Thursday, January 28, 2010

Side by Side Family Academy

Want to help your child be a better reader?


Find 10 ways to help at the next Family Academy¿

Quiere que tu hijo lea mucho? Apprenda diez maneras para ayudarle a ser un buen lector a la próxima Academia Familiar

Parent Session: "Ten Ways to Help Improve My Child's Reading" presented by Jane Hanfman Tema Para Padres: "Diez Maneras para Ayudar a Mejorar la Lectura de Mi Hijo" presentado por Jane Hanfman

Next Academy Night: Feb. 11, 6 - 8 P.M.La Próxima Noche de la Academia: 11 de febrero, 6 - 8 P.M. Deerfield Run Elementary School13000 Laurel Bowie Road (Rt. 197) Free supper (serving from 6 to 6:30 P.M.Cena gratis (servida de 6 a 6:30 P.M.)

Children's activity: live birds such as eagles and hawks! Actividad para niños: aves vivas como las águilas y los halcones Pre-school child careCuidado de niños edad preescolar

It's all free! ¡Todo esgratis! 202-710-5555

sidebyside@sidebysidelaurel.org

http://www.sidebysidelaurel.org/

Friday, January 22, 2010

Opportunity for 15 Week Employment Training

Opportunity for Unemployed and Underemployed Citizens
15-Week Employment Training Program
Next Classes Begin January and February 2010


HURRY!! CALL TODAY!!! (301) 499-8872

The Training Source offers a 15-week comprehensive Office Automation Training program that helps program participants to obtain employment skills that are currently in demand by area employers. This program is available to eligible unemployed or underemployed citizens. The Training Source has provided employment training, individual and group career counseling, job preparation and placement assistance and follow-up services since 1993. Hundreds of citizens have successfully completed training with The Training Source.

The 15-week program includes:

Computer Skills - computer concepts, keyboard/typing, MS Windows and MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, and Outlook)

Life Skills - self-esteem and motivation, time/money management, business English, and communication/public speaking

Professional Skills - resume preparation, business correspondence, interview techniques, dressing for success, successful job search strategies, and job survival tips

When and where are Office Automation Training classes held?

Classes are held Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. for 15-weeks at Located at: The Training Source, 59 Yost Place, Seat Pleasant, Maryland 20743 Conveniently located near the Addison Road Metro Station

What are the requirements for admission?

You must be 18 years of age or older
You must have a high school diploma or GED
You must have a state issued ID

How much does the Office Automation program cost?

All candidates who are admitted Training into the program receive full funding if they are a qualified Maryland or District of Columbia resident.


The Princeton University Summer Journalism Program

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program. We’re looking forward to reading your application and, if you are selected for the program, getting to know you this summer.

What is the Princeton University Summer Journalism Program? We welcome about 20 high school students from low-income backgrounds every summer to Princeton’s campus for an intensive, 10-day seminar on journalism. After the program ends, counselors stay in touch with students to help guide them through the college admissions process. Counselors assist students in preparing for standardized tests, determining an appropriate list of colleges to apply to, and filling out applications and financial aid forms. The program’s goal is to diversify college and professional newsrooms by encouraging outstanding students from low-income backgrounds to pursue careers in journalism. All expenses, including students’ travel costs to and from Princeton, are paid for by the program. Students who attend the program come from across the country. The program will enter its ninth summer in 2010.

What is the program like? Classes at the program are taught by reporters and editors from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The New Yorker, CNN and ABC News, among other media outlets. Students tour the Times and CNN; cover a professional sports event (in past years, a Yankees, Mets, Jets or Liberty game); cover news events in the Princeton area; film and produce a TV segment; and report, write, edit and design their own newspaper, The Princeton Summer Journal, which is published on the program’s last day. The program is also designed to give students a taste of what life is like at one of the best colleges in the country—students live on campus and eat in one of the university’s cafeterias—and to prepare them to apply to top schools. Students meet with Princeton’s top professors as well as the school’s president and its dean of admissions. Students attend seminars on every aspect of the college admissions process. They also take a practice SAT and attend an SAT class taught by Princeton Review. After students return home, program staff remain in contact with them, assisting them during the college application process and helping them to apply for journalism internships once they are in college.

What have our students accomplished? More than 165 students have graduated from our program during the past eight years, and many return each summer to serve as mentors to our current students. We are proud of their academic and journalistic accomplishments. Four of our alumni are currently enrolled at Princeton. Others have gone on to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, the University of Pennsylvania, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Georgetown, Bowdoin, the University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins, New York University and many other selective schools. Their work has been published in college newspapers across the country, including The Daily Princetonian, The Yale Daily News, The Brown Daily Herald, The Columbia Spectator, The Cornell Daily Sun and The Bowdoin Orient. Our alumni have also landed jobs or internships at The New York Times, The New Republic, The Philadelphia Daily News, NBC and CBS, among other outlets. Alumni reflections on the program can be found here.

Who is eligible? This program is intended for low-income students with excellent academic records who are committed to pursuing a career in journalism. To apply for the program, you must meet the following qualifications:- You must currently be a junior in high school. - You must live in the continental United States.- You must have at least an unweighted 3.5 grade point average (out of 4.0).- You must have an interest in journalism.- The combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, must not exceed $45,000.

Note: This program is for students from under-resourced financial backgrounds. If the combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, exceeds $45,000 and you still wish to apply, you may attach a statement explaining why you believe your family qualifies as financially under-resourced.

How to apply. The application process consists of two rounds. For the first round, fill out the application below, and then email it to sjpapplication@gmail.com as a Microsoft Word attachment. (If you do not have Microsoft Word, please just paste the text of your application into the body of the email.) Before emailing us the application, please name the document using the following format: Lastname.Firstname.doc. So, if your name is Mary Jones, the title of your document will be Jones.Mary.doc. In addition, type your name, the name of your high school (including the city and state location) and the email address where you would like to be contacted in the body of your email and put only the name of the Word document (e.g., Jones.Mary.doc) in the subject line of the email. We must receive your application by 11:59 p.m. ET on February 5, 2010. No extensions will be given for any reason.

After we receive the first round of applications, we will select a group to proceed to the second round. If you are selected for the second round, the program directors will arrange to interview you—either by phone or in person—and we will also ask you to mail us printed copies of the following documents:

- Your official high school transcript

- The first page of the income-tax return form (the 1040 or 1040EZ form) for the calendar year 2008 of your custodial parent(s)/guardian(s); or a signed statement by your parent(s)/guardian(s) saying that their income is below the level at which they would be required to file income tax returns. (If the form for calendar year 2009 is available, you may send that instead.)

- A recommendation letter from a teacher

- Clips from your high school newspaper or other publication (if you have them)

Note: From the time they are notified that they have made it to the second round, applicants will have about two weeks to mail these items to us.

Here are some tips about the application process:

1. When sending us your application or when contacting us for any reason, use an email address to which you will have regular access throughout the application process. Do not change your email address or stop checking email in the middle of the application process.

2. Send all applications to sjpapplication@gmail.com — please note that this is a GMAIL address. Send all questions about the program to sjp@princeton.edu — please note that this is a PRINCETON address.

3. Proofread and edit your application carefully before submitting.
4. Most importantly, this program is for students who are interested in journalism—who are planning to write for their college newspapers and who are at least strongly considering an eventual career in journalism. Every year, we receive applications from students who are smart and talented—but who are not really interested in journalism. Apply to this program only if you are serious about pursuing a career in journalism.

A final word: We know that the process of applying to any selective program can be stressful, not to mention a lot of work. But, over the years, the students we have had come through our program have told us that, ultimately, the work they put into their application was worth it.

The program directors are all looking forward to reading your application. If we can answer any question along the way, don’t hesitate to contact us. The best way to reach us is at sjp@princeton.edu.

Sincerely,

Program Staff

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Scholar of the Week: HS Senior Haneen Daham


Quick Facts Grade: 12
GPA: Current 4.0 , Cumulative 4.12
Academics: AP Chemistry, AP World History, AP Language, AP Literature, AP Computer Science B
Extra curricular Activities: Mock Trials Forensics Team, Science and Technology Academic Reformers, National Honor Society, Internship at the United States Department of Agriculture
Future Goals: Plans to attend Georgetown University or University of Maryland Baltimore and Major in Law

PGCAC EMBODI

Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Developing Independence (EMBODI) is the signature program of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s 24th National President, Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre. EMBODI is designed to refocus Delta’s efforts to collaborate with other established organizations and agencies to address the plight of African American males. The EMBODI program provides a continuum of services and addresses the specific needs of African-American males. The Prince George’s County Alumnae (PGCAC) and Fort Washington Alumnae (FWAC) Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. have formed a collaborative partnership with the Prince George’s County Police Department to implement this vital program to refocus efforts on the plight of African American males. PGCAC will focus on high school students (ages 14-18) and the Fort Washington Alumnae Chapter (FWAC) will focus on middle school students (ages 11-14). Both informal and empirical data suggests that African American males continue to be in crisis and are not successful educationally, socially, and emotionally.

EMBODI is designed to address these issues through dialogue, recommended strategies, programs and activities. The goals of EMBODI are: To expand the horizons of young African American males by cultivating a personal vision for their lives; To provide tools for young African American males to attain a higher quality of life; To provide young African American males with an awareness of various college and career options to make rewarding life choices and decisions; and To create community-minded young African American males by actively involving them in service learning and community service opportunities. The Program serves as a motivational tool for African American teenage males with the ultimate goal of increasing their knowledge and awareness of issues affecting young men today.

Laurel ES PTA

The Lasagna Dinner scheduled for tomorrow night, Friday, January 22, 2010 has been canceled. Please call the school if you need more information.

Friday, January 22, 2010: BLUE JEANS for HAITI: For just $1.00 teachers and students can wear blue jeans to school with the blue polo uniform shirt and all proceeds will benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti through Maryland Kids Care Campaign: OPERATION HAITI.

Saturday, January 30, 2010: Healthy Hearts Haiti Fun Run Laurel Elementary School will be hosting a Healthy Hearts for Haiti Fun Run in order to raise money to assist with the relief efforts in Haiti. This event will take place at the Laurel High School Track located at Kirby Field behind the school. Participants are being asked to collect donations and pledge to run or walk as many laps as they can for a 60-minute time period. The event will begin at 12:00 PM and end at 1:00 PM on Saturday, January 30, 2010. Light refreshments and prizes will be provided for participants. All community members are encouraged to participate. The proceeds from this event will be donated to the American Red Cross. Prizes are needed. The organizers are welcoming any gift cards or tangible goods local business owners are willing to provide. Please contact Jake Potter at the Laurel Elementary School, 301-497-3660 for further information on how to donate or participate. Information will be going home with the students soon. Please be on the lookout for it so that we can achieve 100% participation and reach our goal of raising $5,000.00 for the earthquake victims for the American Red Cross.

The Importance of Parent Involvement

Written By
Serwa Agyeman
Parents are a significant part of the school experience for students. Since the Civil Rights movements, changes and improvements in the school system has been achieved largely to the credit of parents involvement in ensuring change took place. Our school system is still in need of this type of involvement from parents. Unfortunately, parents are not coming out in great numbers as we once did. I have no doubt that our Prince George’s County parents are just as concerned for the welfare of our students. However, I also believe that many of our parents are not aware of how much their involvement matters. Your presence and your involvement are paramount to the development and success of your child.

The parent liaison position was created to “boost parents' commitments to their neighborhood schools and eventually improve academic performance among students” and to “provide parents with access to information and help them navigate the school system bureaucracy, answering questions about how to transfer students or handling comments on teachers and school policies.” It is therefore imperative that parents take an active role and take advantage of the parent liaison position. Our neighborhood schools offer a number of workshops and meetings to parents to assist with bridging the gap and providing training, resources and information. While many parents have taken advantage of these resources, most have not. As our children matriculate from elementary school to middle school and then to high school the number of parents in attendance seems to dwindle. Please take the time to schedule a visit to your student’s school. It is important that parents attend workshops and meeting to receive valuable information that will help you and your students move successfully through their academic experience.

A parent blog has been created with upcoming workshops offered at both Frederick Douglass High School and Gwynn Park High School (http://fdhsgphsparentconnection.blogspot.com/). Any parent in the community whether you have a student at one of those schools or not are welcome to attend any and all workshops. We look forward to welcoming our parents to play an active role in our school community.

Education Week Ranks Maryland Schools Nation's Best

Maryland schools have once again been named the top public school system in the country by the trade publication Education Week. The magazine's annual report card gives Maryland a B-plus, far above the national average of C. New York ranked second, and Massachusetts was third. The survey looks at factors including student performance on national tests, how well schools are financed and the overall chance of success in school a student has while living in a specific state. State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick says the ranking shows that "Maryland is the place to live if you want your child to get a high-quality education." Gov. Martin O'Malley says the ranking is a credit to Maryland's commitment to fully funding schools and retaining good teachers even in tough economic times.

Friday, January 15, 2010

The Robert Goddard French Immersion School (RGFIS) is hosting "Le Jazz Francais"

On Saturday, January 30, 2010 The Robert Goddard French Immersion School (RGFIS) is hosting "Le Jazz Francais" a Reception and Silent Auction. This is RGFIS biggest fundraiser of the Year. Please help the school get this information out to the community. We really need your help. For additional information please feel free to contact June Evans, Public Affairs Chair at RGFIS PTA, at 301-651-0089 or at juneevans_4@msn.com. Thank you in advance for your support, June Evans

Saturday, January 9, 2010

William Wirt Middle School:

This month's PTSA theme is : "HIGH SCHOOL PREPARATION". Come out and join us for information on high school options and preparation. We will meet in the cafeteria at 7 PM, Tuesday, January 12th.

We are still asking 8th grade parents for a chairperson and committee members, to coordinate and assist Ms. Goodman with the 8th grade end of year activities. Ms. Jackson will also have information on the 7th grade end of year activities. We are also looking for 7th grade parents to coordinate and assist with these activities as well. If you are able to assist with either of these events, please email the event you are volunteering for and your contact information to wmmsptsa08@yahoo.com, or sign up at the PTSA meeting, on Tuesday. We hope to see everyone there!

Sincerely,
Shelley Long, President
WMMS PTSA

Friday, January 8, 2010

Scholar of the Week: Senior Latoya Hansford


Quick Facts

Grade: 12
School: Central High School
GPA: 4.50 Current, 3.85 Cumulative
Academics: IB English, IB Spanish, IB Geography, IB History, IB Math, IB Biology
Extra Curricular Activities: National Honor Society, Soccer, Softball, Dance Team, Volunteer at Capitol Area Food Bank
Future Goals: Plans to attend the University of Maryland and Major in Kinesiology
Interesting Notes: Latoya won the Young Amercian of the Month Award from the Upper Marlboro Rotary Club for Central HS.

Great Information!

Humor Us: Fun and laughter are essential to children's lives
Written By: Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn - 01/01/2010

The desire to be with people who laugh or make us laugh must be universal. In our office, we’re fortunate to have our own resident giggle bug. At 16 months old, our colleague Martha’s little guy laughs at the drop of a hat. It’s such fun to hear Kieran laugh that when he comes into the office, we all compete to see who can make him laugh first. READ MORE

Photos of the 2010 Parental Engagement Conference

Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!view all pictures of this slideshow

The Middle School Years

Visits From Engaged Parents and Dedicated Educators