Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that “2018” is here!!! Time sure does fly when we are having fun!!! Hopefully everyone had a restful Winter Break and we are all ready to begin the ‘new year’ with fresh and eager minds!

January 25th marks the end of the second marking period. Teachers will be continuing to assess your child’s learning and report cards will be available in ParentVue soon after the end of the marking period. If you have not yet set up your ParentVue account, please stop by the school with your ID to sign up today! Please remember that you are welcome to request a parent teacher conference at any time by contacting your child’s teacher via DoJo, email, note or phone call.

Accidents and spills happen all the time.

Wet clothing is uncomfortable and in the Winter

months it is too cold to be wearing wet clothes.

We are asking that

ALL STUDENTS

bring a change of clothes to

school so that everyone is prepared

in case an accident or spill occurs.

This month, our school wide theme is friendship skills. In our morning announcements and school assembly, we’ll be reminding students to invite others to play, play in fair ways, take responsibility for mistakes by making amends, and how to handle name-calling assertively. These skills help students make and keep friends.

Second Step lessons specifically teach these friendship skills. You will be receiving Home Links describing why friendship skills are important and including fun activities to do with your child to help him or her learn and practice the skills.

In addition to our Second Step skills, our Guidance Counselor, Ms. Rebert, will begin teaching a Child Protection Unit to help your child learn self-protection skills and also train the school’s adults to recognize, respond to, and report abuse and neglect. All children deserve to be safe and protected from abuse and neglect, and all adults need to know how to protect children and intervene if abuse or neglect does happen. Children will learn self-protection skills, including how to report abuse to adults. The Child Protection Unit will be taught in six Weekly Themes from January through May. Each theme contains a short activity for each day of the week. Children learn skills through puppet scripts, stories, and discussion, then practice the skills. The more times children practice a skill, the better they are at using it, both in and out of school. The six themes are: Ways to Stay Safe, The Always Ask First Rule, Safe and Unsafe Touches, The Touching Rule, Practicing Staying Safe, Reviewing Safety Skills.

We continue to monitor student attendance and tardies/early dismissals daily. Any time missed from school is a loss of valuable instructional time. We do however understand that children do become sick and need to stay home. If your child is sick, please call the school to let us know of the absence and also

please always send a follow-up absence note or doctor’s note.

Eastern Elementary and Ruth Ann Monroe families in need of emergency food may visit The School Food Pantry located at Eastern Elementary. All visitors MUST enter through the main office at Eastern Elementary and receive a pass to the pantry.

Each family may visit only once per month.

When: THURSDAYS, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

Where: EASTERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Compliments of the Maryland Food Bank

Coordinated by Title I Parent Involvement

In order to improve our school community and our home to school communication, please consider the following:

• Check your child's book bag and folder daily

• Sign up for ParentVue (visit the front office with ID) and Class DoJo (contact your child’s teacher)

• Update the front office with any change of address and/or phone number(s) for parent/guardian and emergency contacts

• Visit our school Facebook page by searching Ruth Ann Monroe Primary School

Although our school does not require homework, we do strongly encourage that families read together daily! There are many ways to enjoy reading with your child. Here are a few ways to make reading a fun part of your everyday life:

• Develop family reading routines and rituals - Find a regular time of day when you can dedicate story time into your day. You can read in the morning, after school, or before bedtime! Making story time a cozy routine makes reading an essential and pleasant activity.

• Read what interests your child - The nutrition facts on the milk box, newspapers, recipes, maps, and game instructions all make great reading material if your child is interested. Read the book that students bring home from our take home reading program and/or our school library.

• Let your child select books - Visit the library and let your child select books. Try both fiction and informational books, and ask the librarian for recommendations based on your child’s interests.

• Encourage storytelling - Encourage your child to tell you a story from time to time or to retell a story after you’ve read it several times. Don’t feel the need to correct how she’s telling the story. Let her enjoy the experience of storytelling.

• Have fun while reading - Try whatever style feels comfortable for you and your child. Some ways families have fun with stories include: Acting out the story while reading by using facial expressions, gestures, body movements, and voices to make the story come to life; adapting the story to include your child’s name, a friend’s name, or your pet’s name. For example, surprise your child by saying “Olivia, Olivia, what do you see?” when you read Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; and, finding props to go along with favorite stories and offering them to your child to use in his/ her play.

On inclement weather days, including snow, ice or flooding conditions, the WCPS transportation director and staff travel designated inclement weather routes that are representative of some of the critical areas for safe school bus travel throughout the county. During the inclement weather routes, the director of transportation communicates with the county roads department, state highway administration and other surrounding counties’ school directors of transportation as to the conditions in the neighboring areas. After reviewing local information and the DTN Satellite Weather Service information, the director of transportation contacts the superintendent to recommend changes in school status, as needed. A final determination is normally made prior to 5:30 a.m. with media notifications occurring prior to 6 a.m. Depending on specific weather situations, the timeline may be earlier or later. The primary consideration for delay or closure decisions is the safety of students traveling to and from school.

If schools operate on a 2 hour delay, RAMPS will open at 10:45. Buses will also operate on a 2 our delay. For example, if your child normally is picked up at 8:25, the bus should arrive at 10:25. Please understand that the bus may run a bit early or late so be at the stop approximately 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Due to safety, we may not allow any student to enter the building before 10:45. Thank you for understanding.

Please visit the county website for school closing related information. http://wcpsmd.com/public-information/emergencysnow-day-procedure

NOTIFICATION OUTLETS FOR DELAYS AND CLOSINGS:

Parents and staff should monitor the following notification outlets for information about school closings or delays. In case of a breakdown in the communication plan due to power outages or other technical difficulties, parents and staff should familiarize themselves with more than one source for this information.

• Radio: WJEJ/1240 AM, WCRH/90.5 FM, WQCM/94.3 FM, WIKZ/95.1 FM, WAYZ/104.7 FM, WFYN/101.5 FM, WPPT/92.1 FM, WARK/1490 AM, WWEG/106.9 FM, WLTF/97.5 FM, WICL/ 95.9, WFMD/930 AM, WFRE/99.9 FM, WDHC/92.9 FM, WCST/1010 AM, WKGO/106.6, WCBC/1270 AM, WKZG/107.1 FM
• Television: WHAG/Hagerstown, WRC/Washington, WUSA/Washington, WBAL/Baltimore
• Antietam Cable: Channel 99
• WCPS Website
• WCPS Central Office Main Line: 301-766-2800