The Panther Post

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Dear Laurel Woods Community,

We wrapped up the last day of November in the best way—by dancing our lunch away! A variety of staff members served as DJs on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Break, and both students and staff had an amazing time. We hope your children came home and shared a little bit about the fun!

A special thank you to Sheehy Toyota of Laurel for providing our staff with a delicious potato bar on Monday evening. We also want to give a big shout-out to our PTO for supplying drinks and desserts to complete the meal.

To kick off a festive December, we’re excited to welcome students to Snow Much Fun Tuesdays! This Tuesday, December 2nd, we’ll be celebrating by dressing in black and white and waddling into LWES like penguins.

With Pride,

Dr. Burks, Ms. Braxton, & Ms. Lee

RSVP today to help us plan for materials & dinner!

Wear your PJ’s, bring your favorite stuffed animal, and join us for some reading fun!

🗓 Date: December 3, 2025
⏰ Time: 6:00–7:00 PM
📍 Location: Laurel Woods Elementary School

👇RSVP by November 21, 2025
📞 For information about transportation, please contact Mrs. Wehrmeister at 410-880-5960.

Please join us for our LWES Coffee and Conversation. Families will have an opportunity to build relationships with school staff and to provide feedback. All families are welcome and encouraged to join. Please join us on Friday, December 12th at 8:45am.

Picture Retakes will be taken tomorrow, December 2nd. If your child was absent on picture day, is a newly enrolled student, or you were dissatisfied with the picture taken in October, the photographers will be back to take more pictures. If you were dissatisfied with the previous school picture, please send the original proof package to school with your student to bring to the photographer for a retake.

Stay in the loop with all the exciting events hosted and organized by our Family Resource Center — you won’t want to miss what’s coming up! 👀📅

Click on the link below! 👇

We truly value input from our families and community partners as we strive to grow and improve. Your feedback helps us better serve our students—so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with our LWES administrative team. Your response can remain anonymous, or you can provide your name for a follow-up phone call.

🍂Don’t miss this month’s edition of PTO Panther Tracks—your November update is here! Dive in to see what’s happening and what’s coming up! 🍂

December

• 12/02: Poppin' Penguin 🐧 Day: Wear Black & White
• 12/03: 8:45am Family School Partnership Teams Meeting
• 12/03: 6:00pm Grades 3-5 S'More Reading Night
• 12/09: Minty Mix-up: Dress like a mint: red/white, blue/white, green/white
• 12/09-12/11: 3rd Grade CoGAT testing
• 12/12: 8:45am☕ Coffee and Conversation w/Admin
• 12/15: 6:30pm Winter Concert 🎶 @ RHS
• 12/16: Comfy Cozy Day: Wear PJs; PTO December dine out @ Wendy's in Laurel (Gorman Rd)
• 12/23: Festive Sweater Day: Rock a sweater that brings you joy; Last Day of School Before Winter Break
• 12/24-01/02: Winter Break

For a complete list of dates and events visit https://lwes.hcpss.org/events

We know the next two days are half days, but please don’t let your child miss out—there are fun activities planned, and we want every student to be part of the experience!

Thank you for helping us finish the week strong!

During American Education Week, we shared our Measures that Matter, giving families an update on our progress so far. Thank you for partnering with us and supporting the forward momentum toward our goals this year. We will continue to keep you updated as we move through the rest of the school year.

The HCPSS Black Student Achievement Program Saturday Math Academy Spring Session is approaching! The BSAP Saturday Math Academy will offer an in-person enrichment program for Howard County Public School System students in all levels of math for grades 3-12, based on course availability. Registration will take place online on Saturday, January 10, 2026, from 9:00 am until capacity is reached. Class space is limited. Families can register by accessing the HCPSS Connect Website on the registration date. For more information, please visit HCPSS News

Flyers for distribution:

BSAP SMA Spring 2026 Flyer (English)

BSAP SMA Spring 2026 Flyer (Spanish)

BSAP SMA Spring 2026 Flyer (Chinese)

BSAP SMA Spring 2026 Flyer (Korean)

Howard County is full of wonderful resources for families. Sometimes it can be hard to know where to start looking. There’s a helpful website that brings all these resources together in one place. You can search by topic and zip code. You can visit the website using the link below or download the CAREapp Howard County on your phone for easy access. We hope this tool makes it easier to find services for food, health, housing, transportation, education, employment assistance, and more https://findhcresources.org/

The Mental Health Advisory Council (MHCAC) is a group of community members who seek to remove barriers and build awareness for behavioral health support in Howard County for our children and families. Check out this flyer for more information.