PRES Welcome Back Newsletter
August 31, 2020
Pointers Run Elementary School
PRES Vision: Every student strives to reach academic, social, and personal excellence.
PRES Mission: The PRES community collaborates to develop responsible lifelong learners in a climate of empathy and respect.Website: https://pres.hcpss.org
Location: 6600 South Trotter Road, Clarksville, MD, USA
Phone: 410-313-7142
Twitter: @hcpss_pres
Dear Pointers Run Families,
We look forward to when we can all be safely together again at school. But, as you know our Board of Education made the decision this summer that we will start virtually for the first semester. Please know that our HCPSS curriculum offices have been working around the clock since last spring to develop our new virtual instructional model. We are excited to share that each grade level will have a more robust daily schedule with additional “live” synchronous standard based instruction and small group instruction. We have shared some resources with you down below in the newsletter.
Our staff started back virtually on August 25th. We spent the day focusing on reconnecting with one another, played online games, engaged in break out room discussions, and learned the vision for our virtual teaching. It feels great to have our PRES staff back together again! We have been busy focusing on creative ways to build relationships with our students in the virtual setting. We are looking forward to welcoming each and every one of our PRES students back to school next week.
It is going to be a great year and we are here to support you and your child in our PRES virtual school. We have compiled numerous resources and supports in this newsletter to help you prepare for the first day of school on September 8th. We look forward to seeing you online very soon.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Julie Schruefer, Principal
Mrs. Mariah Carr, Assistant Principal
“No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.” ~Dr. James Comer
Every Parent or Guardian Must Complete this for the 2020-2021 School Year
It is time to update your child's emergency contact information in HCPSS Connect! This is the most important step as we prepare for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Your Family file needs to be updated every school year.
Families that update and complete their Family File will be able to view teacher assignments for the upcoming school year beginning September 1, 2020.
Having this information is critical to use for emergency information and early closings. Parents/guardians must verify and/or update information for each child, and can do so by logging in to HCPSS Connect and selecting the Family File tab and then clicking on Family File.
HCPSS uses Family File for parents/guardians to complete emergency information. Parents/guardians must verify and/or update information for each child.
Once logged in, parents/guardians will be asked to provide or update the following information:
- Student information
- Parent/guardian contact
- Emergency contacts
- Medical information
- Arrival/dismissal procedures
- Media release (photo approval)
- Data confidentiality
- PTA/PTSA directory
Let's Meet our Teachers for 2020-2021
Canvas Orientation Page
Parent Guides on Canvas
Student Orientation Videos and Guides
PRES Student Virtual Daily Schedules
Devices and Grade Level Instructional Materials for Each Child
We are excited that every student in our school gets a device from HCPSS and a bag of instructional materials. We will be distributing these on September 3, 2020.
We want every child to use our HCPSS Chromebook due to many advantages with virtual learning. These are:
All of the software is upgraded and all of them are compatible with our programs for virtual learning.
We also can support and troubleshoot with families and students on the HCPSS devices. We are not able to do this if using a personal device.
If you borrowed a device last spring, you will be keeping that device for the fall. We will ask that you still come to school to pick up the instructional bag of materials for each child.
This Thursday, September 3rd, we will have the device pick up and instructional materials pick up at PRES. We also have welcome bags for our Kindergarten Students from our PTA. Every family will drive up to school and stay in their cars as our staff provides them with what they need. We will have our staff volunteering and we will need about two to four minutes with each car. So, we ask that you please be on the lookout for the directions and traffic patterns that will come to your inbox to be prepared for Thursday.
We also will be collecting any library books, materials to return to teachers, and instruments. We will ask you to label what you are returning with student name and teacher. Also, that you keep these in your trunk and we will ask you to pop your truck, so you never get out of your car. Our staff will drop them in boxes as you come to collect your items. Families from last year can return their belongings on Friday the 4th between 8:30-10:00 am.
At this time, we have the distribution for PRES Students on 9-3-20 set up as followed:
Families with the last names lettered: A-C: 8:30-9:30
Families with the last names lettered: D-H 9:45-10:30
Families with the last names lettered: I-M 10:45-11:45
Families with the last names lettered: N-R 12:30-1:15
Families with the last names lettered: S-W 1:30-2:30
Families with the last names lettered: X-Z 2:45-3:00
Each Car will receive: Grade level bag of materials RECC-5th grade and a HCPSS device if you did not have one in the spring. Kin. students will have welcome gift from PTA
Our number of volunteers is based on how many students fall within each letter. So, please come during your assigned time. You can designate someone other than yourself to pick up the device for you. We have very limited volunteers and ask that you please come at the times listed above. We will send out specific directions and share another time to collect your materials on our next communication in the next few days,
HCPSS Log in and Password Support
Please Click on the Buttons(links) Below for More Information
PRES PTA Update
Join the PTA and Donate today!
It's time to become a member and join the PTA for the 2020-2021 school year! This year we are excited to announce a brand new way to join - Memberhub! Memberhub will be your one stop shop for membership and donations. For directions on how to join, please visit our PTA Website - http://www.pointersrunpta.org/memberhub/
As a reminder - you must join each year to be a member - your membership from last year does not carry over. We are looking forward to a very special year - even in this virtual world!
School Supplies
Purchase your school supplies through Amazon Smile! Simply choose the items you need/want or add them all! Every purchase benefits the PRES PTA - happy shopping! To sign up for Amazon Smile:\Go to link https://smile.amazon.com/ Select 'Account & Lists' on right top, Select 'Amazon Smile', Search for ' Pointers Run Elementary' and 'select' your grade level.
PRES Student Orientation is on 9/4/20
Here are the times for orientation with your child's teacher:
Kin:11:00-11:45
2nd Grade -12:30-1:15
3rd Grade -1:15-1:45
4th Grade -1:45-2:15
5th Grade -2:15-2:45
We will be sending you all of the log-in information in the next few days.
Save the Dates
Sept. 1st : Families can preview Homeroom Teacher assignments in HCPSS Connect
Sept. 3rd: Student Device and Material Pick Up
Sept 3rd: RECC (Pre-K) Back to School Night 5:30 pm
Sept. 3rd: Kindergarten Back to School Night 6:00 pm
Sept. 4th Student Orientation/Open House (Times listed above)
Sept. 8th: First day of school from Kindergarten through 5th grade students
Sept. 10th: First Day of School for RECC students
Sept. 15th: 7:00 pm PTA meeting
Sept. 21st: 6:00 pm 1st grade, 6:45 2nd grade
Sept. 22nd: 6:00 3rd grade, 6:45 4th grade
Sept. 23rd: 5:30 GT Information Night, 6:00 5th grade