Sherwood Elementary School1401 Olney-Sandy Spring RoadSandy Spring, Maryland 20860(301) 924-3195Fax (301) 924-3294Parent Letter #4September 24, 2009

http://web.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/sherwoodes/

Exciting news this week—we are getting two of the SMART boards (promethean boards) installed inthe next few weeks. We will put one in the media center for all classes to begin experiencing, andone in the fifth grade since they will be using these a lot in middle school. Thanks to the PTA for their support in purchasing these first SMART boards.

We have attached the

DEBUG steps

. We teach this process to all students so that they have steps to followwhen there is a conflict. We hope this process will diffuse conflicts and allow all participants to calm downand think through a situation. Please encourage your child to use these steps and to report issues to anadult so that we can address them.We have received a large number of requests for the

individual student data reports

. We are waiting for some downloads of data and hope to get these reports out to parents by October 2.We have also attached information about the

Baldrige Quality Academy

. MCPS adapted the Baldrigebusiness model to the school environment. We plan to have some parent training meetings this fall toexplain the process and discuss the Quality Tools handbook that we handed out at Back to School Night.

Fifth grade parents

: We are still awaiting copies of the Parent Handbook. As soon as they arrive we willsend out the 4 handbooks from Back to School Night.

Why does my child have to miss recess on some days?

Teachers are working very hard to help childrenlearn the responsibility of completing homework and classwork. If a child has not completed homework or classwork, they have used that work time to play. Students need to learn this consequence. Recess is not aright for students. While we all agree that fresh air and exercise is a good idea, students also need to learnconsequences for not following through on responsibilities. If a student does his work when he is supposedto, there is no issue. If he is not held to this expectation, he will quickly learn that completing work is notrequired and there is no consequence. Teachers will keep children in during recess to address both workcompletion and behavior. It is our hope that parents will explain consequences to their children and theresult will be that work gets done when it is supposed to be done. If the work is too difficult, then theteachers need to know this so that the work can be addressed. Choosing to not do the work when it isassigned is not an option.

Congratulations to our new Great White Shark news staff.

They will produce several student newslettersthis year. Molly Martell, Nicole Reich, Rachel Waks, Bolu Tani-Olu, Venessa Nyambi, Nikki Patel, ShaneRamsey, Deddeh Johnson, Diana Guzman, Maggie Lin, Genevieve Otero, Jessica Cromwell, and BriannaSmith.We sent home the

school discipline policy

last week. Please review it and send back the tear off sheet.Parents are invited to stop in for coffee and conversation on Thursday, October 1, anytime between 4 p.m.and 7 p.m., at the office of the

MCPS Department of Family and Community Partnerships

(DFCP). It's agreat opportunity to ask questions, find out about programs and services in the school system, and pick uptips on how to support learning at home. DFCP is located at 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, in Room 50.Enter through the West entrance. For more information, please call 301-279-3100.The George B. Thomas Learning Center (known as

Saturday School

) will begin registration on Saturday,September 26

. The weekly program is held at Sherwood High School. This is a great opportunity to provideyour child with some extra help over the weekend.

We need some Milkweed seed cases.

If you have some growing out back and can send them, we wouldappreciate just a few. Thanks!

News from last week:

Each grade level will be sharing their

math facts program

directly to parents. Some grade levels are findingthat the computerized program is not helping their students succeed, but it provides good practice. So wewill explore this topic this year to see what is best. If you would like to purchase the

CD for math facts

,please contact Mrs. Ramirez in the school office.You should have received a letter about the

flu vaccine

that will be administered to students on October 13

. This is for the regular flu, not the swine flu. We cannot administer the vaccine without your writtenpermission, so if you want you child to have this free vaccination, please complete the form and return it toschool. If you can

volunteer to help the health room

on this day she will need at least 10 volunteers tohelp walk children from classrooms to media center.The staff is preparing a

Staff Concert for October 23

. More information will be out soon, but save thedate!

If you are a room parent

, you will be planning out the upcoming Halloween party. Please be sure that youcheck with your child’s teacher about the limits on spending and expectations for food.Please let your child’s teacher know ahead of time if you are planning to send in

treats for birthdays

.Several grade levels have specific processes for this, so please be sure to contact the teacher ahead so thatyou know what is expected. The office does not know the specifics, so please don’t call the secretariesabout this. Talk to your teacher. Thanks!The

Board of Education will hold one more open forum for public comments---

Thursday, October 15

at Kennedy High School beginning at 7 pm.

Next Week activities:Monday No School – Yom Kippur Opportunities:

There will be a

Harvest Festival

at the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm in Derwood onOctober 3 and 4. For more information, visit AgHistoryFarm.orgOn October 9

through October 12

, the

Solar Decathlon

will be held on the Mall in Washington. You canvisit their website for more information solardecatthalon.org. Great opportunity to learn about solar power.The

National Book Festival

will be held on the Mall this Saturday, September 26

from 10 am to 5:30 pm.75 authors including Judy Blume and James Patterson will be in attendance. For more information, go towww.washingtonpost.com/bookworldOn Friday night, October 2

, the

annual campfire

at Brighton Dam will take place. This is a fun communityevent. For more information you can call 301-206-8240.

Attachments:

Baldrige Quality Academy, DEBUG, Counselor Corner