LVBES Weekly Bear Bulletin

Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary School

14516 Nadine Drive

Rockville, MD 20853

Main Office: 240-740-3260

School Website: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/barnsleyes/

Parent Handbook: https://secure.smore.com/n/4cuaf

LVBES Lunch Menu: https://schools.mealviewer.com/school/BarnsleyES

Office Staff:

Christine (Chris) Robertson, Principal

Gillian Jablonski, Assistant Principal

Danielle Jones, Administrative Secretary

Candice D’rozario, Attendance Secretary

Office Hours

8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Staff Hours

8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

School Hours

Students Enter the Building/Breakfast

9:10 a.m.

Instructional Hours

9:25 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.

Early Dismissal Time

1:20 p.m.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to Rockville HS for our Staff vs. Parents 5th grade basketball game/fundraiser. We had a great crowd and congratulations to our parents took home this win this year. This is our last week before Spring Break! Our MCAP testing begins this week. Please see the MCAP information below for specific testing dates. Monday, April 7th, we will welcome our families that have been admitted to our CES program for FY26. They will visit our amazing 4th Grade CES classrooms to get a glimpse of our program. Tuesday, April 8th we will have our virtual PTA meeting. We look forward to seeing you! Friday, April 11th we will have our last fire DRILL of the year. Let's hope we have some nice weather!

This is a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL FOR STAFF OR STUDENTS Monday, April 14th-Monday, April 21st for SPRING BREAK. We look forward to welcoming our Bears back on Tuesday, April 22nd. Our Bear Bulletin will resume Sunday, April 20th. I wish all our families who are celebrating a Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

Sincerely,
Ms. Robertson

This month, students in grades 3, 4, & 5 will begin our MCAP testing. We will be testing throughout the months of April and May. Please remind your children that any electronic devices must be powered off and put away during the school day. This is a daily rule, not just when there is testing. The presence of electronic devices during testing may invalidate your child’s scores and possibly the scores of classmates after the incident is investigated. We appreciate your support in making sure students are arriving to school on time. Arriving to school is critical because the teacher and class are preparing for testing. If your child is late, they will most likely have to sit in the main office until testing has concluded. We appreciate your support during this time. Please see attachment below for more information about specific testing dates.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/calendar/2025/24-25-traditional-calendar-months.pdf

April is School Library Month across the country! Please show Ms. Schoem and Mrs. Dyanzio our thanks by creating a card for the school library staff (templates linked here, scroll to bottom of page).

Thank you for supporting the school library program at Lucy V. Barnsley ES!

Mrs. Hoppman’s Kindergarten Class

Ms. Barr's 2nd Grade Class

Ms. Mott's 5th Grade Class

Follow us on X: @LVBESPrincipal and @LVBES_AP and our PTA @LucyVBarnsley for more pictures and information!

Thank you to our amazing PTA and our 5th Grade Team for helping to plan and organize this fun event! Congratulations to our parents who took home the win this year!

First Grade:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G4ipr0gz-htYHN1CYCRx4-d2OziVblqFMuler0UaTic/edit?usp=sharing

Third Grade:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oqfXvVrCAcsCbTxKOxD3_pqKbqimYuhqHCwg7-GbQc/edit?usp=sharing

Fourth Grade:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nDWV6tsZSxtXSVdEPt9gp1IJl1BmT3AvWMpfKQyiDns/edit?usp=sharing

Please see below for the Kindergarten, 2nd, and 5th grade April newsletters.

For LVBES and other students who have been ACCEPTED to our FY26 Center for Enriched Studies program, we will be having a parent information meeting/open house regarding our Center for Enriched students program on Monday, April 7th. Acceptance letters from DCCAPS were sent directly to families regarding your student’s central review and lottery results.

The CES website below includes the FAQs and can help clarify any questions about the central review process and program overview. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/center-enriched-studies

MCPS is currently conducting two boundary studies—one for the reopening of Woodward High School, and another for the opening of the new Crown High School and the expansion of Damascus High School. These studies involve 19 high schools and their associated middle schools. Please note that elementary school boundaries will not be adjusted as part of this process. Please see the attached flyer which includes a link to the boundary study information page, along with details about upcoming meetings where families can learn more and provide input.

Online registration for kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year opens on Monday, Feb. 3. Children who will be 5 years old by Sept. 1, 2025 are eligible to register. Registration will be online through the ParentVUE portal. If your family is new to MCPS, you will need to create a ParentVue account here. For more information about eligibility and the registration process, visit the MCPS Kindergarten Enrollment webpage or contact your local elementary school.

We are excited at the possibility of having Pre-K at Barnsley next school year. Prekindergarten and Head Start registration began March 3rd, for the 2025-2026 school year. Children must be 4 years old on or before Sept. 1, 2025, and families must be income-eligible to apply. Families can register their children online or in person.

Registration is NOT done at Barnsley ES. All registration for Pre-K is done through the MCPS Early Childhood Office.

Click here for how to register.

For more information about eligibility guidelines, required documents or how to register online, call 240-740-4530 or visit the MCPS website.

We are excited to welcome volunteers to support our students! Please know to volunteers must complete the mandatory online voluntary training, sign in at the main office. Currently, we are providing opportunities for lunch support; however, we are working closely with our Instructional Leadership Team to develop a menu of items for each grade level where our parent volunteers can be more helpful. We will share this information as soon as it is finalized.

More information about MCPS volunteering requirements: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/student-leadership/volunteer

LVBES March/April Volunteer Lunch Sign-Up

LVBES Volunteer Opportunities 2024-2025 (ongoing)

Many thanks to everyone who came out for the 3rd Annual Staff vs. Parents Basketball Game on Wednesday! It was a blast to see staff and families cheering each other on. Congrats to the parents for their awesome win!

Please join us for our next PTA meeting via Zoom this Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00 pm. We will discuss plans for the Spring Fling event later in April and spring classroom restock needs, along with updates on fundraising, 5th grade promotion, 2025-26 Board positions, yearbook and more! Link to join Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/LVBESPTAZOOM (Meeting ID: 893 1395 6130 / Passcode: LVBES)

Parent Help Needed

The PTA Staff Appreciation Committee is seeking donations to restock teachers' classrooms for the rest of the school year. Please see the flyer for teacher wish lists. Supplies can be sent into school with your child and will be shared amongst the classrooms in each grade. Thank you for helping to support our awesome teachers!

We need your photos for the Barnsley Yearbook! The Barnsley PTA Yearbook Team is in the final stages of compiling the memories from this school year and they need more photos to make a terrific book everyone will want to have. If you have great photos of school and community events (i.e. Fall Festival, orchestra and chorus performances, first day of school), please email them to lvbesyearbook@gmail.com as soon as possible!

Extracurriculars

Registration is still open for spring Big Learning foreign language and science afterschool classes! Spring classes start this week so if you haven't signed up yet, don't wait any longer! Spanish is offered for all grades on Tuesdays and Beginner Chinese is offered for grades 2-5 on Thursdays. French has been cancelled for the spring but will be offered again in the fall. Science classes for all grades are offered on Wednesdays. Check out all the spring classes at https://biglearning.asapconnected.com/ (Go to Classes, then search Location: Barnsley) or see the flyers for details: UPDATED Foreign Languages Flyer Science Flyer

Spots are still available for Spring Chess Club! Chess Club meets in the Art Room on Tuesday afternoons or Wednesday mornings. Registration is first come, first served - please see the flyer for more information.

For the latest PTA updates, please visit www.barnsleypta.org or join the Barnsley PTA email list by signing up for the Membership Directory. The latest PTA newsletter is available here.