Briefs - Beltsville

School News
Calverton
Elementary News
Although February was a short
month, it was a month of many
celebrations and events. Here are
some of them:
Kindergarten News:
On January 31st, kindergartners
celebrated their one-hundredth day
of school by reading books such as
One Hundred Hungry Ants, Hundredth
Day Worries, Emilyʼs First
One-Hundred Days of School, I
Can Count 100 Bunnies, and The
Wolfʼs Chicken Stew, a story of a
hungry wolf who decides to fatten
up a chicken with 100 pancakes,
100 doughnuts, and a 100
pound cake. The students in Mrs.
Freemanʼs class searched for one
hundred hidden Hersheyʼs hugs.
Each hug had a number on the bottom,
and the students placed the
100 hugs candies on their hundreds
chart in order. Everyone wore 100th
Day of School glasses and ribbons.
Students brought in items to share.
Melissa brought three projects to
school: she had made a necklace of
100 pieces of macaroni, traced 100
small stars on paper, and glued 100
cheerios on another sheet of paper.
Samuel collected 100 silver paper
clips. Armelle brought 100 peppermint
candies. Ana brought 100
Valentine lollipops. Oscar collected
100 brightly colored paper clips.
Tara brought in 100 q-tips. Shannon
glued 100 thin drinking straws on
to colored paper in the shape of a
rectangle. Douglas collected 100
mini marshmallows. Ashley brought
in 100 tiny frogs. Azia collected
100 black-eyed peas. Elyssa created
a necklace of 100 fruit loops.
Jenaya collected 100 corn puffs and
brought a stunning flower shape on
which she glued 100 cereal pieces.
Black Saga Teams Compete at Martin Luther King Middle School
Four teams of seventh and
eighth graders competed in a
twenty-two round competition
to answer facts about African
American history on Friday, February
18, 2005 in their school
Black Saga Competition. The
teams had worked for over two
months practicing to be able to
answer such facts as “Who was
known as the “Bronze Muse?”
(Frances Ellen Watkins Harper);
“Who was the founder of
the Negro Baseball League?”
(Andrew “Rube” Foster); “Who
came before Venus and Serena
Williams to become the first
African American singles tennis
champion at Wimbledon?”
(Althea Gibson).
The first place team is made
up of Danielle Rossoni, Leo Rossoni,
and Sean Halper. This team
had worked together the past
three years at Beltsville Academic
Center, and hope to continue
their success at the state Black
Saga competition on March 19,
2005 at the University of Maryland.
They will be joined by
Gabriella had 100 pinwheel shaped
craft pieces. Christian glued 100
pieces of cereal onto paper in the
shape of “100.” Johnny glued 100
pieces of cereal in sets of 10. These
projects are proudly displayed in the
hallway outside their classroom.
First Grade News:
Mrs. Mennellʼs class learned
about how to take care of their teeth.
Students wrote a “Toothy Tale” to
tell what they do to take care of
their teeth. They have learned that
they must brush their teeth, floss
their teeth, go to the dentist, and eat
nutritious foods.
Second Grade News:
Second graders are getting a head
start on their third grade math multiplication
facts during their lunchtime
under the supervision of Mrs.
Waibel, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs.
Wood. Students who can say their
3ʼs tables to 30, 4ʼs to 40, 6ʼs to 60,
and 9ʼs to 90 get to say them using
the microphone during their lunch
time. It is quite a popular event, and
we have some students who can say
the multiples extremely fast. On
Fridays during second grade lunch
the students also have “American
Idol Calverton Style” where students
may sing or say a poem. To be
invited to do this, a child must bring
a paper with the name of the song or
poem and a parentʼs signature. So
far, three students have sung, and
others are getting interested.
Third Grade News:
Mr. Reifʼs class wrote special
messages and poems for Valentineʼs
Day. They also made Valentineʼs
Day cards for their mothers and
fathers.
Fourth Grade News:
On February 9, the fourth grade
the Second Place team, which
consisted of Huan He, Kenyatta
Boodram, and Veronica Henry.
The Second Place team did
an admirable job and will also
be great representatives of the
school at state.
The other teams were made
up of Taylor Blackwell, Kaylesh
Ramu, Keon Monroe, and Shakiera
Branch, Jennifer Brown,
and Sheldon Jackson. All the
Page 14 • The BELTSVILLE NEWS • MARCH 2005
celebrated Chinese New Year
by ordering Chinese food from
Hunan Hamlet in Beltsville. Mrs.
Upchurchʼs class made dragon toys
by reading to perform a task. They
used the Internet to research Chinese
New Year foods, clothing and
celebrations, created pictures using
the seven tangram pieces, learned
to write Chinese characters, made
Chinese lanterns and read The Last
Dragon. Her class wrote letters of
appreciation to Mrs. Fulcher on
dragon paper, thanking her for making
all of the meal arrangements. The
other classes, Ms. Levin, Mrs. Gibson
and Mrs. Fulcher, made paper
dragons, which are on display.
During the two weeks leading up
to Chinese New Year, the students
made fortune cookies and stuffed
them with fortunes related to life,
health and happiness.
Congratulations to Keon Brooks
from Ms. Levinʼs class. Keon was
one of the winners of the Holiday
Mobile contest. We apologize for
mistakenly omitting his name from
the list of winners in last monthʼs
article.
Sixth Grade News:
On February 14, the sixth graders
at Calverton celebrated Valentineʼs
Day with a Storybook Pajama Party.
Students who participated wore
their (respectable) pajamas under
their clothes or changed at school.
Some brought in slippers to wear
and stuffed toys to carry. Students
in Ms. Mitchellʼs, Ms. Bricknerʼs,
Mr. McCreeryʼs and Mr. Simmonsʼ
classes began the party in their own
classrooms with traditional valentine
exchanges and party refreshments.
Then all four classes gathered in the
multi-purpose room for two “bedtime”
stories. Guest readers were
Mr. McCreery and Mrs. Tschudy.
Mr. McCreery read The True Story
of the Three Little Pigs and Mrs.
First Place Team. Left to right: Ms. Robin Wiltison, Principal, Mrs. Regina
Halper, Team Mentor, Leo Rossoni, Danielle Rossoni, Sean Halper, Mrs.
Susan Bors, Sponsor, Dr. Charles Christian, Founder of Black Saga.
teams did their best and we are
proud of the teams. All team
members received a participation
certificate, and came away
winners because they now know
a lot more American History and
geography than they did before
they joined the Black Saga Team.
Their sponsor was Mrs. Susan
Bors and the team mentor was
Regina Halper.
Tschudy entertained the troops by
reading Alexander and the Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Mrs. Lazard and Mrs. Cavallo had
the dubious honor of picking the
winners of the pajama contest. It
was very hard to choose. The winners
were:
Best pajamas: Ivan Umali
Best slippers: Yoseph Habtemariam
Best stuffed toy: Musalynn Massaley
Best ensemble: Natasha Dennis
(pajamas, slippers, stuffed doll and
blanket were all in the SpongeBob
motif)
PE News:
Jump Rope for Heart took place
on February 24th and 25th for
grades second through sixth grades.
By participating in JRFH, students
are helping people in their community
fight against the number
one and number three killers, heart
disease and stroke. JRFH also promotes
awareness of the seriousness
of heart disease and helps the American
Heart Association advance
research and education of heart
disease. Students were encouraged
to find sponsors to help support
this worthy cause. The rope jumping
activity took place during p.e.
classes. Calverton recently received
an award for the school that had
the highest percentage increase in
2003-2004. This award was based
on number of participants and gross
dollars raised.
Math News
Mrs. Waibel would like to congratulate
the following classes in
which at least 80% of the students
returned their January Math Cal-
MLK News
By Michelle Mariani
MLK is inviting parents to consider
joining the PTA Executive
Board for the 2005-2006 school
year. The Executive Board cannot
survive without parent involvement
and support. Parents of
incoming 6th graders as well as
current 7th and 8th graders are
encouraged to apply to replace
Executive Board members whose
children are moving on to high
school. For further information
about the role of the Executive
Board, parents are asked to leave
a message at MLK for PTA President,
Deborah Harris. Parents are
welcome to attend their monthly
Executive Board meetings, which
are held in the main office conference
room. The next meeting will
be March 1, 2005 at 5:30 p.m.
The Executive Board will also be
available to answer questions at
their annual Family Sports Night,
to be held on March 22nd.
The MLK PTA would also like
to invite the MLK/feeder community
to attend the Fifth Annual
Family Sports Night to be held
on Tuesday, March 22nd. Activity
sign up begins at 6:30 p.m. and
the games begin at 7:00 p.m. In
addition, hot dogs and refreshments
will be sold. Current MLK
endars: Mrs. Freeman (100%),
Mrs. Mennell (100%), Mrs. Aneja
(100%), Ms. Upchurch (100%), Ms.
Bellows (96%), Mrs. Reid (92%),
Mrs. Kenny (91%), Mrs. Hahn
(89%), Mrs. Werner (88%), Mrs.
Simmons (86%), Mr. Reif (85%),
Ms. Hart (84%), Mrs. McCollum
(84%), Mrs. Fulcher (84%), Mrs.
Russell (83%), Ms. Riddick (82%),
Mr. McCreery/Mr. O. (81%).
These monthly math and reading
calendars are for the students to
keep track of how much time they
spend each day reading and practicing
their math facts. They need to
know their math facts to do well on
MSA tests. Children in grades 3-6
need to know their math facts and
are expected to pass any remaining
tests for their grade level by March
5. Students who have passed all of
their grade level tests by this date
will be invited to a picnic to celebrate
their success and hard work.
Younger students will have until
May to pass their math facts tests.
Science News:
Four buses full of upper grade
students and some of their family
members left the parking lot about
5:15 on Feb. 8 for an educational
and enjoyable evening at the Smithsonian
Air and Space Museum. The
Calverton visitors and another school
had the museum and its curators to
themselves. Highlights included a
movie in the IMAX Theater.
Upcoming Events:
The Black History Month Assembly
has been rescheduled for March,
so there is adequate rehearsal time
for all of the performers, and so that
it does not interfere with field trips
and the MSA.
students and their families are
encouraged to attend, as well as
students who will be attending
MLK next year.
7th graders interested in the
QUEST (Quality Education in Science
and Technology) program at
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
can now pick up applications in
the Guidance Office at MLK.
The 7th grade QUEST program
is a two-week summer program to
help students learn about science
and technology through a handson
approach to science, math and
technology. Students who apply
should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher
and live within the Eleanor
Roosevelt High School Science
and Technology Boundaries. All
applications are due to Eleanor
Roosevelt High School no later
than March 18, 2005.
Easy Caller is sending out calls
to home phone numbers when a
student is absent. Easy Caller will
automatically call your number
once attendance is recorded, so
you may receive a call if you bring
your child in late or even when
a parent has called to notify the
school of an absence. Easy Caller
is a good back up system to assist
MLK in improving attendance,
which is essential to achieving
a positive Annual Yearly Progress
Status under No Child Left
Behind.