Clemens Crossing Cougar Comments
January 29, 2021 - Volume 42, Issue 22
Clemens Crossing Elementary School
We're Here to Help You!
Edward Cosentino, PrincipalSonia Hurd, Assistant Principal
Stacey Wells, Principal's Secretary
Jennifer Aballo, Teachers' Secretary
Dulce Boyer, Teachers' Secretary
Website: cces.hcpss.org
Location: 10320 Quarterstaff Road, Columbia, MD, United States
Phone: 410-313-6866
Facebook: facebook.com/ClemensCrossingElementary
Twitter: @hcpss_cces
Important Upcoming Dates and Events
January
- 29 - School Closed for Students: Professional Work Day
- 29 - End of Second Quarter
- 29 - Parent Teacher Conference scheduling window Opens
February
- 3 - Math MAP Testing, 9:00 a.m.
- 5 - Parent Teacher Conference scheduling window Closes
- 5 - Report Cards Issued
- 5 - SURVEY DUE for Instructional Preference for Remainder of 20-21 School Year
- 10 - ELA MAP Testing, 9:00 a.m.
- 10 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
- 11 - Half Day Schedule - (Orange Day): Parent-Teacher Conferences
- 12 - School Closed for Professional Work Day
- 12 - Lunar New Year
- 15 - Schools and Offices Closed for President's Day
- 17 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - Google Meet code: cces-pta
March
- 1 - Hybrid model begins for identified students (5 days a week)
- 8 - Kindergarten Registration Begins
- 15 - Hybrid model begins for identified students in grade K, 1, and 2
- 17 - School Picture Day
- 29 - Hybrid model begins for identified students in grade 3, 4, and 5
April
- 2 - Spring Break - Schools and offices closed
- 5 - Spring Break - Schools and offices closed
- 6 - Spring Break - Schools closed
- 14 - End of 3rd marking period - Schools close 3 hours early
FROM SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
Adjustments in Instructional Delivery
On January 21, Governor Hogan shared his expectations for Maryland schools to change to a hybrid format by March 1. On January 26, the Howard County Board of Education voted to direct the Superintendent and staff to implement a phase-in approach to opening schools. Information was sent to you by email on Thursday, January 28, and it is included below under new information. The change in instructional delivery may cause us to have a variety of feelings, from excitement at the prospect of having our students engaged in instruction in our building to fear and anxiety around safety. As HCPSS continues to communicate with the overall Howard County community, we will provide meaningful updates regarding what plans look like for our Clemens Crossing community. We want to make sure we provide the most accurate information to you in a timely manner. This change is new to us, and we are in the early planning phase to help implement this change according to the timeline. As we learn more information, please look for opportunities to learn more about this including information sessions through Zoom and/or Google Meet. Our goal is to provide the best educational opportunities for our students regardless if they are in-person at school, remain entirely virtual, or some sort of hybrid arrangement.
Play is a child’s “job.” Unfortunately, between television, computer games, and the challenges during the COVID pandemic, children are left with very little time in which to do their job. Playing provides great learning opportunities and also gives children some much needed time to simply be children. Playing also helps children develop their imaginations and build motor and social skills. Here are some great tips to help get your children playing.
Limit TV. Children spend too much time in front of the television and computer. Limiting access will encourage them to engage in other activities. If they need or enjoy the background noise, turn on the radio. Music will entice your children to sing, dance, and use their imaginations.
Don’t rush. Just like adults, children need time to unwind and time for their imaginations to start working. Try to provide daily time for unstructured and unscheduled play; time when your children can decide what, when, and how to play.
Be creative. Children don’t need the latest and greatest toys. All you really need are a few basic essentials such as crayons, dress-up clothes, books, and balls. Keep “open-ended” materials around—things that children can use for more than one type of play, from modeling clay to old sheets to wooden blocks to cardboard boxes. Additionally, take advantage of the amazing things students learn in art and music.
Don’t believe the hype. Many educational toys tout benefits you might never see. Before you spend a lot of money on educational toys or electronics, ask your child’s teacher or principal for recommendations. While that electronic globe looks great and has a lot of features, puzzles or a craft kit might better serve your child’s needs. Involve your child in the discussion and purchase of toys. You want to make sure you choose toys with which they will actually play.
Run around. Regardless of whether or not your child plays organized sports, make time several days a week for them to run around and exercise. From swinging a bat to swinging on a swing set, physical activity helps kids grow strong and release some energy.
Play games. When children play games, they learn important social lessons. Team games help teach skills such as how to work together, how to handle conflict, and how to strategize. Board games teach skills such as sharing, taking turns, and the art of compromise. Playing games also teaches children how to be graceful winners and good losers. While parents and caregivers can be game “partners,” it’s more important to have children interact with siblings or peers.
The most important thing is to allow your children to be children and learn through play.
Adapted article source:
NAESP Report to Parents, written to serve elementary and middle-level principals, may be reproduced by National Association of Elementary School Principals members without permission.
NEW INFORMATION
Decision on Instructional Preference for Remainder of 2020-2021 School Year
The following information was sent to all parents from HCPSS email into your inbox on Thursday, January 28.
The Howard County Public School System will begin a phased-in transition to a hybrid instructional model, beginning March 1. By Friday, February 5, parents/guardians must make a decision to send their child to school for 1-2 days per week and receive virtual instruction the remainder of the week, or to have their child remain fully virtual for the remainder of the school year. Certain student groups including, but not limited to, students receiving Special Education services and others requiring additional learning support will have the opportunity to receive in-school learning 5 days per week.
All parents/guardians have the option to have their child continue virtual learning full time for the remainder of the current school year.
To prepare for this transition, HCPSS requests that parents/guardians complete a two-question survey by 4 p.m., Friday, February 5 with your decision:
2. Whether bus service will be used, for children who are eligible for this service.
- If your child is designated as a walker, transportation will not be provided. View the School Bus Locator for your child’s transportation eligibility. PLEASE NOTE: Pickup times and bus stop locations are being updated and are subject to change. At this time, the School Bus Locator should only be used to determine if your child receives transportation services.
Answers to frequently asked questions on student in-person return can be found on the HCPSS Help site. This site will be continually updated as new information becomes available.
The Board of Education on January 26, 2021 approved the following phased-in model for student
in-person return:
- Week of March 1: Students identified for the 5-days-per-week program
- Week of March 15: Students in grades PreKindergarten, Kindergarten, 1 and 2
- Week of March 29: Students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, and students attending programs at the HCPSS ARL
- Week of April 12: Students in grades 7, 8, 10 and 11
Parents/guardians who opt for their student to remain fully virtual may request to switch to the hybrid in-person model at any time during the 2020-2021 school year. However, approval of that request is dependent on available space, social distancing guidelines, and other factors.
For families that opt to send students back in-person, HCPSS will make every effort to group siblings together. However, the school system cannot guarantee that siblings will be in the same grouping. Please take this into consideration when making your decision.
Additional information on HCPSS spring planning can be found online.
See directions below for accessing this form. Please complete by 4 p.m., Friday, February 5. Please contact your school if you require assistance completing the form.
To complete the form:
Log in to HCPSS Connect
Select More Options from the left panel
Select “In-Person Commitment” from the middle of the page
Complete the questions in the form for each child and select “Save”
Parent-Teacher Conference Scheduling Open
Parent Teacher Conferences February 10th & 11th
- Due to the limited number of available time spots, you may choose to only schedule a conference if you have a concern or question.
- Scheduling opens in Synergy on Friday, January 29th and closes on Friday, February 5th.
- Grades 1 - 5: schedule with your child’s Math teacher
- Kindergarten: schedule with your child’s homeroom teacher for a Math conference.
- Click here for directions to schedule a conference.
- If you would like to conference with a related arts teacher, please email the teacher to set-up a conference.
Conference Days/Times
Please note that teachers have flexibility in determining schedules. Not all teachers will be available at all times listed below:
- Wed., Feb. 10th 1:00pm - 4:00pm or 7:00pm
- Thu., Feb. 11th 1:00pm - 4:00pm or 7:00pm
- Conferences are 15 minutes.
Logging onto Google Meet for your Conference
- You will use your child’s HCPSS credentials to join the conference.
- To prevent “overlap” of conferences, teachers will be using Google Meet room joining security features. You may have to wait to be admitted into the Google Meet room.
- Google Meet Codes: You will see the meeting code for your conference in Synergy when you sign up for a conference. You will receive a reminder email with the room code from the Synergy system a few days before your conference.
February PTA Meeting
Please use your child's Chromebook to access the Google Meet. The code is cces-pta.
Wednesday, Feb 17, 2021, 07:00 PM
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National School Counseling Week - February 1-7
The special week honoring school counselors provided recognition for school counselors who implement comprehensive school counseling programs.
We are fortunate to have school counselors in each of our schools throughout Howard County. At Clemens Crossing, our school counselor, Mrs. Rogers, is a vital part of our school and Student Services team. She actively engages in helping students examine their abilities, strengths, interests, and talents. She helps to partner with parents as they encounter the challenges of raising children in today's world. She also provides support for teachers to help them meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of our students.
Please join us in thanking Mrs. Rogers for her dedication to our students and community.
Virtual Movie Night for Black Lives Matter at School
A group of Wilde Lake High School students has organized a Virtual Movie Night for elementary-aged students and families for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Black Lives Matter at School is a national group organizing for racial justice in education. The movie night will take place on Friday, February 5th at 5:00 pm and will end at 6:30 pm.
First, the students will watch a movie short called The Snowy Day, rated for all. The Snowy Day features Peter, an African American boy, who explores his neighborhood after the season’s first snowfall. After the movie short is over, we will watch the movie Our Friend, Martin, rated TV-G. It is a one-hour movie that “offers highlights and lowlights of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and work through the eyes of a group of middle-school classmates.”
After the movie, students will have the opportunity to participate in some discussion about the movie and will receive action steps they can take to be an ally to the Black community.
You can join the event using the Google Meet code wlhs-justice. We hope that you can make it to the BLM Week of Action movie night.
Does Your Family File Need to Be Updated or Completed?
For those who already completed your Family File, did something change that might need updating?
- Did your address change?
- Do you have a new phone number?
- Do you have a new email address?
- Did your child's medical information change?
- Did your emerfency contact(s) change?
New Lightspeed
Beginning February 8, 2021, our school is participating in the use of Lightspeed, a platform and instructional support tool that helps teachers keep students on track and safe as they navigate online learning.
Lightspeed enables teachers to link students’ HCPSS or personal Chromebooks and HCPSS Dell laptops into a single virtual classroom for synchronous lessons, giving teachers the ability to monitor students’ screens and share resources.
Lightspeed allows teachers to:
Assist students with using the technology
Monitor live independent work
Lock screen to transition between live whole group activities and live independent work
Close browser tabs and automatically navigate to websites
Teachers will only have access to Lightspeed during regularly scheduled class time.
Teachers do not have the ability to control computer screens, including clicking buttons and changing settings. However, teachers can direct and lock a student’s computer to specific websites. If the website turns on the student’s camera and/or microphone, the teacher would be able to observe the video and audio the web camera picks up. For example, if a student was on a site viewing their own image via the web camera, the teacher would be able to see that content.
Additionally, to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, HCPSS uses Lightspeed to filter inappropriate content and monitor general usage of the Chromebooks, during and beyond the school day.
There will be no opt-out option for Lightspeed. HCPSS-issued devices and accounts are governed primarily by HCPSS Board policies: 8080 Responsible Use of Technology, Digital Tools and Social Media, 3040 Technology Security, and 3060 Student Data Governance and Privacy.
We’re looking forward to offering this additional platform for our teachers to better provide support for our students. Thank you as always for being our educational partner during this unprecedented time of virtual learning.
If you have any questions, you can contact Mr. Cosentino.
February is Kindness Month at CCES
We are declaring February to be Kindness Month! February 17th is “Random Acts of Kindness Day.” Although we cannot all be together this year to celebrate, we are providing our families with a calendar of kind ideas: CCES Kindness Calendar. Doing something kind for others can brighten up our days and lift our spirits!
As your child completes activities, feel free to send photos to Mr. Cosentino (ecosentino@hcpss.org) so that he can share on our social media accounts.
Bullying Reporting Tool
HCPSS has launched a new bullying reporting tool that replaces the Sprigeo reporting system that has been in place for several years. This new tool is very easy to use and allows students, staff and family members to easily and confidentially report incidents of bullying.
Acts of bullying can be critically detrimental to the learning environment at our school and has the potential for severely impacting the wellness of our students. I urge every student and family member to use this new tool to report any acts that occur in-person or online that you believe may be bullying. Your information will remain confidential and staff will take every report seriously.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Mr. Cosentino or Mrs. Hurd if you have any questions about our response to bullying and ways we can collaborate to keep our school community a safe and healthy environment for our students. The new bullying reporting tool can be found online at stopbullying.hcpss.org
PTA Reflections Virtual Art Gallery
INFORMATION WORTH REPEATING
Road to Kindergarten
Kindergarten Registration kicks off the week of March 8, 2021. The HCPSS Getting Ready for Kindergarten page, which includes resources to support kindergarten readiness and online registration, has been updated with additional information and resources for families. This includes information that is typically covered in the Road to Kindergarten live event, such as kindergarten readiness, the kindergarten program, and registering children for school. The live Road To Kindergarten events will not take place this year due to the pandemic. We also encourage families to visit the HCPSS Grade K Family and Community Resources page for more information about the kindergarten instructional program and ways families can support their children at home. The Prekindergarten Family and Community Resources page also contains resources for families and providers for children currently in their prekindergarten year. The Transition to Kindergarten Workgroup is working on additional readiness resources that can be implemented at home or in early learning centers - these resources will also be posted on the Getting Ready for Kindergarten page this winter.
"Books & Bundts" Reading Program
Nothing Bundt Cakes at 10730 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia is offering a youth reading incentive program for Grades Pre-K to 5th from January 15 to March 31, 2021! Click the flyer below describing the program.
Just use the attached Book Tracker to keep track of the books and minutes your child reads. When they reach 400+ minutes, take the tracker to Nothing Bundt Cakes and your child will receive a free "Bundtlet" and an award certificate.
Happy Reading!
The Virtual Magic Show from the CCES PTA
The PTA is excited to offer students the opportunity to attend The Virtual Magic Show with Jay Mattioli on Thursday, February 11th at 1 pm. This is a half-day for students. The interactive show will last 55 minutes and take place via Zoom. Please RSVP to the Evite here http://evite.me/jHUPfVAYFx
The Zoom link for the show will be emailed through the Evite prior to the event.
Please email any questions to Allie at mcdonald.allie@gmail.com
HELP WANTED FOR PTA
The PTA is looking for some help. We need volunteers for the following committees: Nominating, Bylaws, and Auditing. All of these will meet virtually just a few times in the spring. Please email president@clemenscrossingpta.org or vicepresident@clemenscrossingpta.org for more info.
MAP Testing Reminder
On Wednesday February 3rd and 10th, students in grades 1-5 will take the Measured Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. The data from the MAP assessment will help schools and teachers measure your student’s academic progress. The MAP test does not affect grades and the difficulty adjusts depending on how your child responds. It is normal for students to only answer about half the questions correctly. To learn more about the MAP assessment, please visit: https://www.nwea.org/the-map-suite/common-questions-families/
The reading test will be offered on February 3rd from 9-11 am. The math test will be offered on February 10th from 9-11 am. If your child is unable to attend, makeup testing will be offered during asynchronous learning times. Teachers will share Google Meet information and your student’s testing group through Canvas.
End of 2nd Quarter and Grading
Grading
Grades for all classes are a combination of assignments in class and online, observational data, and assesments. Please note, at the elementary level the gradebook may not reflect the final grade for a particular class as teachers collect many data points during class that are not always captured in the Canvas gradebook.
If your child receives a grade lower than a C, the teacher will have notified you prior to receipt of your student(s) report card. Again, grades are a reflection of completed assignments both online and in class, observations and assessments. Teachers have reached out to families where there have been concerns with completion of assignments, participation and/or attendance. Please let your teacher(s) and/or administration know if you need assistance with completion of any assignments or have attendance issues. We are here to support all students in achieving success in this virtual learning environment.
Related Arts -- Please make sure your student(s) has all assignments for all Related Arts completed and submitted before the end of the semester (January 28). Please access the gradebook in Canvas to verify all assignments are turned in. If you have any questions about Related Arts grades or assignments, please email or use Canvas Inbox to contact your child’s Related Arts teachers.
Community News and Programs
Please find the link to the Howard County Public School System's Community News and Programs page.
In alignment with Howard County Board of Education Policy 10010, Distribution and Display of Materials and Announcements, the following announcements have been approved by the Public Information Office for distribution. Please visit Distributing Community Information through the School System or contact the Public Information Office at 410-313-6682 if you have any questions.
The below community notices are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Howard County Public School System.