This is our first week of school and it is a full regular 5-day week. We are so excited to welcome all our Falcons to the 2024-2025 school year.

Our first day of school is tomorrow, Monday, August 26, 2024. School starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. Students are welcomed into the building at 7:50 a.m. Each day, breakfast is available for purchase for all students in the cafeteria. Grade 6 students report to the cafeteria, Grade 7 students report to the auxiliary gym, and Grade 8 students report to the main gymnasium. Here are some important tips to make your first day of school go smoothly!

Know how to get to school and home again: We encourage all children to take the bus or walk who can do so. Walkers and car-riders should arrive between 7:50 am and 8:10 am. If you are dropping off or picking up by car please see the detailed information in the section below. Please make sure your child knows how they are getting home, especially if it is different than how they will get to school. Bus riders should know their bus route number. Click here for Arrival and Departure bus routes. Note there are a few bus stops that have changed since last year.

Know your Homeroom: All the children will go to their Homerooms first on the first four days of school. On the first day, they will get a paper copy of their schedule. You can find their homeroom room number in their Synergy ParentVue and StudentVue or by clicking here to see a homeroom list.

Plan ahead for lunch: Students can bring a lunch from home that does not require heating or use their student ID number to get lunch from the cafeteria. See instructions below to make sure your child has lunch money in their MySchoolBucks account or you have applied for Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs). We will always give students a lunch whether they have money in their account or qualify for free meals. We'll reach out by letter and email if there is a negative balance.

Bring a few school supplies: Bring some pencils, pens, and lined paper. A list of suggested supplies is below.

No Chromebook needed at first, then bring it charged everyday: No Chromebooks are needed for the first day of school. Sixth grade students and new to MCPS students will receive Chromebooks in their Science classes this week. After receiving their Chromebook, they should bring it and their charger back and forth to school everyday, and make sure to charge it every night.

Review the Digital Handbook: We encourage all our Falcons to review our digital handbook (click on the image below) to know what to expect. Getting answers to some questions about our school can help ease first-day jitters.

First Day Forms Coming Home:

• LPMS Digital Contract: Required for all students. Please review both sides with your child(ren), sign and return with your child(ren) to their homeroom by Thursday.
• Annual Privacy and Directory Withholding Form: This form is optional.
• We have one online form we would like everyone to complete. Click here to completed our PG Movie and Digital Consent Form to indicate your consent or non-consent: https://forms.gle/NGd3G1kpH2WXbjNX9

Stronger Together:

Our theme this year is about remembering that we are stronger not despite of, but because of our differences. When we value each individual's unique qualities, we are a stronger community. Additionally, Lakelands Park Middle School is a No Place for Hate School. Twice a month on Mondays in Flytime, students will engage in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons including lessons about anti-bullying, anti-bias and anti-racism. Hate, in any form, has no place at Lakelands Park Middle School and in all our schools. Additionally, we take all bullying and hate-bias reports seriously, and encourage all our community members to be upstanders, and report any suspected bullying and hate-bias incidents. See the digital handbook to know how to report any such incident.

Building a community of belonging and strong relationships is important to creating a caring and safe environment where our learners will thrive. Our staff will be actively working with our children to build a positive climate for learning and wellbeing in a variety of ways including community circles, community builders, and more.

Join the PTSA:

It was great to see so many of you at our Back to School Festival! Thanks to our PTSA for making this fun event possible. Please join the PTSA and consider making a donation to help our PTSA break even on this event and make future events possible.

We Need Your Help! Falcon Buck Store

This year we are introducing a new way to recognize our student for their efforts to create a positive climate at Lakelands. Click here to learn more. We need your help! Soon we will send out a sign-up for parent and caretaker volunteers to run our Falcon Buck Store. We are also hoping our families will donate our prizes. If you are able to do so, please consider purchasing items from our Amazon Wishlist.

Upcoming Events

Monday, August 26th: Last day to purchase Falcon spirit wear on the online store. Click here or below to go to the online store.

Friday, August 30th: Safety Day (details below)

Monday, September 2nd: No School

Wednesday, September 4th: Back to School Night, Family Life and Human Sexuality (FLHS) Information Meeting and Special Education Meeting (details below)

Thursday, September 5th: Final Day to Register for Cross Country or Softball

Wednesday, September 11th: Student Picture Day

Tuesday, September 24th: MAP-M, Measures of Academic Progress - Mathematics assessment, special schedule

Tuesday, September 24th: Cross Country & Girls Softball at Ridgeview, Boys Softball at home.

Wednesday, September 25th: MAP-R, Measures of Academic Progress - Reading assessment, special schedule

Friday, September 27th: Early Release Day, Wingspan Day & MCPS Student Training Modules (3 SSL hours)

Let's have a great first day and first week, and make this a fantastic year of learning together.

Sincerely,

Rose Alvarez

Principal

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Our first day of school is Monday, August 26, 2024. School starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. Students are welcomed into the building at 7:50 a.m. Each day, breakfast is available to all students in the cafeteria. Grade 6 students report to the cafeteria, Grade 7 students report to the auxiliary gym, and Grade 8 students report to the main gymnasium. On the first day of school students will start their day in homeroom where they will receive their class schedule.

Click here for Bus Routes.

Click here for Homeroom assignments.

Also, your child's class schedule including Homeroom will be accessible in Synergy ParentVue and StudentVue.

We encourage all students to walk or take the bus to school starting the first day of school. Please also encourage your child to walk or take the bus to school even when it rains. Not only is handling inclement weather an important life skill for our children, it will save you time waiting in the lengthy backup of cars.

If you choose to drive your child to school, please bring your patience. Traffic before and after school can be very challenging so please follow any directions from staff. When dropping off or picking up your child, please enter the driveway nearest the tennis courts, and pull up as far as possible. Please drop off your child as soon as the line of car stops following the sign that says "Student Drop Off." Do not wait to drop off your child by the main entrance. For safety reasons, students should only be dropped off at our designated locations. Please do not arrive early as this creates unnecessary back-ups. Please drop-off between 7:50 am and 8:13 am and pick-up between 3:05 pm and 3:20 pm.

Please plan your travel time so that your child arrives to school with enough time to go to their locker and arrive to class on time. For safety reasons, please do not drop off or pick up your child behind the school or on Main Street.

Please be mindful that the school busses need extra space to negotiate the tight streets of beautiful Lakelands Park. We ask that you give busses the right of way to enter our parking lot and clear the square where Bright Meadow Dr. meets Lakelands Dr.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Cellphone Meeting. Please take a look at the slides from the meeting by clicking here. If you need to get message to your child during the school day, please call our main office.

We recommend the following school supplies for each LPMS student:

• #2 Pencils (12 pack)

• Pens, black (6 pack)

• 3-ring dividers, 5 tab (1 pack)

• Filler paper, 100 sheets wide-rule (1 pack)

• 1" or 2" 3-Ring binder

• 2 Pocket folders

• Colored pencils (12 pack)

• Pencil pouch for 3-ring binder

• Highlighters (6 pack)

• Wired headphones or earbuds for listening to audio or video on their Chromebook for instructional or assessment purposes, must remain off and away in Chromebook cases until instructed to be used by teachers or staff.

Please provide your child with an umbrella and/or raincoat, and encourage them to continue to walk or take the bus to school when it rains. Handling inclement weather is an important life skill.

Students who choose to eat the school breakfast and/or lunch must purchase these items this year or receive them free by applying for FARMs. Students will use their student ID number to access their lunch account at mealtime. Breakfast is $1.30 and lunch is $2.80. There are also a la carte options for purchase. Menus are updated regularly at the MCPS Food and Nutrition Services website.

Online PrePayments with MySchoolBucks

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MySchoolBucks is an optional service for parents to view recent purchases and make prepayments to your child's cafeteria account for breakfast, lunch and a la carte meals via the Internet with a credit/debit card. This service is offered as a convenience for interested families. By creating a secure online account, parents can manage their child's account. Click here to sign up or access your child's account: www.MySchoolBucks.com.

Students may qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on household size and income. They may also qualify if they are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), or Medicaid benefits. Families may apply for meal benefits by completing an Application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals for the current school year. Students who qualify for reduced-price meals will not be charged that cost - meaning that reduced-price students will eat for free. Families that qualify for Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) are encouraged to apply now to avoid longer processing times in the Fall. Click here to apply: https://www.myschoolapps.com/. Several family food programs are tied to FARMS status.

How-to videos for the online FARMS application:

Spanish Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdCrtCIFJc&t=4s
English Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJUapGLarBo

• Annual MCPS Notice for Privacy and Directory Withholding Form (Optional to return, will be sent home the first day of school, return to homeroom or the main office by September 12)
• Annual MCPS Pest Management Notice
• Annual MCPS Asbestos Notice
• Athletics Registration and Information: See more details below.
• Bus Route Information
• Bullying, Harassment, and Intimidation Reporting
• Emergency Information - Please update for your student via ParentVue - links to the ParentVUE Support Guide and directions for completing the annual verification of information to update contact information. Your contact information is very important and should be up-to-date at all times. Providing at least two emergency contacts is very important for when urgent situations arise.
• Digital Contract (Will be sent home the first day of school, return to Homeroom by August 29th).
• Health Forms, Medications, and Immunization Requirements
• Homeroom Lists: This is where students will report first for orientation and the first day of school. Please have your student make a note of their homeroom room number. This can also be found in their schedule on Synergy.
• Independent Summer Enrichment: Highly recommended summer reading, math, world languages, and English Language Development (ELD) practice.
• Lunch and Breakfast: School Lunch Online Payment, Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS) Application for 2024-25
• PG Movie and Digital Consent Form: Please complete this form by September 12th.
• PTSA Website - Please join the PTSA!
• Student Schedules: Student schedule of classes can be found on Synergy ParentVue and StudentVue.

The purpose of Safety Day is to ensure that our students and staff are prepared for emergency situations. We will follow a regular bell-schedule and complete our 6 mandatory Emergency Drills. The training and drills will not take the entirety of the each class period and instruction will continue throughout the day.

If your child would benefit from additional support for any reason during Unexpected Events day, please email or call your child's counselor.

On August 30th, if you are planning on picking up your child during the school day for a doctor's appointment or other reason, please allow extra time.

Drill Sequence:

Period 1: Drop-Cover-Hold (Earthquake)

Period 2: Severe Weather (Tornado)

Period 3: Fire Drill & Reverse Evacuation

Period 4: No Drills Lunch Block

Period 5: No Drills Lunch Block

Period 6: No Drills Lunch Block

Period 7: Lockdown & Shelter

Period 8: Hold for Make-Up Drills

To learn more about emergency preparedness in MCPS, click here.

Later this year, we will practice our Parent Child Reunification process. Additionally, schools are required to have a total of five (5) fire drills each school year. Our additional four (4) fire drills will take place throughout the school year at dates and times that are not communicated ahead of time. Please contact Jael Baez, if you have any questions.

Please join us at Lakelands Park to meet our staff, see the building, and visit each of your child(ren)'s classes.

5:15 - 5:55 PM

• Information Tables: PTSA, Synergy ParentVue activation, FARMs application, and Gaithersburg Youth Club
• Family Life and Human Sexuality (FLHS) Information Meeting: This is an optional meeting for parents, guardians, and caretakers interested in learning about the FLHS unit in our 7th and 8th grade Health courses.

• Special Education Meeting: This is a meeting for parents or caretakers of students with IEPs to meet their case managers and learn about the special education program at Lakelands Park.

6:00 - 7:55 PM

• Follow your child's schedule to visit each of your child's classes and meet their teachers.

We are proud to offer a wide-array of activities for all students including clubs, intramurals, and athletics. With the exception of athletics, our clubs and intramurals do not begin until the end of September. We publish an after-school activity handbook in mid-September with all of our after-school activities.

Girls and Boys Softball and Girls and Boys Cross Country tryouts for 7th and 8th grade students begin in early September. Students interested in trying out for either of these sports must have completed MCPS middle school Athletics registration conducted through ParentVUE Portal. The ParentVue Portal, available in English and Spanish, incorporates all required paper forms and documents into an internet-based platform. Parents/guardians/caretakers are also able to scan and upload their student's physical, as part of the registration process. Physicals are good for two years. Fall registration for coed cross country or boys' and girls' softball opens August 12, 2024, at 12:00 noon and will close on September 5th. The ParentVUE online registration portal, available in English and Spanish, incorporates all required paper forms and documents into an internet-based platform that can be accessed using a secure ParentVUE Portal login. For more information on middle school athletics, visit the MCPS Middle School Athletics website.

Check out the Who's Who to know who to contact. During the school year, if your question is about your child's class, the first person to contact is always your child's teacher. Use Synergy to quickly email your child's teachers or see our Staff Directory.

Email: Rose_S_Alvarez@mcpsmd.org
Website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/lakelandsparkms/
Location: Lakelands Park Middle School, 1200 Main Street, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Phone: (240)740-6450
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LPMSPTSA/