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POINTER VIEW
March 6, 2015
Community Information
Important Upcoming Dates REMINDERS: Just a reminder, MARCH don’ t forget to register your cards from Giant Food’s A+ Rewards (www.giantfood.com APRIL 7th Student’s return to school Account N
umber 0
2671) th
8th Harris Together Education (www.harristeeter.com Account Number 7583) & 22nd Banking Days 11 Teeter’s Family Reading NIn ight th
12
Class &
I
ndividual P
ictures 10th umber Target Take Charge in Education (www.secure.target.com/redcard/tcoe/home Account N
58073). th
13
Class &
I
ndividual P
ictures 13th Fifth Grade Field Trip, Baltimore th
13 s chool Kgtn and RECC Field Tbrip to Tooby’s Our receives rewards ased n the number of participants and there’s no cost t13th o you! 3rd Grade In House Visit from Zoo th
18 Hearing & Vision Screening th
14th Report Cards Issued 18 Banking Day th
15th STEM Day 26 th
27 Hearing & Vision Rescreening rd
End of 3 Marking Period, school closes at 12:45 16th & 17th MSA Science Testing 30th – April 6th SPRING BREAK 17th Guest Author Visits, Aaron Reynolds 18th Pointers “Run” 22nd Banking Day 22nd Kgtn Field Trip, Library 29th Terrapin Release Field Trip Principal’s Pointers
March 11th is PRES’s annual Family Reading Night. You can send a powerful message to your children and promote school
engagement by attending this fun and valuable event. According to Reading is Fundamental, “The single most important
activity for building knowledge for children’s eventual success in reading is reading aloud to them.”
Read aloud early, later, and as often as possible
• Reading aloud is important from infancy through the high school years. Families can create and continue a tradition,
introduce and reinforce the pleasures of reading, and, as children get older, set the stage for meaningful conversations
about numerous topics.
• Read aloud at a predictable, scheduled time that
fits with daily routines at home. And read aloud spontaneously—when adults and children are in the mood for a
story.
• Families can increase read-aloud opportunities by
asking older siblings to read to younger ones; teenage babysitters to read while caring for children; and grandparents
and other relatives and friends to read during their visits.
• Reading aloud gives children and adults something
to talk about. Talking supports the development of
reading and writing skills.
• Reading aloud supports the development of thinking skills as children and adults discuss books,
articles, and other texts they read together.
It’s important to read aloud to children of all ages
• Reading aloud presents books as sources of
pleasant, valuable, and exciting experiences. Children who value books are motivated to read on their own.
• Reading aloud gives children background knowledge, which helps them make sense of what they see, hear, and read.
The more adults read aloud to children, the larger their vocabularies will grow and the more they will know about the
world and their place in it.
• Reading aloud can introduce books and types of Literature: poetry, short stories, biographies, that
children might not discover on their own.
Hope to see you at Family Reading Night
Lenore Schiff
1 !
Announcements
PREKINDERGARTEN PROGRAM
The Pointers Run Regional Early Childhood Center (RECC) toddler and
preschool programs will begin accepting applications for classes for the
2015-2016 school year. These classes include children with and without
disabilities.
The program’s focus is helping all children develop
communication, literacy, math, problem solving, motor, and social skills.
Parents of children who will be 3 and 4 years of age for the 2015-2016
school year come to the school office for an application package beginning
February 17, 2015.
All applications must be returned by March 20, 2015. A limited number
of openings are available for children without disabilities. Children are
selected based upon screening information given on the application form
and the “Ages and Stages Questionnaire,” as well as observations of the
child’s participation in a playgroup. If necessary, a lottery process is
conducted.
If you have any questions, please contact Jane Berman at 410-313-7142.
Pointers Run is still in need of STEM Day volunteers for April 15th, 2015.
If you would like to design and run a science, technology, engineering or
math activity, please contact Jessica Brown at [email protected] or
Cara Scott at [email protected]. Thank you!
You’re Invited to Clarksville Middle School’s Gifted and Talented (G/T) & Rising 6th Grade Parent Orientations Thursday, April 16, 2015 2 Orientations -­‐ 1 Night! GT Orientation: 5:45 p.m. -­‐ 6:30 p.m. Is your child enrolled in a GT class next year? Would you like to know more about the GT placement process? Are you interested in learning about the numerous instructional seminars open to all CMS students? If you answered “yes!” to any of these questions, then join us for our GT orientation. 6th Grade Orientation: 6:45 p.m. -­‐ 7:30 p.m. Will your child be a 6th grader at Clarksville Middle School next year? If so, we can’t want to meet you! Please join us for an information session about the 6th grade program of studies at Clarksville Middle School. School Tours: 7:30 p.m. -­‐ 7:45 p.m. Would you like to tour our school? Now’s your chance! Group tours will be led by our fantastic students! 2 CONTACTING STAFF
MEMBERS
The
PRES
website
(http://pres.hcpss.org/) will link
you to each staff member’s
email address (the best
method of communication)
and webpage (if available).
Just click on the staff
member’s name under their
team to go directly to their
email. Please use this as your
first line of communication
when time is not of the
essence.
Please keep in mind that
when the office staff takes a
phone message, it is emailed to the staff member.
You can now follow
Pointers
Run
Elementary
School on social media! If you
are already on Twitter, follow
us under the Twitter handle:
@hcpss_pres. If you are not
on Twitter, you can still follow
our tweets by visiting our
public
Twitter
page:
https://twitter.com/hcpss_pres.
To sign
account:
up
for
a
twitter
1. Go to https://twitter.com/signup
2. Complete the sign up
information.
3. To follow PRES go to the
PRES Twitter page
https://twitter.com/hcpss_pres
4. Click Follow under the blue
banner at the top of the page.
Kindergarten/New Student Registration
New Student/Kindergarten Registration for the 2015-2016 school year continues from
10:00 to 2:00 each school day and the sooner you come in to register, the better!
Children entering KINDERGARTEN in the fall of 2015 must have been born
between September 2, 2009 and September 1, 2010.
Please see the school website for a list of what to bring to get your child registered. If you
have any questions, please contact the school office at 410-313-7142.
The Howard County Health Department will conduct Vision and Hearing Screenings at Pointers Run
Elementary on March 18th, with rescreening scheduled for March 26th. All Kindergarten (unless screened
last year with pre K) and First Grade students will be screened. PK students who are at least four years
old will be screened. All students who are new to MD Public Schools will be screened, regardless of grade.
If your child(ren) is not in the above group and you believe your child(ren) has a vision or hearing problem,
you may send a note to the teacher requesting a screening.
***ALERT – If your child currently wears glasses, please make sure they wear them on the
day of the screening!***
The Health Room is in need of 3 volunteers, preferably kindergarten or 1st grade parents. Your help will be
needed from 9:30am to 3:30pm on March 18th. You will be retrieving students from classrooms and
returning them after being screened. Please consider helping for a couple of hours that day.
Please call the Health Room to sign up for volunteering. Thank you for your help and please don’t hesitate
to contact the health room if you have any questions, 410-313-5633.
REMINDERS: Just a reminder, don’ t forget to register your cards from Giant Food’s A+ Rewards (www.giantfood.com Account Number 02671) Harris Teeter’s Together In Education (www.harristeeter.com Account Number 7583) Target Take Charge in Education (www.secure.target.com/redcard/tcoe/home Account Number 58073). Our school receives rewards based on the number of participants and there’s no cost to you! Elementary Schools:
Scouting for Food will be held on Saturday, March 14. Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts who attend this school will be out in
your neighborhood on that day to collect your donations which will go to one of 25 food pantries we service in the county.
A bag will be dropped off at your home a few days before. Please remember to put your donations by your front door or
your mailbox by 8 a.m. on March 14. Thanks for your generous donations. For more information, go to
http://tinyurl.com/npdsff4u. HCPSS community partner, MakingChange, is sponsoring a Money Matters Fair on Saturday, March 14th from 10:00 1:00 pm at Long Reach High School. This is a FREE FAMILY EVENT that has great hands-on activities for teaching
kids about financial choices, as well as information seminars for parents.
An event highlight is the Youth Finance Activity that helps kids put their money skills to the test. Y-Fi is a one-hour
interactive reality simulation that gives kids a career, a pay check and monthly expenses. The activity teaches kids about
making financial choices regarding housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing and other expenses. This activity is
perfect for teaching kids about the tough financial choices adults have to make every day!
3 COFFEE & CONVERSATION
The Board of Education of Howard County regularly holds Coffee & Conversation sessions at schools throughout the county. These meetings provide citizens with an opportunity to share a cup of coffee and chat informally with Board members. The meetings are held in various regions of the county but interested persons from throughout the county are invited to attend any or all of the meetings. The next Coffee & Conversation With the Board of Education will be held: Thursday, March 19, 2015, 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Lake Elkhorn Middle School Media Center 6680 Cradlerock Way in Columbia 4