Sligo Creek Elementary School

PTA Newsletter
Its your child. Its your school. Its your PTA!
Volume 13, Issue 5 Friday, December 9, 2011

Mark Your Calendars!

Upcoming PTA Meetings
January 3 meeting Cancelled Executive Committee Meeting date to be announced February 7 (7-8:30 PM) March 6 (7-8:30 PM)

Come TONIGHT to Our K-2 Winter Wonderland Social! It will be a lot of fun! Come and
welcome December and our colder temperatures in the SCES gym from 6:30-8:00 pm on Friday, December 9th. Games, Dancing, and Crafts for all our Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students and their families* (*the social is not a drop off event). Pizza and light food will be served (free; donations accepted!). We need volunteers to make the event a great time (set up, crafts & activities, pizza & drink serving, clean-up). We're also looking for to be donated so we have some yummy treats! You can also bring your to benefit the SGA's collection for Manna Food Bank

Upcoming SCES Events

Friday, Dec. 9: K-2 Social (6:30 8 PM in the Gym) Tuesday, Dec. 13: Winter Concert (2 PM and 7 PM in the Gym) Thursday, Dec. 15: PTA Science Speaker Cancelled Monday, Dec. 26 Friday, Dec. 30: School closed for Winter Break Wednesday, Jan. 4: MCCPTA Maintenance of Efforts Presentation (7:30-9 PM, Carver Educational Services Center, Rockville, MD) see p. 4 for details Monday, Jan. 16: No school (MLK holiday) Tuesday, Jan. 19: PTA Science Speaker

baked goods

canned goods

SCES PTA meetings and events are open to everyone. PTA meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month in the Gym at 7:00 PM. Free babysitting is provided for toilet-trained children that are 3 years or older.

Please let us know how you can help!! If you can volunteer, contact Cathy Hilton-Russo at [email protected].

Looking for help with your childs research projects? See page 6 for information about Online Resources Want to donate to the Staff Gift Fund Drive? See page 7 for details on how to contribute

WANTED: PARENT VOLUNTEERS TO HANG ARTWORK ON MONDAYS

Principals Letter
Dear Parents, It just sounds so trite to say that I dont know where the days have gone but it is so true. December, how can that be? The days just seem to all run together. Our new Superintendents focus is on teaching and learning and this has been our focus for a long time. We are currently involved in Peer Observations where teachers have the opportunity to go into the classroom of a peer and observe the instruction. This is followed by a dialogue about the learning experience. Teachers walk away with new ideas, best practices and strategies they may not have been aware of before. Staff has found these peer observations to be very informative and helpful. Our next peer observation will be to observe Mr. Brinson integrate mathematics in a physical education class. The Blair and Northwood principals are involved in similar classroom observations. We recently had the experience of observing math instruction in several classrooms at Silver Spring International Middle School. This gives us a glimpse of where our children are headed and what we need to do to prepare students for instruction at that level. We recently hosted a Parent Academy Workshop to provide information related to the new Curriculum 2.0. It gave us an opportunity to answer questions and to provide information. If you have not done so, take a moment and visit the website

Please come alone or bring a friend on Mondays to help hang artwork throughout the school building. Parents, please email Ms. Lightfoot, our art teacher, when you are planning to volunteer to hang artwork. On Mondays, Ms. Lightfoot will leave student artwork to assemble on a banner of paper and a map where in the building the artwork should be hung. Please arrive to Room 17 by 3:50pm on Mondays before Ms. Lightfoot heads off to her Monday afterschool meetings. THANKS!! Carol_P_Lightfoot@mc psmd.org

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/
to get a better understanding of the new curriculum. This year grades K-2 are implementing the curriculum and next year, grade 3 will have a new curriculum. The curriculum is exciting and innovating but a great deal of work is involved as we learn a new way of teaching. Take a moment and look at the website. Just a few staffing notes.You may have heard that we have a new second grade teacher, Ms. Wells. We are excited that she has joined our staff as a permanent teacher. Ms. Wells is an experienced teacher and we are happy to have her with us. Many of you may remember her, as she was a long term substitute teacher here most of the year, several years ago. Many have asked about Mr. Baldwin. He is still out on leave and we expect to receive an update within the next week or so. He continues to make progress but is still having trouble with mobility in his shoulder. Just a reminder.if you have a change in any of your contact numbers, please, please, please let us know. Almost on a daily basis, we are unable to contact a parent when we need to reach them. Thank you for your help with this. We are looking forward to our winter break and an opportunity to rest and regenerate for the remainder of the year. This is a busy time for everyone but remember to focus on what is truly importantfamilies and relationships. Take time for both. Enjoy this special season.

Visit us on the Web at our PTA website: www.scespta.org There you will find information about PTA meetings, events, volunteer opportunities, and useful links and resources.

Sincerely, Diantha R. Swift

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After School Enrichment Program News

Enrollment will begin soon for the winter session of the PTA-sponsored After School Enrichment Program. This session will include the old favorites and introduce several new classesCartooning, Cheerleading, and Story Book Scienceto allow your children to sample different experiences and develop new skills. Once the schedule is confirmed, we will provide all of the specifics in a program catalog. A hard copy will be sent home in the Friday folders (on 12/9 or 12/16) and the information will be posted on the PTA After School Enrichment Program Web page (www.scespta.org/afterschool.html). If you have any comments or suggestions about the After School Enrichment Program please contact the volunteer Co-Chairs, Marisa Osorio and Andrea Savoye at [email protected]. Wed also like to give our special thanks to the teachers who generously allowed the use of their classrooms for after school classes during the fall session. Our appreciation goes out to: Ms. Johnston, Ms. Martin, Ms.

Murray, Ms. Wright, Ms. Clay, Ms. Rodriguez, Ms. Lightfoot, and Ms. Johnson. Many thanks!

French Immersion News

French Immersion Open Houses are for parents interested in enrolling their children in the
French Immersion program at Sligo Creek E.S. for the 2012-2013 school year. The dates are January 31, 2012, February 22, 2012 and March 29, 2012. Sessions begin at 9:30 a.m. with visits to the classrooms. At 10:15 there will be a question and answer period with the principal and the French immersion coordinator. We encourage everyone who is even considering the possibility of enrolling in French Immersion to attend an Open House and become familiar with the program and its philosophy.

Application Process for the Immersion Program

The immersion lottery process application dates will be February 1 to April 13, 2012. Parents may participate in the lottery process using the Elementary immersion Interest Form, which will be available February 1, 2012, with directions and information on the MCPS website at

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/admissions/immersion.aspx
Even if you already have a child in the program, you must follow the immersion lottery process. Please contact Mme Thompson if you have any questions: 301-562-2722, [email protected]

Applying for Immersion at SSIMS

For those of you whose children will be entering 6th grade for the 2012-2013 school there is also a process that must be followed in order to continue with Immersion. You will need to fill out a COSA form (Change Of School Assignment). This can be done as of February 1 and should be turned in to your home Middle School. COSAs will be accepted automatically, but siblings must also follow this procedure.

News from Bayard Presse

Thank you so much for supporting the school with your orders of Bayard Presse. We will be receiving 4 subscriptions as a result of your support. Remember that when you order directly from Mme Russel you get better prices than if you were to go directly to the website. Keep reading in French.

The School Directories are Here!

Directories are being sent home today in your childs backpack. A BIG Thank you to David Attis for putting the directory together again this year and to the Directory Committee who helped (Madona Williams, Debby Goldberg, Susan Finlay, Frances Cook, Roberta Rampton, Yvette Malcioln, Diane Kelleher, and Alice Vorosmarti).
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Book Fair: Recap and Thank You!

The PTA is pleased to report that this years Book Fair was a huge success!

Sold: nearly $18,000 in books Gave away: over $450 in books to students in need Earned: over $5,000 in cash, books, and instructional materials for the school

Thank you to everyone who helped to make the Book Fair a success this year. ALL the proceeds from the book fair go directly back to the school the PTA does not make any money from this event. The Book Fair brings much-needed resources to our school, namely, more books! By purchasing books from the book fair, you're also buying books for our school. After we tally the results of the book fair, we use a portion of it to "shop" for our teachers and the media center. This way, our children have access to new books in their classrooms and in the media center. We would like to thank each of the many volunteers who made the Book Fair run so smoothly. These people included (and we hope we are not leaving anyone out): Debbie Boger, Barbara Welsh, Susan Finlay, Harry Appelman, Melissa Milkie, Valerie Dulk-Jacobs, Jo Rasi, Marielle Allor, Kelley Craig, DeeDee Liestenfeltz, Diane Kelleher, Laurie Swindull, Ashley Mattison, Allison Weiss, Becky Poulson, Debby Goldberg, Stuart Kreindler, Lourdes Abramson, Bree Grandia, Mary Lou Swain, Olivia Swain, Debra Brummett, Stephanie O'Mara, Elinor Colbourn, Stephanie Hartman, Ashley Marchionini, Steve Pierce, Suzanne Morgan, Gossia Sullivan, Kerry Moose, Cori Vanchieri, Nancy Oswald, Alison Jovanovic, Nick Jovanovic, Stuart Kern And a special thank you to Ms. Elkins for giving up her space for so long and to the SCES office for tolerating all the general disruption. Alice Vorosmarti & Marcy Kreindler Book Fair co-Chairs

National Geographic Bee

Yes, its that time of the year again, time for SCES 4th and 5th graders to take part in the National Geographic Bee, a nationwide contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society for grades 4 to 8 as one of their educational outreach programs. Class competitions are held in December and in the beginning of January. Each student is asked a total of seven questions from each of 7 categories (economic geography, state capitals, physical geography, etc.) to determine a class champion, and then these class winners compete against each other to select a school winner. The school winner then takes a written test which is sent into the National Geographic Society. State finalists are chosen from these submissions. Questions cover many topics and vary in their degree of difficulty. If students would like to prepare for this event, they can listen to world and national news, read the newspaper, books about geography, current events and then look up where these events are taking place in an atlas. They can also have fun learning state capitals and nicknames. Hopefully, all SCES Salamanders will learn a little more about geography through this activity!
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Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Presentation by the Montgomery County Council of PTAs and the NAACP Parents Council
Wednesday, January 4th, 7:30 9:00 pm at Carver Educational Services Center 850 Hungerford Drive Rockville, MD Join Maryland Senate Delegation Chair Jamie Raskin, House Delegation Chair Brian Feldman, and Elected leadership from the Montgomery County Council and Board of Education for an important conversation about funding for our schools.

Coming Soon: The Twelfth Annual Winter Chorus, Dance and Orff Ensemble Concert!
On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, the Sligo Creek Elementary Fourth and Fifth Grade Chorus, the Sun Catchers Dance Team, the All-Star Orff Ensemble and the Solar Flares Dance Team will perform their Twelfth Annual Winter Concert at 2:00 p.m., (school assembly) and 7:00 p.m., (evening performance) in the Sligo Creek Elementary School Gymnasium. This concert will feature 200 Fourth and Fifth Grade Students in the chorus, 17 students in the All-Star Orff Percussion Ensemble and over 40 students within the two dance teams! We will be performing multi-cultural childrens choral literature, in different harmonic combinations. In order to ensure that our concerts will be successful, we request that all Fourth and Fifth Grade Chorus Students wear the following concert attire for all performances: Boys: White dress shirt or white chorus polo shirt Dark dress pants Dark dress shoes (No sneakers, if possible) Girls: White blouse or white chorus polo shirt Dark skirt or dark dress pants Dark dress shoes (low heels, please)

If your child is a member of the Sun Catchers or Solar Flares Dance Teams, he/she will need to wear an all-black outfit. (i.e.: Black leotards, black turtleneck or black T-shirt, black leggings or black sweatpants and black modern jazz dancing shoes or dark sneakers). At the evening performance, we will be selling individual roses for $3.00 each, near the Sligo Creek ES Grand Staircase. We will also be accepting donations to support our Arts Department. Thank you in advance for your ongoing support! There will be a PTA bake sale afterwards; come by and treat your musician to a sweet treat to celebrate! See you at the concerts! We are so excited to perform for you!

SLIGO CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 500 Schuyler Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910 301.562.2722 www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/sligocreekes/ PTA Web site: www.scespta.org Comments? Questions? Send them to the Newsletter Editor: [email protected]

SCES PTA Officers Diane Kelleher,co- President Stuart Kern, co-President Andrew Schulman, Treasurer Alice Vorosmarti, Secretary Susan Dahiya, Vice President for Events & Fundraising Debbie Boger, Vice President for Communication & Outreach Gabe Gonzalez, Vice President for Academic Support

Missed the PTA meeting? Catch up by reading the minutes online. Go to our PTA website to find current and archived meeting minutes. http://www.scespta.org/pta-meetings.html

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Online Resources
A big thank you to Ms. Elkins, SCES Media Specialist, for providing information on useful online resources at our December PTA meeting. Our students are using these resources in school and may benefit from also using them at home. Below is a summary of her presentation. All of the links to these websites can be found on the Media Center page of the Sligo Creek ES website at: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/sligocreekes/mediacenter/. For login & password info, please contact Ms. Elkins at: [email protected].

Website for Reading & Literacy

TumbleBooks: this is an online library of animated, talking picture books. There are books in English, French, and Spanish. They are primarily for younger children (K-grade 2). The books are read aloud so that children can read along with the narrator. No password is needed for this website if you get there through the Media Center page of the school website.

Websites for Doing Research

Note: Ms. Elkins recommends that students use these online reference sites (and others on the Media Center webpage) rather than Google searches because these are evaluated resources. PebbleGo: The PebbleGo website has 2 databases of science information: PebbleGo Animals and PebbleGo Earth and Space. PebbleGo Animals is a useful reference site for the 3rd Grade project on animals. The text is read aloud and there are videos to watch. CultureGrams Kids Edition: this website gives information about countries culture, history, society, etc. It is a more challenging reading level than PebbleGo. It is a useful website for the 1st Grade Culture Project and the 3rd Grade Flag project. Encyclopaedia Brittanica: There are 3 levels of this encyclopedia and there is a French language version in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica Global Reference Center. However, the reading level is pretty challenging for elementary-aged students. World Book: This is another online encyclopedia with multiple databases. It is more kid-friendly than the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. World Book Student is geared towards 4th and 5th graders. World Book Early Peoples is very helpful for the 4th Grade project on Native Americans. There is also a French language version, called World Book Dcouverte which is a more appropriate reading level than the French language version of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. SIRS Knowledge Source: Within this website, there is a SIRS Issues Researcher that is a useful database for the 5th Grade project on Pros and Cons. The database gives articles that support both sides of issues. There are many other databases within SIRS. Noodle Tools: this is a website for putting together citations.

Other Resources not on the Media Center Webpage

Study Island: this is a supplemental language and math website that some teachers are using. Information on login/passwords can be gotten from your childs teacher. No access from the Media Center webpage. Natural Reader: this a free download that you can find online (search Google). It is a program that will read the text on web pages aloud to you. If you upgrade to a paid version, there are other languages available.
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STAFF GIFT FUND DRIVE: Dec. 2-20, 2011

Wondering what to get your childs teacher this year? The PTA has the perfect idea: collect money for a general gift fund and let the staff spend it! A few benefits of this fund: Staff Gift Fund buys gifts that individuals (or even entire classrooms) could not afford. Last year, we collected more than $5,000, which paid for t-shirts for the softball team, filtered water for the teachers lounge and $25 gift cards for every teacher and staff member in the school. Staff Gift Fund shares the wealth across the entire school. With this Fund, we can be sure that all classroom teachers are rewarded equally, regardless of the ability of students in each class to afford gifts. Staff Gift Fund also allows staff other than classroom teachers to be recognized. Administrators, specials instructors, school nurses, and para-educators also do a lot for our children. This is one way to show how much we appreciate their contributions. Staff Gift Fund buys gifts that are meaningful. We poll the staff to determine what they want, and we buy the things that benefit the most people. How does the Staff Gift Fund work? Give us your monetary gift in any amount, and tell us what staff members you want to recognize. On Dec. 23, well give a holiday letter to each staff person, listing the families who gave in their honor (no amounts are communicated, only the names of students). There are two ways to contribute: Preferred method: Pay online. Go to http://www.scespta.org/staff-gift-fund.html. Note: PayPal deducts a fee of 2.9%. By Mail: Mail this form and your check, payable to SCES PTA, to: PTA Staff Gift Fund, c/o Suzanne Chartol, 12901 Winterthur Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20904. CONTRIBUTIONS WILL NOT BE COLLECTED AT SCHOOL! Questions? Contact Suzanne Chartol at [email protected]. Total Amount of Gift: ______________________________ Family's Last Name(s): _____________________________________________________ Email address:_____________________________________

First Child's Full Name: ____________________________________________________ Teachers/Staff (you MUST specify by name):___________________________________ Second Child's Full Name: _________________________________________________ Teachers/Staff (you MUST specify by name): __________________________________ Third Child's Full Name: ____________________________________________________ Teachers/Staff (you MUST specify by name):___________________________________

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