School Updates and News!
We are looking forward to the beginning of school! We are extremely busy preparing for a great school year! We have many new families joining our school and are prepared to welcome all of our returning students and new students! Some changes that you might see:
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New Quad: A new quad has been placed in the front office and handicapped parking area. As our trailers continue to age in the back of the school, the county provided us with additional classrooms. We will retain most the trailers in the back and they have once again been revitalized with paint and other needed updates. The new quad ensures that we have additional classroom space which equates to smaller class sizes. While it may not be the most appealing view, it will ensure smaller class sizes for our sixth graders! We are brainstorming some options to make the trailers more inviting by possibly recruiting our sixth graders to help us paint and leave their ‘mark’ on Kent Gardens.
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Parking: We will continue to be challenged by parking. Parents, please continue to be considerate and park in the neighborhood in order to give our teachers parking – especially in the morning. We are working with FCPS to determine options for creating additional spaces for our staff and visitors/parents. Once again, please DO be mindful of our neighbors and respect their driveways and space.
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Safety and Security: We continue to place safety and security at the forefront. The quad will not be accessible for parents or others without signing into the front office. As always, it will be required for all parents and visitors to sign in prior to entering school.
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Student placements: We will remit student homeroom assignments prior to the Open House no later than the morning of Thursday, August 22nd (see below for details regarding the Open House). You will receive an email with your child’s teacher. We have carefully placed every child and will communicate that these placements are not negotiable. We work hard to ensure that our students have a wonderful year. Our teachers will share the team bios with you at the Open House.
Below, we have summarized a few dates in order to help you and your family plan. We are excited about our upcoming school year. Note that we will send another more detailed update with additional information!
Wednesday, August 14th – New Family Gathering – please join us on the blacktop to meet new families and take a tour of our school. We have recruited returning sixth graders to lead the schools tours. If you have a rising sixth grader and would like to lead tours, please email Holly McGuigan at hsmcguigan@fcps.edu The timing is 4:45 – 5:30. Raindate is August 15th.
Thursday, August 22nd – Open House 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. This a BUSY event. Please walk to the school and enter from the back steps or from the neighborhood. There will be minimal parking available at the school. We will welcome all of our families and students in the following manner: We have staggered our points of entry in order to ease the flow of traffic in the building and community.
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K-2 should enter at 2:30 through the cafeteria doors. We are not opening the front doors although students and parents may use them as points of egress. Our PTA will have a table set up and we will have specialists available to help guide you to your classrooms with maps.
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Grades 3 – 6 should enter at 3 p.m. through the gym. Our PTA will have a table set up with information and we will have specialists available to help guide you to your classrooms with maps.
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Back to School Forms (Health , Emergency, Military, OptOut Forms) Tap on the words as they are hot links in order for your to download and complete. The forms are bundled here for returning students. forms These are the forms that are required for back to school. Please complete the forms prior to the Open House and bring them to your child’s homeroom classroom. They will have a special place for you to deposit them. In addition, we will also have laptops/iPads in the classrooms for you to provide your email in order for us to better communicate with you in the future.
Open House is an opportunity to ease back into school by affording time to meet your child’s teacher and to see some familiar faces. To help your child’s teacher know him or her better, we request that you bring a letter with you to the Open House describing your child. In this letter, it would be helpful to let us know his/her interests (academics or otherwise), hopes, fears and the most successful approaches you have used to help him/her feel comfortable. You may desire to write this letter with your child, supporting him/her in writing the letter and expressing their needs, goals, and fears. If you are not able to attend the open house, but would like to share a letter, please feel free to email me the letter or send with your child on the first day. Note that Open House is an extremely busy day and there is limited time to converse with teachers. We do not open our doors until 2:30 p.m. and parking is limited. Please do not park in neighbors’ driveways – take the time to walk and understand that there is ample time to come in the building and meet your child’s teacher.
Icee Gathering After visiting your child’s classroom and meeting his or her new teacher at Open House, please join us on the playground for icees and conversation until about 4:00 p.m. This time will give your family an opportunity to talk more with school staff, be re-acquainted with old friends, and make new friends, as we get ready to start the school year. We will have a staff meeting at 4:15 p.m. to prepare for the next school day.
Health/Clinic If your child has a severe medical need or a life threatening food allergy, please contact our public health nurse, Janessa Deal, jsdeal@fcps.edu . This communication will ensure that appropriate safety measures can be put in place. In addition, we ask that you drop off any medications with the appropriate forms during the Open House. The FCPS link is at https://www.fcps.edu/resources/student-safety-and-wellness/school-health-services
School Supplies You are encouraged to bring your child’s school supplies to Open House. Supply listings are posted on our website. This year, each students in grades 3-6 will be provided with a daily agenda/planner. School supply lists can be found at the bottom of the KG website: https://kentgardenses.fcps.edu/
Musical Selection for Specials: Please choose your child’s musical selection for the 2019-20 school year. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grade may make their selection by going to the KG website https://kentgardenses.fcps.edu/ and scrolling to the bottom. Note that most of our students in these grade levels participate – join and enjoy participating in our strings or band program!
Chorus: All fifth and sixth graders may select to sing in the school chorus. Please click on the link to register your child’s interest in participating in chorus. https://forms.gle/P4NkzkYgEK64MMHJ6 They will meet in the mornings upon arrival to school. If possible, we ask that you drop off your child on rehearsal days in order to have maximum practice time.
Back to School Night On September 5, 2019, we will hold our Back to School Night for all Kent Gardens’ families. The 4th, 5th, and 6th will be at 5:00 p.m. and the K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will take place at 7:00 p.m. During this time, parents and guardians will have the opportunity to hear from your child(ren)’s teachers about the grade level curriculum and an overview of the school. You will also hear from the PTA and other FCPS leaders. This event is for parents and guardians only – not children.
 A great deal going on at KG this summer! From top left to bottom....
Kinder playdates joined by other friends! Professional learning with Dr. Zuluaga and our Lucy Calkins Institute (Columbia University led) and last but not least - check out our new quad! It will house our sixth graders and ensure smaller class sizes. We also had asphalt laid on the gravel track- Thanks PTA!!
PTA Updates and News:
Join the PTA Join our PTA and support Kent Gardens! Your membership supports our efforts to provide valuable programs and activities for our children and staff throughout the school year. In addition, PTA membership offers one copy of the printed copy of our student directory and voting rights at PTA meetings. Join here: https://give.livingtree.com/d/20192020-kent-gardens-pta-membership-drive Note that our school partners with the PTA and all of our parents to support our school. We ask that you strongly consider not only joining the PTA but also supporting their One and Done Fundraiser. The PTA’s goal is to raise $50,000 in 50 days. "One & Done" is the main fundraiser at Kent Gardens and it's just like it sounds: You make one contribution and you're done! When you contribute to "One & Done," you help Kent Gardens Elementary remain an exciting, vibrant, and thriving school. Your contribution will help us continue to enhance and expand our NEW playground, purchase new picnic tables and laptops for students to use, offer teacher training and state-of-the-art educational materials for classrooms, award scholarships so all students can participate in school activities, and purchase supplies our school needs.
In 2018, only 33% of Kent Gardens Families Contributed.
Please Help Us Achieve At Least 50% Family Participation!
The suggested contribution is $150 per family but any amount is greatly appreciated. ONE AND DONE: https://give.livingtree.com/c/kgpride-201920
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