Cashell Back-to-School Newsletter

Wow! The summer has flown by and we are in full swing getting ready to greet our Cashell Cougars in a few short weeks! You should have received a postcard indicating your child's homeroom teacher. We are thrilled to welcome back our returning families and want to extend the warmest of welcomes to families new to us at Cashell. We are looking forward to a fantastic school year of learning, growing and getting to know your family! At Cashell, we are committed to working closely with our students and families to ensure that the needs of all children are being met. It is important to us that we keep lines of communication open to ensure a safe, effective, and joyful learning environment for all students at Cashell. Please see below for important back-to-school information.

Please complete the dismissal form below for all students. This helps us to start off the year with a safe and efficient dismissal process. If you have more than one child at Cashell, please complete a separate form for each child. We will contact you directly if we do not receive a response from you.

Our school hours are 9:00 am to 3:25 pm. Students may enter the building at 8:50 am. We will use a QR code again this year to check in students who arrive at school late or need to leave the building early. The QR code is posted at the main entry doors. Parents will need their phones with them and should be ready to scan the QR code to complete the form. We will close the door promptly at 9:00 am every morning. Parents will need to walk children to the front door after this time.

We are excited to see all new and returning students back in the building for the first day of school on Monday, August 26th!

Breakfast ($1.30) and Lunch ($2.55) is available for purchase daily to all students in the cafeteria. Your family may qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on your annual income. The online FARMS application is now available. You may complete and submit the application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals for the 2024-2025 school year by visiting https://www.myschoolapps.com/Application.

Breakfast is served daily at 8:50am. Students have a very short amount of time to eat in the All Purpose Room before walking to their classroom. If your child needs to purchase breakfast at school, it is important for them to enter the building when the doors open at 8:50am.

Lunch is served daily according to the schedule below.

Throughout the school year, parents and guardians are welcome to come to school to join students during lunch and recess. If you would like to do this, simply come to the office to check in during your child’s assigned time.

The cafeteria will be selling snacks in the lunchroom again this year. The paraeducators who supervise lunch will make an announcement when it is time for students to buy snack. Please put money on your child's account if you would like them to buy a snack.

These are two separate accounts.

If you would like your child to buy lunch or snacks at school this year, please sign up for a My School Bucks account. You will need your child's MCPS ID number. This is located on your parentvue account (the same account you registered your child for kindergarten with). When you log into parentvue you will see your child's name and ID in the upper corner. If you are having trouble locating it, please contact the main office and we can assist you with your child's ID number.

All field trips will be paid through School Cash Online. More information will be sent to every parent before grade level field trips.

Please see below for links to both My School Bucks and School cash Online.

The Cashell main office staff members are excited to support our students, families, and staff

members this year. Our office phone number is 240-740-0560. You can also reach our office

team through email at Marlisa_m_fullmer@mcpsmd.org and Holli_k_weaver@mcpsmd.org. Please do not hesitate to contact the main office for any reason! Mrs. Fullmer and Mrs. Weaver

speak English and Spanish.

All students who will be taking the bus to school should do so on the first day to get accustomed to the routines and procedures. It is best to direct any questions about bus schedules to the Transportation Department. Transportation will reach out to families directly to communicate bus route information for special programs (PEP, SCB, and Prek).

We encourage all families close enough to walk to school to please do so! All walkers will enter the school building in the morning through the double doors by the gym. In the afternoon, students who are walkers will exit at the back of the school by the portable doors. There will be one staff member on duty as walkers dismiss. Please know that this dismissal option is not a supervised hand-off from staff to parents. Parents may greet their children at this exit, but students are released regardless of whether a parent is present. Parents dropping off or picking up their child(ren) by car can do so at the designated area in the front of our building. We will continue to use the double doors by the gym so be ready to pull all the way up! Please enter the car rider line by way of Cherry Valley Drive. Car riders will wait inside the school building until the staff members on duty call their name to dismiss.

Communication is vital for the beginning of the school year. Teachers will share the best ways

and times to contact them and you will have the opportunity to share that information as well.

Throughout the year, teachers will send a weekly newsletter via email with important updates and information.

Whenever your child will be absent or tardy, please email CashellAttendance@gmail.com and

his/her teacher by 10:00 am. A note explaining any absence must accompany your child upon his/her return to school.

If you know ahead of time that you will need to pick up your child early, please notify the main office staff. If you need to make any last- minute changes to your dismissal plan or come to pick up your child early, please contact the main office by phone before 3:10 pm. We will not dismiss students between 3:10 and 3:25 except in the case of an emergency, as it is too disruptive to the classroom and it is a very busy time in our building. Thank you for understanding how hectic this time of the day can be in the main office.

We are lucky to have Ana Stives as our Health Tech and Laurie Clark as our School Nurse again this school year. Health Conditions including common ones such as allergies and asthma must be shared with school staff. Medications may not be administered at school without prior approval. If your child will require medication or treatments during the school day, please contact our health room as soon as possible at 240-740-0561.

If you want your child's information withheld from MCPS or Cashell Elementary directories, please complete the form below and return it to Marlisa Fullmer in the main office by September 12.

We love to celebrate our Cashell Cougars on their birthdays! For the 24-25 school year, we will be updating our procedures for when and how we celebrate.

For all student birthdays, your child will be announced on the morning announcements, come to the main office for a birthday treat, and an email photo will be sent home. Teachers may also celebrate in the classroom with non-food items such as birthday crowns, etc.

We are moving away from families sending in birthday treats this year. We will have a no food policy for birthdays. Please do not send in treats with your child or to the classroom. Thank you for your understanding!

If you would like to come to school and join your child for lunch and/or recess for their birthday, please come! Simply check in through the main office.

MCPS has adopted a new English Language Arts curriculum for the 24-25 school year. Please click the button below for information regarding the new program.

We are excited to welcome many new staff members and congratulate current staff members on changing roles at Cashell this coming year:

Ms. Bahra- Moving to PEP Paraeducator

Ms. Clime- Moving to 4th/5th Grade Teacher

Ms. Gannon- Moving to 1st Grade Teacher

Ms. Novoselnik- Moving to Paraeducator

Ms. Przybysz- Moving to 3rd Grade Teacher

Ms. Abdalla- SCB Paraeducator

Ms. Akina - Speech Pathologist

Ms. Alzahrawi- Kindergarten Teacher

Ms. Asegedom- SCB Paraeducator

Ms. Doctrow- Speech Pathologist

Ms. Gardas- SCB Paraeducator

Ms. Herron- SCB Teacher

Mr. Long- Special Education Paraeducator

Ms. Silva- SCB Paraeducator

Ms. Simms-Tinnen- PEP Teacher

Ms. Sullivan-Mutia- Special Education Paraeducator

Ms. Thompson- Speech Pathologist

Ms. Woldai- PEP Paraeducator

We will continue our tradition of coming to several neighborhood stops by school bus on August 19th in the morning. Students gather at the location of your choice and a school bus will bring staff members to say hello and hand out a sweet treat. We will be at the first stop at 10:00am and will stop at the following places in this order: Olney Acres Park, Norbeck Hills Pool, Cherrywood Park, and Norbeck Meadows Park. Popsicles will be served at each stop! We hope that you can join us- our staff is eager to see the students in the neighborhood!

On Friday, August 23rd at 3:00, all students are invited to come and meet their teacher, classmates and to see their new classroom. Immediately following, the PTA will sponsor our annual Back-to-School party on the back fields.

Tim Gleason, our school counselor, will host a New Family Orientation meeting in the Cashell Media Center before Open House for families of students in grades 1-5. It will begin at 2:30 pm on Friday, August 23rd. Mr. Gleason will reach out to new families directly. If you have any

questions, you can contact Mr. Gleason by email at Timothy_J_Gleason@mcpsmd.org.

Please join us and the PTA following Open House on Thursday, August 23rd for a Back to School Picnic. The picnic will be from 3:00-5:00 pm. Stop at the Open House and then visit the picnic! There is more info to come from the PTA!

All classroom teachers will host an in person night for parents to meet with their child’s teacher. This is an adult focused event. BTSN meetings will provide you with an opportunity to meet the teacher, discuss student expectations, and get to know some other parents. We will share more information through email during the week of August 19.

The Back to School Night dates are now as follows:

August 21st

Kindergarten- 5:00-6:00 PM

Grades 1-5: 6:00PM start time.

Childcare will be available during the Back to School Night Events free of charge. Thank you to Kidsco, our before and after school care provider! This is for school aged children only.

Please click the link below to access the 2024-2025 grade-level supply lists.

Students can bring supplies to school on the first day of school or at the Open House on Friday.

In addition to the school supplies by grade level, we would happily accept donations of tissues, paper towels, clorox wipes, and sandwich/gallon sized ziplock bags to be used in the classrooms. Thank you so much for considering!

August 19

Staff members go out into the community in the morning via a school bus to meet and greet students and families. This is a longstanding Cashell tradition! Please join us for this lively event to say hi to the teachers and staff!

Please see info above!

August 21

Back to School Nights for All Grades

K at 5:00pm- This is for parents to attend classrooms and learn about what the students will be working on throughout the year.

All other grades at 6:00pm

August 23

Open House 3:00pm- Bring your child and come to see the classroom and meet the teachers/staff and other students in your child's class!

Back to School Party 3:00pm to 5:00pm- This is immediately following open house. It is an opportunity to meet other families and for the kids to play on the Cashell playground!

August 26

First Day of School

September 3- 7:30pm PTA Meeting

September 6-11-1:30 Grandfriends Day

September 11- Cashell Eats Out at California Tortilla- more info to come

September 13 - School Spirit Day- Dress in Cashell Gear or Blue and White!

September 15 - Start of National Hispanic Heritage Month

September 16- Student Picture Day

September 27- Early Release Day 12:55pm Dismissal / Sugarloaf Hike for Fifth Graders

Please note the school and PTA Calendars linked below.

Email: marlisa_m_fullmer@mcpsmd.org
Website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/cashelles/
Location: Cashell Elementary School, Cashell Road, Rockville, MD, USA
Phone: 240-740-0560