JHES Weekly Newsletter, September 10, 2021

Mon, 09/13/2021 - 11:27am
JHES Newsletter: September 10, 2021

Upcoming Dates

  • September 14th- Back to School Night for Grades 1-5 (detailed information below) 
  • September 16th- Schools and Offices Closed in observance of Yom Kippur
  • September 21st- Back to School Music Night (virtual event- detailed information below)
  • September 23rd-24th- Fall MCAP ELA Testing for 4th Graders, 9:15 am
  • September 28th- Fall MCAP Math Testing for 4th Graders, 9:15 am
  • September 28-29th- Fall MCAP ELA Testing for 5th Graders, 10:15 am
  • October 5th- Fall MCAP Math Testing for 5th Graders, 10:15 am
  • October 13th- Kindergarten Back to School Night, 6:00 pm
  • October 14th- Student and Staff Flu Clinic during the school day (more information will be shared closer to this date) 
  • October 20th- Smiles Dental Clinic at Jeffers Hill (information below) 

Community Partner Appreciation
Thank you to the following community partners for their donations of backpacks, school supplies, and clothing items.  We are grateful for their partnership and support of our students. 

 

Reminder about Daily Health Check
Parents/guardians should keep their children home if they are experiencing symptom(s) associated with any communicable disease, including COVID-19. In addition, parents/guardians are to perform the following COVID-19 health check every day before the student leaves home.

A student should NOT come to school with any of these symptoms:

  • fever of 100.4 degrees or higher
  • sore throat
  • cough
  • difficulty breathing
  • diarrhea or vomiting
  • new onset of severe headache (especially with fever), or
  • new loss of taste or smell

For persons with chronic conditions such as asthma, the symptoms should represent a change from baseline.

 

Back to School Night for Grades 1-5
We are looking forward to welcoming parents and caregivers of students in grades 1-5 to our Back to School Night on Tuesday, September 14thBack to School Night will be an in-person event held right at Jeffers Hill. 

The schedule for the evening will be as follows:

  • 5:30-6:00 pm- Overview of Gifted and Talented (GT) Programming in the Media Center 
    • Come learn more about the various GT programming opportunities available for ALL Jeffers Hill students.  
  • 6:05-6:45 pm- Session 1
    • Parents of students in grades 1 and 2 will meet in the Cafeteria for a presentation shared by Mrs. Strong and Mrs. Golden.  The presentation will cover updates for the 21-22 school year and provide an opportunity to ask questions. 
    • Parents of students in grades 3, 4, and 5 will visit their child’s classroom to meet the teacher and learn about grade level and classroom specific information. 
  • 6:50-7:30 pm- Session 2
    • Parents of students in grades 3, 4, and 5 will meet in the Cafeteria for a presentation shared by Mrs. Strong and Mrs. Golden.  The presentation will cover updates for the 21-22 school year and provide an opportunity to ask questions.
    • Parents of students in grades 1 and 2 will visit their child’s classroom to meet the teacher and learn about grade level and classroom specific expectations. Please note: 1st and 2nd grade teachers will not be available prior to 6:50.   

To promote the safety and well being of all staff, parents, and caregivers during our Back to School Night, we ask your cooperation with the following:

  • Masks are required for everyone in the building at all times.  Masks with vents and gaiters are not permitted. 
  • Please note that back to school night is only for parents.  However, we understand it can be difficult to find childcare, but we ask that you only bring your child(ren) to this event if absolutely necessary to provide more social distance and limit close contacts.  If you bring your child, they must stay with you the entire time.  We will not have available staff to supervise the students.  

 

Message from our Instrumental and Vocal Music Teachers
JHES Back to Music for Grades 3, 4, and 5
Mrs. Chandler (formerly Ms. Shorb), Band and Strings Director, and Ms. Meloro, Chorus Director and general music teacher are looking forward to making awesome music together this year with our students in grades 3,4, and 5.  Strings classes are open to students in grades 3, 4, and 5, while Chorus and Band classes are open to grades 4 & 5 at Jeffers Hill. They can’t wait to start and know that this year the music program will be better than ever!

We invite all parents that are interested to attend our Virtual Back to Music Night! This will occur on Tuesday, September 21st from 5:30 PM to 6:15 PM. 

  • The Google Meet code will be JHESBack2Music21 if using an HCPSS account (encouraged).
  • Web address: meet.google.com/vab-wncx-ddf 
  • Join by phone, dial +1 402-322-2280 and enter this PIN: 861 168 079#

For Band and Strings questions, please look at the Informational Band & Strings flyer. You can sign-up for Band and Strings as early as TODAY!  For Chorus (singing) questions, please look at the Informational Chorus flyer. You can sign-up for Chorus as early as TODAY!

Please email them at margaret_chandler@hcpss.org (band/strings) or katherine_meloro@hcpss.org (chorus) if you have ANY questions.  We hope to work with your child this year!

 

Early Fall MCAP Testing for Grades 4 and 5
As part of continued COVID-19 recovery efforts, the Maryland State Department of Education is conducting an early fall student assessment.   The Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) is the overarching term used for all state assessments.

MSDE will administer assessments in the Early Fall for English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA/L) and Mathematics, as well as the Alternate Assessments in ELA and Mathematics for all 4th and 5th grade students. 

Students will participate in two 60 minute ELA/L units and two 30 minute Math units over the course of three school days.  Please see the schedule below:

  • September 23rd-24th- Fall MCAP ELA/L Testing for 4th Graders, 9:15 am
  • September 28th- Fall MCAP Math Testing for 4th Graders, 9:15 am
  • September 28-29th- Fall MCAP ELA/L Testing for 5th Graders, 10:15 am
  • October 5th- Fall MCAP Math Testing for 5th Graders, 10:15 am 

For more information about the MCAP assessments, please refer to the following documents in English and Spanish.

 

Smiles Dental Clinic
This week, students were given dental consent forms for our school's dental clinic on October 20th, 2021.  Please kindly return the form by 9/17/2021 if you wish for your child to participate.  Please direct any questions to Mrs. Hospedales, School Nurse, at marcia_hospedales@hcpss.org.

 

Information for Students who are Required to Quarantine
In the event that your child needs to quarantine, there have been instructional materials developed for their use. 

Resources Include:

  • Today all students in kindergarten through grade 5 will be provided a packet of grade level instructional materials that cover all content areas including related arts.  If for some reason it does not come home today, your child will take it home on Monday.  The packets are only to be used in the event a student needs to quarantine. These packets will also be available via Canvas. The tasks that students complete from the packet will not be used as an assessment or counted toward any part of the students’ report card grade.
  • Synchronous Support Sessions - In the event that students have to quarantine for an extended period of time, your childs’ ELA and Math teacher will offer synchronous support sessions. Teachers will be in contact with the students/ parents through Canvas to schedule these sessions. 
  • Canvas Materials - There may be activities on Canvas that students can complete.  Teachers will communicate this with parents. 
  • Dreambox and LexiaCore will be available for students to utilize. 

If your child left their laptop at school, please call the front office to arrange a pick-up time to get your child's device or a loaner device for your child if they have not been assigned one for the duration of their quarantine.  This will allow them to access the above supports. If your child is not in school when they are placed on quarantine, you can contact the front office in order to arrange a pick-up time to get a device for your child. 

Thank you for your understanding, support and continued collaboration as we stay safe, healthy and able to focus on teaching and learning.  As always, please feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

Message from Mrs. Moe, School Counselor
Happy New School Year! The first counselor newsletter is available for viewing.
 

Elementary School Counselor Newsletter - Issue 1

 

Please Update your Family File TODAY!

At this time, 54% of families have updated their Family File.  Help us reach our goal of a 100% completion of this critical information.  Our front office staff is going to begin calling families who have not updated and/or completed their Family File.  This is a time intensive process so please save us the call and update yours today for each child in your family. 

You can access the Family File by logging into HCPSS Connect at www.hcpss.org/connect/. Once you have logged into the HCPSS Connect, select the Family File tab on the left-hand side, and then select the blue underlined "Family File" towards the center of your screen. Once logged in, parents/guardians will be asked to provide, update, or confirm the following information:

  • Student Information
  • Parent/guardian Contact Information
  • Emergency Contacts
  • Medical Information
  • Media Release (photo approval)
  • Data Confidentiality
  • PTA/PTSA Directory

Please note, if the section you are looking at is not allowing you to move forward, then there is a question/checkbox on that page that may still need to be addressed. Please make sure to read the prompts at the top of each tab, and click to expand each section. To access our quick help guides, CLICK HERE.

Parents who have forgotten their login credentials may click the “Forgot Password” link on the sign-in page. If you need additional assistance, please fill out the Connect Help Form.