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Important Dates
at a Glance
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10/2 Pick Up Friday
For Fully Remote Students
Begins at 8am and runs through the weekend. Your child's teacher will let you know if there are items to pick up!
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CORPORATE SPONSORS
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We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contributions from the following corporate partners:
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Leaning In to Peace
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 Each year, we take time as a school community to celebrate International Peace Day. And while COVID created a few challenges to our tradition, forward we went! Ms. Laura hosted a beautiful morning Assembly from the comfort of her office with the door closed so she could remove her mask and read Todd Parr's beloved The Peace Book. As we Zoomed together (in 2 parts since we had SO many participants), we got to see the wonderful faces of our students learning here at school and at home. Some lit peace candles, and perhaps had their own peace walks at home. Due to COVID we were not able to do an all-school peace walk, but the tone and tenor of love and support still rang through. Thank you to all who participated and if you missed it, here's the link!
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 This week also featured our first Virtual Open House. Our teachers pivoted from their usual in-person presentations to create a Zoom presentation. Thank you to all who joined us.
For those who were unable to make it, the teachers shared links to their recorded presentations or to the Google Slides they created for the event. Click on your child's classroom to view.
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Earlier this week, Ms. Grace sent out an email to all families regarding current physicals as well as Free & Reduced reporting. Here is a recap of what she shared. Thank you in advance for helping her to complete the state reporting requirements:
 Current Physical Report Now Required: Mill Falls now requires that each family send in a copy of your child's current annual physical. Your doctor's office may be able to send the report directly to us via e-mail or fax (603) 518-7489. You can also choose to mail a copy: Mill Falls Charter School, 100 William Loeb Dr., Suite 1, Manchester 03109. We understand that the COVID emergency has created physical appointment scheduling difficulties for some doctor's office. Once your child has his/her next physical, please be sure to share your next health report with us. ***New MFCS Families: you would have already sent me a copy for Registration, but if you have not, please do so now.
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 Free & Reduced Reporting:
Like all NH public schools, Mill Falls collects data regarding the number of students who qualify for Free or Reduced meals. This information will not only help us to receive funding from federal and private sources but will also be helpful in determining available options for those who do qualify.
We aim to report 100% of our families and thank you for helping us reach that 100% mark by filling out the form and responding promptly!! Please click here for the form - a PDF which you can fill out on line by downloading the attachment and open the attachment in Preview.
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Material Pickup for Fully Remote Learners
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 Pickup Days
for Remote Learning
As we do each Friday, today at 8am we set out the crates full of materials for the coming week for our Fully Remote Learners. These plastic covered bins are organized by classroom and within that, by child. The crates will be out all weekend.
How does this work?  Families of our Remote Learners, are asked to come to school, park and walk up to the exterior doors. There they will see the material bins. Please take what is inside your child's folder and leave the hanging folder behind! Please check with your child for the name of his/her classroom if you are not familiar with it.
Please note, not every class will have materials to pick up each Friday; Teachers will be in touch with their classroom families so you should know by Wednesday afternoon whether you will need to come in to pick up materials on that Friday.
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Hybrid Student Morning Arrival & Wellness Check Updates
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MORNING WELLNESS CHECK: Families with Hybrid (in-person) Learners, please review the steps below:
- Families are asked to complete the Wellness Check Form QUESTIONS ONLY each morning BEFORE arriving at school about travel, new symptoms, contact with confirmed or suspected case of COVID.
- Mill Falls Staff will greet each car, review the form and take each student's temperature before the student exits the vehicle.
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Family Tech Support
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As noted in earlier communication, Ms. Jody is serving as our Family Tech Support person this year.
She is available by email and Zoom on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (note, she is not available on Wednesdays).
She can be reached on Zoom (for live chats via the waiting room one at a time) from:
10am-12pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Meeting ID: 797 9462 3236 PW: 6nEvDQ
If Jody cannot answer your question, she will reach out to our team to get an answer for you.
Any academic questions should be sent to your child's classroom teacher(s).
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Required Forms
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Have you turned in all required paperwork?
Here are links to the items we have asked for:
Family Handbook, including the COVID Insert
Please review the Handbook and Insert and then return the Acknowledgement Page to Office@millfalls.org.
Technology Usage Agreement Please click on the agreement that matches your child's Program Level.
Home Assessment Agreement Form
This form has been shared as an assignment in both Google Classroom and See Saw. You can also access it via the link below. Please note that Parents and students need to fill out together.
Permission to Attend Recorded Lessons During this time of remote instruction, we will be utilizing online resources to provide continuing classroom instruction to students. In order to ensure that every child in the class receives the instruction, the online instruction may be video and/or audio recorded so that it can be accessed at a later time. The primary focus of the video and audio recording will be on the instruction and the teacher, not on the students in the class. However, questions and comments asked and spoken by students will be part of the recording.
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Important Attendance Information
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 Regular and consistent attendance is the bedrock of solid learning. Therefore, no matter the learning model, it will be expected that all students will be present and ready for learning each school day, just as in pre-COVID times. If your child is going to be absent or tardy or must end the day early, parents/guardians are required to alert the front office by phone or email.
We wanted to take a moment to highlight the attendance expectations on days when students are learning from home (Remote Learning). Each day, our Students Learning at Home are expected to attend: 1. 8:45am Morning Meeting followed by their Planning Session 2: All Scheduled Live Lessons (specific schedule shared by teachers) 3: At least ONE Daily Check in (specific schedule shared by teachers) 4: Additionally, ALL work must be turned in by 3:15pm To be marked PRESENT for the day: a Remote Student must attend items 1-3 above and turn in all work by 3:15pm. A student will be marked unexcused TARDY for the day, if he/she misses 1 or 2 of the items above, and still turns in all work by 3:15pm. A student will be marked unexcused ABSENT if he/she misses 3 or more of the items in the list above, even if they turn in work by 3:15pm. Please note, repeated unexcused absences and tardies will trigger our Attendance Protocol as noted in our Family Handbook.
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COVID Resources
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 Family Support Hot Line: Waypoint Family support can help with anything from where to get covid testing or child care.
Call: 800-640-6486 M-F 8:30-4:30
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 Free COVID Tests
Families who live in the Greater Manchester area may call the Manchester COVID-19 Hotline at to arrange for a free testing appointment. East and West Side locations available. This is NOT an antibody test. The hotline is available Monday - Friday from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Call: 603-668-1547. Testing appointments are required.
* * * To assist in everyone's understanding of the protocol we've designed, we ask that you review the COVID Handbook Insert (esp. pages 6-8) as well as the chart below. Thank you so very much for your ongoing partnership in keeping our school community well!
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Montessori Moments From Near and Far...
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 We would once again like to ask our Mill Falls Families to share images and stories from their Remote Learning experience - daily work as well as Big Work Wednesday Projects, which we can share in our newsletter.
Please send your photographs, brief stories (remember sharing humorous moments will help keep us all healthy!), and quotes to Ms. Meryl at: stories.pictures@millfalls.org.
Please be sure to send the photos at small to medium resolution, and send along a description / story about what is going on in the photos. Thank you!
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Laura's Corner
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Student & Family Support
Below is some information from Ms. Laura W. about supporting students who are learning from home.
The Importance of the Prepared Environment:
Fostering Student Independence During Remote Learning
A Deeper Dive into the Importance of Independence
The Power of Accomplishment
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And here are some books that staff have suggested for families with young children in these COVID times.
A reminder, we do try to talk about the need for keeping space between people these days using the term Physical Distancing, rather than 'social distancing':
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Montessori Moments From Near & Far...
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Please enjoy some photographs from this week here at school and some sent in from families working remotely:
Below: Art projects from last week with Ms. Melissa:
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Big Work Wednesday
Independence and ownership of learning are key elements of Montessori education. The classroom setting uses different strategies to support independence, however, one of the most powerful ways to achieve independence in the home is through choice and supporting students' interest. Over the years you may have heard the term, Big Work. But what is this exactly? Well, for starters, it's a work that is driven by student interest. Something that sparks excitement and motivation in learning. And here's the key, once the student has found his/her interest and, with a bit of guidance initially, it's independent! Students choose the topic, decide on a project and begin. Here are some examples from this week:
Left & below: Solar System Projects by Lilly, Charley & Caroline
Below: Lillian's big work is a timeline of shoes. This is an old shoe mold from Lillian's great grandfathers old job at the Tannery in Boscawen!
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Below: Math Talk with Ms. Colleen in Olympic
Below: Music Class with Mr. Craig
Below left: Ms. Mindy & Bradley during an assessment.
Below right: Sam helping to organize language materials.
Above: Rock, paper, scissor.
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Below: Notes of positivity and encouragement sent home from Ms. Colleen!
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First Great Lesson of Montessori: Earlier today, our Lower Elementary Team taught our First Year Students The First Great Lesson of Montessori, sometimes referred to as the The Beginning of the Universe. The method of sharing this story is interactive in nature, and creates an engaging experience for the students. The lesson covers a variety of topics relating to one theory of the origins of our universe, our planet, and life itself and it provides a backdrop for all of the scientific, cultural, and practical life learning that our Lower Elementary students engage in.
Today, our first years, like every Mill Falls group of 1st year students before them, sat attentively as they listened to Ms. Shannon read the story which was illustrated this year by Ms. Tana and Ms. Anya.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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