February Tidbits #2

Attendance Matters:

Maryland's attendance rate represents the average daily attendance rate of students in grades 1-12. The state’s proficient standard for attendance rate is 94% and the advanced standard is 96%

TCES Currently: 91.79%

The chronic absenteeism measure identifies students that are absent (lawful and unlawful) 10% or more of the school days while enrolled at that school. For example, a student who is registered to attend a school for 30 days and who is absent 3 of those 30 days is considered chronically absent.

Last year: 32% of students at TCES were considered chronically absent

Currently: 25% of students at TCES are considered chronically absent

2/5 - 2/9 TCES Attendance Rate: 90.3%

2/5 -2/9 Grade Level Attendance Award: Congratulations to PreK with 94%

TCES Staff attendance: 96% percent

We're grateful to all for your efforts to be here! Everyday matters in the pursuit of knowledge.

You can check attendance records in HAC. If you notice any days that are unlawful (marked red), please send an email to smverhaagh@smcps.org, or submit the reason for the absence online through our school website.

February 14th is Valentine's Day!

• Students are permitted to bring a Valentine for each member of their class. Please check with your student(s)' teacher to get an accurate number of students.
• We request that no food or candy products be used as Valentines.
• Please refer to teacher / grade-level newsletters for specific class guidelines for Valentine's Day.

This week, we started a new incentive to help make lunch time run smoothly. Grade levels can earn a ticket for following the school-wide cafeteria expectations. These expectations include raising your hand, not sharing food, cleaning up after yourself, using good table manners, and staying in seats. These tickets go into a bucket, and one ticket will be drawn on Fridays. The grade level whose ticket is drawn gets to have a golden fork and spoon hung outside their door. The PTO graciously purchased a Yacker Tracker to keep track of the noise level in the cafeteria. When the light turns red, it means the noise level is too high. We are keeping track of the total number of red lights each day.

This week, Kindergarten is the winner of the Golden Spoon and Fork! Way to go Kindergarten.

Ask your child to tell you more about our cafeteria expectations and the new lunch time incentive!

Kindergarten:

• Reading
• Identifying letters and sounds Aa-Zz,
• Writing your name,
• Writing a sentence response to a story question
• Giving the main idea and retelling a story
• Math
• Identifying and counting 0-20
• Count to 100 by ones and tens
• Identify shapes

First:

• Reading:

  • -ng and -nk glued sounds

  • who is telling the story, answer and asking questions, describe characters, setting and events using key details

  • writing: opinion text

  • grammar: adjectives, using commas

  Math:

  • 2D and 3D shapes

  • fractions

  Science/Social Studies:

  • day and night

  • the stars and moon

  • goods and service

Second:

• Reading
• Reading 15-20 minutes per night and making predictions using text clues and pictures
• Math
• Practicing measuring using a ruler, or tape measure
• Identifying equal measures such as 12 inches = 1 foot

Third:

• Reading: Students in the middle of third grade should be reading 105+ words on grade-level text in one minute to be considered fluent. Read with your child and time them for one minute to check on their reading fluency! The Texts for Close Reading (TCRs) from the reading curriculum that students take home are a great text with which to practice!
• Math: Fact fluency for multiplication and fraction concepts

Fourth:

• Reading: Reviewing opinion, narrative and informational writing, Identifying theme

• Math: Measuring angles, Finding the area and perimeter of shapes
• Social Studies: Forced Migration of Africans
• Science: Weathering and erosion

Fifth:

• Reading: Summarizing text and writing 5 paragraph informative essays
• Math: Multiply and divide whole numbers and decimals
• Science: Matter and energy in organisms and ecosystems
• Social Studies: Resconstruction era and immigration

Town Creek Elementary School's PreK program has earned the Maryland State Department of Education's Accreditation and has committed to maintaining educational excellence and continuous quality improvement. Please join us in congratulating Ms. Scott and her paraeducators, Ms. Standish and Ms. Arocho, on this accomplishment.

Do you know a Town Creek staff member that is going above and beyond to support our students or families? Please consider nominating them for the Treasured Terrapin Award! Let us know what a great job they are doing, how they positively help other staff, families, or our TCES students! Fill out this form to nominate a TCES staff member today!

If Mr. Nazimek has informed your intermediary student (grades 3-5) that they will need a recorder for class, you can order through MySchoolBucks.

They are $6.00 each, and you have the choice of green, pink, or blue.

If you need any guidance on making the purchase, use these instructions. If you run into any difficulty, please reach out to Mrs. Hertzbach (pahertzbach@smcps.org) in the TCES office.

All orders must be place by THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16.

Thank you for your support!

Mr. Kent and the TCES family

1. Let the office know IN WRITING if you are designating someone other than a guardian to pick up your child at any day and time.

2. Opt-In to the School Messenger Text Messaging Service. For more information, click on this flyer. There is also an FAQ with additional information.

3. Got a birthday to celebrate? Please familiarize yourself with the TCES procedures for Birthday Celebrations.

Ready to rock some new Town Creek threads? A wide variety of spirit wear is available, from hoodies to sweatpants! And now, we are offering a Town Creek baseball cap! This cap is available in the virtual school store on MySchoolBucks for $15. The cap is available in two sizes, Child and Adult. Samples are on display in the lobby case. (Our model, a second-grader, is shown here sporting a Child sized cap.)

Select this link to see pictures and detailed descriptions of the items currently available in both youth and adult sizes. You can check out the samples in the case in Town Creek's lobby, too!

To order, you can print this form and send cash or check, or you can order everything online in the My School Bucks School Store. For directions on how to order through the MSB School Store, please select this link.

The items will be delivered to your student at school as soon as they arrive at TCES. Hats are immediately available!

**NOTE: Do not put money into the lunch money account for this purchase! That is a separate account from the School Store and can NOT be transferred.

Save the Date: The TCES PTO will be hosting a spirit night at Panda Express on Wednesday, February 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The PTO will receive 20 percent of the event sales. Follow these instructions to participate. You can use the app or show the flyer at the restaurant to earn the donation.

Thank you to everyone who attended our general meeting on Tuesday, February 6th. Here is the link to the meeting minutes.

The next general meeting is scheduled for March 15th in the media center. The meeting begins at 5:45 p.m.

Want to get more involved? Be sure to fill out the membership application and join the PTO!

Questions? Contact PTO president Lydia Rivera at towncreekesptopresident@gmail.com.

School-based health centers are open and ready to provide high-quality care for your student and family! School-based health centers are exactly what the name implies: a health center in the schools where they are based. At the health centers, students and their families can rely on our doctors, nurse practitioners, and other support staff to provide well-child care and emergency care if your child is sick or injured, as well as a full range of age-appropriate health care services, including:

Primary medical care

Health education and promotion

Case management

Students can be treated for acute illnesses, such as flu, and chronic conditions, including asthma and diabetes. They can also be screened for dental, vision, and hearing problems. With an emphasis on prevention, early intervention, and risk reduction, school-based health centers counsel students on healthy habits and how to prevent injury, violence, and other threats.

• February 19th - Presidents' Day - All School and Offices Closed
• March 1st - Professional Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
• March 12th-15th - MISA Testing for 5th Grade
  
• March 22nd - Virtual Instruction Day and Two-Hour Early Dismissal (End of 3rd Quarter)
• March 25th-28th - Spring Break - No school for students and 10-11 month staff
• March 29th - Holiday - All Schools and Offices closed