Dear MCS Elementary Parents,

READY, SET, GO! It is with great excitement that I personally welcome you to the 2018-19 School Year! On behalf of the elementary faculty and staff, we are delighted to officially kick off the school year as we open our classroom doors to your children in just a few short weeks. Our team has dedicated much time and preparation to ensure that your student will have an exceptional year of spiritual and academic growth in a Christ-Honoring environment. We are diligently praying over this year and are fully committed to seeking God's desire and plan with the confidence and understanding that all things MCS truly belong to HIM.

We are eager to have your child back in school, fully ready to dive into exploring passions and interests through learning! Our talented teachers are busy setting up their classrooms to create an engaging and nurturing environment as we prepare to challenge, inspire, and foster academic curiosity and individual interests. Through innovative teaching strategies, our goal is to design challenging learning experiences while taking into account student's individual learning needs, passions, and God-given talents.

Our theme this year is... HIS, from Psalm 24:1 which says, "The earth is HIS and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." We as an elementary team will live this out daily as we look for HIS miracles and blessings over our school year. I am eager with anticipation to see how students will personalize this theme as God speaks uniquely and directly to their hearts.

The elementary team is fully committed to build upon the success from last year and continue to move our program forward in achieving our strategic goals for the 2018-19 year based upon our core values:

• Spiritual Formation: Create a deep love for Christ in all students through mentorship, a strong Bible program fully integrated into all subject areas, and a focus on students authentically owning their faith. Inspiring chapels that are geared towards your child's specific age will foster a personal experience as students worship and learn God's word weekly.
  
  
• Exemplary Academics: Provide an academically rigorous educational program geared towards fostering a deep conceptual understanding within all subject areas. Continue to build strong literacy skills through an intentional focus on growing a positive classroom reading environment geared towards progressing students towards higher levels of text complexity. Challenge students to become active agents in their own writing development through self-assessment as they learn how to write across all styles and genres. Further expand the development of scientific habits of mind including the engineering design and scientific practices with an integrated approach through our STEM initiative.
  
  
• Individualized Learning: Instruction will be tailored towards each student's individual learning needs, interests, and strengths as we recognize the uniqueness of each learner. Our goal is to provide students with a sense of ownership of the learning process as they meet with teachers one-on-one and in small groups for instruction.
   
• Culture of Innovation: Highly effective instructional methods including project based learning and maker education allowing students to apply knowledge and skills in a relevant and creative way. Learning through collaborative exploration while fostering discovery, innovation, and problem-solving. Embracing the concept that making mistakes actually helps us become better learners as we approach all learning from a "Growth Mindset."
   
• Connected Community: Foster a Christ-honoring environment where students positively contribute to a healthy and thriving school culture. Continue to build upon our schoolwide program the Lion's Pact as we focus on God's desire for His children as we recognized that MCS and everything in it truly belong to HIM.

Here's to an INCREDIBLE new school year as we work in partnership with you to make this year AMAZING for our students and community! Thank you for joining me in prayer for God's blessings over this school year.