Dolphin Whistle

AAPI Heritage Month for Kids (video): https://youtu.be/Xtb7qa0mYcU?si=5Sju0vV4dyJYvDM-

Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao (read aloud): https://youtu.be/1489bdy7cOg?si=bYvZ-1-OqAxErLel

AAPI History Museum: https://aapihistorymuseum.org/museum-information/exhibits/

Ohana Means Family (read aloud): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/K8ees6SYZVc

Jewish American Heritage Month (video): https://youtu.be/rSvQqj7S54s?si=HlW2QLyWOhJXLrUN

The Keeping Quilt (read aloud): https://youtu.be/MWR_ON8x1QM?si=E5soPSyy9MmzLkS-

The Weitzman (virtual tour): https://theweitzman.org/coreexhibition/

Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin (read aloud): https://youtu.be/YvWpZ2OEUoM?si=5gygtmaxodVUYIHY

Our final staff meeting for the 2025-2026 school year will be on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 from 4:20-5:50pm. You are invited. If you plan to attend, please email Principal Hammond at MDeneise_Hammond@mcpsmd.org. If there are any items you would like the staff to be aware of and you are unable to attend, please email that information as well. The meeting will be in the Media Center.

Our Summer Oceans 25 (Instructional Leadership Team) meetings are scheduled for June 22, 2026, August 11, 2026 and August 12, 2026 from 9:00am to 4:30pm. If you plan to attend, please email Principal Hammond, so she can add you to any correspondence regarding the meetings. We'd love to have some parents plan with us for the 2026-2027 school year.

Dear PTA Members and Parents,

Please note that our upcoming PTA meeting scheduled for June 2, 2026, at 6:30 PM has been changed to a virtual-only format. We will no longer be meeting in person at the school.

You can join the meeting online using the link below:

https://mcpsmd.zoom.us/j/84130778754?pwd=bXkBsrH6kcBitahzmMhn6pddd5qkqf.1

Meeting ID: 841 3077 8754

Passcode: 178124

Agenda:

• Budget cuts
• Updates
• Open Forum

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding. We look forward to seeing you online!

Best regards,

WLES POD/PTA

Urgent: Protect our children's schools from devastating budget cuts

Dear MCPS Parents and Families,

As parents, we all want our children to have the safe, supportive, and thriving school environment they deserve. Right now, that environment is under serious threat.

The County Council recently voted to cut the requested MCPS budget by approximately $36 million. The School Board is currently deciding how to absorb these losses, and the Superintendent's recommended path includes devastating cuts to the hands-on staff who support our kids every single day.

What is at Stake for Our Students?

If approved, these cuts will directly impact our children’s mental health, academic support, and safety. The proposed plan eliminates:

• 43 School Social Workers
• 27 Pupil Personnel Workers
• 18 School Psychologists
• 15 High School Staff Development Teachers
• Key support roles: Media assistants, family engagement specialists, college and career navigators, and composition assistants.
• 
  

Our students are already facing immense academic and emotional challenges. Removing the very professionals who keep them safe, healthy, and on track will hurt our entire school community.

Our Demand: Prioritize Kids and People, Not New Programs

While the School Board didn't create this budget shortfall, it is their job to protect critical services for our children.

Before the Board cuts existing staff and triggers layoffs, they must look at the entire budget and eliminate non-essential spending. We are demanding that they halt any new spending before cutting the people who are already there for our kids.

How You Can Help (Action Needed by June 4)

The School Board will make its final decision on June 4. We need parents to flood their inboxes and phone lines today. Please take two minutes to email and call the Board members.

1. Email the Board of Education

You can copy and paste the list of emails below, or use the sample template provided. Personalizing your email with a note about how these staff members help your child is incredibly powerful.

To: Graciela_Rivera-oven@mcpsmd.org, Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org, Rita_M_Montoya@mcpsmd.org, Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org, Laura_M_Stewart@mcpsmd.org, Julie_Yang@mcpsmd.org, natalie_zimmerman@mcpsmd.org, Anuva_C_Maloo@mcpsmd.org

Sample Email Text:

Members of the Board of Education:

As an MCPS parent, I am deeply concerned about the proposed budget cuts. Before cutting the vital staff who perform critical services for our students and families, you must resolve the budget shortfall by removing new, unproven expenditures.

Please protect our kids by ensuring there are:

• NO new curricula
• NO new professional development
• NO new administrative positions
• NO new programs and initiatives

MCPS needs to prioritize people and students over new programs. Please protect our educators, social workers, and psychologists.

Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Child's School]

2. Call the Board of Education

Call the general number at 240-740-3030. You will likely be asked to leave a message for a specific Board member (any member from the list below will do).

Sample Phone Script:

"Hello, my name is [Your Name] and I am an MCPS parent. I am calling to urge the Board to protect our students by avoiding cuts to critical school staff, including our social workers, psychologists, and support teams. Please resolve the budget shortfall by freezing new programs, new curricula, and new initiatives. We need MCPS to prioritize people over programs in next year’s budget. Thank you."

Thank you for standing up for our educators, our support staff, and most importantly, our children.

In partnership,

[Your Name/Organization Name]

As we get closer to the end of the year, we are having more and more issues with students playing games that involve hitting one another. Please have a discussion with your student(s) about the importance of respecting others' personal body space by not touching others, even if they are only playing around. Thank you.

The Flying Cows basketball team has invited Waters Landing to their last home game of the season! They play at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Please see the flyer below. Also attached is a link for group ticketing. Click the link below to purchase tickets. Password: WLE

https://fc1.glitnirticketing.com/fcticket/web/gp_list.php?refresh=1779214188

We would love to have you come and share your career with our students. Please click here to share your interest in being a speaker for Career Day..

Dear Waters Landing Elementary Families,

Field Day is almost here, and we are excited to announce a big change for this year’s event!

Field Day will take place on:

• June 8th – Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, & Byrd's class.
• June 9th – 3rd, 4th, 5th grades, and Ms. French, Mr. S, & Ms. B's Classes.
• 
  

This year, Field Day will be an ALL-DAY event instead of a half day! This exciting change will allow students to enjoy a full day of fun and activities. Students will participate in:

• Dry games and activities in the morning
• Lunch break mid-day
• Water games and activities in the afternoon

To help make this event a success, we are looking for parent volunteers to assist with setup, running stations, and cleanup. We would love your help for one or both days!

Volunteer time slots include:

• 8:15–9:15 AM – AM Setup
• 9:30–11:45 AM – Run Morning Stations
• 12:00–1:30 PM – PM Setup
• 1:30–3:15 PM – Run Afternoon Stations
• All Day Volunteer Option
• 
  

Please use the sign-up form below to volunteer:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040C4CAFAF2BABFB6-64082755-waters

The deadline to sign up is May 25th. After that date, we will organize volunteer assignments and send additional information to all volunteers via email.

Thank you for helping us make Field Day an unforgettable experience for our students!

Sincerely,
The Waters Landing Elementary PE Team (Mr. Hokanson, Mrs. Desbrow, and Ms. Holland)

We are seeking parent input on how to best use our family engagement funds to support student success and strengthen the school-home partnership. Please complete the survey by clicking here.

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.

After this week, MCAP testing is complete, except for those students who were absent on a testing day. MCAP make-ups will be given Tuesday, May 25, 2026, Thursday, May 27, 2026 and Friday, May 28, 2026. Please make sure that your student is at school those three days if a testing day was missed.

The Spring administration of MAP Assessments begins next week. MAP Assessments are given three times a year in the Fall, Winter and Spring. assessments measure what students know and how they are growing academically— to help teachers maximize every learner’s potential. MAP Growth uses a Rasch unit (RIT) scale to accurately measure what students know, regardless of their grade level. It also measures growth over time, allowing you to track your child’s progress throughout the school year and across multiple years. Once your child completes a MAP Growth test, they receive a RIT score. The computer-adaptive MAP Growth assessment responds to every student individually. If a student answers a test question correctly, a harder question is provided. If a student answers a test question incorrectly, an easier test question is provided. Students demonstrate what they know, and teachers see specific areas where their individual classes may need more support.

DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of literacy skills. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The measures are consistent with many of the Common Core State Standards in Reading, especially those for Foundational Skills. When implemented as recommended, DIBELS results can be used to evaluate individual student development as well as provide grade-level feedback toward validated instructional objectives.

While we will not have the results of the MCAP assessments until the beginning of next school year, MAP assessment and DIBELS data will be available before the end of the school year. We will let you know how to access it once it is available.

We are approaching the end of the school year and we have a mountain of clothes here in our Lost and Found. Please ask your child to check the Lost and Found to see if they can find any items that did not make it back home. At the end of the school year, all remaining clothing will be donated. Items that cannot be donated will be thrown away.

If you have clothes or shoes that you want to get rid of, please put them in small to medium size bags and place them in the Green Clothes Bin at the end of the parking lot. The large bags get stuck at the top and it will appear as though the bin is full, when in reality very few bags made it into the bin.

STEMLY, also known as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Learning for Youth is a high-school run organization that aims to inspire future generations to go into STEM. Highschoolers would virtually teach students grades 1-6 STEM concepts and expand their knowledge, therefore giving them an academic headstart. Classes are completely free, and they are on the first and third Sunday of every month. Classes would start up July 5th. This is the registration link - https://forms.gle/7yxV9Ka7HbKT4oHY9. Zoom links will be provided through parent emails, student emails, and texts. If you have more questions or want more information follow @moco.stemly.

Due to ongoing vandalism and daily flooding incidents, the entire school will now be taking scheduled bathroom breaks as a class. Students will still be allowed to use the bathroom at any time in the case of an emergency. During these times, they will use the downstairs bathroom outside of the main office, where staff members can actively monitor the area.

This year WLES will host Montgomery County Recreation Camp Rec for students that attend ELO (Summer school). There are 80 slots available, so first come first served. The registration form is linked below. You can also request a paper copy from your child's homeroom teacher.

Registration forms:

• English
• Spanish

Thank you to the PTA, NAACP, GOLPU and the rest of our parent community for their advocacy with regard to our HVAC, plumbing, and portables. Representatives of MCPS, James Duffy, Director of the Division of Facility Maintenance, and Oscar Orellano, Project Manager for the Division of Design and Construction. attended the PTA/POD meeting on Tuesday evening. This is a direct result of a letter that was written by a group of parents and extensive follow-up through emails and phone calls done by our PTA/POD President, Ms. Barnes. Here are some key items that were shared:

• Our HVAC system is operational but needs attention.
• The HVAC system was put in 10 years ago. The life of an HVAC system is approximately 25 years. We are not eligible for a new HVAC system at this time.
• We may be eligible for a ventilation project, which would help regulate humidity throughout the building.
• In the meantime, we can attempt to use the air filters that are currently in classrooms to regulate the humidity. The filters in those units need to be replaced.
• Classrooms should be between 74 and 76 degrees, plus or minus 2 degrees at all times
• We have a two-pipe system that is either heating or cooling. There is no in between. If it is not doing one of those processes, it is pulling air from outside.
• Three classrooms need new motors in their systems. They have been ordered.
• Portable construction will begin sometime in June.
• The cost is one million dollars, because under new ordinances, sprinkler systems must be installed in portables.
• We are waiting for the permit from WSSC to be approved for construction to start.
• There is only space for two portables at WLES.
• The Elementary Boundary study should shift numbers more equitably across school buildings.
• Our plumbing has flow issues.
• They are attempting to replace a current fixture with a power flush to see if it solves the problem. They are not sure what the next steps will be if that doesn't work.
• On Tuesday, we had 28 open work orders. More have been entered since then. MCPS is working through them.
• Emergency work orders should be completed within 10 days.
• Regular work orders should be completed within 10 days.
• A Facility Conditions Assessment (FCI) has not been done on WLES. This would identify every area of need within the building structure. We are trying to find out why one has not been done.
• Several workmen have been at the school repairing items this week.

If you have any questions, please enter them here and they will be answered.

Join the POD by clicking here.

Are you the parent of a 3- to 5-year-old who’s ready to get started with MCPS? Prekindergarten and Head Start help 4-year-olds — and some 3-year-olds — build early skills in reading, math and social development. Eligibility is based on age and family income. If your child turns 5 by Sept. 1, register for full-day kindergarten. NOW is the time to sign up!

Eagle Summer Basketball Camp at Seneca Valley High School

https://eaglebasketballcamp.squarespace.com/

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

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