Panda Nation News

Wow! What a huge success our PTO’s Fun Run was on Saturday!! Lots of families, lots of runners & lots of fun! Many, many thanks to all the families and staff members who came and helped to make it such a wonderful day for our students!

Don't forget!! Our Wellness theme for the month of September is Friendship. Why are Friendships so important?

• Friendships help create a sense of belonging
• Friendships help strengthen a child's sense of self-worth
• Friendships help build confidence

Make a friend today, cherish the friends you already have and don't forget . . . the best way to have a friend is to be a friend!

Panda love to all!

Mrs. Schou, Principal

Mr. Engel-Cope, Assistant Principal

Mrs. Bean, Academic Dean

“Things are never quite as scary when you’ve got a friend.” — Bill Watterson

Lexington Park Elementary is a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) School.Throughout these first weeks of school, our staff is teaching, modeling, and providing opportunities for our students to practice and bring their Panda MAGIC every day in all settings throughout our school. The poster below illustrates our five expectations.

To better support Panda Nation in building stronger and deeper connections throughout our school, we've established five cross grade level house teams. Our five house teams bring scholars and staff Pre-K to 5th grade together to create connections and build community. Last week each grade level came together to randomly divide students amongst the five houses. Everyone had a delightful time. See the pictures below and be sure to ask your child about their House Team!

Scholars earn points for their house each day they come to school, demonstrate positive behaviors, exhibit good work habits, work hard, show academic growth, and be a good friend- just to name a few. Houses will earn quarterly recognitions and celebrate each other's accomplishments!

Stay tuned to learn more about our School-wide Expectations & our House Teams!

Don't forget!! Enrollment in Band, String Orchestra, Chorus, and the Extended Day Music Program (Guitar, Glee Club, Steel Pan Band) continues. Submit your enrollment forms by Tuesday, September 12th. Contact Mr. Pinto (Band/Strings) or Ms. Baker (Chorus/Extended Day) for more information.

We are committed to partnering with you to make sure the sky is limit for our Panda Nation scholars! Our Family Engagement Plan outlines how we will do that, and our Family Engagement Calendar lets all of us know when we will come together to make our plan come alive. Please take a few minutes to review both the plan & the calendar!

Our Home/School Compact in both English & Spanish outlines our commitment to ensuring student success. Hopefully you received and signed a copy at the August 21st Open House, but if you didn't, don't worry, your child's At the Family/Teacher Conferences on October 10th you'll

Thank you for working together with us to make this a PAWSitively Amazing Year!

• Sept. 4th: Labor Day-Schools are closed
• Sept. 9th: PTO Fun Run
• Sept. 12th Music Forms Due!
• Sept. 21st: 2-hr. Early Dismissal-No school for Prek
• Sept. 22nd: No School for Students
• Sept. 28th: 4:30-Back to School Night & Volunteer Training (Offered in both English & Spanish)

Please update your contact information with the office. It is critical that we have the most recent information for contacting our families.

UPDATE MY INFORMATION

Volunteers are an essential component to our Panda Nation students' success!

Please apply and remember that volunteers must apply annually for approval.

To help you navigate all the new elements of the school year and keep you informed about upcoming programs & events, we will communicate information frequently and in several ways. They are listed below for your reference.

• Weekly Phone/Email & Schoology Message: At 6:00 on Sunday you will receive a phone message & email from us sharing information about the upcoming week.
• Class DoJo: Very soon your child’s teacher will invite you to join Class DoJo. We use this platform because it is secure/members only and allows us to share a wide variety of information with you. Please join our DoJo family!
• Our LPES Website and Twitter feed: The LPES website has a wide variety of information for you and is updated regularly. We love to share all the wonderful things our students & teachers are doing, so we tweet just about every day. Follow us on Twitter @lpes_smcps
• Technology Needs: if you are new to the school or need a device from SMCPS please complete the survey here.

Email: raschou@smcps.org
Website: https://schools.smcps.org/lpes/
Phone: (301)863-4085
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smcps.org/posts/971720426301468
Twitter: @lpes_smcps