosa
would not get out of the seat.
She was arrested. Rosa
standing up for herself
influenced a lot of peopleeven police officers.
Claudette Colvin didn’t get out
of her bus seat in Alabama
by Vishal, 3rd grade
The third grade is learning
about social, economic and
political contributions. They
are learning about how to be
caring citizens in the community. Social contributions
are things you do to make
the community a better
place.
between the school box top contest of Girls vs Boys.
collection and social contri- Bring in your box tops to
butions. They talked about make a contribution!
how making advertisements
to get more people to bring
in box tops would be a social contribution to make the
school community a better
place.
Mr. Klingler’s third grade
class made a connection
This advertisement shows a
flashlight that tells where to
PTA Event– McTeacher Night
Inquiry in the Classroom
by Keybonique and Skylar
by Sanaa, 5th grade
McTeacher Night is a family event for Millbrook at
McDonalds. The PTA is having this event to
raise money for supplies for the classrooms in
our school. It will be a fun time for families and
friends to get together. McTeacher night sounds
really fun because the teachers will actually be
working at McDonalds serving food. We want to
thank them for their commitment and time. They
are showing us how to be enthusiastic about
helping our school to get the materials we need
to be successful. The students will have to show
the PYP attitude empathy for the teachers if the
food doesn’t come out right because they might
not be used to making hamburgers and French
fries. This event will be Tuesday, October 7th
from 4:30 to 7:30 at the new McDonalds on
Wake Forest Road. We hope to see you there!
In science class, fifth grade is studying
the human body. We did an experiment
about DNA and how it shows the traits
that you get from your parents. Traits follow a family line, so your parents get their
traits from your grandparents and they got
their traits from your great
grandparents. For the experiment, we swished
Gatorade in our mouth and added things
like rubbing alcohol to separate our cheek
cells that contain our DNA. The teacher
had us do this experiment to get us enthusiastic about
learning by allowing
us to act like scientists!
INSIDE MEMS
Action! Action!
Read All About It!
Action and service are major
components of the International
Baccalaureate Primary Years
Programme. Action can be described as
anything a child does as an extension of
what he/she has learned in class.
Action can be on a small or large scale, but it is always
voluntary and initiated by the child. We celebrate all kinds
of action!
Some examples of action include:
 a child checking out a book from the public
library to find more information on cheetahs
because the class is learning about endangered
animals
 a child teaching a younger sibling how to be
respectful because the teacher has explained
this is one of our attitudes at school
 a child writing a letter to the governor to voice
her opinion because the class is learning about
checks and balances in the branches of
government
 a child offering to wash the dishes at home
because the class is learning the importance of
being a contributing member of the community
 a child donating old clothes, toys, or books
because the class is learning about needs and
wants
 a child encouraging his family to eat healthier
foods because the class is learning about body
systems

Please inform your child’s teacher if action is taken at
home or in the community. We will celebrate it by placing
his/her picture on our action board.
PBIS at MEMS
During the first weeks of school, students
learned and reviewed Millbrook TEAM
expectations. Students defined and
brainstormed how to exhibit TEAM
expectations. TEAM at Millbrook means:
Treat others with empathy
Excercise cooperation
Act With Respect
Model Integrity
You can help reinforce our TEAM expectations. Ask
your child about what they have learned about TEAM
and how he/she will exhibit TEAM behaviors at
school!
Advocacy Corner
By Tracy McKimmon
Happy Fall Millbrook!
We have an update to an education policy issue that took
place last month. NC Superior Court Judge Robert
Hobgood ruled that private school vouchers, or
Opportunity Scholarships, are unconstitutional. This
reversed an earlier policy put in place by the NC General
Assembly. This decision is being appealed. The General
Assembly finished their short session last month, and will
return in January. During the short session, they passed
a budget for the State. Education was a big part of the
budget negotiations. I ask each of you to look into the
different positions your state senators and legislators take
on education policy in your district. We are currently 48th
in the nation in per pupil spending.
The election will take place on November 4, 2014. All
voter registration applications must be turned in to the
Board of Elections by 5pm on Friday October 10, 2014. In
order to register to vote in this election, you must meet the
following criteria:
You are a US citizen
You are 18 years of age, or
will be by the time of the
election
You have been a resident of
NC, this county and precinct
for 30 days prior to the
election in which you wish
to vote
You will not vote in any other county or state after
submission of this form, and if you are registered
elsewhere, you will cancel that registration at this
time.
If you have been convicted of a felony, you have
completed your sentence, including probation or
parole.
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a
comprehensive approach that addresses problem
behaviors across environments by changing or eliminating
events that trigger inappropriate behaviors. When
necessary, logical consequences may follow a behavior in
order to shape a more appropriate behavior in the future.
By eliminating problem behaviors, your child will learn
new skills to get what he/she wants. The overall goal of
PBIS is to not only reduce inappropriate behaviors but to
also develop communication skills, social skills and selfcontrol skills that will lead to improved relationships and
more opportunities to participate at home, in school and in
the community.
MILLBROOK MUSTS
Thank You Volunteers!!
Picture Day: Kimberly Reynolds, Stephanie Sammour, Lizzie Graybill, Meme
Freeney, Raihanna Sadat, Cassandra Reid, Marla Binker
Mighty Moms & Dads: April Alston, Betsey Bradley, Sarah Culton, Courtney
DiFruscio, David DiFruscio, Tiffany McDougald, Kim Raper, Marla Binker
School Store: Suzanne Ladd
Newsletter: Marla Binker, Ashley McCullough, Nicole Grabiec
Thank you to our wonderful custodians and staff who keep MEMS running
smoothly! We appreciate your efforts to make MEMS the best it can be!
Who will Rule the School?
Our Box Tops contest is going strong, but there's still time for
your child to vote. Collection boxes in the Media Center are
filling up with Box Tops. If the boys collect more, Ms. Trantham
will dress up in her favorite costume; if the girls bring in more,
Mr. Caddell will dress up. We will collect Box Tops through
October 15th.
Be active
Stay Informed
Join PTA;
Be a Voice
Be a Voice for your child!
Contact Information
Person
Email Address
Paula Trantham, Principal
ptrantham@wcpss.net
Kelly Combs, Assistant Principal
kcombs2@wcpss.net
Nancy Ballard, Assistant Principal
nballard2@wcpss.net
Susan Reynolds, PTA President
memspta@gmail.com
Millbrook Elementary Magnet School receives federal funds for Title I programs. Currently, all teachers and
teacher assistants at Millbrook are highly qualified and have met necessary state licensing requirements.
However, you have the right to request information regarding the professional qualifications of your child’s
classroom teacher. If you would like to request the information, please contact Paula Trantham at
ptrantham@wcpss.net or 919-850-8700.
Thank you for your interest and involvement in your child’s education.
Find Millbrook Elementary Magnet School on
Facebook. A great way to stay connected to our
school community!!!