DUCKETTS LANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
OWL OBSERVER
January 24, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Jan 27 Schools closed for students-Professional Work Day for staff
Jan 29 Beginning Concert at DLES 6:00-7:30pm
Feb 3 Report cards issued
Feb 4 Schools and offices closed- Special Primary Election
Feb 5 Hearing and Vision Screening
Feb 6 & 7 Class pictures
Feb 13 & 14 Elem. Schools (only) close 3 hours early- DLES dismissal 12:20pm
Feb 13 & 14 No half day PreK/RECC Parent/Teacher conference days
Feb 17 Schools & offices closed- President’s Day
MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATION
Dear Families,
Thanks to all of the parents who were able to join us for our Winter Concert this past Wednesday evening. We had a great time seeing so many wonderful families and special guests in attendance. We want to thank our Music Team for working with our students and organizing this special event for our school community.
To ensure the safe on-time arrival and dismissal of all students, please adhere to the following procedures:
· Unless accompanied by an adult, students should not arrive to school before 8:35 am.
· Children are not allowed on the playground before school hours.
· Please be patient and stay in your car.
· Use the car loop access road (one lane), and do not go around other cars.
· Please do NOT block cars in the parking lot or cars parking in the handicapped spaces
We have several staff members outside to help with the arrival and dismissal process. We are doing our best to make sure you’re getting in and out as quickly and safely as possible. If you are dropping your child off in the morning please be prepared that this process could take 15 minutes. With your cooperation, our goal is to have your child/children in school by 8:50.
We need your help with dismissal. Please plan ahead and provide a note when you have a dismissal schedule change. Writing a note for your child’s teacher is the best way to ensure your child will be sent home the assigned way at the end of the school day. If you have an emergency and need to change your child’s regular dismissal procedures, you can call the school. Please make every effort to call with a schedule change before 2:00 pm. It is extremely challenging to accommodate these requests when a call is made later in the day. We appreciate your support with ensuring our students arrive home safely and we thank you in advance for writing notes.
Thank you for your support and cooperation with these very important school issues. As always, if you should have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us about these guidelines.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. Balter and Mrs. Madden
IMPORTANT MESSAGE- Schools closed Feb. 4th
All Howard County Public School System schools and offices will be closed on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, due to the special primary election to fill the 7th congressional district seat vacated following the passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings. HCPSS schools and offices already are scheduled to be closed April 28, 2020, when the special general election will be held. HCPSS schools and offices are typically closed on all election days as county school buildings are used as polling sites by the Howard County Board of Elections.
HEALTH ROOM NEWS
Cold, flu, and stomach virus season is in full swing. As a reminder, per HCPSS Health Room Procedures, students who come to the health room with a temperature of 100 degrees F or higher, with or without symptoms, should be sent home and not returned to class. Students should be kept at home until their temperature has been normal for 24 hours without medication assistance. Students should be free from vomiting for 24 hours before returning to school. If you are unsure, please call the Health Room between 8:00am-3:30pm at 410-313-1739 or e-mail the school nurse at diann_rocha@hcpss.org.
As a reminder, if your child is enrolled in Telemedicine, and with your day-of permission, we can complete a doctor's appointment to check for ear infection, strep throat, and other sinus/upper respiratory related illnesses. Depending on the symptoms we may be able to get a doctor's permission for your child to return to class. If medication is prescribed, we will have the prescription sent to the pharmacy of your choice so that you can start treatment at home.
Beginning Band, Orchestra & Chorus Winter Concert
Wednesday, Jan. 29th, 2020
Ducketts Lane Elementary School Cafeteria 6:00pm
All performers should report to DLES by 5:30 pm.
3rd Grade Orchestra
4th Grade Concert Band
4th Grade Chorus
JOURNEY INDIVIDUAL PICTURES
Yesterday in your student's Thursday folder, you received a picture envelope that contained two photos of your student. If you wish to purchase the photos there is an instruction sheet included in the envelope. You may pay by cash, check payable to Strawbridge or pay online. Please return your payment and any unwanted pictures to Ducketts Lane Elementary School.
COUNSELING NEWS
We need you for our DLES Annual Career Day on April 2nd!
We are looking for volunteers for our annual Career Day for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for the following time slots:
3rd Grade: 1:00-3:00
4th Grade: 9:00-11:00
5th Grade: 11:00-1:00
We have presenters present the same presentation four times (student groups rotate), so the presenter would share 10-15 minutes of a presentation, then leave 5-10 minutes for a Q&A session with our students.
Please reach out to Danielle_W_Tobin@Hcpss.org for any questions or if you are interested in volunteering.
PTA NEWS
Tissue Drive Results
I'd first like to pass on a huge THANK YOU to all students, parents and anyone else who sent in boxes of tissues to our Tissue Drive! With your help we collected 275 boxes that will be spread out throughout the school to help us get through the cold and flu season!
The PTA will be providing Oreos to the grade that collected the most boxes AND the grade with the highest per student average (just to be fair).
The grade that had the highest per student average was..... PRE K!!!
The grade that collected the most boxes was.... 1st Grade!
Grade totals: Pre-K- 38, K- 45, 1st- 65, 2nd- 38, 3rd- 16, 4th- 33, 5th- 34
Thank you again!
Bethany Lightcap, PTA President
The DLES PTA Read-a-thon started on January 6th! We're starting off a new year with the resolution to improve our reading while helping fund school programs at the same time. We hope your students will be excited to use our interactive owl avatars to log extra reading minutes each day, answer questions about the books they are reading, and share the fun with their classmates! Instructions for setting up individual online accounts came home with each student (they are all different, so please be sure to keep track of accounts if you have multiple readers for DLES).
PTA Silent Auction 2020
The PTA's annual Silent Auction and Raffle will be held on April 16, 2020. This event is one of the cornerstones of the PTA's fundraising efforts. Our committee is hard at work gathering donations from the community, but we can always use more help!
Do you have an item or service to contribute? Or maybe you have a personal or professional connection that can provide a unique experience to include in the auction? We'd love to hear from you!
If you'd like to make a donation or join our committee, please contact Brian Stauffer at brianstauffer10377@gmail.com for more information.
TITLE I TIDBITS
ROAD TO KINDERGARTEN WORKSHOPS Last date-Jan. 30th 6:30-7:30pm
Centennial High School 4300 Centennial Lane in Ellicott City
Do you have a child who will be 5 years old by September 1st? If so, HCPSS is hosting a workshop where you will learn:
Doors open at 6:00pm and a large crowd is expected. No registration is required. The session is designed for adults only. Childcare is available for children ages 2 and older.
COMMUNITY NEWS AND PROGRAMS
Please visit the Community News and Programs page at
http://www.hcpss.org/community-news-and-programs/ for announcements of upcoming events and programs sponsored by non-profit organizations.