Rock View Elementary School
Phone: 301-929-2002 Fax: 301-962-5986
www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/rockviewes
Twitter: @RVESRoadrunners (Ms. Alexander) @RockView_AP (Ms. Grigsby)
THE ROADRUNNER
May 9, 2016
PARCC Testing is Here!
Every student in grades 3, 4, and 5 will take the Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) assessments in Reading/EnglishLanguage Arts (ELA) and Mathematics, online. This year, the PARCC test will be
given in one testing window during the months of May and early June. The
testing window begins May 9 th and ends June 3 rd. The make-up testing window
is from June 6 th through June 10 th. Please see the attached page for the
specific schedule and an explanation of how the PARCC testing impacts the
lunch/recess schedule for students from Kindergarten, 2 nd, 4 th, & 5 th grades.
REMINDER - Tell Your Neighbors! Kindergarten Orientation Is This Week!
Our Kindergarten Orientation will take place this week - Thursday, May 12 and
Friday, May 13. Please note that there will be NO SCHOOL for current Kindergarten
students in Ms. Solender’s, Ms. Reyes’, Ms. Castillo’s, Ms. Laurie’s, and Ms. Kelly’s
classes (Ms. Iyomahan’s s tudents WILL have school) on these days in order to host
this event. If you have neighbors with children who will be 5 years old by Sept. 1,
2016, please let them know about our Kindergarten Orientation!
Field Day!
Field Day is scheduled for Wednesday, May 11 th. The first session (preK-2 nd grade)will
be in the morning and the 3 rd – 5 th grades will participate from in the afternoon. Parent
volunteers are critical to the success of Field Day! If you would like to volunteer,please
be on the lookout for information coming home soon or contact Mr. Moran directly.
His email is [email protected]. Thank you for considering to volunteer!
Family Move! Night
We hope you can join us for a night of fun family physical activity for our Family
Move! Night on May 11 th, 6:15-7:30 pm. MCPS Food Service is providing FREE pizza
dinner for kids and $1 pizza and water bottles for adults! Here are some of the fun
activities you will find at Family Move! Night:
Ms. Kris Alexander, Principal Ms. Nia Grigsby, Assistant Principal
Upcoming Events
May 9-June 3 – Gr. 3-5 PARCC testing window
(make up window June 6-10) see letter that
went home with 3th-5 th graders for schedule
May 11 – Field Day (see section for more info)
May 11 – Family Move! Night, 6:15-7:30 pm
May 12&13 – Kindergarten Orientation (see
section for more info)
May 17 – Gr 5 Patrol Picnic
May 17 – Volunteer Appreciation event,3:306:30 pm in Staff Lounge
May 18 – Field Day (rain date)
May 19 – 5 th grade Science Club field trip,
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
May 20 – 5 th grade field trip, Mt. Vernon
May 22 – Girls on the Run 5K at Montgomery
Mall
May 24 – preK Hearing and Vision screening
May 26 – Art Show, 6-8:30 pm in the Media
Center
May 30 – Holiday, Memorial Day schools and
offices closed
May 31 – Einstein HS graduation!!
June 2 – Spring Concert, 7 pm at Einstein HS
(see section for more info)
June 3 – 4 th grade end of year celebration
June 9 – 1 st grade Good and Services event
(end of year event)
June 10 – 4 th grade field trip, St. Mary’s City
June 10 – 5 th grade end of year celebration
June 10 – Rock View Rocks, 5:30- 8 pm on
back field
June 15 – preK graduation, 930 am
June 15 – grade 3 end of year celebration
June 15 – 5 th grade promotion ceremony, 6
pm at Einstein HS
June 16 – 2 nd grade end of year celebration
June 16 – kindergarten end of year
celebration
June 20 – last day of school, early release
(dismissal begins at 12:50 pm)
School Beautification & BINGO
Night
Thank you to everyone who came
out for our rescheduled School
Beautification and BINGO Night – it
was great to finally have these
events! Kudos to all of the volunteers
who made these great community
events possible – thank you!
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Introductory sessions for Tae Kwon Do, Pilates, Zumba, and yoga
Kids After Hours is providing a rock climbing wall
Field Day games – your kids are the experts! Let them show you how they are played!
Dance Party
There will be classroom with quieter games, when you need a break from everything else
Mini skills clinics for soccer and throwing from 2 local coaches
Arrival/Dismissal Safety Reminders
We continue to have issues with cars during our arrival and dismissal process. Please help us keep your children safe and
traffic moving during arrival and dismissal – thank you! As a reminder, students should not be dropped off or picked up in
the bus loop during arrival and dismissal times. We have posted patrols with cones at the entrance of the bus loop to keep
car traffic out during arrival and dismissal times , yet drivers continue to disregard the signage and drive into the bus loop
well before school is dismissed. Please do not pull into the bus loop during the timeframes that are posted on the signage.
Having additional cars in our bus loop during arrival and dismissal creates a very unsafe situation for everyone! Also,please
be mindful to stop when busses have their stop sign active, even if this occurs within our bus loop. This is primarily an iss ue
when the busses from other schools drop off/pick up in our bus loop. Many MCPS busses now have cameras to catch drivers
who do not stop when the stop signs are active. The safety of our students, staff, and community members needs to be
everyone’s focus and responsibility. I am asking that, regardless of the circumstances, that you remain patient, exercise
caution and specifically heed the reminders that I have provided above.
Opportunity To Be A Host Family
If you love baseball and have kids that love baseball, have a room available in your house and want to give a potential future
Major Leaguer an opportunity to come to our hometown and showcase his skills for scouts, the Silver Spring/Takoma Park
Thunderbolts are looking for a few more host families this summer. June 1st-August 1st, 35 college baseball players fromall
over the world will be playing for a shot to get drafted, right here in the Kensington area (Blair High School). They need a
place to lay their heads at night and maybe some space in the refrigerator and freezer. Last year, 4 of the team’s players
were drafted, and they expect to have more in this year’s draft as well. Several parents from Rock View ES, Newport Mill
MS, Sligo MS, and Oakland Terrace ES are host families already, but we need a few more because they have signed a lot of
players from many different schools all over the country/world. The team now has two players coming from Taiwan who do
not speak English - if you are someone who speaks Mandarin or know of a family that might be interested, please contact
the Thunderbolts. If you are interested in hosting a player (or two), please contact the Thunderbolts. If you can’t host a
player but want to come check us out the team this summer or have your child participate in their our fun/instructional
summer baseball camp, all the information you need is at:
http://www.tbolts.org/
New Date For The Last Day of School
Montgomery County Public Schools will extend the 2015–2016 school year by one day and end the year on Monday, June
20, 2016. The MCPS request for a one-day waiver of the 180-day school year requirement was approved Monday by the
Maryland State Department of Educati on (MSDE). The school year was previously scheduled to end Friday, June 17, and now
will end with an early release day on June 20. You can view the revised calendar online at
www.montgomeryschool smd.org/calendar/.
Staffing Updates
MCPS continues to move through the staffing season for next school year. Ms. Kate Hogan, 3 rd grade teacher, has been hired
as a grade 2 teacher at Luxmanor ES. Additionally, Ms. Elizabeth Lando, 3 rd grade teacher, will move to Glen Allen ES and Ms.
Desiree Flores, 3 rd grade teacher, has been hired as a grade 1 teacher at Whetstone ES. Ms. Montana Wirth, 4 th grade teacher,
has accepted a 3 rd grade position at Candlewood ES. Mr. Jeremy Perry, general music teacher, is leaving the area at the end
of the school year; Ms. Ashlea Gray, part time general music teacher, will become our f ull time general music teacher. In
effort to be assigned to fewer schools, Ms. Heather White, part time physical education teacher, is pursuing other PE
positions in MCPS. Ms. Grigsby, Assistant Principal, will be heading to Shriver ES as a math content coach. You mayremember
Ms. Kris Alexander, Principal Ms. Nia Grigsby, Assistant Principal
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that the prekindergarten vision program is moving to Brookhaven ES next year. As a result, Mr. Adam Mi lls, special education
teacher, and Ms. Wendy Smith & Ms. Jackie Davis, special education paraeducators, will be moving with the program. I know
that you will join me in wishing the staff members who are leaving us all the best in their new positions!
We have hired veteran teacher, Ms. Teri Somin, from Takoma Park ES as a new 3 rd grade teacher. Additionally, Ms. Christina
Harris, special education teacher, will be joining our Learning Center staff. We have also hired Mr. Damian Grasso for our
part time physical education vacancy. We are currently advertising for remaining vacancies (grade 3 and part time music).
Ms. Marybeth Mantzouranis, currently Assistant Principal at Watkins Mill ES, will be joining our staff as a Principal Intern. As
a Principal Intern, Ms. Mantzouranis will serve in a role similar to an Assistant Principal f or most of next school year, witha
“takeover” experience where she will serve in a role similar to an Acting Principal for 6 -8 weeks after we return from Winter
Break. During this time, Ms. Alexander will serve in the role as Visiting Principal at a schoo l to support another Principal
Intern during his/her takeover experience, while a Visiting Principal will come to Rock View to support Ms. Mantzouranis.
More information will be coming about Ms. Mantzouranis and her Principal Intern experience at Rock View .
Spring Concert is June 2
We are looking forward to our Spring Concert! Students in 3 rd grade and our 5 th grade Chorus will be singing, and our 4 th and
5 th grade instrumental music students will be performing at the concert. The concert begins at 7 pm in the auditorium at
Einstein High School. We hope to see you there! Here are some reminders to enable everyone to enjoy the concert – thank
you for your support!
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While the performance is in progress, please remain seated and quiet. If it becomes necessary to leave the
auditorium, please so between musical selections. We will have a few staff members monitoring the students while
they are in their seats, if you would like to help with this, please let a staff member know.
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If very young children become restles s and impact others’ ability to hear the performance, please take them to the
lobby area.
You are welcome to take pictures or video from your seat or from the back of the auditorium. We ask that you keep
the area directly in front of the stage clear to all ow our performers to walk to and from their seats and so that
everyone can see the performance.
Please keep your cell phone and other electronic devices on “silent” or “vibrate” throughout the performance.
We know that this is a busy time of year for everyone – we hope that you are able to stay for the entire concert.
Our students who are last to perform love to hear the loud applause they deserve!
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After the students are done performing, they will be directed to return to their seats. You are welcome to have your
child to join you to enjoy the rest of the concert. We will have a few staff members monitoring the students who
remain in their seats, again, if you would like to help with this, please let a staff member know.
REMINDER - MCPS Special Education Summit Set for May 14
MCPS parents, staff, and community members are invited to the third annual Special Education Summit, Leading the Way
Today, Partnering for a Better Tomorrow. The summit will take place on Saturday, May 14, 8:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., at
Gaithersburg High School, 101 Education Boulevard in Gaithersburg. The summit is free and will feature resources and
workshops for families of students with disabilities. Families will also have an opportunity to meet representatives from
many MCPS offices, Montgomery County agencies, and non-profit organizations. For more information, visit
www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special -education/events/.
Summer School Registration Began May 4
Registration for the 2016 elementary summer school programs began Wednesday, May 4. Both programs are open to all
students who are residents of Montgomery County, whether or not they are enrolled in MCPS. The elementary school
program runs from July 5 to July 29 and will be offered at Cannon Road and Candlewood elementary schools. The registration
period closes on June 20. Visit www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/extendedhours/summerschool/ for more
information.
Ms. Kris Alexander, Principal Ms. Nia Grigsby, Assistant Principal
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