Attendance

Daily, consistent attendance at school equates with school success. We urge students and parents/guardians to make school a priority and to schedule vacations around the school calendar.  A dated note, stating the specific reason for an absence, signed by a parent or guardian, is required no later than one day following an absence. Parents/Guardians may also use the “Student Absence Notification” google form which can be found on the GES web site under Quick Links. 

Excused absences from school include: illness, doctor or dentist appointment, death in the immediate family, observance of a religious holiday, or a court order. It is important that students are on time to maximize instructional time. 

Students who arrive late to school (after 9:25) are expected to sign in at the office. Students are expected to have a written excuse for tardiness from the parent or legal caregiver. Students must have a tardy slip from the office. If a student arrives in the classroom without one, teachers are expected to send him/her back to the office to be signed in. 

Students who need to leave school during the day must bring a written excuse to the main office in the morning for approval. Parents or legal caregivers will check into the main office upon arrival at the school and their student will be called down for dismissal. Parents will not go to the classroom to pick up student(s) and students will not be called to the office before someone has arrived to pick them up.

Attendance will be recorded as follows: 

Students will be recorded as a.m. absent, if they arrive at school more than two hours late. 

Students will be recorded as p.m. absent, if they leave school more than two hours early. 

Students will be recorded as full-day absent, if they are present for less than two hours of the school day. 

Students will be recorded as full-day present, if they are present for more than four hours of the school day.

Bicycles at School

Our school’s bike rack can fit up to 18 bikes. Students may ride a bicycle to school if a written permission letter is sent to the office. A lock is needed in order to properly secure the bike to our rack. The school cannot assume responsibility for damaged or stolen bicycles.  It is important that parents review bicycle safety and etiquette. Bicycles are to be “walked” on school property. Please remember that Montgomery County law requires that all children 18 years of age or younger wear bicycle helmets.

Birthday Celebrations for Students

Due to a growing variety of food allergies, edible birthday treats are not allowed for distribution at lunch/school. The school/main office will gift the students with a birthday pencil and sticker and receive a public “shout out” on or close to their special day. Parents can send a non-edible treat that the teacher can easily distribute in class, such as pencils or stickers, for the other students to celebrate their child’s birthday. Staff do not participate in the distribution of private party invitations.

Car Rider Arrival and Dismissal Information

Two staff members will be available in the side parking lot 9:00-9:25 to help escort students safely from the car to the sidewalk allowing you to remain in your car. Students will line up inside 9:00-9:13. At 9:13 they will walk to their classroom. 

Dismissal begins at 3:50.  Here are some requests to help dismissal go smoothly and safely:

  • To prevent the line from backing up onto the road, cars should make a double line along the far side of the parking lot while waiting.
  • The line should then alternate back into a single line along the school so that students can safely be escorted to their cars. 
  • Vehicles should have their assigned number displayed in the bottom right corner
  • Please stay in your vehicle
  • Once dismissal begins, if you are waiting for a child in one of the 3 pick up spots, please put your hazards on so other cars know they can go around you. 
  • After 4:05 students can be picked up in the office

Chromebook Request Form

To request a Chromebook, please complete this Google form. Once approved, our ITSS will assign one to your child and then give it to the media specialist to deliver. This process could take 1-2 weeks. Thank you for your patience. 

Delayed Openings

On days when there is a 2 hour delay, adult supervision will begin at 11:00 and students will be permitted to line up in the building. Students will go class at 11:13 and they will be marked tardy after 11:25. Breakfast will be served. However, breakfast will not be served and students will not have recess. 

Early Release Days

On early release days, dismissal will begin at 1:15.

Grade Level Pages

PreK                                                     Third Grade

Kindergarten                                         Fourth Grade

First Grade                                           Fifth Grade

Second Grade                                      SCB

Health, Medication and Immunizations

The health room technician is on duty daily to help students with first aid and administration of medication. S/he will notify parents if a child requires more than simple care. If a child becomes ill or is injured in the classroom or on the playground, the teacher or aide should immediately send the child to the health room or call the office for assistance, if needed. 

Montgomery County policy on administering medication to a child at school either on a temporary or continuing basis requires that the parent and physician first complete MCPS form 525-13 for each medication. The parent must complete this form each school year. The parent must bring the student’s medication to the school, and it must be in its original container. Under no circumstance should a teacher administer medication to children or keep medication in the classroom. Students are not permitted to bring their own medications to self medicate.

Home School Folders

To be written

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent/teacher conferences may be held at any time at the request of the teacher or parents. A parent conference is to be scheduled in conjunction with the first report card on dates established in the MCPS calendar. Parents will be given the option of having an in-person or virtual conference. Report cards are not given to parents at conferences, but are distributed on the assigned report card date.

Reading Curriculum Information

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a language arts program for Grades PreK–5 that combines a multi-sensory approach to phonics with rich texts carefully sequenced to build content knowledge—so that students learn to read and read to learn at the same time.

Built on the Science of Reading research, CKLA sequences deep content knowledge with research-based foundational skills. Every day in Grades PreK–2, students complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge. In Grades 3–5, students start to master the skills of reading, further opening up their worlds.

CKLA Program Guide
CKLA Caregiver Hub

Recess

If a child is well enough to attend school, s/he is well enough to participate in all school activities, including recess. If there are unusual circumstances where a parent is concerned about a child's health and/or participation in recess or other activities, the child's teacher/s should have communication from the parent and/or doctor. 

Blacktop Only Recess occurs when the field is wet. All students must remain on the blacktop area.

Indoor Recess will happy on rainy, extremely cold(see MCPS weather advisory guidelines), or poor air quality days. All students will remain in their classrooms under adult supervision.

Math Curriculum Information

Religious Diversity and Gender Identity

We value all of our students. Information about the MCPS policy can be found here: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/students/rights/index.aspx

Student Devices

Please review the COMAR regulation for personal mobile devices (PMD) that the Board of Education has approved. The following summarizes the usage guidelines:

  • Before or after the student day: allowed; 
  • On the bus: allowed as long as it doesn't interfere with bus operations or system policy 
  • Instructional use, lunch period and between classes/transitions:: not allowed; 
  • Personal Mobile Devices must be put away for the duration of the instructional day (start of day to dismissal)

Volunteer at GES

MCPS requires all volunteers to complete an online training. More information and the training is available here: volunteer information and training