B week

Monday, January 16 - Schools closed - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Friday, January 27 - Schools closed - SMCPS Professional Day

Piney Point ES

Order Your 2022-2023

YEARBOOK TODAY!

Capture this year's school memories by ordering your yearbook TODAY!

http://yearbooks.classic-photo.com/PineyPoint/home3/Bookstore.jsp

Sales end Friday, April 28.

https://survey.smcps.org/index.php/16861?lang=en

Over fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon designated January as National Blood Donor Month. According to the American Red Cross, winter is one of the most difficult times of year to collect enough blood products to meet patient needs. "That's because among other things, busy holiday schedules, and bad weather often result in canceled blood drives." Furthermore, seasonal illnesses such as the flu, force potential donors to forgo their blood donations. For more information on this lifesaving deed, visit this website American Red Cross

Winter has begun! It is important to be prepared around your home, when traveling, for emergencies, and for winter weather. Please read the following article so that you can stay safe and healthy this winter. Stay Safe and Healthy in Winter

During the month of January, our students will be learning about the character trait, COOPERATION. They are learning that cooperation means:

• Working together to achieve a goal
• Listening, sharing, and encouraging
• Compromising - give and take

Listed below is a newsletter which contains some books, web resources, and activities for home on our character trait that you may want to explore with your child.

* Cooperation Newsletter

* Wells' Bitmoji Page

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at kcwells@smcps.org or 301-994-2205 (ext. 24120).

• Evening Counseling sessions will take place at Greenview Knolls Elementary School. If parents are interested, please fill out the interest form on the flyer. Evening Counseling Flyer

January 17th - On Tuesday, January 17th IHOP, 45138 First Colony Way, will donate 20% of Dine-In, Takeout, Delivery & Pick up orders to Piney Point Elementary School PTA. Please help us by RSVPing to save the date and inviting a friend (or 2) to eat with you!

RSVP & details here: www.groupraise.com/events/239575

January 26th - Kids Winter BINGO - Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and BINGO will start by 6 p.m. This is a FREE event for all kids! There will be 10 regular games with wonderful prizes to be won. Pizza will be available for purchase – pre-order is highly encouraged but not required. https://forms.gle/Yer3bA4eJZLAv4t68

Need Spirit Wear?! Email the PTA at Piney.Point.PTA@gmail.com to place your order.

Payments can be made my Cash, Check, Venmo (@Piney-PointPTA) or Cash App ($pineypointp)

Youth Short Sleeve-$15.00 each

Adult short sleeve - $17.00 each, XXL- $18.00 each

Youth long sleeve -$18.00 each

Adult long sleeve - $20.00 each

Youth Hoodies- $23.00 each

Adult Hoodies - $27.00 each

Parent drop off begins at 9:00am and ends at about 9:10am. If there are no staff members outside and the front doors are closed, you must park and walk your student(s) into the front entrance of the school. Students are considered late after 9:15am and must be signed in through the main office.

While school attendance is vital to your student’s education, a sick child belongs at home. Please review the Sick Day Guidelines below to assist you in making that decision.

Keep me home if...

• I have a temperature higher than 100°F.
• I'm throwing up or have diarrhea.
• My eyes are pink and crusty.

Send me back to school when...

• My symptoms have significantly improved or resolved.
• I haven't had a fever for 24 hours and have not had any fever-reducing medication.
• I haven't thrown up or had diarrhea.
• If antibiotics have been prescribed, I have been taking them for at least 24hr.

Call the doctor if...

• I’ve had a temperature higher than 100°F for more than 2 days.
• I've been throwing up or having diarrhea for more than 2 days.
• I've had the sniffles for more than a week and they aren't getting any better.
• I still have asthma symptoms after using my asthma medicine (and call 911 if I'm having trouble breathing after using an inhaler).

The School Volunteer Portal is now open for applications. Beginning this year all school volunteers must apply annually for approval. The application process will begin on August 1 and end on May 1 of each school year. There is no application fee for school volunteers.

Medication Administration

Medications occasionally need to be administered to students by our nurse during the school day. Students can not transport medication of any kind to school including over the counter medications. All medication must be brought to school by a parent, guardian, or other authorized adult. Please call the school nurse if you have any questions.

All students in SMCPS have been issued classroom and technology resources.* These resources may include:

• Textbooks

• Novels

• Library Books

• Laptops

• Chargers

• Consumables

• Content/Class specific resources not mentioned above

When an SMCPS resource is lost, the student is charged the replacement cost specific to that item. When a laptop is damaged (either partially or completely), the repair or replacement cost is as shown in the SMCPS Student Device and Resource Accountability document. If a student is charged for any reason, payments can now be made through MySchoolBucks. As soon as a fee is assessed in Destiny, a REAL TIME FEE will show in the parent/guardian My School Bucks account. If your family does not already have an account with MySchoolBucks, it is not difficult to create one. Simply go to the MySchoolBucks Help page and click on the “How do I get started” option. Answers to many of your other questions can also be found there. *Please note, you can also still pay with cash or check at your school.

Ready to sign up? Visit this link.

*If you would like to see what your student currently has checked out or any fines that have been assessed, the student can login to their Destiny account.

SMCPS is seeking nominations to recognize our school cafeteria workers from our parents and staff.

There is no deadline to submit a nomination. Nominations will be pulled each month to pass along our Golden Spatula Award to our cafeteria staff.

https://forms.gle/spyBrhN1kwo6DX9FA

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers that permitted distribution of free meals in school and via take-home meals have not been extended into School Year 2022-2023.

While meals are not free for all students, we are still offering the free and reduced meal program based on the status determined from the meal benefit application. Students who qualify based on income or direct certification will still receive free or reduced meals this school year. A new application must be submitted for this school year to qualify.

Elementary School Prices:
$1.45 breakfast

$2.75 lunch

School Meal Benefit Forms: School Year Meal Benefit forms for SY 2022-2023 are now available online! Easily fill out your new meal benefit form by visiting https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application on the www.smcps.org website. Families and students should also be advised that there are a lot of additional benefits by submitting a meal application form. These perks include waivers on college applications, dual-enrollment courses with the College of Southern Maryland, and discounted fees to participate in St. Mary’s County Parks and Rec programs. Families can request more information by contacting SMCPS Food and Nutrition Services Office at 301.475.4256, Option 5, or via email at foodservice@smcps.org.

• If you completed a meal benefit form last year and qualified for free or reduced meals, your child will continue to receive a free or reduced meal until October 6th. You must complete a new meal benefit form to receive a free or reduced meal for the remainder of the school year.
• For those families that did not complete a meal benefit last year, your child will need to purchase their meals. You can put money on the meal account by visiting myschoolbucks.com.

Information regarding bus routes and signing up for Here Comes the Bus can be found at this link: https://www.smcps.org/dss/transportation/bus-stop-school-locator

Students are assigned a bus based on their physical address. If your child is coming to school or going home to another address (like a daycare), it is the parent's responsibility to communicate that information with the office. Please contact Jayne Worch at jdworch@smcps.org. If your child is a returning PPES student, you only need to communicate with the office if the transportation to or from school has changed from last school year.

HAC opens for families on Friday, August 19 at 5:00 p.m. Directions can be found on the SMCPS parent page https://www.smcps.org/hac. Please contact Jayne Worch, school secretary, if you need assistance with accessing HAC. HAC includes student's schedules, homeroom teacher, attendance, grades, and registration information.

The school supply lists can be found using this link: https://schools.smcps.org/ppes/. You can find the lists using the quick links tab.

The SY2023 Student Handbook and Code of Conduct can be found here.