Principal Drumm's Weekly Message

November 29, 2018

11/26/2018

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! At our last PTA meeting, I shared that the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) signed by President Obama will be going in effect in our city. All public schools both charter and district will be on a website with a rate from Level 1 to Level 5. Scores will be based on PARCC achievement and growth, in-seat attendance, and re-enrollment. We expect to be a Level 1 school since our PARCC scores have not shown growth yet. AP Jennings and I have been working the past 2 years to secure strong teachers and focus our school improvement plan on academic and social emotional learning for all students. Last year we exceeded all of our goals for achievement in K-2 so we expect to see gains on PARCC this year and years going forward but we are not there yet. We will continue to work to turn around our school and make it a great neighborhood school for all children. Please see the school plan update for more information. We will also be hosting a principal chat and presentation on ESSA on Thursday, December 13 at 6pm.

Reminder! Volunteers Needed for Garden Clean Up
We are working on rebuilding our garden this spring to create more student friendly spaces including an outdoor classroom and new beds for students to plant in. First, we need to clean all debris from the garden and let it sit for a few months to clear up the rat issue. We need adult volunteers on Dec.1, from 10am-2pm to help volunteers from Food Prints.

Cold Weather & Lost and Found
The weather is getting colder and our school does not open until 8:15 am daily, please make sure students are equipped with coats and other cold weather gear. Our Lost and Found located in the main entrance is growing now that we have entered into the coat, hat, and mitten season. Please make sure your child’s name is in all articles of clothing so that we can do our best getting those items back to students.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

Saturday, December 1: Garden Clean Up from 10am-2pm
Thursday, December 6: ECE Parent Cafe 5:30-7pm
Thursday, December 13: Principal Chat about ESSA/school plan
Thursday, December 20: Winter Concerts
- 9:45am PreK-Grade 2
- 2:00pm Grades 3-5
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Winter Wonderland Family Fun Night: Thursday, January 31st from 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

November 15, 2018

11/14/2018

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving break, this is a great time to practice the skill of encouragement we have been teaching our Tigers. We are teaching our students to notice kindness, helpfulness, and safety in our world which helps change the mindset from seeing the “bad” in the world to seeing what is positive. This improves overall mood which builds happier children with stronger brains! Example: Ms. Jennings, you walked a student to the bus so he had a positive end to his day. That was kind. We have been using the sentence frame:
“You did it! You ___ so____. That was helpful/kind/safe.”

Garden Clean Up- Volunteers Needed!
We are working on rebuilding our garden this spring to create more student friendly spaces including an outdoor classroom and new beds for students to plant in. First, we need to clean all debris from the garden and let it sit for a few months to clear up the rat issue. We need adult volunteers on that day to help, we have some volunteers coming from Food Prints but we need more volunteers from 10am-2pm.

Thanksgiving Bundles
Our law firm partner will be distributing Thanksgiving kits for dinners for families on Tuesday afternoon. Please contact Ms. Graham in the main office if you would like a kit.

Fall Harvest Festival
Our first fall harvest festival was a big success, our children enjoyed playing games, jumping in the moon bounce, and we earned some money for our PTA. Thank you to our PTA for planning the fun-filled event and Mr. Ted for volunteering your time and materials.

Cold Weather & Lost and Found
The weather is getting colder and our school does not open until 8:15 am daily, please make sure students are equipped with coats and other cold weather gear. Our Lost and Found located in the main entrance is growing now that we have entered into the coat, hat, and mitten season. Please make sure your child’s name is in all articles of clothing so that we can do our best getting those items back to students.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

Wednesday, November 21: No School for students
Saturday, December 1: Garden Clean Up from 10am-2pm
Thursday, December 6: ECE Parent Cafe 5:30-7pm
Thursday, December 20: Winter Concerts
- 9:45am PreK-Grade 2
- 2:00pm Grades 3-5
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Winter Wonderland Family Fun Night: Thursday, January 31st from 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

November 1, 2018

10/31/2018

Thank you, families, for coming out to our first “Night of Consciousness” last Wednesday, we hoped you learned more about your assertive voice and some tools to use at home like "safe places," I love you rituals, and visual schedules. Our next night will be in January! We had a special guest last week: Conscious Discipline founder Dr. Becky Bailey visited Langley and brought legislators who are advocating for social emotional development in schools and they used Langley as a model of what this work looks like. It was an honor to be recognized in only our second year of this work and to help. Congratulations to our amazing staff and students!

Family Engagement
This week we have our first round of Academic Teacher Parent Teams for students in K-5 and individual parent meetings for PreK, be sure to talk to your teacher about signing up. We are a team working together for the success of every child at Langley!

Fall Harvest Festival
Our PTSA is sponsoring a fall harvest festival Saturday, November 10 from 12-5pm in front of the school. Admission is free and there will be games and activities set up, we also will be selling Langley t-shirts and snacks to support our school. Our school gardener, Mr. Ted, will also be teaching families to make a mini garden for home for $20. We hope to see you there!

Attendance
Langley’s in seat attendance rate is lower than last year and we want it to be better and better each year. Please bring your child to school every day and send any excuse notes to Ms. Graham in the main office if your child is sick or has an appointment.

Child Care on Days Off
Springboard is running full day child care services on our Professional Development days and Parent teacher conference days like next Tuesday, November 6, and even school breaks. They need at least 12 students to sign up so programming can run. Be sure to sign up if you are interested at www.springboardkids.com!

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

Parent Teacher Conference Day (No school for students): Tuesday, November 6
Fall Harvest Festival: Saturday, November 10 from 12-5pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Winter Wonderland Family Fun Night: Thursday, January 31st from 5:30-7pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

October 15, 2018

10/15/2018

We are looking forward to our first Conscious Discipline parent nights with our consultant Nicole Mercer. Nicole will be traveling from Florida to coach our staff during the day and teach our parents about our social emotional program and some tools to use at home. Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 24 from 5:30-7:30pm. Child care will be provided starting at 5:15pm so that parents can attend the training. We also have our third annual Trick-or-Teach day on October 31st to celebrate our students for the month of October. Students will be learning a fall activity and then teaching it to another class and participate in a book character parade in the morning. Parents are welcome to join the book character parade at the times below:
9:10-9:30: PreK
9:35-9:55: K-2
10:00-10:20: Grades 3-5

Child Care on Days Off
Springboard is interested in running full day services on our Professional Development days and Parent teacher conference days. Be sure to sign up if you are interested at www.springboardkids.com!

Attendance
DCPS has a new and rigorous attendance policy which you will receive more information about soon. You can help our school by making sure your child is on time everyday arriving by 8:45am daily and sending any absence excuse notes to our school registrar Miya Graham. You may send an email to miya.graham@dc.gov or bringing your note into the office.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

LSAT: Thursday, October 18 from 5-7pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #1: Wednesday, October 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Trick or Teach & Book Character Parade: Wednesday, October 31
Winter Wonderland Family Fun Night: Thursday, January 31st from 5:30-7pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

October 1, 2018

10/1/2018

It’s hard to believe it’s already week 7 of the school year. We had a fun-filled week last week with our second annual Back to School BBQ and our first Fun Friday event of the year. Thank you to so many families who came to our barbecue in spite of the weather to spend time getting to know our class family and learn about their child’s classroom, curriculum, and grade level expectations. Shout out to our Family Engagement team AP Jennings, Ms. Murphy, Ms. Saavedra, Ms. Better, Ms. Zinkgraf, Ms. Wagner, Ms. Johnson, and parent Ms. Carroll for planning a special evening for us and the many Langley staff members who grilled and prepared food for our school. On Friday afternoon, our students spent time together as a school family in our first Fun Friday event with relay races on the McKinley track and healthy popsicles.

Conscious Discipline Parent Night
We have our first of two Conscious Discipline parent nights with our consultant Nicole Mercer. Nicole will be traveling from Florida to coach our staff during the day and teach our parents about our social emotional program and some tools to use at home. Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 24 from 5:30-7:30pm, child care will be provided starting at 5:15pm so that parents can attend the training.

Field Trips
Our goal this year is to have students attend one field trip per unit of study so we can have students experience their learning in a hands on and meaningful way. If you would like to chaperone, please apply to be a DCPS volunteer which requires fingerprinting and an up to date TB test, more information is on the DCPS website. Our 5th graders will be going on a 3-day overnight trip to Hard Bargain Farm in November funded by our OSSE garden grant with Food Prints.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

No School for Students & Staff: Monday, October 8
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #1: Wednesday, October 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Winter Wonderland Family Fun Night: Thursday, January 31st 5:30-7pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

September 17, 2018

9/18/2018

We are rocking and rolling in week 5 of the school year! Our students are beginning to use their belly breathing strategies and wishing their friends well who are absent or having a tough day. In the classroom, students are practicing workstations and building their skills to work independently and collaboratively in small groups.

Back to School Barbecue

Next week we have our second Family Engagement event, our second annual Back to School Barbecue. This is a great opportunity to learn more about your child’s classroom and grade level. Childcare will be donated by our partners Springboard Kids for our students in Pre-K and up. You can drop off in the Springboard room which is directly next door to Ms. Overton’s room on the 1st floor. The students will be split into two groups based on age. We hope to see you there!

Schedule of Events:

5:30-6:00 PM
Dinner & Mingling
Food will be served in the playground in front of the school. Parents can head to the classroom to mingle and get to know other parents in their class family.

6:00-6:30pm
and
7:00-7:30pm
Classroom presentations
Visit your child’s classroom(s) to learn about the learning, daily schedule, communication, get to know your teacher and other families. If your child has more than one homeroom teacher, you will visit both classrooms for 30 minutes each.

School Culture & Social Emotional Learning
These past few weeks students have been learning about different emotions (angry, sad, frustrated, happy, etc.), emotions are good, we just need to learn how to handle them. Students have been reading different texts with their teacher from Schubert’s School on each emotion. Students who are upset or angry can use the safe place in the classroom and use tools to help them self calm, like belly breathing, reading a book, writing a letter to the teacher, or drawing a picture. This is a great strategy to use at home. Conscious Discipline even has a safe place to use at home with mini feeling buddies if families would like to purchase their own safe places for home or build your own with your child.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

Back to School Family Night: Wednesday, September 26th 5:30-7:00pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #1: Wednesday, October 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

August 21, 2018

8/22/2018

Welcome Back to School! It has been a pleasure to open the doors again to our Langley Tigers, it does not feel like a true school without our children. The first few weeks of school we will be prioritizing building a strong school family within our classrooms and our entire school so we can have a strong year of learning.
Parent Communication
This year you can expect to have a Thursday folder go home each week with communication from the school, teacher and/or PTA. The school leadership publishes this school newsletter every other week to inform you of big picture items and important dates. The Langley office will also email communication and our PTA will publish information on the school website. Another great way to experience what is going on at Langley is to check our individual Instagram pages, @principaldrumm, @APJennings, and many of our teachers have pages too. We also sent out updates via our Blackboard Communication system, please be sure the main office has your email address and the correct phone number, we are doing texts this year too!
School Culture & Social Emotional Learning
Each day your child will attend a school family assembly with Dean Robinson to participate in a school-wide Brain Smart Start and learn the routines and rules for different areas of our school. Our school rules this year are Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Helpful and we teach our students what that means in different situations. In the classroom, we also will be engaging in read alouds from the Conscious Discipline book series Shubert to teach our students important social emotional skills of composure, assertiveness, encouragement, empathy, choices, positive intent, and consequences (learning from your mistakes) and practicing how to work in collaborative groups and workstations to be prepared for small group instruction.
Family Engagement
Be sure to sign up for a home visit with your child’s teacher, this is a great way to create a strong relationship between home and school, you can do your home visit at home or a spot in your neighborhood like a local park or coffee shop. And don’t forget to mark the Back to School Night barbecue on your calendar, we will start with music and fun on the playground and then go directly to classrooms to learn more about the school year from your child’s teacher. Childcare will be provided for PreK and Kindergarten students this year.
Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

PTA Meeting: Tuesday, September 11th at 6pm
Back to School Family Night: Wednesday, September 26th 5:30-7:00pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #1: Wednesday, October 24th 5:30-7:30pm
Conscious Discipline Parent Workshop #2: Thursday, January 24th 5:30-7:30pm

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

Welcome New Families

7/27/2018

Week 42- June 11, 2018

6/11/2018

Week 42- June 11, 2018

It’s hard to believe this is our last week of school. We have had a really successful school year and have made some huge gains. This year we implemented a comprehensive school plan focused on:
Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Langley is a leader in implementing social-emotional programming. Our first year of Conscious Discipline has made a big difference in school culture and climate and we love it!
Small Group Instruction: We implement a workshop model where students where in small group stations and then meet in small groups with the teacher to work on a strategy or skill they need to push them to the next level. This allows us to challenge all children!
Planning Common Core Instruction (K-5) & Creative Curriculum (PreK): We transitioned to Creative Curriculum for PK3 and PK4 to better follow the interests of our students. Better planning at all grade levels helps us individualize instruction and meet the needs of every student.

School- Specific Goals
We also created 4 school goals to assess our progress at the end of the year in addition to the 4 PARCC goals from DCPS. We are excited to announce that we have met all of the 4 school goals! This is ground-breaking for us as a school community and represents a big improvement! Level 3 means that students’ performance is improving, and Level 4 means we are going above and beyond to be exceptional. Check out our goals and the results below. Langley is a school on the rise and we are so proud of the hard work of our students, faculty, staff, and parents. Thank you for taking this incredible journey with us this school year.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!
Spring Concert Grades- PreK and Kindergarten: June 14 at 2pm Playground Playdate- Saturday, June 23 from 10am-12pm
Have you enrolled?
We are currently 76% enrolled but we need to be at 90% by the last day of school. Please stop by the main office to re-enroll as soon as possible for 2018-2019! It is critical we know who is returning and secure our funding for next year.

We wish you a festive and restful summer and look forward to seeing you in August!

Wishing you well,
Principal Drumm & AP Jennings

Week 40- May 28, 2018

5/29/2018

Thank you to all of our families for our attending our Summer Splash, it was wonderful to see our students celebrated and to enjoy time together as a community. Shout out to our amazing Family Engagement team for planning a wonderful new tradition at Langley, thank you to Ms. Jennings, Ms. Gooding, Ms. Saavedra, Ms. Gunter, Ms. Wagner, Ms. Better and Ms. Zinkgraf for an amazing year of events!

School Culture
We will be having a Re-Enrollment Red Carpet Party for students with photo booths, music, snacks, and activities. The event will be Monday, June 4 so be sure you are enrolled by June 1.

In addition, our SEAD team has been invited to attend the Conscious Discipline Institute in Florida in June. The goal is to further our learning and become the DCPS Conscious Discipline site for all schools to come and learn from Langley!! We are thrilled to be recognized for our innovative work in social emotional learning and development. Shout out to Ms. Gunter, Mr. O’Brien, and Dean Robinson who will be attending along with me.

Upcoming Events- Save the Date!

Spring Concert Grades 1-5: June 1 at 2pm
Spring Concert Grades ECE and Kindergarten: June 14 at 2pm
Big Bear Fundraiser with Barbecue- Sunday, June 3 from 5-8pm
5th Grade Promotion, Thursday, June 7 at 9:30am
Field Day- Friday, June 8

Have you enrolled?
We are at 65% enrollment but we need to be at 80% by June 1. Please stop by the main office to re-enroll as soon as possible for 2018-2019!

Wishing you well!
Principal Drumm

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