White Marsh Elementary School

The yearbook sale continues, and will end on Friday! May 3 is the last day for orders! **There are no extras ordered; please use the link to make an online order if you wish for your student to have one. Yearbooks are scheduled to arrive the last week of school, so that they can be distributed before students' last day.

MCAP continues this week, and it's time for our 3rd graders to show what they know! Our 4th and 5th grade students have been giving their best effort on this assessment, and I know our 3rd grade will do us proud, too! Please make sure your student comes to school well rested, and with a charged laptop. Both 3rd and 4th graders will test this week.

On Tuesday, our 2nd grade students will enjoy a field trip to Calvert Marine Museum.

The PTA will meet on Wednesday at 6:30 pm. All are invited to attend.

Thursday is the Battle of the Books! Our 5th grade participants will be challenged along with other schools in SMCPS to test their knowledge about books that they have read this year. Good luck, Bears!

There is a Spirit Day on Friday; wear your blue!

Have a great week!

Principal Steele

The Board of Education approved an amendment to the 2023-2024 SMCPS Operational Calendar. The revised calendar is posted to www.smcps.org/calendar.

As a result of the fact that SMCPS did not use any of its inclement weather days built into the calendar, the final day for the 2023-2024 school year has been adjusted.

• Both June 6 and June 7 will be 2 hr. Early Dismissal Days.

• The final day for students will be Friday, June 7, 2024.

The Department of Maintenance will begin the process of changing schools from heating mode to cooling mode for the balance of the season. Once the changeover is complete it will take a couple of weeks to fine-tune each building for optimal performance. Students are encouraged to dress in layers. In addition, as the weather gets warmer, please make sure your students have access to and use deodorant. Warmer weather brings the need!🙂

Please note- when signing out a student from school you will be asked to present your photo ID every time.

• Applications for STEM 6 will open on April 2 and close on April 30, 2024. No late applications will be accepted. The online application will be found on the Academies page of the SMCPS website.

• The annual Academy Open House will be held virtually on Wednesday, April 10th starting at 5:30 pm. More information is available via the Academy Open House Google Site.

• St. Mary’s County Public Schools, in collaboration with Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership, is hosting a Surf the Mental Health & Wellness Wave: A Resource & Education Fair on May 18, 2024, from 10 AM-3 PM, at the James A. Forrest Career & Technology Center. Come interact with and gather information from over 35 Mental Health & Wellness vendors. There will be numerous guest speakers and presentations on several different mental health and wellness topics. Use the QR code in the health fair flyer to view the schedule of events. In addition, there will be food trucks, door prizes, and lots of fun! Please join us!!

SMCPS and SMC R&P have partnered to offer the new Summer Sports Academies. Campers will be instructed by area high school coaches. Camps are held Monday - Thursday. Click below for more information. Registration begins March 1st. Don't miss this opportunity.

• https://www.stmaryscountymd.gov/recreate/camps

• https://www.stmaryscountymd.gov/docs/thescoop.pdf

Field Hockey Camp

Basketball Camp

May 6-10 Teacher Appreciation Week

May 8-22 School Kidz Online Sale

May 9 Kindergarten Field Trip

May 10 2 hr. Early Dismissal

May 14 Election Day; No School for Students

May 15 PTA Family Fun Night, 5-6:30

May 16 School Dance

May 23 Spring Concert (Band, Chorus, Strings) 10 am

May 28-30 WMES Book Fair

May 31 Field Day!

Jun 3 Awards Day, Kindergarten - Fourth Grade

Jun 4 Grade 5 Awards, 1:55 pm

Jun 6 2 hr. Early Dismissal

Jun 7 2 hr. Early Dismissal, Last Day for Students

Jun 13 HAC Opens for Report Card Viewing

Jun 25 HAC Closes for the summer rollover

The SMCPS Food & Nutrition Services Department will be providing a 5-day pickup for summer meals.

These meal bags will include five breakfasts, five lunches, a half-gallon of white milk, and two cartons of chocolate milk for each child.

Meal pickups will be on Mondays and we are offering two pickup times for your convenience. 11 am - 1pm or 4pm - 6pm. The schools offering pickup are:

• Chopticon HS
• Leonardtown HS
• Oakville ES
• Spring Ridge MS

Parents/Caregivers must either have signed up ahead of time using this form with their children's information or have the children in-person for meal pickup.

Summer Meals/Parent Signup

Band and Strings students are asked to bring their instruments to school every Wednesday! Sincerely, Mr. Guy

In order to volunteer and/or chaperone at WMES you must do the following annually:

1) register to be a SMCPS volunteer

2) attend a WMES Site Based Volunteer Training.

The SMCPS Volunteer information can be found on the WMES Family Links document, and the next WMES Site Based Volunteer Training can be found on the WMES website by accessing the calendar.

Please remember that our school day begins at 9 am and ends at 3:45 pm. Early sign-outs and late arrivals contribute to missed instruction. In addition, students need to be present all day, every day, in order to participate in the Bear Crawl each month. Please support the importance of the academic day by only having your student miss school when absolutely necessary.

Be looking for a paper version of the WMES Family Handbook to come home the first week of school. In addition, we have created this electronic version of the WMES Family Handbook for you to view. It has important information about school policies and practices, including Volunteer Information, Breakfast and Lunches, School Celebrations, and more!

We have created a document for families with links to important system and school information. Check out this link and be sure to bookmark it! We will update it periodically so that you can have quick access to needed information.

• Student Laptops and Chargers

• Accountability Newsletter

• Print and Resource Accountability for SMCPS Students

From the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)-

Chronic Absenteeism: Students are chronically absent when absent 10% or more of the school days while enrolled at that school. For example, a student who is registered to attend a school for 30 days and who is absent 3 of those 30 days is considered chronically absent.

WMES will follow up with chronically absent students through the Pupil Services Team, Pupil Personnel Worker, and the Department of Student Services. In order to reduce the number of our students with Chronic Absenteeism, incentives to encourage good attendance include participation in the Bear Crawl, Running Club, and School Dance.

SMCPS Text Alerts are a great way to get information quickly. They are not sent often, and usually only in the event of an unexpected school delay or closure. On occasion, WMES will send a text alert about a late bus, substitute bus, or school event. Click the link for information about registering for text alerts.

Julia Steele, Principal

Email: jwsteele@smcps.org
Website: wmes.smcps.org
Location: 29090 Thompson Corner Road, Mechanicsville, MD, USA
Phone: (301)472-4600