Principal’s & PTA Weekly Newsletter, November 11, 2019

 
STEM In the City
November’s STEM in the CITY event is this Saturday, November 16th, from 10 am-11 am. We will meet at the entrance of the Small Mammal House in the Smithsonian National Zoo to create MAMMAL MASHUPS! All Ross families are invited! Contact Mrs. Sawyer at amber.sawyer@k12.dc.gov with any questions.

Report Cards & New Advisory
Wednesday, November 6 was the beginning of our second advisory/marking period of the school year. Report cards for all students, PK4 through 5^thgrade will be sent home in backpack mail on Friday, November 15.  Please review and sign the last page which should be returned to your child’s teacher. 

Sock Drive Message from the Yearbook Club
We would like to give back to the community by running a Sock Drive for people in need. We are challenging each class to bring in at least 100 pairs of new socks with tags/still packaged. The class with the most pairs of socks will win a Hot Chocolate Party in the library with Ms. Juriga. We encourage you to be generous while buying socks.   A 6 or 10 pack of warm socks would really help people out when it is cold. After all, do you really think about putting on socks when it is cold? We can really make a difference. Thank you for your support.  With gratitude–The Ross Yearbook Club Contact Ms. Juriga at lisa.juriga@k12.dc.govif you have questions.

Parent Curriculum Guides
Parent curriculum guides for K-5 can be found here: 
https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/parent-curriculum-guides
The guides are available in many languages and provide an overview of the major content areas for each grade level. If you have questions about what your child is learning, please review the weekly updates sent by your child’s teacher and/or reach out directly to the teacher.

Monthly Cultural Recognitions
Thank you to our parents who have volunteered to create the bulletin board and/or help with programming for our monthly cultural recognitions. We have volunteers for Lunar New Year (January) and Poetry and Library Month (April) and are still seeking assistance for December, February, March, May and June. Please email Principal Searl if you wish to volunteer.

November LSAT
The November LSAT meeting is Tuesday, November 12 at 5:15pm in the Ross library.

Make-up Day for Freed Photo
If your child was absent on picture day, please note that Freed Photo will be at Ross the morning of November 22 to do make-up photos.  You can view/order your child’s photos online at http://www.freedspirit.com/
Questions about photos or ordering? Please contact Freed directly. 

 
Dear Ross Families,

Thank you to all who came out to our 2nd PTA General Body Meeting and Annual Screen on the Green; it was an informative & fun-filled evening with our community.  

Volunteers Needed for Holiday Tree Sale!
Our 12th Annual Holiday Tree Sale is right around the corner and we are looking for volunteers to sell trees onsite as well as deliver trees in shifts that are only 2.5 to 3 hours each on Friday, November 29, Saturday, November 30, Sunday, December 1, Saturday, December 7, & Sunday, December 8.  Please see sign-up here :
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c48aead2ea5fe3-12th
Email kateemurphy@gmail.com with any questions and thank you in advance; we can not have a successful event without your support!

DC Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Update

Dear Ross Families,

We are excited to announce that Ross has been chosen for a planning assistance contract from the DC Policy, Planning and Sustainability Administration to work with the DC Safe Routes to School (SRTS) coordinator to evaluate the safety of our children as the travel to and from school. We are looking for volunteers to work with the PTA and LSAT on a committee to engage with the SRTS Consultant on our SRTS plan. If you are interested in joining the committee, please email Neha Misra at nmisra05@gmail.com and Kate Gardner (Kateemurphy@gmail.com) as soon as possible.  We are hoping to have volunteers who take different routes to get to Ross (from each direction, walking, driving, etc.). Please let us know your route and means to school if you decide to join the committee.

This project was originally scheduled for last Spring but was delayed due to budget issues within the DC government. We are pleased to announce however that they have informed us that it will be moving forward this Fall.

As background, the DC Gov Consultant will develop a SRTS Action Plan for Ross. Through this process, the Consultant will assist each school’s SRTS Team in the identification of problems and proposed solutions. The Consultant will share ideas about what is possible within a SRTS program and share SRTS strategies that have been successful elsewhere. Each school’s SRTS Team will decide which programs and projects they wish to pursue. It is expected that due to different needs and desires at each of the eight schools, the individual programs will be unique.

Each school’s SRTS Action Plan will identify Short Term, Medium Term, and Long Term Strategies for Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Encouragement, and Evaluation. The Consultant will provide assistance as necessary to begin implementation of Short Term recommendations. Such assistance may be offered through phone and e-mail consultation or through previously scheduled meetings. DDOT will coordinate with bicycle education consultants to ensure that bicycle activities are conducted at each school. DDOT will also coordinate with MPD to ensure that traffic laws are enforced in each school zone.

We hope that you will consider volunteering. Thank you!