Panda Pride News
March - Volume 3
Principal's Message
Thank you to our Panda Parents for reading to our scholars this month. We appreciate your support.
If there are any parents that are interested in being part of the School Planning and Management Team (SPMT) please email Principal McNeil at renee.gibbons@pgcps.org.
March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women and also inspire a new generation of young women.
In celebration of Women’s History month, we will have a guest reader to come into the classrooms.
Please see the schedule below.
PreK - Kindergarten - 1st Grade - 2nd Grade
Thursday March 4th
Tuesday March 9th
Friday March 12th
3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade
Friday March 5th
Thursday March 11th
Tuesday March 16th
Front Office Information
Updating SchoolMax
Parents/Guardians please make sure that the contact information is up to date in SchoolMax.
It is vitally important that we have correct phone numbers and also email addresses in case we need to contact you.
March 11th - 3rd Quarter progress reports released online
April 9th - End of 3rd Quarter
Federal Impact Aid
Parents/Guardians,
The U.S. Department of Education requires all school systems that receive federal funding to survey each student every year. The need for federal grant funds to support our schools is needed now more than ever.
We are pleased to announce that the annual Impact Aid Survey has gone digital! In order to complete the survey, parents/guardians will use their existing Scrib Order family dashboard account. If you do not have a dashboard, you will need to create an account before you can access the survey. Additionally, you must update your student’s profile page to the current grade level. We encourage you to complete the survey for the benefit of Clinton Grove Elementary School.
Family Corner
5 Tips to Prepare for Hybrid Learning!
Families with students returning to the classroom next month under a hybrid schedule should consider these tips for a successful transition. (From the Engage PGCPS Family Newsletter.)
☑Mandatory Masks: Encourage your child to practice properly wearing a mask at home. They are mandatory on school buses and at school.
☑No Shots, No School: Children returning to school are required to be up-to-date on all vaccinations.
☑Check SchoolMax: Make sure your contact info — address, phone and email — is current in the SchoolMax portal to avoid missing critical back-to-school info.
☑No Dress Stress: Uniforms are not required this school year.
All progress reports and quarter grades are accessed online at this time.
“Second Quarter grades were posted on the SchoolMax Parent Portal on Monday, Feb. 8. Families should receive a mailed report card by Feb.17. If not received, please email myreportcard@pgcps.org with the subject line "Missing Report Card" and the following information: student first and last name, id number, school and grade, and mailing address. During virtual learning, only Q2 and Q4 report cards will be mailed. “
Parent Workshops
March 9th - Family Math Night
April 13th - Literacy Family Academy Night
PBIS
On March 26, Friday PBIS will have “health” activity for the scholars.
Did you know March is National Nutrition Month? Americans consume approximately 90 acres of pizza every day?
Classroom Updates
Pre-K
RELA:
Unit 5: Growing Our Garden
Students Will
Language
- Describe origins and the ways humans use some common objects, such as animals, plants, foods, and artifacts.
- Describe characteristics, survival needs, and growth and life-cycle sequences for living things.
- Use specific types of text for specific purposes. Unit 5: biography and informational text with support.
- Discuss some ways that people, animals, and plants depend on the earth’s resources, such as soil, water, and air.
Phonological Awareness/Word Recognition
- Make progress in naming letters, linking each letter to a sound or sounds that it typically represents, and linking sounds to specific letters.
- Recognize words that begin with the same sound.
- Generate words that begin with the same sound.
Writing
- Communicate information through drawing and emergent writing.
- Use a variety of ways of writing to express meaning, progressing from scribbles and drawing to using letter strings to using some letters and corresponding sounds.
Speaking and Listening
- Singing Nursery rhymes
- Discuss and identify emotions in a variety of categories: positive, negative, strong, and weak.
- Listening to music
- Support and give opinion on texts
Math: Students will
- Demonstrate an understanding of the connection between counting and simple addition and subtraction.
- Quickly recognize and name the sum of two small groups (conceptual subitizing).
- Count by ones to ten then back from ten.
- Connect numerals and number words to the quantities they represent.
Kindergarten
RELA:
Unit 4: Perspectives in Literature - Writers Tell Many Stories
Essential Question: Why do people tell stories?
Students Will
- Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one-letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.
Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g. the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Math:
Kindergarten is working on Unit 8 which includes numbers up to 20. We will work towards Unit 9 which is Compose and Decompose numbers to 20. Our classes will be able to identify numbers to 20 and use numbers 11–19 to gain a foundation for place value.
- I CAN count by ones in sequence up to 20.
- I CAN count the number of objects from 0 to 20.
- I CAN write and recognize written symbols and quantities from 11 to 20.
- I CAN compare numbers in groups of up to 20 objects using greater than, less than, or equal to by matching and counting.
- I CAN describe the difference between 3-D Shapes by their attributes.
- I CAN recognize teen numbers in a ten frame without counting.
First Grade
RELA:
1st graders are exploring Unit 4 in Reading which focuses on the following topics:
Unit 4 Topic: Stories Have a Narrator
Essential Question: How do people create stories?
Objectives:
- Retell the story using key details.
- Describe characters in the story using key details in the text.
- Understanding a narrator's point of view can give a reader a greater understanding of the story.
- Different characters in the same story have different points of view.
- Author use descriptive language to enrich the settings, characters, and mood of a story.
Writing:
- Opinion Process Writing
Foundational Skills-Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Word Study:
- short e, short u, l-blends, Consonant Digraphs: th, sh, ng, Consonant Digraphs ch, tch, wh
Handwriting:
- a, d, M, v, f, R, g, x, T, w, S, h, u, W
High Frequency Words:
- are, said, two, look, my, all, by, out, come, here, to, of, some, but, run, what, put, want, this, saw, now, I’m, were, our, could, these, very, them, once, upon, hurt, that, who, which
Grammar:
- Usage of commas
Math:
We will be wrapping up our Unit 7 - Attributes of 3-Dimensional Shapes in the middle of the month. We will begin our new unit:
Unit 8 - Challenging Problems
- I CAN determine if addition and subtraction equations are true.
- I CAN use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve difference unknown comparison problems.
- I CAN use objects, drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
- I CAN solve comparison problems with Bigger Unknown situations.
- I CAN understand subtraction as an unknown addend problem.
- I CAN find the unknown number in an addition or subtraction equation.
- I CAN solve problems with an unknown in all positions.
- I CAN solve comparison problems with Smaller Unknown situations.
- I CAN understand subtraction as an unknown addend problem.
- I CAN solve addition problems of three whole numbers with sums less than or equal to 20.
- I CAN use objects, drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
- I CAN add and subtract within 20 using a variety of strategies.
- I CAN add and subtract fluently within 10 using a variety of strategies.
Second Grade
Reading:
Students will:
Explain an aha moment using singular and plural possessive nouns in complete sentences.
Be able to create connections between the text and themselves, other text, and the world.
Use the academic phrase “this me reminds of”, “this makes me think of” and “I learned that” to make connections between the text and themselves, other text and the world in complete past tense sentences.
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
Math:
We just started Unit 2.8
I can use place value and the properties of operations to explain why addition and subtraction strategies work.
I can mentally add 10 to or subtract 10 or 100 from a given three-digit number in my head.
I can apply my understanding of numbers to 1000 to add and subtract two 3-digit numbers using concrete materials or drawings.
I can use place value and the properties of operations to explain why addition strategies work.
I can add up to four 2-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations. (2 digits in this activity)
I can apply my understanding of numbers to 1,000 to add and subtract two 3-digit numbers using concrete materials or drawings.
I can mentally add 10s to a given three-digit number in my head.
I can apply my understanding of numbers to 1,000 to subtract a 2-digit number from a 3-digit number using concrete materials or drawings.
I can apply my understanding of numbers to 1,000 to subtract a 3-digit number from a 3-digit number using concrete materials or drawings.
I can use place value and the properties of operations to explain why addition strategies work.
I can mentally add 10s to a given three-digit number in my head.
I can apply my understanding of numbers to 1000 to add and subtract two 3-digit numbers using concrete materials or drawings.
I can add and subtract up to four 2-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations.
I can use place value and the properties of operations to explain why addition and subtraction strategies work.
I can mentally add to or subtract 10 or 100 from a given three-digit number in my head.
Third Grade
RELA:
MODULE 4: STORIES ON STAGE
Essential Question: What lessons can we learn from animals and nature?
Objectives: Students will
- Closely read a portion of a text to identify Contrast and Contradictions in order to better understand a story.
- Over the next three weeks, our class will build their knowledge about Stories and (Stage Plays).
In this Math Unit 3.8, we are building our knowledge about Fractions.
- I CAN explain and represent a unit fraction.
- I CAN explain and represent a non-unit fraction.
- I CAN represent fractions with fraction tiles and other region or set models.
- I CAN explain how representations are related.
- I CAN represent any fraction
Fourth Grade
Fifth grade
Reading:
Objectives for the month: Students will:
How can learning about natural disasters make us safer?
Math:
- I CAN explain that fractions represent division with representations.
- I CAN represent word problems that involve division of whole numbers.
- I CAN write an equation for a word problem.
- I CAN explain division of a unit fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a unit fraction using physical models and diagrams.
- I CAN divide a unit fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a unit fraction.
- I CAN create story contexts for problems involving division of a unit fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a unit fraction.
- I CAN solve problems involving division of a unit fraction by a whole number and a whole number by a unit fraction.
Science:
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
- Develop a model that describes that matter is made of particles too small to be seen
- Identify through a model that regardless of the type of change, the total weight of matter is conserved
Social Studies:
Objectives for the month:
- People with different viewpoints may need to compromise to reach a common goal.
- The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of citizens and the structure and responsibilities of our government.
- Leaders affect the way that countries grow and develop.
- People agree to follow written rules because this helps them to live and work together.
Health:
Objectives for the month:
Immune System
ESOL
On February 20, 2021, PGCPS in collaboration with the UMD, Telemundo and the Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers hosted - Estudios Universitarios A Su Alcance - A College Education is Within Your Reach. Please share the recording (Estudios universitarios 2021) from the day with your student and families.
Elementary ESOL Speaking Tasks
3rd Quarter Intermittent ESOL Speaking Tasks: Canceled
3rd Quarter ESOL Speaking Tasks:
March 15th-26 (administration)
April 6th-16th (scoring)
4th Quarter Intermittent ESOL Speaking Tasks: Canceled
4th Quarter ESOL Speaking Tasks: Canceled
Kudos !
The district congratulated us for meeting our goal of 5 or more lessons per week for the month of February!
Our primary grades are doing very well with logging into their math and reading interventions! Keep up the good work! Parents we need your support in grades 3-5 by making sure our pandas are logging into Dreambox or IReady for Math and IRead (K-2) Iready (3-5) and Lexia-Reading (3-5)
We need your support with ensuring all students practice 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.
Assessment Updates
“Thank you parents and grandparents for your support with preparing students for testing. Please continue to allow them to work independently in a quiet place so that we can capture authentic results to inform instruction.”
Testing Update 2021:
From the Maryland State Board of Education Regarding Spring Testing - State Assessments
The following assessments will NOT be administered in Spring 2021
- MISA Grades 5 and 8
- ALT-MISA (Grades, 5, 8 and 11 for selected students)
There will also be no Maryland School Survey this year.
- MCAP ELA and Math
The following spring assessments are still scheduled to be administered:
- ACCESS for ELs (for EL students who return to buildings for in-person testing)
- Alternate Assessments in English Language Arts and Math (selected Special Ed students)
Food and nutrition services information
Grab and Go Breakfast and Lunch
Clinton Grove Elementary School has Grab and Go Breakfast and Lunch on site.
Mondays and Wednesdays
From 10 am to 1pm
Prices are listed on PGCPS site.
Health Services
i-Ready (3-5; reading)
Recommended Time from C&I
3 times a week,
20 minutes
Dreambox
Recommended Time from C&I
3 times a week,
20 minutes
iRead
Recommended Time from C&I
5 or more lessons per week
(each lesson about 10 minutes (K-2); 20 minutes (gr 3-5)
iRead, iReady, Dreambox, Scholastic
Time Use for Digital Platforms
(In accordance with the Distance Learning Sample Schedule)
Gentle reminder. The data for iRead, iReady and Dreambox is being closely monitored. Please note the recommendations from C & I previously provided.
Important Dates
March 11th - 3rd Quarter progress reports released online to students
March 17th - Teachers return to the building
March 29th - April 5th - Spring Break - Schools Closed for Students and Teachers
April 8th - Students return for Hybrid Learning
April 9th - End of 3rd Quarter
Some Helpful Links for distance learning
Contact Information
Website: https://schools.pgcps.org/clintongrove/
Location: 9420 Temple Hill Road, Clinton, MD, USA
Phone: (301)599-2414
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClintonGroveES