Welcome Back
We are Excited for the 2019-2020 School Year!
"New" Parent Meet and Greet
Thursday, August 29th
6:00-7:30
Cafeteria
Any parent brand new to RFES is invited to join the administrative team and the PTA for an FAQ session and school tours. Special invitations have been mailed to our new families!
New Changes at "The Forge"
There are MANY staff changes for the upcoming school year! Based on the projected enrollment for the upcoming school year, we will have four homeroom sections in kindergarten and an additional Kindergarten Assistant. Ms. Carney will be joining our staff, returning to BCPS from Alabama. She formerly taught kindergarten in Baltimore County at Lyons Mills Elementary and Woodholme Elementary. Ms. Appleby will move from the role of Personal Assistant to our additional Kindergarten Assistant. With needing only three 1st grade classes this year, Ms. Mercer will be moving to 3rd grade. In 2nd grade we will welcome two new teachers to RFES. Ms. Showalter and Ms. Kopf will join Ms. Siuta and Ms. Traynor. Ms. Kopf taught 2nd grade at Pinewood Elementary, while Ms. Showalter taught at the primary level and was the STEM teacher at Cromwell Valley Elementary.
With large class sizes last year in 2nd grade, we have added a reduction teacher to grade 3 this year to specifically target reading and writing. Ms. Rosenberg will assume this reduction position. We are excited to have her join our staff from Wellwood International. Students in grade 3 will be assigned to three homerooms but will switch into four ELA classes to reduce the size of each class. Ms. Rossi will no longer be teaching in 3rd grade. With the retirement of Ms. Hunter, she will be our new special educator. Grade 4 will see the addition of two new team members. Ms. Erdman has moved from grade 2 to teach 4th grade math and Ms. Manley has moved from 5th grade to teach reading. We are excited to welcome Ms. Burgner-Hannum to grade 5. She is coming to us with a lot of 5th grade experience from Featherbed Lane Elementary.
Mr. Stojak will be our new instrumental music teacher. He is coming to us with many experiences in BCPS, most recently at Fort Garrison and Catonsville Elementary. Our new school nurse, Ms. House, has joined our staff from Middle River Middle and has years of experience as a Clinical Nurse at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is so excited to be at RFES and has been busy all summer setting up the health suite. One final note, Ms. Guth is getting married prior to the first day of school and will be Mrs. Church. We are so happy for her!!
"Sneak a Peek" & Lois' Library Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Friday, August 30th
2:30-3:30
Our “Sneak-a-Peek at Your Seat” event is scheduled for Friday, August 30th, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Families are invited to visit their children’s classrooms, meet the teachers, and pick-up school supplies (if ordered through the PTA). The school supply list is posted on the school website at http://rodgersforgees.bcps.org/
We hope you will join us after “Sneak-a-Peek” for a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in the Library. With the many generous contributions from the RFES community in memory of Lois Berman, we have dedicated a section in the library in her honor and will official open “Lois’Library”. Ms. Lois was a beloved member of the RFES staff and grandmother to two former students.
First Day for Students
Tuesday, September 3rd
School opens for students in grades 1-5 on Tuesday, September 3, 2019. Doors open for the children at 8:45 a.m. and school begins at 9:00 a.m. Students may want to show their school spirit by wearing red and white! Students will enter the doors by the cafeteria on the right side of the building. We ask that parents model the safe crossing of Dumbarton Road and Stevenson Lane by using the designated crosswalks. Crossing guards will be on-duty to ensure safety. A drop-off lane on Dumbarton Rd. is available in the morning if you will be driving your child to school. Please drive through the lane marked with cones to drop-off your child. Bus riders enter through the main entrance. Please remind your child that parents will not be escorting them into the building on the first day of school. We continue to have a “Kiss and Go” policy and will have many hands ready to assist getting your child to their classroom. Dismissal is at 3:25 p.m. for our kindergarten students and 3:30 p.m. for the remaining grades. Parents should not park in the staff parking lot or bus loop during arrival and dismissal.
"Back to School Night"
Tuesday, September 3rd
6:30 pm
Classrooms
Parents are invited to “Back-to-School Night” on Tuesday, September 3rd. This is the same night as the 1st day of school. Upon arrival, parents are to report directly to their child’s classroom. The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with Volunteer Training. The administration and PTA will share updates for the upcoming school year at 7:00. Following these announcements, teachers at every grade level will present informational sessions. There will be two rotations during the evening to offer parents with multiple children at RFES a chance to meet all teachers and visit each classroom.
Peacemaker Houses & Acts of Kindness
First Peacemaker House Party will be Wednesday, September 4th
We are excited to continue our Peacemaker House character education program again this year. This program was awarded by the Maryland Center for Character Education at Stevenson University for "2018-2019 Character Education School of the Year”. We are very proud of this honor! The first Peacemaker House Party will be Wednesday, September 4th. Encourage your child to wear their house color and get ready to welcome new students as they are sorted that day into each house!
At the end of last year, students were challenged to complete an “Act of Kindness” over the summer and tell us about it in a letter. Envelopes went home with the 4th quarter report card. Please encourage your child to return their stories to us prior to the first day of school. These stories will be part of our Peacemaker House Kick-Off!
Follow Us
We look forward to working together to provide a positive and productive learning experience for all students at Rodgers Forge Elementary. If you have any questions prior to opening day, please call the school office at 410-887-3582.
As we count down to the opening day you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter @missyfanshaw or @RodgersForgeES to be updated on the latest events at school.
Enjoy the remainder of the summer vacation!