Dear Cape Families,

We are so thankful for our amazing school community! Your generosity and spirit of kindness continue to shine.

Thanks to your support of our Raise Craze Fundraiser, we raised over $40,000 and performed countless acts of kindness throughout the school. What an incredible way to show care for others! Thank you to our CSCES PTO for organizing this fundraiser and the fun culminating activities, Popsicle Party and Gull Games. The funds raised will assist us in funding many enrichment activities for our Soaring Seagulls. 

Our Harvest for the Hungry campaign has also been a huge success—students have collected over 1,200 food items so far, with four days left to go. We’re so proud of their compassion and teamwork.

Later this month, we’ll celebrate American Education Week. It is the week of November 17th. This national event honors the dedication of educators and highlights the importance of strong school-family partnerships. It’s a wonderful time to recognize all who help make our school a place where children learn, grow, and thrive. A classroom visitation schedule will be shared soon through Thrillshare—we hope you’ll join us!

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on November 24th and 25th. Our goal is to meet with every family to discuss your child’s progress and celebrate their growth. Teachers will be sending out sign-up information soon.

Thank you for your continued support, kindness, and partnership in making our school such a special place to learn and grow.

Sincerely,

Tamara Kelly-Molock- Principal

Rochelle Barrett-Assistant Principal 

AACPS Cell Phone Policy

Students at Cape St. Claire and all AACPS elementary and middle schools must have their phones off or on silent mode and out of sight throughout the school day, including at lunch and in hallways during transitions between classes.

We would also like to encourage students' smart watches to be set to “school mode”, if possible. It is not required, but it would assist in our efforts.

Smartwatches should be in school mode and on silent mode during the school day. This includes riding to and from school on the bus.  If you need to deliver a message to your child, we ask that you call the school directly at 410-222-1685. Additionally, in the event of illness, our school health staff will contact parents and guardians. Please support optimal learning by reminding your students that texting during school hours on cell phones and smartwatches is prohibited. 

Thank you for your cooperation and partnership. 

To Our Families and Community,

Our school is looking to support our families affected by the Furloughs, layoffs, and those in the military. We have identified a few local resources, which you are able to access for support. Additionally, we have local food pantries should the need arise. Below are resources to consider for additional information.

Maryland Resources for Federal Employees

https://response.maryland.gov/federalpublicservants/shutdown

Anne Arundel County Resources for Federal Employees

https://www.aacounty.org/federal-employee-assistance

Broadneck High School offers a food pantry giveaway once a month.

St. Andrew by the Bay offers assistance and has a food pantry in conjunction with St. Vincent de Paul

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is committed to assist those in need on the Broadneck Peninsula. Meetings with Society representatives are kept completely CONFIDENTIAL.

Representatives are available to assist you at the Parish Center on Mondays & Thursdays from 2:30-3:30pm with rent, utility bills and other needs. If you are unable to come during these hours, please contact the office to make special arrangements.

 My Brother's Pantry

Emergency food supplies are available on a one-time basis to anyone who asks for help. Continuing monthly assistance is available to eligible community members.

 For details, call 410-757-5190 or email Linda Rzepkowski.

The Caring Cupboard (Pasadena) offers diapers, frozen/cold food, call to make an appointment

8513 Fort Smallwood Rd, Pasadena, MD 21122

Phone: (443) 840-8079

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Community Resources Landing Page, designed to support AACPS students and their families. This centralized webpage provides easy access to local and school-based services, including food assistance, housing support, mental health resources, and more. The page is organized by category and is available in multiple languages to ensure accessibility for all families. Community Resources Page

The School Counselor’s Corner

Volunteering:

Do you want to volunteer at Cape St. Claire? We have lots of opportunities for you to help in the building and at special events!  We need regular volunteers in the Media Center, to help students learn sight words and math facts, and we need fieldtrip chaperones!  All volunteers must have a background check and have attended our volunteer orientation.  We received an update from School Security, and they are now requiring that the volunteer orientation be completed every year.  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UI5_uJK03HdI1eAzzNLjuJRX_Hhb_xdmJnhjeMqPLng/edit?usp=sharing

Counseling Lessons:

November is time for practicing those bothering/bully strategies. Pre-K, Kindergarten and first grade are focusing on making good choices while second and third grades are working on being responsible. The upper grades are learning about growth mindset.

Fifth grade will explore options for Middle School and bully prevention.

This link is to the Magnet School Information page.  If you want your child to apply, all the information is there. https://www.aacps.org/page/magnet-programs Here is a link to the Magnet School information nights https://files-backend.assets.thrillshare.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4458/Aacps/15d1300e-06f1-4981-a3d3-a16bb80b186c/Magnet-Fall-Magnet-Information-Nights-2025-Eng-and-Spanish.pdf?disposition=inline  

In December, third, fourth and fifth graders will learn about being safe with medicines and drug abuse prevention:

• Third grade: Recognizing prescription vs. non-prescription drugs - safe use, choices and problem-solving, and an introduction to what opioid drugs are. They will be using a book: Charlie and the Curious Club: Candy or Medicine.

•  Fourth grade: Learning about the physical effects of drugs, understanding why substance abuse is a problem and what addiction is, and identifying how they can contribute to solving the problem of substance abuse on a community level. They will be working with materials from KidsHealth.com and recent news clips to define the problem and design a PSA, video clip, poster, etc. to address the problem.

• Fifth grade: Learning and practicing strategies to deal with peer pressure, using refusal skills to build confidence to deal with situations when they might be asked to do drugs, recognizing the effects opioids can have on the brain. Students develop strategies and receive a pocket card with strategies and resources on it.

These lessons are important because school provides a safe place where children can learn what to do in unfamiliar or uncomfortable situations. Trusted adults provide students with an opportunity to practice handling situations related to substance abuse, so that the first time a young person is faced with an unsafe situation, he or she knows what to do and has practiced doing it. Students will identify trusted adults, both inside and outside of the school, who they can go for help.

You can make arrangements to preview the lessons with Mrs. Bachman, School Counselor, or you can view them on the AACPS  website.  Go to  https://www.aacps.org/documents/services/assistance-for-families/school-counseling/required-elementary-lessons/626222

**If you would like to make an appointment with me for your child, please let me know by calling me at 410-222-1685, or email me at hbachman@aacps.org.  Feel free to contact me about any social, emotional, or academic concerns you have for your student. 

~ Mrs. Bachman School Counselor

Cape St. Claire Elementary Spirit Days!

• November 14th: Silly Sock Day

• December 12th: Wacky Sweater Day

• January 5th: Pajama Day

• February 13th: Wear Red, Pink, or Purple

• March 13th: Dress like an animal or animal print

• April 10th: Super Hero Day

• May 8th: Mismatch Day

• June 12: Beach Day

   

Did you know that as many as one in three students in the country miss 10%, or about 18 days, of the school year? Let's work together to make sure all kids show up and participate every day possible. Being in school supports students' social, emotional, and physical well-being and provides students with opportunities to learn and reach for their dreams. Let's show up together and make daily attendance a habit.

Cape St. Claire Overall Year-To-Date Attendance (As of October 27, 2025) 96.2%

PreK 93.6%

Kindergarten 95.4%

1st Grade 96.5%

2nd Grade 95.2%

3rd Grade 96.8%

4th Grade 96.0%

5th Grade 97.3%

Parents and Guardians—If your student is late to school, please have them bring a note explaining their absence to the office. This can be from you or their medical professional if they were tardy due to an appointment. When they are absent, please submit an electronic attendance note through the Parent Portal, or you can write one.

Cultural Arts

All students are now engaged in creating personal works of art! We are exploring the elements of art and principles of design through the following projects:

Mrs. Morris’ Art Classes:

PK - 3D Rainbows

K - Self-Portraits

1 - Symmetrical Monarchs

2 - Astronauts

3 - Gyotaku Prints

4 - Value Pumpkins

5 - Self-Portraits

Ms. Howe’s Art Classes:

K - Winter Wonder Landscapes

1 - Family Snow Globes

2 - Paper Mache Snow People

3 - Winter Value Silhouettes

4 - Jen Aranyi Landscapes

5 - Birch Tree Watercolor Resist

Mrs. Morris and Ms. Howe

Triple E: STEM

Our CSC students have been engaged in a great deal of critical thinking throughout the first marking period of Triple E: STEM. As we begin the second marking period, we will continue to empower our learners with hands-on learning experiences through the projects below!

Current/Upcoming STEM Projects:

Pre-K; Habits of Mind (Pt 1)

K; Magnet Mazes

1; Kid Robot

2; Illuminart

3; Fantastic Contraption

4; Spin Masters

5; Operation

Our STEM classroom has received a grant to purchase a 3D printer from The Education Foundation of Anne Arundel County Public Schools! If you’d like to support our 3D printing projects, we’d love to receive donations of filament. Follow this link to check out what we’re looking for: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IAR6HRB5UWOV?ref_=wl_share 

Mrs. Bathras & Mrs. Shattuck

P.E.:

October was another great month in PE. Grades 3 - 5 began the month by completing a unit on football skills (throwing, catching, kicking). Grades Pre-K - 2 began the month by completing a unit on soccer skills (dribbling, kicking for accuracy, and kicking for distance).

All grades also completed a unit on fitness components. This unit included a variety of activities that focused on the health-related fitness components (muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and aerobic endurance) as well as the skill-related fitness components (speed, agility, balance, coordination, reaction time, and power). Students were able to participate in a variety of activities utilizing the climbing wall during this unit.

Please be mindful of what days your child has PE to ensure that they are wearing athletic shoes. Thank you for your support, and we are looking forward to another great month in November!

Mr. Gillette and Mrs. Venturella

Media: 

Rolling into the second quarter,  students will begin "The Hour of Code" in November/December. During our coding lessons, students will utilize technology and problem-solving skills in our coding programs. We have also begun introducing and reviewing how to code our robots. Reading new books and investigating through research will continue this quarter.

Mrs. Crocker and Mrs. Smith

General Music:

Primary students are playing percussion instruments, reading rhythmic patterns, singing in soft and loud dynamics, and singing high and low melodic contours. 

Intermediate students are performing songs in a variety of forms, reading notes on the treble clef by singing and playing instruments. Students are reviewing note values and performing a variety of rhythmic patterns. 

Fourth Grade had a wonderful field trip to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Harrison and Mrs. Rossell

Pre-Kindergarten

Dear Families,

We’re diving into Unit 2 of Connect4Learning (C4L): Environments! This month, we’ll explore places close to home and far away — even a coral reef!

What We’re Learning:

Science:

• Different environments and how to care for them

• Animals, plants, and land features

• Making predictions, observing, and recording ideas through drawings and writing

Math:

• Counting aloud and counting objects

• Exploring and comparing 2-D and 3-D shapes

Literacy:

• Rhyming words

• Beginning letter sounds

Social & Emotional Skills:

• Identifying problems and finding good solutions

By the end of our unit, we’ll create our very own coral reef project! 

How You Can Help at Home:

• Talk about environments, animals, plants, and recycling.

• Play rhyming games and read rhyming books together.

• Look for shapes in your home and community, and discuss how they’re alike and different.

• Encourage your child to solve small problems using strategies from school.

   

We’re looking forward to another month of discovery and creativity!

Warmly,
Ms. White

Kindergarten

The first quarter of kindergarten was full of getting to know each other, learning and fun! We are looking forward to the learning and fun to come! 

    *We are excited for our field trip on Thursday, November 20th to Down's Park.  

    *With the weather getting colder, please make sure to send in a cold weather change of clothes for your child's locker.

Curriculum

• Language Arts: In November we will be working on Skills unit 4 and Knowledge Unit 4.  In Skills unit 4, students continue to learn letter sounds, blending sounds into words, reading CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words, and identifying Trick words. Please continue to practice these skills at home.  The curriculum sends home a lot of extra practice sheets that are great to reinforce what we are doing at school.  In Knowledge 4 we will learn all about plants! Students will work on identifying key details in text, identifying the main topic, making connections, and asking and answering questions.  

• Math: Students have been doing a super job counting items up to 10, identifying one more, writing numbers correctly and comparing groups. We have used vocabulary like count, equal, greater, less than and compare.  Please continue to practice these skills and rote counting up to 60. November math skills will focus on sorting, classifying and counting objects.  We will spend time looking at different attributes of things.  What color, size, shape are things?  What can these things be used for?  Which item in a group doesn't belong and why?  We will compare items and try to make connections by comparing their characteristics.

• Science/SS: In Science, as we work on Unit 4, we will learn about the needs and life cycles of animals.  In Social Studies we will be working on an Economics unit and learning about making choices.

1st Grade

First grade had a wonderful month of October. Students learned all about butterflies and got to experience watching their very own go through the lifecycle! We brought our Human Body unit to a close by creating life-sized bodies and labeling all parts of the body systems. Students did a wonderful job showing acts of kindness in support of our fundraiser and contributing to the food drive. 

During the month of November, students will read fairy tales and folktales. Through these stories, they will learn new vocabulary as well as about different cultures from around the world. Students will develop their writing skills by retelling important events and describing characters. 

As mathematicians students will learn multiple strategies to add two and three numbers. They will also explore what the equal sign means and how to find an unknown in an equation. 

In Science your first graders have learned about the seasons and will begin a new unit about how the changing environment affects them. We are looking forward to meeting you all during the conferences at the end of the month.

2nd Grade

The first marking period in second grade was a great success!  Students are continuing to show the 4 R’s in our classrooms and having fun with our lessons.  

In the Knowledge block, the students will learn about the gods and goddesses of the Ancient Greeks, the city-states of Sparta and Athens, and the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  They will learn about the first Olympic games, the contribution to democracy and how it is used today.  

During our Skills block, the students will begin Unit 3 where they will be introduced to spelling alternatives for vowel sounds.  The new decodable reader for this unit is called “Kids Excel” which they will use to close read and answer comprehension questions.  The students will focus on writing personal narratives towards the end of the unit.  

In Math, the students will be finishing up the meanings of addition and subtraction unit and moving into strategies to fluently add within 100. Students use various tools to find sums up to 100, such as base-ten blocks and number lines to decompose and adjust addends. Students will extend their thinking of regrouping, partial sums, decomposing and adjusting addends. 

Finally, in Science and Social Studies, the students will focus on a unit called “We are digitally empowered learners.  The students will explore the use of a variety of technologies to communicate with others, navigate various types of technology that can be used to find different types of information, and explain how technology enhances their learning.

We look forward to another month of learning with your students!

3rd Grade

October has been an exciting month for our third graders! We kicked things off with our first field trip, to The Baltimore Museum of Industry, where students stepped back in time to role-play different parts of Maryland’s history.

It’s hard to believe the first marking period is already coming to an end! In math, we’ve been exploring the meaning of multiplication and division, using models to represent equations. In our next unit, students will begin learning their multiplication facts with strategies such as doubling and skip counting.

In reading, we recently wrapped up our unit on animal classification and are now diving into an exploration of the human body systems. Meanwhile, in science and social studies, students are working on a culminating project that combines their understanding of forces and the geographical features of Anne Arundel County—by designing their own mini golf (putt-putt) hole!

Please continue to check Rooms for weekly math practice assignments and be on the lookout for “Take-Home” reading pages from your child’s workbook. These activities are a great way to reinforce what we’re learning in class and build confidence in key skills.

4th Grade

Math 

In Unit 4, “Multiplication as Comparison,” students will explain multiplication equations using statements of comparison. They will understand the relationship between multiplication and division. Students will write and solve multiplicative comparison problems using multiplication and division equations with an unknown. 

In Unit 5, “Numbers and Patterns,” students will find factor pairs of whole numbers, identify numbers as prime or composite, and understand multiples of a number. Students will identify the rule of a pattern, generate new patterns, and analyze pattern features.

Resources:

Unit 4 Family Letter

Unit 5 Family Letter

Science 

We are studying topographic features of the earth. Students will discover that since mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes are all related to two tectonic plates being in contact with each other, it is not coincidental that they all occur in generally the same place.

Social Studies 

We will dive into colonialism and discuss specific early colonies in the Americas: Jamestown, Plymouth, St. Augustine, and St. Mary’s City.  We will discuss how colonialism affects how and where we live today.

CKLA  (Core Knowledge Language Arts)

Students will explore poetry. They will analyze the methods and devices used by poets, which will prepare them to read and interpret both formal and free verse poems. 

Resources:

Unit 3 Family Letter

5th Grade

Hello 5th Grade Families,

We have had a great first quarter with your students! Please be sure you are checking Rooms and Canvas regularly for communication from your students’ teachers, as well as to monitor their classroom performance. Parent-teacher conferences are approaching, but remember that you can reach out to your child’s instructional team at any time if you have questions or concerns.

As a reminder, if you are hoping to chaperone for our Water Readiness or extended day field trip in the Spring, you will need to have a fingerprint-supported background check completed through AACPS (call 410-222-5045 to make an appointment).

See below for updates about what we are learning this month:

Math:

We are starting the second quarter with Unit 5, which focuses on multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers. Later this month, we will use those skills as we transition into the next unit on multiplying decimal numbers. Thank you for your support in encouraging your children to complete their assigned homework (or an i-Ready Math lesson) each night.

Science/Social Studies:

Students will begin exploring concepts related to our solar system and stars in Science this month. In Social Studies, we will touch on the War of 1812 and then dive into some Maryland-specific topics, looking closely at the influence of geography on various aspects of Marylanders’ lives throughout history.

*Students will take the CogAT during this class period on November 4th, 5th, and 7th.

Knowledge:

This month, we are learning all about poetry! Unlike our most recent unit, this unit of study does not have take-home pages designated for homework. Thank you for your support with those during our last unit! Please continue to check your student’s agenda book daily, as the homework assigned for Knowledge varies by unit. As of 10/20, all 5th-grade students are participating in targeted reading instruction aligned to their areas of need during our Soaring Seagull Block (Enrichment). For ALPs students, this is when they receive that instruction with their Knowledge teacher. These skill groups have been formed based on a variety of data points and are fluid, meaning that students will switch groups as needed throughout the year to ensure they are receiving the support needed to maximize their growth. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher.

Thank you, families, for your continued support at home!

Cape Families - Please keep in mind that domestic pets, such as dogs and cats, are not permitted on school grounds. Thank you for working with us to keep all students safe!

Upcoming Important Dates

Wednesday, November 12 - schools closed for Elementary and Middle school students, Teacher workday

Thursday & Friday, November 24 & 25 - Schools closed for Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday - Friday, November 26-28 - Schools & Central Offices Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

School Hours

8:00 am to 2:25 pm Doors open at 7:45 am

931 Blue Ridge Drive Annapolis, MD 21409

Phone: 410-222-1685

When visiting the school, please remember to bring your government issued photo ID