Volume 10, Issue 13 February 29, 2008
March 3 – Dr. Seuss Day at CLES
March 3-7 – Kindergarten and New Student Registration 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily.
March 17-24 – SPRING BREAK. Schools reopen March 25th.
April 4 – Concert Band plays at Frederick Keys Opening Day game.
April 17 – Howard County Elementary Jazz Festival
May 1 – SAVE THE DATE – Parent Volunteer Luncheon. Details at a later date.
May 19 – Spring Band Concert
May 12 – Ho County Elementary Concert Band Festival (tentative)

Band Week “C” Volunteer Week 3

From Dr. Hu and Ms. White –It brings joy to our hearts as we gingerly prepare for the registration of our new kindergarten and first grade students for 2008-09 school year. Registration will take place next week. We need everyone's help to inform all of the families who have eligible young children to register. It is critical that we have close to "real" numbers of students registered so that we can hire the appropriate number of staff for the coming school year. Thank you, everyone, for your attention and assistance in this event.

Our evening math meeting on Monday, February 25th, was well attended. We thank Mrs. Kay Sammons, Howard County Math Coordinator, and Mr. John Sangiovanni, Howard County Math and Science Resource Teacher, for their presence and time to address parents' questions and comments. The comments fell in three categories: Home-school communication on homework, students' proficiency in math computation, and the use of Investigations as textbooks at CLES.

As was shared in a previous newsletter, CLES will purchase Envisions as the textbook for our intermediate grade students, which means each student will receive a textbook. For first and second grade, our teachers viewed three different textbook series and chose Investigations for the benefit of its exploratory approach, as well as the employment of higher level thinking and problem-solving strategies. Consequently, we will purchase the Investigations textbook kits as a resource for teachers, one per grade. In addition, we will purchase the Envisions textbook kit, one per grade for grade 1 and grade 2. These kits will be used by teachers only as lesson plan resources as they already do with hundreds of other resource books. As a County wide practice, students in grades one and two don't use textbooks, one per student; teachers use the text book kits and many other resources to teach the math curriculum. Math learning needs to be fun and motivating. In addition to the traditional math instructional materials, we need to have our teachers equipped with resources that are comprehensive enough to address a variety of learning needs among students.
We want our students to have solid computation skills, for which, knowing math facts with automaticity is a must. Teachers are working diligently using the Strategies At Work method of training students to become more proficient in mental math. We will also expand the use of Fastt Math in our computer lab next year, once the space issue is alleviated when construction of classrooms is completed.

Communication is the key to effective collaboration. We will form small grade-level parent-teacher work groups in the coming months to share perspectives and practices regarding students' homework. We want to be able to understand the difficulty that parents face when helping their children with homework at night. We also want to find an efficient way to communicate the math essentials to parents, so that we are truly on the same page for effective partnership. If you wish to be considered as part of the work groups, please so indicate by phone or email to Mrs. Lisa Regnante, PTA President. We were once again impressed by our parents' candidness in sharing and sheer devotion to their children's education. Thank you.

On Monday, March 3, we will celebrate Read Across America Day. The staff has planned many special activities. For one, please encourage your child to dress up as his/her favorite story characters. Some of our fifth graders have also been invited to be guest readers for children in younger grades. Let's all enjoy a day of great fun, reading!

Math Meeting at CLES - Thank you to the more than 40 parents who attended the math meeting with Kay Sammons, HCPSS Math Coordinator, this past Monday evening. I'm pleased to see so many parents interested in the math program. We welcome parent involvement and consider it an important and valuable asset to CLES.
I'd like to invite all CLES parents, and especially those who attended the meeting, to submit their thoughts, ideas and questions about the school's math program. We will use this information to further examine the math program from a parent perspective and create solutions to concerns through a joint effort with parents, teachers and administration.
Please submit your concerns, questions, ideas and thoughts to PTA President Lisa Regnante at growing-pains@comcast.net. by using the following categories:
1. Text books
2. Communication to and from teachers
3. Emphasis on Computation
4. Other

Dr. Seuss Day – CLES celebrates Dr. Seuss/Read Across America Day on Monday, March 3rd. We encourage all students and staff to wear Dr. Seuss t-shirts, or the colors black, red and white or wear a hat in honor of The Cat in the Hat, or dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss character.

Kindergarten & New Student Registration - CLES will be holding Kindergarten Registration March 3rd thru March 7th, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily. Children should be 5 years old before September 2, 2008. You may get a list of required documents necessary to completed registration on line or by calling the CLES Office. For all questions regarding registration. please call the front office at Centennial Lane Elementary School, 410-313-2800.

Hearing & Vision Testing - Reminder to parents of Kindergarten, third and fifth graders and all our new students that Vision and Hearing will begin Monday, March 3 through Wednesday, March 5. If your child wears glasses, please be sure they bring them to school on the days of testing. Retesting will take place Wednesday, March 26. Concerns or questions regarding Vision and Hearing can be directed to the Health Room.

CLES Volunteer/Visitor Lanyards – Please search your cars, your purses, your kitchen counters!! We have no visitor lanyards in the Front Office.

Summer Opportunities for Advanced Level Learners - The Summer Institutes for Talent Development are now accepting registrations for summer courses. Courses offered are for advanced level learners entering grades 2-12 in the areas of Technology, Science, Language Arts, Fine Arts, and Mathematics. These are interest-based, hands-on enrichment opportunities. For more information download the Summer Institutes for Talent Development Brochures at http://www.hcpss.org/summer. Classes are filling fast so register soon!

From the PTA . . .
Chinese New Year - On February 19th, the PTA's Cultural Arts Committee welcomed Linda Fang, who presented her program, “Sticky Rice and the Chinese New Year.” CLES third, fourth and fifth grades were an enthusiastic audience for Ms. Lang as she told stories describing the origins and the many traditions of the Chinese New Year celebration. Several student volunteers assisted Ms. Fang in the Lantern Parade while the whole audience joined in for special sound effects. Thanks to the PTA and Ms. Fang for a great assembly!

After School Activity Update:
Hoof and Claw (Stock Market Game) is a ten week class, after school on Thursdays (3:35pm – 4:35pm) only for CLES students in 4th and 5th grade. The class will be taught by Ms. Epstein (GT team leader). Young investors in this class will be participating in the state-wide Stock Market Game to see who can make the most money in 10 weeks. Each team will be set up with a simulated on-line account with $100,000. They will use this "money" to buy and sell stocks regularly traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Everything is real except the money! Registration starts 2/21/08.

Problem Solvers - this after school activity is an interdisciplinary creative problem solving opportunity. Students participating in this class will be faced with real world problems to solve such as using a few limited objects to build a bridge or using evidence to solve a mystery. This class will provide strong writing and language arts components but will also utilize logical thinking skills and creative problem solving skills. This is a six week class, after school (3:35pm – 4:35pm), on Tuesday's, only for CLES students in 4th and 5th grade. The class will be taught by Ms. Epstein (GT team leader). Registration starts 3/7/08.

KidzArt - Session #2 registration continues until April 11th
Creative Writing Adventure (grade 2) - registration moved up and will start on April 1st (no fooling) with PTA member priority registration.

Also look for Golf coming back by popular demand this spring. Please see the CLES PTA website for more detailed information!

Please read the posted information on the CLES PTA website for after school activity procedures, the registration process, and Q&A at www.clespta.org. Any questions or comments can be directed to the PTA coordinator for these programs Terri Chiu at tachiu@comcast.net.

SCHOOL SUPPLY PROGRAM 2008-2009 - Crazy at it seems, by now you've probably already starting planning this summer's activities, camps and vacations. However fun these activities are, they add to the hectic pace we all keep. The CLES PTA is here to help make that hectic summer schedule a little bit easier! Next week starts the PTA School Supply Program! Let us figure out the '08/'09 school supply needs for your child. All you need to do is fill out the form which is coming home with your child next week and return it with payment to the school by March 13th. In June your child will have his/her school supplies for the fall delivered to his/her classroom in a sturdy carrier box. You'll be off the hook for fighting the “Back to School” crowds and can enjoy the last days of summer vacation! Besides saving you time, you will be getting exactly what the teachers want and at a reasonable price. If you have any questions call Patti Demme at 410-730-3119. Extra order forms are available in the school entryway.

Kinder K.I.D.S. and Mini K.I.D.S. begin on Monday, March 3! Kinder K.I.D.S. meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:15 - 4:45, and Mini K.I.D.S. meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15 - 4:45. An informational email was sent on Wednesday to every parent, verifying your child's assigned day. If you did not receive an email, please call the K.I.D.S. office at 410-715-0454 and leave a message. Messages are checked daily and your call will be returned promptly. Please do NOT call the CLES school office.

THANK YOU CLES Family- The 6th Annual Have-A- Heart Teddy Bear Drive was very successful. We donated 100 new, beautiful stuffed animals to The Children's Center at Howard County General Hospital. The staff was so appreciative of our efforts. Thanks to Jenna Baruch for sorting and counting all the stuffed animals. Way to go CLES!