Dear Janney Families,

It was great to see many of you at WinterFest!  Thanks to all of the volunteers who worked to make that event such a success.

Please Save the Date for our annual Janney Auction that will be held on Saturday, March 14^th!  More info is forthcoming.  And please be on the lookout for an opportunity to participate in a staff-led parent book club on White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo.  More information will be included in next week’s newsletter.

The newsletter this week contains important information regarding school delays or cancellations in the event of inclement weather.  Please read the information carefully.

Also included in this week’s newsletter: important health information from Nurse Peaks; an opportunity for families to give feedback on the draft DCPS school calendars; an announcement about Janney Elementary Day at American University; information on indoor Jamboree for the months of January and February for grades 1-5; and, an informational column from our Speech Language Pathologist, Toni Wills.

The PTA Update includes: recognition of all WinterFest volunteers; information about upcoming Community Service projects; and, an update on the SSF.

Inclement Weather Policies
With winter weather in our forecast, we wanted to remind families that they can check on the operating status of DCPS in three ways:
Local Media: DCPS will submit inclement weather decisions to local media including TV, radio, and newspapers. Please check local outlets for information about closings and delays.
Social Media: DCPS will post inclement weather decisions on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The DCPS username for Twitter and Instagram is @dcpublicschools, and the Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/dcpublicschools/.
DCPS Website: The DCPS website will contain information on the homepage about closings and delays. Please visit dcps.dc.gov in the event of inclement weather.

In the event of a 2-hour delay, please note that Janney+ will not operate morning care, and that students may begin reporting at 10:30am.

Please note that administration tries to inform families of school delays and closings via an email blast, but we cannot guarantee that this email will be sent prior to 7:30am.  Therefore, please check the outlets listed above.  Further information can be found on the DCPS website.

A Note from the Health Suite
Quick reminders:

• The health suite is open during school hours and is located on the 1^st Floor, East end.
• If your child has a temperature over 100 degrees, has been vomiting, or has had diarrhea, please keep them home until they are free from all symptoms for 24 hours.
• All medications must include a medication authorization that has been completed by your child’s physician AND parent/legal guardian (this includes non-prescription medications).
• Any medication that your child needs at school, prescriptions (inhalers, antibiotics, etc.) and non- prescription medications (Tylenol, Benadryl, etc.), must be brought to the health suite by an adult.  Each medication must be in the original new ​packaging or pharmacy container with the students name clearly labeled.
• Please do not send any medication in a child’s backpack or lunch bag for your child to take unsupervised.  This is a danger to all students and is against our school policy.​
• If your child has been diagnosed with a contagious disease (strep throat, pink eye, etc.) they must stay home until completing the first 24 hours of antibiotics and they require a doctor’s note clearing them to return to school.
• Any eye discharge, swelling, or possible infection needs to be evaluated by your pediatrician before coming to school.
• If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me, Nurse Peaks.

Feedback Requested: DCPS Calendar
From the DCPS website: Based on stakeholder feedback, DCPS has shifted to a three-year calendar planning process. Our hope is that this will better serve the needs of students, staff and families. DCPS will continue to set the last Monday in August as the first day of school for students for the next three consecutive school years (August 31, 2020, August 29, 2021 and August 28, 2022 respectively). Based on this start date, we have developed proposals for the 2020-23 school calendars and invite public feedback.
Please click the link above to learn more and view the proposed calendars.
Please click here to provide feedback.

Janney ES Day at AU! 12/21/19 @ 2pm
A reminder to all Janney Elementary families that the 13^th Annual Janney Elementary Day at AU Basketball will be held Saturday, December 21^st at 2pm in AU’s Bender Arena.  If you haven’t already turned in your green form with payment, please do so by Tuesday, December 17^th at the latest.  Be sure to write your child’s home room teacher’s name on the slip.  Tickets will go home with your child on Thursday, afternoon Dec. 19^th.  We’re looking forward to this event and tradition for Janney families.  GO EAGLES!

Indoor Jamboree: January and February
We will move Jamboree indoors beginning in January.  Each grade level will be assigned a day to host a grade-wide Morning Meeting in the gym beginning at 8:35am.  Please note that drop-off procedures will not change for students in grades PK-K.  If you have a student in grades 1-5, please drop-off your child off directly at the gym on their assigned grade-level day.  If it is not your child’s assigned grade-level day, students may transition to their classrooms beginning at 8:35am.  The turf field doors will be open for arrival between 8:30-8:45am.  Students may also continue to use the Albemarle doors for arrival.  We ask that parents in grades 1-5 drop their students off on the first floor and that they do not travel to the classroom with students.
Schedule for indoor Jamboree
Mondays – all students in homerooms
Tuesdays – PK and K
Wednesdays – 1^st and 2^nd grades
Thursdays – 3^rd and 4^th grades
Fridays – 5^th grade

Student Support Services Column
Season’s Greetings Janney Community! The holidays are swiftly approaching and I thought I would use this opportunity to talk about Developmental Milestones! I often get questions from both parents and teachers regarding how a child articulates or uses language. In this entry, I will focus on developmental milestones for children ages Four to Five. It is important to note, all children develop at their own rate and your child might not have all the skills until the end of the age range. When in doubt, consult with your pediatrician or your school-based speech-pathologist.  For now, let’s talk about what your child should be able to do…

Hearing and Understanding…

• Understands words for order, like first, next, and last
• Understands words for time, like yesterday, today, and tomorrow
• Follows longer directions, like “Put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, and pick out a book”
• Follows classroom directions like, “Circle something you eat.”

Talking…

• Says all speech sounds in words, but may still have difficulty with harder sounds including: l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, and th.
• Responds to “What did you say?”
• Names letters and numbers
• Uses sentences that have more than 1 action word, like jump, play, and get. May make grammatical errors, like “ John gots 2 video games, but I got one.”
• Tells a short story
• Talks in different ways, depending on the audience and location. You may also notice your child uses short sentences with younger children and may talk louder outside than inside

These are just a few milestones to begin to notice in your child and many of these your child may have already met just by the nature of having older siblings and/or by being in school. But, there are still ways you can help your child, including the following:

• Talk about where things are in space, using words like first and last or right and left. Talk about opposites, like up and down or big and little
• Talk about categories, like fruits, furniture, and shapes.Sorting items into categories and having your child tell you which one belongs or doesn’t belong and Why! But don’t forget to model, model, model! You are your child’s first model for speech and language!
• Read stories that are easy to follow like Faster! Faster! by Leslie Patricelli or Milk and Cookies by Frank Asch- my students of all ages enjoy these books and can easily predict what might happen next.
• Play board games with your child. This will help them learn how to follow rules and talk about the game.
• Teach your child to ask for help when they do not understand what a word means.
• Have your child help you plan daily activities. For example, have them make a shopping list and you can target beginning sounds of items on the list.
• Talk to your child in the language you are most comfortable using.

Next up, we will discuss ways on making progress in speech and language and ways to support your child at home.
Here’s to a great holiday season!

Warm regards,
Ms. Toni aka The Speech Lady
Toni Carroll-Wills, MS CCC-SLP

Warmly,
Alysia Lutz, Principal