Children with a last name beginning with the letters A–K will attend school Monday and Tuesday. Children with a last name beginning with the letters L–Z will attend school Wednesday and Thursday. ALL children will attend school together Friday, Aug. 27.

Monday through Friday of the first week of school will be full school days from 8:45 a.m.–3:15 p.m. Families are welcome, but not expected to stay with their child during that week.

What are the benefits of Early Childhood Transition Week?

The transition from home to school is a major milestone in a child’s life and their ability to adjust can impact future academic performance. During transition week, you will arrange for an individual meeting with your child’s teacher to discuss goals and expectations for the year and begin building the foundation for a strong parent-teacher relationship. You will also have the opportunity to learn about ways you can be an active participant in your child’s classroom and support your child’s school. Contact your child’s school to find out when their ECE Family Orientation Night is scheduled the week of August 16th.

Questions? Please contact the DC Public School’s Critical Response Team at 202-478-5738.

(Help is available in Spanish, French, Chinese, Vietnamese and Amharic)

• Celebrate Learning All Summer Long
• Free lunch all summer, all students
• Update your child’s immunizations
• Upcoming preschool and pre-k screenings
• Attention special education parents
• First week of school for early ed students

Download the PDF: DCPS English Parent News-July 2010

From the introduction:

It’s summer! But “no school” doesn’t mean “no learning.” As you know, learning takes place everywhere, all the time.

Did you know research shows that all children lose approximately two months of math and reading skills during the summer? Summer is a time when you can maintain the academic gains your child has made.

Keeping children engaged in learning throughout the summer means they can start the school year learning new material right away. D.C. has many free, fun and easy activities you can do with your children to keep them engaged, curious and using their academic skills. This guide provides some suggestions, but we encourage you to explore on your own as well. Check the DCPS website (dcps.dc.gov) weekly for new suggestions. You can also submit ideas to share with other parents.
The key to helping your child learn throughout the summer is to tailor the activities to fit your schedule and your child’s interest. Like physical exercise, you need to exercise your child’s brain as well. Do something with an educational focus every day.

You’ll see the rewards in September.

It was a pleasure to oversee the tenth annual Get Caught Reading Contest. The Georgetown Kiwanis judges were very impressed by the quantity and quality of our entries this year. Please join me in congratulating all of our entrants, who put so much time and thought into their submissions. Congratulations!

The judges chose four entries to receive special recognition, and I have included a slideshow that depicts three of the top winners for your enjoyment. Have a great summer and be sure to GET CAUGHT READING!Untitled

Mary McLaughlin
PTA Co-president

Please let me begin with THANKS for your support this year, and to end my LAST BLAST for this school year with the same sentiments.  What a marvelous school year, and can you believe that it is about to come to a close?  When first I was invited to be the principal of Stoddert East, it was non-existent.  My husband and I drove by and saw the beginnings of a structure, but much was left to the imagination.  I was to report to Hardy MS and many district-level workshops. I did do these things, but kept driving by and watching this huge connection of 48 portables grow into our special Stoddert East.  One day, after many safety checks, I was invited to come inside.  It looked quite unusual from the outside, but the inside was bright and very accommodating.  Questions from you and all the teachers I was beginning to meet came quickly and with earnestness.  “Do you think this will work?”  My reply, “Oh, yes”.  “Do you realize that there are no windows?”  “Yes, but please see how bright it is.”  “Do you think the teachers will be OK here?”  After meeting them, “Oh, yes.”  And the rest is history.  What I know now is huge:  The teachers are great, the students are very capable and nice, and your support is “humongous”! I remember telling the construction crew, “Please just paint the door a different color so school can begin,” thus the yellow door,  What a year!

On Thursday, we celebrated the promotion of a terrific 5th-grade class.  The students performed and presented at the ceremonies, that were held at the Russian Embassy.  We express deep appreciation to the Ambassador and all the Russian Embassy staff for hosting us so graciously. Thanks to Mary McLaughlin and the PTA for providing wonderful refreshments for well over 150 attendees.  I had the privilege of promoting the students and charging them one last time with a theme that evolved this year: “Show what you know (academically, behaviorally, and interactionally)!”

Have you driven by or walked past the new school? It is simply grand.  All the powers that be tell me that we are still on target for completion.  I cannot wait for all of you to be able to come and see where your children will attend their beginning or the next grade level.  It is a stellar complex with multiple amenities.  With these lovely surroundings, we add the outstanding teaching that continues – and the equation equals excellence.

By our latest calculations, we now have 82% of you registered.  Will the last 48 families please take, or find, time to come and register? We need you to do this so real and actual budgeting can happen.  Our real budgeting is totally dependent on having students registered, as the budget is derived from the total number of students times the individual student allotment.  PLEASE come in on 6/21 0r 6/22 and finalize your registrations for next year.  After those last 2 days, the office staff and I will be located at Hardy MS on the second floor (35th Street entrance).  We are happy to see you there, but it might be more convenient to register at Stoddert East.  Beginning as soon as June 25th, sections of the portable will be demolished.  REGISTER NOW, please.

Have your children lost any items of clothing?  Please visit the LOST and FOUND rack and bins across from the main office.  Especially with the pending move, we will have to donate to charity so many wonderful jackets, sweatshirts, hats, etc.  Please take an extra minute and find your lost items.

Thanks for helping with the packing on Saturday, June 19th.  It is a huge job that many of you know from last year.  We appreciate your help on this large undertaking.  Thanks to Molly Evans for helping organize our big packing day!

Please let me end my first year of BLASTs to you with THANKS for your support this year!  I look forward to sharing ideas and news with you next school year.  It will be totally invigorating to start the 2010-2011 school year in the new Stoddert ES.  Please allow me to wish you a summer of happiness and many fun family adventures.  Thank you for a marvelously rewarding year!

Your principal, Marjorie Cuthbert.

The tools are already set up, and Anastasia and Jennifer will train the new team.

The ideal candidate(s) to do the announcements would have some experience with an email delivery system. We use MailChimp, but experience with any other system (like Constant Contact, Emma, etc.) would translate well. Putting together the announcements entails sending a reminder email once a week to the school administration and the PTA executive committee; collecting Dr. Cuthbert’s weekly message, email submissions, and links to new web posts into the body of the email; and updating the calendar. Light editing and some email followup with event organizers for details is usually necessary. Jennifer and Anastasia alternate weeks putting the mail out; the total time commitment is—at most—about two to three hours per week.

The stoddert.org website is a Wordpress site. It is very easy to maintain and post articles. Our goal is to encourage the entire Stoddert audience to use the website rather than stuffing paper in backpacks; to comment, suggest and write articles, add photos and video, work with teachers to publish classroom information, and generally use the site as a public forum. We will undertake some improvements to the site over the summer to make it even more useful to parents, teachers, and the community. Candidates for the website should have, at a minimum, basic familiarity with website commenting, enthusiasm for communications (and for Stoddert!), and one to two hours per week to devote. This is also a fine job to share.

Please contact Anastasia Miller (anastasia [at] stoddert [dot] org) or Jennifer McLennan (jennifer.mclennan [at] comcast [dot] net) with questions. We’d like to have volunteers lined up by the end of July, so that we can begin putting out announcements in advance of the 2011-2012 school year.

We have compiled a survey for parents. You can find it online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StoddertParentSurvey. It is an anonymous survey.

The results will be used to build our Comprehensive Plan for next year to meet the needs of our students, parents, teachers, and community. The 4th- and 5th-graders will complete a student survey and the teachers will respond to the teacher survey. Please give us constructive feedback, as we are dedicated to bettering any situation that needs improvement. A paper copy will be sent home on Monday the 14th for those choosing not to respond on-line. Please watch for it or respond anytime to the posted survey. Thanks, your thoughts will contribute to continued excellence at Stoddert.