Clemens Crossing Cougar Comments

Jaime Gittleson - Assistant Principal

Website: cces.hcpss.org
Location: 10320 Quarterstaff Road, Columbia, MD, USA
Phone: (410) 313-6866
Facebook: facebook.com/ClemensCrossingElementary
Twitter: @hcpss_cces

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Spanish

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Korean

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Urdu

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Dear Families,

We have had a great transition back into school this week! The students and staff have been hard at work!!! We are proud of everyone!!!

Thank you to our PTA and volunteers for an AMAZING Holiday Shop this week! We appreciate the many families who donated items or came out to support by shopping! We had a terrific turn out and it was great to see our students shopping for their family and friends!!!

Next week is Inclusive Schools Week. HCPSS joins the Inclusive Schools Network this week to celebrate the progress in supporting quality inclusive education for diverse learners. Knowing that schools across Howard County create inclusive communities all year, this week highlights the great work that occurs daily in HCPSS and at Clemens Crossing! There will be several Spirit Days that your child may choose to dress up for and these are noted in our dates section below.

Thank you!

Michelle Leader, Principal

Jaime Gittleson, Assistant Principal

December

• 4 - Inclusive Schools Week begins
• 4 - Autism Acceptance Day: Wear Autism shirt or wear blue
• 5 - Spirit Day: Be a hero for inclusion. Dress up as someone you look up to.
• 5 - PTA Restaurant Day, Chick-fil-a (Johns Hopkins Rd.), 6:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
• 6 - Spirit Day: Exercise your right to be different. Wear athletic wear.
• 6 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
• 7 - Hanukkah Begins
• 7 - Spirit Day: Acceptance Day. Wear a shirt with an inclusive/kind message.
• 8 - Spirit Day: Rainbow Kindness Day. Wear something with rainbows.
• 13 - 3 Hour Early Dismissal, Professional Work & Wellness Day, 12:55 p.m.
• 21 - Ugly Sweater Day
• 21 - CCES Winter Concert, 6:30 p.m. at Atholton HS
• 22 - Pajama Day
• 25 - Christmas
• 25 - Winter Break December 25 through January 1, Schools Closed
• 26 - Kwanzaa

January

• 1 - Schools Closed, New Year's Day
• 10 - PTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
• 11 - Literacy Night, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
• 15 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Schools Closed
• 17 - 3 Hour Early Dismissal, Professional Work & Wellness Day, 12:55 p.m.
• 19 - End of 2nd Marking Period
• 22 - Schools Closed for Students - Professional Work Day
• 25 - PTA Science Fair, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
• 30 - Q2 Report Cards Issued, 4:00 p.m.
  
  

To subscribe to the CCES calendar on your smartphone, electronic device, or email system use the calendar ID sqspkjkbr6v6arss44js3n21eg@group.calendar.google.com.

We truly live in a world surrounded by technology and this technology is growing every day! It is becoming very clear that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly depend on understanding how technology works and/or their career will most likely be affected by technology in some way.

Interestingly however, only a tiny fraction of us who use technology are actually learning HOW our technology works and how creativity fosters the continuing advancement of technology.

This is why our entire school is again joining the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code during National Computer Science Education Week December 4th-8th.

By participating in the Hour of Code, Clemens Crossing Elementary School is making a statement that we are ready to introduce these foundational 21st-century skills even to our youngest learners. During our Hour of Code every student at Clemens Crossing will be given the opportunity to learn, try and enhance their coding skills.

Be sure to ask your child about their experience with the Hour of Code!

See the link below for more details and a chance to try coding as a family.

https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

Attention All Second Graders!

Starting in December, you will have the opportunity to sign up for the seminar Arts and Crafts: Winter Edition. During this seminar, you will be able to create wonderful winter themed crafts and have a lot of fun doing it. Arts and crafts helps with motor skills, boosts brain power, and is totally fun! Use the link to sign up or send Mrs. Register an email or a canvas message! Thank you!

https://forms.gle/d4cn8ZvWpUgexAnx7

Third Grade: Card Games seminar

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tpAYqYJNd7i8MzjTRPfs0LvWKN2pzr7hlTUeFG6-g9Q/edit?usp=sharing

Fourth Grade: Math Games seminar

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yh6LYukLrsFViOZ4oSUKxUrW0ZIAuhablK21au-vSt0/edit?usp=sharing

Fifth Grade: Environmental Leaders seminar

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OaUgKciyRLlM2c1_rL3RR0un1JC2rtQtKY6jZshPQEU/edit?usp=sharing

This year, the Howard County Public School System will be administering the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to all 3rd grade students. The CogAT is a group-administered abilities test that measures students’ reasoning abilities, which they develop through in-school and out-of-school experiences. It is not designed to test a student’s academic achievement, but their potential.

The test is made of three batteries: Verbal, Quantitative, and Non-verbal. Each battery takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. The CogAT helps educators understand a student's cognitive strengths and weaknesses and assists with adapting instruction to meet the needs and abilities of each student.

All students in Grade 3 will participate in testing. The CogAT will be administered for 3rd Grade December 6th, 7th, and 8th at CCES first thing in the mornng. No special preparation is required. Just send your child to school on time ready to learn as you do each day.

The Gifted and Talented Education Program will use the data from the CogAT as one criterion for placement into the fourth grade Gifted and Talented math classes. Students’ individual scores will be reported to parents in late February or early March.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Jaime Gittleson, Jaime_Gittleson@hcpss.org or 410-313-6866.

The Howard County Literacy Association invites students in grades 1-5 to submit their original poems and/or short stories to the annual writing contest called The Young Authors' Contest. Please see the attached Young Authors’ Contest Guidelines for information about the rules and guidelines. All entries must have a completed YAC Cover Sheet sent as a PDF. Submissions may be emailed to jane_choi@hcpss.org by December 11, 2023. Contact Jane Choi with any questions. All Young Authors’ Contest information can be found on the HCLA website.

We are collecting gift cards to support some of our families in need this holiday season. If you would like to contribute, please bring gift cards to the front office. (Do NOT send them in with your child.) There will be a donation box available during American Education Week or on the first day of parent conferences. Please select gift cards from the following stores in $25 increments:

~Safeway

~Giant

~Target

~Walmart

If you are a family in need of support, or have any questions, please contact Ann Rogers: ann_rogers@hcpss.org

Thank you for your generosity!

Families, please join us at our Clemens Crossing Literacy Night on January 11, 2024. This night is meant for both parents and students! Parents will see a short presentation about resources to help their students at home and then join their students in playing different games and activities with their peers. It will be glow-in-the-dark themed and will be a night for students to remember! Please scan the above QR code or use this link to sign up!

A huge thank you and shout out to all the volunteers who helped make the PTA Holiday Shop a fantastic success this week! An enormous thank you also to all the families who donated so many wonderful, fun and exciting items to our store. There was so much great stuff and students had a blast shopping up a storm for their loved ones this holiday season. Overall we raised more than $2,000 for PTA that will go right back into activities, events and enrichments for our students.

Mark your calendar! The CCES Science Fair is coming up on January 25th, 2024. We have moved it earlier in the year this year to reduce some of the busy-ness of events in the spring (in previous years it has run in May). Full details and sign up information will be in next week's Cougar Comments!

Each year the CCES Science Fair showcases the work of students from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Your child could consider doing a Collection, an Investigation or an Invention - on any science-related area that that they are interested in! Lots more detail coming soon!

Who doesn't feel a bit peckish throughout the workday? And who wouldn't get excited to find something tasty or fun in the lounge? For sure our CCES teachers & staff love a good pick-me-up and we want to give it to them!

Please consider helping the PTA "Stuff the Staff Lounge" with goodies throughout the year. It's an easy way to show our appreciation for all the hard work that goes on in our school! You can signup here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E49AEAE2DA5F8C07-45327230-stuff

Do you want to get a head start on the school year? We encourage all parents/guardians to visit the link below to learn what your child will learn this year in grades PreK-5! Once you click on your child’s grade level, use the yellow “course navigation” box in the top right corner to navigate standards, free games, and family activities for each subject area. Happy learning!

https://www.hcpss.org/academics/what-your-child-will-learn-guides/

The Howard County Public School System is committed to providing a safe, engaging and supportive learning environment where all policies are enforced fairly and consistently. HCPSS policies and regulations emphasize instruction and rehabilitation rather than punishment and are designed to foster and reward appropriate behavior and keep students connected to school so they can graduate college and career ready. Please read and review the HCPSS student code of conduct with your child(ren) before the school year begins:

https://www.hcpss.org/f/aboutus/student-handbook/student-code-of-conduct.pdf

HCPSS parents/guardians are required by Board of Education Policy 9000 Student Residency, Eligibility, Enrollment and Assignment to notify HCPSS if they move to a new home address by submitting residency documentation to their student’s current school. Students who have a change of residence on or after the first day of the 2023-2024 school year must request a student reassignment in order to complete the school year at their previous school.

Listed below are the many ways to stay informed at Clemens Crossing Elementary School.

Twitter

• Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hcpss_cces
• We use Twitter to inform, celebrate, and engage our community.
• Twitter is used to share what is going on in our school, our community, and throughout the Howard County Public School System.
• Turn on notifications to get information the second it is tweeted.
• We live-stream our concerts on Periscope through Twitter.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ClemensCrossingElementary
• We have found that Facebook is the social media most used by our parents so we are now on Facebook, too!
• Our Facebook page is updated automatically from our Twitter feed.
• Please use Facebook to share the good news from CCES with your friends and families.

Instagram

• We use Instagram periodically. We do post pictures and information there.

Website

• Our website, cces.hcpss.org, is updated regularly.
• Important news and information is located on the main page of the site including an archive of our weekly newsletter, Cougar Comments.
• Staff information and email is located under the "Our Staff" tab.
• A subscribable google calendar is located on the "Calendar" tab.

Email

• Email is our main form of communication.
• You will receive news and information automatically to the email address you provide in your Family File. We will not inundate your inbox with email. Look for the weekly Cougar Comments on Friday mornings.
• If you would like email sent to different email addresses, update your email in Family File with the email address you prefer.
• You can subscribe additional email addresses by visiting the HCPSS News site here. http://www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/
• Weekly announcements, important information and updates, and more will primarily be sent through email.
• You also have the opportunity to opt-in for text messaging

Upcoming Workshops from Office of Children and Families

* For assistance with registering, call 410-313-5992 (voice/ relay) or email children@howardcountymd.gov

* To request sign language, interpreter or other accommodations to attend, call at least one week in advance.

Parenting Apart: Navigating Co-Parenting through the Holiday Season and Beyond

The holiday season is a time of joy and togetherness for many families, but they can also be reminders of who and what we have lost. For those co-parenting during or in the aftermath of divorce, the holidays can bring unique challenges and disruptions to the usual routine. This presentation is tailored to parents who are going through divorce or separation and are eager to create a parenting plan that minimizes conflict and promotes stability and harmony for your children. Explore essential considerations when creating an access schedule that prioritizes your children's well-being throughout the year, but especially during the holidays. Gain insights into effectively managing common co-parenting issues that can arise. Learn valuable communication and co-parenting strategies to navigate this period of transition, and as well as resources for ongoing support and assistance.

Monday, December 4, 7:00 p.m. Free Virtual Workshop. Register here