Dolphin Whistle

Mrs. Cynthia Alvarado, Registrar

Cynthia_Alvarado@mcpsmd.org

Mrs. Evelyn Campos

Evelyn_R_Campos@mcpsmd.org

Mrs. M. Deneise Hammond, Principal

MDeneise_Hammond@mcpsmd.org

(240) 753-9472 work cell

Mr. David Kim, Assistant School Administrator

David_K_Kim@mcpsmd.org

Mrs. L. Orinda Nelson, Assistant Principal

L.Orinda_Nelson@mcpsmd.org,

Mrs. Padma Radhakrishnan, Administrative Secretary

Padma_Radhakrishnan@mcpsmd.org

Report cards were sent home this week and are now available in ParentVUE. Take a few minutes to review your child’s progress so far. were sent home this week. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate their successes and talk together about areas where they can keep growing.

Watch in English | Spanish

We will be celebrating the accomplishments of our students during the first quarter of the year on the following dates/times at our Quarter 1 Awards Assemblies:

• K: 11/20/25 at 1:00pm
• Grade 1: 11/21/25 at 3:00pm
• Grade 2: 11/18/25 at 1:00pm
• Grade 3: 11/20/25 at 3:00pm
• Grade 4: 11/18/25 at 3:00pm
• Grade 5: 11/17/25 at 1:00pm

The WLES staff needs your support in creating a focused and safe learning environment. Students may not bring Pokémon cards, stuffies, footballs, or toys of any kind to school. These items are causing distractions in the classrooms and at times resulting in injuries, arguments and theft. Please check your child’s bookbag for these items before they leave home in the morning to make sure only learning tools are in the bookbag. The items will be taken from any student who has them out during the school day. .

Several students are struggling with upholding our core values of being Respectful, Accountable and Safe. There have been many students using profanity, saying mean things to one another and being physically aggressive towards others. This is a major distraction to student learning. It also impacts the culture of the cafeteria and playground, When a WLES staff member calls and says that your child is causing a distraction, please avoid saying your child would never do that. Students often act different at home than they do at school. We need your support in ensuring that every student is a good citizen of the Waters Landing Elementary School community. Please take the time to speak with your children about appropriate behavior at school. We want students to learn as much as they can each year and that is only possible if unnecessary distractions stop.We need your support in order to ensure Waters Landing Elementary School is No Place for Hate. One more thing - please understand that if your child engages in a physical fight in school, that is an automatic suspension.

Please review the phone numbers of emergency contacts for your child in ParentVue. We need to be able to reach someone if your child is sick or injured and we are unable to reach a parent or caregiver.

Every family may request a conference with a teacher at any time during the school year, however, Quarter 2 is designated as the time each year for parents and teachers to meet to discuss student progress. Your child's teacher will be sending information about conference sign ups. At the conference, you will receive a copy of the Parent School Compact. You will be asked to sign that you reviewed the compact during the conference. Here are some additional tips to Approaching Parent Teacher Conferences with Care.

Oceans 25 meets monthly. We'd love to have a parent perspective. Feel free to join us on any of the following dates/times to collaborate with us:

• 11/5/25 8:00-9:00 am in Mrs. Armogida' s Room, #205
• 12/2/25 4:20-5:50 pm in Ms. Jones' room, #241
• 1/7/26 8:00-9:05 am in Mrs. Ehrenstein's room, #225
• 2/3/25 4:20-5:50 pm in Ms. Kwon's room, #111
• 3/4/26 8:00-9:05 am in Ms. Tung's room, #169
• 4/7/26 4:20-5:50 pm in Ms. Buckley's room, #131)
• 5/6/25 8:00-9:05 am in Mrs. Armogida' s room, #205
• 6/2/26 4:20-5:50 pm Ms. Jones' room, #241)

MCPS Tutoring webpage:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/tutoring

MCPS Math resources for parents :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18bVr4dHGGWIf-INgXfD60pcgIYWeATNZ/view

MCPS ELA resources for parents:

https://sites.google.com/view/mcpsreadingathome/home

Xminds tutoring options for students with Special Needs:

https://xminds.org/Tutoring-Services

MCPS pathway and Core Competencies:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/pathways/

We appreciate all of our Parent volunteers at the Landing! Please sign up to volunteer at lunch and/or recess by clicking here. Here is the Waters Landing Elementary School Volunteer Handbook. Please review it prior to volunteering at the Landing. Make sure you have done all that is outlined on the MCPS website prior to coming to school to volunteer. Always bring your state identification when you come to volunteer at school. You will not be allowed to volunteer without it.

Daily attendance is extremely important. We are not able to teach your child if he/she is not in class. During the Principal’s Chat & Chew we were informed that some parents were told that their child would be marked absent for the day even if they came to school after a doctor’s appointment.That is not true.

• If your child has an appointment (doctor, dentist, vision) he/she may come to school for the time he/she is not at the appointment. That may mean, coming at the start of the day and leaving early, going to the appointment first then coming to school, or leaving during the day and returning.

• MCPS policy says if a child is absent for more than 4 hours of the school day (even 1 minute over 4 hours) then the student is considered absent. Our school day is 9:30 a.m.- 3:50 p.m. So if your child arrives at school after 1:30 p.m. he/she will be marked as absent for the day. Even if your child arrives after 1:30p.m. there is still time for him/her to learn.

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Please remember to bring a doctor’s note when you sign your child back into school after an appointment. Students may not come into the building by themselves. A parent must come inside with them if they arrive after 9:25 a.m.

The tutoring sessions are available to students in K–12 in math and English/Language Arts and have in-person and virtual options. Click here for additional information.

Join the POD by clicking here.

Click here for the Back to School version of the PODcast.