Kensington Parkwood Elementary School & PTA Newsletter • MAY 2016
KP EagleNews
kppta.org
Key dates
A note from the Principal
MAY 3
PTA Meeting to elect new
board and talk with
teachers about next
school year Media Center, 7:30 PM
Hello KP Families!
MAY 12 - 13
Kindergarten Orientation,
No School for
Kindergarteners
MAY 14
Family Fun Day, 4:00 7:00 pm, Blacktop and
Field
MAY 20
Parents and Pastries for
3rd-5th, 8:15 - 9:00 AM,
Multi-Purpose Room
Thank you so very much to all of the parents who played a role in the planning
and execution of the amazing Spring Party! What an incredible event, and so
nice to spend time with our school community in a different setting. Again –
THANK YOU all for a wonderful night!
Due to the number of snow days this winter, the state is requiring us to extend
the school year by one day. As identified in the MCPS calendar, the first
contingency day is Monday, June 20th, which will now be the last day of school
for students. It will be an early release day with students dismissing at 1:50 PM.
I am happy to announce that Bar-T will continue to be our before- and afterschool child care provider. The county requires schools to follow a process
which allows other providers to bid for schools every 7 years. A team consisting
of school staff and parents participated in a thorough review of all of the
providers that applied. After completing the process, Bar-T was chosen as the
clear winner. Thank you so much to the parents and staff who assisted with this
lengthy process!
All the best! Barbara
MAY 30
Memorial Day, No School
The Jungle Book by KP Players
The third grade’s KP Players performance of Disney's The Jungle Book, kids! will be May 19th and 20th at 7:15 in the
APR. Doors open at 7:00 pm. No tickets needed! Video and photographs are strictly prohibited. To purchase a copy of
the DVD, please visit www.schooldaysproductions.com!
Walk/Bike to
School Day May 4th
Walk/Bike to School Day is on
Wednesday, May 4. We hope
you will join with friends and
neighbors to be part of this
community event. Walking/
biking to school is a fun and
healthy way to spend time
your kids while teaching them
basic traffic safety skills. It
also reduces the traffic
around the school and
pollution in our air! We
hope to see you out there!
A note from the PTA President
Dear KP,
April was a whirlwind of PTA activity and it was such fun! Thanks to everyone for your
support of the Spring pARTy, the Science Fair, and the Treasures & Trash yard sale/
paper shred! May is looking equally busy with Teacher Appreciation Week, Food
Allergy Awareness Day/Week (stay tuned for info on this!), Walk/Bike to School Day,
Family Fun Day, and Parents & Pastries (grades 3-5). We hope to see you at some or
all of these events.
We also hope to see you at our last PTA meetings of the year. On May 3 at 7:30pm, you
can meet with teachers to learn what to expect for your child next year and to vote in
the 2016-2017 PTA Board. On May 5 at 7pm, you can learn more about the Walter
Johnson Cluster Overcrowding roundtable process and get more information on that
survey that we are asking you to (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) complete.
We are nearing the finish line on this school year, and I hope you will join me in
finishing strong (followed, of course, by a well-deserved break once June 17 20
arrives).
On a personal note, thank you all for a wonderful year and your support of the PTA
Board’s work on behalf of our KP community.
All the best, Cate
School Supply
Fly Orders
Once again, the Kensington
Parkwood PTA will be working
with SchoolSupplyFly for the
2016-17 school year, so
parents can purchase all of
their school supplies at once
instead of shopping at
several stores in August. The
web site will list the complete
set of items required by the
school for each grade, as
well as the option to purchase
additional items requested by
teachers. SchoolSupplyFly
was started by Ava Krensky,
a former Kensington
Parkwood student. Ava will
deliver all of the school
supply orders directly to the
classrooms before school
begins. Ava will post a link to
her website before school
gets out in June. Go to
www.schoolsupplyfly.com.
PARCC Testing Starting Soon
Attention 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Families:
PARCC Testing will begin soon. The schedule was sent via connect ed. If you did not
receive it, please let us know. During the days that your child is testing, please send
an extra snack. In addition, if you have inexpensive headphones that you are willing
to send with your child, please do so. Some of the testing requires the use of
headphones. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Alayna Lynam
([email protected]) and Kara Sherrill ([email protected]).
There’s Music in the Air
1st grade is working on composing rhythms and so, mi, la solfege patterns to
make ostinatos.
2nd and 3rd grade students are composing poem’s and adding either solefege
(2nd) or standard notation (3rd) to their poem so they can read, write and
perform their songs on an instrument such as piano, xylophone or recorder.
4th and 5th grade students are creating entirely unique rhythmic and melodic
compositions using standard notation. 5th graders are using the website
noteflight.com to write out their compositions and share them with me.
K students are playing classroom instruments and will continue to read long
and short rhythms as well as high and low sounds.
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FAMILY FUN DAY
Join us for fun, food, and possible fortune!
Saturday, May 14th
4:00-7:00 pm
Where: The blacktop & field behind KP
Entrance fee: $10 per child for a wristband
FOOD
Armand’s Pizza Truck
Ice Cream Truck
Guapos Food Truck
Popcorn
Cotton Candy
FUN
Inflatables and Games
DJ Dance Music
Dunk Tank
Face Painting
Cake Walk
The purchase of a wristband covers access to
inflatables, games, dunk tank, DJ dance party,
popcorn, cotton candy, and face painting. Food at
food trucks, cake walk, and 50/50 raffle tickets sold
separately.
Buy 50/50 raff le tickets for $1 each and
secure a chance to win 50% of the pot in CASH!
We need volunteers!
Please volunteer and make this event a success.
This is a great opportunity for teens to earn
SSL hours. Visit http://www.signupgenius.com/
go/30e0c4aa9a82d6-kpfamily to sign up to
volunteer. And we need volunteers to make or buy
cakes (or other baked goods) for the cake walk.
Contact Lauren Robinson at [email protected] if
you can help.
Kensington Parkwood Kindergarten Orientation
Who:
KPES invites all incoming Kindergarteners & Parents/Guardians to Orientation
Where:
Kensington Parkwood ES
When:
Thursday May 12th (9:45AM- 3:30PM)
Friday May 13th (9:45AM- 12PM)
What you need to know:
If you have a child who will enter kindergarten in the Fall of 2016, please stop by the KPES office or call the school at (301)
571-6949 to sign up for a time slot for orientation and to obtain registration forms (can be picked up or mailed). Each
orientation session is about 30-45 minutes in length. Tell your friends and neighbors too!
The office will provide you with registration forms and documents that need to be completed before your child starts
Kindergarten. Ideally, please turn in the documents during your orientation time slot.
What happens at Kindergarten Orientation?
While the children meet the kindergarten teachers, you will be in another room with other nervous parents, gathering school
information and turning in your registration forms. KP Orientation Volunteers will be on hand to help answer questions and
calm your nerves! After children meet with the teachers, you will be reunited and can enjoy a snack together!
KP Spirit Wear will also be available for purchase should you like to purchase a T-shirt, pencil, or other school spirit item to
get your little guy or gal ready for Kindergarten in the Fall!
For your reference:
PTA website is http://www.kppta.org/.
The school website: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/parkwoodes/
Sincerely,
KP PTA Orientation Co-Chairs
Nicole Grocki & Anna Sachs
In the Art Room
PE Update
In the art room this month:
Grades K-2
Kindergarteners will begin work on a self-portrait
puppet inspired by Claudine Hellmuth
In the primary grades we will be working on the
concept of striking with hands, various body parts,
and short and long handled implements. We will
also be working on cooperation and goal setting as
it applies to physical fitness.
First Grade will create birds inspired by Audubon
Second Grade will create stained glass window
ornaments inspired by L.C. Tiffany
Third Grade will create landscapes inspired by A.
de Raadt
Grades 3-5
In the upper grades, we will be working on the
concept of striking using long and short handled
implements. Activities will include baseball,
hockey, and tennis skills. We will also be
discussing the FITT principle as it applies to
physical fitness.
Fourth Grade will create story quilts inspired by F.
Reingold
Fifth Grade will create secret gardens inspired by
Tasha Tudor
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Grade & Team Information
comparing the information learned in
photographs and words, and identifying the main
idea. Much of our information reading will be
related to our Science study of taking care of the
Earth. We will also sort words into categories to
develop an understanding of how different
vocabulary words on the same topic connect,
and look at shades of meaning of words that are
synonyms. In our reading of literature, we will be
identifying the story elements (characters,
setting, problem, etc.) and key details,
comparing stories, and identifying who is telling
the story. We will also continue to build our
abilities as discussion partners.
Kindergarten
The weather is beginning to get warm, the
flowers are beginning to bloom and our
Kindergarteners are truly blooming too! It is
amazing to see the progress they have made
since the fall.
We are working on the following objectives:
Reading: It is hard to believe that the same
children who were just learning the alphabet this
fall are now real readers! It was hard work, but
we did it!
Please keep reading with your child this summer;
it takes practice to maintain these skills. We will
be sending home some materials for the children
to keep practicing their sight words.
Writing: After we finish our poetry unit, we will
begin to write an informative piece about how
humans impact the environment. We will gather
information to answer this question, include
facts, and provide a sense of closure. The
quarter will end with an opinion piece about how
we can help the environment. We will include
reasons to support our opinions and a closure. For beginning readers, Dr. Seuss books like “Ten
Apples Up On Top” and “Hop on Pop” or the Mo
Willems’ elephant and piggy books are easy to
read and entertaining. You can find these in the
public library. More fluent readers can browse
the “easy reader” section at the library. There
are hundreds of titles to choose from. And don’t
forget to keep reading higher level stories to your
child as well. Happy reading!
Math: In week 4, we will distinguish between
defining and non-defining attributes of 2- and 3dimensional shapes. We will draw 2-dimensinal
shapes based on their defining attributes (e.g.,
all triangles are closed shapes, have 3 sides,
and have 3 corners). In week 5, we will compose
2 and 3-dimensional shapes (rectangles,
squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and
quarter-circles) to create new composite shapes.
In weeks 6–7, we will partition circles and
rectangles into two and four equal shares. We
will reason that decomposing a shape into more
equal shares creates smaller shares.
Writing: Kindergartners have experienced many
different types of writing during this year. The
main areas of writing focused on narratives about
themselves or connections to themselves
through literature. We will explore writing
opinions this quarter on a variety of topics. We
will read informational texts and research and
write about a chosen topic. While doing all of
this, we will confer with peers to practice and
strengthen our writing. We have come a long
way!
In weeks 8–9, we will tell and write time in hours
and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.
We will use 1-handed clocks and geared clocks
to build our understanding of telling and writing
time.
First Grade
Reading: As we end our year as readers in first
grade, we will continue to read both information
texts and literary ones. In non-fiction reading, we
will ask and answer questions to understand key
details and an author’s key points, as well as to
gain more information on a topic. We will also be
comparing information learned in two texts,
Science: We will learn about human actions/
solutions that conserve natural resources and
protect the environment. We will also learn
about actions that harm the environment.
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Grade & Team Information, continued
First Grade (continued)
In science, we have started our painted lady
butterfly life cycles. We created a habitat for our
caterpillars and are now awaiting for them to
create their chrysalises. While studying and
observing our butterfly life cycles, we have also
started our brine shrimp life cycles. We are
picking different variables (sunlight vs. no
sunlight, temperature of water, how much salt to
add to the water, etc.) to host our brine shrimp in
and observing which variable had the best
habitat for our brine shrimp. We will continue to
observe both life cycles throughout the month of
April.
Social Studies: We will identify goods and
services provided by businesses in a
community. We will then make our own
communities that include businesses that
provide good and services that we think are
important. Lastly, we will learn about markets
and how they operate. Second Grade
It has been and will continue to be a busy
month. Please be sure to check your child’s
folder for any permission forms, notices, etc.
In social studies, we will learn about local
government leaders, and the three branches of
government.
We had the first part of our Plant Life Cycle Field
trip on April 21. The folks from Mountainside,
Bar-T came to our school and planted peas,
spinach, lettuce and cucumbers with us. We will
go and visit them to learn more about planting
on May 31 and June 1 (check to see which day
your child’s class will go).
In math, students have finished learning about
fractions, we worked on partitioning wholes into
halves, thirds, and fourths. Students will continue
working on addition and subtraction for the next
several weeks. Please make sure you practice
your basic math facts at night.
We also have a field trip to Brookside Gardens
planned on May 9th to learn more about our
butterflies. We’ll have a Butterfly Day in school
May 5th to create a t-shirt for our Butterfly
Release Party and do other fun crafts and
activities. Look for more information coming
home soon in your child’s folder.
Third Grade
The final mystery book report was handed out
and students should have selected their book. A
folder will be sent home with your child in the
near future. The final book report is due Friday,
May 27.
Second graders just wrote a book
recommendation about a book they think other
second graders should read. They worked very
hard and took their writing through the entire
writing process. We also are beginning to write a
class poetry book. We have been identifying
ways words and phrases come together to
create rhythm and meaning in a poem. Students
are learning about different styles of poetry and
different poets. We have also been studying
parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, and
adjectives to help us when we write poetry. They
are then trying their hand at writing many
different types of poems. We can’t wait to show
off all of the student’s creative and original
poems!
Our Radio Drama residency with teaching artist
Lenore Blank Kelner has just about come to a
close. Students had the opportunity to listen to
and analyze radio shows from the 30s and 40s.
They then took on the role of a character in an
original radio drama, experimented with body
and voice alterations, and added sound effects.
Once we have recorded the performances, they
will be available for your enjoyment on our KP
website. Click the “Classrooms” link on the left,
choose “Third Grade” and then the teacher
whose class you are looking for. From there, all
the radio shows will be available to listen to.
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Grade & Team Information,
continued
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade (continued)
In writing, fourth graders will be researching
natural disasters. We will be watching videos,
reading books, and reading articles to gather
information on earthquakes, hurricanes,
tornadoes, and tsunamis. Finally, the students will
organize all their research to compose a fiveparagraph essay. In compacted math, students are working hard to
finish the 6th grade curriculum. Particularly, they
will construct 3-dimensional figures using nets in
order to calculate surface area. Then, students will
review multi-digit computation with all four
operations. Students will finish the year with
statistics. Particularly, students will construct
histograms and box plots to analyze a data set.
Also, students will identify data displays that best
represent a data set.
In Social studies, we will continue learning about
colonization in preparation for our upcoming St.
Mary’s field trip. In reading, all students in fourth
grade will be reading Shiloh. In math, students will be composing angles to
make complimentary and supplementary angles.
We will also work with classifying triangles, and
continue working with fractions and decimals.
PTA Thanks
The PTA extends a big thank you to the committee
involved with planning the AMAZING spring party
for the parent community of KP!
In science, students will explore the properties of
rocks and minerals, and discuss how the earth’s
surface changes.
Jessica Chertow (Chair)
Leslie Kux (Co-Chair)
Cate Watson
Fifth Grade
Gay Hardwick
As we near the end of the year we in 5th grade are
looking to finish on a high note. In reading,
students have begun studying drama with our
artist in residence, Dr. Flynn. We will continue to
analyze drama in the coming weeks with a
particular focus on how characters respond to
challenges and how a narrator’s point of view
influences the way that events are described.
Wendy Manning
Sarah Long
Tara Mansare
Maureen Delong
Corry Hoffeditz
Cyndy Bragg (special thanks for being our MC/
Host)
In writing, our two remaining projects will be
based on our trip to Philadelphia. Before the trip,
students will research historic sites and create a
travel brochure for Historic Philadelphia. After the
trip students will write and opinion essay on which
of the historic sites is the most important to the
history of our country.
Patti Rehfield
We also want to thank the following people for
their contributions to the event:
Debbie Rappaport (graphic design)
Anthony Silberfeld
Molly Tuesca
In math, students will apply their understanding of
decimals to metric conversions. Next, students will
plot ordered pairs on coordinate planes. Finally,
we will finish the year with geometry by
categorizing two-dimensional shapes.
Sara Williams
Stacey Singer
Annie Lichter
All the KP teachers that participated
All the KP kids that contributed to the art pieces
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Pet Food Drive
May 9 - 23
Benefits:
Montgomery County Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
Organized by Sasha Rappaport – 3rd grade
Supported by KP Student Council
Drop off unopened cans and bags of dog and cat
food, dry kitten food, and new or used cat carriers in
the boxes at the upper and lower entrances, so we
can help animals in need.
A donation box will also be on the Rappaport’s front porch at
4312 Clearbrook Lane in Kensington.
If you would prefer to make a monetary donation that will be used to buy
dog and cat food for the shelter, please contact Debbie Rappaport at
[email protected].
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