A Week

Spirit Week May 22-26

Monday, May 22 - Spirit Day - Wear Mismatched Clothing

Tuesday, May 23 - Spirit Day - Sports and Activities Day (wear clothing that represents your favorite sports or activities)

Wednesday, May 24 - Spirit Day - Wear Exercise/Work Out Clothing for Wellness Wednesday

Thursday, May 25 - Spirit Day - USA Patriotism (wear red, white, blue colors)

Friday, May 26 - Spirit Day - Wear PPES School Colors (blue, yellow, white)

Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day - No School

Friday, June 2 - Field Day

Friday, June 9 - Last day for students

Following the May 12 Virtual Learning early release day, SMCPS is seeking feedback from students, staff, and parents/guardians. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey. Thank you.

Please hear us say a HUGE “Thank you!” to our students, staff, and donors for this incredible Beacon Fun Run fundraiser.

We celebrated our community coming together and created unforgettable memories at our event yesterday.

We raised over $14,500 for classroom resources, offsetting the cost of field trips and on-campus experiences!

BUT there’s MORE: Giving will remain open for one more week (until May 24) !!! Can you help us reach our goal of $15,000 by entering 1 more donation one mybooster.com?

If you’d like to continue to give and share, go to MYBOOSTER.COM today.

Thank you again for your support!

The School Volunteer Portal is now closed for the year. All school volunteers must apply annually for approval. The application process will begin on August 1 and end on May 1 of each school year. There is no application fee for school volunteers.

*if you have not completed the application this year, you are not approved to volunteer at our upcoming events including field day.

Supply list SY 2023-2024

https://survey.smcps.org/index.php/16861?lang=en

Please take this brief survey to help us improve our behavior system at Piney Point Elementary School. Choose the appropriate response after each question given.

PPES MTSS Parent/Guardian Survey 2023

May is finally here and the warm weather along with it. There are so many activities we can start to enjoy now that the sun is out and we can start wearing our flip flops. Going for walks, camping, and building birdhouses are just a few things that we can enjoy outside. If you're looking for more ways to get outside and enjoy spring, take a look at this article.

If you're more of a stay-at-home-because-it's-my-happy-place kind of person, then check out this article that talks about the benefits of finding time to be outside, or this one which explains the health benefits of the outdoors. We could all use a little sunshine and there are many physiological and psychological benefits to enjoying the warmer weather.

May is also skin cancer awareness month. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, skin cancer is the most common and preventable cancer in the United States. To help create a world without skin cancer it is important to practice sun safety, perform a skin self exam, and get screened for skin cancer.

There’s many types of sunscreens on the market. Here is information on how to select a sunscreen.

Hello Piney Point Families,

During the month of May, our students will be learning about the character trait, EMPATHY. They are learning that empathy means:

• Caring

• Recognizing feelings

• Trying to understand how others feel

Listed below is a newsletter which contains some books, web resources, and activities for home on our character trait that you may want to explore with your child.

• Empathy Newsletter

• Wells’ Bitmoji Page

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at kcwells@smcps.org or 301-994-2205 (ext. 24120).

Respectfully,

Krissy Wells

May 15- June 2: School Kits- We have partnered with SchoolKidz again this year to offer School Kits for the upcoming school year. Please see the attached information regarding pricing and online ordering. You can begin placing orders on Monday, May 15th. Once you place your order, the kits will ship directly to school over the summer and will be delivered to your child's teacher.

To order, go to www.shopttkits.com and enter our school code: 42479. Orders are due June 2nd!

• Evening Counseling sessions will take place at Greenview Knolls Elementary School. If parents are interested, please fill out the interest form on the flyer. Evening Counseling Flyer

Parents and guardians should be mindful of all debt that their students accrue throughout the 2022-2023 School Year. Student debt could take any one of the following forms:

• Lost/Damaged Computer Devices

• Lost/Damaged Textbooks

• Lunch Debt

Parents/Guardians play a key role in monitoring not only their student's actions but also their fiscal responsibilities regarding lost/damaged issued devices (such as computers and textbooks) and/or food purchases made by your child in our school cafeteria. Payment can be made in the form of cash or check and should include your child's five-digit Student ID# (e.g., #12345). For further convenience, families may also pay by credit card online at http://www.myschoolbucks.com/. All questions and concerns should be directed to the school bank or the principal's secretary.

School Laptops

Students are held accountable for laptops all year, including summer.

Here are the guidelines care.

1. Keep you laptop in a secure place. The laptop should not leave home or be taken on vacations.
2. Please review the procedures in our Accountability Document for "Care of Laptops Offsite"
3. If you need help with your device please submit a helpdesk ticket using these directions.
4. All students are issued a school laptop.
5. It is your responsibility for the care and upkeep of your device.
6. Depending on the make/model, a school laptop costs 380.00 - 520.00. Laptop charger replacements cost 40.00.

If you break a laptop, there is a repair cost. Please take care of your device.

Parent drop off begins at 9:00am and ends at about 9:10am. If there are no staff members outside and the front doors are closed, you must park and walk your student(s) into the front entrance of the school. Students are considered late after 9:15am and must be signed in through the main office.

Medication Administration

Medications occasionally need to be administered to students by our nurse during the school day. Students can not transport medication of any kind to school including over the counter medications. All medication must be brought to school by a parent, guardian, or other authorized adult. Please call the school nurse if you have any questions.

All students in SMCPS have been issued classroom and technology resources.* These resources may include:

• Textbooks

• Novels

• Library Books

• Laptops

• Chargers

• Consumables

• Content/Class specific resources not mentioned above

When an SMCPS resource is lost, the student is charged the replacement cost specific to that item. When a laptop is damaged (either partially or completely), the repair or replacement cost is as shown in the SMCPS Student Device and Resource Accountability document. If a student is charged for any reason, payments can now be made through MySchoolBucks. As soon as a fee is assessed in Destiny, a REAL TIME FEE will show in the parent/guardian My School Bucks account. If your family does not already have an account with MySchoolBucks, it is not difficult to create one. Simply go to the MySchoolBucks Help page and click on the “How do I get started” option. Answers to many of your other questions can also be found there. *Please note, you can also still pay with cash or check at your school.

Ready to sign up? Visit this link.

*If you would like to see what your student currently has checked out or any fines that have been assessed, the student can login to their Destiny account.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers that permitted distribution of free meals in school and via take-home meals have not been extended into School Year 2022-2023.

While meals are not free for all students, we are still offering the free and reduced meal program based on the status determined from the meal benefit application. Students who qualify based on income or direct certification will still receive free or reduced meals this school year. A new application must be submitted for this school year to qualify.

Elementary School Prices:
$1.45 breakfast

$2.75 lunch

School Meal Benefit Forms: School Year Meal Benefit forms for SY 2022-2023 are now available online! Easily fill out your new meal benefit form by visiting https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application on the www.smcps.org website. Families and students should also be advised that there are a lot of additional benefits by submitting a meal application form. These perks include waivers on college applications, dual-enrollment courses with the College of Southern Maryland, and discounted fees to participate in St. Mary’s County Parks and Rec programs. Families can request more information by contacting SMCPS Food and Nutrition Services Office at 301.475.4256, Option 5, or via email at foodservice@smcps.org.

• If you completed a meal benefit form last year and qualified for free or reduced meals, your child will continue to receive a free or reduced meal until October 6th. You must complete a new meal benefit form to receive a free or reduced meal for the remainder of the school year.
• For those families that did not complete a meal benefit last year, your child will need to purchase their meals. You can put money on the meal account by visiting myschoolbucks.com.

Information regarding bus routes and signing up for Here Comes the Bus can be found at this link: https://www.smcps.org/dss/transportation/bus-stop-school-locator

Students are assigned a bus based on their physical address. If your child is coming to school or going home to another address (like a daycare), it is the parent's responsibility to communicate that information with the office. Please contact Jayne Worch at jdworch@smcps.org. If your child is a returning PPES student, you only need to communicate with the office if the transportation to or from school has changed from last school year.

HAC opens for families on Friday, August 19 at 5:00 p.m. Directions can be found on the SMCPS parent page https://www.smcps.org/hac. Please contact Jayne Worch, school secretary, if you need assistance with accessing HAC. HAC includes student's schedules, homeroom teacher, attendance, grades, and registration information.

The school supply lists can be found using this link: https://schools.smcps.org/ppes/. You can find the lists using the quick links tab.

The SY2023 Student Handbook and Code of Conduct can be found here.