Owl Observer News

Greetings Ducketts Lane Friends and Families,

It was a great week back after the break. The weather has shifted and it is getting pretty cold outside. Our children go outside for recess as long as the weather is above 20 degrees. We ask that students bring a jacket as we continue to go outside for recess. It is very important that you write your child's first and last name on the inside of jackets, as many get lost and are never claimed. If your child has lost something, please encourage them to look in the lost and found area during lunch.

All week we were able to join together as a community to celebrate the inclusivity within schools. Additionally, many of us came together virtually in partnership with the Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP) and the Council of Elders on Wednesday evening, to honor and celebrate our Black/African American students for their academic achievement last year. Please join us in acknowledging the following students for being recognized for earning all As and Bs all four quarters on their report card last year.

Noah Agbonselobho

Obaaraloluwa Akintola

Jezelle Bennett

Torah Lea

Janine Mbimi-Mbimi

Chloe Newman

Neall Ngu

Chigozirim Nwokeh

Josiah Omidiran

Adetoye Rojugbokan

Ariel Toe

Taliah Barbee

Jaxson Chinn

Anaelle Desta

Tyler Eaton

June Francis

Adjoa Frimpong Boateng

Oreofeoluwa Joshua

Adepa Kwao

Moriah Martey-Korley

Kamari Odoko

Raheemah Oyolola

Cameron Quaintance

Asher Sam

Thalia Tague

Jessie Takyi-Forson

Kyrie Tate

Carter Turner

Kya Vines

Proudly serving you,

Mrs. Caroland, Mrs. Van Osdel, and Mrs. Yerashunas

Take a moment to see all of the amazing options available to show your Ducketts Lane spirit and pride.

Click here to see all the options and deals!

Monday, December 2nd-Schools reopen for all students

Thursday, December 12th-Vision and Hearing Screening

Saturday, December 14th-PTA Winter Vendor Fair

Thursday, December 19th-Vision and Hearing Screening

Monday, December 23rd-January 1, 2025- Schools closed for Winter Break

Our Winter Concerts are right around the corner! If your child is in Band, Orchestra or Chorus, please review the concert flyers linked below.

Advanced Winter Concert - December 19, 2024 @ DLES

6:00pm Concert (students arrive at 5:30pm)

• 4th Grade Advanced Orchestra

• 5th Grade Band

• 5th Grade Orchestra

• 5th Grade Chorus

Beginning Winter Concert - January 14, 2025 @ DLES

6:00pm 4th Grade Concert (students arrive at 5:30pm)

• 4th Grade Beginning Orchestra

• 4th Grade Band

• 4th Grade Chorus

7:00pm 3rd Grade Orchestra Concert (students arrive at 6:30pm)

• 3rd Grade Orchestra

If your child is in need of a white shirt, black pants or black shoes please contact their music teacher. DLES has a small closet of donated concert clothes available for students in need.

Mrs. McKay (Band & Orchestra) amanda_mckay@hcpss.org

Ms. Abrams (4th Chorus) hana_abrams@hcpss.org

Ms. Eng (5th Chorus) taylor_eng@hcpss.org

If you have any concert clothes (shirt, pants/skirt, shoes) that no longer fit your child, please consider donating them to the DLES Concert Closet for another student to wear.

The Howard County Literacy Association invites students in grades 1-5 to submit their original poems and/or short stories to the annual writing contest called The Young Authors' Contest. Please see the attached Young Authors’ Contest Guidelines ( en Espanol) for information about the rules and guidelines. All entries must have a completed YAC Cover Sheet DLES YAC Student Cover Sheet, 2024-25 HOWARD.docx sent as a PDF. Submissions may be emailed to Casey_Sawyer@hcpss.org by December 20, 2024. Please contact Mrs. Sawyer or Mrs. Esposito (Keri_Esposito@hcpss.org) with any questions. All Young Authors’ Contest information can be found on the HCLA website.

Howard County Literacy Association welcomes parents as members. Visit the HCLA Welcome Page for information about joining.

This year, Ducketts Lane will be administering the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to students in 3rd grade on December 16, 17, and 18 (9:00-10:15am). The CogAT is an abilities test that measures students’ reasoning abilities, which they develop through in-school and out-of-school experiences. It is not designed to test a student’s academic achievement, but their potential. All students in Grade 3 will participate in the testing. No special preparation is required. Please send your child to school ready to learn and on time.

The second of the de-escalation strategies we will take a closer look at is Prompt. Just to refresh your memory, de-escalation refers to recognizing when a student is feeling agitated and our goal is to provide assistance and get the student back to the Green Zone. There are three different strategies we use to do this, Help, Prompt, and Wait.

Prompt:

• Look for safe behaviors to prompt/reinforce.

• Notice and compliment a student’s safe choice; i.e. sitting in chair, walking in the direction you have given, using materials appropriately, speaking in a calm voice, taking deep breaths or using a different strategy to promote self regulation, utilizing Get to Green Corner and so on

• Identify behaviors that are incompatible with the crisis behaviors.

• Incompatible behaviors a student may be exhibiting may be yelling, physical aggression, kicking of furniture, making threats to others or self, arguing, interrupting, pacing, running away, sliding on stair banister, and showing other ‘non-compliant’ behaviors.

• Identify the safe behavior expected when students are exhibiting unsafe behavior. For example, “I need you to be safe. Please sit down.” for a student who may be up out of seat, kicking a wall or showing other unsafe behaviors. If a student is yelling, “Please remember I am here to help.” spoken in a calm, friendly manner. Prompt again if unsafe behavior continues.

• Think of behaviors that a student is likely to cooperate with.

• Depending on the behavior, often a reset is helpful. Take a walk, get a cold drink of water, visit Get to Green, or just provide time to the student, then invite re-engagement. Often, validating the frustration a student is experiencing is enough to re-engage them.

• Calmly prompt using a few words and/or gestural/modeling prompts.

• Please sit. Let’s walk. Follow me. No thank you. Avoid a power struggle with offering too much help. The goal is to de-escalate a student, not have a full conversation about what just happened. That will come later. Students who are agitated are not available to listen. 2-3 words maximum is helpful. Repeat as needed. Use gestures as well.

• Phrase your requests instructionally; not as a question.

• This is really important. Make certain what you are offering is the preferred or requested behavior that is desired. For example, would you like to stay at your desk to write or write at the small group table today? (Writing is the goal- has to be part of both choices) This math paper needs to be completed. Ask, would you like me to re-read directions to get you started now, or would you like to take a break and come back to this work at recess? (Math paper completion is the goal- student can complete now or later. With this strategy, you are offering a choice to student to move them forward, but both choices have to include the desired behavior.

Our children have a lot to learn each year and our curriculum offices have provided a great resource for families to help you understand the material and provide suggestions on how you can support learning at home.

Take a moment to look at each of the of the different grade level Family Community Canvas pages. Make sure you click on the yellow bar in the right corner, to find specific information on each curriculum area.

Grade PreK

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

One focus of social emotional learning here at school is around Responsible Decision-Making: The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.

Schooling plays a large role in the moral development of students as they learn to navigate rules, fairness, and standing up for what is right. For the youngest learners, this happens at the most basic level as they come to recognize positive and negative consequences for their actions. As students age, however, determining “rightness” becomes somewhat subjective, and it becomes clearer that there are gray areas. What is right for one person may, certainly, not be for another, and as students navigate the winding pathways of ethics, the adults in their lives, including teachers, largely influence how they will define what is right later in life.

Giving students the chance to actively sort through how to make responsible decisions supports their development as deep thinkers and problem solvers, as well as skilled communicators. Just like helping our children learn to read, write, and do math, we need to assist them by teaching them how to preform responsible decision making in and outside of school.

Winter Vendor and Craft Fair:

The DLES PTA is hosting our annual Winter Vendor and Craft Fair on Saturday, December 14th from 12-3 pm. If you own a business you would like to promote or have handmade crafts to sell, sign up to be a vendor by filling out the form below. Vendor registration is $25. Student vendors are also encouraged and there is no fee for students to register. Vendor registration closes today, December 6th.

https://forms.gle/iCm49pZnTBVQk7U19

Staff Supplies Drive

The DLES PTA is collecting supplies for our staff to help replenish classroom items before winter break! Wanted items include gel pens, felt pens, and dry erase markers. An amazon wish list has been created for convenience, but please feel free to donate any items from any retailer. Donations can be dropped off to the front office labeled "PTA". Be on the lookout for any great deals you see during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Thank you for your amazing support for our staff and the DLES PTA—we couldn’t do it without you!

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/1DVWTE0BVX32U

TGI Fridays Spirit Night

Come eat with us and support the DLES PTA! Dine-in at TGI Fridays on Thursday, December 12 from 11 am-10 pm at the TGI Fridays at Arundel Mills Blvd. Mention you are supporting the DLES PTA and 20% of your meal's price will be donated back to us!

This holiday season during Giving Tuesday week please remember the Ducketts Lane Blessing in a Backpack program. For as little as $2.90, you can help provide a hunger-free weekend for a child. Enough to keep hunger pangs at bay until children return to school on Monday morning. But the impact goes beyond that. Kids who have enough to eat do better in school and feel cared for by their community. And the need grows every day. Who will feed the kids this weekend? We hope you will.

The Toys for Tots registration link is now live and ready to accept applicants!

Please use this sign-up link for Toys For Tots to register your child to receive a toy this year from the Howard County Toys for Tots Holiday Campaign.

Families being submitted must be Howard County residents.***

Submission via this online portal does not necessarily constitute approval. You will be contacted if there are any questions. Toys for Tots is thrilled to support children up

to 14yrs old.

Please print email Approval Confirmation, which will help guide you through the lines faster during distribution.

If you have any questions or need help filling out the form please contact Annie Chairs at annemarie_chairs@hcpss.org or 410-313-5050.

We strive to be a school that actively partners with our students, staff, families, and surrounding community members. We welcome your feedback.

Please click on the Feedback Form to share your thoughts with how we can make DLES the best for everyone.

• Principal, Mrs. Caroland Molly_Caroland@hcpss.org

• Assistant Principal, Mrs. Van Osdel Amy_Van_Osdel@hcpss.org

• Leadership Intern, Mrs. Yerashunas Brianna_Yerashunas@hcpss.org

• Principal Secretary, Mrs. Canter Teresa_Canter@hcpss.org

• Registration Support, Secretary Ms. Lynette Carmen_Lynette@hcpss.org

• Attendance, Synergy and Family File Support, Secretary Mrs. Forman Julie_Forman@hcpss.org

• Counselor Mr. Leisawitz Alexander_Leisawitz@hcpss.org

• Counselor Mrs. Baron Krista_Baron@hcpss.org

• Community School Coordinator Ms. Medina Alejandra_Medina@hcpss.org