A group of Langley students were in for a treat on Monday afternoon: Ted McGinn, the school's longtime volunteer and garden educator gathered students in the garden for a yummy lesson. Mr. McGinn prepared okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake containing many nutritious ingredients - some harvested right from the garden in front of the school. The Japanese word okonomi means "how you like it," Mr. McGinn explained, and yaki means "grill." While the grilled snack wasn't to everyone's liking, some children couldn't get enough. ​

Over several years Mr. McGinn has developed Langley's garden into a beautiful and abounding outdoor classroom. Preschool students help place plants in the raised beds and planters and older students help care for them. A Three Sisters planting (corn, beans and squash) occupies one bed each year, as part of a Native American hands-on living history project, which also includes bead and pottery making with clay collected from the garden's clay pit and fired in the fire pit.

Stop by and say hello to Mr. McGinn next time you see him working in the garden - you are sure to learn something new! And don't forget to have him introduce you to the rescue turtle that is our garden's year-round resident. 

​By Dawn Madura

Langley families and fans, join us for a tasty fundraising event on Sunday, June 3, from 5 until 8:30 PM at Big Bear in Bloomingdale. Enjoy delicious barbecue fare and great company - along with the satisfaction of knowing that by supporting the Langley PTSA, you're doing your neighborhood a BIG favor. See you there!

Preschool students performed songs for family, friends, teachers and staff in celebration of moving up to the final year of preschool or to Kindergarten during their Stepping Up event on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at Langley Elementary School in northeast Washington, D.C. 

Langley Elementary physical education teacher Randy Myaing enjoys a snow tubing trip with students. This week, we show our school teachers and staff just how much we appreciate their dedication and hard work.  

Our teachers are the heart and soul of Langley!  What a year of changes it has been—implementing Conscious Discipline schoolwide, moving from Tools of the Mind to Creative Curriculum for preschool, and growing our program to 42 PK-3 students!  Through all of these changes, Langley’s teachers have seen our school family through with excellence and love. Now our teachers are powering through PARCC testing and preparing children to step up to the next grade or to middle school. So this week, join us in expressing our gratitude and appreciation:

Tuesday
Thank-you card day - bring in a note to let your child's teachers know how much you appreciate them, and encourage your child to write one too!

Wednesday
Each child bring in a single flower to create a unique bouquet for your teacher (a time-honored DCPS tradition)

Thursday
Send in something sweet for your teachers to eat!
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Meet some of our outstanding teachers by reading their Teacher Spotlight interviews:

Kindergarten teacher Ms. Barbee and her bucket-filling classroom, where she implements Langley’s socio-emotional curriculum, personalizes instruction, and loves to watch her students grow.  
 
Library Media Specialist Ms. Agnew, who teaches library skills and helps all the kids develop a love for reading.  

​Q. What is your role at Langley?
A. I am the first through third grade behavioral support education teacher.
 
Q. How did you become a teacher?
A. I always wanted to be a teacher since I was a very young man attending elementary school in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I only had one male teacher in elementary school. Not only did he look like me, he understood what level I was working on in my studies and made me feel like I was important.  I wanted to be that male role model for students too. After learning more about education at Cleveland State University, I decided that my presence was needed more in a special education program. The number of students being diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and other exceptionalities was growing. I wanted to not only be that teacher I mentioned above, I wanted to help in a monumental way.
 
Q. What is Behavior and Emotional Support and why did you choose to teach it?
A. Behavior and emotional support is teaching and creating a usable tool box for students to use in emotional crisis. Emotional crisis in my classroom can be defined as frustration because of rigorous school work or coming to school with an emotional event that took place last night or this morning still brewing in the student’s mind. I choose to teach behavior and emotional support for two reasons. The first reason is because I want every student I meet to be prepared for the real world. In life people will be upset and feel as if they are overwhelmed. However, we must be able to disengage, take a deep breath, and handle this issue head-on using a technique that works for us. Also, behavior and emotional support in classroom helps the teacher with classroom management and maximizes teaching time.

New members of our Langley Elementary School family: Join us for a playdate tomorrow morning, Saturday, May 5, from 10-noon on the playground in front of the school. If the weather's wet, we'll move the fun indoors. We can't wait to meet you!