Councilwoman Ingrid Turner Visits, Donates Books

Pause with Ms. Seidel

Congratulations to the students who participated in the school

STEM Fair on Thursday, January 21, 2010. This was one of the

best STEM Fairs we have had, and the judges and other teachers

in our school were greatly impressed by the work of our children.

Congratulations to Mrs. Zanin for an excellent STEM Fair!

This issue of the Gazette celebrates our school’s achievements in

the first half of the academic year. We have much to be proud of,

and a strong foundation to build on. It is great to be a Greyhound!

Kimberly Seidel, Principal Gr

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VOLUME 5 , ISSUE 18

JANUARY 26, 2010

Councilwoman Ingrid Turner

has always had a special

commitment to education.

She has supported programs

at Greenbelt Elementary

School throughout her

tenure, so it was no surprise

that her office called to say

that she wanted to come and

read to students at our

school.

However, when Council-

woman Turner arrived with

books in tow to donate to our students, the children were excited and

thrilled to see her. Each student received a copy of Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, as well as a bookmark. Then, she had

all of the students open the books and she began a read-aloud of the first

chapter! The students were excited to hear the story being read and

were happy that Ms. Turner took time to come and visit their class.

Ms. Seidel, our school principal, commented, “It is awesome to have

someone partner with our school and support us when needed.”

Thank you so much, Councilwoman Turner, for thinking of our students!

Third Grader Brooke Goggins shares her book and book-

mark courtesy of Councilwoman Ingrid Turner.

pace, try singing one verse of “Happy

Birthday,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,”

or our school song! At school, we are

keeping paper towels and

soap stocked in all bath-

rooms and encouraging

students to use hand sani-

tizer when needed. Let’s

all work together to keep

healthy this year!

Hearing and Vision Screenings

Our nurse will be conducting hearing

and vision screenings

this week for students

in fourth grade. Please

check the school

calendar for specific

dates for your child.

Thank you.

Handwashing Basics

As the weather changes, flu season is

approaching. One of the best things that

you can do is reinforce good hand wash-

ing strategies with your family. Using

warm soapy water and about twenty sec-

onds is a great way to help keep everyone

healthy! To help your child learn an ap-

propriate amount of time for washing,

practice counting, or for a change of

January 26-29.

We know that things are tight during

these trying economic times, but if eve-

ryone pulls together, I think we can

make a significant contri-

bution. All funds will be

donated to the American

Red Cross. The class that

raises the most change

will be treated to a pizza

Greenbelt Elementary School would

like to help our fellow neighbors in

Haiti during this horrible time of need.

Our student government, the Greenbelt

Advisory Board (GAB), will be spon-

soring a penny drive to contribute to

the rescue and rebuilding efforts under-

way in Haiti. Each class will be col-

lecting pennies, nickels, dimes, quar-

ters, and dollars during the week of

party.

Thank you so much for your support of

our students in their intent to impact the

world community.

Mrs. Donna Behe, GAB

Advisor and Guidance

Counselor

Page 2

A Moment for Our Health

Volume 5, Issue 18

Have You Heard? GAB Students Reach Out to Our Community

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is a

great way to teach your child the

proper length of time to spend

while washing his or her hands.”

GR EY HOU ND GA ZE TT E

(Left) In last week’s issue, Ms. Seidel

referenced the Four Star General Pro-

gram, a Math Challenge program for

students in all grades. Here is an ex-

ample of what the Four Star General

poster looks like. Note that the skills

are different for each grade level, and

this is an example of the first grade

skill set. With practice, students gain

fast recall of basic math facts, which

will help them when moving on to

higher levels of math.

(right) We did it! Congratulations to

the teachers and students for raising

our test scores to a new level! On

last year’s MSA, our students in-

proved their reading scores to reflect

82.7% profiency. Way to go...let’s

set the bar even higher this year!

“If everyone pulls

together, I think we

can make a significant

contribution.”

V OLU ME 5, ISS UE 18

and Adil

Choudhry

Fifth Graders:

Nilam Patel,

Norah Awad,

Gabriel Almirez,

Mira Willson,

Michael Bugg, Amari Welch,

Sharara Rahman, Andrew

Dabbs, Jonathan Bertiz, and

Mark Albright

Sixth Graders: Christian Hunt,

Kathryn Breon, Gerald Barillas,

Scott Candey, Dale Godfrey,

Nelson Chen, Oscar Romero,

Nadia Edet, David Gardner,

Barbara Turnbull and Ayana

Collins.

It was also great to see class pro-

jects presented by Ms Mayday

(Grade 1), Ms. Malone (Grade 3),

Ms. Kendall (Grade 1), Ms. Barber

(Kindergarten), Ms. Mears (Pre-

Kindergarten), Ms.

Sayer (Pre-

Kindergarten), Ms.

Lee (Kindergarten),

Ms. Hutchins (Grade

1), Ms. Aseberos

(Kindergarten), and

Ms. Wright (Grade 1).

Thank you to all of the teachers and

students who participated. Thank

you also to Mrs. Case and Ms.

Payne for helping with certificates,

Ms. Geagan and Ms. Aseberos for

helping during the “Make and

Take” nights, Ms. Hamm for help-

ing run and set up the STEM Fair,

Ms. Fung for helping with the

STEM website, Ms. Case for writ-

ing deadlines for parents in the Ga-

zette each week, and Mr. Manfredi

and Ms. Moscati for allowing us to

use your classroom to hold the

STEM Fair.

Mrs. Vanessa Zanin

Congratulations to all students who

entered a project in the STEM Fair.

It is quite an accomplishment to

have so many students enter such

high quality projects. All of the

STEM judges were very impressed

with the enthusiasm each student

had about their project.

While all students who entered the

fair are high achievers, there were

some outstanding and excellent pro-

jects from:

Second Graders: Kamari Smith

and Emma Dabelko

Third Graders: Asa Dawson,

Corey Squibb, Mia Rodriguez

and Jamaal Campbell

Fourth Graders: Loren Sanders,

Se’von Anthony, Daniel

Bernier, Elizabeth Gardner,

Mia Joseph, Saidah Hawkins,

Evan Candey, Alexis McCann,

Grace Seo, Denton Relland,

Sofie Dabelko, Justin Mooney

Page 3

A Thank You from Mrs. Zanin

Scenes from the STEM Fair– January 21, 2010

“All of the STEM judges were

impressed with the enthusiasm

each student had about their

project.”

Third Grader Alexander Wu took advantage of Mrs. Malone’s time in

the STEM Fair to take a closer look at one of the many projects on

display.

Sixth Grader Oscar Romero’s project, “Help Me, I’m

Melting!” was one of many award-winning projects.

Calendar of Upcoming

Events

January 27– Vision and Hear-

ing Screening– Ms. Katz’ class

2-3:00 p.m.

January 28– Vision and Hear-

ing Screening– Ms. Simms’

class 2-3:00 p.m.

January 29– Vision and Hear-

ing Screening– Ms. Hancock’s

class 2-3:00 p.m.

February 3– Second Quarter

Report Cards released

February 12– No school for

students– Professional Devel-

opment Day for teachers

February 15– No school–

Presidents’ Day

Notes from the Office

On Saturday, January 30, 2010, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., there will be a pre-

school education fair sponsored by the city of College Park Education Advisory

Committee. There is no cost to attend and refreshments will be served. Meet

teachers and parents from local programs. The fair will be held at the College

Park Community Center, 5051 Pierce Avenue, College Park, MD. For more infor-

mation, please call 301-441-2647. There will be a Spanish interpreter available.

Greenbelt Elementary School is considered a late

school. Our students are permitted to enter the

building at 9:00 a.m. to prepare for the instruc-

tional day that begins at 9:15 a.m. When the

school system announces a two hour delay, stu-

dents are to report to school at 11:00 a.m. Break-

fast will still be served.

Our students must be properly supervised at all

times. Parents who drop their students off before

8:50 a.m. are placing their child/ren in an unsu-

pervised, potentially unsafe environment.

A reminder about our regular arrival procedures:

8:50 a.m.– Doors open for breakfast

9:00 a.m.- Students are allowed to enter the

building.

9:15 a.m.– The instructional day begins.

Dismissal Times:

Please plan for all early dismissals to be com-

pleted before 3:00 p.m. If your family is experi-

encing an emergency, please contact the school

secretary for help with an early dismissal.

3:25– Walkers are dismissed.

3:28– Parent pick-ups are dismissed.

3:45 p.m.—All students must be picked up prior to

this time.

College Park Preschool Education Fair, Saturday

January 30, 2010 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.