The Eagle’s Eye
Rock Creek Valley Elementary School
5121 Russett Road, Rockville, MD 20853
(301) 460-2195 Fax (301) 460-2196
February 13, 2015
Catherine Jasperse, Principal
Julia Bialeski, Assistant Principal
Principal’s Message
In the coming week, MCPS will mail a parent engagement survey to randomly selected parents at all
grade levels in every school. The parent engagement survey includes questions that focus on parents’
perceptions of their children’s school and education. The information you provide will help schools
better understand families’ engagement in their children’s education and improve connections between
schools and families. The survey takes about 8-10 minutes to complete. Families in the random sample
will receive information sent directly to their homes on how to complete the survey. The information
will contain the website address and password. Translated surveys will be sent directly to families and a
paper survey in English will be available upon request. All answers are completely confidential and
reported together with the answers from others families in the school. This survey provides each school
with valuable information that is used in our on-going efforts for school improvement. If your family
does receive the survey, I ask that you take the time to complete it so that you can share your feedback
directly and help to make Rock Creek Valley ES the best possible school and learning environment for
everyone. Thanks in advance for your support and participation in this.
FREE Open Gym
Are your children bouncing off of the walls with bent up energy and no place to burn it off? The RCV
PTA invites all RCV children for some warm, indoor fun in the school's gym. Come to a FREE Open Gym
session at RCV this Saturday, February 14th from 2 pm until 5 pm. Space is limited to a maximum of 25
children at one time and play time will be granted on a first come, first serve basis. At least one adult
must be present for every 4 children. The RCV PTA is not responsible for any injuries or accidents that
may occur and all children who play in the gym are required to have a parent or guardian sign a liability
waiver. If space allows, non-RCV siblings are welcome to play too, but preference will be given to
students attending RCV. Balls and equipment will be provided by RCV.
If you have any questions about this activity, please contact David Goodman at
[email protected] or 301-460-8393.
Counselor’s Corner: February
Hello! We are quickly approaching formalized testing season for our 3rd through 5th graders. I would
like to take the opportunity to discuss test stress and anxiety. Students who experience this can
overcome it with some teaching and direction towards positive behaviors. Here is a description of some
positive ways to tackle test stress I have discussed in classrooms. I hope you find the strategies helpful!
Sincerely, Alexandra Kissell
 Eat a good breakfast. The importance of a good breakfast and plenty of sleep cannot be
underestimated in mentally and physically preparing us to take on a challenging task.
 Make sure to read through the directions on the test and the whole question. Students often
need to remind themselves to slow down and look through the ENTIRE question. They can also
use testing technology to cross out and eliminate potential answers.
 Think of a calm place. If stress is running high, students may want to stop, engage in deep
breathing or even visualize a place that is calming.
 Send yourself positive messages. We can often become our own harshest critics. If students are
telling themselves they have prepared and they are trying their best, it can help develop a
healthy and positive outlook.
Group Portrait Make Up Day
We have rescheduled the make-up day for Group Portraits.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 from 8:00am – 4:00pm
If you are interested in purchasing a group picture send the form (which was sent home before or you
can call the school office to ask for one) along with the payment with your student.
Kindergarten Is Coming!
Are you are the parent of a child who will be turning 5 before September 1st? If so, it’s time to start
thinking about kindergarten in the fall. Each year, we welcome incoming kindergartens to RCV. It is a
very exciting time as students throughout our community begin their school careers at RCV. There are
some important dates that we want to make you aware of:
A Voluntary Parent Tour will happen March 10th. This is an opportunity for parents to come and see the
school and hear a little bit about the kindergarten instructional program. The tour lasts for about 30-40
minutes and begins at 10:00 a.m. If you are interested in coming, please call the front office (301-4602195) and let us know so that we can make plans for the size of the group.
Kindergarten Orientation will be happening on April 16th and 17th. This is a time when parents sign up
for a specific appointment to bring their child in for orientation activities and registration. Each session
lasts approximately one hour and all incoming kindergarteners are strongly encouraged to participate in
orientation. Again, please call the front office (301-460-2195) to register for a specific date and time for
orientation. Prior to your scheduled orientation appointment, you will receive a packet of registration
information that will let you know what forms and documentation are needed for registration.
If you are not the parent of an incoming kindergarten student, but know of someone in the
neighborhood who will have a child eligible for kindergarten next year, please share this information
with them.
Saturday School
George B. Thomas Saturday School registration form is attached if you are interested in signing up your
child for further instruction. You can go to www.saturdayschool.org or bring in the attached flyer to one
of the participating schools to register.
The Earle B. Wood STEM Expo 2015 (See Attachment)
Interactive Presentations: Thursday night you will find a variety of interactive presentations in various
places around the building. Here is the list of events and the room locations:
· Cosmic Adventures (Gym) — Constellations, moon phases, visible planets & significant astronomical
events
· Animal Wonders (Cafeteria) — Learn about the characteristics of turtles, snakes and much more
· Scoop It! (Media Center) - Find something awesome online and show it off!
· Engineering Designs (Rooms 106 & 108)— Meet with real life engineers and try out an underwater
submarine, Lego Mindstorm, and other STEM projects
· Liquid Nitrogen (Room 221) — Learn the cool properties of liquid nitrogen while you prepare your own
dip-n-dots
· Radiation Detector (Hallway) — What’s a Geiger counter and where can you find radiation in your
world?
· Did you feel that? (Room 287) - Can you design a structure to withstand the Earthquake machine?
· Investigating Earth’s properties (Hallway) - Use N-Spire calculators to graph your experiment, live!
· Frog Dissection (Room 251) - Do frogs have a similar digestive system to humans?
· Clean Air (Hallway) - Test your lung’s air capacity with our EPA professional
· Sequencing DNA (Lab 290) - Use NIH software to identify organisms and their genes.
· Brain Game (Room 292) - Examine your muscles impulses on an IPad & the affects of prism goggles
· Coding (Room 294) - Microsoft professionals will provided a training on smart game coding
· STEM Challenges (Multiple locations) - Test your engineering skills and compete for prizes
· In your backyard (Hallway) - Learn how to create science tools at home
· Oil Spill (Room 288) - How quickly can you save the environment?
**Most importantly check out the amazing work students have completed this year in their classes.
Also, the PTA has organized a bake sale in the cafeteria.