Good afternoon Owls,

Week 4 is now in the books at Hearst and it was another good one that saw our first PTA meeting of the year and the start of SEM for grades 3-5!  This coming week will be another busy one full of fun, learning, smiles, and Back to School Night from 6-8 on Wednesday.  I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend and are enjoying this beautiful fall weather.

My best,

Jen

Quick Updates

• Given a series of injuries during morning arrival time with kids playing football and soccer on the field, moving forward students will not be allowed to play football or soccer prior to the start of school. This mirrors the policy we have with arrival in the gym for inclement weather.  Kids will be allowed to play soccer and football (catch only, no games as kids do not have the appropriate safety equipment) at recess when there are fewer kids competing for space on the field·        
• As of today, 60% of our families have been visited! Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the time to build relationships with Hearst staff and opening your homes to us.  If you haven’t yet had a home visit, please reach out to your child’s teacher or sign up for one at Back to School Night.  Help us meet our goal of visiting at least 80% of our families!
• If your commute to and from Hearst normally involves Beach Drive, please begin planning alternate routes and extra time for your commute this week.  Beach Drive will be closing starting on September 22.  Please visit go.nps.gov/beachdrive for additional information, including detour maps.
• A reminder that we’ll have all of our after school programs, including PTA enrichment, running starting on Monday. Look for more information on the list serve about PTA enrichment logistics.
• We completed our Beginning of Year (BOY) testing this week and will be sending home results on Monday for all school wide K-5 assessments.  Please look for an envelope in your child’s book bag.
• Last but not least, please join me in welcoming Katie VanDenBerghe Black to Hearst as our new music teacher!  She’ll be joining us beginning on Monday and spend most of next week getting settled in.  We’ll have a sub holding classes at least through Wednesday of next week in order to give Katie time to get her room set up and prepare for her first classes with our little Owls.

News and Announcements

Back to School Night

We look forward to seeing everyone from 6:00-8:00 on Wednesday, September 21 for Back to School Night.  It looks like the weather will be nice which means childcare will be on the field and playgrounds and there will be pizza for the kids.  Should we need to move indoors, we’ll be using the library, art room, and Spanish room for childcare.  From 6:00-6:40, 3^rd-5^th Grade families will be with Jen in the gym, while PK-2 and K-4 CES families will meet in classrooms with teachers.  From 6:50-7:30, PK-2^nd and K-4 CES families will have their session with Jen in the gym, while 3^rd-5^th grade families meet with teachers in the classroom.  From 7:30-8:00 families from all grades can opt to visit information tables in the gym.  At these tables you’ll be able to learn about the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, Specialized Instruction, Socioemotional Development, Responsive Classroom, math assessments and our new math curriculum, our literacy curriculum and assessments, and a whole host of other topics, as well as talk with our special subject teachers.   As a reminder, the purpose of Back to School Night is to provide a time for families to meet your child’s teacher and review expectations.  It is NOT a time for individual conferences and should you wish to have an individual conference, please reach out to your child’s teacher to schedule one.  Finally, if you have children in multiple grades and won’t be able to make it to the gym, I’ll be sharing the narrated presentation from the evening in my next weekly update.

News and Announcements from Central Office

Girls Can Do (11/12)

Girls Can Do is an event where girls come to engage, connect, and share experiences with amazing women speakers who are pursuing their dreams. Designed to inspire a generation and ignite a vision for equal opportunity, the event takes place on 11/12 at the Warner Theatre in downtown DC. Tickets are free for girls under 24 and adults who bring 3 or more girls to the event. Click here for more information.

Global Engineering After School Program

Design Squad Global connect kids ages 10–13 in out-of-school-time programs around the world. This program allows kids to explore engineering through fun-packed, high energy, hands-on activities—and they get to partner with a DGS club from another country! Check out the website here for more information. 
Contact: Saranya Sathananthan, [email protected]

National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month! Throughout September we are reminded of how important it is to plan and get ready for the unexpected.  As summer comes to an end and schedules return back to normal, we encourage citizens in the District of Columbia and across the Nation to make a plan for emergencies and share it with your family and friends.  A little preparation will make all the difference… don’t wait! Please be sure to visit the FEMA https://community.fema.gov/ and National Preparedness Month www.ready.gov/september websites. If you have any questions or would like to request additional safety tips, please reach out to Carlton Gerald  in the Office of School Security. 

Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA) Festival

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is hosting the CABA Festival on Saturday October 8, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public and will include author talks, art activities, storytelling, face painting and more! Read more here.

PTA Corner 

Thanks to everyone who came out to last week’s PTA meeting. It was great meeting so many new families and seeing old friends. It’s clear this school year is going to be excellent again!

The fall enrichment session begins tomorrow, Monday, September 19. If you have any questions, please reach out to PTA Co-President and Enrichment Coordinator Keri Sikich at [email protected].

Upcoming Events:

-PTA on the playground: Bring your questions and ideas and join us at the picnic tables on Tuesday, September 20, from 5pm to 6pm.

- Screen on the Green: Join your friends and neighbors and come enjoy The Lego Movie on the upper soccer field on Friday, September 23. Watch the listserv for more information about food that will be available for purchase.

-The Auction Committee will hold its first meeting of the year on Monday, October 3 at 7pm at the Tenleytown Whole Foods. For more information, contact Emily Olesh at [email protected]

- Next PTA Meeting: Join us in the library on Wednesday, October 19 from 6pm to 7:30pm. Childcare and pizza will be available for all potty-trained students and siblings.

-Community Dining Night: Join us at Potomac Pizza on Monday, October 24, for pizza and other delicious offerings just on the other side of the District Line in the Chevy Chase Center.

News and Announcement from Outside Organizations

Politics & Prose Children and Teens Department Event

http://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/educators-open-house-children-teens-dept

Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 3:30 p.m.

Join the Politics & Prose Children and Teens Department for an after-school event replete with discounts, giveaways, book recommendations, and light refreshments! Learn about the benefits we offer and how you can utilize our services to find the best books available for the children you teach. Bring your current school ID and receive a 20% discount off all books during the open house; you can also pick up free books, posters, book bags, and more for your classroom. We’ll see you there!

This event is free to attend with no reservation required. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis. Click here for more information.

Chess Tournament

My name is Vaughn Bennett and I am the executive director of Metro Area Chess. Metro Area Chess is a DC based, IRS 501(c)3, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the academic and social/life skills of children K-12.

I am writing to ask if you would please inform your students about our free, US Chess Federation (USCF) rated chess tournament, the Queen of Katwe Chess Championship. (Please see attached.)

On September 23rd, 2016, Disney is going to release the new chess movie Queen of Katwe. Queen of Katwe is an inspiring story of a young Ugandan girl, forced to sell corn in order to survive, who is able to empower herself up by gaining access to the international world of chess. This uplifting story is the theme of our free tournament.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Vaughn Bennett

Metro Area Chess

Update from DGS regarding Hearst Park Construction

Good Evening Hearst Community, 

Below is a link with the Hearst Park/Pool presentation that was shown at the Hearst Community meeting:

 http://dgs.dc.gov/page/hearst-park-and-pool-improvement-project

As indicated in the community meeting the DGS/DPR project team is in final stages of developing a survey for the Hearst Park/pool project.  I will forward the link and survey details to the community by the end of next week.   

You have received this email because you have expressed previous interest in the Hearst project.  If you prefer not to receive emails related to the project please let me know and I will delete your email from my Hearst contact list.

If you have any questions or concerns prior to the meeting please feel free to reach out to me and I’ll work with the project team to address your concerns. 

Sincerely,

Jackie

Jackie Stanley

Community Outreach Coordinator

Department of General Services (DGS)

202-431-1195 (Cell)           

File attachments:

Queen of Katwe flyer final.doc