Ashburton Elementary School
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Ashburton Elementary School
6314 Lone Oak Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 * 240-740-1300
PRINCIPAL’S NEWS
March, 2018
Dear Parents,
February may be the shortest month of the year, but there was no shortage of outstanding
happenings at Ashburton! This month, we saw STEAM night, an instrumental music concert, an
African storyteller, a visit from the Walter Johnson HS Show Choir, Valentine’s parties, an
Adventure Theater performance, Read Across America Week and a multitude of field trips!
Everything but the kitchen sink it would seem! As usual, we have so many people to thank for
all of the support, the volunteer hours, the creativity, and the enthusiasm. Thank you to all who
afforded our students all of these wonderful opportunities!
We had an amazing second STEAM night that was bigger and better than the first. Our students
from kindergarten to fifth grade created exciting science projects and explorations. We all learned
a lot and were so impressed with our children who shared so much. I wanted to give a special shout
out to the talented students who performed in the Adventure Theater production of the Knights of
the Rad Table. I am thankful for the PTA’s continued support of this and so many other
opportunities for our students. I would like to thank all of our parent volunteers for helping to
organize the Valentine’s Day parties. The parties were a success and the Valentine Smencils sales
were great. The SGA will make a donation from the proceeds to a worthy cause.
March got off to a very interesting start! We had a day off for some unbelievable winds on March
2 and I hope that those of you who were impacted have had your power restored and your spirits
lifted. As an unfortunate result of the March wind day, we had to Calendar Updates:
cancel the PTA Staff Appreciation Luncheon. Thank you to all of
you who planned, cooked, and baked and know that our staff March 6- Board of Education
Cluster Forum, 7 pm at WJ High
definitely feel appreciated!
School – all parents are welcome
th
We are looking forward to our International Night on March 9 March 9- PTA’s International
and had a great preview with the assembly on March 5th. We have Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
such a wonderful diverse community and this event really is a
celebration of all of the countries our families come from and the March 15- Grade 1 Music Night
cultures that make up the fabric of Ashburton. We kicked off the 7 pm
week heading into International Night with our annual student March 19- Dine Out with
cultural show and our students gave a rousing performance that Ashburton at Montgomery Mall
seems to get better each year! We hope to see you on Friday!
March 20-Parent Meeting about
It is hard to believe that we are already half way through the third Safety and Security, 6:30 p.m.
quarter! Interim Progress Reports will be sent home this week. The March 26- April 2 Spring
purpose of an interim is to keep the lines of communication open Break
between school and home about the academic progress of our students. Interims are a way to notify
parents if a student is having difficulty in a subject area so we can work together to ensure academic
success.
With the coming of March comes the beginning of our much anticipated construction project! Pre-
construction for our expanded APR, and addition projects will begin soon and I will be sending
out information regarding modified arrival and dismissal plans shortly. The expansion of the all
purpose room will impact the parking lot and sidewalk and we therefore have to adjust some of
our procedures.
Thank you for your continued support and collaboration to make Ashburton a great place to learn!
We look forward to seeing you at the many events this month at Ashburton.
Sincerely,
Greg Mullenholz
NEWS & NOTES
SAFETY AND SECURITY
During the month of February, MCPS and the Nation grappled with yet another tragedy at a
school. Dr. Smith, on behalf of the system, has reiterated that safety and security of all students,
staff and visitors is of primary concern in MCPS. I often tell the students that the principal has
only two jobs: to keep everyone safe and to keep everyone learning. Ashburton Elementary
takes both of these roles very seriously. Some of you reached out to me with questions and
concerns following the recent incidents and many of you wanted to know how you could help
and if the system had any resources that you could use to read more about safety and security
and how to handle this sensitive topic with students. As the superintendent shared in his
communications, MCPS has a robust set of resources regarding this and I encourage all of you
to explore them: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/emergency/preparedness/ .
On March 20, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. in the All-Purpose Room, I will be co-hosting a meeting with
the PTA that takes a deeper dive into safety and security in the system as well as specific
protocols at Ashburton. Simultaneously, you will be receiving update protocols and procedures
from me that detail how we address safety and security at Ashburton. Much of this may not be
new, but the information will be a helpful reminder to the community about how we can work
together to ensure the safety of all. More information will be forthcoming regarding this
meeting. The PTA will be providing babysitting.
KINDERGARTEN ORIENTATION, APRIL 26 AND 27, 2018
Our Kindergarten Orientation will be held on April 26th and 27th for all children who will turn
5 by September 1, 2018. Please register from this link or on the school website
http://bit.ly/AshburtonKO2018. Also, please encourage neighbors with pre-school aged
children to contact us. Kindergarten parents, please note that your children will not have school
on those two dates.
WORLD-FAMOUS LOCAL AUTHOR LEADS DOUBLE LIFE AS ART TEACHER!
Our local celebrity, Mr. Jonathan Roth, was a huge hit at our March 4 PTA Book Fair at Barnes
& Noble! He is making quite the splash in the literary world and we are fortunate to learn from
such a talented artist and teacher each and every day. For those that may not have heard, Mr.
Roth has written and illustrated a new children’s series of books and the first two books in the
series will be released on March 13. We are very excited for Mr. Roth and know your children
are too. Mr. Roth will be doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Rockville on March 18
at 2:00 p.m.
PARCC APRIL/MAY 2018 SCHEDULE
Mark your calendars for PARCC testing for grades 3-5 for April and May 2018; if at all
possible, please do not make doctor’s appointments during the mornings (usually between 9:00-
11:00 or 11:30 a.m.) as make-up tests must be rescheduled if your child misses a test. See below
for the dates for each grade.
Literacy Math
Grade 3 April 24 May 11
May 1 May 15
May 9 (12-2 pm)
Grade 4 April 23 May 7
April 30 May 18
May 4
Grade 5 April 25 May 14
May 2 May 16
May 8CLASSROOM HAPPENINGS
PEP Newsletter: Theme of the month: 16th. Please look out for more information from
your child’s teacher.
Growing Up Healthy
We are wrapping up our fifth unit: “Imagine It
Make It”, and now we are moving on to our next
unit, which is “Growing Up Healthy”. This Theme
will run from March 12th until April 13th. We
will be learning about our 5 senses, self- First Grade News
awareness, safety awareness, healthy eating,
exercise, Dear First Grade Families,
community March is an exciting time in first
helpers that keep grade! We had a great time last week for
us safe and Read Across America week. First graders
healthy and how celebrated reading and Dr. Seuss’
to take care of Birthday all week!
yourself and
others. First Grade Music Night is March
15th from 7:00 – 8:00pm. On Music Night
Reminders: your child will sing the songs they have
No PEP on Friday 3/2 learned this year in music class. We
Spring Break: No School Monday encourage you to have your child dress
March 23rd – Monday April 2nd (we up for Music Night since they will be on
return on Tuesday April 3rd stage!
March is also the month we have
March Happenings in Kindergarten International Night at AES! We are so
lucky to have a wide range of cultures
Thank you to everyone that helped
represented at our school! This year’s
out and participated in our
International Night with be on Friday,
Valentine’s Day parties! They
March 9th. We hope to see you there!
were all a great success. We will
be starting the month of March by We are looking forward to March
celebrating Read Across America being another fabulous month in first
Week! We will be doing an grade.
Author’s Study on Dr. Seuss and
reading several of his books throughout the Sincerely,
week. We encourage you to read at home with The First Grade Team
your child. Students will be making a non-fiction
book this month. Students will research an
animal and then use resources to write facts about Second Grade Town News
what they learned. We will then move into
opinion writing and will discuss how it differs Hello Second Grade Parents! February was
from writing facts. Kindergarten classes will be a great month, finished off with a wonderful
going on a field trip to Glen Echo on March trip to the American History Museum. Wewere excited to walk through the “Hall of
Inventors” after spending so much time
learning about technology and inventions! News 4 You
Throughout the entire quarter in writing we March is a busy time of year in 4th grade!
are working on creating We are looking forward to our Annapolis
opinion statements and field trip on Thursday, March 15th
supporting those (Keane, Mullins, Weaver)), and Tuesday,
statements with March 20th (Brenner, Cline, Greco). We
reasons and examples. will be going over two separate days due
As a great follow up to to the size of our grade level and
the field trip, ask your capacity of students on the tour in
child his or her opinion
Annapolis. We will be discussing
on the museum and have him or her give you
Maryland’s government and how a bill
examples from things experienced to support
that opinion. We are looking forward to a fun becomes a law prior to our trip. Students
and learning filled month, this March. wrote a letter to a senator or delegate
Towards the end of the month we will have sharing an opinion regarding a proposed
an exciting visit from a traveling planetarium. bill. They have also been working on a
Details to come! As always, please contact media messages project which requires
your child’s teacher if you have any students to use evidence from cereal
questions or concerns. commercials to support whether certain
advertising techniques are effective or
Third Grade Newsletter: March responsible.
Here comes March! First, we want to share how In science, we are looking forward to
much fun we had on our field trip to the exploring the earths major systems and
Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We also
planning experiments to model their
enjoyed an inspirational play at the Discovery
interactions.
Theater. Thank you to the parents that were able
to join us! This month, third graders will end Thank you,
marking period 3 finishing up fractions in math.
Look for opportunities at home to analyze, Mrs. Brenner, Ms. Cline, Ms. Greco,
identify and build fractions from real situations in Mrs. Keane, Ms. Mullins, Mrs. Weaver,
our everyday lives. For example, perhaps you and Mrs. Wloszczowski
went to a Dine-Out at Ledo’s pizza and the pizza
arrived with 8 slices in it. Can your 3rd grader
Grade 5 News
discuss what the unit of this whole would be? Math
(1/8) Could they build a larger fraction from the
unit? (2 slices would be two-eighths). As the This month, the students will be using models to
months continue, students will eventually use the show how to divide fractions. They are dividing
engineering and design process to create their whole numbers by unit fractions (a fraction with
own “cooler” to keep a Popsicle from melting! a numerator of 1) and dividing unit fractions by
Look for examples of conductors and insulators whole numbers. In working with the models, they
at home. As always, please contact your child’s are identifying the relationship between
teacher if you have any questions! multiplication and division and creating real-
world problems that use division with unit
fractions. This unit highlights that a fraction is
another way of expressing division.The Compacted Math students are using positive There are exciting things happening in the
and negative rational numbers and four quadrant School Garden! After a successful Green
coordinate grids, solving problems from “real- Thumb Club after school session in the Fall
world” contexts, using estimation, appropriate of 2017, it is now fully funded for a Spring
operations, and reviewing the hazard zones for Session (and beyond) through a $1000 grant
computational errors. They next will work with from the Piedmont Environmental Education
exponents, representing and evaluating Foundation. Congratulations to Kindergarten
expressions with whole number exponents. That teacher Erin Burrell for finding this
work will lead into explorations with algebra, opportunity and taking the lead on submitting
using both numbers and letters representing the proposal! 3rd-5th grade Green Thumb
numbers, evaluating them to find the values of the Club members observe, learn about, plant,
variables used, and applying the order of and maintain a garden as they watch it grow.
operations conventions. They will create and Students also explore other topics such a
identify equivalent algebraic expressions to find waste reduction, recycling, energy
the value(s) of the variable(s) that makes an conservation, composting, and pollution
equation true. prevention. Thank you to Ms. Rillera and
Mrs. Burrell for sponsoring this club again!
Social Studies and Science
Former Ashburton student Cecilia Hornyak is
The two science and social studies groups have
a Girl Scout Gold Award candidate and has
flipped and will be doing the work described in
chosen the garden to complete her
the February newsletter, respectively.
project. Cecilia, a current sophomore at
In Reading this month, students will be working Stone Ridge High School, will construct a
on finishing their graphic novels. Students will rain barrel and raised garden bed. Her
analyze the plot structure using a plot project will emphasize sustainable
diagram. They will identify the exposition, rising agriculture, water conservation techniques,
action, climax, falling action, and resolution. We and Green Thumb Club students will have an
will also begin our study of informational texts opportunity to experiment with a new
for the quarter. Students will be reading graphic planting technique. This new raised bed will
texts about Apollo 13 and Apollo 11. They will be the perfect home to a new addition in the
be analyzing the narrative boxes, dialogue, and garden...a strawberry patch!
illustrations to determine meaning. Students will
While it is only March, there ARE things
also be examining articles for multiple main ideas
growing in the garden! All sorts of flora
and summarizing skills. Lastly, students will be
waking up with new growth--pansies,
analyzing multiple accounts of the same event
daffodils in bud, irises, catmint, strawberries,
with the moon landing.
stonecrop, and chard. The Green Thumb
In Writing, students will begin their narrative Club planted about thirty crocus bulbs in the
writing project for Quarter 3. They will choose fall under the Crepe Myrtle tree and they
to write either a realistic fiction story or a mystery should be blooming any day now. As the
story. Students will be planning their stories with weather warms, we welcome teachers,
plot diagrams. They will then draft a story using parents, and students to venture outside to
meaningful dialogue and detailed events. take a look for yourself!
March Garden News:• Mrs. Burton and Ms. Skiest then meet
with the fourth grade teachers for input on
academic and citizenship concerns that might
impact a child’s selection. Some students may be
recommended for a waiting list at this point and
are reevaluated by their 5th grade teacher at the
end of the first grading period in the fall.
• Candidates are sorted into walker and
bus route groups. Mrs. Burton and Ms. Skiest
meet with small groups of bus riders to
determine the stops where each student gets on
and off the bus. They also explain that pure
numbers or bus stop location may decide who
gets chosen to be a patrol, so not everyone will
be selected.
• An official application is sent home to
those making the final “cut.” Starting with a
smaller group in the spring, and adding students
after the new school year begins works best.
There are always children moving out of the
Ashburton community and new ones coming in
over the summer. Changes in bus schedules or
routes can also alter plans made in the spring.
So Your Child Wants to Be A Patrol
• New patrols are trained in May and June
So Your Child Wants to Be A
toward the end of their 4th grade school year. If
Patrol
all goes according to plan, they serve as patrols
If you have a fourth grader, during the last few days of school and when the
chances are you are hearing a bit about the fifth grade goes to Philadelphia.
selection of safety patrols for next year. To dispel
We are looking for 4th graders that set a
rumors and demystify the process, Patrol
good example for peers, display
Advisors, Katie Burton and Allie Skiest offers this
leadership qualities, show compassion,
description of how the safety patrol force is
and have a consistent transportation
chosen.
schedule to join the Ashburton patrols.
• In March, 4th graders are surveyed If you have further questions about the patrol
about their interest in serving as a patrol. Most selection process, please contact Mrs. Burton at
say “yes”. They note how they get to school Katharine_B_Burton@mcpsmd.org or Allie
(walk or bus, and which bus route) as well as why Skiest at Alexandra_Skiest@mcpsmd.org
they wish to be a patrol.
• In April, Mrs. Burton and Ms. Skiest send
a note containing the patrol pledge home to
parents of interested students. Parents must
sign to indicate whether or not they want their
child to be considered for the patrol force.You can also read
