Weekly Message
December 8, 2019
Leonardtown Elementary School
Greg LaCount, Assistant Principal
Location: 22885 Duke Street, Leonardtown, MD, USA
Phone: 301-475-0250
Twitter: @les_smcps
Important Upcoming Events
December
12-Family Holiday Brunch (during lunches); wear your PJs!
16-Polar Express Day; Wear your Christmas/Holiday themed PJs
17- LES Holiday Sing-a-long @ 10:00 a.m.-10:45 a.m. (Wear a Christmas/Holiday Sweater or
Shirt)
17- 5th Grade Interim Distribution
18- Christmas/Holiday Character Day! Dress as a Christmas/Holiday Character or theme
18- LES Winter Concert @ 6:30 p.m.
18- School Improvement Team Meeting @ 4-5 p.m.
19-Christmas/Holiday Hat Day! Wear a Christmas/Holiday Hat
20-Christmas/Holiday Explosion Day! Wear red, green and white from head to toe!
21- Hello Winter!
23-31-- No School for students and staff
January
1- No School for students and staff
2- School reopens
From Desk of Administration
The annual Maryland State Department of Education Report Cards were issued this week. Please be sure to read the article below. We moved from our four-star status to our five-star status and 86 percentile rank among Maryland elementary schools.
The LES Family Holiday Brunch sponsored by SMCPS Food Services is Thursday, December 12th. Please see the schedule below for grade level lunch times. Pre-Kindergarten times were sent out separately by Mrs. Readyhough. Third grade will be utilizing the gym for their lunch to accommodate our guests.
Our LES Outreach Program is in need of volunteers once a month to prepare pick ups for our families we support each month through the LES Outreach Program. Please contact Ms. Suomela (aksuomela@smcps.org), School Counselor for more information.
We have fun Spirit Days during the week of December 16, and teams have activities scheduled that week as well. Our last day of school for 2019 is Friday, December 20th. It is an early dismissal day at 1:45 p.m.
New Information
MSDE Report Card Released This Week
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) released the annual school accountability measure this past week. The second annual MSDE School Report Card was created in alignment with ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) – a federal accountability standard initiated in 2015. The MSDE School Report Card considers multiple data points before ultimately assigning a star ranking (1-5) for every school in the state.
The Report Card provides broad insights into 4 categories of school measures…
- Academic Achievement
- Academic Progress
- English Language Proficiency
- School Quality and Student Success
Overall school performance is determined by a formulaic combination of these 4 categories.
The combination of points, assigned by the state in each category, results in a percentage that is then associated with a school’s star ranking.
- 75-100% = 5 Stars
- 60-74% = 4 Stars
- 45-59% = 3 Stars
- 30-44% = 2 Stars
- >30% = 1 Star
Leonardtown Elementary School earned a 75% and was thus designated as a 5-star school by MSDE on the 2018-19 School Report Card. The 75% percent rate placed LES in the 86th percentile among all elementary schools in Maryland.
The information ascertained from the Maryland Accountability Program is a snapshot of the dedicated efforts put forth every day by our staff to enhance an environment conducive to teaching and learning at Leonardtown Elementary School. As with other data points, we will be intentional with how we use this information to build upon successes and address areas needing improvement. This presents us with a great opportunity to improve and grow as a school in the coming years.
For additional details about Leonardtown Elementary's Report Card, if interested, please visit http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/.
Keep Contact Information Up to Date
Recently, we have had several incidents where we have been trying to reach parents and find that either their voice mailbox was full or not set-up to receive messages. We also have several situations where the emergency number(s) we have on file is/are no longer in service.
We would appreciate it if you could take a moment and make sure of the following:
- Please have a voice mailbox in place that can receive messages. If need be, please clear the messages currently in your mailbox so that your mailbox can receive new messages.
- Please take a moment and update any emergency numbers that may need to be updated.
This is very important especially if we have an unscheduled emergency closing. Thank you so much.
Why Read 20 Minutes a Day
At Leonardtown Elementary School, we highly recommend less screen time and more time reading. Why read? Please review the article below.
Starting in Kindergarten, if a student reads 20 minutes a day at home, they will hear 1.8 million words per year. They will have read for 851 hours by 6th grade and on standardized tests, they will likely score better than 90% of their peers.
This is compelling data on the benefits of encouraging your child to read.
Helps in language development
From the time your child is born, reading out loud is a positive influence. As your child grows, daily reading will help the brain make connections between the written and spoken word, widening vocabulary in the process.
Adding to that benefit, vocabulary knowledge equates to masterful spelling. In fact, reading, spelling, and vocabulary are critically important to a child's lifelong achievement.
Promotes brain development
Educators have long said reading makes people smarter, and there’s research backing them up. A recent study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics found reading to children of any age wakens a number of regions in the left part of the brain. The areas in the brain that become active involve understanding the meaning of words and concepts tied to memory.
LES Student Council Presents: Santa Buddies
Message from the Art Teacher
Dear LES Families,
I am looking for parent volunteers who would be able to commit to helping in the Art room on a regular basis. You could sign up for a whole day each week or a couple of hours a day each week, whatever your schedule allows. Basic responsibilities would be passing out supplies, wiping down tables after class, washing brushes, helping put Art work away to dry or hanging Art work up in the hallways.
You would have to be an approved volunteer for the school or apply to be a volunteer with SMCPS. Beyond that, the main requirement is that you come with a willingness to help and have a positive attitude toward me and the children. I would require that you allow me to handle discipline issues or requests to go to the bathroom. Encouraging the children and complimenting them on their Art work would be welcome!
Please let me know if you are interested and available by emailing me at jlmeyers@smcps.org.
Thank you so much for your consideration!
Jennifer Meyers
Art Teacher
Leonardtown Elementary School
Information Worth Repeating
Arrival and Dismissal
Please remind those who pick up our students to please be patient as they wait for students to get in and out of cars in the car loop. We had a recent incident where an individual attempted to pass the car in front as students were exiting the car. We cannot reiterate enough to please be careful. Thank you for your support in keeping our students and staff safe!
If needed for an appointment, please make every attempt to pick up by 3:15 p.m., if you are needing to pick up from the Main Office. The Main Office gets very busy during dismissal as we prepare to make sure all students get to their correct dismissal locations safe. Thank you for your understanding.