Detectives, astronauts, a gingerbread man, goblins, a paw print and more graced our Fall Parade as students and teachers from all grades came together to put their costumes on display for our community. I would like to thank all of our parents, students and staff for their help in being so respectful during the parade, and as part of the class celebrations that followed. I must admit that I am already thinking of costume ideas for next year!

Beginning with their creative presentations at Jamboree last week, and ending with a successful Book Fair at Politics and Prose, the Janney community sends its gratitude to Erica Perl and Alexis Comrack for organizing the event as well as the many parent and teacher volunteers who manned the teacher requests' table and who read to our visiting students (in costume, of course). We are not only appreciative of the fundraising, but also of the many new books that now grace our shelves.

In meetings and professional development last week, the LSRT and Janney staff continued to discuss year-long and long-term goals. The LSRT is hard at work developing a Local School Plan that aligns with those goals, while the Janney staff is setting grade-level, teacher, and student-level goals as stepping stones to reach our school-wide aims. The school-wide goals for academic proficiency are now published on the Janney website, and we will continue to keep you apprised as the Local School Plan is finalized.

As you have likely noted, Forrester Construction, the contractor for the Tenleytown Public Library, has begun erecting the fence and staging area for that project. They are slated to conclude this first step by the end of the week, so we will begin full-time PE and recess use of the field at the start of next week.

Beginning on Tuesday of this week, our 3rd-5th grade students will take the DC-BAS in Reading and Math. Remember to get a good night's rest, to eat a nourishing breakfast and to arrive on time for school; this interim assessment allows teachers to measure class and individual strengths and growth areas as they plan for future units of study. Also scheduled for Tuesday are local elections and the PTA Executive Board meeting.

On Wednesday we will hold our school-wide 1,000 Paw Prints Celebration. Ms. Leventhal and the PBS Committee have put together an afternoon of fall activities ranging from corn hole (a personal favorite) to cookie decoration. Don't forget to check out the new PBS bulletin board on the first floor to see how close we are getting to our next 1,000 paw prints.

Finally, we have several community connections opportunities. The whole school will take part in the Homeless Mini-Walk on Friday, after a week of classroom visits by Thrive DC to discuss the issues around homelessness. Our second grade, in effort to build an understanding of the surrounding community, will visit the local firehouse. Our fourth grade will venture a bit farther on their trip to Jamestown on Thursday, exploring an example of a colonial settlement.

On another note, there has been quite a bit of press around the new teacher evaluation system (IMPACT). In effort to develop your own understanding of this new system, I encourage you to visit the DCPS website to peruse the rubrics around which teachers will focus their professional growth. During each professional development day, we will explore one element of the "Teach" area of these rubrics; particularly after last Friday's professional development day, I can tell you without hesitation that we are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing group of reflective practitioners, focused on sharing and improving their skills for our students. To read more about the IMPACT system, visit this link (http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.1b5a3021e04d6a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=01b864505ddc3210VgnVCM1000007e6f0201RCRD).

Have an impactful week!

Sincerely,
Norah Lycknell
Principal

A Note from the PTA Co-Presidents

So, welcome to November. We hope you and your kids had a great (if a bit wet) Halloween. And we hope you remembered to set your clocks back, and change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Janney's big event this weekend was the Book Fair at Politics & Prose. Thank you to everyone who turned out, bought some books, listened to a reading, and passed a rainy weekend curled up with a good book. Many thanks to Erica Perl and Alexis Comrack (co-chairs of this great event), Lauren Case (volunteer coordinator) and Kuniko Davidson (designer extraordinaire).
And special thanks to all the volunteer readers and table staffers. We all really appreciate your dedication.

Finally, please make sure you have the next Full PTA meeting marked on your calendar for Tuesday, November 10th at 7:30 pm in the multipurpose room.

Thanks and have a great week!

Scott Cheney and Jonathan McHugh

A Very Happy Halloween Janney Book Fair

This past weekend, a lot of Janney families tried out that new dance craze and boogied on over to Politics & Prose! We are grateful to each and every one of you who made time in your busy Halloween weekend schedules to stop by and shop for Janney. The rewards were many - an excellent selection of books and presents, a chance to see Janney friends, great coffee, and costumed storytimes, too! We'll report our proceeds when Politics & Prose
lets us know, but early indications are that we had a strong turn-out and good sales figures.

Janney authors including Judith Viorst, Stefan Fatsis and Erica S. Perl visited and signed copies of their books (if you missed
the chance to stock up, never fear... the Deal Book Fair is next weekend!). And the "on stage" reading talent was particularly impressive. The Book Fair was visited by a ballerina, a princess, bacon-and-eggs, two one-of-a-kind witches and a jaguar (thank you Ms. Epperson, Ms. Roy, Ms. Strulson & her husband Sam, Ms. McCrackin, Ms. Rockwell and Ms. Lycknell!)...and all of them read their favorite books to adoring fans.

There were some funny moments, like when Janney dad pointed out a Frog and Toad book, only to have his son yell with excitement...about the Star Wars book next to it! And there were some really nice surprises, like when a total stranger asked 4th grader Isabel Rosenthal to name a favorite book, which the woman then purchased and donated to Isabel's classroom (Ms. Carrier's class) in honor of her all-grown-up children, who were Janney
grads!

Special thanks to Lauren Case, who organized our wonderful team of Janney parent volunteers, the volunteers themselves (and the helpful kids who often joined them!), Kuniko Davidson, who made our beautiful flier and poster, and the staff of Politics & Prose. Thanks also to our Janney teachers and staff, who provided wish lists to guide parents to great book choices, and the Janney PTA, which treated the teachers and staff to coffee at Politics & Prose as a thank-you for participating in the book fair. It was a wonderful event and we couldn't have done it without all of you!

Erica Perl and Alexis Comrack
Book Fair Co-Chairs

A Big Thank You from the National Center for Children and Families!!!

Thanks to the generosity of the Janney community, over 100 homeless children were able to trick-or-treat in style this year. Last week, I delivered enough Halloween costumes to the National Center for Children and Families for more than half of the children in the homeless shelter. Their donation director informed me that they had never received such an incredible response to their costume drive in all of her previous years at NCCF. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to donate.
Nancie Thomas

Auditions for Janney Musical Nov. 30 and Dec. 1

It's JUNGLE BOOK this year! Dig out your fake fur, animal ears and any other beastly costumes you have for this one! All we'll need are the "bear" necessities!

Show dates are February 19-20, 2010. Auditions for 4th and 5th graders will be on Monday, November 30 and Tuesday, December 1 from 3:15-5:00. Students will come home with information sheets soon, but watch the Community News bulletin board for show details.

Parents interested in helping out on production or the pit band, contact Ginny Curtin (GUCurtin@gmail.com or (202) 686-7058).

Free Tickets to American University BasketballNov. 21 for Janney Students

AU Basketball's annual "Janney Elementary Day" is right around the corner! Saturday, November 21st at 12 Noon, the two-time defending Patriot League men's basketball champions host the Florida Atlantic Owls. Tickets are FREE to all Janney students by simply returning the form that will come home with your student via Take Home Tuesday. All additional tickets for parents, friends, family, etc. can also be purchased for just $5. This rate is valid for anyone you'd like to invite! That's a FREE ticket for your Janney students and just $5 tickets for anyone else you'd like to see the two-time defending Patriot League men's basketball champions! Additionally, prior to the game, the Janney 5th Grade chorus will sing the national anthem on the court. For more information, call 202-885-2617 or email andrew.bashuk@american.edu. GO EAGLES!

Lost and Found to be Emptied This Friday 3:15 Sharp

All unclaimed items will be donated to local charities this Friday, November 6th at 3:15pm SHARP. Please stop by BEFORE then to check for items belonging to your children.

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

The Lost and Found Committee
Sally Juram [philsal@verizon.net], Lisa Jacobson, Jennie Bonney, Melissa Modell, Marjie Thompson-Longshore and Ms. Leventhal (School Counselor)

Janney Directory

Please note the following change on pages 3 and 33 your new 2009-2010 Janney Directory:

Scott Cheney has a new email address. Instead of scott@parosgroup.com, please use scottlcheney@gmail.com.

Other corrections or questions about the directory? Contact
rennie.anderson@stanfordalumni.org or amseline@aol.com.

Tips from the Healthy Food Committee

Lalita Kohls, a fifth-grader in Ms. Seward's class, loves bringing pasta salad for lunch. From a recent poll in Ms. Seward's class, pasta was a popular lunch option, and why not? What a smart idea, and so versatile, too! Try mixing tri-color fusilli pasta with a rainbow of colors-- sweet red pepper, snap peas or regular english peas, soybeans (edamame, without the shell!), strips of carrots, chunks of chicken, feta cheese, olives--well, the options are unlimited. Toss the whole thing in a small amount of your favorite dressing-- a light ranch, a vinaigrette, honey-dijon--whatever your child will go for!

Safety Patrol Tip of the Week

Reduce your speed when you enter a school zone or where children walk or bike along the road.

Sarah Thompson, 1st Lieutenant

In the Neighborhood

Deal Days at Politics and Prose

If Halloween weekend proved too crazy and you couldn't get to the Janney Book Sale, you've got another chance this weekend to support a great neighborhood school and a great local bookstore. Please join us for the Deal Middle School Sale on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7 and 8 at Politics & Prose at 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Make sure to use the available fliers or tell the folks at the registers that you are there supporting Deal. If you do, 20% of the purchase price will go to the school. You can also help stock the new Deal library or buy classroom books from teacher "wish lists." Thanks. And thanks to Politics & Prose for hosting the sales for both schools.

Janney Shopping

www.shoptoearn.net/Janney

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 in order to get the newsletter to you every week on time.

Please include all text in the body of your 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. If you have prepared fliers to be included in the Take Home Tuesday envelope, those should be turned into the school office by COB Monday.

We will run notices about community or other non-Janney events of interest to elementary school children as space permits. It is the PTA's policy not to carry for-profit advertisements or classifieds. Thank you for your cooperation.

The Editors