Penguin Press News
January 6, 2020
A MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL BAME
Dear LPE Families,
Happy New Year Penguin community!
This month we have quite a few events that we hope you will support. Tomorrow, (1/7/20), every WCPSS year round elementary school will host an Open House Expo for prospective parents/ students. The Expo/ Open House will take place from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm. Please share this information with your neighbors and friends. We will have teachers, staff, and PTA members available to speak with families about our curriculum and programming. We appreciate your help in getting the word out to our community. In addition, school tours are available by signing up at this link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0a4ca5a622a64-201920
In addition to our Open House Expo, please join us for our annual STEAM Night on Thursday, January 23rd. See more details below in this newsletter. We welcome prospective students to join us for this event. Thank you!
As a reminder, Track Change Requests for the 2020-2021 school year are due February 28th. Please see the link below for more information:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ajmBEs_GoRgi__ryepu4NjYSmQszmTGl_rMCcTm0ejo/edit?usp=sharing
Mark your calendars:
January 7th - Year Round Schools Expo Night (5:30 -7:00 pm)
January 10th - Report Cards, Tracks 1,2,3
January 20th - No School (MLK, Jr. Holiday)
January 23rd - LPES STEAM Night (5:30 - 7:30 pm)
January 31st - Report Cards Track 4
February 3rd - 7th - National School Counselor Week
February 8th - PTA Spirit Night at Jelly Beans (5:15-7:00 pm)
February 17th - No School/ County Teacher Workday
February 28th - Track Change requests due
Kind Regards,
Raleigh G. Bame
#LPESWAKE
#Everychildeveryday
#OtherPeopleMatter
Lucky's Library - Winter Update 2020
@Lucky’s Library
Doing some New Year’s cleaning out? Lucky’s Library will be participating in the county’s Wake Up and Read Book Drive again this year. Wake County collected over 130,000 books last year for needy families. Children’s and young adult titles in good condition are welcome. The collection boxes will be next to the library doors in the front lobby. More information can be found here: https://wakeupandread.org/initiatives/book-drive/
READvolution completed in December. If your student participated and logged 800+ minutes reading, make sure you go back into their READvolution account and claim your voucher for free hockey tickets. If you aren’t sure, contact your teacher or Mrs. LeSueur at alesueur@wcpss.net.
Ms. Trent's STEM Updates - Winter 2019
Here is something similar with actual classes for the students: https://studio.code.org/courses. Another great website for students interested in coding is https://scratch.mit.edu/ideas
which walks students through different projects in Scratch. Happy coding!
Counselors' Corner - Winter 2020
Counselors are finishing up the social-emotional learning lessons for grades 2-5. These lessons focus on identifying feelings and strategies to help us manage our emotions. Kindergarten and 1st grade classes are receiving lessons on friendship and emotions. Small group “lunch bunches” on various topics continue throughout the year based on student needs. If you have concerns about your child, please feel free to contact your school counselor:
Caren MacEntee, Tracks 1 & 2 - cmacentee@wcpss.net
Ashley Waddell, Tracks 3 & 4 - awaddell@wcpss.net
It’s time to get ready for Science Fair again! Projects in the 3-5 experiment category will be due at school on January 6 or 7, and projects in the other 2 categories will be coming in January 17 or Jan 21.
Science Fair chairs this year are Mary Masui and Laurel Voelker. You can reach us at LPESScienceFair@gmail.com. Ms. Trent is our teacher contact.
Complete details can be found on the LPES PTA website. ( https://www.laurelparkespta.com/science-fair-info.html )
Students can enter in different categories based on grade level and the type of project. Kids can work in groups of up to 3 students. Students should feel free to work with students in different classes or even grades, as long as everyone in the group fits within the grade category they are entering. (ie, A 1st grader and a 2nd grader could do a joint project, but not a 2nd grader and a 3rd grader). Some of our best entries last year were submitted by a siblings of different ages working together.
Categories are:
K-2: All students in Grades K-2 will enter in this category. Students may work alone or in groups of up to 3 students. Awesome prizes will be awarded for things like Best Science, Best Display, Most Creative Project, Messiest Project and other fun stuff! These projects may be an experiment, model, or report. Students in this age group are not eligible for the Regional Science Fair.
3-5 Model/Demonstration/Report: This category is for students in Grades 3-5 who are interested in building a scientific model or doing a demonstration or report of a scientific topic rather than doing an experiment. For example, the entries in this category might be a model of the solar system or water cycle. Students may work alone or in a group of no more than 3 students. Prizes will be awarded for the best entries in this category, as well as other fun honorable mentions. Since these projects are not experiments, they are not eligible for the Regional Science Fair.
3-5 Experiment: This category is for students in Grades 3-5. Projects in this category must include experimentation and follow the Scientific Method. Students may work alone or in a group of no more than 3 students. Prizes will be awarded for the best entries in this category, as well as other fun honorable mentions. The top 3 projects and 1 alternate will be chosen to move to the Regional Science Fairhttps://ncsefreg3a.stemwizard.com/
Students can find the link to registration at https://www.laurelparkespta.com/science-fair-registration.html. Registration will close December 15.
You’ll soon be getting flyers to send home in Monday folders. There will also be announcements about the fair and a display in the hallway coming soon. We hope that you’ll help us promote the fair by talking to your students and mentioning it in your weekly emails to parents. Please share the link to the website ( https://www.laurelparkespta.com/science-fair-info.html )
We also found a great set of short videos (5min each) from NASA that walk students through the steps of a project and the Scientific Method (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/how-to-do-a-science-fair-project/) . Showing these would be an easy way to get students interested. In addition, if you would like one of the science fair chairs to visit your class, let us know. There are links to many other resources on the website.
We are also looking for judges. If you have parents in your class or friends/family members with experience in the Sciences, please encourage them to sign up. This will be a one -time commitment of around 2 hours. Judging for the youngest kids (K-2 category) is fairly simple, and would also be a great experience for a high-schooler or college student. The link to the judging sign-up is here: https://www.laurelparkespta.com/science-fair-judge-application.html .
Thank you so much for all you do for our students! If you have any ideas or suggestions or need assistance in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
Contact Info: LPESScienceFair@gmail.com
Laurel Voelker , laurelvoelker@gmail.com
Mary Masui star.lady@juno.com
STEAM NIGHT 2020
That would be great! Also the STEAM night volunteer link and the calling all STEAM people link too. Here is what is on the PTA link: http://www.laurelparkespta.com/steam.html
STEAM NIGHT
January 23, 2020
5:30-7:30 PM
Join us for an evening of learning!
Hands-On-Activities ⧫ Demonstrations ⧫ Food Trucks ⧫ & More
STEAM for kids, Apex Friendship Engineering, NC State, NC Air Quality and more!
Interested in volunteering at STEAM Night?
Please sign up through this link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044CA4AF29A3FA7-steam
Do you know any Scientist?
Tech People? Engineers? Artists?
Mathematicians? Do these people like to have fun with elementary kids?
We are starting to plan for our STEAM Night and are looking for companies and individuals to provide hands-on/interactive activities for our students. Fill in the Google form through the link below if you are interested in sharing your talents!
Exhibitor Interest Form
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms. Trent - ttrent@wcpss.net
Laurel Park Spring Fun Run Volunteers Needed
We are THRILLED to be hosting our *very own* Laurel Park FUN RUN in March for our students!
We will be using Boosterthon to help organize secure donations but this will allow us to keep more of the gracious donations that we receive during this fundraiser!
With this exciting change, we are looking for a LOT our Penguin Community to volunteer any time to help us organize this event and make it the best year yet for our students and our school!
Please follow the link below to find a sign up for our current planning needs!
Grocery Store Rewards Cards
Laurel Park Elementary School
Website: wcpss.net/laurelparkes
Location: Laurel Park Elementary School, Laura Duncan Road, Apex, NC, USA
Phone: 919.290.2333
Twitter: @LaurelParkElem