Cedar Grove Friday Flash
January 8, 2021
Dear Cedar Grove Families,
Happy New Year! We hope you and your family had an enjoyable holiday season and a restful winter break. We also hope that this new year continues to be a safe and healthy one for you and your family.
Mrs. Hirschhorn would like to put a video together of our Cedar Grove students doing the Pledge of Allegiance in American Sign Language. To do this, we will need students who record themselves signing a word/phrase that is part of the pledge. You will be assigned a word/phrase and you will practice and then record yourself. Then you will send Mrs. Hirschhorn the recording. It's as simple as that. Mrs. Hirschhorn gets to do all the work! If you are interested, please submit this form by Friday, January 15. Mrs. Hirschhorn will be in touch with you (so don't forget to put in an email address that you look at often!).
Many thanks to all the parents who responded to the MCPS survey regarding your preference in having your child continue with virtual learning or move toward partial in-person learning. The Board of Education will meet again on January 12 to determine if a safe return to partial in-person learning is possible beginning February 1. In the meantime, we are working on our school plan to prepare for any upcoming changes. As we are given more information, we will be sure to communicate updates with our families.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mr. Derby and Mrs. German
MCPS High SChool Student-Led Groups Offering Free Virtual/Remote Tutoring to K-8 Students
The Montgomery County Council of PTA's (MCCPTA) Student Service Learning (SSL) committee would like to share that a number of MCPS high school student-led groups are providing free virtual tutoring to students in kindergarten through 8th grade across the county. These student tutors have either an MCPS faculty or non-profit SSL sponsor and have been through a formal interview process. Tutors have also taken the MCPS Volunteers and Contractors: Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect, online training course.
Many of these student-led groups have posted their services on a platform called Kiddo, which provides families looking for free learning support a single place to search and register for those services. This free virtual tutoring platform is the Central platform for families to search and register for free student-led tutoring services. Families can also contact the following student-led tutoring services directly:
- Stepping Stone Tutoring- Led by Montgomery Blair HS students
- Montgomery County Virtual Tutoring Project- Led by Clarksburg HS students
- MoCo Pineapple Tutoring- Led by Winston Churchill HS students
- SparkStars Tutoring- Led by Montgomery Blair/Richard Montgomery HS students
- Centro de Asistencia Social y Orientación - Led by Montgomery Blair and Richard Montgomery HS students
- Generation Z Tutoring- Led by Richard Montgomery HS students
- Aurora Tutoring- Led by Walter Johnson HS students
Montgomery County Public Library Information
Have you ever wanted to go to a comcon? Well now you can! The Montgomery County Public Library is hosting a virtual comcon on Saturday, January 16. And you can participate! MoComCon Online 2021 is an all day, all ages virtual event celebrating all things comics, graphic novels, and fandoms! There’s also an Art, Cosplay, Essay Contest and all entries are due January 9, 2021. You do not need a library card to enter. Go to this page and get all the information you need! Each event has a separate Zoom connection, so you will need to find the events list at the bottom of the page, and click on the event that interests you to get the Zoom information. Have fun!
Also, if you are interested in applying for a digital library account, please see the following process:
Each patron, aged 13 and older may apply for a digital account (younger than 13 apply with their parent/guardian), which provides online access to all our resources and the student may place holds on library materials from the Montgomery County Public Library, which then may be picked up through the Holds2Go program at your local branch (not to be confused with the Cedar Grove ES Holds to Go Program!).
1. Go to: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library/
2. Click on “Get a Library Card”
3. Click on “Get a Digital Library Card Now”
4. Fill out the Online Registration form completely (including Library = select any of our libraries)
5. Check your email and record your account number and note the PIN that you selected.
Virtual Pajama Story Time!
On Thursday, January 21, we will host our first ever virtual read aloud night! We're calling it Pajama StoryTime because, why not? It will be pajama day all day that day, so we're hoping to build excitement for this event! Be on the lookout for a signup that lists specific readers and their themes with Zoom instructions for each reader. But in the meantime, mark your calendars!
Gr 5 Book Club - New Update
Attention all fifth graders! We are now ready to get the grade 5 book club in gear! Please complete the permission form so that your student has access to all the resources for the book club! We will begin the week of January 25. As of today, it looks like we will be meeting after school from 3:30 to 4:30, but that time may change based on the majority responses. Please have the permission form submitted by Friday, January 8 so that Mrs. Hirschhorn knows how many copies of our first book to get from the public library!
Holds to Go at Cedar Grove ES - New process, same wonderful service!
To continue improving our safety procedures, the media center now has a “curbside” distribution system. There are some Holds to Go procedures that will stay the same:
- Your child will still put books on hold through Destiny.
- You and your child will receive an email notification that your holds are ready for pickup on the next Wednesday between 1 and 4 PM.
- A books "checked out" notification will be printed and added to the holds for your reference.
The changes for Wednesday pickup days are as follows:
- A table will be placed curbside in the bus lane in front of the school at the main entrance. (On inclement weather days, it will be placed under the overhang.)
- Please have your child’s name clearly printed, in very large print to show to the staff member.
- The staff member will place the books on the table for you or your student to pick up.
- Please place your library returns in the box marked "returns" on the table.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may present however, we believe that together, we can maintain a safe environment for everyone while continuing providing this service to our students. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Hirschhorn.
Tech Tips and Reminders
From Mrs. Hirschhorn, Media Specialist
Happy New Year everyone! Never in my life as a new year meant so much to me. And as such, we are hoping that our media activities will continue to keep your students connected to Cedar Grove. The January Media Monthly is full of information, news, and tips. We hope you look at it frequently, as I update it all the time. To help you with the updates, I've added a note on the title slide with the last edit date. I look forward to a wonderful month of reading!
Art, Music, and PE Newsletter
Parents, each month our Arts team will share a newsletter that will provide you with what grade level students are doing in their classes.
Here is the January Newsletter from Mrs. Arellano, Mr. Jansson, Mr. Kieft, and Mrs. Kim! The link may also be found on our school website.