Principally Speaking - Mrs.

Megan Ashworth
Volume 1
Dear Eagle Families and Community Members,
We are very excited about beginning a new school year! Our Administrative Team is ready to provide the lead-
ership necessary to move us towards our vision to be a great school regarded for educational excellence and
opportunities for globally competitive citizens of tomorrow. Our operating theme this year is Learning and
Leading is Our Legacy Eagle Scholars Soaring to New Heights to be Great by Choice. There are many new
faces this school year at Barack Obama ES. These new members of our team come to us with extensive in-
structional backgrounds and will provide the necessary support for your children and our community.
Assistant Principals, Ms. Marek and Mr. Ohlson, remain as dynamic role models of success. We believe that
our goals for this school year will ensure Outstanding Academic Achievement for all students. Parents, our
pursuit is to provide your children with a rigorous instructional program this school year. Barack Obama ES is a
TRC (TAG in the Regular Classroom) school again this school year, so we will continue to differentiate curricu-
lum for gifted learners. In addition, we will continue to embrace standards of the Common Core curriculum
that will drive our instructional program. This curriculum will require students to problem solve and think criti-
cally. Parents play a key role in the academic success of our students; therefore, school/parent communica-
tion is crucial. We appreciate all of your support as we continue to push our students to excel at greater
heights.
Parent Communication
Please check the communication folder daily as well as your childs agenda book for any important information. A few of
our teachers are utilizing the Remind App to provide you with short reminders. I will also use the Robo-Call (global con-
nect system) to alert you to important information.
Free and Reduced Lunch Forms
Families are encouraged to complete a confidential free/reduced meals application for this school year. You may go to
the PGCPS website to complete the application this school year or complete the form that was sent home.
Dr. Kevin Maxwell, CEO of Prince Georges County Schools, has embraced the motto of Great by Choice. We
at Barack Obama ES plan to adopt this in all we do this year. My staff and I will walk in the door everyday pre-
pared to meet the ultimate goal of educating your children. Please send your children to us on-time, well-
behaved, equipped with the proper materials and encouraged. We, in turn, will send them home to you pre-
pared to meet the demands of the future. Your presence is not only welcomed, it is needed! I look forward to
an outstanding school year!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Principally Speaking 1
Important Info @ BOES 2
Grade Level News 3-5
Health Room Updates 6
Building Good Study Habits 6
Our School Counselor 7
Calendar of Events 8
Page 2
School Hours and Basic Information
Our school hours are 7:45 a.m. 1:55 p.m. (Office hours are 7:15-3:15pm.) For those who wish to partici-
pate, breakfast will be served from 7:20 a.m. until 7:40 a.m. Students who walk or are brought to school
should not arrive before 7:30 a.m. Please do not leave your child unattended. We do not assume responsi-
bility for children dropped off prior to 7:30 a.m. Teachers use the time before school to prepare for the
days instruction.
Kiss and Ride Arrival & Dismissal Procedures
Kiss and Ride areas for cars will be through the Main Entrance. Every car will enter and proceed to the
Kiss and Ride designated area. Your child is expected to exit the car quickly and parents are to immedi-
ately exit the parking lot. Parents will not be allowed to park their cars in this area during the arrival
(7:20-7:45 a.m.) and dismissal (1:40-2:15 p.m.). All driving within the Kiss and Ride perimeter is CONTINU-
OUS. If your child is not present as you reach the pick-up area, you will be motioned to continue driving,
and circle the Kiss and Ride perimeter again.
Please be reminded that students ARE NOT PERMITTED to return to school to retrieve ANY items.
This includes homework, Agenda Books, jackets, coats lunch boxes etc. Students will have to obtain
these items on the next school day.
Bus Loop and Parking Areas
Because the safety of our students is of paramount importance, it is necessary to establish rules regard-
ing the use of school parking lots and the areas near the school, when dropping off or picking up stu-
dents, please be considerate to other drivers by treating them with courtesy and respect.
****Automobile traffic is NOT PERMITTED in the bus loop during the time of bus loading and unload-
ing. These times are 7:20 to 7:45 a.m. and 1:40 to 2:15 p.m.
School buses may never be passed while loading or unloading students. You are encouraged to let your
children ride the bus to and from school due to the traffic situation. If you need to come in to the school
building during these times, you may park on Brooke Lane and walk inside. Please DO NOT PARK in Wise
HS parking lot and walk across the bus loop, this is very dangerous.
Parent Visitation/Conferences
As always parents, we welcome opportunities to speak with you about your childs academic and social
progress. Our schools open door policy allows you to come and visit the classroom when your schedule
permits. We ask that you follow the specific guidelines that are outlined in the Parent Handbook regard-
ing visitation and remember that this is not a time to conference with the teacher. All conferences MUST
be scheduled ahead of time. This can be done via email or by phone. Teachers are not able to hold im-
promptu conferences before school because they are busy preparing for the arrival of their students.
The same applies to afterschool, as they are often meeting with their grade level mates and planning in-
struction for the next day. Please understand our need to adhere to this policy.

Important Info @ BOES
Miss Marek & Mr. Ohlson, Assistant Principals
Hooray for Pre-K! - Mrs. Odom & Mrs. Thompson
BOES Newsletter, Vol. 1 Page 3
Welcome to Pre-K ! The theme this month is My School and Me
Week 1 This Way to Pre-K! Week 2 Physical Me
Week 3 My Senses Week 4 I Think, I Feel
During the next few weeks, your child will be introduced to school routines and to the adventures they
will encounter as they begin their educational journey. They will meet the people at our school, learn
about school rules and routines, sing songs, play games, listen to engaging stories, and begin interacting
with their classmates.
They will also learn about their physical bodies and explore the wonders of their thoughts and feelings.
In Math, we will learn about the attributes that make things differentsize, color, and shape and posi-
tional words to describe the location of objects.
In Literacy, we will learn to identify the letters in our names and in words. We will also begin to identify
words that rhyme by reading stories, poems and singing nursery rhymes.
Oh The Places We will Go! - Kindergarten News
Kindergarten is soaring into Greatness! Our primary goal for the 2014-2015 school year is to have 90% of
our students reading on or above grade level. For this academic school year, the kindergarten team has
planned many academically rigorous lessons and socially stimulating activities to prepare your child for
success. To help us meet our goal this year, we are asking families to assist with completing nightly
homework and returning it in the red folder on Fridays. One of our biggest requests is that students must
read a variety of fiction and nonfiction books for at least 10 minutes daily. Lastly, please be on the look
out for opportunities to chaperone one of the upcoming field trips.
Fun with Firsties! - 1st Grade News
The first grade students at Barack Obama Elementary ushered in the new school year fueled with excite-
ment, as they were thrilled about meeting new teachers, developing new friendships, and learning new
lessons. They surely possess a love for learning and the first grade teachers are having a blast teaching
such a wonderful group of students.
Students have enjoyed creating mental images when reading and they are becoming better at retelling
stories, each day! In math, they have engaged in hands on experiences to better develop their under-
standing of place value concepts. They have also enjoyed learning about rules and safety at school and in
their communities. They seem to be thrilled about science and look forward to the science experiments
that are ahead.
Bravo, to the first graders for a job well done in Spanish class! The students enjoy learning about the
Spanish language and look forward to classes held three times a week; the Spanish curriculum is a won-
derful add to the instructional program at BOES.
Grandparents Day was a huge success on Monday, September 8
th
. The verdict is still out however, about
who enjoyed it more the grandparents or grandchildren! (See the next page for a picture from 1st grade!)
Page 4
Parents,
Please make sure your students have all supplies and have turned in $7.00 for their agenda book.
Remember to check SchoolMax for grades. Also, students should be reading for 15 minutes every
night.
In Math, we are covering rounding. In science we are covering Earth science. In Health, we are
talking about the human body.
In Reading, we are discussing persuasive letters and narrative stories. In Social Studies, we are
learning about Map skills and varying communities in our world and country.
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Second Grades Putting Their Best
Foot Forward - 2nd Grade News
Hardworking. Unique. Creative.
Enthusiastic. Determined.
These words describe the 2
nd
grade class of the 2014 2015
school year. The 2
nd
graders have set their goals for the
new school year and are definitely putting their best foot
forward with their academics.
The students are using various Reading strategies such as
visualizing and inferring to help them better understand the
text that they are reading. Many students learned that
their inner voice (inner conversation) helped them to make
predictions and inferences about characters and events in
various stories.
They have been skipping away in Math with skip counting
by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and are building upon their understanding
of place value. In Science, the 2
nd
graders have learned
about the many Science safety rules and tools. They have
used their making prediction skills to make predictions
about the total number of specific colors in one wrapper of
Smarties. The data they collected was then used to help
them create a bar graph and to respond to several ques-
tions.
In Health, they are learning about their growing bodies, and
the importance of family members getting along and dis-
playing love amongst one another.
The 2
nd
graders are surely putting their best foot forward.
First Grade
Grandparents Day Pic

The grandparents of Evan Sherard look on
proudly, as Evan completes a Grandparents
Day craft.
Fantastic Fifth Grade -
5th Grade News
BOES Newsletter, Vol. 1 Page 5
Addition and Subtraction of Whole Numbers!! You
will use this skill for your entire life. This month stu-
dents will review place value as we write numbers in
standard, word and expanded form. We will work
with numbers from the ones to the millions place to
add and subtract whole numbers to find both exact
and estimated values. We will then continue the skill
of addition to find the perimeter of given figures and
create figures when given a specific perimeter.
Math Facts will be a continuous skill that we need our
students to continue to work on. Their knowledge of
addition, subtraction and multiplication facts will be
assessed throughout the year with our weekly drills.
So we ask that parents assist us by helping their chil-
dren memorize their foundational math facts.
Do you know why authors write? We do! The stu-
dents are learning that authors write to persuade,
inform and entertain. We will discuss what types of
stories that have been written that may fit into each
of those categories. We will also begin inferences. We
will do a lot of work around inferences this school
year. At home ask your child questions where they
may have to draw a conclusion. It will help them in
the classroom.
In Oral Written Communications we are still working
with the different type of sentences. We will move
into multiple meaning words soon. An example of a
multiple meaning word is bat: a bat could be an ani-
mal that flies through the air or a bat could also be an
object used to hit a ball.
Please have your child to read nightly as a part of
their bedtime ritual. We want to improve our SRI
scores and the best way to do that is to continue
reading!!!!
The sixth graders have definitely been busy since the first day of school. Not only have they transitioned
from fifth grade to become the seniors at Barack Obama ES but they have also overcome the merging
of classes and getting to know new classmates and teachers. The sixth grade scholars have been en-
gaged in several classroom activities consisting of vocabulary development, identifying genres, textbook
scavenger hunts, read alouds, Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) testing, and dividing fractions and three
- and four- digit whole numbers. With all of the changes and transitions thus far, our sixth grade eagles
are soaring to new heights!
Making Transitions - 6th Grade News
4th Grade News
Welcome to a new and exciting school year. Students
are adjusting to the routines and the rigor of fifth
grade. In making this transition from fourth grade, stu-
dents are finding that being organized and completing
homework are essential to their academic success.
Can you believe we have been in school for almost a
month? By now, students should all have their school
supplies. These learning tools are vital to their suc-
cess.
Now that pre and baseline tests are completed. Stu-
dents have jumped right into the curriculum. In Read-
ing, we are organizing journals, setting expectations
and establishing guidelines and routines for building
our literacy community. During the first cycle, students
will monitor their comprehension, determine the theme
of a story and make inferences using text clues and
their prior knowledge. In Oral and Written Commu-
nication, we will review the kinds of sentences and
simple and complete subjects and predicates. Stu-
dents will also create sentences by combining de-
pendent and independent clauses. In Social Studies,
our focus will be on geography. Students will identify
elements of a map and locate places using latitude
and longitude. In Math, students are already using
base ten blocks place to model place value and multi-
ply decimals by powers of ten. Please have your child
to study their multiplication facts nightly so they can
master this skill. On-line access codes for the enVi-
sion textbooks have been given to students. Earth
Science will be the first unit of study in science. Stu-
dents will cover topics such as erosion, weathering,
and the water cycle.
Kudos to all parents who attended Back to School
Night. It was a pleasure meeting you. We look forward
to working together to provide a successful academic
year for your child.
Page 6
Health Room Updates
Jeanine M. Cannon, RN
School Nurse
Medications at school are needed at times and
should be sent only when absolutely necessary. In order for the school nurse to comply
with the law and stay within her scope of practice, as mandated by the Board of educa-
tion, all medications and treatments must have appropriate medication/treatment form
signed by Parents and a Health Care Provider. If your child needs medication while in
school, please have your physician fill out the necessary PGCPS Medication form. These
forms can be obtained on the PGCPS website or in the health room at the school. After
the forms have been completed, bring the form and unopened medication into the
health room at the same time. Please note that the school nurse cannot accept one with-
out the other. All medication must be brought in by a parent. Children may not carry
medication of any kind on them.
Building Good Study Habits
Mrs. Tolbert, Testing Coordinator
It takes a combination of skills organization, time management, prioritization, concentration and moti-
vation to achieve academic success. Here are some tips to help get your child on the right track.
1. Organization
Whether it's keeping track of research materials or remembering to bring home a lunch box, children
need to be organized to succeed in school. For many students, academic challenges are related more to a
lack of organization than to a lack of intellectual ability.
2. Time Management
Learning to schedule enough time to complete an assignment may be difficult for your student. Even
when students have a week to do a project, many won't start until the night before it's due. Learning to
organize time into productive blocks takes practice and experience.
3. Prioritization
Sometimes children fall behind in school and fail to hand in assignments because they simply don't know
where to begin. Prioritizing tasks is a skill your child will need throughout life, so it's never too soon to
get started.
4. Concentration
Whether your child is practicing her second-grade spelling words or studying for a trigonometry test, its
important that she works on school work in an area with limited distractions and interruptions.
5. Motivation
Most children say they want to do well in school, yet many still fail to complete the level of work neces-
sary to succeed academically. The reason is often motivation. Tapping into your childs interests is a great
way to get him geared to do well in school.
(Pulled from an article entitled, Five Key Skills for Academic Success @ www.greatschools.org)
Page 7
Our School Counselor
Mrs. Glenda Baines
About Mrs. Baines
Mrs. Baines is the School Counselor at Barack Obama Elementary School. She has been the counselor at
this school since its opening in August of 2010. She has been a School Counselor for six years. Mrs. Baines
received her degree in School Counseling from Bowie State University. Prior to becoming a School Coun-
selor, she has worked in Maryland Public Schools as a teacher for 16 years.
A School Counselor
Helps students develop positive attitudes about themselves, their family, and their community
Counsels students individually and in groups
Develops and delivers classroom guidance lessons that teach skills such as conflict resolution
Works collaboratively with students, parents, and teachers to identify and remove barriers that may
impede student achievement
Mrs. Baines is available to answer any questions you may have about your childs academic, emotional or
social progress. She can be reached at gbaines@pgcps.org or at 301-576-4020.
Grandparents Day
Our Grandparents Day Celebration was a huge success. There were about 150 grandparents and grand-
friends that were in attendance. Our students had the opportunity to show off their grandparents as well
as the work they have been working on in school. We would like to extend our gratitude for making this
event a memorable one for our students. In addition, we would like to give a special thank you to the Ms.
Gaines and the PTA members for their assistance.
Personal Education Plan (PEP)
Beginning in October, Mrs. Baines and will be conducting individual PEP meetings with all first and fourth
grade students. During the PEP meeting, we will discuss with your child their progress to date, their short
term and long term goals, and we will be identifying strategies and resources to best meet their needs.
Prior to the meeting, please discuss the following with your child...
What are your childs strengths and weaknesses?
How does your child learn best?
What are childs career goals?
What are your childs special talents?
What is your main goal for your child this year?
What does your child know about college?
Upcoming Events and Activities
Friday, October 24
th

Career Day
Please consider sharing your career on that date .
Please check your childs folder for information on how to volunteer.
Thank you in advance for making this a special day for our students.
September 11 - Claires Gourmet Fundraiser begins
September 18 - PTA-Out of Uniform day
September 19 - Schools Closed
(Professional Development for staff)
September 25 - Schools and Offices Closed
(Rosh Hashanah)
Looking ahead...
October 7 - Fall Picture Day (Must wear uniform)
October 7 - PTA Meeting / STEM Instructional Night (6 - 8 pm)
October 9 - First Quarter Progress Reports Released
October 14 - BOES Math Night (6 - 8:30 pm)

September Calendar of Events
BOES Newsletter, Vol. 1 Page 8
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