Please see below for the Principal’s Spotlight for the weeks of December 16 and 30th. You can also click here for a PDF. Have a wonderful WINTER BREAK!
Week of Dec. 16
Mon., Dec. 16 Last day for Toy Drive
Dr. Starr’s Community Forum on Bell Times, Richard Montgomery HS, 7:00 pm
Tues., Dec. 17 K Daisies, 3:30 pm, rm. 236
Gr. 2 Brownies (make-up meeting), 3:30-4:30 pm, rm. 124
Guitar, 3:30-4:30, rm. 165
Basketball, 3:30-4:45 pm, gym
Winter Chorus Concert, 7:00 pm, APR
Wed., Dec. 18 Spirit Day—dress like your favorite superhero
Intermediate French, 8:00 am, rm. 223
Beginning French, 8:00 am, rm. 240
Spanish Intro, 8:15 am, rm. 212
Gr. 4 Juniors, 3:30 pm, rm. 239
OM Giraffes, 3:30 pm, rm. 154
Thur., Dec. 19 Spirit Day—wear neon colors and a mustache
Beginning Chinese, 3:30-4:30 pm, rm. 218
Clay Creations, 3:30-4:30 pm, rm. 163
Fri., Dec. 20 Spirit Day—wear your pajamas
Intermediate Spanish, 8:00 am, rm. 239
OM, 3:30 pm, Media Center
December 23-January 2 School closed for holidays and winter break
Week of Dec. 30
Mon., Dec. 30 School closed for winter break
Tues., Dec. 31 School closed for winter break
Wed., Jan. 1 Happy New Year! School closed for holiday
Thur., Jan. 2 Welcome Back!
Yearbook candid photos taken today
Beginning Chinese, 3:30 pm, rm. 218
Fri., Jan. 3 Intermediate Spanish, 8:00 am, rm. 239
OM, 3:30 pm, Media Center
A Look Ahead
Jan. 10 Winter Dance, 7:00 pm, gym
- The staff and I wish all of our families a very happy winter break. We are fortunate to be part of a caring and supportive community. We hope that each of our families has a fun and safe holiday break. We will see you on January 2, 2014!
- We are proud to announce the following Bells Mill artists who are finalists in the 2013 Reflections Arts Competition, “Believe, Dream, Inspire.” The creations of these artists will move forward to the MCCPTA level of judging.
Dance Choreography/Intermediate Division—Rebecca Zhu, 4th Grade – I Dreamed A Dream
Film Production/Intermediate Division—Austin Chen, 4th Grade – Dream Adventure
Literature/Primary Division—Ruby Siegal, 1st Grade – Beauty of Nature; Maya Siegal, 2nd Grade – What Can I Be?
Literature/ Intermediate Division—Audrey Benford, 3rd Grade – Little to Big, Ilayda Dogan, 3rd Grade –Spring and Summer and Hope
Music Composition/Primary Division—Ruby Siegal, 1st Grade – Beauty of Nature and Maya Siegal, 2nd Grade – Reach for the Sky
Music Composition -/Intermediate Division—Harrison Benford, 3rd Grade – Waterfall
Photography /Intermediate Division—Spencer Swetlow, 3rd Grade – The Boy Who Likes Robots and Ryan M.C. Wang, 4th Grade – Thought
Visual Arts /Primary Division—Aleeza Ali, 1st Grade – Dreams Can Make You Fly;
Ruby Siegal, 1st Grade – Mountains of Beauty; and Maya Siegal, 2nd Grade – Farmer
Visual Arts -/Intermediate Division—Avery Max, 3rd Grade – The Dino Saur Family; Sarah Bagheri, 3rd Grade – Baseball; and, Jocelyn Norman, 4th Grade – Dancer’s Dream
Congratulations to these finalists and to all our talented and creative students who submitted their original works to the competition.
- Please help us get the message out to parents with incoming kindergarteners for the next school year. We are now gathering names and contact information for next year’s kindergarten class. Please ask your neighbors to call the school if they have a child who will be 5 years old by September 1, 2014. Parents of incoming kindergarteners are invited to an information meeting on Thursday, January 23 (snowdate January 30), 7:00 pm, in the APR, where they will learn about our kindergarten program and get their questions answered. This year we are offering two dates for Kindergarten Open House. Parents and their children may choose to come on either Thursday, February 6, or Friday, February 7, 9:30-11:30 am. They can observe a typical morning in a kindergarten classroom (we ask that younger siblings not attend). Our tentative dates for Kindergarten Orientation are Thursday and Friday, April 10 and 11 (by appointment).
- On Thursday, January 2, a photographer from Lifetouch Photography will be in the building. The photographer will visit classes, recess and lunch periods to snap candid photos of the students for inclusion in this year’s edition of the Bells Mill yearbook.
- Special thanks to all families who supported our toy drive and to those who donated to the Bear Hug Fund. Once again our community demonstrated a great sense of family and community.
- Attention Parents of Grade 3 Students Applying to the Center for the Highly Gifted at Coldspring ES, all Grade 3 students applying to the Center for the Highly Gifted at Coldspring ES will be tested at Bells Mill ES on January 9, 2014. The test will be during the morning. Please make every effort to not schedule your child’s doctor’s appointments during this time. An outside testing assistant from the Office of Enriched and Accelerated Instruction will be administering the test along with Ms. Hall-Bell, Gifted/Talented Liaison at Bells Mill. If your child is sick the day of the test, it is the parent’s responsibility to contact Mrs. Betty R. Shevitz, instructional specialist, DCCAPS, at 301.592.2040 for information on the make-up date. Please mark your calendars.
- Winter is here! In the event of school closings or delayed openings due to weather conditions, all announcements are made as early as possible, generally in time for news broadcasts that begin at 5:00 am. Early release announcements are made by 11:00 am. Please tune in to radio and television news stations or MCPS Channel 34 for information regarding school closings, delays and early releases. You may also obtain information at the Schools Out website (www.schools-out.com), the MCPS information line (301-279-3673), or the MCPS Call Center (301-309-6277).
- Mark your calendars! July 7-25, 2014, we will again offer Camp Bells Mill. This is our popular summer learning camp, taught by our own teachers, for students entering grades K-5. More information will follow after winter break.
- MCPS offers foreign language immersion programs at selected elementary schools throughout the county. Selection for the 2014-2015 school year is done by lottery. Parents who are interested in entering their students in the foreign language immersion lottery process may submit an interest form between February 1 and April 4, 2014. Information about the lottery process, the foreign language immersion programs and the interest form are at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms . Completed forms should be returned by U.S. mail to DCCAPS, Spring Mill Field Office, 11721 Kemp Mill Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20902, hand carried, or faxed to 301-649-8155 no later than April 4, 2014. Please do not send forms to Bells Mill.
- If you are considering holiday gifts for teachers, please keep in mind that, according to the Montgomery County Board of Education revised Ethics Policy, employees may not accept gifts that exceed $20 in value, which is a decrease from the $25 previously allowed. An alternative way to honor a teacher is a tax deductible donation to the Bells Mill Bear Hug Fund which helps families right in our community. You can send in a check made payable to Bells Mill Bear Hug Fund and specify the name of the teacher you wish to honor. Teachers receive a special card notifying them of your donation, and you receive a receipt for tax purposes.
- Superintendent Joshua Starr is recommending that MCPS consider changing school start and end times, also known as bell times. MCPS would like to hear from you. All upcoming forums start at 7:00 pm:
–Monday, December 16: Richard Montgomery HS, 250 Richard Montgomery Dr., Rockville
-Monday, January 6: Seneca Valley HS, 19401 Crystal Rock Dr., Germantown
–Monday, February 10: Montgomery Blair HS, 51 University Blvd., East, Silver Spring
Free child care (ages 4 and older) and interpretation services will be provided. For information about the bell times proposal and ways you can provide input, visit www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org, search “bell times.”