For more than 50 years, National PTA has celebrated the imagination and creativity of students through the Reflections program. Reflections is a unique arts-in-education effort as it engages all students, including two age groups for elementary schools: Primary for K through grade 2, and Intermediate for grade 3 through grade 5. The 2020-2021 theme is

I Matter Because…

There are six categories for this friendly competition, and participants can enter in more than one category.

1) Dance Choreography
2) Film Production
3) Literature
4) Music Composition
5) Photography
6) Visual Art

There is also a division for the Special Artists.

Please find the rules for the six categories, the rules for the Special Artist Division, and the entry form.

This program runs virtually across Maryland this year.

Art, along with the entry form must be received by Edith Deng (edithdeng@gmail.com) on or before November 30th, 2020.

1. Name of dish
2. Name of contributing student or family
3. Country of origin
4. Number of servings
5. Ingredients
6. Steps
7. Special notes/story
8. Photo (png or jpg file) of your child or family creating the dish or posing with final product or have your child draw a picture of the dish to accompany the recipe if you would like

We can’t wait to see what our Wayside community is eating!

We are excited to see that we can still have our book fair, which is hugely popular at our school with children of all ages. So please SAVE THE DATE: November 6-19. We look forward to sharing the joy of reading with the Wayside community!  We will soon share some of the events planned for this year’s fair.

Herbert Hoover Theatre is excited to announce the Spring Musical! (Watch the video to find out what show it will be!!) Participation is open to Kindergarten through 12th grade, with SSL opportunities for middle and high school students. A Parent & Student Interest Meeting will be held virtually on November 5. More details to be announced.

You can join the PTA at any time! See how on the PTA website.

The Board of Education’s Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Committee is hosting a community conversation about virtual learning on Monday, Oct. 19 from 6–7:30 p.m.

You can watch at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org, youtube.com/mcpstv or on MCPS-TV (Comcast 33, Verizon 36 and RCN 88). You can submit questions in advance at www.mcpssubmitquestion.org.

The interactive boundary tool developed by WXY will be shared in two public webinars—on Tuesday, October 20 and Thursday, October 22. Both webinars will be held from 7–8:30 p.m. A virtual community meeting will also be held from 7–9 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28 for WXY and MCPS leadership to receive feedback from the public on the tool. All meetings will be held via Zoom and will require advance registration. Those who cannot attend will be able to watch the recorded webinar after the event is over. Register for the engagement events.

A research team at the University of Maryland is studying the effects of social distancing on child language development. The researchers want to understand how recent changes in children’s learning environments (e.g., wearing masks, online learning) affect or don’t affect language development. Families can use their free, family-friendly app, KidTalk Language Scrapbooking, to fill out surveys, make short recordings of their child talking, and share these anonymously with our team. They hope this information will inform policy to support families in future disruptions. Parents are invited to visit the website and create a free account with the KidTalk app to check it out. Contact Dr. Yi Ting Huang, Associate Professor at University of Maryland College Park with questions at ythuang1@umd.edu.

You can purchase Wayside spirit wear at any time in our online store, including our special Zooming into 2020 t-shirt! Contact logowear@waysidepta.org with questions.