Cedar Grove Friday Flash
November 10, 2023
Dear Cedar Grove Families,
Our first PTA cultural arts assembly this week featured children's book author, Mark Dantzler as he presented his children's books to the students and talked to them about the writing process. Many thanks to the PTA for providing these wonderful assemblies.
Parent/Teacher conferences will take place on November 20 and 21. These conferences are a great opportunity to strengthen the home/school partnership through two-way communication about academic progress and work habits as well as personal and social growth. Since time for conferences is limited, we encourage parents to review our conference tips to maximize this opportunity to work together for the benefit of our children. If you have not yet scheduled a conference, please work with your child's teacher to schedule it.
Cedar Grove is using a cart model for Chromebooks this year which means Chromebooks stay in the classroom and do not go home. For those of you who would like an MCPS home use device, please complete the Chromebook Form to Distribute to Families to request a home use Chromebook. The purpose is to give Cedar Grove students the access they need for instruction if they do not have a personal or home device. Staff at central office will monitor the requests through the form submissions, will prepare a device, assign it to your student, and will deliver it to Cedar Grove. We will distribute it to the student. As you can imagine, the process takes some time, which is why we are asking you to put in your request so that you have the device when your student needs it. The home use device is to be kept at home for the academic year. Requesting the device implies consent of use in accordance with MCPS policy (IGT-RA) and acknowledgement that the Chromebook, software, and issued peripherals are owned by MCPS.
Mrs. Hirschhorn will once again host the very popular music cafe in January 2024 during the students' lunch time. Performers must be grade 4 or 5 students who are comfortable playing a musical instrument or singing live. We're sending this call-out now, so your students can think about whether or not they would like to participate! Feel free to submit this form once your students are ready to start planning a musical piece!
Thank you to all our parents who visited our Open House today!
Have a great weekend!
Mr. Wynne and Mrs. German
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Grade Level Newsletters
Parents, please click on your child's grade level to view class weekly newsletters. Any questions regarding the content of the newsletters should be directed to your child's teacher. Thank you.
Report Cards and First Quarter Absences
Parents/caregivers will soon receive first quarter report cards. In addition to reviewing academic progress, please make note of the number of absences your student had during the first quarter.
A student is considered chronically absent if they are absent 10 percent or more (5 days or more during the first quarter) of the days they are enrolled. Please make every effort to send your child(ren) to school every day. If you have any barriers to sending your child(ren) to school, please reach out to a trusted staff member. We are here to help.
Share Your Feedback for Phase Two of Developing the MCPS School Year Calendar
Let your voice be heard! This feedback represents the second phase in the Montgomery County Public Schools calendar development process for the 2024-2025 school year.
MCPS will consider educational interests, operational needs, mandated school closures by state law, compliance with minimum instructional days and credit hour requirements, inclement weather and other emergencies, staff professional days and early release days, alignment with assessment schedules and more.
Personal Body Safety Lessons
During the month of November, our school counselor, Erin Spoales, will be presenting a lesson on the topic of child abuse and neglect in every grade level. These lessons are known as Personal Body Safety Lessons (PBSL). The purpose of these lessons is to help students:
· Develop knowledge, decision making skills, and behaviors which promote safe living in the home, school, and community;
· Learn skills for self-protection and identifying child abuse and neglect;
· Learn skills for asking for help for self and others and practice reporting to a trusted adult; and
· Engage in positive and appropriate interactions with peers and adults.
If you have any questions or concerns about the topics that will be covered, please contact our school counselor, Erin Spoales at 240-740-6190 or Erin_M_Spoales@mcpsmd.org
From Mrs. Hirschhorn, Media Specialist
The November Media Monthly is updated to reflect all the new books we've processed, as well as our media lessons and the progress on our First Peoples board. Please be on the lookout for our Grade 5 book club information, which will be coming your way soon. And of course, we are hosting the Music Cafe again, too!
Art, Music, and PE Newsletter
Please click the link below for the November overview of what your students will be doing in Art, General Music, Instrumental Music, and Physical Education. We hope you will take a few moments to read what is happening during these instructional spaces.
From Our PTA:
BINGO is ONE WEEK AWAY!!
When: Friday, November 17th 6:30PM - 8:30PM (doors open at 6p)
Where: Hallie Wells Middle School
What: Bring the entire family out for one of the BEST PTA sponsored events of the year! There will be food, raffles, Bingo games, prizes, more prizes, & even MORE PRIZES! We'll have some of our amazing CGES Staff calling the Bingo numbers. We can't wait to see you there. Pre-purchase your Bingo cards, raffle tickets, and food at a discounted rate HERE!
If you would like to volunteer at this event, please sign up HERE! We are looking for adult volunteers as well as SSL Students.
PTA Membership Drive
HELP YOUR CHILD'S CLASS WIN A HOT CHOCOLATE BAR!
So far our top classes are Mrs. Cornell, Mrs. Bencal, and Mrs. Strong! We have a handful of classes that are only about a member or two away from the lead...Mrs. Foit, Ms. Ward, Mrs. Doyle, and Mr. Oedemann. It's going to be a tight race to the FINISH!
When: TODAY - November 16th
What: Our final Membership Drive starts TODAY! Help your child's class win a PTA Sponsored Hot Chocolate Bar! Join the PTA and the classroom with the highest percentage of members will win! You'll also receive a FREE CGES tote bag.
Click HERE to purchase your PTA MEMBERSHIP or RENEWAL!
Garden Club
We'll be meeting this Saturday, November 11th at 8AM. I believe most volunteer slots are filled, but you can be on the lookout for an opening by clicking HERE. PLEASE BRING RAKES! We will be doing a lot of leaf removal!
Winter Wonderland
Every year we transform the school into a Winter Wonderland! We are looking for Parent Volunteers to help plan/make decorations, and then Parent Volunteers to help us decorate on Saturday, December 2nd from 9a-2p. If you are interested in helping, sign up HERE.
Spirit Wear
Show your school SPIRIT! Click HERE to get your spirit wear now!