Mills Elementary School

December 4, 2023- December 8, 2023

Diverse Holiday Book List

As you know, Mountain Lion families celebrate more than Christmas during the Winter months! Ms. Rasmussen, our wonderful Mills librarian, has curated a list of holiday books that you may be interested in reading/sharing with your Mountain Lion!

Christmas

Llama, Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney

Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold

Red and Lulu by Matt Tavares

Pick a Pine Tree by Patricia Toht

Hanukkah

Elmo's Little Dreidel by Naomi Kleinberg

Meet the Latkes by Alan Silberberg

Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story by Fran Manushkin

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel

Hanukkah and Christmas Combined

Read and Green and Blue and White by Lee Wind

Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama by Selina Aiko

New Year's Day

Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller

Shante Keys and the New Year Peas by Gail Piernas Davenport

Freedom Soup by Tami Charles

Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela by Alexandra Alessandri

Diwali

Binny's Diwali by Thrity Umrigar

Shubh Diwali by Chitra Soundar

The Light Within You by Namita Moolani Mehra

Diwali in My New Home by Shachi Kaushik

Chinese New Year

Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year by Kate Waters

The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year's Tale by Ying Chang Compestine

Peppa's Chinese New Year by E. One

Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

Kwanzaa

My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz

Together for Kwanzaa by Juwanda Ford

The Night Before Kwanzaa by Natasha Wing

Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis

Avoiding Tardies

zoom_out_map

The countdown to Winter Break has begun! Although we are looking forward to this break, our teachers are still working hard to deliver high quality, fun, and engaging instruction in your child's classroom. With that, it's extremely important that your child is here on time every morning. Students are counted tardy if they are not in the building by 7:40am. Our school doors open by 7:15am every morning and a hot breakfast is always available in the Mills cafeteria Monday-Friday!

Counselors' Corner

Ms. Edwards and Ms. Whatley's most recent Counselors' Corner topic centers on consequences & choices. Many parents/caregivers have reached out with questions pertaining to how to discuss the importance of making good choices/give appropriate consequences at home.

Please visit the link below to read more about the topic of Consequences/Choices. If you have questions or want to learn more, contact Ms. Edwards and Ms. Whatley at elise.edwards@austinsd.org and linda.whatley@austinisd.org.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qdL-dARBObUFz2FvWmK02O-5t_MopgrS3I9AVrTxEec/edit?usp=sharing

Lend a Hand in the Cafeteria! December Volunteer Sign Up

The Mills lunch team, led by the fabulous Ms. Abby Baca, could always use extra adult hands in the lunchroom between the times of 10:30am-1:00pm! If you are looking for ways to be involved on campus before we leave for Winter Break, consider donating your time as a lunchroom volunteer!

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050F4BABA923A7F85-46466242-december?fbclid=IwAR2TGBWf13DP3yzty2eN-ePVizQg076FXM3smNmlY8odL9U6d6lI-IOpkOA#/

Inclusive Schools Week

Inclusive Schools Week happens every year in the first full week of December and provides an opportunity for educators, students and parents to discuss and initiate practices to further ensure schools continue to improve their goal of successfully educating ALL children. This is a wonderful opportunity to involve ALL of your teachers and students! This year’s theme is DRAW ME IN! Please visit the website, http://inclusiveschools.org for free resources.