Janney Families,

Yesterday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many of us enjoyed a day of rest with family and friends or an important call to community service. I joined hundreds of volunteers at the old site of DC General organizing supplies for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, just one of the many projects underway in DC. We will continue our focus on service at Janney in the coming weeks. Our Roots and Shoots project closes on January 22nd befitting the animal shelter, Thrive DC and South American rainforest preservation. Next Thursday we will host a bake sale, complete with Mardi Gras beads, to show our ongoing commitment to aiding the Haiti earthquake recovery. If you would like to help with that drive, please plan to purchase baked goods for breakfast on that morning or a snack at dismissal. This event will take place of Jamboree that Thursday morning.

Last week we held our monthly SIT meeting. The discussion has now turned to landscaping, staging and arrival and dismissal traffic patterns. Please continue to send your comments and suggestions to sitdesigncomments@yahoo.com. These comments will be shared with the SIT committee so that they can be communicated to our architects and the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM). We are still on schedule for construction to start in late March or early April of this year.

Students in third through fifth grade did a wonderful job on the DC-BAS testing, with make-up testing continuing this week on January 20th. The Principal's Coffee on Tuesday brought a lively discussion around expectations for students in DC and at Janney, with many of the resources that were provided now posted on the Janney website. We closed out the week with a Professional Development Day for staff members as we joined the DC3 Collaborative in a four-school choice of sessions, bringing our Janney faculty together with a larger community of educators for a day of learning, sharing and improving practice.

This week starts with an LSRT meeting this evening with our agenda slated to focus on the school budget for the upcoming year; this budget will be presented to the larger community for feedback in early February. On Thursday, several of the leadership team members will attend a lesson study around inclusive practices in mathematics at Marie Reed Education Center, furthering our understanding of meeting individual needs of students in that subject. Friday brings the much awaited Crazy Hair day (as well as a half day of school for teacher record-keeping), so break out the hairspray, the (temporary) hair dye, ribbons and wigs to show your Janney pride!

I close this week with a link to a series of interesting Education Blogs as complied by the Washington Post. This link, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/best-education-blogs-for-2010.html#more , provides current research and interesting perspectives for teachers and parents to support our students in their learning.

Have a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Norah Lycknell
Principal

Bake Sale for Haiti

The loss of human life and the destruction of Port-au-Prince due to last week's earthquake has been devastating. The world is mobilizing to support Haiti, and we all can help, even in small ways. Janney is no exception. Baked goods and Mardi Gras beads will be available for sale on Thursday, January 28th before (in place of Jamboree) and after school. Buy a treat and support the people of Haiti!

Please contact Maureen Leventhal or Shana Zallman with any questions.

Help Janney Participate in the MLK Day of Service

Janney will collect items for 3 different organizations up until Friday, January 22nd. Students and family members can drop off donations in the labeled boxes in the first floor hallway, to the right of Ms. Soribe's security desk. Thrive DC is in need of gently-used or new adult hats, gloves, scarves, and coats. The Washington Animal Rescue League and the Washington Humane Society need towels and blankets (no sheets please!), kongs, peanut butter, fake mice, and jingle balls. A digital camera would be greatly appreciated by the Humane Society to help them document cases of animal mistreatment and cruelty. (This would be better placed in Shana Zallman's box in the office to ensure its safety.) Finally, Janney Jaguars can help live jaguars in South American forests by dropping coins and dollar bills into the labeled jug. The money collected will be sent to the Rainforest Action Network to help them in their efforts to curb deforestation and climate change. Thank you for your participation!

Please email Shana Zallman if you have any questions.

Display Case Meeting

There will be a short meeting on Thursday, January 28 (next Thursday) at 3:30 at the collection case in the front hallway. After reviewing a few instructions, there will be an opportunity for signing-up. Given the limited number of display weeks, there will be a lottery, if necessary. If your child would like to team up with friends or siblings to share the display space on a given week, that would be welcomed. Many thanks for your interest in sharing your collection with the Janney community.

Counselor's Corner

Career Day:
Please consider participating in Career Day on Friday, February 5th. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn more about the world of work. If you or someone you know is willing to participate, please contact Mrs. Leventhal at (202) 282-1243.

Safety Patrol Tip of the Week

Go directly to or from your destination using the safest route. Marcelus Jones, Safety Patroller

Janney Shopping at Amazon!

Do you shop through Amazon? Earn money for Janney by clicking on this link or starting your search in the Amazon Search box on the Janney Homepage. Janney will earn up to 6 percent of your order every time you begin your search on the Janney site. Just think, no additional
cost to you, lots of additional funds for Janney.

In the Neighborhood

Positive Parenting Seminar on 1/27: The Saint Albans Early Childhood Center (SAECC), in partnership with the Parent Encouragement Program (PEP), will hold an interactive workshop on "Solutions and Strategies for Positive Parenting and Discipline." The session will be facilitated by Christine Jelen of PEP (see bio below), and will address questions such as:

�      How discipline differs from punishment and reward systems
�      Developing goals and tools of positive discipline
�      Use of logical consequences

The session will take place at the St. Alban's Early Childhood Center- Satterlee Hall ( 3001 Wisconsin Avenue, NW on the Cathedral grounds), on Wednesday, January 27 from 5:30-7:30pm. Food and childcare will be provided

Read more about Christine Jelen:
Christine Jelen has worked with the Parent Encouragement Program as a parent educator, specializing in programming for parents of babies and preschoolers. In addition to teaching PEP's Parenting Preschoolers A and B classes (16 weeks of parent education), she teaches numerous workshops on topics such as "Dealing with the Terrible Trio: Eating, Sleeping and Toilet Training," and "Raising 'I Can' Kids" and gives talks in the community and in corporate settings. In her former work life, she was a high school English teacher. She is also the mother of three children, ages 11, 7, and 5.

Contributing to the E-Newsletter

All submissions to the PTA newsletter should be emailed to Janneynewsletter@yahoo.com. The deadline for submissions is Friday at 3:15 pm. Because the newsletter is reviewed by several individuals before distribution, we must adhere to this deadline.

Material in the newsletter must be:
1) For the benefit of Janney students;
2) Related to activities or programs that take place on Janney school grounds, or for specific Janney-sponsored events or programs;
3) From and for not-for-profit organizations (unless #1 and #2 above are satisfied, and approved by both PTA presidents); and
4) Submitted by an official representative of the organization or program referenced.

Inclusion in the newsletter is at the discretion of the newsletter editors, the PTA presidents, and the principal. Please include all text in the body of the email (rather than as an attachment). Small jpeg thumbnails may be attached and can be included in the newsletter. All links or email addresses will be made active (clickable).

If a notice should be run for more than one week, please indicate the dates the notice should be run, or resubmit the notice by the Friday deadline for each week.

Please note there is no longer a box in the Janney office where hard copy newsletter submissions can be turned in. Prepared fliers to be included in the Take Home Tuesday envelope should be turned into the school office by COB Monday.

Thank you for your cooperation.

The Editors