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May Newsletter
New Market Elementary
Message from Administration
Dear NMES Families,
As we wind down the 2023 - 2024 school year, our teachers wish to send along their messages of thanks to you, our supportive parents and guardians. NMES is a great school because of the partnerships with our families. We encourage you to take time to read the messages and know how much you are valued in your child's education.
Click HERE to view the messages of thanks.
Dr. Lockard - Principal
Mrs. McGaha - Assistant Principal
As a reminder, our NMES Vision and Mission statements are linked below for your reference.
Click HERE to read the vision statement.
Click HERE to read the mission statement.
Important May Dates
- Wednesday, May 1: FCPS Honors Chorus at the Weinberg Center (7:00pm)
- Thursday, May 2: 2-hour early dismissal
- Friday, May 3: Bike to School Day
- Monday, May 6: Grade 4 Artist in Residence unveiling - Click HERE for details
- Monday, May 6: BOE Listening Session at LHS (6:00pm)
- Tuesday, May 7: Grade 2 field trip to the Maryland Science Center
- Wednesday, May 8: NMES Spring Chorus Concert at 6:30pm
- Friday, May 10: PTA Spring Fever Dance from 6:00-7:30pm (All children must supervised by their parent/guardian and this is not a drop-off event)
- Monday, May 13: Author Visit for PK - 5
- Monday, May 13: Interims issued
- Tuesday, May 14: Schools closed for Election Day
- Wednesday, May 15: Kindergarten field trip to the Clark Elioak Farm
- Wednesday, May 15: Grade 1 field trip to the ESSL
- Wednesday, May 15: NMES Art Show from 6:30 - 8:30pm
- Wednesday, May 15: LHS feeder pattern Instrumental Music Concert at LHS at 7:00pm
- Thursday, May 16: Grade 5 move-up day
- Friday, May 17: PTA Boosterthon Fundraiser
- Saturday, May 18: Cindy Alvarado 5K Run
- Monday, May 20: Grade 4 field trip to Annapolis
- Wednesday, May 22: PTA meeting at Prospect Pantry at 7:00pm
- Friday, May 24: NMES Field Day
- Friday, May 24: Final day for MSDE Special Education Survey
- Monday, May 27: Schools closed in observance of Memorial Day
- Wednesday, May 29: Beat the Summer Slide Math Event from 6:00 - 8:00pm - See details below
- Friday, May 31: Grade 5 Celebration at LHS
NMES Art Show
Dear New Market Families,
The Art Department is so excited to announce the return of our annual school wide art show! This year's show will be on Wednesday, May 15th from 6:30-8:30pm in the NMES gym. Please mark your calendars to come and celebrate your student's hard work in art this year! More information will be sent home next week. Please reach out with any questions to either Mrs. Anspach (elizabeth.anspach@fcps.org) or Mrs. D'Onofrio (lanisa.donofrio@fcps.org) . Hope to see you there!
NMES Phone Information
Beginning on July 1, 2024, New Market Elementary's phone number will be changing as all of FCPS transitions to a new telecommunications system.
New Market Elementary's new phone number for the main office will be 227-203-1460.
During the transition this summer, school staff are prepared to answer any questions that you may have about the change. We can be reached on our main line at 240-236-1300.
BOE Listening Session at LHS
Join the Board of Education at the next Community Listening Session on May 6th at 6pm at Linganore High School Media Center. This informal gathering provides a unique opportunity for open dialogue and communication between Board of Education members and our wonderful community. Attend and share your celebrations, concerns and ideas. Whether you’re a student, parent, staff or community member, your voice matters! The dialogue can be specific to the Linganore feeder or across all FCPS communities. All are welcome to attend.
2024 - 2025 NMES Enrollment
Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade registration is now open for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. Information regarding registration can be found here. Parents/Guardians will need to register their child online through the PowerSchool online enrollment portal.
If your child is currently enrolled at NMES and is transferring to another school for the upcoming school year or if you have any questions regarding enrollment, please reach out to Sarah Main at sarah.main@fcps.org or 240-236-1300.
Math League Contest Results Update
A select group of 5th graders have been meeting with Mr. Purgason, NMES Math Specialist, throughout the school year to learn 6th grade level math standards in order to prepare for the Math League 6th Grade Level Contest. This is a statewide, national and worldwide contest that schools can enter and participate in every year. For more information about the Math League Contest you can visit their website at https://mathleague.com/.
Our group of 5th graders participated in the contest in late February and the official results from the Math League 6th Grade Level Contest have been released. Our NMES Math League Team finished 4th in Maryland out of 10 schools and 2nd among FCPS schools! Many of the schools that enter are either private schools and/or 6th grade students. We submit the top 5 student scores from our team to get our combined team score. Those 5 students are Anna Russell 22 (3rd in the state/region), Clair Cummings 17 (15th in the state/region), Kara Crawford 17 (15th in the state/region), Harper Henry 17 (15th in the state/region), and Paisley Miller 15. Congratulations to those students! Mr. Purgason would like to thank the Math League parents and the 5th grade teachers for all their support throughout the year.
Spring Sprucing Event
A small, but mighty, group of NMES parents and community members spent time on Sunday, April 21, sprucing up our NMES school grounds. We are so appreciative of their time, hard work and care for our school! Check out the pictures below from the event.
Walking and Wheeling Wolves: Bike to School Day
New Market students and families are invited to participate in biking to school. Participants will gather at designated neighborhood meet locations at 7:15 am. Our route leaders will go over some safety rules, before we depart for the schools at 7:25am. Parents/Guardians are responsible to make sure their child(ren) arrives at school safely that morning. Please use caution if you are driving to a meeting location as there will be extra bikers on the road.
NMMS students will proceed to class that day. All NMES families are invited to participate in our Bike Rodeo event on the NMES black top from 7:30am until school doors open at 8:30am. Helmets for both children and adults are required for the Bike Rodeo activities. Children will also need to have a completed permission slip on file. Please click HERE for the permission slip.
If your child(ren) will be a car rider on Friday, May 3rd, please do not use neighborhood cul-de-sacs to drop off/pick up your child(ren). For the safety of the participants, all vehicles should use the schools’ designated car lines and keep vehicles to a minimum on our pedestrian routes to school.
For more details about the event, follow along on our Facebook Event page: New Market Bike to School Day
FCPS Learning Journey to College and Career Readiness
Media Center Update
Terri Libenson, author of the popular Emmie & Friends series, will visit NMES on Monday, May 13th, to speak to 3rd-5th grade students! Her visit was generously donated by the Curious Iguana. Students may pre-order an autographed copy of the newest book in the series, Always Anthony, to be delivered to school on the day of her visit. Orders may be placed at https://curiousiguana.com/product/nmes-anthony/ by Friday, May 3rd.
Optional Choice Board for May
May is a month full of holidays and remembrances! You can learn more about AAPI Month, Memorial Day, Limerick Day and more at https://bit.ly/NMESMay24Board.
From the Counselor Corner
Click HERE to view helpful information from our Counselors, Mrs. Carl and Mrs. Blake. Topics include:
- Children's mental health awareness week - May 5 - 11
- Puppy drive
- Resources to support end of year anxiety
MSDE Special Education Survey
Does your child receive special education services including speech and language services? If so then please read the following:
The MSDE Parental Involvement Survey creates opportunities for feedback and engagement. This is your chance to share feedback regarding Special Education Services for your child!
Share how we can better support your family and child with Special Education services. You can complete the short survey at www.mdparentsurvey.com.
The survey will be available through May 24, 2024.
Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences and ideas! Together, we can continue to improve Special Education Services and Programs in FCPS.
Cindy Alvarado Race Series
Boosterthon, May 17th
Community Race, May 18th
NMES Families and New Market community members are encouraged to join us in the Cindy Alvarado Race Series! This year the Cindy Alvarado Race Series will cover two days with three different events.
Students have the opportunity to participate in the Cindy Alvarado Boosterthon on Friday, May 17th during school hours. The Boosterthon will be our primary fundraising portion of the Cindy Alvarado Race Series as students can seek donations for the event. If you would like to make a donation, all proceeds benefit our PTA budget and technology upgrades in our classrooms. Every student who registers gets a prize!
Families, students, and the New Market community, may also participate in the Community Run on Saturday, May 18th, 2024 at 8:30am. Participants can choose to race a 5K or 1K. Both races will start and end at the NMES Black Top. We will have fun prizes to hand out on race day!
Registration for both the Boosterthon and Community Run is FREE. Please visit our PTA website to register for these events.
We are in need of volunteers for our Boosterthon! If you would like to attend the event to cheer on your student, help us count laps! Sign up HERE to be a volunteer!
Lastly, we would like to give a special thanks to our Cindy Alvarado Race Series sponsors:
Bear Creek Dental
Shorb Landscaping
Lank Johnson, State Farm
Prospect Pantry
Fit2Shine Studio
Jill Coleman, RE/MAX Realtor
Beat the Math Summer Slide Event
We are planning a Beat the Summer Slide Math Night at NMES on May 29th from 6 to 8 PM. Below you will find an interest survey to fill out so we can keep track of how many families are planning on coming to the event. Students must be accompanied by an adult. We also will need 20+ volunteers to help that evening. Mathnasium in Mt. Airy will be providing the math activities and games. We are looking for high school students and/or adults to help run the stations. HS volunteers can earn Service Learning Hours, just bring your form so we can sign off on it. Volunteers will need to show up between 5:15-5:30 to receive instructions on how to run the game they are assigned. Please provide information in the form for each volunteer so we can keep count and so Mr. Purgason can contact you with any further details. Thank you for considering helping us make this an awesome event to help students kick of a summer of math!
Role Model Monday Nominees
The following students were nominated by their classroom teacher as a "Role Model Monday" nominee. These students demonstrate our Be a Wolf expectations on a regular basis across the school day. These students are recognized on our morning announcements by Dr. Lockard. The students receive a certificate and small prize for being a great Wolf each and every day! Also, the parents receive a Good News Phone Call from Dr. Lockard.
- Ryan Cleveland, first-grade student in Mrs. Dwyer's classroom. Mrs. Dwyer shared the following about Ryan: " Ryan Cleveland is a role model in our class. He always finds ways to be helpful to his classmates and teachers, and is always following our "Be a Wolf" expectations in school every day. His warm smile and caring attitude brings joy to our classroom, and he is a great example of what we should all do to make school a great place to be. Way to go, Ryan!"
- Eli Kelly, pre-kindergarten student in Mrs. Vogel's classroom. Mrs. Vogel shared the following about Eli: " Eli has shown us how to overcome big feelings and not let it ruin his day. In our classroom, Eli is kind, attentive and helpful. I can count on him to be following directions, listening attentively and participating in all activities to the fullest! Eli has worked hard to find strategies that help him have a good start to his day. We are so proud of him for showing us that hard things do not stop us from being amazing."
- Vivian Meyers, second-grade student in Mrs. Smith's classroom. Mrs. Smith shared the following about Vivian: " Vivian is a fine role model in our class. She comes in with a smile each day and is a very hard worker. She is responsible and tries to do her best each day. Vivian is a great student to have!"
NMES School Improvement
We are asking for your help in the school improvement process by reviewing the Home-School Connection document linked below and supporting your child's learning at home. Your support will help us to achieve our school improvement goals. Our school improvement plan supports our NMES Mission which is "To serve and support our students - every student...by name and need."
NMES Home-School Connection - Click HERE to view.
NMES PTA Information
NMES PTA: We are parents, teachers and staff members working together to strengthen the family-school partnership. We raise funds to provide student and family programming and supplement the NMES budget for student and teacher resources.
PTA Meeting - Wednesday, May 22 at 7pm
Join us for our last PTA meeting of the year on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:00pm at Prospect Pantry! We will be voting in our 2024-25 PTA Board and Committee Chairs and approving our final budget amendments of the year. Join us to vote, have a bite to eat, and socialize with other NMES parents. Children are welcome to attend too!
PTA Spring Fever Dance
Who's ready to DANCE??! The NMES PTA is hosting the Spring Fever Dance on Friday, May 10th from 6-7:30pm in the school cafeteria and gym! There will be a DJ, lots of dancing, a photo booth, crafts, disco balls, food to purchase & so much more!! We are encouraging students and families to dress up in their best disco gear as we will have a costume contest at the end!!
*This is not a drop off event. An adult must accompany their child the entire time they are at this event. *
Please consider helping the PTA make the dance an amazing and memorable one. We are asking for volunteers to help set-up, manage happenings within the dance, and assist with clean-up. Sign up to be a volunteer HERE. THANK YOU!!
2024 - 2025 Class Groupings
Tentative classroom groupings will be determined for the 2024 - 2025 school year but will not be finalized until late July/early August. All NMES teachers are excellent and each teacher has a unique skillset. Through the grouping process, classroom teachers, specialists and administration collaborate to make thoughtful classroom placements based on multiple data points. While we value parent input and are always willing to listen, we do not accept specific teacher requests and cannot guarantee a particular teacher. We appreciate your support and understanding!
2024 - 2025 Teacher Assignments
Incoming Kindergarten students will receive a teacher assignment letter via the mail. The letter will include teacher assignment, staggered start date information and other important information for your kindergarten child. The letters will be sent during the first week of August.
For rising first through fifth grade students, families will receive teacher assignment information through a Schoology email. In August, systemic emails will be sent to primary and secondary guardians with the student schedules included. Teacher assignments/names will be on each Schoology course. This will be how you are made aware of your child's homeroom teacher. Central Office has not yet released the date they will send these emails. We will send a Find Out First message when the date is shared.
In addition to these communications, a Find Out First message will be sent over the summer that will outline the date/time of our Open House and other important information about the start of the school year. Stay tuned and be on the look-out for these important communications.
2024 - 2025 NMES Staffing
In our June (End of Year Newsletter), we will announce our full staffing for the 24 - 25 school year.
Wolf Pack Book Rack Update
The Wolf Pack Book Rack has been a huge hit this year with students! Unfortunately, we are running very low on books. We are currently accepting donations of gently used books to help fill our cart. Please keep the Book Rack in mind as you do your Spring cleaning and clear out your bookshelves. We are looking for gently used fiction and non-fiction books that would appeal to students in K-5. Some of the most requested books include, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Man, Weird But True, any popular realistic fiction series and non-fiction books about animals. There will be a drop box located outside of Mrs. Tortolani’s room for all book donations. Thank you so much for all of your support in keeping the Book Rack stocked with great books until the end of the year!
NMES Attendance
For all attendance related emails or transportation changes, please email nmes.attendance@fcps.org and include your child's teacher. Transportation changes must be made prior to 3:00pm.
Consistent attendance is important for your child's academic and social success in school. MSDE sets the attendance goal at 96%. Below are the attendance percentages for each grade level and for the school overall as of the end of April:
Pre-Kindergarten: 92.7%
Kindergarten: 94.4%
Grade 1: 94.6%
Grade 2: 94.2%
Grade 3: 95.1%
Grade 4: 94.9%
Grade 5: 94.9%
Overall School Attendance Percentage: 94.6%
You can support by sending your healthy child to school each day on time. Instruction promptly begins at 9:00 each morning. You can also support by planning vacations around the FCPS calendar. Thank you!
Click HERE to view the FCPS calendar for 2023 - 2024.
Click HERE to view the FCPS calendar for 2024 - 2025.
NMES Ambassador Wolf
Schoology Tips
Mrs. Imboden is our Schoology Ambassador for the 2023 - 2024 school year. If you have any questions about Schoology, don't hesitate to reach out to her. She will be happy to support.
Supporting our Young Wolves
To support our Young Wolves still at home, we are sharing an idea to support their development.
Talk back and forth with your child about the plans for the day. Talk about what you're having for breakfast, where they're going for the day, what you might do, and what they hope to do today. There is no better way to learn how to plan than practicing. When you give your child the chance to think ahead about the day, you invite them to call on what they already know and apply it in flexible ways to a new situation.
NMES Lost and Found
The NMES Lost and Found has many student belongings, including jackets, shirts and sweatshirts. Encourage your child to visit the Lost and Found if an item is missing. Any items remaining will be donated.
Bus Rules and Bus Safety
If your child rides an FCPS bus to and/or from school, please take some time to review our expectations for bus behavior. Click HERE to view information to review with your child. Our FCPS bus drivers work hard every day to keep all students safe. When all students consistently follow the behavior expectations on the bus then safe and enjoyable rides to and from school can occur. Thank you for your support!
Personal Electronic Device Guidelines
Students may only use their electronic devices (including cell phones and smart watches) before or after school in a non-disruptive manner. They must be silenced and stored (out of sight) for the entire school day, except for approved instructional or medical use.