Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!

Pasadena Elementary serves students in pre-k through fifth grade and is a designated as a
specialty site for autism. Through the years, our school has been recognized with awards: National Blue Ribbon, Maryland Blue Ribbon, E-Gate School, Wellness School of Distinction, and Green School - Sustainability. These accolades align with the AACPS Strategic Plan's priorities.

The Pasadena Elementary Staff is committed to ensuring this school year is a successful learning and growing experience for all students. We will strive to provide an excellent instructional program to all students with learning activities that are challenging, exciting, engaging, and often incorporating technology. Setting high expectations for ourselves and our students, we invite you to join us as we work toward reaching these goals. As partners in education, your active involvement with your child's education is critical. We believe that a cooperative effort will yield the greatest degree of success.

We look forward to your child having an amazing school year as we work together sharing ideas and new experiences. Your interest and involvement are the factors which make Pasadena Elementary a place where learning begins, and new talents are discovered. Please take a moment to review the important information in the following pages. Additional AACPS information is available online in the AACPS Parent Handbook and AACPS Student Handbook.

Maryland law states regular attendance is required. We look forward to our students attending daily. If your student is absent for any, please send a note to the school or submit an online absence form. Absences for medical reasons and death in the family are excused; vacations are unexcused according to guidelines.

School doors open 7:40am and will close at 7:55am. Students should be in class, ready to start the day promptly at 8:00am so that our staff can be ready to start instruction on-time. Any students arriving after the doors close will need to be escorted to the main office. Students must be supervised before 7:40am and car riders must remain in vehicles. The playground is closed before school opens. Dismissal begins at 2:25pm. To help expedite dismissal, parents/guardians of car riders and walkers will be provided with a plastic nametag. To request a car rider or walker tag, please click here. Please have this tag on display in the car, or hold up while waiting near the playground. Should your student need additional assistance with a car seat buckle or seat belt, please park in the main parking lot and meet your student at the playground dismissal location.

Please adhere to the traffic pattern provided by Anne Arundel County Police Department: When coming to the school for morning drop-off or afternoon pick-up, the arrival queue will enter from Maple Avenue, E. Chestnut Street, E. Hamburg Street or Catalfa Avenue. When leaving the school from morning drop-off or afternoon pick-up, please exit on Spruce Avenue only. Our school traffic will only use Spruce Avenue as an exit to E. Pasadena Road.

If at any time you have a question or concern, please contact your child’s teacher. If you feel intervention by the administration or school counselor is necessary, please call. The staff at Pasadena welcome the opportunity to address your questions or concerns. Open communication is essential if we are to maximize the learning experiences of the children.

At this time, the school is closed to visitors during the school day. Please schedule an appointment in advance of coming to the school.

I look forward to this school year with you and your student.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Quirino, Principal

Literacy learning is off to a great start at PES! AACPS has a new curriculum called Amplify CKLA this year. This program follows the Science of Reading instruction and includes foundations skills lessons along with knowledge/comprehension skills. We are committed to increasing vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. In all grades, students will become familiar with key elements and parts of a story as they explore valuable lessons that are taught through the morals of the stories. Throughout many of their first units, students will explore narrative writing by identifying elements in the stories they hear and by working with their peers to plan and draft some narrative writing of their own.

Conversation starters – here are some questions you can ask your student about their first unit to promote discussion and continued learning:

1. Who were the main characters in your reading today? Follow up: What are some adjectives you would use to describe those characters?

2. Where did the story you read today take place? Follow up: How would you describe that setting?

3. What are themes? (broad ideas that come up many times over the course of a story or book) Follow up: What are some of the recurring themes that you have noticed in the stories you have been reading or in the stories your teacher has been reading to you?

4. Whose perspective was your Read-Aloud told from today? Follow up: How did you know that?

Students in grades K-3 will participate in DIBELS assessments. This is a national assessment designed to measure student mastery of early literacy skills related to letter and sound recognition as well as decoding words. Once completed, a report will be shared with parents/guardians.

Students in grades 1-5 will participate in i-Ready Diagnostic assessment in the coming week. They will complete web-based adaptive diagnostic assessments for Reading and Math, resulting in a personalized instruction program called My Path. i-Ready assesses students' reading/math skills to the sub-domain level, prescribing differentiated Common Core instruction so learners of all abilities can achieve success. Once completed, a report will be shared with parents/guardians.

Cathryn Nash, Literacy Teacher

cnash@aacps.org

Welcome to Physical Education for the 2024-2025 school year! We are excited to work with your child(ren) in class this year as we learn how to safely move our bodies and make healthy choices. Students attend Physical Education class, twice each week for 30 minutes. Please help your child wear sneakers or tennis shoes on P.E. days. Other shoes (crocs, boots, sandals, etc.) are not a safe choice when coming to P.E.

We encourage you to move each day with your child. Please refer to the Elementary Health and Physical Activity Calendars for ideas. Students who print out the calendar, complete each day with a parent/guardian signature, and turn it in to Mrs. Deaver at the end of each month, will receive a small prize. If you need a copy printed for your student, please email cdeaver@aacps.org.

This year, Jennifer Winterling will teach P.E. classes on Thursdays.

Carrie Deaver, P.E. Teacher

cdeaver@aacps.org

All students will be learning the procedures, rules, and expectations of Global Studies through teambuilding activities. In addition, students will be completing challenges relating to the five success skills: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Child-Directed Learning.

EEE Global Studies will gain a part-time teacher this year, Caitlyn Johnson. She will be at Pasadena Elementary on Wednesdays.

Ryan Peters, EEE Global Studies

rpeters@aacps.org

Please keep an eye out for a Parent Information Envelope letting you know about a safe and easy way for our school to raise funds for essential tools our students and teachers need to succeed. The SchoolStore fundraiser is 100% online so there is NO face-to-face selling, handling money, or delivering products.  Your participation will take less than 12 minutes, and there are exciting prizes to make it fun for the students.

Here is all you need to do to participate:

1.  Go to https://www.schoolstore.net/sid.t?0000151167 to sign up.

2.  Send form emails inviting family, friends and co-workers to support your child.

3.  Return the Envelope with the Student Prize Code to school for your child to get their fun participation prize.

Be sure to ask your child for the Parent Envelope.  Your participation will make a difference for our school and teachers! Proceeds from this fundraiser will support student and staff incentives and may supplement classroom activities.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools prohibits discrimination in its educational programs, and in employment, on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or disability.