February 2018GUIDANCE NEWS from Mrs. DominiqueImportant change for our 5th grade students:Over the winter break, the pipes burst at the Leesburg Senior Adult Day Center location and there was extensive flooding.  The seniors are temporarily displaced for a couple of months. Due to the circumstances, 5th grade students will now spend time with the seniors at Hamilton Elementary school on Valentine's day.In Guidance, we will continue to learn about growth mindsets and begin lessons on empathy. 

READING FOCUS with Mrs. Anderson: * INFER * What did the author mean by__________? Can I figure out the meaning of an unknown word?

MEDIA NEWS from Mrs. Howley: Hamilton ES has over 1,000 electronic books. You can access them through LCPSGO. Click on the MackinVia icon. Enjoy fiction and non-fiction books. For further information or assistance, you can contact Mrs. Howley in the library. Happy Reading!

ART STUDIO NEWS from Mrs. Beach: Fifth grade students will begin a ceramics project working with clay tiles. Fourth graders will begin printmaking and a drawing and painting project on Virginia Birds. Third graders will continue their printmaking project about their favorite things. Second Graders will continue printmaking animals and are spending some time exploring stop animation. First graders will be working on self-portraits!The Loudoun Valley Art Cluster show will be held earlier this year: Saturday, March 3rd at Loudoun Valley High School 2-5pm.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION NEWS from Mr. Curtis:During the month of January, the students completed their basketball unit.  We emphasized various techniques and skill such as:  Circling drill, figure-eight drill, control dribble, stationary dribble, crossover dribble, ready position, jump stop, pivot, chest pass, and bounce pass, one hand set shot, Jump shot, Bank shot, and Swish shot.  The students also developed their basketball skills further by participating in team lead-up games and activities.   We encourage all students to continue practicing and developing their physical education skills while outside of school.      

MUSIC ROOM NEWS from Mrs. Geiger:Fourth and fifth graders are continuing to grow their skills in recorder playing and are working on a composition project.  First, second, and third graders are playing lots of instruments in different ensemble settings and working on singing and rhythm training!

S.E.A.R.C.H . NEWS from Mrs. LaFollette Gr. K-4: I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the February PTA meeting! Please check out the SEARCH website for county wide Gifted Information meetings and important dates and deadlines.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday Saturday

Groundhog Day 1 2 3SPIRIT DAY

Wear blue or Spirit WearLCPS BUDGET

Adoption6:00 Pizza Served6:30 Games Start

4 5 6 (Report Cards) 7 8 9 10

7-9pm SEACRelated Service

6:30 pmPTA MEETINGGIFTED INFO SESSIONw/ Mrs LaFollette

100th Day of SchoolFAMILY

BREAKFAST!!7:00 - 7:45am

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24School Closed(President’s Day) Online registration for

new students for 2018-2019 school

year2ND grade CogAT

testing2ND grade CogAT

testing2ND grade CogAT

testing25 26 27 28 March 1 2 3

Mannerly Signs

awarded

Please send in Box Tops

NIGHT OF THE ARTSCluster Art Show

LVHS Aux gym2-5pm

Kindergarten Field TripFranklin Arts

Leesburg Adult CenterVisits 5th Grade

Please send in Box Tops by Feb 16th!

NATIONALREADING

WEEKWear Red & White Wacky Hair

Green for Grinch

SPIRIT DAY

Crazy Sock

BEDTIME STORIES!

6pm

Pajama Day

DO YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER? OR HAVE IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS OR CONCERNS? PLEASE EMAIL: President@HamiltonPTA.net

FEBRUARY 2018 HAMILTON PANTHERS – PTA NEWSLETTER & CALENDAR

PTA MEETING Thursday Feb 8th

6:30-7:30 pmAGENDA SPEAKER – Mrs.

LaFolletteHamilton Elementary’s Gifted Teacher

Every student in K-4 participates in SEARCH classes with Mrs LaFollette. Come learn about what happens in SEARCH, as well as the screenings and tests that occur to identify students for the county’s FUTURA program.

Principal’s Update

Treasurer Report

VOTE: 5th Grade Promotion budget (Amendment to Standing Rules)

Feedback – Bingo Planning – Family Breakfast

Bedtime Stories STEAM Night

Retirement of Facilities policy update

PLEASE JOIN US!

Student Awards CeremonyThe following students will be recognized at the District Awards Ceremony on February 28th at Trailside Middle School for their Reflections Art Competition entries: Cade Schoeny (Choreography), Elektra Polo (Film Production), Arthur White (Literature), Mayleen Hyatt (Literature), Emma Whitmore (Photography), Spencer Dyson (Photography), Catalina Nemes (Visual Arts), Audriana Carpinelli (Visual Arts) and Brooks Elledge (Visual Arts). We are proud to have each of you representing Hamilton Elementary at the district level. Our school will have another opportunity to participate in the Reflection’s art program next year. Next year’s theme will be: “Heroes Around Me”.

Advocacy:SMALL SCHOOL RESOLUTION SUBMITTED TO VIRGINIA PTAHamilton Elementary PTA in partnership with Aldie Elementary PTA and Lucketts Elementary PTA submitted a Resolution to the Virginia PTA requesting recognition of the 3 decades worth of research documenting the academic benefits of small community centered schools. As part of the Resolution, we also asked that Virginia PTA advocacy efforts support the creation of state maintenance funding to support renovations in the 40% of Virginia schools that are more than 50 years old, as well as support revisions to staffing standards for the 14% of Virginia schools with less than 299 students. We will be traveling to Richmond with Lucketts PTA and other members of the Hunt District PTA to attend the Virginia PTA Advocacy Conference in support of our Resolution.  You can view our Resolution on the Hamilton PTA website under advocacy or by visiting the Hunt District website. NEW SCHOOL CLOSURE POLICYLast year following during the LCPS operational budget reconciliation, several school board members again attempted to close small Loudoun schools despite known strong community opposition to closure and the lack of any comparative cost studies. In an effort to change the way discussion about school closure starts, the School Board’s Legislative and Policy Committee began developing a new school closure policy over the summer, with very little public disclosure.  That new policy, 6540 “Retirement of Facilities” was eventually moved to the Finance and Facilities Committee in October. We have been attending bi-weekly F&F meetings to provide comment and track progress on the policy.  We still have serious concerns about the lack of defined timing for when the policy could be used, lack of defined process for community involvement and input as well as loosely defined reasons and factors for consideration of closure. We expect the policy will be voted out of committee and moved to the full School Board for open discussion during the January 30th Finance and Facilities Meeting.   This means the policy would be discussed during the February 13th and 27th School Board Meeting.  A new facebook page “Community Schools Matter” has been started by the coalition of rural western Loudoun schools to share information. 

Bedtime Stories with CookiesSave the Date – Friday, March 2nd will be Family Night! Join us from 6-7pm for an evening of reading fun at “Bedtime Stories”. We will have activities, milk & cookies, and several reading rooms for families to visit. Come hear favorite children’s stories read by our Hamilton staff. A list of the books and guest readers will be coming soon.

Proposed PTA Standing Rule AmendmentUpon review, it has been put forward that the amount of money the 5th grade class earns for the service they provide at Hamilton’s Bingo Night is not adequate to cover a significant portion of the 5th grade promotion activities. An amendment has been proposed to the PTA Standing Rules to increase the BINGO concession profit designated for 5th grade promotion activities from $400 to $550. This designated amount pays for 5th grade DARE shirts and promotion activities (5th grade float in the Hamilton Day Parade, 5th grade promotion ceremony, and class party). We will vote on

President: Christa Haggard President@HamiltonPTA.netVP Family Engagement: Brianne LoFamilyEngagement@HamiltonPTA.netVP Fundraising: Susan CarpinelliFundraising@HamiltonPTA.netTreasurer: M.C. WhitmoreTreasurer@HamiltonPTA.netSecretary: Jenni Maybury Secretary@HamiltonPTA.netWatch D.O.G.S: Ken Roads WatchDOGS@HamiltonPTA.net

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”

– Oscar Wilde

INFORMED & INVOLVEDBuilding COMMUNITY with you!

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SENT IN TOYS FOR

BINGO!

the proposed amendment at the February 8th PTA meeting. A copy of the Standing Rules marked with the proposed amendments can be found on the PTA table.

BOX TOPSPlease send in all your Box Tops by February 16th. Remember to check expiration dates and bundle them into baggies of 50 if possible. For every $300 worth of Box Tops we collect, the students get to enjoy a special event!