Hollifield Station ES
School Year 19-20 - Welcome Back
Welcome Back Families!
Dear HSES Families,
Summer has been a wonderful time to reflect, recharge and simply, relax! Mr. Tark, Ms. Coleman and I hope you all have enjoyed this time with family, friends and loved ones. It was a pleasure meeting so many of our families at "Popsicles on the Playground." Ms. Coleman, Mr. Tark and I look forward to meeting our families and getting to know our students better.
Every summer brings an opportunity to reflect on the successes and areas for improvement from the year before. As a new administration, we have gathered input from our staff and our families on the strengths, areas of need and ways in which we can support you. Based on parent survey results, collaboration with our PTA, and conversations with our staff, we worked with our School Climate Committee and Leadership Team to develop our vision for the upcoming year.
As you can see from our visual for next year, one area we want to spend time building is our relationships…..relationships with students, as a staff and with our community. At the heart of great success is great relationships. ”Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” (Ms. Helen Keller)
As part of our focus on relationships, we will be implementing some new and exciting changes to our Positive Behavior, Interventions and Support school-wide discipline practices. Student voice is a key component to this focus. As part of student voice, students will be proposing and voting on the school mascot. Included in the choices will be the traditional train/station, a hedgehog and options provided by the students. In addition, we will continue to use community circles as a means to build community in our classrooms and help support all students. A circle is said to represent wholeness, completeness and inclusion. All voices are heard and an understanding is developed.
PBIS/ School-wide discipline
1) Students will receive tickets instead of Dojo points this year when they demonstrate the 3 Rs - Being Respectful, Being Responsible and Being Ready. Once per quarter, students can use those tickets to buy an item from the "Quarterly Cart." Students can also use their tickets to purchase special incentives within their classrooms.
2) In addition to the student tickets, there will be colored tickets that a teacher can give to an entire class for showing positive behaviors. Teams will determine the special incentives for receiving these tickets.
3) All classrooms will have a hierarchy for addressing any behavior concerns. All students start on super behavior. Then the hierarchy (See visual below) is as follows: a) warning, b) additional warning, c) Time out/Reflection (reflection forms go home), d) Minor Incident Referral Form/ Parent Contact, and e) Administrative involvement, which could include a Office Disciplinary Referral. Our goal is to have a highly engaged administration, staff and students to ensure a positive learning environment.
4) Positive Office Referrals will be used to identify students who are going above and beyond and are "caught" following the 3 Rs. They will have the choice of a positive phone call home or a positive post card. One time a month, any students receiving the positive office referral will be called to the front office for a picture, which will be posted on the front bulletin board. This will replace the golden ticket, and allow more opportunities for our students to be recognized.
School Improvement and Academic Focus
Over the last few years, our instructional focus has been on the Daily Five, Being a Writer and Guided Reading. These will continue to be an integral part of our instructional program. Additionally, in kindergarten, we will be implementing the County's new reading program "Being a Reader." Our school wide focus in both ELA and math will be on questioning and discussion techniques. Our professional learning community will be focused around the book “Reading, Writing, Rigor." Teacher leaders, the reading specialists, and administration will work with our central office to implement high quality professional learning.
In addition to our focus on questioning and discussion techniques, the whole staff will be engaged in a book study around restorative justice in education. This aligns with our focus on student voices. A simple definition of restorative justice in the classroom is as follows: "Restorative justice (RJ) is a powerful approach to discipline that focuses on repairing harm through inclusive processes that engage all stakeholders. Implemented well, RJ shifts the focus of discipline from punishment to learning and from the individual to the community."
We hope you have enjoyed learning more about our focus for the year! Summer for us always brings a slower pace and the joy that slowing down provides us all. Although we are always sad to see it go, we love the excitement and energy that a brand new year brings. This is one of the best parts of education…..new beginnings, new ideas and new celebrations! Mr. Tark, Ms. Coleman and I are ready to join together with you to plan a year that celebrates and inspires our students, staff and the community.
Sincerely,
Amanda Wadsworth, Principal
Aaron Tark, Assistant Principal
Erin Coleman, Assistant Principal
Consistency in School Wide Expectation Practices
Intermediate Reflection Form
Hierarchy
Minor Incident Referral Form
How will I find out my homeroom teacher?
Family File is Officially OPEN!
Families, please make it a priority to take a few minutes to enter or revise information regarding your child/children’s Family FIle. HCPSS Family File is where parents can input and access all of the information located on their child's Emergency Procedure Cards such as transportation, contact information, and medical considerations. For the safety of your child/children, it is very important that this information remains current. This information must be updated annually. Please ensure that it is completed by our Open House on 8/30. To update your Family File, please visit https://www.hcpss.org/connect/ .
For directions on how to input your child's information on Family File, click on the link below…
For frequently asked questions, click on the link below…
Homeroom Assignments
Homerooms will only be communicated through Family File this year. Families who complete/update their Family File information will find out their child’s homeroom teacher TWO DAYS before Open House! Please don’t delay and spread the word to your neighbors and friends!
Parents who do not have, or may have forgotten their log-in credentials can request assistance using the help link in the HCPSS Connect page. If you need help, click here. Please revise and/or complete your family contact information as soon as possible. We appreciate your efforts to complete this important task!
Staff List
Staff List - Please find our most current staff list with any new staff members or changes in assignment.
**As we make changes in our staffing assignments, we take many things into consideration:
- Student needs;
- Strengths of the staff member and how they will strengthen a team need;
- Cross curricular knowledge that a new member brings; and
- Providing a growth opportunity for a staff member.
- Staff request.**
Important Dates and Information
Welcome Back Information
Thursday, August 29th
Kindergarten Back to School Night
6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Cafeteria
Friday, August 30th
Kindergarten Student Open House
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Cafeteria and Kindergarten classrooms
New Student and Parent Orientation Grades 1-5
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Open House Grades 1-5
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Monday, September 2nd
Labor Day/Schools & Offices Closed
Tuesday, September 3rd
School Opens for Students
Monday, September 16th – Back to School Night
Grades 1st & 2nd
6:00 p.m. Administration presentation - Cafeteria
6:30 p.m. Homeroom presentations - Classrooms
Tuesday, September 18th – Back to School Night
Grades 3rd - 5th
5:00 p.m. Administration presentation - Cafeteria
5:30- 6:30 p.m. Gifted and Talented presentation - Cafeteria
6:30 p.m. Homeroom presentations - Classrooms
Other Important School Information:
First Day of School
Tuesday, September 3rd at 8:45 a.m. marks the first day of the 2019-20 school year! Our daily schedule begins with morning announcements at 8:45. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Please make sure your children arrive at school by 8:30 a.m. so they can be in their seats, ready to learn, no later than 8:45 a.m. **Remember, we highly encourage you send your students to school the way in which they will arrive and dismiss all year. This allows them to start their routines immediately. Kindergarten students will all meet in the cafeteria and will be assisted in the transition from the bus to the building. The teachers will walk them to their classrooms.
Student Supply Lists for each grade can be found on our website:
http://hses.hcpss.org/sites/default/files/library/Supply%20List.pdf
Student Cafeteria Accounts
Please be sure to visit www.myschoolbucks.com to ensure your child's meal payments are up to date and ready for the new year.
School Bus Schedules Online
School bus routes for the coming school year will be available on the HCPSS website, www.hcpss.org, and then updated regularly. The school bus locator can be found on the website as well: https://hcpss2.securesites.net/SchoolLocator/index.jsp
Communication: Administration use our email alerts (see HCPSS News information below) for a majority of our communication in conjunction with our website http://hses.hcpss.org/ , Twitter @hcpss_hses and information sent home in folders. For more information on the subscription process, please visit the HCPSS website: http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/. Staff will use CANVAS as their main source of communication, including upcoming events, curriculum resources and communication of grade level procedures and practices.
HCPSS School News - All HSES and school system newsletters are sent through HCPSS News. Parents and guardians of currently enrolled HCPSS students automatically receive HCPSS News emails from the district and their child’s school, based on contact information submitted through the Family File last school year. Subscription information for parents of newly enrolled students and students changing schools will be automatically added to and/or updated in the system before the school year begins. For more information:
- Website – http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/
- Email – webmaster@hcpss.org
- Call HCPSS Public Information – 410-313-6682
Hollifield Station Elementary
Email: amanda_wadsworth@hcpss.org
Website: https://hses.hcpss.org/
Location: 8701 Stonehouse Drive, Ellicott City, MD, USA
Phone: 410-313-2550
Twitter: @hcpss_hses