The Eagle Express
University Park Elementary
April 6, 2011
Principal’s Corner: I am very excited about the Azalea Classic coming up this Saturday! I hope you have all registered to participate! We have 45 staff members who will be attending, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there! A dedication of our big clock out front will take place at 8:15 a.m. The 1 Mile Challenge starts at 8:30; the 1K Family Fun Run begins at 8:45; and the 5K Run/Walk starts at 9:05! The Northwestern High School Marching Band will be playing, and there will be lots of refreshments and entertainment to follow! Many of our local businesses have donated items/money/gift certificates for us to enjoy – it should be a fantastic day!
Many thanks to the Lonesome Valley Ramblers - they donated their tips from their March 25th gig at the New Deal Cafe to our PTA!
Congratulations to these students for being winners at the County Write-A-Book Contest: Andrew Martin and Henry Niepoetter; Keyla Brown and Rachel Hotakainen; Naile Irem Ozpolat; Stella Hurtt; Zoe Phillips and Elisa Zeng; and Katelyn Herberholz! We are so proud of you!
Congratulations to Amelia Komisar-Bury, Andrew Martin, Charles Dawson, Fred Buchanan, and Nelson Lotz! They will be competing in the county-wide STEM (Science) Fair! We wish them the best of luck!
The school system is asking parents of first, third, and fifth graders to fill out a Climate Survey on our school on-line! Letters will be sent home this week giving you directions on how to access the survey. The survey will give you a unique code that is different for each family. If you do not have internet access at home, you can come to our computer lab at school today until 7 p.m. You can also use the computers at the Hyattsville Public Library. (The county has decided to give the survey only on-line in order to save money and time.) This survey will give us excellent feedback on what we are doing well, and how we can improve!
The last day of school for students has been changed to June 17th, in order to make up all of the snow days.
Please come to our International Dinner on Thursday, April 14th in our gym! Bring a dish from your heritage to share with everyone! We will have an International parade of everyone who wears clothing from their culture, and a wonderful concert from our instrumental students! Dinner is from 6 – 7 p.m., and the concert starts at 7 p.m.! Look for the flyer in this Wednesday folder!
We are still taking yearbook orders this week! They are only $17.00 (payable to UPES), and make a wonderful memento of this school year. The yearbooks will arrive at the beginning of June.
We are holding our Career Day on Wednesday, April 27th from 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.! If you would be willing to speak during Career Day, please fill out the flyer included in the Wednesday Envelope and send it in! Even if you only have a half hour to spare, we’d love to have you!
The PTA will be holding an Open House for prospective parents on Friday, April 29th from 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. If you know of anyone who is interested in finding out more about UPES, please ask them to join us!
Kindergarten registration will begin on April 4 at all boundary schools for children that will be turning 5 by September 1, 2011. Prekindergarten registration will begin on April 11 at all boundary schools for all children that will be turning 4 by September 1, 2011. For PreK, as of June 1, families may register at any elementary school that still has available seats. This is an income eligible program. No above income children will be accepted. Transportation is provided to boundary schools only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call our registrar, Devilan Cowherd, at 301-985-1898.
From Jan Creamer, our Speech Pathologist: Since May is Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), I wanted to remind you about the dangers of noise abuse and how to protect your hearing—and the hearing of your children. Loud volumes associated with portable listening systems such as iPods and CD players, rock concerts, indoor sports events, and video arcades can damage hearing and cause hearing loss.
Teach your children that what they are listening to is too loud if:
• You must raise your voice to be heard;
• You have difficulty understanding someone who is an arm's length away;
• You have pain, ringing, or buzzing in your ears after exposure to
loud sounds; or
• Speech sounds muffled or dull after noise exposure.
Below are some quick and easy guidelines you can follow to help
protect your family’s hearing:
• Be very cautious in allowing your preschooler to use any personal listening device with headsets or any form of ear buds. Before buying any sound-making toy for an infant or toddler, hold it up to your ear to detect the volume. Follow the same rule for toys already in the home and either remove the batteries or discard the toy if they are too loud.
• If you and your children attend rock concerts, do lawn work for
extra spending money or to help around the house, or attend indoor professional sports events, please get into the habit of using ear plugs (cotton balls will not protect you).
• When planning a large party where there may be a DJ or live band, tell the performers to limit their sound output to 85 decibels.
• If you have school-aged children who like to listen to music using a iPod, Discman, or a CD player, use the parental controls, if available, to set the volume at a low level.
• Finally, in terms of general hearing health care, make sure that you do not use Q-tips to clean out wax from the ear canal. Remind your children to keep tiny items (beads, Lego pieces, etc.) away from their ears.
I hope this information will be helpful to you and your family. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Janice Creamer, CCC-SLP, jcreamer@pgcps.org
Upcoming Dates:
April 6th – PTA Meeting, 7 p.m.
April 9th – Azalea Classic
April 13th – Third Quarter Report Cards Sent Home
April 14th – Class Pictures Taken
International Dinner, 6 – 8 p.m. in the Gym
April 15th – 1960’s Book Log Dance (during the day)
Honor Roll Assemblies (More info soon)
April 18th – 25th – Spring Break – No School
April 26th – Students Return
April 27th – Career Day
Wednesday Envelope Goes Home
April 29th – PTA Open House, 8:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Arbor Day Celebration with the Town
May 2nd – 6th – Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th – PTA Meeting, 7 p.m.
May 14th – May Fair
May 19th, 20th, 21st – Musical, “Frog and Toad All Year”
May 26th – 27th – Camp Schmidt Overnight for 5th Grade
May 30 – No School – Memorial Day