News

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PTA NEWS

Churchill's Winter Play is Coming in February!

Churchill students are busy rehearsing the laugh-a-minute screwball comedy, Is He Dead?, a play written by Mark Twain and adapted by David Ives.

You'll love the hilarious ruse concocted by a poor artist who is desperate to pay off his debts. The slapstick that ensues will keep you laughing all night long. Directed by Lynda Scionti, Churchill is one of the first high schools in the area to take on the production.

Performances are in Churchill's Bish Auditorium on Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25 at 7:30 and Sunday, February 26 at 2:30. Tickets are now available for $8 at www.wchsdrama.org/. Or, tickets can be purchased for $10 on February 24, 25, and 26 at the door.

WRITER IN RESIDENCE

The PTA Cultural Arts Committee is happy to announce the beginning of our writer-in-residence program on Tuesday, January 24.

For three days, talented poet, writer and musician Ken Waldman, Alaska's Fiddling Poet will share his poems and talk in depth about his writing with all Seven Locks students.

Through assemblies and classroom visits, he will assist all students in creating their own poems and enjoying their writing process. We hope to have the students' work displayed around the school. Parents are invited to attend the assemblies:

Tuesday grades 3-5 from 9:30am -10:15 am All-Purpose Room

Tuesday grades K-2 from 2:15 pm -3:00 pm All-Purpose Room

We hope your children enjoy his visit and develop an eager interest in writing!

Ken Waldman's Background:

MFA Creative Writing, University of Alaska; BA Management Sciences, Duke University. For more information on Ken, please visit his web site www.kenwaldman.com.

If you have any questions about PTA Cultural Arts programs, please contact Paula Sumberg at sumbergs@comcast.net.

Maryland Learning Links

There is a new website just up and running to help families: MarylandLearningLinks.org is a unique, dynamic website providing information about the Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP) and Individualized Education Program (IEP) processes, family involvement and other topics and trends related to special education. The site features interactive tools, blogs, and newsletters aimed at administrators, teachers, service providers, and parents.

MarylandLearningLinks.org offers helpful information for families with disabilities and offers users the benefit of an online community. Parents and educators can join, participate, and share in an ongoing conversation, all designed to strengthen student learning.

PTA General Meetings

The next PTA meeting is Tuesday, February 7th at 7:00 p.m. These meetings are open to everyone, and this one will feature a demonstration of the promethium boards! Please drop by, even if you come late, or can't stay for all of it.

Board Games Needed for Classroom Indoor Recess

UNO, TROUBLE, SORRY, MONOPOLY, DOUBLE SHUTTER . . . What is your favorite game???

We are in need of new or gently used games and fun activities (i.e. puzzles, card games) for our Seven Locks classes. We would like to put together RAINY DAY KITS for every classroom so that the kids are stocked with their favorite games during indoor recess days.

Please bring your games to school and leave them the bin marked "RAINY DAY KITS" outside the front office. Label your donation with your child's class name. If we receive mulitple games for the same classroom we will distribute them to others in need.

Thank you so much for helping make those rainy and snowy days more enjoyable for your child! Please contact Deborah Muniz, deb.a.muniz@gmail.com, or 949 933-9493 with any questions.

Parent Education Resource

Amy Gluck is serving as Parent Education Resource this year at SLES. What does this mean? It means that if you have any questions about what to do with any educational issue outside of general education and you're not sure who to contact, you can contact Amy at aegluck2@aol.com, and she'll try to point you in the right direction.

Gifted Child Committee

Are you spooked by the effect Curriculum 2.0 will have on opportunities for acceleration and enrichment for your advanced level learner? Wondering why the math pathways our older children could choose summon up the Ghost of School Years Past for your first or second grader? Confused by the Common Core State Standards and their relationship to the MD standards, the MCPS benchmarks, and what your child can actually expect to be taught in class?

The Gifted Child Committee will host Marty Creel, MCPS Director of Enriched and Innovative Programming, for a discussion of Curriculum 2.0 geared specifically to gifted education, on November 30, 2011 at 7-9 p.m. in the auditorium at Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville 20850.

Marty will present an overview of C2.0 and its relationship to the new standards Maryland has adopted, discuss the acceleration and enrichment tools buildt into the new curriculum, and take parent questions. Unlike the Parent Academy sessions on C2.0, this one will be geared specifically to the needs of the advanced level learner.

All Elementary and Middle School GT Liaisons are encouraged to attend (this will affect Middle School offerings eventually, even though it's only been rolled out to second grade thus far).

In addition, all interested parents are welcome and encouraged to attend and ask questions, so please publicize this opportunity to your school websites and email lists, and cross-post to any other appropriate forum.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Michelle Gluck, gluck.michelle@yahoo.com, Chair, Special Instruction and Gifted Child Committees

Bottlemania Recycles!

Bottlemania was a great success! Thank you so much for all of you who participated in Bottlemania, especially for those of you who contributed bottles!

If you still have your cans (with the lids) we would love to have them back for next year. Please bring them to school and drop them off in the Bottlemania bin near the front entrance

Thank you for your help!

Directory News

You should have received an email with logon information and instructions for accessing the online SLES directory. It is available at , schooldirectoryupdate.com and is accessible from your computer or smartphone.

Throughout the year, should your contact information change, you are able to change it online. (and then it will remain in the system for next year's directory - unless you change it again at verification time.)

In addition, all families WHO JOINED THE PTA, have access to view, sort, and filter student data. If you have not joined the PTA and would like to, please contact Greta Hando at ghando@verizon.net . After you have joined, you will be provided with access to the online directory, and will also receive your hard copy.

If you have any trouble logging in, or did not receive your login information and are a PTA member, please contact Jodi Chen at jodimchen@hotmail.com .

PTA Membership

It's not too late to join the Seven Locks PTA!! Right now we have 176 PTA memberships, which is about 72% of all Seven Locks families. Our goal is 100%!! Family memberships are $55 ($25 for single memberships) which includes two votes at all PTA meetings and two student directories.

Completed membership forms (with checks made payable to Seven Locks ES PTA) can be sent in with your child in an envelope addressed to Seven Locks PTA Membership or can be mailed to :

Seven Locks ES 7000 Radnor Rd. Bethesda, MD 20817

Membership forms will also be available at the PTA meeting this Tuesday evening, 10/4.

Thanks for supporting our school! If questions, please contact Greta Hando- ghando@verizon.net

FUN PHOTOS

Please email any photos of SLES students at school events, classroom parties, etc. to be used in the SLES PTA website to Kip Young at kip@baggett.org. Please identify the students in the pictures. Thanks.

PTA's Gone Green!

The SLES PTA is in its second "green year"! Last school year we saved tons of paper and hundreds of volunteers' hours by eliminating Thursday folders. Like last year, we will send out via email or posting to the website ALL information about PTA events, including the Art Show, Variety Show, Science Fair, Movie Night, Pumpkin Patch and International Night, among others. We will also be sending information about after school activities, opportunities to volunteer, and community service information via email or posting to the website.

You must sign up for the Wildcats e-mail listserv--if you are new to the school--to receive email communication from the PTA and the school. Please see the instructions at the bottom of this webpage. You can also complete the form noted below and send it to school to the attention of the PTA President.

PTA Going Green Notification