Ashburton Elementary School - Montgomery County Public Schools
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Ashburton Elementary School
6314 Lone Oak Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 * 240-740-1300
PRINCIPAL’S NEWS
May 2018
Dear Ashburton Parents/Guardians,
It is already May and we looking forward to spring weather and the many activities this month! There is
still plenty of time left in the school year and plenty to be accomplished! Our 4th grade chorus students will
perform in concert this month. Our fifth graders are going to end the school year with a lot of fun activities,
which includes the North Bethesda Middle School visit, patrol picnic, and the departing class picture this
month; June has even more excitement with our celebration for fifth graders sponsored by the PTA,
promotion and the clap-out. The snow and weather
days that kept us home from school over the winter Calendar Updates
have impacted the calendar; the new end of school
date is June 15th for students which is an early release May 1 – May 25- PARCC testing for grades 3-5
day. Please check the dates on the calendar in the box, See chart below for exact dates for each grade
the Google calendar and the website.
May 3- gr 5 Departing class picture
The second week of May is National Teacher
May 10 & 11- Moms and Muffins (A-L on the 10th,
Appreciation Week. Ashburton is filled with
M-Z on the 11th)
exemplary teachers who are dedicated to ensuring
that each and every child who walks through our May 17 - Spring Chorus Concert, 7:00 p.m.
doors each morning has the very best learning
May 19 - PTA’s Spring Fling
opportunity. As an example of their awesomeness,
two of our special education staff are being May 21- Dine Out with Ashburton at Smashburger
recognized by the Montgomery County Council of
May 25- Veterans Visit for Memorial Day, 8:45
PTAs for their outstanding work on behalf of our a.m.
students with disabilities- Mackie Miller and Kristin
Moreno. Congratulations to them. Thank you to the May 28 - Holiday- Memorial Day, No School
PTA for overseeing the nomination and to the parents May 30 - Field Day Grade PEP-2
for their testimonials. Also as awesome, Mrs. Burrell
and Ms. Rillera oversaw Ashburton’s recertification May 31 - Field Day Grades 3-5
as a Maryland Green School. A tremendous amount June 8 – Grade 5 PTA Celebration
of work went into this project and we look forward to
continuing the focus on earth-friendly school June 12 - 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony 7:00 p.m.
operations and education! Walter Johnson High School Auditorium
Our students are getting excited for the SPRING June 14 - Awards Assembly-Grades 3-5
FLING event coming up on May 19th! We hope you June 14- PEP Last Day of School
are able to attend the Spring Fling, rain or shine,
which is coordinated by a fabulous team of parents – June 15 - K-5 Last Day of School, Early Dismissal
Jill Washecka, Leena Shepherd, Marilyn Santiago, 12:35 p.m.
Nakia Harper and Alicia Burgos. The class baskets June 26 - Report Cards Mailed from Central Office
are being organized and there are many wonderful donations from families and businesses for the silent
auction coming in. I will again take shift in the dunk tank and am very much looking forward to plunging
into the icy water in support of our amazing PTA! Our kids have incredible accuracy so I plan on spending
most of my time in the water! Hopefully the weather is warmer than last year!
Though the weather thinks that it is still late Fall, we hope that you and your family are enjoying the
beginning of Spring! I look forward to seeing you at the many events this May and June.
Sincerely,
Greg Mullenholz, Principal
News & Notes
THINKING OF WHAT TO DO FOR STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK?
A most welcome appreciation thought is to write a letter for a teacher’s file; it’s long-lasting, calorie free,
and really means a lot to the staff member. A huge thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered
to bring treats for the staff during teacher appreciation week- we do enjoy the thoughtful and generous
ways that you show appreciation. The variety of food, flowers, and other treats is always delightful.
PARCC UPDATES AND REMINDERS
Please see the attached schedule for your child’s grade level. If at all possible, please avoid making
appointments on a day that your child will test. If your child is ill, please keep them at home and we will
arrange for them to makeup the missed test portion. For your planning purposes: the tests for literacy last
about 90 minutes and the math tests about 120 minutes. Children cannot enter the classroom once testing
has started so it is important that all children come to school on time.
PARENT FEEDBACK FOR NEXT YEAR
It is that time of year when we begin to create next year’s classes! Our goal is to create balanced,
heterogeneous classes in which students and teachers can be happy and productive. We seek to achieve
balance in terms of gender, level of academic achievement, racial/ethnic groups, leaders and followers,
learning rates, work/study skills, behavioral issues, and special needs. We value the input of parents in
this process, so please take a few moments to complete and return the Parent Survey about your child
that we will send home this week. We use your comments and input from these surveys; however, please
do not request a teacher by name.
LUNCH MONEY ROLLOVER
If your child will attend North Bethesda Middle School or another MCPS school next year, please note
that any funds in the cafeteria account will roll over to the new school. Accounts at Ashburton hold over
money until the next year.
MEDICINE PICK-UP FROM THE HEALTH ROOM
Children who have medication at school will get a reminder letter next month to pick up medicine by
the end of the school year. You will also receive new forms for next year.
PARCC Testing Schedule-
Please note these dates and make every effort to have students in school on time. Encourage them to
be well rested and have a good breakfast.
Literacy Math
Grade 3 May 1, May 9 May 11, May 15
Grade 4 May 4 May 7, May 21
Grade 5 May 9, May 10, May 16 May 14, May 16
Our Muffins with Mom celebration (Moms with the last name A-L will come with their children
on May 10th and those with N-Z will come on May 11th). Last year was the first one and it was a
very well attended event.
Don’t Miss the Gaithersburg Book Festival
Montgomery County Public Schools is proud to be a partner in the 2018 Gaithersburg Book
Festival on Saturday, May 19, on the grounds of Gaithersburg City Hall, 31 South Summit Avenue
in Gaithersburg. The book festival has a great lineup of authors and activities for children of all
ages. Several members of the MCPS community will be conducting readings at the festival and
there will be many programs, workshops, and activities in the Children’s Village that are designed
to promote interest in reading and writing. For more information, visit
gaithersburgbookfestival.org/ Our own Mr. Roth will read from his Beep and Bob books at 2:15
p.m.PEP Newsletter May 2018 appropriate clothes and shoes. Students should
also continue to bring a healthy dry snack to
For the next several weeks, children will school daily. We are looking forward to all of
investigate nature with our May theme, the exciting events this month!
“Nature All Around Us.” This theme covers
many of our favorite science topics, such as
plants and how they grow, the sun and the
moon, and weather and the seasons. Take
advantage of all that nature has to offer to help
Dear First Grade Families,
your child learn about the world around us.
Important Date:
There is no school May 28th We can’t believe it’s May already!
(Memorial Day) We look forward to another great month of
learning. In May we are going on our fourth
and final field trip of the year to Imagination
Stage in Bethesda, Maryland on May 9th.
We will leave Ashburton promptly at 9:30,
and return to school by 12:30, in time for
Recess and Lunch. We will eat when we get
May Happenings in Kindergarten back to school, so cafeteria lunch will be
available. We are excited for this field trip
since it connects so well with our literacy
curriculum!
We will be conducting M-class testing
during the month of May during our reading
block. In math students will start learning
about geometry. They will identify and
May is a fun month in kindergarten! On May describe attributes of 2D and 3D shapes.
22nd, students will participate in a Young Students will also use geoboards, pattern
Author’s Conference. Hena Khan, author of blocks, and tangrams to compose shapes.
many children’s books, will be visiting and In social studies we will continue our
giving a presentation. On May 23rd, students economics unit by learning about economic
will be going on a field trip to the College Park choices. We will also be learning about
Aviation Museum. Please look out for more technology and jobs. In science we will be
information from your child’s teacher. Field learning about electricity and clean energy!
Day will be on May 30th. As the weather gets
warmer, please help make sure your child wearsWe can’t wait for Spring Fling and hope to budget to “adopt a pet”. Additionally, see if
see many of you there! Thank you for your your 3rd grader can talk to you about the
continued collaboration. differences between myths, folktales, fables,
The First Grade Team and legends. We look forward to creating
our own fables soon. Please continue
practicing your math multiplication facts on
Second Grade Town News a daily basis as these provide the foundation
for all subsequent math skills this year and
Fourth quarter is in full swing and our
the coming years! Happy May!
days are filled with exciting projects and
lessons. In science, the students are excitedly
News 4 You
watching caterpillars go through their life cycle.
This has brought a lot of excitement to our
days! In reading and writing, we are working on Wow! With just over a month of school left,
a poetry unit soon to be followed by work with we are still trying to figure out how this year
nonfiction texts. We will spend a lot of time has flown by so fast! Our last field trip is to
learning about important leaders of the past St. Mary’s City on Wednesday, May 16th. If
and present in reading, social studies and you have not already completed and
writing. Throughout fourth quarter we will be returned the permission slip to school,
focusing on examples of how leaders use effort, please do so by the due date Wednesday,
motivation and persistence to reach their goals. May 9th! Our chorus students will be
Talk with your child about ways you have shown participating in their spring chorus concert
effort and persistence to reach your own goals, later this month. The evening chorus
and what motivated you to reach them. As
performance will be at 7pm on Thursday,
May 17th. Please mark your calendars!
always, feel free to contact your child’s teacher
Students will be starting their last research
with any questions or concerns. Have a great
project for the school year in writing. They
month!
will choose a topic to research, develop
Third Grade Newsletter: May research questions, and use a variety of
sources to gather information. As always, it
Welcome Springtime! As May rolled is imperative that students are studying their
around, we began the PARCC assessment. basic facts and working towards mastering
Please check with your child’s teacher to all multiplication and division basic facts.
ensure your 3rd grader will not be absent on Math concepts will continue to become
testing days. We recommend having a good more challenging, and the fifth grade
night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast and curriculum assumes all students have
mastered their basic facts. We are so proud
positive energy on testing days! We are
of all of the hard work and effort that our
excited to start a unit in math on measuring
fourth graders have put forth all year!
volume and mass. We will compare
measurements in the world around us. Did Thank you,
you know students will be able to help you
with your budgeting after the month of Mrs. Brenner, Ms. Cline, Ms. Greco,
May? Students will learn the importance
of making financially responsible decisions
and get an opportunity to create their ownMrs. Keane, Ms. Mullins, Mrs. The focus will shift again when they begin
Weaver, and Mrs. Wloszczowski working with coordinate planes and graphing
ordered pairs. The students will graph points
and use ordered pairs to draw geometric figures
FIFTH GRADE NEWS with given attributes. After that, the students
READING will work on generating numerical patterns
using rules and analyzing the patterns.
Students are finishing up our non-
fiction unit bats this week. We will The compacted math students have begun
be reading a Junior Great Books story working with geometric figures and will
and working on analyzing the story continue with plane geometry before moving to
over a number of days this month. In addition, working with three dimensional objects and
students will begin reading novels. We will be creatively determining what they can calculate
working on answering text specific questions from the dimensions, literally and figuratively
using fiction texts. Students also will be thinking inside and outside the box. We shall
analyzing plays and examining figurative “wrap” this mini-unit up by applying nets
language. around solid figures to measure the solids’ face
edges and then, by determining and applying
WRITING the formula, find the surface areas of prisms.
The students are finishing up their Career From geometry, the students briefly will shift to
Inquiry Projects this month. Thank you to all working with multi-digit numbers and decimals
the parents who sat for interviews or facilitated using the standard algorithms to fluently
interviews! We will be creating informative perform operations with those numbers. To add
brochures to advertise for our chosen careers to the challenge, students will be using the
and will be inviting the fourth graders to our operations with multi-step word problems.
Career Fair this month. We will finish May by
writing Personal Narratives. Students will be After the calculations practice, they will begin
working on how to write a mini memoir in working with data and statistics, differentiating
class. At home, you can help your 5th grader by statistical and non-statistical types of questions,
discussing an important time in his or her life exploring variability in terms of the context, the
where he or she demonstrated effort, statistical question being asked, measures of
motivation or persistence to reach a goal. center and spread, and the display of the data.
The students will be displaying numerical data
MATH in plots on a number line, histograms, and box
plots and both describing and summarizing
The fifth grade math students are shifting their
numerical data sets by identifying clusters,
focus from performing decimal operations to
peaks, gaps, symmetry, skew, and outliers
applying understandings of how to perform the
considering the context in which the data were
operations to measurement, specifically within
collected. (Any intriguing graphs you spot in
the metric system. They also will work with the
newspapers or magazines might provide
customary system, which lacks the metric
interesting fodder for discussion of the origins,
system’s convenient multiples of 10
display, and meaning of the data display.)
relationships. With both systems of measure,
they will be identifying and using the SCIENCE
relationships among units of measure in order
to convert units and solve multi-step problems.The students have been differentiating between able to recognize the signs and signals that your
inherited traits and learned behaviors and child may be experiencing undue stress.
developing a foundational understanding of
Some signs and signals may include:
genetics. In this unit, how technological
developments have increased human Recurring headaches, tummy aches, or
understanding of genetics and the applications neck pain
of those understandings. We shall switch Increased irritability, sadness, panic, or
science and social anger
studies groups mid- Trouble relaxing or sleeping
month and begin Withdrawal from activities
the study with cells Excessive energy or restlessness
with the second Reverting to less mature behaviors
group. Nervous habits such as thumb sucking
or hair twisting
SOCIAL STUDIES Trouble getting along with peers
The financial literacy work has provided the
students with a base for understanding Just like adults, there are ways that we can help
markets, both face-to face markets and virtual children cope with stress. Some ways to help
ones, various job benefits and trade-off and the alleviate stress in children are:
path to becoming an entrepreneur. They will be
examining how people develop long and short Listening-ask the child what is bothering
term personal financial goals. Finally, we’ll be then and how they feel
discussing the considerations that go into Encouragement-Help children to find
making decisions about spending, saving and something they are good at and tell
investing and how people also make decisions them how proud you are of them
about borrowing and using credit. They will be Honesty and Openness-Encourage
children to express their feelings openly
identifying the risks and benefits of borrowing,
Consistency-Try to be consistent with
as well as those of investing, prior to switching
morning and afternoon routines
back to science.
Physical exercise-Exercise can help burn
From the Counselors: off stressful feelings
Humor-Help the child to see the funny
Happy Spring! We can’t believe how quickly side of things
this year has been flying by! May has been Quiet-Allow for quiet and rest time
designated Mental Health Month by Mental Journaling-Encourage the child to write
Health America, so we thought this would be a or draw things that are bothering them
good month to address identifying stress. We
often have parents ask us how they can help The theme for Mental Health Month this year is
their child deal with all the stress of the fast Fitness 4 Mind4 Body and focuses on the mind
paced society that we live in today. Children body connection and how behavioral health
can experience stress just as adults do, but and wellness are affected by diet, nutrition,
often it goes unrecognized. What may cause sleep, stress, exercise, and positive life changes.
stress for one child may not be a stressful Feel free to check out this website to learn
situation for another child. It is important to be more:
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/mayAs always, if your child is experiencing stress or any other difficult situations, please do not hesitate to contact us at Margaret_K_Price@mcpsmd.org and Andrea_S_Gillespie@mcpsmd.org .
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