Hello Dr. Mudd Family!

We have had an amazing start to the 2023-2024 school year. For those who have met me and introduced yourself, I hope you can see and feel how excited I am to be here with each and everyone of your families. We have so many exciting opportunities for you and your child to participate in this year. Our goal is to keep you all informed with our bi-weekly newsletter. Please continue to read this newsletter to ensure you have the most up to date information from "The Land of the Dragons".

Our theme this year is "Just Keep Growing" and we want you to also join us as we continue to find ways to continue growing. Please consider ways to allow your student, our "seedlings", opportunities to grow inside and outside of school. We want to ensure that we as a community, are working hard to help our students grow academically and socially. Please let us know how we can help you grow your "seedlings".

Our school is launching a new opportunity for our community to get questions answered using our Dr. Mudd Q & A Link (see parent liaison section below). Here you can submit questions that you have and we will answer them as soon as we can gather your necessary answer(s). We want you to be part of the solution and hope that you are ready to help us provide answers that are needed.

1. If you are picking up your child early, you must arrive to the school by 2:45 pm.

2. Changing your child's transportation must be done prior to 12:00 pm and an email must be sent to Ms. Booze dbooze@ccboe.com and Ms. Soderstrom ssoderstrom@ccboe.com

3. School celebrations must be scheduled one week prior to the celebration. Communicate with your child's teacher the items you will be sending in. (see below for items you may select)

4. Dr. Mudd is no longer allowing outside food to be brought in for students to eat for breakfast or lunch.

5. When entering a Charles County Public School building, you must show your government issued ID.

6. We are asking that students do not wear slides to school. Please ensure appropriate footwear is being worn on a daily basis.

September 11, 2023- Patriot Day

September 15, 2023- Teacher in-service day: Schools closed for students only

September 16, 2023- Rosh Hashanah

September 17, 2023- Constitution Day

September 19, 2023- National IT Professionals Day

September 23, 2023- First day of autumn

September 25, 2023- Yom Kippur

September 26, 2023- Human Resources Professionals Day

September 27, 2023- Two-hour early dismissal for students

September 30, 2023- International Translation Day

National Arts in Education Week- September 10-16, 2023

Hispanic Heritage month- September 15-October 15, 2023

Library Card Sign-up Month

Suicide prevention Month

Attendance Awareness Month

National Sickle cell Awareness Month

Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week- September 25-29, 2023

Community School Coordinator Appreciation Week September 17-23, 2023

Each day students who arrive on time will receive a ticket to use towards our Dragon Cart and other rewards within the classroom and school. At the end of each month students with perfect attendance will be recognized on the morning announcements. The classes with 95% or higher perfect attendance will be recognized each month.

Hi Dr. Mudd Family! My name is Nikkia Williams-Deleon; I am your Nationally Certified School Psychologist. School psychologists are members of school staff who support students’ ability to learn and teachers’ ability to teach. My work centers on using my expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior to help students succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally by providing both direct support as well as consultative support with teachers, families, and other educators. My goal is always to lead with empathy, constitute connectedness between home and school and ensure the success of the “whole” child using a cohesive circle of support. Anything you ever need, feel free to reach out! I look forward to working with you all this school year! Sending you peace & light from your school psych!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself! My name is Maria Ayers your school Counselor at Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School. The School Counseling program at Dr. Mudd is based on the American School Counseling Association Model and our district standards. It includes a variety of services for ALL students and is designed to assist with interests and issues related to the stages of student growth in the areas of academic, career, personal, emotional, and social development. The following services will be offered for the 2023-2024 school year:

• Small group counseling sessions, with parent permission, for students focusing on divorce, grief, study skills, friendship/social skills, and anger management. If you feel that your child needs assistance in any of these areas, please let me know.
• Individual meetings to help students adjust to school or help with personal issues on an as needed basis.
• Classroom lessons with emphasis on personal/social skills, bullying prevention, child protection, academic development (study skills), and career awareness. I see every class in the building at least once a month.

· Referral assistance to other programs and services in the community.

I look forward to working together ensure your child has a great school year here at Dr. Mudd!

The week of September 17-23 is Community Schools Coordinators Appreciation Week. Let's Celebrate our Community School Coordinator, Ms. Andrill Harris.

What is a Community School Coordinator?

A Community School is provided Community School Coordinator and an additional School Nurse. As a Community School Coordinator, my role is to:

· Consult with Administration, Judy Center, and Staff

· Consult with Parents about student and family needs (Food, Vision, Hearing, Dental, Mental & Behavior Health, School Supplies, and other wraparound services)

· Oversee the Parent Business to assist parent with navigating services, completing applications, and employment preparation.

· Develop and maintain Stakeholders and Partnership within the Community

· Coordinate Community Day at Dr. Mudd Elementary School

· Support Parent and Family Engagements

· Coordinate the Food Pantry

· Assist with Student Support Services

· Seek and Supervise Volunteers

· Develop opportunities for extended learning and enrichment programs.

· Coordinate with Tier II and SST to support students and families.

· Consult with the School Nurses to help with medical needs of students.

· Support the academic success of all students.

Dr. Mudd will be launching The Wise Dragon Afterschool Program, an extended learning program for grades K – 5 beginning October 2023 to May 2024. This program will be available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of the week. The program will begin at 3:45 pm to 6:15 pm. If you are interested in your child(ren) being considered a candidate for this program, please click the link below. The program is geared to support 125 students at Dr. Mudd Elementary. You will later receive notification if your child(ren) has been selected for program to completed the necessary paperwork. https://forms.office.com/r/Qb1SjrYHQT

The Parent Business Center operating hours are Monday and Wednesday 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Appointment only for assistance with completing documents.

The Food Pantry is available by appointment only until further notice. Please call Mrs. Andrill Harris, Community School Coordinator at 301.753.1762

Hello parents, and families,

My name is Leslie Smallwood. I am the Title l Parent Liaison at Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Community Elementary School. I am excited about serving you. I would like to start by thanking everyone for attending the Back-to-School Blast and the Open House! It was good to see so many families out in full force. As the Parent Liaison, my goals are to connect parents, teachers, staff, and students through programs, and activities to help bridge the gap between home and school. I will provide a variety of programs and parent involved events to ensure that students achieve academic and social success. Please use the Q&A button or QR code below if you have any questions that need to be answered. I will make sure to get the question to the correct staff member and we will contact you in a timely manner within 48 hours.

If you would like to volunteer, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email or phone call @ Lsmallwood@ccboe.com or 301-753-1762

Warm regards,

Leslie Marie Smallwood

It is a state and nationally recognized program that promotes male engagement in our schools. DADvisory gives fathers and father figures a seat at the table to develop policy and programs for the betterment of our students and education system. DADvisory meets quarterly at the Board of Education. The council also collaborates with the school team to plan instructional workshops from a male perspective.

Please use the button below if you are interested in becoming a member of the DADvisory Council. You can also contact Leslie Smallwood, lsmallwood@ccboe.com.

The Instructional Leadership team works with Administration to best support Teachers and Students with instruction. We support in a variety of ways to include modeling lessons, planning with teachers, analyzing data/student work, and planning family engagement nights. Each member of the Instructional Leadership Team has an area of focus. Ms. Ament supports in the area of Mathematics. Ms. Fletcher focuses on Reading and Writing. Dr. Blue is the Testing Coordinator and focuses on Gifted Services. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at the school. Our contact information is provided below.

Welcome back!

We want to give some reminders for the school year, water bottles are allowed in the classroom. Please fill with ONLY water. First grade does not have snack time, so PLEASE do not send your child with snacks as they will not have time to eat them until after school. In math we are beginning the school year talking about numbers to 20, addition and subtraction, and word problems. In reading our first module talks about making new friends and trying new things. We have new sight words each week, remember to practice. If you need to contact your child's teacher, please use Class Dojo or their email address; Kenyata Simpkins: ksimpkins@ccboe.com, Linda Hayden: lhayden@ccboe.com, Lilda-Lisa June: ljune@ccboe.com, and Michelle Thompson: mthompson@ccboe.com. We will respond within 48 hours.

Thanks,

First Grade Team

Over the next three weeks in our literacy block, our classes will be learning about what it means to be a good citizen—at home, at school, and in the community. We will read about characters and real people who are good citizens, and we will learn how our actions can make a difference to others. Children will also write a personal narrative about something they’ve done to make the world a better place.

The first section of our math unit is Section A: Add and Subtract Within 20. In this section, students use what they know about the relationship between addition and subtraction to find the missing values in equations. They use strategies learned in grade 1 such as making a ten, counting on, and counting back to add within 50 and subtract within 20. For example, when adding 8+7, students break apart the 7 into 2+5, make a ten by adding 8+2, and then add 5, so 8 +2 + 5 = 15. Students later use these strategies to add and subtract within 100.

If it is possible to send a snack with your scholar that would be great. Snacks such as a snack bag of chips, crackers, pretzels, or cookies would be perfect. This will help with waiting for lunch at 1:00 PM.

Welcome to Third Grade. We have had a great start to the school year. We have a few reminders that we wanted to make sure you are all aware of. Please make sure your child has a water bottle daily. If you have not sent in headphones for student laptops, please do so. If you need anything, please reach out to your child's teacher.

Welcome 4th grade families! We have been off to a wonderful start of the school year getting to know our new class family as well as establishing our class rules and procedures. Please take time to review the student code of conduct sent home. The consequences for disruptions and refusal to follow schoolwide expectations are as follows: 1. Warning 2. Loss of Recess 3. Parent Contact 4. Office Referral.

As a reminder, homework will be sent home every Tuesday in a black folder unless otherwise noted by the homeroom teacher. Please ensure that you are checking your student’s bookbag for homework, missing assignments, and any additional school information. Folders are to be returned on Wednesday, and homework is due every Friday.

The 4th grade team is asking that you send your student to school every day with a water bottle. This will allow students an opportunity to rehydrate after their 30 minute recess, and avoid classroom interruptions. Additionally, any notes from home, lunchboxes, change of shoes, and jackets need to be brought in the classroom first thing in the morning. Students will not be permitted to go back and forth to their locker during instructional time.

We appreciate the support from home and look forward to an amazing year ahead!

Sincerely,

Ms. Butler, Ms. Doss, Mrs. Forbes, Ms. Williams

Thanks for coming out to our open house! Powerpoints will be shared through ParentVUE.

Please remember to send in a water bottle with your student daily.

Homework is due every Friday. Please communicate with your homeroom teacher about specific assignments.

Hello families,

As many of you know on Friday, Sept. 1st CCPS changed all student passwords. Students use their password to log in to 1:1 laptop, Microsoft365, and Synergy. The new password is now visible to parents and students in ParentVue and StudentVue. Any student new to CCPS this school year will not have their password reset. The current CCPS student password is in ParentVue/StudentVue accounts under the Student Information menu area when using a web browser. If using the mobile app, click on the Student Info/Additional Information menu to access the information. The new password is located in the same areas of ParentVUE/StudentVUE. Please see the image below for a screenshot of where to look for the password information.

Thank you,

Mr. Yake

Please be on the lookout for the Science Fair Interest Form coming next month (October). All 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are eligible to enter the science fair by doing a project at home and submitting a completed backboard about their experiment. This is an optional project but will earn extra credit in science for the 2nd quarter.

Mr. Washington will be working on Basketball drills and skills for all classes for this month. Don't forget to wear your running shoes to class.

For Art this month, our theme will be 'All Around Us.' Have your child begin to observe and find the beauty that surrounds them. They will draw inspiration from their surroundings.

Ms. Feaster will be working on steady beat and rhythm with all classes this month. See if your student can clap or tap the beat!

Don't forget to return your library books so you can check out new books!

We would love to celebrate your child’s birthday with them in their class. Birthday treats are welcomed but we have some new guidelines that must be followed. You must notify your child’s teacher at least one week prior to sending in birthday treats. When notifying your child’s teacher, please make sure to list the specific items you are sending in for the celebration of your child’s birthday. The classroom teacher will inform the school nurse so they can determine if the treats are able to be shared within the classroom. The health and safety of our students is our priority and with the various allergies we are unable to allow cupcakes.

Below are some great examples of both food and non-food ideas to share with your child’s class to celebrate his/her birthday. If you choose to send in a food/snack item, you must select from the list below. Each item below must be prepackaged. Thank you for helping us to keep a healthy and happy classroom and school.