Panda Nation News

Get ready. . . This will be a busy & exciting week in Panda Nation! Read on so you don't miss anything and be sure to check out the "Upcoming Important Dates" for EVERYTHING happening!🐼❤

• December Holiday Spirit Activites: Be sure to review the calendar below so you're ready to show your holiday spirit EVERYday!
• Scholastic Book Fair: The fabulous book fair is open all week AND on Friday, during Santa's Workshop, it's even open until 6:30.
• Texas Roadhouse Spirit Night: Head on over to Texas Roadhouse on Thursday, Dec. 7th from 4-8 to enjoy a delicious dinner & benefit our school!
• PTO's SANTA'S WORKSHOP: Don't forget to join us on Friday, Dec, 8th from 4:30-6:30 for our annual Santa's Workshoop.

Our Wellness Theme for December is "Family". Connecting, celebrating with and supporting family is ALWAYS crucial to our wellbeing, but it is especially important this month. All of the holiday's celebrated in December-Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa have at their core family celebration & love.

Our Panda Nation family will connect, celebrate & support each other thoughtout this month of joy & light. Please join us every chance you can!

Panda Love to all!🐼❤

Mrs. Schou, Principal

Mr. Engel-Cope, Assistant Principal

Mrs. Melissa Bean, Academic Dean

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming up Monday, December 4th and ends Friday, December 8th. Before the Fair, you can set up an eWallet for worry-free, cash-free purchases. Anyone can contribute to your student’s eWallet! Share each child’s eWallet so friends and family can add funds and give your kids more books to enjoy. EWallet is the easiest way to pay! Here is a link to a video that explains how eWallet works:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/videos/intro-to-ewallet-fair-files.html

Students can also pay with cash, card or a check. If students are paying with your credit card, please make sure your child has a note authorizing them to use the card. The note MUST be signed. If using a check, please make sure it is the exact amount because we are unable to give change. One last reminder is that please make sure you take into account sales tax.

If you can’t make it to the Fair, then shop at our school’s Online Book Fair. All orders ship directly to your home, and shipping is free for book orders over $25. Your online orders will also benefit our school.

Visit our Book Fair homepage to learn more and get started with eWallet and online shopping:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/lexingtonparkelemsch1

• Evening Counseling: SMCPS is once again offering School-Based Counseling Support in the evening for SMCPS students. Counseling support focuses on the following areas: Healthy Relationships, Social Skills, Self-Esteem, Stress Management, Worry, Sadness, and Emotional Regulation. Services will be located at Margaret Brent Middle School and Greenview Knolls Elementary School on Tuesday evenings from 4-7:30 p.m. Please complete the Parent Contact Form for Evening Counseling to request services.

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 & September 28th Back to School Night, but if you didn't get on yet, don't worry, your child's teacher will have one for you at the Family/Teacher Conferences on October 9th.

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

The SMCPS Equity for All Website features updated monthly celebrations, best practices resources, and a newly added Community Resource page. The purpose of the Equity for All site is to provide resources and supports for promoting excellence and equity in St. Mary's County Public Schools.

• Holiday Spirit Calendar
• Dec 7: 4-8: Texas Roadhouse Spirit Night
• Dec.8: 2-hr. Early Dismissal
• Dec. 8: 4:30-6:30: PTO's Santa's Workshop
• Dec. 15: 2:00: Panda Round-up & Holiday Sing-along
• Dec. 18 - Jan. 1: Holiday/Winter Break-All schools & offices are closed
• Jan. 2: School resumes
• Jan. 15: Martin Luther King Jr. Day-All Schools are closed

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