PTA Updates

Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA is excited to offer After School Theatre Enrichment classes to Ross Elementary students in PreK-5th grade. Students will work as an ensemble to explore the world around them and focus on the use of their voices, bodies, and imaginations in a series of games and exercises to learn the art of theatrical storytelling! Classes will occur weekly throughout the spring semester on Tuesdays (PreK & Kindergarten), Thursdays (1st & 2nd grade), and Fridays (3rd-5th grade) from 3:15-5 PM. The cost of this enrichment program is $30 per class, and an extended day/ late pickup option is available. Click here to sign up:

Pre-K & Kindergarten

1st & 2nd Grade

3rd-5th Grade

Enrollment is on a first come first serve basis. Please register your child(ren) before Feb 4 to participate. You will receive a confirmation email from the Sawyer registration portal when you enroll as well as a detailed email from Keegan PRK before the beginning of classes so you know exactly what to expect. If there isn't space for your child at this time, you can sign up for the waitlist at the same registration link. We are actively monitoring our waitlist enrollment and will determine if we can add concurrent sections for each class based on those numbers. Please feel free to reach out with any questions and thank you all for your continued enthusiasm for Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA programs. More information can be found here: https://keegantheatre.com/prk/education/

Registration for the EDCJCC afterschool winter 2024 session is open. This session will begin January 3 and go until March 29. The Spring Session will begin April 1st and go until the last day of school. Here is the link to register. You can click this link now and view all the course options and prices. You can also head over to the website and find the registration link there, with the course options, prices and calendar. https://www.edcjcc.org/programs/after-school/ . Questions? Contact abodner@edcjcc.org.

This year, parents are organizing a school-wide, coordinated holiday cash gift for all of our teachers and other Ross staff to thank them for all their efforts to support our children. If you would like to contribute, please send any funds you wish to Auri Lopez Vargas via Venmo (@AuriLopez), PayPal or Zelle (571-778-7549, AURI LOPEZ VARGAS) by Fri, December 15. There are around 40 outstanding and hard-working staff members at Ross, from our classroom teachers and aides to our inner core ("specials") teachers, ELL and special ed teachers, admin staff, custodians, and more. Therefore, Auri will divide up the funds among the teachers and staff to ensure everyone's contribution is recognized and appreciated. We will include our crossing guards, too! (This is replacing the separate per-class gifts that room parents have organized in previous years. Individuals are of course free to give gifts separately if they would like.)

Please send Auri any contribution you wish by Friday, December 15. Any amount is welcome, and contributing is completely optional. For questions, you can contact me or Auri directly at auri.susana.lv@gmail.com.

Orders from the Ross online holiday store will be available for pickup between 8:20am and 8:45am at Ross December 18-21. To make other pick-up arrangements please contact Sarah Berglund at 202-460-1180. Thank you!

Ross school spirit week is Monday, December 18 through Thursday, December 21. (Reminder that there is no school on Friday, December 22.)

• Monday, December 18: Wear/Green and White Day
• Tuesday, December 19: Crazy Mismatch Day
• Wednesday, December 20: Dress to Impress Day
• Thursday, December 21: Pajama Day

If your family is traveling for the holidays, please consider purchasing a few unique souvenirs to create a regional gift basket to donate as a silent auction item! Here's an example basket from the 2022 auction: "Taste of the Rhone Valley and Lyon Gift Basket - This basket included a bottle of Côtes du Rhône wine, some locally sourced honey and marmalade, mustard samples, biscuits, and other treats from France’s gastronomy capital."

Ross Elementary School student portraits, including make-up day portraits, are now online for viewing and ordering. You should have received an email from Freed Photography with your student's private gallery information. If you have not received this (check your spam too), please contact them at support@freedphoto.com or call 301.652.5452.

Do you want to make room for new games you may get during the holidays? Please consider donating games to the Ross Game Library, which is now open on the lower level next to the Ross Cafe! Feel free to leave games on top of the game library, but make sure to also contact Sarah Roma (sarahandsokol@gmail.com) or text 617-233-7349 to let us know you've dropped games off so we can log them into the library. The Ross game library has games that teachers and families may borrow. Games are arranged by age, and there is a self sign-out/in binder for teachers and parents (children should come with their parents/guardians) to fill out when you borrow a game. You can find more information here. We are especially in need of games for older kids.

Parents of elementary school children are invited to attend a virtual workshop coordinated by Ross school counselor Jillian Sharkey on Monday, January 22, from 7:00-8:00pm with Dr. Francois Williams, focusing on childhood anxiety. This online session will help you identify anxiety in children and provide you with effective strategies for support both at home and in collaboration with their schools.

Dr. Williams completed his studies at Xavier University of Louisiana and Morehouse School of Medicine, with further training in adult psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. His expertise in group psychotherapy and DBT is complemented by his current role as a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at Georgetown University Hospital and his private practice, where he leads parenting groups.

Workshop highlights:

• Differentiating normal behaviors from signs of anxiety in children
• Parental roles in easing childhood anxiety
• Practical strategies for home and school environments
• This virtual workshop is a fantastic opportunity to gain insight and tools for supporting your child's emotional development and mental health

Zoom Link and RSVP: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/92840430765

The MySchoolDC lottery is open here. Please encourage friends and neighbors to apply for PK4 if their children will turn four years old by September 30, 2024. If you know of incoming, in-boundary kindergarteners, please let Principal Searl know so she can anticipate enrollment numbers for kindergarten. The next open house for prospective families is Thursday, January 18 at 9:30am. Current Grade 5 Ross students have a right to attend Francis-Stevens Middle School, Cardozo Education Campus or their neighborhood in-boundary school for Grade 6 without applying to the lottery. Any other school choices in DCPS/DC Charters would come through a lottery match. Please see Principal Searl or Ms. Segovia with any questions regarding the lottery and transitioning to middle school.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) is conducting a Boundary and Student Assignment Study 2023 to review DCPS boundaries and feeder patterns and district-wide public school student assignment policies. DME will hold three townhall public meetings on Tuesday, December 12, from 6-8pm (in-person at Anacostia High School; register here), Wednesday, December 13, from 6-8pm (register here), and Thursday, December 14, from 12-2pm (register here).

Most public tree lightings have already happened, but one still has yet to take place: The Capitol Riverfront's Holiday Tree Lighting is on Thursday, December 14 from 6:00-9:00pm at the Canal Park Ice Rink (200 M Street SE). Washington Capitals beloved mascot Slapshot will be visiting, a Snow Globe Photobooth will offer instant photos, Crush Funk Brass Band and DJ CiCi will provide holiday music, a cozy Holiday Lounge above the rink will have mulled wine for adults along with a hot chocolate bar and s'mores station for all ages. Admission is free (though you need to purchase tickets to skate).

Join Friends of Stead Park and Foundry Church for a family gathering at the Community Christmas Festival from 10:30am-12:30pm on Saturday, December 16, at Foundry UMC (1500 16th Street NW). There will be crafts, snacks and a jolly fellow who can't wait to take a (free!) picture with you. Please bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to Toys for Tots. If you'd like to purchase a gingerbread house-making kit to make at the event or take home, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/SPgingerbread23

The Grinch is leaving Whoville and is visiting Adams Morgan! Come meet The Grinch and get your holiday photo taken, from 10:00am-12:00pm on Saturday, December 16 in the plaza in front of Truist Bank (corner of Columbia and Adams Mill Roads NW). Face painting and caroling included!

Two recent exhibits at the National History Museum may be worth checking out:

• Cellphones: Unseen Connections is about how cellphones impact our lives in positive ways.
• Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky explores the effects of light pollution, solutions for it, and why it matters.

2023.24 DCPS Calendar

Monday, December 18-Thursday, December 21: Spirit Week

• Monday, December 18: Wear/Green and White Day
• Tuesday, December 19: Crazy Mismatch Day
• Wednesday, December 20: Dress to Impress Day
• Thursday, December 21: Pajama Day

Friday, December 22- Tuesday, January 2: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, January 11: Ross Winter Concert and Art Show (Garrison Elementary School)

Monday, January 15: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, January 18: Ross Open House #3 (9:00-10:30am)

Monday, January 22: Ross Parenting Workshop on Anxious Children (7:00-8:00pm; RSVP here)

Friday, January 26: NO SCHOOL

Friday, February 16: NO SCHOOL

Monday, February 19: NO SCHOOL

Saturday, February 24: Ross/Imagination Stage Theater Trip, 1:00pm

Friday, March 1: MySchoolDC Lottery Closes (PK3 - Grade 8)

Saturday, March 2: Ross Auction

Thursday, March 14: Parent-Teacher Conferences, NO SCHOOL

Friday, Match 15: NO SCHOOL

Friday, April 5: NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 15 - Friday, April 19: NO SCHOOL

Monday, May 27: NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, June 4: NO SCHOOL

Monday, June 17: NO SCHOOL

The mission of the Ross PTA is to support the education of all Ross students, to support Ross faculty and staff, to foster relationships among parents, staff and community members, and to assist faculty and staff to provide a safe and nurturing environment where all students, families and faculty can thrive and grow.

Email: PTApresident@rosselementary.org
Website: http://rosselementary.org/pta-board/
Location: 1730 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202.673.7200

If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe to Ross PTA emails here.

Do you have updates or announcements that you think would be of interest to our school community? If so, email Ross PTA Secretary Melanie Mayhew.