Park Bulletin

Park Bulletin

All School News   

Park directories

Each year, Park prints directories (on paper!). These are ready, and will be sent home with students this week — one per family, given to the youngest sibling in the family. 

Drop In for Bagels & Coffee with the PArents' association

September 21, 8-9:15 a.m. Take a look at our Parent Resource Library, ask questions about our upcoming events, chat with other parents before starting your day, or just grab your coffee and go!

Tours for Grandparents of New Students

The Grandparent Committee and Grandparent Coordinator are extending an invitation to a one-hour walking tour of Park’s campus and classrooms with the Admission Team and a volunteer from the Grandparent Committee.

  • Monday, September 24 at 9 a.m.
    OR
  • Thursday, October 25 at 9 a.m.

Tours fill quickly and space is limited. RSVP as soon as you’re able to Liz Stierhoff lstierhoff@parkschool.net or at 410-339-4105.

viva house

The next Viva House delivery is Friday, September 21. This date is coming up quickly! Please bring donations to campus by Thursday, September 20. This week, fourth graders made an announcement at Lower School Assembly that communicated our immediate needs.

We are currently in need of:

  • Peanut Butter
  • Jelly
  • Beans
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Meat
  • Soup
  • Reusable Bags

**Please note that the list has changed since the last academic year. We now include three cans of meat per bag, but soup has gone from two cans to one.

Many thanks for supporting Viva House!

Parents' Association Opening Meeting and Speaker Monica Reinagel

How to Make Eating Healthy Less Stressful – Wednesday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. – Free and open to the public

How should you feed your student athlete? What to do when your child refuses to eat vegetables? How hard do we need to work to avoid pesticides, additives, and processed foods? How do you model healthy eating habits when just finding time to eat together is a challenge? What's a healthy (enough) diet?

Nationally recognized nutritionist and author MONICA REINAGEL will sort fact from fiction and separate the important stuff from the stuff that's just not worth worrying about. There will be plenty of time for Q&A, so bring your burning nutrition questions and quandaries.

RSVP ONLINE 

Park School Community Ambassadors Meeting

The Admission Office invites you to be part of the Park School Community Ambassadors Meeting. Join us as we share Park stories — including yours! Since word-of-mouth is our most effective way to connect with prospective families, our Community Ambassadors are instrumental to the admission process. Come and grow to become an extraordinary spokesperson for Park School! We hope you will join us on Wednesday, September 26 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Bring your questions, your stories, and your enthusiasm for Park School. We can’t wait to see you there!

Saturday in the Park on October 6

Open to all — join us on campus for this annual tradition! Arts & crafts, games, food, canoeing, climbing wall, moon bounces, stream walks, and more!

We are in need of volunteers for the event. Can you help!? Click HERE to sign up, and thank you!

11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on October 6. Bring a Viva House contribution to enter a raffle, and bring books you've read for a book swap!

Calendars

Just a reminder that you can subscribe to your Veracross household calendar and have all of your Park events go directly into your online calendar. If you're not doing this already, think about trying it this year! 

Instructions are HERE.

You can find the 2018/19 academic calendar HERE. 

Try it – you'll like it!

Bruins Athletic Schedule – GO Park!

Click HERE for Current Calendar of Games

Lower School News 

Lower School Back-to-school night

We look forward to welcoming you to campus for Back-to School Night on Thursday, September 13 (tonight!), starting at 6:45 (see schedule below). Hear from Lower School Principal Malika DeLancey, and spend time in the homeroom classroom. 

Schedule:

  • 6:45–7:30 p.m. Kindergarten through Grade 2 parents meet with teachers in classrooms 
  • 7:40–7:55 p.m. All families meet in Meyerhoff Theater for an address from Dan Paradis and Malika DeLancey
  • 8–8:45 p.m. Grades 3-5 parents meet with teachers in classrooms

Park Connects Dinner & Discussion for 1st & 2nd Grade Parents


Thursday, September 20 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Cafeteria. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to get together with other Park parents in your grade. Connect with old friends and make new connections. Join the conversation — come talk about topics that are important to you, and to all of us!

Agenda for the evening:

  • Registration and Child Care Drop-Off
  • Dinner
  • Facilitated Parent Discussion Groups

RSVP here by Monday, September 17

Lower School Extended Day

Our Extended Day program offers care for Lower School children who require supervision beyond the end of the school day. Our warm and nurturing staff organizes a wide array of activities each afternoon. These include crafts, board and card games, outdoor play, as well as quiet space to tackle homework in the upper grades. A daily snack is served.

During your child’s time with us, Extended Day fosters a safe sense of community while reinforcing Park School’s ideals of fair play and respectful discourse with peers and adults. Look for familiar faces as well as some new staff this fall. Our staff will facilitate a smooth transition between the school day and the student’s time in our program.

Click here for Extended Day information and registration.

Fourth & Fifth Grade Extracurricular Activities

There are a range of musical and athletic activities that are available to the 4th and 5th Grade students at no cost. All of the information below can be found in the Lower School Back-to-School Packet, accessed through your Veracross Portal.

Upcoming Important Dates

September 13 - Lower School Back-to-School Night
September 19 - SCHOOL CLOSED for Yom Kippur
September 20 - 1st & 2nd Grade Parent Dinner and Discussion 
September 21 - Drop-In for Bagels and Coffee with the PA
September 24 - Kindergarten Coffee with Zella
September 26 - PA Opening Meeting - Speaker Monica Reinagel
September 28 - LS Parent Coffee with Malika 
October 4 - School Photography Day
October 6 - Saturday in the Park

Middle School News

Free Middle school after school activities:

Math Circle

What would it be like to play tic-tac-toe on the surface of a donut? How long do you think it would take to get to the end of the block if you repeatedly chose the direction to step by flipping a coin? How can you split up the number 25 so that, when you multiply the pieces together, they make the largest possible number? In math circle, we’ll explore mathematical games, puzzles, and problem-solving. Every week, we’ll experiment, notice patterns, ask our own questions, and try to find some solutions. No specific mathematical knowledge is necessary. Math Circle will take place on Tuesdays from 3:20-4:15 p.m. in room 357; it will be led by Upper School math teacher Mimi Cukier. There will be three sessions over the course of the year and you may sign up for one, two, or all three. The session dates are September 4 – November 6, November 13 February 26, and March 5 ; May 28. If you are interested, please sign up in the Middle School office.

ROBOTICS

Upper School science teacher Mick Scott will helm this year’s FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics team. Meetings are held in room 162 (Mr. Piper’s classroom) from 3:30–5 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as a couple of optional Saturday mornings as we approach the spring competitions. To accommodate students with multiple after school interests, as well as achieve our goals for the team, students must attend at least one meeting per week to participate. This year’s FIRST Tech Challenge is Rover Ruckus. From September through December, students will work together to design and build a robot to compete with other teams in regional competitions. Competitions take place on weekends from January through March. The activity is open to all Middle School students. Please sign up in the Middle School office. 

YOGA

Throughout the year, we offer a Friday yoga course for Middle School students. Taught by Language Arts teacher and yoga instructor, Heather Freas-Kostic, the class will take place from 3:15–4:15 p.m. in room 156 (Ms. Freas-Kostic’s classroom). We will run three sessions, lasting approximately 6-8 weeks each. The cost is free and the first 10 students to sign up will be accepted. Please sign up in the Middle School office.

INDIAN AND NEPALI DANCES

Taught by Social Studies teacher Shri Puri, this fun dance class will take place from 3:15–4:15 p.m. on Mondays. Come learn the basics of Nepali and Indian dances! This dance class will be devoted to experiencing Nepali and Indian culture by learning traditional dance steps with contemporary music. Through dance and music, students will learn about some of the similarities and differences between the two cultures relating to dance and music. Open to the first 10 people to sign up in the Middle School office. The first meeting will be on Monday, September 17. 

Middle School Grandparents’ and Friends’ Visiting Day

Middle School Grandparents’ and Friends’ Visiting Day is the morning of Tuesday, November 20, 2018.

Every grandparent for whom we have a current email address has already received a Save-the-Date. Invitations with a return RSVP registration card will be mailed in October. Please send updated grandparent USPS addresses to Liz Stierhoff - Grandparent Coordinator as soon as possible.

Your student’s classroom schedule is revised for this visiting day. We have almost 300 visitors each year, and classroom teachers as well as the event planners need and appreciate an accurate number.

lstierhoff@parkschool.net or call 410-339-4105 with questions

Upcoming Important Dates

September 19 - SCHOOL CLOSED for Yom Kippur
September 21 - Drop-In for Bagels and Coffee with the PA
September 21 - 6th Grade Student Cookout
September 21 - 6th Grade Trip Information Meeting for Parents
September 25 - 8th Grade Parent Coffee
September 26 - PA Opening Meeting - Speaker Monica Reinagel
October 2 - 6th Grade Parent Coffee
October 4 - School Photography Day
October 6 - Saturday in the Park

Upper School News

College Counseling Financial Aid Night for 11th and 12th grade Families

Thursday, September 20, 6:30-8 p.m. in the Meyerhoff Theater

Senior Flex Day

Just a reminder that there is a senior flex day on October 18

Get-it-Done FAFSA/CSS Workshop

Saturday, October 27, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. US Library (by appointment only — please email schase@parkschool.net)

ATTENDANCE: If you are sick or late to school or must leave for an appointment, please have your parents contact the school by 8:30 a.m. — usattendance@parkschool.net or 410-339-4175. Any time you come or go from campus between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., be sure to sign in/sign out at the Upper School front desk. FYI – Please note that for the sake of simplicity, we have set up a new, permanent address for attendance notes: usattendance@parkschool.net. Thanks!

EARLY DISMISSAL: Students who feel ill during the school day are to visit the Health Suite in order to be seen by a medical professional and dismissed early as determined. Students are asked not to call home and dismiss themselves.

Upcoming Important Dates:

September 19 - SCHOOL CLOSED for Yom Kippur
September 21 - Drop-In for Bagels and Coffee with the PA
September 26 - PA Opening Meeting - Speaker Monica Reinagel
September 27 - 9th Grade Parent Dinner & Discussion
October 4 - School Photography Day
October 6 - Saturday in the Park
October 6 - 10th Grade Parent Social