From the Desk of Ms. Branch

Happy 2017! As we embark on the beginning of a new year it is fitting to celebrate the accomplishments of our Mirada learning

community. Among our great accomplishments, is the whole child education your child is receiving at Mirada. Our students are

receiving rigorous instruction in core academic content while also learning life skills each day and while learning how to interact

and connect with other people and their environment. Mirada provides a very balanced learning environment that covers

academics and social emotional learning competencies.

Researchers generally agree upon five key competencies of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki,

Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). These competencies provide the foundation for maintaining high-quality social relationships and for

responding to the challenges of life. These include:

1. Self-Awareness

2. Self-Management

3. Social Awareness

4. Relationship Skills

5. Responsible Decision Making

These skills are just as vital to our students’ long-term success as their academic education. That is what I love about our

school! We have been able to incorporate a quality social-emotional education program into our culture through the Leader in

Me program.

The Leader in Me utilizes and integrates several leadership, social-emotional learning, quality, educational models and

processes from past and current thought leaders including The 4 Imperatives of Great Leaders and The 4 Disciplines of

Execution. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is also a key component of the overall Leader in Me process and is a

synthesis of universal, timeless principles of personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness such as responsibility,

vision, integrity, teamwork, collaboration, and renewal. The 7 Habits are teaching students critical social-emotional skills and

helping students hone their interpersonal skills in a safe and supportive environment. The schoolwide structure of the process

and the Paradigm Shift that every student is a leader provides ALL students with a place to thrive.

This month, as we continue our leadership journey, our students will be learning about the “Circle of Influence” and the “Circle of

Concern.” The Circle of Concern represents things that we worry, think, and talk about, but over which we have little control.

The Circle of Influence includes those things within our Circle of Concern over which we have control. We want students (and

adults) to understand that we need to spend the majority of our time in the Circle of Influence. When we “hang out” in the Circle

of Concern our stress level and negative feelings increase. We waste time, energy, and emotions on those things that we

cannot control. While our circumstances may not always be what we desire, we can choose our responses to them (being

proactive rather than reactive). As our students learn about this highly effective practice of dedicating our time to our Circle of

Influence vs. Circle of Concern, we are going to ask them to “teach to learn” by reflecting on this practice with you. Watch for

more information coming home with your student later this month.

Our academic goals will also continue to be in the forefront of our work as we continue to prepare all students to meet grade

level competencies. This month, our K-5 students will take a math and an English Language Arts interim assessment which will

provide teachers with important data about their instructional practices. The assessments will cover the standards which

teachers have taught and re-taught throughout the first semester. The interim assessments are designed to provide a

temperature reading of how each student is doing and they will be used to inform instruction. No parent reports will be provided;

however, during parent/teacher conferences parents, will receive information about how their child performed and the progress

their child is making. Parent/teacher conferences will be held on February 22nd and February 23rd. As partners in your child’s

education, your child’s classroom teacher is always available to provide you with information on your child’s progress. If you

have any questions or concerns prior to conference time, please contact your child’s teacher.

It is my hope that together we can accomplish much during 2017. Our students, your children, need our successful partnership

in order for every student to achieve greatness. Thank you for positively partnering with us!

Peace, Love, and Leadership

Nancy Branch, Principal

Monarch’s Memo January 2017

Thursday, January 19th

ZOYO Night

Mirada gets 20% of sales

KINDERGARTEN

ROUND-UP Thursday, January 19, 2017

6:30 p.m.

Mirada Media Center Incoming kindergarten

students are welcome to attend.

Please note: babysitting for other siblings IS NOT provided. Please make other arrangements AS THIS

IS AN EVENING FOR PARENTS. THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING.

It Takes a Village!

As the principal of Mirada, I wanted to

once again ask our parents/guardians to

consider stepping up to help with our PTO.

We have an excellent board who works

very hard in order to support our Mirada

community. Most of the PTO board

members’ positions will be open at the end

of this school year as their terms expire

and we need more parents to take an

active role in our Parent Teacher

Organization. Additionally, we have sent

out a plea for support with our spring

events and have had little response thus

far. As a result, events planned for the

spring will need to be cancelled due to the

fact that we do not have anyone stepping

up to chair these events. We have had to

cancel Milk and Cookies night which was

scheduled for this month. Our next event

without a chair person/committee is our

February Special Persons’ Day. I know how

important and how special this event is to

our students and families so I am hopeful

that someone will step forward and offer

to chair this event. If you would like more

information as to what would be involved

in the planning and preparation for this

event, please contact our front office.

As a community, we can’t ask a small group

of people (the PTO Board) to plan all

events. It takes all of us. Please join us in

our efforts to offer family events that are

an important part of our culture. Thank

you for your consideration and much

needed support.

Ms. Branch

No School

Monday, January 16th

CREATING A LEADERSHIP RIPPLE On Friday, December 9th, all staff and students engaged in an “All Things Leadership” day.

Mike Sissel, author and motivational speaker, spent the day at Mirada. Mr. Sissel, founder of

KaleidoEye (kaleidoeye.com), started the day with two engaging, empowering and

encouraging assemblies. He also provided additional training to 25 students in each grade

level. Students were provided with an overview of three principles that correlate with our 7

Habits of Happy Kids. These principles included:

1. We all lead: Students were empowered to celebrate the unique leaders that reside

within each of them.

2. Sustainable change occurs from the inside-out: This principle reinforced the “Private

Victory” of the 7 Habits which are habits one, two and three.

3. We all see life through various lenses: Students were encouraged to cultivate a new set

of lenses (ways of thinking) that will empower them to play more proactive roles in their

personal and academic development.

Mr. Sissel’s innovative leadership program focuses around the social/emotional learning

pedagogy. He has an awe-inspiring passion for empowering today’s youth. He is also the

author of the book, Seriously, Dad?: An empowering conversation that will change your lens on

life.

Thanks to tax credit donations, we were able to bring this dynamic guest speaker to Mirada.

Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to empower our students with the tools and

strategies to create positive, sustainable change.

Start the Day (and the Year) Right! Here are some fun facts about school breakfast:

It’s easy! Your child can get a great breakfast at school

and there will be

no dishes for you to wash!

It’s affordable! Breakfast is only $1.00! If qualified, your

child may be able to get breakfast at a reduced price (30

cents) or for free. If your child already east a free or

reduced price lunch, they automatically qualify for a free

or reduced price breakfast.

It’s good for the brain! Research suggests that not

having breakfast can affect children’s intellectual

performance (CDC).

For more information on the reduced-price or free

application process, menus and other meal service

information, please visit our website at

www.kyrene.org/foodservices

Mirada’s Student Council is sponsoring our annual Food Drive.

Monday, January 23rd- Friday, February 3rd We tie our food drive to the Super Bowl and allow students to place each food donation in the container designated team name that he/she chooses.to cheer for the Super Bowl. The cans are then counted to see what team has the most Mirada support! Some suggestions are canned tuna, chicken, peanut

butter, dried beans, rice, fruit, vegetables, cereal and spaghetti sauce.

LAST CALL! Please check the lost and found. All unclaimed items will be

donated to the Kyrene Resource

Center on

1/16/17

The sixth habit of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is Synergy or Synergize. This habit is the

habit of collaboration and teamwork. The habit of synergizing helps students understand the importance

of identifying strengths and using those strengths to work together to get the best possible outcome. This

habit builds trust and embraces differences of all that are involved.

Ways to use this habit at home are:

Identify the strengths of everyone in your family

Value all differences within your family

Play a board game that requires teamwork

Create a project that includes ideas from everyone in the family

Each day at Mirada, the students are engaged in learning and becoming better

leaders. Within the culture of becoming better leaders is also a culture of goal

setting and achieving goals. Each child has a Leadership Notebook and tracks

progress on a regular basis to improve on their academic and behavior progress.

Along with each child having a notebook, the school as a whole works towards

their WIGs (Wildly Important Goals). With the new year starting, Mirada has

started new school WIGs. School goals are all about team work and connection,

so with everyone’s help we can achieve and celebrate our accomplishments!

Our Schoolwide WIGs are:

Mirada students will decrease school wide absences from 125 per week

to less than 90 per week, each week until May 22 ,2017.

Mirada students will decrease school wide tardies from 40 per day to less

than 20 per day, each day until May 22, 2017.

Each week, Mirada grade levels will increase their clip chart average from

90% to 95% of green or above by May 22, 2017.

November CHEER Assembly

Kindergarten First Grade

Second Grade Third Grade

Fourth Grade Fifth Grade

December CHEER Assembly

Kindergarten First Grade

Second Grade Third Grade

Fourth Grade Fifth Grade

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4

5

6

7

8 9 Report Cards Go Home

10 11 12

13

14

15 16 No School

17

18

19 Kindergarten Round-up- 6:30pm 100th Day ZOYO

20

21

22

23 Food Drive Begins

24

25 26

27 28

29

30

31

January 2017

Front Office Staff Principal: Nancy Branch Student Advisor: Kali McKenna Secretary: Katie Jarchow Attendance: Carol Vidaure Health Office: Cami Dhaenens Kristi Johnson

Phone Numbers School Office: 480-541-4200 School Fax: 480-541-4210 Attendance: 480-541-4201 Health Office: 480-541-4220 Cafeteria- 480-541-4226 Kids Club- 480-541-4230

School Hours 7:45am to 2:35pm Mon, Tues, Thurs,

and Fri

7:45am to 12:35pm Every Wednesday

THREE MESSAGES WE WILL SHARE WITH

YOUR CHILDREN EACH DAY!

We believe in them!

We won’t let them fail! What we are doing here

is important!