Eagle News

I hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving break and has recharged enough to make it through the next 12 days until we leave for Christmas break! This stretch between holidays is always busy, but it’s also filled with joy, learning, and plenty of opportunities for students to shine. Thank you for continuing to support your children as we wrap up this calendar year with focus and enthusiasm.

In the interim, there is still lots of learning and many things to look forward to. Classrooms are buzzing with engaging activities, meaningful discussions, and exciting projects that help students grow academically and personally. We are so proud of the effort our students are putting in each day, and we appreciate our families for helping keep the momentum going.

One highlight we are eagerly anticipating is our Winter Concert on December 17th. Our chorus and instrumental students have been working hard, and they cannot wait to showcase all that they’ve learned thus far. We hope to see you there to celebrate their hard work and enjoy a wonderful evening of music and community.

Thank you to the families who attended the Math Workshop with Ms. Vanegas and Ms. Johnson this afternoon. We hope you received information about the expectations for math and the resources available to help parents support their children with math at home.

We look forward to seeing our Pre-K and K students and families tonight at 5:30 p.m. for our in-person Little Learners Big Connections Session 2: Reading and Math Everywhere! Family Workshop.

We will publish the next Eagle Newsletter on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. However, if you would like to read back issues of the Eagle News Newsletter, you can find this year's published newsletters on our school's website under the heading 'Announcements and Newsletters.' If you have questions between now and then, please contact me at Toi.Davis@pgcps.org or 301-985-1898.

Thank you, families, for your amazing commitment to helping our students be Present and Proud each day! Your dedication to getting students to school by 7:30 a.m. truly shines when they start the day on time, they step into the classroom energized, confident, and ready to learn. Let’s keep this positive momentum going! Together, we’re building strong routines that set our children up for success, today and every day.

The PGCPS Office of Communications and Community Engagement will continue to deliver timely communication that achieves our goals of safety, equity, and excellence.

Communication Tools

The Office of Communications and Community Engagement uses five key tools to reach audiences:

School Messenger

○ Email

○ Text/SMS

○ Robocall

Websites

○ PGCPS (www.pgcps.org)

○ PGCPS en español (www.pgcps.org/es)

Newsletters

○ Engage PGCPS (families and communities), weekly

○ Acción PGCPS (Spanish-speaking families and communities), weekly

○ Partner PGCPS (business, faith-based and nonprofit

groups), monthly

Social media

○ Facebook (@PGCPS)

○ Facebook en español (@PGCPSenespanol)

○ X (@PGCPS)

○ Instagram (@PGCPS)

○ LinkedIn

○ YouTube

PGCPS-TV

○ Verizon 38

○ Comcast 96

○ YouTube

○ Video-on-demand

Grade levels have started planning field trips for students, but we need parent volunteers. The county expects a ratio of 1:4 for students in Pre-K and K and a ratio of 1:10 for students in grades 1-5. The county also requires that half of the chaperones must be PGCPS employees.

The volunteer approval process must be completed for each academic school year. To reinstate your SafeSchools account for SY '25-26, you will need to complete an updated registration form, which can be found by clicking this LINK.

The steps for the approval process are below.

Returning Volunteers renewal applications can be completed in just four easy steps!

1. Use the email address you originally registered with and your existing volunteer identification number (VIN) to complete your application for the 2025 -2026 school year.
2. Click the green plus + sign below the Register Volunteer column to enter/edit your volunteer details that may have changed from the previous school year.
3. Read and sign the disclaimer statement.
4. Submit your application.
5. You will receive an email from SafeSchools in approximately 48 hours with the training plan for SY '25-'26.

SORA

Interested in finding books for children to read, check out digital content available on SORA. A collection of ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, SORA is an excellent source of digital content. During media class, students explored titles in SORA. Students can access SORA either through DESTINY (destiny.pgcps.org) under EBOOKS or CLEVER under library media. Although digital, students are still required to check out the content.

New titles are routinely added to SORA. The SORA database is available to the entire school district and requires students to use their PGCPS username and password. There are a number of popular titles covering a variety of subjects.

DESTINY Has a New LooK

Do you know what is available through library media via DESTINY? DESTINY is the library website. Check out DESTINY (destiny.pgcps.org) and the DESTINY database brochure (Spanish).

There are a number of Ebook databases available via DESTINY. Students reviewed EBOOKs during media. An ebook is an electronic book, a printed book made available in digital form via a device with internet access. Many of you access ebooks via a tablet, IPAD, computer, kindle, smartphone etc.. Several databases on destiny.pgcps.org provide access to ebooks for Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) students for free. Some are in multiple languages and some of the databases will read the text to the student.

A variety of topics are included in fiction and nonfiction. This is an excellent resource for students and allows them to explore literature in another format that may be more engaging to them than the printed text.

Directions for DESTINY

1. Go to CLEVER

2. Lick for the DESTINY ICON

1. Click on the ICON

2. DESTINY (the New Look)

3. Next Elementary (117) Click the List of elementary schools. Scroll to University Park ES school and click on it.

6. Our school DESTINY page

OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOKS

Remember your options for returning overdue books.

1. Locate the overdue or lost book and return it.

2. Purchase the same book (hardback cover only, no paperback or softcover) from any retailer. If you select this option, please hand the book directly to me (Mr. Clark) so the book can be cleared in the checkout system. I am scheduled at University Park ES every Monday and Wednesday.

3. Pay for the book based on the price on the overdue notice or in the email. Again, If you select this option, please hand the money directly to me (Mr. Clark) so the money can be credited, accounted for, and the book can be cleared in the checkout system. I am scheduled at University Park ES every Monday and Wednesday.

Dear UPES families and friends,

We are thrilled to announce that the UPES Spirit Wear Store is OPEN! Please visit our store to place your orders for Spirit Gear! New this year are baseball caps for kids and some exciting new color options for short and long-sleeved t-shirts. Order your gear here: University Park Elementary School 2025 | The Final Touch

Please note that all orders are due by December 15, 2025. Orders will go into production and be shipped after the order deadline. Delivery will be in early to mid-January.

ALL PRE-K and KINDERGARTEN students get a FREE t-shirt courtesy of the PTA. Those t-shirts are ordered on behalf of the students and will be delivered with the spirit wear orders!

We would also like to send one last THANK YOU to all the generous donors who supported the UPES PTA's Third Annual Feather Our Nest Fall Fundraiser. Thanks to you we were able to exceed our goal by raising over $28,000. What an incredible show of support! These funds will offset the UPES PTA’s annual fundraising goals and accelerate our ability to advance larger projects and other important PTA programs like field trips, assemblies, and more.

And one last note that our next PTA meeting will be a virtual meeting on Wednesday, January 21, 2026. We will be taking a little break this December. 🙂

With gratitude,

The PTA Board:

- Amy Chester, PTA President

- Rheanne Wirkkala, PTA Vice President

- Elise Christopher, PTA Treasurer

- Nicole Hand, PTA Secretary

The University Park Elementary School PTA is an opportunity for parents and caregivers to come together, engage in meaningful discussions about how to support the teachers and staff, and contribute to enhancing our school community.

Visit our website (https://www.upespta.com) to learn more about the PTA, how you can get involved, and join the UPES PTA Listserv.

Thursday, December 11-Lockdown Drill

Tuesday, December 16-Picture Retakes

Wednesday, December 17-Winter Concert, 6:00 p.m.

Friday, December 19-Early Release, Students dismissed at 10:45 a.m.

Monday, December 22-Friday, January 2-Winter Break

Monday, January 5-School Resumes, Pajama Day

1. School finder...know what school your child belongs to… Buscador de escuelas... sepa a qué escuela pertenece su hijo... http://gis.pgcps.org/schoolfinder/

Registration requirements...know exactly what you need to register your child... / Requisitos de inscripción... sepa exactamente qué necesita para inscribir a su hijo...

https://www1.pgcps.org/registration/

2. Lunch...apply for free/reduced meals... / Almuerzo... solicitar comidas gratuitas/reducidas... https://www.myschoolapps.com/ |

Email: upark@pgcps.org
Website: https://www1.pgcps.org/universitypark/
Location: 4315 Underwood Street, University Park, MD, USA
Phone: 301-985-1898
Facebook: facebook.com/UniversityParkElementary-PGCPS
Twitter: @UPSoaringEagles