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Back to School Update

August 10th, 2026

Back to School Update August 10th, 2026
Back to School UpdateAugust 10th, 2026

Important Dates to Know: Important Dates to Know:

  • Food Truck Friday- Don's Dogs: Friday, October 23rd from 11:00am-1:30pm
  • Fall Parade: Friday, October 30th at 9:30am
    • More details below
  • End of Quarter 1/3 Hour Early Dismissal: Friday, October 30th at 12:30pm
    • End of the 1st Quarter
  • October Food Pantry: Friday, October 30th from 1-3pm
    • More details below
  • Schools Closed for Election Day: Tuesday, November 3rd
  • SPES Volunteer Orientation (Virtual via Google Meet): Thursday, November 5th at 9am and 6pm
  • Food Truck Friday- Attman's Deli: Friday, November 6th from 11:00am-1:30pm
  • 1st Quarter Report Cards Distributed: Thursday, November 12th
    • Available in FOCUS at 5pm
  • October Student of the Month Virtue Breakfast: Friday, November 13th from 8:45-9:30am
    • Invitation only
  • Food Truck Friday- Lyfe Truck: Friday, November 13th from 11:00am-1:30pm
  • Picture Retake Day: Friday, November 13th
  • Conference Day (Schools Closed for All Students): Monday, November 16th
  • Pre-K Conference Day (School Closed for PK Students Only): Tuesday, November 17th
  • Quarter 1 Awards Assembly: Friday, November 20th
    • More details to follow
    • Invitation only
  • November Food Pantry: Tuesday, November 24th from 3:45-5:15pm
  • Turkey Trot: Wednesday, November 25th
    • Times are TBD
  • Half Day of School: Wednesday, November 25th
    • Dismissal begins at 12:30pm
  • Schools Closed for Students and Staff: November 26th and 27th for the Thanksgiving Holiday

Turkey Trot Shirt Sale Continues Turkey Trot Shirt Sale Continues

While our spirit wear sale ended on 10/11, it remains open as we need to sell more Turkey Trot shirts to meet the minimum required. This sale will be open until November 1st.


CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW TO SHOP!

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Trunk or Treat- CANCELLED Trunk or Treat- CANCELLED

Unfortunately, due to a lack of volunteers to host a trunk this year, our Trunk or Treat scheduled for October 29th at Patapsco has been cancelled. We hope to have more volunteers next year and be able to bring it back to the community!

SPES Fall Parade SPES Fall Parade

Please see the flyer below for details regarding our Fall Parade.

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October Food Pantry October Food Pantry

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Sandy Plains 2026 Holiday Help Application Sandy Plains 2026 Holiday Help Application

As a community school, we are able to provide holiday help to a number of families each year. Please complete the form below with the most accuracy to request holiday help from Sandy Plains. This year, many of our partners have limited their support this year, so we may not be able to honor all requests. Priority will be given to families who have not been given holiday help in the past. Also, please note that we can only provide gift assistance for Sandy Plains students.


Please complete the form below by October 29th to be considered for help.

Microsoft Forms

Microsoft Forms

launch forms.cloud.microsoft

Ukulele Hunt! Ukulele Hunt!

We are on the hunt for a donation of 5-10 ukuleles for students in an after school club. If you have one to donate or are willing to purchase one for us, please reach out to Mrs. Jones or Ms. Kinnear. Our students are loving this club and your support would go a long way!

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Cozy for a Cause- Winter Gear Drive Cozy for a Cause- Winter Gear Drive

The Do Good Club is hosting our first donation drive of the 2026-2027 school year and we need your help! Throughout the month of November, we are looking for donations of the items listed in the flyer below to help support students and community members in need of warm gear as winter approaches. We need 100 items donated in order to earn our school-wide pajama day!

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Save the Date! Save the Date!

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October is Bullying Prevention Month October is Bullying Prevention Month

This month students will be participating in a variety of anti-bullying activities. Each Friday we will host a different spirit day; please see below for the planned themes. This Friday (10/23), we are asking students to wear wear a HAT to show they are UPSTANDERS!


*Please note that ski masks and other face coverings are not permitted

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Pre-K Learn with Me Resource Pre-K Learn with Me Resource

Pre-K welcomed families for Learn with Me today and provided families with a resource for how to support your student at home. If you weren't able to join them today, please see the resource below

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Volunteer Information: Volunteer Information:

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Please note, in order to volunteer in our school or chaperone a field trip at Sandy Plains this year, you must attend one of our volunteer orientation meetings AND complete the BCPS online volunteer training.


We will be hosting monthly, virtual Volunteer Orientations, as needed via Google Meet to ensure everyone has access to the meetings. Our November orientation will be held on Thursday, November 5th at 9am and 6pm. A Google Meet link will be shared 10 minutes prior to each meeting. Reminders will be sent.

BCPS Volunteers

BCPS Volunteers

Click here to view the list of School-Based Volunteer Coordinators BCPS Volunteer Handbook - available in multiple languages upon request.

launch bcps.org

Please contact Mrs. Draper (sdraper@bcps.org) with any questions!

Attendance Information Attendance Information

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Our attendance continues to show dedication to school!

We are off to a great start of attendance for the 2026-2027 school year! We have had over 94% attendance school-wide most days since school began! Our current attendance rate is 95.25%, which is slightly less than last week.


As a reminder, we have many attendance initiatives running to support positive attendance:


  • Each day we have 94% attendance or above as a school, we add a letter to our SOARING board. When we will the board, we will earn a school-wide celebration. We are only ONE letter away from our next prize!
  • Students are working to fill individual SOAR HIGHER charts. After 10 days present, students will be able to turn their charts into the office for a prize.
  • Students with 2 or less absences in the month of October will be invited to watch and be included in the raffle to play in our Students vs. Soccer Kickball Games- we will also have some very special guests to play with us!

Stay Connected With Us: Stay Connected With Us:

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TalkingPoints

At SPES, TalkingPoints is our most-used form of communication with families. Please download the TalkingPoints Family App.

Social Media

Please follow us on Facebook (Sandy Plains Elementary School)! We regularly post important updates and information to our page.

Text Messages

Opt in to receive our text messages. Text YES to 67587.

BCPS Student Handbook BCPS Student Handbook

Please review the attachments below for important information about the 2026-2027 school year from BCPS.

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BCPS Student Handbook 26-27 (English)
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4.5 MB
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BCPS Student Handbook 26-27 (Spanish)
Download
1.8 MB

Multilingual Family Newsletter Multilingual Family Newsletter

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Information Session for Multilingual Families (10/21)
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987.6 KB

Virtue of the Month: Responsibility Virtue of the Month: Responsibility

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Our virtue of the month for October is RESPONSIBILITY. Students will participate in a variety of activities throughout the month that teach them the virtue and how to use it.

Responsibility At Home

🍽️ Dinner Question:

“What does it mean to be responsible for your words and actions, even when no one is watching?”


🏠 Family Helper Challenge:

Each night, prepare one thing you will need for the next school day. See if you can do it for three nights in a row!

Fuel Fund of Maryland Fuel Fund of Maryland

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Get Help - Fuel Fund of Maryland

Get Help - Fuel Fund of Maryland

Do you need help paying your BGE utility bill? Our goal is to provide financial grants to qualifying BGE residential customers who either have no power in their homes or have received a turn-off notice from BGE. We assess your eligibility for a potential Fuel Fund financial grant; however, we do not determine BGE balances,

launch fuelfundmaryland.org

Ways to Support! Ways to Support!

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Important School Information: Important School Information:

Student Schedule:

Arrival- 8:30-8:45am

Dismissal- 3:30-3:45pm

Office Hours:

8:00-4:00pm

Early Dismissals

Please note that at Sandy Plains, we do not allow early dismissals after 3:00pm.

Anyone picking up a student must be listed on their contact list in FOCUS. Please contact the office if you need to make edits to your child's contact list.

Contact Information:

Main Office: 443-809-7070

Christina Davis, Principal (cdavis21@bcps.org)

Meghan Davis, Assistant Principal (mdavis18@bcps.org)

Kelsey Kinnear, Community School Facilitator (kkinnear2@bcps.org)

Corrie Pusinsky, Administrative Secretary (cpusinsky@bcps.org)

Erika Villaneuva Angel, Enrollment/Records Secretary (evillanuevaangel@bcps.org)

Stephanie Draper, CARE Liaison/Attendance Liaison (sdraper@bcps.org)

Megan Caplan, Nurse (mcaplan@bcps.org)

LET'S KEEP SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS! LET'S KEEP SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS!

Kelsey Kinnear
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