Thurgood Marshall Elementary School

Thurgood Marshall Elementary School 12505 Kahns Road Manassas, Virginia 20112 November 2009

"A Community of Learners Inspiring Minds to Do Great Things""

Visit our website at: www.pwcs.edu/marshall Dear Parents, I am pleased to announce that once again Thurgood Marshall Elementary has met the criteria to be recognized as a Prince William County School of Excellence! We take pride in the efforts of our staff, students, and community and are pleased when those efforts pay off. Thank you for your part in continuing excellence at Marshall. Regular, purposeful communication between school and home is necessary for every child to reach his/her academic potential. If you were unable to meet with your child’s teacher on the recent Parent Conference Day, please make arrangements to meet or speak by phone. Once again the Fall Festival was a huge success! We thank our PTO and volunteers for their hard work. It was great to see so many students, parents, and teachers having fun. A big thank you goes out to all who contributed with a gift of your time or a donation; it was greatly appreciated. Thank you to our PTO for a job well done. As we go into colder months and with the potential of school interruptions due to inclement weather, be sure that you have a contingency plan in place should school close early. Now is a great time to inform your child of that plan and to keep the school upto-date. Respectfully, Kay Hermeling

Dates to Remember… Nov. 2 Nov. 3

No School-Teacher Workday No School – Election Day Conference Day 9:30 Conversation with Counselors Nov 4-19 SCA Operation Turkey Nov. 9 9:30 Hugs & Kisses Grades 3-5 2 Hugs & Kisses Grades K-2

7 p.m. PTO Meeting Nov. 10 Report Cards Home Nov. 11 No School – Veterans Day Nov. 12 3rd Grade Naglieri Testing Nov. 17,19 & 20 3rd Grade CoGat Testing Nov. 17 6:30-7:30 p.m. Kindergarten Family Game Night Nov. 19 6 p.m. Family Art Night Nov. 19 Operation Turkey Ends Nov. 20 PTO Inside Out Day PICTURE RETAKE DAY Nov 25 12:15 Early Dismissal Turkey Trot Day “0” Nov 27 No School – Thanksgiving Nov 28 No School – Thanksgiving Dec. 1 SCA Hat & Mitten Tree Toys for Tots 12/1 – 12/18 Dec. 7-11 Book Fair

Important Information Please note that Marshall will be dismissed at 12:15 on November 25. Students will be served lunch starting at 9:50 a.m. There are changes in the schedule of lunches so consult with individual classroom teachers for times. As usual, you may send a lunch with your child or choose to have your child eat the school lunch.

FIFTH ANNUAL TURKEY TROT November 25 Get ready for the Fifth Annual Turkey Trot! Third, fourth, and fifth grade level students and teachers will trot for the

overall fastest times at Marshall! Parents are welcome to run, too! This will be a Day 0 on our caledar. • 4th Grade at 9:15 a.m. • 3th grade at 10:00 a.m. • 5th grade at 10:45 a.m. Boys and girls will be in separate races. The course is a half-mile (1/2) around the building and down to the soccer field. See you there! Mrs. Nancy Arena PE Specialist Operation Turkey! Help us bring a happy Thanksgiving and holiday season to our community’s neediest families! SERVE’s Operation Turkey and Holiday Giving program will provide Thanksgiving baskets to more than 1400 individuals and families, as well as holiday gifts for children. Those served are identified by local social service departments and through SERVE’s client lists. We are asking each class to donate food, including any of the following: Stuffing, canned fruit, gravy, coffee/tea/cocoa, canned vegetables, peanut butter/jelly, cranberry sauce, yams, sweet potatoes, cornbread, muffin mix, canned pumpkin, pasta, pasta sauces, cream soups, Bisquick, rice, boxed desserts, potatoes, applesauce, sugar. ALL ITEMS SHOULD BE TURNED IN BY NOVEMBER 19. Scholastic Book Fair Coming Soon The Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the

library December 7 -11. We are so excited to host the Book Fair Read Around the World in Marshall’s library. We’ve created exciting events for families, and we want to share this celebration of reading with you. Book Fairs are one of the highlights of the school year and we are very excited about this one. Family Night will be Tuesday, December 8; we will be opened 5-8 p.m. for family shopping. During the Family Night students will be able to learn about countries around the world as well as shop for exciting books. We are looking for volunteers to help us set up the fair on Friday, December 5, and to set up and run the fair during the week. If you are interested in helping with the fair please contact Sue Siegel or Tammy Potter, 703.791.2099 or email [email protected] . From the Desk of Joyce Campbell, Our School Nurse… Now is the time to protect yourself and your family against influenza by getting a flu shot. Please contact your doctor or the Health Department for more information.

Please remember all medications must come to school with an adult. There is a form to be filled out for every medication. A physician’s signature is required for all prescription medications and a parent’s signature is

required for all over the counter medications. These forms can be picked up at the school or downloaded from our web site.

When Should Your Child Stay Home? When deciding whether or not to send your child to school, please consider the following guidelines. FEVER Your child should stay home with a temperature greater than 100 degrees. They should return to school only after their temperature has been below 100, without fever medications, for at least 24 hours. VOMITING Even just once DIARRHEA FREQUENT COUGH congested (wet) or croup-sounding cough EXCESSIVE NASAL CONGESTION with runny nose or frequent need to blow Colds are the most contagious during the first 48 hours. A child who has started antibiotics needs to be on the medication for 24 hours before being considered noncontagious and able to return to school. Please remember it is an extremely long day for a child who is sent to school ill. Remaining at home will help minimize the spread of the infections and viruses in the classroom. We appreciate your help with keeping all our Marshall students healthy and ready to learn.

Friendly Reminders… Thurgood Marshall Elementary Office Hours Our office staff is ready, willing, and able to serve you. The Marshall office will be open between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.. For security, the main building should not be entered before or after that time. Parents may enter the SACC area to pick up or drop off students or attend an after school function. However, they should remain only in those areas of the building. While there may be staff in the building before or after these hours, they are involved in meetings or dealing with issues specific to their job requirements. They will not be able to assist you in getting into classrooms to retrieve forgotten materials. With this in mind, I ask that you respect their time and efforts to get their work completed, by not asking them to help with entering locked rooms. You may reach the front office by phoning 703.791-2099. -Remember to phone the absentee line, 703.794.9421, if your child will be out of school for the day. If we do not hear from you, we will call to verify the absence.

Emergency Cards As we approach potential bad weather days, please double check that the information on your child’s Emergency Card/Phone Tree is up to date. If your child is tardy for any reason, please bring them into the office to sign them in. This is the only way that we can assure that they are supervised and safe. This applies to any student who arrives after the 9 a.m. tardy bell.