White Marsh Elementary School

Welcome to the first full week of November! Our Food Drive begins this week, and will run through November 17. In previous years, this has been a very successful project for the WMES family. Thank you for supporting this worthy cause.

Unfortunately, we have had to cancel Running Club on Wednesday. Therefore, Fall Running Club is now over. Thank you to Mrs. Hancock and all of our volunteers who assisted with the program so that our Bears could enjoy physical activity and game time with peers.

On Monday, there will be a WMES site based volunteer training in the cafeteria at 9:30. Anyone wishing to volunteer or chaperone for our school must attend this training each school year prior to working with students.

Report cards will be distributed on Tuesday. You will receive a copy that comes home with your student; please be sure to sign and return the envelope to school.

Friday is Veterans Day; there is no school for students on Friday.

Have a great week!

Many of our families have received calls and/or emails about several important pieces of information still needed by our school system. Please be sure that you have completed the Acceptable Use Policy for each student, as well as the Impact Aid. Reach out to the school if you need assistance.

SMCPS has put together a list of commonly used resources so that families have a better understanding of what they are and how they are used in our schools. Take a look at the SMCPS Instructional Terms and Resources.

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

Nov 14 World Diabetes Day- wear blue

Nov 15 Battle of the Books 3:45 - 4:30; Pick up at Media Side Door

Nov 22-24 Thanksgiving Break

Dec 4 WMES Site Based Volunteer Training, 9:30 am

Dec 5 Character Tea

Dec 8 2 hr. Early Dismissal

Dec 13 Battle of the Books, 3:45 - 4:30 pm

Dec 14 Winter Concert, Grades 3-5, 10 am

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.

St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) is requesting your permission for your student to use the Internet and other computer resources in school. It is important that you and your student review this information. Click here to access The Acceptable Use Agreement.

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.

I (Principal Steele) had the privilege of meeting with all students recently. We talked about expectations for school, and our school rules: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Ready to Learn. We also talked about the reasons we were called the Strong and Mighty Bears, and that it takes hard work to earn that title. Another important component of our discussion was student attendance. They learned that one missed day of school equals about 7 hours of instructional time lost. They were able to calculate that just missing 2 days per month it would add up to about 20 days or 140 hours of missed instruction! WMES is working to address our chronically absent (missing 10% or more of instructional days) population. Thank you for your support!

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.

If you would like to chaperone or volunteer in any way, you must be an approved SMCPS volunteer. You must re-apply every year. In addition, WMES requires all volunteers to participate in a Volunteer Training each year prior to working with students. Once scheduled, those trainings are on the WMES School Calendar. Trainings last approximately 20 - 30 minutes.

For our new families, and reminders for our returning families-

There are lots of ways we will communicate with you. Once school begins, you should receive a weekly email with the WMES Smore Newsletter for the week. (It will come on Sunday evenings; contact the Main Office if you don't receive the newsletter.) Be sure to review it every week; it is kept up to date with important information for you and your student. We also communicate via Twitter, and our PTA has a facebook page. If you have not elected to receive texts from SMCPS, please do so! This is our fastest way to communicate in the event of a delayed bus, or other important information. Finally, our teachers also have a variety of ways to communicate with our families; you will receive more information the first week of school.

• 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
Twitter: @wmes_smpcs