UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday & Wednesday, Dec. 10 & 12
7 p.m. Variety Show Preview of Acts
Monday, Dec. 10
7-9 p.m. MCCPTA Gifted Child Committee Meeting
Wednesday, Dec. 12
5-9 p.m. Restaurant Night at Ledo Pizza
Friday, Dec. 14
Staff Lunch - Volunteers Needed
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HELPFUL LINKS
How are we doing? Have Comments? You can send an anonymous survey to the PTA or school, click here.
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2012-13 PTA Officers and Board of Directors President - Eric Williams |
A BIG THANK YOU TO...
- Linda Montgomery and Wendy Propst for organizing the Scholastic Book Fair.
- Brandy Carlson for organizing Storytelling Night. It was a fun night for all.
- Everyone who came out to Restaurant Night last month. We
raised almost $250 for Ritchie Park. - Lisa Bosse, Ms. Capoccia and Marci Gutmann for organizing the Proud Panther Coat Drive. We collected over 125 coats, hats and scarves. The coats have been donated to Greentree Shelter in Bethesda and Interfaith Works in Rockville. Because of our school's efforts, 125 people will have a coat to keep warm this winter.
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Loyalty Card Programs
School ID: 58180
(school 6557768)
(school 7852)
(school 00762 Rockville)
(school 219478)
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Lego Afterschool Class Starting in January
Do your K-2nd graders LOVE Legos? We knew it! We are again offering the Play-Well TEKnologies LEGOŽ building program but this time it is for K-2 students only. The class offers LEGOŽ building of engineer-designed projects such as arch bridges, skyscrapers, motorized cars, and the Battletrack! The children are encouraged to design, build and explore their craziest ideas in a supportive environment with an experienced instructor. The class will start in January and will be on Wednesdays after school. We hope to open registration in December. However, we need an in-class parent volunteer for every class. So if you are interested please contact Maria Doyle doylemjcz@gmail.com.
An Early Elementary Spanish Class is Coming to Ritchie Park! Starting in January, Language Stars will be offering an early elementary Spanish program on Tuesday from 3:15-4:15 p.m. at Ritchie Park. This class will be open to children in grades K-3 (note that it is geared towards the younger children, but it is fine for 3rd graders to enroll). Language Stars offers a high quality language program that benefits families and students. The class will run for 18 weeks and tuition is $376 for the semester. A 10% sibling discount is available. To enroll in the class, visit languagestarsatschool.com or call 866-557-8277. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the PTA Coordinator for this class, Joana Conklin. Spaces Still Open for Jan. Variety Show
The Variety Show is also a good opportunity for middle school children to earn SSL hours. We are also looking for Adult Volunteers. We need a stage crew for both the dress rehearsal and the night of the show. Please contact Tonya Greenspan. |
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
The next meeting of the MCCPTA Gifted Child Committee will be on Monday, Dec. 10 from 7-9 p.m. in the Cafeteria at the Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. You will hear an overview of MCPS offerings for advanced level learners by Dr. Monique Felder, Director, MCPS Division of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction (AEI) and an update on the rollout of Curriculum 2.0 and its implications for advanced level learners, including new developments regarding the Math Pathways.
This month's Restaurant Night is at Ledo Pizza in Travilah Square. It is on Dec. 12 from 5-9 p.m. and you can carry out or eat there-- just be sure to tell them you are with Ritchie Park.
RM Cluster Community Day and Town Hall is an opportunity for Dr. Starr to spend a day meeting with staff, visiting schools, and hearing from parents. The RM Cluster Community Day will be Jan. 28. It will culminate with a Town Hall event at 7:30 p.m. at Richard Montgomery High School, where the parents and others in the school community can ask questions and share thoughts and ideas. Free childcare and interpretation services will be available at the Town Hall meetings. Math Curriculum Information Night will be Wednesday, Jan. 30 from 7-9 p.m. at the Carver Educational Services Center auditorium. You will learn about what's new and how the math curriculum 2.0 reflects the new Common Core State Standards adopted in Maryland and MCPS, math instruction and homework expectations in elementary and secondary Curriculum 2.0, and how acceleration, challenges, and support are implemented within the 2.0 framework. More info on the flyer.
Barnes and Noble Bookfair will be held on Mar. 10, 2013. This was not on the PTA Calendar that was sent out at the beginning of the year.
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WAYS TO VOLUNTEER
The RPES PTA Staff Appreciation committee has been working hard to honor our wonderful RP staff. A few of the events included:
- October staff breakfast
- November staff lunches
On Dec. 14, we will be hosting the staff holiday lunch. If you are interested in volunteering to help serve/setup from 11-1:30 p.m., please email Neha Parikh or Jeanne McNally. Upload Photos for the Yearbook for 2012/2013 school events that you already took or will be taking. This will be done through a community upload site reserved for our school for which you only need to create an account and upload the pictures you want into the appropriate folder. The site is https://community.lifetouch.com/ and the "Community Image Upload Site Access Code" is NGJCME.
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FUNDRAISING FORUM
 Remember to log onto Box Tops for Education when you are shopping on the internet during the holidays. A certain number of pink squares are credited to the RPES account. Here is the list of the OVER 250 participating stores.
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ADVOCACY CORNEROn Nov. 15, Cluster Coordinator and Ritchie Park parent Jennifer Young testified on behalf of the RM Cluster regarding the need in our cluster for a new elementary school and an addition to Julius West Middle School in order to relieve the overcrowding in our schools. On Nov. 19, the Board of Education voted to approve Superintendent Starr's recommended FY2014 budget and amendments to the FY 2013 - 2018 Capital Improvements Program, which call for the addition to JW to open in August 2016 and the new elementary school to open in August 2017. There were so many parents and students from Ritchie Park and Beall at the BOE hearing on the 15th that MCCPTA specifically recognized our two schools and awarded a $25 Silver Diner gift card to the PTA! Thank you to all the families that came out to support our school! On Nov. 27, MCCPTA sponsored a discussion by MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr on Social-Emotional Learning. He talked about social-emotional skills and explained how MCPS would continue to integrate social-emotional learning with the academic excellence that has become a hallmark of our school system. Social-emotional competencies are something parents and all adults in our school system can work to support in our children. The program will air on MCPS TV Comcast channel 34, Verizon channel 36 and RCN channel 89 at 6:30 and 9 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday in December. Also, on Nov. 27, the MCCPTA Delegates passed the MCCPTA Legislative Platform that will guide advocacy efforts in Annapolis during the upcoming session of the General Assembly. The key priorities include support for the recently adopted Maintenance of Effort (MOE) law (which requires county governments to provide to the schools annually at least as much money per student as they provided the year before), opposition to General Assembly efforts to legislate required courses, opposition to a change in the current system of electing Board of Education members, and support for State funding of School Resource Officers (SROs) at all high schools. You can read the MCCPTA Legislative Platform here.
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