Welcome back to routine! Below please find the Spotlight for the week of January 6. You can also click here for a PDF.
Mon., Jan. 6 Happy Monday!
Tues., Jan. 7 K Daisies, 3:30 pm, rm. 236
Guitar, 3:30-4:30, rm. 165
Basketball, 3:30-4:45 pm, gym
PTA Meeting at 7:00 pm in Media Center – Mrs. Kanter and Ms. Hall-Bell will be presenting on
Social Emotional Learning and Bullying. We hope to see you at the meeting.
Wed., Jan. 8 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., Jan. 9 Beginning Chinese, 3:30-4:30 pm, rm. 218
Clay Creations, 3:30-4:30 pm, rm. 163
Parent Resource Meeting, 7:00 pm in APR
Fri., Jan. 10 Wear your Bells Mill Spirit Wear today!
Intermediate Spanish, 8:00 am, rm. 239
OM, 3:30 pm, Media Center
Winter Dance, 7:00 pm, gym
A Look Ahead
Jan. 20 School Holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Jan. 21 No school for students – Teacher Professional Day
Jan. 23 Incoming Kindergarten (2014-2015 school year) Parent Information Meeting
7:00 pm in APR
- This is a reminder that our instructional day begins promptly at 9:15 am. Students may enter the building and report to their classrooms at 8:55 am each day. We expect them to be in their seats and ready for the morning announcements at 9:10. Thank you for helping to ensure your children are prepared and ready for the start of the day.
- With the start of a new calendar year many families may have changed or updated phone numbers, you may have changed work numbers or emergency contacts. Please make sure we have updated numbers, emails and emergency contacts for your children. If there are changes to be made, please send information to the classroom teacher and to Mrs. Vincenty in the main office so we can update our records. Thank you for attending to this important information.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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, 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.”
- 2014-2015 School Calendar — The Board of Education has set the calendar for the 2014-2015 school year. Classes will begin on Monday, August 25, 2014, and are scheduled to end on Friday, June 12, 2015. The calendar was developed in partnership with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, the school district’s three employee associations, the Montgomery County Region of the Maryland Association of Student Councils, and other community members. Visit http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/calendars/future/ to see the calendar.
- Winter 2014 Parent Academy Schedule
- Registration is open for the 2014 winter session of the MCPS Parent Academy, which begins on Monday, January 13. Parent Academy workshops give parents useful tips and tools to support their children’s success in and out of school. A wide array of topics will be covered during the winter session including college and career planning, active parenting, and cybersafety and social media. Please encourage members of your school community to participate in these workshops. The schedule is available at http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/parentacademy/.