Principal’s CHCS Communicator
A message from Capitol Hill Cluster School Principal Dawn Clemens to parents and teachers. Catch up on the latest issue below.
February 20, 2012
Hello Cluster Family,
Just a few words this week about the great events last week and those coming up this week. We were busy recruiting for the Cluster last week as we went to Orr Elementary and Brent Elementary touting the wonderful education at Stuart-Hobson. This week we will be at Maury and Tyler. We have approximately 50 seats at the sixth grade level but only five vacancies at 7th grade and one at 8th grade. Please let your neighbors know about this unique opportunity to join the Cluster at the sixth grade level via the lottery process. We have this opportunity as we only have eighty 5th graders this year at Watkins and thus with 135 seats at the 6th grade we are looking for 6th graders.
We also had a very productive meeting with the Peabody and SWS parents this past week who are trying to make important decisions as to where their children will attend school next year. As you all are aware SWS will be at Logan next year. We will have four new classrooms at Peabody next year but with a waitlist of about 900 students last year there is no need to work to fill the openings. We can take a number of 1st graders if you have neighbors interested. We will not know how many until the completion of the lottery process.
This week we are having a Stepping Stones meeting for all 4th and 5th grader at Watkins and 5th graders at Logan’s Montessori program to showcase Stuart-Hobson and the wonderful staff and the available programs. Everyone is free to join us at 6 pm in the FoodPrints Lab on Tuesday the 21st. In addition, there will be an LSAT meeting on Thursday at 6:00 pm at Stuart-Hobson for those interested. Please put the Cluster Science night on your calendar for March 1st at 6:45 at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Also, we are fast approaching the end of the Reading Incentive program across the Cluster. We have accumulated over 800,000 minutes. Please encourage your children to read as we have 11 days to garner 200,000 minutes. Let’s work to reach our goal of a MILLION minutes.
“All kids are gifted. Some just open their packages earlier than others.” ~~ Michael Carr
Regards,
Principal Clemens
A NOTE FROM THE PEABODY LEADERSHIP TEAM for ALL CLUSTER FAMILIES
Hello Cluster Parents,
We are writing to inform you about the efforts to expand the Peabody Early Childhood program. While much of the discussion has been centered on the implications for SWS, we thought it important to reiterate the positive benefits not only for our city’s young scholars as a whole, but the positive benefits for Peabody and the Capitol Hill Cluster School.
As you know, Peabody has consistently offered a high-performing early childhood program. Our DIBELs scores, one data measure, have averaged 98% proficiency and above proficiency in literacy. We crafted a nationally-recognized Arts Integration curriculum in partnership with The Phillips Collection that is now being distributed and implemented across the country. Peabody’s strong parental involvement has aided our self-sufficiency in obtaining grants and community partnerships that provide tangible and direct benefits to our students.
Our community has recognized the high-performing and positive age-appropriate learning environment for early childhood education. Residents within our boundary, on Capitol Hill, within Ward 6 as well as the city at large are applying to enter Peabody in huge numbers. As you know, our waiting list last year exceeded 700 students for families in search of a quality PreK-3, PreK-4 or Kindergarten spot.
The addition of four classrooms this next year will address our high demand and offer more opportunity for 79 more early childhood students. Examining the demographic data of our community as well as the interest expressed at our standing room only Open Houses provides us with the confidence that we will fill those seats with highly-motivated parents and students.
Moreover, the addition of two Kindergarten classes at Peabody will boost support for our Watkins Elementary Campus. More than 80% of Peabody students transition to first grade at Watkins and we expect that percentage to rise dramatically with our expansion. Anecdotal evidence as well as a variety of data suggest that Peabody students enter Watkins with the academic foundation and Responsive Classroom-based social skills and community building techniques that support an engaging and enriching, elementary school experience.
The opportunity to offer more children the benefit of Peabody’s high-performing environment will strengthen Watkins, which in turn will strengthen Stuart-Hobson Middle School, which is experiencing its own surge of interest and excitement prompted by its scheduled modernization.
We wish to assure you that Peabody is not only excited about meeting the challenges of its expansion, but hard at work in preparation as well. We have been transitioning to a teacher-led structure over the course of the last two years and have the full support of Principal Dawn Clemens.
The Peabody Teacher Leadership Committee already has initiated staffing strategies to hone our strengths and develop support mechanisms so that every teacher is well-versed in all phases of early childhood teaching strategies to provide the opportunity for every one of our students to achieve. We have also formed a personnel committee to begin reviewing the numerous – unsolicited – resumes from teachers interested in joining our successful program and the CHCS family.
We believe that the driving force in the decision and work to expand both SWS and Peabody should be to provide more high-performing choices and classroom opportunities for our city’s children within our boundary, within our neighborhood, within our Ward and within our city. Peabody is fully motivated and prepared to be a part of that objective. We look forward to providing our city’s children with more choice and more opportunity.
Please Join us on the 16th of February at 5:00 pm in the Library on the 4th floor if you would like more information on the exciting plans for next year at Peabody!
Sincerely,
The Peabody Campus Leadership Team
Week at a Glance
| Monday 2/13 | Tuesday 2/14 | Wednesday 2/15 | Thursday 2/16 | Friday 2/17 |
| 8th Grade Trip: Red Tails Movie | CHCS Night at Tunnicliffs | Field Trip to Folgers Theater | 2ndAdvisory Awards, 10a-11a3rd Advisory MidTerm |
Upcoming Events and Activities
Family Science Night, March 1, 2012
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE; http://ncesse.org) and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum would like to invite you to participate in the Family Science Night (FSN) Program for the 2011-12 academic year. Family Science Night starts at 6:45 pm with guests entering the Museum in the Milestones of Flight gallery where some of the most remarkable flying machines ever constructed are on display, including: the Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1, an X-15, the early rockets of Robert Goddard, Sputnik, Friendship 7 (John Glenn’s Mercury capsule), and the Apollo 11 Command Module. Guests will also have access to the interactive gallery How Things Fly. At 7:15 pm the program moves to the Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater for a 35 minute presentation by a NCESSE space scientist followed by an IMAX® film. Schools can choose from 9 presentations and 7 IMAX® films. The large number of choices allows educators to integrate the program into the curriculum. Dr. Tim Livengood mashes up some dry ice for use in a comet-making demo.
- The Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center (NVRIC) has been requested to provide any discovered available information regarding reports of possible disruption, violence, or attack that may be associated with the upcoming release of two different Nike “Air Jordan” sneakers. The requestor suggested that the release of these sneakers may cause disruptions in or around malls and retailers due to previous disruptions caused by large crowds attempting to purchase these shoes. According to retail website www.nicekicks.com < http://www.nicekicks.com/>, Nike is scheduled to release the two new editions of its “Air Jordan” brand sneaker on February 11th and 18th2012. This latest installment of “Air Jordan” will be sold at Foot Locker, Finish Line and Champs. The previous release of other “Air Jordan” products has been related to incidents at some malls. The incidents were caused by disorderly, larger than normal crowds, limited supply of product, and high demand for the product.The following information is being provided strictly for Situational Awareness as it pertains to public safety and the facilitation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow in the vicinity of the retailers who will be carrying these items.Event: Release of Nike Air Jordan 4
When: February 18th, 2012
Where: Foot Locker | Finish Line | Champs
Price: MSRP: $160
Out of School Opportunities
- Announcing the spring ARTLAB+ programs! ARTLAB will offer three new, free digital media workshops for teens: Art Breakers, Women Represented, and Visual Storytelling. In just four sessions, teens learn to hack art, make a statement, and record their vision. Please share this with your teens and help them register now for February workshops and clubs! We can provide free metro cards for DC students.
- Help raise money for the Cluster by registering your grocery cards and credit cards!Did you know that you can help raise money and fund requests made by our teachers just by registering your grocery store loyalty cards and your credit cards? Think about that – the money you already spend at grocery stores and restaurants can help us fund more teacher requests.Eating at Restaurants on the Hill?
It couldn’t be easier to support CHCS. Register your credit cards (on a secure website) at the following link: http://escrip.rewardsnetwork.com/ and a percent of your total bill goes back to CHCS. No further action is required! There is nothing noted on your bill and it doesn’t interfere with any mileage, points, or rewards associated with your credit card. Register all of your credit cards, ask family members to register their credit cards – national chains participate in this program too.Which restaurants are participating? You can search on the site by zipcode or neighborhoods but a few close by include:Sonoma The Ugly Mug Zest Capitol Hill Tandoor Justin’s Café Wok & Roll Lucky Strike
Giant Food – Log onto www.GiantFood.com. Click on Our Stores. Click Register Your Card. Fill out the form and enter the code for the Capitol Hill Cluster PTA—00071.
Harris Teeter- register with school code 7467
http://www.harristeeter.com/community/together_in_ Safeway – register your Safeway card at the following linkeducation/link_to_your_school. aspx https://secure.escrip.com/jsp/
supporter/registration/step1. jsp Select by Group Name or Group ID
Group Name: Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA
Group ID: 150540698
GLOBAL CITIZEN YEAR -
Program Dates: 2012-2013 School Year (this is a “Gap Year” Program)
Regular Application Deadline: March 7, 2012
Global Citizen Year (GCY) is currently recruiting high potential graduating seniors to participate in their innovative gap year program, bridging high school and college with an immersive educational experience abroad. The program begins in the fall 2012 with a US training program in California, followed by an in-country orientation, ongoing language training, and six months living with a family and serving an apprenticeship in a community in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. This exciting and highly competitive program is for those qualified, adventurous graduates who want a truly global experience before entering college. GCY provides generous, need-based scholarships to ensure that ability to pay is not a barrier to student participation. Applicants must be US citizens.
For more information and to apply, go to www.globalcitizenyear.org or contact Sally Schwartz at sally@dc-cgel.org.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STUDENT EXPEDITIONS
Program Dates: Various dates during Summer 2012
Scholarship Deadline: March 1, 2012
National Geographic invites the next generation of explorers to get out in the field and follow in the footsteps of National Geographic photographers, writers, and scientists. National Geographic offers three types of summer trips for high school students — expeditions, field workshops, and community service programs, ranging in length from 11 days to 3 weeks, to destinations all over the world. Incredible trips – and scholarships are available!
For additional information, go to www.ngstudentexpeditions.com. For information on how to apply for scholarships, refer to www.ngstudentexpeditions.com/
Seaward Academy Inc. is accepting registration for Summer Camp.
Camp will be held from June 25-Aug. 17, 2012 at Langston Golf Course OR a DCPS Summer School Site TBA.
Time: 8:30am to 5:30pm
$160 a week
$140 a week- if registered prior to May 1, 2012
$25-nonrefundable registration fee
Parents may incur transportation costs for some events.
Students should bring lunch daily.
Children activities include sports, swimming, golf, reading, math, science, biking, museum-hopping, cooking and more!
Highlights, Shout-Outs, and Celebrations
- The February 6th Parent Conference Day was a huge success. Your feedback from the first the October Parent Conference Day in was heard, and the Stuart-Hobson school community (teachers, parents, and administrators) responded by creating a Parent-Teacher event that was informative, efficient, and positive. Thanks to all of you who provided feedback, suggestions, and/or logistical planning!
- Join us on Friday, Feb. 17 for the 2nd Advisory Awards Assembly.
I. Around Campus
Labrynth after school still accepting a few students
We are now only accepting students for the 5:00 Session. There are only 2 slots left, if you are interested please contact Mrs. Freeman immediately!
Reading Takes You Out of this World Update
| Minutes | ||
| 1st Grade | ||
| Bowers | 32700 | |
| 2nd Grade | ||
| Heffelbower | 43500 | |
| 3rd Grade | ||
| Jones | 27600 | |
| 4th Grade | ||
| DeAnna | 55200 | |
| 5th Grade | ||
| Miller | 36900 | |
| TOTAL SCHOOL | 662200 | |
II. Upcoming Dates
Watkins Transition Meeting
Join Principal Clemens Tuesday, February 21st, at 6:00 pm for a Transition Meeting for all Watkins and Logan 4th and 5th grade families. The meeting will be held in Watkin’s Foodprints Lab on the 4th floor. Come out and learn about the exciting curriculum, wonderful teachers and innovative programs Stuart Hobson has to offer your scholar. Ms. Clemens will also update families on the plans and timing for modernizing the school facilities. This is your opportunity to learn about Stuart Hobson so that you can make informed decisions for your scholar.
Family Science Night, March 1, 2012
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE; http://ncesse.org) and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum would like to invite you to participate in the Family Science Night (FSN) Program for the 2011-12 academic year. Family Science Night starts at 6:45 pm with guests entering the Museum in the Milestones of Flight gallery where some of the most remarkable flying machines ever constructed are on display, including: the Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1, an X-15, the early rockets of Robert Goddard, Sputnik, Friendship 7 (John Glenn’s Mercury capsule), and the Apollo 11 Command Module. Guests will also have access to the interactive gallery How Things Fly. At 7:15 pm the program moves to the Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater for a 35 minute presentation by a NCESSE space scientist followed by an IMAX® film. Schools can choose from 9 presentations and 7 IMAX® films. The large number of choices allows educators to integrate the program into the curriculum. Dr. Tim Livengood mashes up some dry ice for use in a comet-making demo.
Looking ahead:
| Monday2/20 | Tuesday 2/21 | Wednesday2/22 | Thursday2/23 | Friday2/24 |
| No School – President’s Day | Day 6*B9:15 O’Neil FoodPrints
9:30 Ms. Frances Open House 1:00 Wertheimer FoodPrints 6:00pm 4th and 5th grade families transition meeting with Ms. Clemens |
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 31:00 Jones FoodPrints |
Two weeks out:
| Monday2/27 | Tuesday 2/28 | Wednesday2/29 | Thursday3/1 | Friday3/2 |
| Day 49:15 Holst FoodPrints
1:00pm Kellogg FoodPrints |
Day 5Black History Assembly
9:15 Tate FoodPrints 1:00pm Mellouk FoodPrints 5:30 Peabody Prospective Parents Meeting 6:00 PTA Meeting at Watkins |
Day 6*AJump Rope for the Heart | Day 110:00am-12:00pm 4th Grade Cafeteria Man Screening at Warner Theater
6:30-9:00 CHCS Family Science Night |
Day 2Dr. Seuss’ Birthday – end of “Reading Takes You Out of this World!” |
III. Help the Cluster
Electronic’s Collection Fundraiser – From Christina Helm, Cluster Tech Coordinator – We are recycling used electronics to raise funds for our school! Currently we are collecting cell phones, laser and inkjet cartridges, iPods, video games & consoles, scientific and graphing calculators, DVDs and GPS devices, PDAs, digital cameras and laptops to raise money for our school. Please bring all items to Peabody Early Childhood Center, Watkins Elementary School, or Stuart-Hobson Middle School. For more information about our recycling program visit CFKtoday.com
Thank you for recycling!
Laura Marks and Sue Bloom
Contact Sue with any questions: susan.bloom5@
Watkins Parents–Library Alert!
Any time you can spare a few minutes—when you drop your children off in the mornings or when you pick them up in the afternoons or anytime during the day—your help would be so appreciated in shelving the books that all our scholars are reading! A little goes a long way in keeping our books easily accessible to our students and teachers! If you are interested, you can contact Currie Renwick, the Watkins librarian, in the library or at currie.renwick@dc.gov.
Help raise money for the Cluster by registering your grocery cards and credit cards!
Did you know that you can help raise money and fund requests made by our teachers just by registering your grocery store loyalty cards and your credit cards? Think about that – the money you already spend at grocery stores and restaurants can help us fund more teacher requests. Learn more here>>>
I. Upcoming Dates
II. Around Peabody
III. Fundraisers and Social Events
I. Upcoming Dates
This Week’s Events
02.14.2012 – CHCS Night at Tunnicliff’s – 5-10 p.m.
02.16.2012 – Peabody Community Meeting 5-6 p.m. – Great Things Are
Ahead for Peabody! Expansion News
1 Week Out
02.20.2012 – School Closed – President’s Day Observed
02.21.2012 – Peabody to Stuart Hobson for “Dino-Rock” Performance –
9:30-10:30 a.m.
02.22.2012 – Good Touch/Bad Touch Program at Peabody
02.24.2012 – Prek4 Field Trip to National Gallery of Art
2 Weeks Out
02.28.2012 – Capitol Hill Cooperative Nursery School Open House
9:30-11:00 a.m. – Watkins Campus
03.02.2012 – Lottery Results Released to Schools
03.03.2012 – Corcoran Free Family Day – 8 a.m.
II. Around Peabody
- On Thursday, February 16th at 5 p.m., we will hold a Peabody Community Meeting to address the upcoming Peabody expansion. Sent home in your child’s backpack on Friday was a letter and FAQ document from DCPS Chancellor Henderson stating that Peabody and SWS will both be expanding next year. Peabody will be expanding within our current building to 3 prek-3, 4 prek-4 and 5 kindergarten classrooms for next year. We are excited because it allows us to grow our wonderful arts integration program to 79 more students next year and have 5 full kindergarten classes feeding directly into our five first grades at Watkins. We will retain all of our wonderful special teachers such as Ms. Bloom, Ms. Cushman and Mr. Davis; our wonderful Revolution Food’s cafeteria staff; and our current teaching and paraprofessional corps.
I want to thank you for supporting the Cluster by raising both the positives
and concerns in moving forward with expansion. I recognize the personal and community concerns this has raised in all of us and appreciate everyone’s openness and engagement around the expansion process. Please take time to read the Chancellor’s letter and FAQ so that you have the latest info on Peabody’s expansion within the building.
- On February 22, prek-4’s and kindergarten classes will be attending a Good Touch/Bad Touch assembly at Peabody given by the DC Rape Crisis Center. While this sounds scary for our 4 and 5 year olds, it is an assembly that we believe all children need to attend so that they can protect themselves and know where so find help in case they feel threatened. Ms. Whitmore, our counselor, is available during and after the assembly for children who wish to talk about issues that arise. Parents who have concerns about the assemblies content should contact her after February 15th. We will send home a flier next week giving you the opportunity to opt out of having your child attend the assembly. However, we recommend you have your child attend for your child’s safety.
- With three weeks left to go until our Galactic Goal of reaching 200,000 minutes of reading here at Peabody and SWS, Astronaut Bloom is reporting that we have made it about half way. As of a few days ago, the rocket-riding readers had logged nearly 92,000 minutes of reading and several readers are already exploring Planet Uranus and will be on their way to Neptune very soon! Room 10 logged enough minutes to now be tied with Room 7 for the most minutes of reading and Rooms 5, 6 and 8 are all very close behind. Astronaut Bloom visited all classrooms last Friday to show our minutes on the Reading Rocket and to share another fun solar system prize and she’ll make the rounds again next week. Keep up the great reading and don’t forget to include minutes spent in ANY book or literacy-related activity – that includes, time spent visiting the library, attending a story hour, looking at picture books by themselves, listening to a book on tape, etc.
See you all soon,
Astronaut Bloom
III. Fundraisers and Social Events
CHCS Night at Tunnicliffs – Visit this local eatery between 5-10 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, and the restaurant will donate 10% of the proceeds to the school. Tunnicliffs is located at 222 7th Street, SE, across from the Eastern Market.
Electronic’s Collection Fundraiser – From Christina Helm, Cluster Tech Coordinator – We are recycling used electronics to raise funds for our school! Currently we are collecting cell phones, laser and inkjet cartridges, iPods, video games & consoles, scientific and graphing calculators, DVDs and GPS devices, PDAs, digital cameras and laptops to raise money for our school. Please bring all items to Peabody Early Childhood Center, Watkins Elementary School, or Stuart-Hobson Middle School. For more information about our recycling program visit CFKtoday.com
Thank you for recycling!
* Spring is right around the corner so don’t forget to send in your vegetable and flower seed orders now! Forty percent of all sales go directly to support our Children’s Gardens and classroom cooking program.
While today is the last official day for the Seeds To Grow fundraiser, we’ll except orders that arrive on Monday.
Extra catalogs/order forms can be printed using this link:
http://www.seedsavers.org/
Orders and payment need to be returned to your child’s teacher no later than Monday, Feb. 13th. Checks should be made out to CHCS PTA.
Thanks for your support of the Children’s Gardens!
Laura Marks and Sue Bloom
Contact Sue with any questions: susan.bloom5@verizon.net
- The Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center (NVRIC) has been requested to provide any discovered available information regarding reports of possible disruption, violence, or attack that may be associated with the upcoming release of two different Nike “Air Jordan” sneakers. The requestor suggested that the release of these sneakers may cause disruptions in or around malls and retailers due to previous disruptions caused by large crowds attempting to purchase these shoes. According to retail website www.nicekicks.com < http://www.nicekicks.com/>, Nike is scheduled to release the two new editions of its “Air Jordan” brand sneaker on February 11th and 18th2012. This latest installment of “Air Jordan” will be sold at Foot Locker, Finish Line and Champs. The previous release of other “Air Jordan” products has been related to incidents at some malls. The incidents were caused by disorderly, larger than normal crowds, limited supply of product, and high demand for the product.The following information is being provided strictly for Situational Awareness as it pertains to public safety and the facilitation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow in the vicinity of the retailers who will be carrying these items.Event: Release of Nike Air Jordan 4
When: February 18th, 2012
Where: Foot Locker | Finish Line | Champs
Price: MSRP: $160
Out of School Opportunities
- Announcing the spring ARTLAB+ programs! ARTLAB will offer three new, free digital media workshops for teens: Art Breakers, Women Represented, and Visual Storytelling. In just four sessions, teens learn to hack art, make a statement, and record their vision. Please share this with your teens and help them register now for February workshops and clubs! We can provide free metro cards for DC students.
- Help raise money for the Cluster by registering your grocery cards and credit cards!Did you know that you can help raise money and fund requests made by our teachers just by registering your grocery store loyalty cards and your credit cards? Think about that – the money you already spend at grocery stores and restaurants can help us fund more teacher requests.Eating at Restaurants on the Hill?
It couldn’t be easier to support CHCS. Register your credit cards (on a secure website) at the following link: http://escrip.rewardsnetwork.com/ and a percent of your total bill goes back to CHCS. No further action is required! There is nothing noted on your bill and it doesn’t interfere with any mileage, points, or rewards associated with your credit card. Register all of your credit cards, ask family members to register their credit cards – national chains participate in this program too.
· Which restaurants are participating? You can search on the site by zipcode or neighborhoods but a few close by include:
Sonoma The Ugly Mug Zest Capitol Hill Tandoor Justin’s Café Wok & Roll
Lucky Strike
Giant Food – Log onto www.GiantFood.com. Click on Our Stores. Click Register Your Card. Fill out the form and enter the code for the Capitol Hill Cluster PTA—00071.
Harris Teeter- register with school code 7467
http://www.harristeeter.com/
Safeway – register your Safeway card at the following link
https://secure.escrip.com/jsp/
Select by Group Name or Group ID
Group Name: Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA
Group ID: 150540698