May Newsletter
New Market Elementary: Home of the Wolves
Message from Administration
"Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments." - Rose Kennedy
Dear NMES Families,
There are 24 days of school remaining in the 2022 - 2023 school year. That means 24 more opportunities to make a difference with our students. Our staff is committed to making these 24 days count. You can help by ensuring your child is at school every day and on time each day.
Our May Newsletter contains helpful information related to the 2023 - 2024 school year. Be sure to check out information related to NMES staff, classroom groupings and teacher assignment information.
Our New Market Wolves return to school on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. That gives them 81 days from the end of this school year to enjoy the small moments and to make some great memories with their families and friends. NMES will be ready to teach them when they get back. Until then, we want them to have fun being kids. Have a great, safe, and relaxing summer!
Dr. Lockard - Principal
Mrs. McGaha - Assistant Principal
Important May Dates
- Wednesday, May 3: FCPS Honors Chorus at the Weinberg Center at 7:00pm (Click HERE for ticket information)
- Thursday, May 4: PTA meeting from 7:00 - 8:00pm in the cafeteria
- Friday, May 5: Grade 5 Panoramic picture at 1:30
- Friday, May 5: Kindergarten field trip (contact your child's teacher with any questions)
- Friday, May 5: PTA Spring Dance (All children must be accompanied by a parent)
- Monday, May 8: Interims issued
- Wednesday, May 10: Grade 2 field trip to the Maryland Science Center (contact your child's teacher with any questions)
- Saturday, May 13: NMES Fun Run
- Monday, May 15: Author Visit for PK - 5
- Tuesday, May 16: Grade 4 field trip to Annapolis (contact your child's teacher with any questions)
- Wednesday, May 17: Grade 5 move-up day to NMMS
- Wednesday, May 17: Linganore Feeder Instrumental Music Concert at 7:00pm @ LHS
- Friday, May 19: NMES Field Day
- Wednesday, May 24: NMES Spring Chorus Concert at 6:00 pm in the cafeteria
- Monday, May 29: Schools closed in observance of Memorial Day
- Thursday, June 1: Grade 5 Celebration and Picnic
- Friday, June 2: Last day of school for students and 2-hour early dismissal (dismissal starts at 1:25pm)
NMES 5K Event
2023 - 2024 Class Groupings
Classroom Groupings:
Tentative classroom groupings will be determined for the 2023 - 2024 school year but will not be finalized until late July/early August. All NMES teachers are excellent and each teacher has a unique skillset. Through the grouping process, classroom teachers, specialists and administration collaborate to make thoughtful classroom placements based on multiple data points. While we value parent input and are always willing to listen, we do not accept specific teacher requests and cannot guarantee a particular teacher. We appreciate your support and understanding!
2023 - 2024 Teacher Assignments
Incoming Kindergarten students will receive a teacher assignment letter via the mail. The letter will include teacher assignment, staggered start date information and other important information for your kindergarten child. The letters will be sent during the first week of August.
For rising first through fifth grade students, families will receive teacher assignment information through a Schoology email. In August, systemic emails will be sent to primary and secondary guardians with the student schedules included. Teacher assignments/names will be on each Schoology course. This will be how you are made aware of your child's homeroom teacher. Central Office has not yet released the date they will send these emails. We will send a Find Out First message when the date is shared.
In addition to these communications, a Find Out First message will be sent over the summer that will outline the date/time of our Open House and other important information about the start of the school year. Stay tuned and be on the look-out for these important communications.
2023 - 2024 NMES Staffing
As we close yet another amazing year of learning, we also begin planning for the next. We have a few changes we would like to share with you about our team for next year. Here is the starting line-up for the 2023-24 school year:
New Faces at NMES:
- Mrs. Tiffany Vidt: Mrs. Vidt has served as a Special Education Instructional Assistant this school year. Starting in August, she will transition to serve in the role of full-time special education teacher. Welcome, Mrs. Vidt!
- Mrs. Erin McCullough: Mrs. McCullough joins the NMES as a part-time math intervention teacher. Welcome, Mrs. McCullough!
Retirement Announcements at NMES:
- Mrs. June Crawford and Mrs. Hildy Aldridge are retiring. Congratulations to both of them on their wonderful careers at NMES! They will be dearly missed. We will hire for these two positions. You will see a "TBA" in the section below for a Special Education Instructional Assistant and Instructional Assistant.
Transfer Announcements at NMES:
- Mrs. Raynor, our part-time music teacher, has accepted a transfer to Middletown Primary School. Mrs. Raynor will be full-time at MPS as opposed to being split between two schools. We wish Mrs. Raynor all the best! A teacher will be hired to replace Mrs. Raynor.
- Mrs. Ghiglieri, our part-time special education teacher, has accepted a transfer to Deer Crossing Elementary. Mrs. Ghiglieri served in a split position during this school year with half of her day at DCES and half at NMES. This special education position was increased to 1.0 at both schools. Mrs. Ghiglieri accepted the DCES full-time special education position as this is the school where her children attend. We wish her all the best!
2023 - 2024 NMES Staff:
- Pre-Kindergarten: Mrs. Vogel
- Kindergarten: Mrs. Heller, Mrs. Bender, Mrs. White, Mrs. DeVan
- First Grade: Mrs. Kocher, Mrs. Lethbridge, Mrs. Schaffer, Mrs. Dwyer
- Second Grade: Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Ruch
- Third Grade: Ms. Goldstein, Mrs. Rawlett, Mrs. Imboden, Mrs. Shuman
- Fourth Grade: Mrs. Woozley, Mrs. Henry, Mrs. Kueberth, Ms. Johnson
- Fifth Grade: Ms. Cooley, Mrs. Hardy, Mrs. Trakas, Mrs. Noffsinger
- Front Office: Dr. Lockard, Mrs. McGaha, Ms. Wilks, Ms. Main
- Custodians: Mr. Frazier, Mr. McCartney, Ms. Abarca, Mr. Cromwell, Mr. Horner
- Guidance: Mrs. Carl and Mrs. Blake
- Specials: Mrs. Ewen, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Anspach, Mrs. D'Onofrio, Mrs. Woods, Part-Time Music TBD, Mrs. Siderius
- Special Education: Mrs. Hortie, Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. Vidt, Mrs. Schwartzman
- Special Education Instructional Assistants: Mrs. Reifer, Mrs. Harris, Mr. Farley, Mrs. Bonenberger, Mrs. Myers, TBA
- Instructional Assistants: Mrs. Coccia (PK), Mrs. Thurston, TBA
- Specialists/Intervention Team: Mrs. Tortolani, Mr. Purgason, Mrs. Knight, Mrs. Evich, Mrs. McCullough
- User Support Specialist: Ms. Esslinger
- Instrumental Music: Mr. Hinkley and Mr. Berry
NMES PTA Grants
Our staff wishes to thank the PTA for offering teacher/team grants. Staff took advantage of this opportunity to add to their classrooms and/or instruction. The grant funds were used in a variety of ways. Click HERE to view how teachers used these funds. Thank you, PTA! We are so grateful for your support!
History Bee Update
Mrs. Henry served as our History Bee Coordinator for this year. Mrs. Imboden, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Kueberth and Mrs. Woozley also supported the History Bee. We wish to thank the teachers for their time and commitment to preparing our students. We thank our students for their enthusiasm and passion for history. Last, we want to thank the families of the students who participated in this year's History Bee for their support.
The History Bee took place on April 27 at Mt. St. Mary's. Read about the event below:
It was an exciting night at the Frederick News Post History Bee! There were more than 100 participants from 17 different elementary schools. NMES had 9 total participants, 3 in each grade 3-5. Five of the 9 students advanced to the second round of the competition. Clara Vinson and Anna Russell made it to the final round of 12 students. Eventually, after more than an hour of the final round, they ran out of questions to ask and had to scramble for questions to ask. In the end, Clara Vinson finished in 2nd place overall. All the students of NMES had a successful night and represented NMES well!
Click HERE to read the FNP article about the competition.
History Bee Participants:
Grade 3:
Della Vinson
Anna Katuna
Casey Miller
Grade 4:
Emma Wood
Paisley Miller
Anna Russell
Grade 5:
Clara Vinson
Caroline Barclay
Anthony Gorski
Registering for School for 2023 - 2024
Enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is underway. You may register your student by visiting our online enrollment portal, PowerSchool, by clicking here for English or clicking here for Spanish. If you need to transfer your student for the 2023-2024 school year, please reach out to the transfer school to set up an enrollment meeting. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Main at sarah.main@fcps.org or 240-236-1300.
Walking and Wheeling Wolves
Coming August 2023! The Walking & Wheeling Wolves - A PTA, NMES, and Town of New Market sponsored program that celebrates walking and biking to and from school. As the program plans are being developed we want your feedback. Specifically, the PTA wants to learn how your child(ren) get to and from school and why this works best for your family. Please click the link below to take our short 8 question survey.
Media Center Update from Mrs. Siderius
Upcoming Author Visit
On May 15th, author and illustrator Jamar Nicholas will visit our school to lead presentations for grades K-5th! Mr. Nicholas is the author of the graphic novel Leon the Extraordinary published by Scholastic. Thank you for your support of our fall and spring book fairs because our profits pay for his visit!
Students interested in purchasing an autographed copy of his book may do so through the Curious Iguana. Please visit https://curiousiguana.com/product/nmes-leon-the-extraordinary/ to order a copy. All orders must be received by May 9th.
Book Drive
Mrs. White's Kindergarten class and Mrs. Siderius have teamed up to host a book drive for Butterfly Ridge Elementary School! Will you help us stock their shelves so their students have access to great books at home all summer long? To participate, send in gently used or new children's books and drop them off in Mrs. White's classroom or the media center from May 1st-12th. For every book an NMES student donates, they will receive a raffle ticket. Mrs. White and Mrs. Siderius will raffle off several book-themed gift baskets to our students on May 19th! Questions? Please contact Mrs. White at renee.white@fcps.org or Mrs. Siderius at jennifer.siderius@fcps.org.
Books Due
All student library books will be due on Friday, May 19th. At any time, if you need help finding your child's books, please email Mrs. Siderius at jennifer.siderius@fcps.org.
Optional Summer Activity
Wolf Conservation Center has backyard explorer guides for students (https://nywolf.org/learn/activities-for-kids/). If you have some free time be sure to check out these resources.
Optional Choice Board
Celebrate diverse and fun holidays in May with our optional choice board! Through articles from PebbleGo and Wonderoplis, you can learn about AAPI Month, Bike Month, Turtle Day and more! You can find the board at https://bit.ly/NMESMayBoard.
Maryland Special Education Parent Involvement Survey
Attention Families of Special Education Students
All parents or guardians of children ages 3 to 21 who are receiving special education and related services through their local school system are invited to participate in a survey. The purpose of the survey is to determine how well your child’s school is partnering with you and promoting parent involvement in your child’s education. Your feedback will help guide efforts to improve special education and related services in your local school system. The Survey is anonymous so please do not write any personally identifiable information. Click HERE to access the survey. The survey closes on May 19. We appreciate your feedback!
PTA Information
PTA Spring Fundraiser:
NMES PTA will be hosting their annual Spring Change fundraiser. You will be receiving flyers home the week of April 3rd and the fundraiser will take place April 17- April 21. So many incentives to come including the top grade and top class. We have so many fun plans to include pizza parties and a special event with Dr. Lockard. As always, we appreciate your support.
Our Spring Fling Dance will take place on Friday, May 5 starting at 6:00pm. We need volunteers for this event. Parents/Guardians are required to attend the Spring Fling Dance with their child. Here is the link to sign up to help with this fun event: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084eaea72ba5f49-spring#/
Upcoming PTA Meetings
May 4
7:00 pm in the school cafeteria.
For information about our NMES PTA, please visit our website at www.nmespta.com
May Schoology Tip for Families
Schoology Resources for Parents/Guardians
- FCPS Schoology Page for Students and Families https://www.fcps.org/student-services/schoology
- FCPS Schoology YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGATg8OciCItdUiqHJyHHrA
- FCPS Schoology Troubleshooting Guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJWzxwXeSumMlev5Ac8_-B0aaKhW5_ofMvuRO3a1pws/edit?usp=sharing
- How To View Grades in Schoology https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HG9UQhjKp3gqu7lj6zJJoPNuALXpsY8GGseM5Gu-yX0/edit?usp=sharing
Helping our Young Wolves
To support our Young Wolves still at home, we are sharing an idea to aid their development.
Next time you are making dinner, get your little one involved! Having them help with tasks like setting the table or measuring ingredients gives them the chance to learn and contribute.
Lost and Found Items
We have accumulated a large amount of clothing in our Lost and Found area. If your child is missing an item then please encourage them to visit our Lost and Found area. Any remaining items will be donated at the end of the school year.
Security Reminder
Learning @ Home Days
As you may know, Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) has been approved by the Maryland State Department of Education to implement up to three virtual instructional days in lieu of systemwide closure during inclement weather. While not necessarily the first option, the Learn @ Home days provide FCPS flexibility in responding to various weather emergencies. In developing the FCPS plan, our goal is to: mitigate disruption to learning mid-year; minimize additional days that often need to be added at the end of the school year; and keep students connected to learning in the event of an extended closure.
Instructional Activities: All assignments will be independent and self-paced (asynchronous). You can expect approximately 20-30 minutes per subject area that students can complete at a time that works for them or the household. Assignments and activities will be review and practice, not new content. In many cases, students will have choice in selecting the instructional activity. Please note that the design of these instructional days does not require students to follow a typical school or “live” virtual schedule.
All assignments will be posted in Schoology for grades 3 - 5 for digital access or for a copy of printed packet that will also be available.
Assignments will include instructional activities aligned to the curriculum, as provided by FCPS.
Grades PreK-2: The default format for PreK–2 is a printed packet, which will be sent home with your child on Thursday, January 19.
Grades 3-5: FCPS Chromebooks will be distributed as requested prior to the implementation of a Learning @ Home Day. Assignments will be posted in Schoology. Printed packets will be available if requested by student or parent/guardian.
Attendance: Students will be counted as “present” by logging into Schoology on the virtual learning day or turning in assignments upon return to school. Students who were unable to access the instructional activities during the Learning @ Home Day will be provided with additional time.
- Support: During a Learning @ Home Day, should you have questions regarding any of the instructional activities your child’s teacher will be available via email or by calling 240-236-1300.
Click HERE to view a FCPS graphic outlining the purpose of Learning @ Home Days.
NMES Front Office Hours
Our NMES Front Office hours for the 2022 - 2023 school year will be 8:30 - 4:00 Monday - Friday. Our front office phone number is 240-236-1300. If you call between these hours one of our front office staff will be able to assist you. If you call before or after these hours there will not be staff available.
FCPS Bus Delay Information
New Market Elementary
Email: Steven.Lockard@fcps.org
Website: https://education.fcps.org/nmes/
Location: 93 West Main Street, New Market, MD, USA
Phone: 240-236-1300