Kensington Parkwood Elementary School & PTA Newsletter • DECEMBER 2015
KP EagleNews
kppta.org
Key dates
DEC. 1
Math Night PTA Meeting,
7:30 PM, Media Center
DEC. 5
Holiday Bazaar/Art
Gallery Sale, 11:00 AM
DEC. 24 - JAN. 1
Winter Break, No School
JAN. 18
Martin Luther King Day,
No School
PTA Thanks
November was surely a
month of appreciation
and gratitude, and the
PTA wants to show our
thanks as well for all the
volunteers who helped
out with our fabulous
Book Fair! Special thanks
go to our hard working
co-chairs:
A note from the Principal
Hello KP Families!
I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and took time to relax and enjoy time
with family and friends. Thanksgiving is a time of reflection, and I am so thankful and
fortunate to be part of such an amazing school community. Our success as a school
is a direct result of the commitment of our students, staff, and of course families.
Working together towards to same goals we are more effective. At KP, we are
committed to providing rigor and differentiation to all students, in a respectful and
friendly learning environment. Our expectations are high both academically and
behaviorally. Thank you all for your support!
Over the past few weeks we have noticed more and more students getting to school
too early. The earliest students should arrive is 9:10 a.m. Students are not allowed to
enter the building until 9:10. This is especially important to keep in mind as the
weather turns colder. Along with cold weather, we also see an increase in the amount
of items in our Lost and Found. Labeling your child’s outerwear with first and last
name is very helpful. This way if an item is left on the playground, we can return it
rather than adding it to the Lost and Found. The month of December tends to fly bye
quickly – but we have a lot going on here before we finish out 2015!
Best, Barbara
Melissa Mannle
Susan Priester
Roberta Alves
Karin Averbeck
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A note from the PTA President
Dear KP Community,
This year is flying by, and we hope everyone enjoyed good times and good food with family and
friends over Thanksgiving. Our annual Book Fair in November was a great success, and we hope
you had the opportunity to stop by and shop for reading material for the whole family.
As if December isn’t already busy enough, the PTA has been planning more great events! We hope
to see lots of parents at our Math Night event on December 1 at 7:30pm to learn more about the
new math curriculum and to ask questions (what is composing and decomposing? what are 10’s
blocks?). Quickly after, we are looking forward to a great Holiday Bazaar, in conjunction with the KP
Art Show, on December 5th. This is a great opportunity for your kids to pick out a gift for someone
special and have a morning of fun - this has always been one of my favorite events!
Then we can all relax for a nice, long winter break. I wish everyone a holiday season full of peace
and joy!
Cate Watson, PTA President
Holiday Bazaar & White Elephant Sale
Saturday, December 5th: 11am - 1pm
This is a fun family event where your kids can buy inexpensive gifts for their family members and
you can buy NEW gifts from one of the 7 local vendors we will have!
We will be featuring the movie “Prep and Landing” for the kids with Popcorn and Armands Pizza for
sale! Cash only at White Elephant Sale, and cash and checks at Vendor Sale!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Get Your Holiday Gift Cards from KP
Once again, the KP PTA will sell Holiday Gift Cards that help benefit our school. Order forms were
sent home before Thanksgiving in your children's backpack and will also be available at the KP
Holiday Bazaar on December 5th from 11am - 1pm. Please email Courtney Perna at [email protected] to get your cards or for more information she will have your order available to pick up in the school office or can make arrangements to get
them to you directly. Thank you for your order!
10th Annual Family Fun Night of
BINGO!
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Session 1: 6:45 - 7:30 pm
Session 2: 7:45 - 8:30 pm
Doors open at 6:30pm
Please attend only one session to allow all of our families a chance to play!
Potomac Pizza will be available, please pre-order by Thursday, January 21st
• Bingo card $5.00/person for one 10-card pack
• Five or more? Family Discount $20.00 flat
• 50/50 Raffle $10 per ticket or $25 for 5
** Questions? Interested in sponsorship opportunities for your local business? **
Contact [email protected] or [email protected]
Benefiting
Kensington
Parkwood PTA
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Halloween Candy Drive a BIG Success
We had a very successful Halloween candy drive. A big thanks to Steve Gardner for taking 158
pounds of candy to our partners at Smileland Dentistry in Wheaton. And a big thanks to Smileland
for their donation of $160 to the KP PTA ($1 per pound) and for shipping the candy to Operation
Gratitude for distribution to our troops serving overseas.
From the Desk of the School Counselor
Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy this magical time of year with your children and families. I wanted to take
this opportunity to share an exciting partnership KP has this month with one of our sister schools, JoAnn
Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Silver Spring. Through December 18, we will be collecting new
clothing donations of all sizes, infant through adult, to be distributed within the Broad Acres school
community. The school is in need of donations of shoes, winter coats, winter hats, pajamas, socks, and
clothing.
We are so fortunate to have the unique experience to teach our students the significance of helping others in
our community. Please keep our clothing drive in mind as you complete your holiday shopping. If you have
any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Jackie Mitchell
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InView Testing
In the Art Room
All second grade students and
3rd, 4th, and 5th grade
students that are either new to
MCPS or recommended to be
rescreened will be taking the
InView test on Friday 12/4,
Monday 12/7, and Tuesday
12/8. The second and third
grade students will take the test
at 10:45 am those mornings.
The 4th and 5th grade students
will take the test at 12:45 pm
those afternoons. Each day of
testing is approximately one
hour. There will be makeups for
those who are sick during the
testing.
Kindergartners will read the story Owl Moon and create clay owls and
settings.
1st graders will learn about the top 10 endangered animals
and create incised relief prints.
Second graders will look at the work of Alexander Calder
and create a fish mobile.
Third graders will look at the work of Paul Bailey
and create a clay landscape slab relief sculpture.
Fourth graders will look at Monet’s water lilies and
create their own water lilies out of clay with a
detachable frog.
Fifth graders will look at the work of Betty Sander
and create mono prints using different tools and techniques.
PE Update
Grades K-2
In the primary grades we will be
working on the concepts of
throwing and catching,
relationships with objects,
relationships with body parts,
and the effects of exercise on
the body. Activities will include
throwing and catching with
various objects, overhand and
underhand throwing games,
and aerobic exercises.
Grades 3-5
In the upper grades, we will be
working on the concepts of
striking with body parts to a
partner, and effort and
improvement, and goal setting. Activities will include individual
and team volleyball skills,
fitness challenges, and strength
activities.
Making Music at KP
The KP Singers are getting ready for 2 concerts coming up next month.
December 17th at 7:15 at KP and a performance on December 19th at
1:00pm at the RIO Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg. We hope to
see you at both of these free performances to support the amazing 4th
and 5th grade KP Singers!
KP Players drama club for 3rd grade students will have an interest
meeting December 15th at 4:00 pm in the media center. This meeting is
for students as well as parents looking for more information! Please
contact Victoria Randall if you are unable to attend the meeting but would
like information about the after school drama club.
In music class, kindergarten students are beginning to read picture
symbols representing high/low, loud/soft, and long/short sounds.
1st graders are about to begin reading and writing quarter and eighth
notes as well as so and mi pitch patterns.
2nd grade students are reading and performing simple eight, quarter and
half note rhythms as well as pentatonic solfege pitches.
In 3rd and 4th grade, students are focusing on proper singing technique
and holding their own part in a cannon or while singing an ostinato.
5th graders are studying musical form and syncopated rhythms, as well
as improving their singing techniques.
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Grade & Team Information
Kindergarten
reading literary texts. We will continue to
describe characters, settings, and major events
using key details, and ask/answer questions
about those key details, but we will also compare
the adventures/experiences of characters in
different stories. As the month continues, we will
shift to reading more informational texts, mostly
related to the content in Science. We will identify
the main idea, use illustrations and words in the
text to describe key ideas, and clarify vocabulary
in the text. In December, Kindergarten students are
preparing for winter, and a brand new year! We
continue to develop our reading, writing,
listening, and speaking vocabulary by, exploring
fiction and non-fiction texts, and by engaging in
discussion with our peers and teachers. We
continue to meet our teacher’s high expectations
for thinking, learning, class-work, and behavior.
In reading, during the second half of the marking
period, kindergarteners will be reading and
listening to informational text. We will talk about
the role of the author and the illustrator in
presenting information. We will learn how the
text and the illustrations are closely related.
Writing: We will write opinion pieces about one of
our favorite books. We will use strong details to
support our opinions. We will also add a closure
and have a peer edit our writing. Next, we will
write a narrative. Our narratives will have a
beginning, middle, and end. We will use verbs
to convey past and present. We will also add
details to our writing and share our writing with
our classmates.
Math: In weeks 4-7, we continue to discuss
addition and subtraction situations, but
concentrate more on the different strategies we
can use to solve these problems, such as
doubles, doubles plus one, making a friendly
ten, and counting on or back.
In writing, we are continuing to work on sounding
out and writing the consonant sounds that we
hear in words. We are continuing to add details
to our pictures and writing. We are beginning to
learn what makes a complete sentence.
In math, students will count a set of objects using
one-to-one correspondence, and keep track of
the size of a growing set of objects, use twocolor counters to decompose a given number
into pairs and describe the results, and represent
quantities up to six in a variety of ways
Weeks 8 and 9 involve adding 3 numbers with
sums to 20 and discussing the strategies to use
when adding (associative property).
In science, we are continuing to focus on life
sciences. We will Identify, describe, and
sequence life cycles. For example, the life cycle
of a frog is egg, tadpole, froglet, and adult frog. Each classroom will be getting mealworms. During Science we will observe the mealworms
as they undergo metamorphosis (egg, larva,
pupa, Darkling Beetle).
Social Studies: In social studies, we will continue
to talk about our own family cultures and
traditions, and compare them with families’
traditions around the world. Next, we will begin
to talk about the past. We will learn to use
context clues to help us determine whether a
story or illustration is referring to the past,
present, or future.
In social studies, students will identify humanmade features, compare how pictures, maps,
and globes show features of places, and identify
how location terms can help describe a place.
Science: We will learn about causes for changes
in an object’s motion. We will also ask questions
about and explore the effect of magnets on
objects. Finally, we will classify materials using
magnets.
First Grade
First grade continues to be busy! Reading: During December, we will start by
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Grade & Team Information, continued
Second Grade
Reading: Students have been focusing on
nonfiction texts. We reviewed text features, like
headings, table of contents, and a glossary. In
small groups, we worked on answering how the
text features help us learn specific things from
books and how and why the author uses text
features to help us better understand the book.
November has kept second grade very busy
and December will continue to do the same.
Students went to Strathmore to hear the National
Philharmonic, conducted by Maestro Piotr
Gajewski. We had lots of fun. If your child
hasn’t told you about it, ask them about it.
Maybe they will even sing the song they learned
in music that was part of the concert.
Writing: We have been working on writing
informative text. After learning about the ocean
and landforms, we had a lot of background
knowledge to begin our research on coral reefs.
We read books and found information online
about coral reefs to practice the skill of notetaking. We used our notes to write an
information piece. We revised our writing by
adding adjectives, adverbs, and sensory words. We also researched US states and discovered
facts about its landforms, state nickname, flag,
and bird. Ms. Mackey worked with us to take
notes about the states in the computer lab. Each student used the information they gathered
to write a book on their assigned state. We also
practiced narrative writing when we responded
to various November writing prompts, as well as
when we wrote about our family's Thanksgiving
traditions. Last, we identified regular and
irregular verbs and applied these to our writing.
Science: for the month of December, we will
finish observing parts of a whole. We will be
looking at how every whole has different parts
that make the whole. We will also arrange and
rearrange parts to observe of those parts work
together to form an object. We will work on
asking ourselves, “what if” questions after taking
apart objects to see what would happen if a part
of the whole is missing. After finishing parts of a
whole, we will then move onto how parts of a
vibrating object work together to create a sound,
for example a string instrument. We will then
create our own instrument out of recycled
materials and rubber bands. Please keep an
eye out for a letter requesting students bring in
recycled materials to start building our own
instruments (tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls,
cereal boxes, etc.). We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a
relaxing and safe winter break. Be sure to
continue to read, write and do some math over
break. Enjoy!
Math: At the beginning of the quarter we worked
on odd/even numbers as well as doubles and
doubles plus one facts. We have also worked
on using mental strategies to add and subtract
within 20. In addition we have been doing
addition problems and deciding on whether it is
necessary to compose a 10. Students have
learned about a number line and a thinking line
and have been doing both addition and
subtraction problems. We will also continue to
do word problems. Please remember to practice
your facts within 20.
Social Studies: We spent a good amount of time
learning about maps We first talked about the
purposes of a map. We then identified the
different oceans and continents. We then
learned about all the map elements: compass
rose, legend, key, scale, etc. Students made
maps as well. We also learned about human
made vs natural resources. We also spent time
learning the difference between urban, rural and
suburban.
Third Grade
The Wax Museum book report has gone home!
You and your child should begin working
towards the Wax Museum performances. The
assignment is to read a fiction book, any fiction
book they have not read before, and take on the
role of one of the characters. As part of the
assignment sheet, there is a suggested timeline. On Tuesday, December 22 at 3:00 pm, parents
and other special family members are invited to
the Wax Museum held in your child’s classroom.
Students will be expected to bring costume
items to school in order to take on the character
from their novel.
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Grade & Team Information, continued
Third Grade (continued)
properties of operations. They will also illustrate
and explain the calculation by using equations,
rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
Students will also learn the sizes of
measurement units within one system of units
including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min,
sec. and be able to express measurements in a
larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. For
example, know that 1 ft is 12 times as long as 1
in. or express the length of a 4 ft snake as 48 in.
For the Wax Museum book report, students will
also prepare a short speech about the book from
that character’s point of view. Please consult the
assignment sheet for more details, and feel free
to contact your child’s teacher if you have any
more questions.
In math, we are continuing to make our way
through multiplication and division facts and
strategies. We are focusing our attention on how
facts are related, such as 4’s and 6’s, and how
multiplication and division facts are related, such
as fact families. Please continue to practice
multiplication and division flashcards with your
children at home to balance our desire for a
solid understanding of the concepts with quick,
automatic, and accurate recall of facts in order
to apply them.
Fifth Grade
As the cold weather blows in, we in 5th grade are
getting warmed up. In reading, students are
reading different types of literary texts including
myths and mysteries. Particularly, students are
explaining how characters in a story respond to
challenges to determine the theme of the story.
We are also comparing and contrasting
characters and settings. In writing, students will
be researching movements for social change
including the Civil Rights and the Women’s
Rights Movements. Students will synthesize their
researched information into a five paragraph
essay.
In writing, we will begin with word painting winter
poems using the five senses, and, then we move
onto an informational research project using the
Chromebooks. Please try to have your child
practice typing at home. We are using
Chromebooks more and more in the classroom
for assignments and research and want to build
the students’ capacity to type effectively.
In math, 5th graders recently finished a unit on
division and are now beginning to study
fractions. Specifically, we will be adding and
subtracting fractions and mixed numbers with
unlike denominators. We will explore these
concepts through a variety of visual models
including bar diagrams and number lines. By
quarter’s end students will begin multiplying
fractions by whole numbers.
Finally, have a wonderful holiday season!
Fourth Grade
In fourth grade, we are learning about elements
of a play and what we can learn about a
character from reading a play. In Social Studies
and writing, we continue to learn about
economics and concepts such as specialization
and interdependence. We will be using our
knowledge of these concepts as we begin our
informational writing piece this quarter. In
Science, we will continue to work with our Eco
columns. We will begin to investigate different
pollutants in our environment and study the
effects of pollution on the plants in our aquarium
and terrarium.
In compacted math, we are solving percent
problems involving parts of a whole. Next,
students will use models and the standard
algorithm to divide fractions. Then students will
gain a deeper understanding of the mathematics
behind the standard algorithm of division with
whole numbers. We will wrap up December by
identifying relationships between models and the
algorithm to add and subtract decimals.
In math, students will learn to multiply a whole
number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole
number, and multiply two two-digit numbers,
using strategies based on place value and the
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