Clemens Crossing Cougar Comments

Edward Cosentino, Principal

Jaime Gittleson, Assistant Principal

Website: cces.hcpss.org
Location: 10320 Quarterstaff Road, Columbia, MD, United States
Phone: 410-313-6866
Facebook: facebook.com/ClemensCrossingElementary
Twitter: @hcpss_cces

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April

• 14 - Talent Show, 7:00 p.m.
• 18 - Q3 Report Cards Issued
• 19 - PTA Restaurant Night at Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar
• 20 - Earth Day
• 21 - Schools closed for students - Professional Learning Day
• 25 - PTA Restaurant Day at Chick-fil-a at Johns Hopkins Road
• 28 - 5th grade Battle of the Books
  

May

• 1 - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
• 3 - PTA Restaurant - Chipotle (Dobbin) - CANCELLED
• 3 - Science Fair
• 5 - School Spirit Day - Wacky Sock & Hair Day
• 10 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
• 12 - PTA Spring Carnival, 5:00 p.m.
• 19 - Schools closed for students - Professional Learning Day
• 23 - 5th Grade's Simulated Congressional Hearing
• 24 - Wilde Lake HS graduation, 3:00 p.m.
• 26 - Field Day
• 29 - Schools and offices closed for Memorial Day
• 30 - Rain Date for Field Day

June

• 1 - LGBTQ+ Pride Month
• 1 - Atholton HS graduation, 11:00 a.m.
• 2 - School Spirit Day - Summer Sports Day
• 3 - 3rd grade picnic, 12:30 p.m.
• 7 - Kindergarten picnic, 10:00 a.m.
• 7 - Schools close 3 hours early
• 8 - 2nd grade picnic, 11:05 a.m.
• 9 - Full day of school
• 9 - 1st grade picnic, 12:05 a.m.
• 12 - 4th grade picnic, 11:00 a.m.
• 12 - Schools close 3 hours early
• 12 - 5th-grade promotion ceremony at Atholton HS, 2:00 p.m.
• 13 - Schools close 3 hours early
• 14 - Last Day of School - Schools close 3 hours early
• 16 - Final report cards will be mailed

To subscribe to the CCES calendar on your smartphone, electronic device, or email system use the calendar ID sqspkjkbr6v6arss44js3n21eg@group.calendar.google.com.

Welcome back! I hope you had a fantastic Spring Break, and I hope everyone is ready for the final quarter of the 2022-23 school year. This issue of the Cougar Comments is packed full of a lot of information to help you through the 4th quarter. Some highlights and action items are below:

• The 3rd Quarter Measures That Matter provides an update on important school information from last quarter.

• ACTION ITEM! Bus Services for 23-24 - If you are in the transportation zone and want to continue utilizing the school bus services next year, you must register or opt into that service for next year.

• REQUEST - Consideration Form and Parent Input - Please take 10 minutes to complete the parent consideration form. This helps us plan class groupings for the 23-24 school year.

• PTA Information - There is a lot of PTA information below. Please be sure to read about the busy PTA schedule coming up!

Mr. Cosentino, Principal

Please find our quarterly report, Measures That Matter, below. You will find important academic, attendance, and behavior data and information in the report.

Quarter 3 report cards will be available in HCPSS Connect Synergy after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18. Directions on how to access report cards can be found online

Planning for the 2023-24 School Year

The Clemens Crossing staff is looking ahead to the 2023-24 school year. As part of this process, we would like to give you the opportunity to share some information that you would like for us to consider as we begin to make class groupings for the next school year. This consideration form is for you, as parents, to relate specific information about your child that you feel would be beneficial as our teachers meet to determine next year's placement.

When placing students, the staff, and administration utilize a wide range of criteria that support the Howard County philosophy of heterogeneous grouping. Some of these criteria include, but are not limited to:
- the personality of the child
- the gender balance in each classroom
- math strengths and needs
- written output
- test results
- reading strengths and needs
- special education requirements; IEP goals
- structured versus non-structured needs
- information from previous teachers and school counselor.

There are certain concerns that we cannot consider as part of this Consideration Form. Therefore, we ask that you not use this form to propose the following:
- specific teacher requests
- grouping based on siblings’ experience
- grouping based on friends
- grouping based on hearsay.

Your input on this form will be used in our planning for your child rather than a letter requesting a specific teacher. Your response is OPTIONAL but is a very valuable source of information to the school staff and to the next teacher.

The form is embedded in this newsletter program below. If you cannot see the form below, you may need to use a computer.

The form closes on May 12. Thank you for your help.

We are fortunate to have an incredible art program at Clemens Crossing Elementary School. Mr. Schmitt and Mrs. Aristidou encourage creativity each and every day!

The 49th Annual K-12 Student Art Exhibit at the Mall in Columbia is open now! Congratulations go out to the following students who have artwork on display:

• Kindergarten: Remi B., Amelia C., Paris N., Mary Iris P., Ajhor R., Nina S., Ryan T., and Alice Y.
• 1st Grade: Joshua A., Norah B., Natalie G., Kaylee H., Alexander H., Jules H., Nitya K., Izabella R-M., Avery Z., Catherine Z.
• 2nd Grade: Penelope A., Luca A., Elizabeth G., Aiden K., Avery L., Asha M.
• 3rd Grade: Sinclair E., Aadhav J., Ava M., Madeline S., Frank W.
• 4th Grade: Harrison A., Mana A., Quinn F., Maggie G., Ivy H., Madyson K., Laurel P., Zianni R., Noah S., Danielle V.
• 5th Grade: Srithan D., Yousuf H., Sophia H., Sam M., Madison M., Celia P., Rebecca R., Eve S.

Clemens Crossing Elementary School was one of 106 schools nationwide to be recognized with a Computer Science Education Award. CS100 Awards recognize elementary schools that commit to teaching at least ten hours per year of computer science (CS) to every K-5 student. The Awards were announced on March 30th at CSK5, The National Summit for K-5 Computer Science Education. Award-winning schools submitted 90-second videos describing their programs, five of which were featured at the CSK5 Summit. Thank you, Mrs. Gelinas, for being a fantastic Technology teacher for all of our students and for submitting information about the award.

More information can be found here.

MSDE will administer MCAP assessments in the Spring for English Language Arts/Literacy & Mathematics. MCAP is the overarching term used for all state assessments. Students in grades three, four and five will be participating in the MCAP Assessment starting on April 18th. There are four units of the Math test and four units of the English Language Arts (ELA) test for each grade. Students will take one test unit a day for ELA and two test units per day for Math.

Below are the assessment dates/times for each grade level.

5th Grade
Math - April 18th and 19th starting at 10:35 am
ELA - April 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th at 10:35 am
4th Grade
Math - May 4th and 5th starting at 9:15 am
ELA - May 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th starting at 9:15 am
3rd Grade
Math - May 4th and 5th starting at 1:05 pm
ELA - May 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th starting at 1:05 pm

Please make every effort to have your child in school on time for the listed assessment dates.
Make up testing will be provided on days that assessments are not currently scheduled. All testing will be completed by May 26th.

Students need to bring corded headphones if they have a pair. Any student without headphones will be issued a pair to use for the assessments. Please contact Jaime Gittleson, Jaime_Gittleson@hcpss.org, with any questions about the MCAP assessment.

According to HCPSS Policy 9000 - Student Residency, Eligibility, Enrollment, and Assignment, "A student attending a public school in Howard County will attend the designated school serving the school attendance area in which the parents have bona fide residence."

If you have moved or are moving soon, please notify us immediately. Please do not wait for us to find out through other means. We can assist you with transitioning to your child's new school. Whether it be another HCPSS school, a private school, or a school out of the HCPSS district, we are here to help. If you are transferring to another HCPSS school, our registrars will partner to make the transition as smooth as possible.

If you have an address change, please fill out the attached fillable Address Change Form below and email it back to us with your new deed or lease. This way, we can electronically verify your school district and update your new address on file. If you have any questions, contact our registrar, Mrs. Dulce Boyer at Dulce_Boyer@hcpss.org

It is very important for us to have the most accurate information about your residency

4pm-7pm 10% of all sales go to CCES PTA

Please complete the Bus Service Registration below if you are in the transportation zone. Students who are registered for bus services will receive a new school-issued luggage tag indicating that they are permitted to ride the bus.

FIFTH GRADE PARENTS: Please note if you are in the non-transportation zone for elementary school, you are in the transportation zone for middle school for WLMS. Therefore, you will need to opt-in for transportation if you want it.

Per Board of Education Policy 5200 Student Transportation, families whose students are eligible for bus transportation are required to register through HCPSS Connect Synergy to receive bus service for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. This new registration process will take place annually to help the HCPSS Office of Student Transportation plan for more accurate student ridership and to make routes more efficient. Registration for 2023-2024 bus service is open now through June 1.

Please note, families who reside in non-transportation areas are not eligible for bus transportation and do not need to take any action. Find the new non-transportation areas for your school online. Additionally, students who receive transportation as part of their Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan do not need to register.

Register Now

Families who need assistance with the registration process should reach out to their child’s school.

Bus routes for the 2023-2024 school year, along with specific school start times, will be finalized in August, prior to the start of school. More information is available online.

Science Fair - May 3

We are happy to announce that the 2023 CLEMENS CROSSING SCIENCE FAIR will take place this year on Wednesday, May 3rd, from 6 to 8pm.

After last year's record number of participants, we can't wait to see the amazing new science presentations of Clemens Crossing's Students this May.

Detailed information here CCES Science Fair

TO JOIN US AS A PARTICIPANT:

• select type of project based on grade
• sign up as a presenter here
• work on your poster board and practice your presentation, each student or group of students will have 2-3 minutes to speak to a judge

TO JOIN US AS A VISITOR:

• show up on May 3rd at school at 6pm to view all the wonderful science and get inspired by the projects shown
• be ready to enjoy the evening, bake-sale, store and raffle!

TO JOIN US AS A VOLUNTEER:

• we have multiple volunteering options, some to do at home in spare time, some on the day of the event
• sign up as a volunteer using here and thank you for helping make this evening memorable for our students!

QUESTIONS?

Ask binitaras@yahoo.com

Spring Carnival - May 12

Hi Cougar Parents!
Each year Clemens Crossing Elementary hosts a spring carnival where we welcome community members and students for an afternoon/evening of early summer fun. We will have inflatables, food, games, prizes and so much more for our students. In order for the event to run smoothly and successfully we are looking for volunteers to help on the day of the event.

We are in need of parents to help with set up, clean up, games, first aid station, admissions and a few more areas! Please consider signing up to volunteer. You can also help out by lending us the items listed below. Once they are dropped off, we will label them so we can return them back to you.

Please see below for details and sign up in the link below.

Clemens Crossing Elementary School Spring Carnival
Friday, May 12, 2023, at the school blacktop and field
Time: 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm (volunteer times differ, please see sign-up sheet)

Register here to volunteer!

Please reach out to annie.weinschenk@gmail.com if you have any questions or need anything!

Join us at Centennial High School on Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 6:00-8:00 pm for a viewing and panel discussion of Our Turn To Talk, a film that features teens sharing the impact of social media, sexual identity, gender identity, racism, and the pandemic on their mental health. The film is sponsored by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Howard County, the Howard County Public School System, Horizon Foundation, One Voice, Active Minds, and the Howard County Health Department. Families and staff may access the trailer and registration form for more information.

The event will feature the following panelists:

• Jennifer Marshall (Executive Producer, Principle Pictures)

• Peace Williams (WLHS student, Active Minds member)

• Stephanie Reid (Youth and Family Support Services, Howard County Health Department)

• Ivan Croft (Instructional Facilitator for Psychological Services, Howard County Public School System)

• Oliver Song (President, Howard County Association of Student Councils)

Direct Questions to Cynthia Schulmeyer, Coordinator School Psychology or Caroline Walker, Executive Director, Program Innovation and Student Well-Being.

Having used one inclement weather day, the last day of school for students in full-day Pre-K through grade 12 is now scheduled to be Wednesday, June 14.