Penguin Press News
The Week of July 23rd
A MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL BAME
Dear Laurel Park Families,
We are off to a great start! Our students are transitioning well to their new classrooms and we are eagerly awaiting our Track 4 students to return this Friday, July 27th! We have several updates to share:
- Be on the lookout for your child's RED Monday folder. Every student in our school will have a red folder identified with class specific information on the front cover. We hope that you will find the uniformity to be helpful, especially for those families with multiple children at LPE.
- Common homework guidelines were established for the 2018-2019 school year. Every grade level adopted a homework plan that aligns to core instruction and best practice for the grade. Please see the link embedded below for more information.
- On August 9th, during Track 4 Curriculum Night, Ms. Stone and Ms. Taranto (AIG Teacher Team) will host AIG information sessions for 3rd-5th grade families. Ms. Bourne, our IRT and Literacy Coach will provide an mCLASS overview session for K-3 Families (literacy assessment program). Our Curriculum Nights are geared toward adults, not children. We are always happy to see our little penguins, but the event itself does not provide specific activities for children or child care. Thank you for understanding!
- Please ask your child(ren) about their Positivity Project lessons each day!
Kind Regards,
Mrs. Raleigh Bame
#cultivating learning/ growing minds
#LPESWAKE
Welcome from the LPE Specialist Team!
ART:
Hello to all our returning LPES families! My name is Mrs. Binnick and this will be my 3rd year teaching art at LPES, and my 16th year as a teacher. I am especially excited to see all your children return for another great year in ART! Here are some details to know about for this year:
· I will see your child in their “Art Special” approximately once per week. We have 2 rotating schedules this year. K-3 will be on a 6 day rotation, and 4-5th will be on a 5 day rotation.
· I am no longer on track 1, and instead will be working at the school for an additional month. There will be some substitutes that will be covering my track-outs throughout the year.
· I have art shirts for your child to wear to protect their clothing, but if it is an art day, please try not to let them wear their very best clothes, since the shirt does not completely cover their legs or arms.
· Opportunities to assist in the art room as a parent volunteer during a class lesson or special residency will be communicated as needed.
I look forward to teaching Art to all of your children this year. J If you have any questions, concerns, comments, heads up, etc… that you want to communicate throughout the school year, please contact me at the e-mail provided above.
Artfully Yours,
Mrs. Laura Binnick
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MUSIC:
Hello Laurel Park Elementary Parents and Students, July 5, 2018
It is my pleasure to serve as your guest music teacher, while Ms. Sonstroem is out on maternity leave. I look forward to sharing the language of music with students and encourage “sweet singing” on all grade levels. Students will be engaged in learning the essential standards of music while unpacking these standards through the use of collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking.
I am thrilled to start the new school year with you. While I am here first semester, one of my goals is to spark wonder and curiosity in the hearts and minds of students as they gain access to becoming life-long lovers of music and the arts.
Kim Demery
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION:
My name is Mark Edwards and I am the Physical Education Teacher at Laurel Park. I have been teaching in Wake County since 2000 and overall since 1987 in the state of Iowa and North Carolina. Below is some important information that I hope you find helpful in regards to making your child’s journey this year a success:
- Safety in class during activities is my number one concern. This being said please have your children wear or bring a pair of tennis shoes to school each day. These should either have shoe laces or Velcro to keep the shoes on their feet during class. These same shoes should be used for recess. Please no opened toed or back crocs or sandals and boots or dress shoes. On the day that they have Physical Education please have them wear clothes that they can be active in. Please try to not have girls wear dresses on these days. They may also bring a water bottle to use during PE class.
- I will see your child’s class about once a week. Grades K-3 classes will be on a six day rotation. Please see the specials calendar your child’s homeroom teacher sends home. Grades 4-5 will be on a five day rotation. They will have PE class on the same day of the week, each week.
- Personal and Social Responsibility: This includes following school, class and game expectations, showing self-control, showing good sportsmanship and demonstrate the willingness to work in groups.
- Motor Skills/Movement Concepts: This includes showing the ability to move around the play area under control using different movement concepts such as walking, galloping, skipping, jumping and running during class activities and games. They will also be assessed on the skills of throwing, catching, kicking and striking.
- Fitness: This includes working on pacing and doing moderate to vigorous activities for short and long periods of time.
If your child has any medical concerns that you feel I need to know about such as asthma, heart issues or anything else please email me at mjedwards2@wcpss.net. If you child is hurt or sick and needs to be excused from activity in class please send me a written note or email prior to class if possible. Again I look forward to helping your child along their journey this school year. Please feel free to contact me whenever you have a question or concern.
Thank you, Mark Edwards
Mjedwards2@wcpss.net~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOCIAL THINKING:
Welcome to 2018-19 school year! Social Thinking is going to be a great place to explore our character traits from the Positivity Project as well as see how they connect to the Thinkables and Unthinkables. The ability to think socially is critical not only for social participation, but also for understanding aspects of play, problem solving, understanding communicative intentions, written expression, and reading comprehension. Laurel Park’s students will be participating in this special to help develop their “social smarts”. Developmentally appropriate lessons for each grade level incorporate opportunities to play games, work collaboratively and build confidence.
If you would like to help support the supplies we use in this class, Amazon and Target gift cards are great for purchasing games and books. We also use a steady supply of white cardstock, colored pencils, poster board, sheet protectors, tissues, disinfecting wipes, pencils, crayons, dice and pawns.
Thank you for your continued support of Laurel Park Specials! Feel free to contact me with any questions at svitaglione@wcpss.net .
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TECHNOLOGY
Please contact Mr. Schwartz for more information about Technology curriculum and areas of focus. jschwartz@wcpss.net
****· Donations to the art room are always appreciated and accepted at all times. Items that the students and I often use are:
baby wipes (for quick hand cleaning), tissues, white printer paper (8 1/2 x 11), white framing tape, blue painters tape, newspaper, pink erasers (think “Pink Pearl” type and size, any brand), microfiber rags (for cleaning), large hand sanitizer bottles (32 oz), Clorox wipes, and black permanent markers (medium tip).
AIG Fall Nomination Window
AIG Fall Nomination and Testing Windows
Grades 4 and 5
Track 1:
Nominations will be accepted between now and
August 17th.
Testing will take place between
August 20th and August 31st.
Tracks 2, 3, and 4:
Nominations will be accepted between now and September 14th.
Testing will take place between
September 17th and September 28th.
Students may be nominated by a parent or a teacher in writing or via email. If you have questions, please see the AIG team.
Positivity Project Trait of the Week
Counselor's Corner!
Welcome to the 2018-19 school year! We are so excited to begin a new year with our students. Mrs. MacEntee will continue to work primarily with students on Tracks 1 and 2, while Ms. Waddell will work with Tracks 3 and 4. As an overview to the counseling services at Laurel Park, we will be providing classroom guidance lessons, facilitating small groups, and meeting with students individually as needs arise. We love hearing from parents about how we can best support their child while they are at school, so please let us know if you have any concerns (or something to celebrate!). Beginning this week, we will be talking with small groups of students who are new to Laurel Park this year, to introduce ourselves and answer any questions they may have about Laurel Park. These groups generally take place during lunch and are a fun way for students to get to know some of their peers.
As always, we appreciate your support and partnership in helping your child have a successful school year!
Caren MacEntee & Ashley Waddell
Interested in Laurel Park's First Lego League?
First Lego League 2018-2019 Season
Do you have a 4th and/or 5th grader that enjoys Legos? Does your child have an interest in robotics and programming? Does he/she enjoy solving real-world problems? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your child would love to be part of First Lego League.
What is First Lego League?
Tomorrow’s innovators practice imaginative thinking and teamwork. Guided by adult coaches, First Lego League teams research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling, energy, etc., and are challenged to develop a solution. They also must design, build, program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology, then compete on a table-top playing field.
It all adds up to tons of fun while they learn to apply science, technology, engineering, and math concepts (STEM), plus a big dose of imagination, to solve a problem. Along their discovery journey, they develop critical thinking and team-building skills, basic STEM applications, and even presentation skills, as they must present their solutions with a dash of creativity to judges.They practice the Program’s signature Core Values.*
*www.firstlegoleague.org
We are looking for kids that would like to be part of a FLL team during the upcoming 2018-2019 season. The name of this year’s challenge: Into Orbit. The theme is living and traveling through space (Into Orbit). Each team will receive their challenge on August first. Teams will consist of 6 kids and 2 coaches (parents). Coaches do not need experience with Legos, robotics, or programming. FLL provides everything you will need to be a successful coach. LPES has enough Lego Mindstorms for multiple teams. Registration fees, etc. will be paid through multiple grants and donations. Given the August 1st start date, we would love to begin the process of forming teams.
If you are interested, please fill out the attached Google Form and join us for an informational meeting on Tuesday, June 12th at 6:00 pm.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhvKLd4YrDNlnecPtmaLwRwOGOZqTq-hnZoADjqo6QBd8w1Q/viewform
Transportation Updates for 2018-2019
Grocery Store Rewards Cards
We love that we can now follow the PTA on Twitter! You should follow too!
Check it out @lpes_pta.
Laurel Park Elementary School
Website: wcpss.net/laurelparkes
Location: Laurel Park Elementary School, Laura Duncan Road, Apex, NC, USA
Phone: 919.290.2333
Twitter: @LaurelParkElem