Weekly News From The Hill
November 17th, 2017
A Message From Ms. Strong
Thanksgiving is almost here and our school year is quickly moving along. During this time each year, we often reflect on all of the things that we are thankful for. We are grateful for our amazing staff, wonderful students, supportive parents, and caring community. The tiring efforts and camaraderie of all of us makes JHES a wonderful place to educate, learn, inspire greatness, and achieve success.
American Education Week was a huge success! Many parents visited our classrooms to see first-hand how hard students and teachers work each day. We are very pleased with the level of participation. More importantly, your children were happy that you could take part in their school day. We appreciate the compliments shared by many of our guests.
Parent/Teacher conferences will be held next week. We are eager to describe our programs of instruction and provide information about your child’s progress.
Due to parent/teacher conferences and the holiday please make note of our adjusted school schedule:
Monday, November 20th – Schools close 3 hours early
Tuesday, November 21st – Schools close 3 hours early
Wednesday, November 22nd – Schools closed for students
Thursday, November 23rd – Schools and offices closed
Friday, November 24th – Schools and offices closed
On behalf of the entire Jeffers Hill Staff, we wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.
--Mrs. Strong and Mr. Vanisko
A Message From The Superintendent
SUPERINTENDENT LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS SURVEY
The Howard County Board of Education is seeking public input as it moves forward with the process of selecting a permanent superintendent, who will be appointed to a four-year term to commence on July 1, 2018. Community members are invited to submit desired leadership characteristics and priorities by completing a survey. The survey responses will be shared with the Board of Education and will inform the superintendent search process.
The online survey is available on the hcpss.org website
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S2Z5FXR. Electronic responses from the online survey will be collected through 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 22.
Paper copies may also be downloaded on the hcpss.org website. (http://www.hcpss.org/f/news/superintendent-community-input-2017.pdf). Printed responses from the paper survey will be collected through noon on Wednesday, December 6.
The Board of Education will host two forums for the public to attend and provide direct input on the superintendent search process. These forums will be held on:
- November 30, 2017 from 4-5 p.m. at Centennial High School, 4300 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City, MD 21042
- December 5, 2017 from 7-8 p.m. at Wilde Lake Middle School, 10481 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia, MD 21044
In May 2017, the Board appointed current Interim Superintendent Dr. Michael J. Martirano to a one-year term, which extends through June 30, 2018. The Board voted on August 17 to move forward with the process to select a permanent superintendent, and a public hearing was held September 28.
Report Cards and MAP Reports
First Quarter Report Cards and Fall MAP Progress Reports were sent home today.
Students in Grades 1-5 recently participated in the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) in mathematics and reading. MAP is an untimed computer-adaptive assessment that measures student growth and achievement independent of grade level or age. On the back of your child’s MAP progress report is a quick reference that provides more details about the information on the report.
Over the next few weeks, teachers will be meeting with each student to review a variety of performance indicators, including their MAP progress report, in order to establish academic goals. By establishing goals, students have the opportunity to take greater ownership of their education. When they meet their goals, they raise their grades and build greater self-esteem. We hope this will help students feel successful in school.
With all of this information, it is a great time to sit down with your child, discuss their report card, and set goals for the second quarter and beyond. Focus on the positives and set goals for areas in need. Keep the conversation going. If you have any questions about your child's overall academic performance, please contact your child's teacher.
A Message From PTA
PTA is providing dinner for our teachers on Monday, November 20th. They are happy to accept donations of dessert items, beverages, and paper products. If you’re interested in contributing please click the link below to sign-up. Thanks in advance for everything that you do to support our teachers.
Please deliver your item(s) to the front office no later than 4:00pm on Monday, November 20th. If you have questions please email Chrissy Wilson at chrissy722@msn.com.
--Ms. Wilson
A Special Thank You
--Ms. Allen
Pictures
Pictures will be coming home today in your child's Friday folder. Students who were absent on picture day can have their photo taken on Retake Day which is scheduled for December 1st. Please contact your child's teacher if you would like a Retake Order Form sent home.
--Ms. Osahon
Lost and Found
There are many items in our lost and found. Several items are hanging on the showcase near the front entrance and there is also a bin in the office for smaller items such as glasses, glasses cases, jewelry, etc. If your child is missing something please check the lost and found and encourage your child to do so as well. A good time to look is when you come for your parent/teacher conference.
Shopping Bonanza
--Ms. Sanudo
Fundraiser Orders
The MixedBag orders are due to arrive the week of November 27th. A school message will be sent when the items are ready for pick-up.
--Ms. Allen
KidzArt
Coffee and Conversation
Join Ms. Strong and Mr. Vanisko for Coffee and Conversation on Tuesday, November 29th at 9:30am in the cafeteria. To RSVP click on the link below. If there are any specific topics you would like to discuss please indicate that in your response. We hope you can join us.
Reading and Math Night
Join us for Bedtime Math and Reading Family Night on Wednesday, November 29th from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. Come and learn how to make reading and math a fun part of kids' everyday lives.
--Ms. Jensen
PTA Meetings
December 21st
January 18th
February 15th
March 15th
April 19th
May 17th
June 21st
--Mr. Bethea
Comment Box
Be on the lookout for our new comment box. We welcome feedback from our parents and community. You can use it to acknowledge someone’s good deed, ask a question, give an idea to improve something, etc. Our red mailbox will be available soon!
String-A-Palooza
On November 14th, the advanced orchestra students performed in a multi-level concert called String-A-Palooza. The concert included orchestras from Cradlerock Elementary, Jeffers Hill Elementary, Lake Elkhorn Middle, and Oakland Mills High. Our students had an opportunity to work with Mrs. Retterer from Lake Elkhorn Middle and Mr. Hale from Oakland Mills High. The pieces performed were "Pepperoni Pizza Rock" by Brian Balmages and a finale with all orchestras, "You Really Got Me" by Ray Davies. All JHES students displayed excellent behavior in rehearsal, performance, and as an audience. They were outstanding musicians and worked hard to learn the pieces for the event. I was very proud and honored to be their teacher! Special thanks to Mrs. Strong and Mr. Vanisko for supporting our students and attending the concert.
--Ms. DeBella
Turkey Trot
We had a fantastic Turkey Trot on Wednesday, November 15th! We would like to send a special thanks to the parents who volunteered to help support our Turkey Trot runners. The students loved hearing you cheer for them and appreciated your help with keeping them on course. Your involvement helped make our school event a wonderful success! Congratulations to all our students who participated and those who placed first, second, and third in the races.
--Ms. Brown and Ms. Zinalabedini
Children's Theater Production
Today a group of Howard Community College students performed “Hyronomous A. Frog”. All students attended the program and shared lots of laughs. Please review the play synopsis below and ask your child about what they learned.
JHES Website
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