Programs

Why play chess? Chess is a great mental exercise for children, helping them improve problem-solving skills, hone their critical thinking, and practice concentration and self-discipline. Most importantly, chess is FUN! Kent Gardens Chess Club is offered year-round, with registration in the fall and spring. Chess Club meets on Wednesdays from 3:45 until 5:15 pm and is open to any KG student—new or experienced—in grade 2 through 6. An instructor from the U.S. Chess Center instructs the group.

Chair: Cam Donelson

This fall Kent Gardens will have a team for Girls on the Run. Girls on the Run is a transformational physical activity based positive youth development program for girls in 3rd-8th grade. We teach life skills through dynamic interactive lessons and running games. The program culminates with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5k running event. The goal of the program is to unleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness. Girls on the Run of Northern Virginia is an Independent Council of Girls on the Run International, which has a network of over 200 councils across the United States and Canada.

A recent study on Girls on the Run participants shows girls who began with lower pre-season scores on confidence in physical activity, self-worth, connection, character, caring, contribution and physical activity frequency, and higher scores on sedentary behaviors showed statistically significant improvements from pre-season to post-season? We hope to continue this trend! Join Girls on the Run this season! Register here: https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=18496211

Click here to check out the KGES Girls on the Run quick fact sheet!

Math Competition Club or MC2 is a before-school advanced math program to get kids excited about learning math and prepare them for success in the many popular math competitions done at school, like the CML, VML, AMC-8, and Math Counts.

Who: Students in grades 4-6 who have a strong interest in math. 3rd grade students are also invited to participate in our Grade 3 Mathletes MC2 program.

Cost: $760 per student (grades 4-6); $285 per student (grade 3)

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD.  Kent Gardens is bringing back the Science Olympiad teams! 

Did you know?  The Kent Gardens Science Olympiad team advanced to the State Competition in March 2020.  Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic forced a cancellation of the March 30 state competition.

Did you know?  Kent Gardens did not participate in the 2021 Science Olympiad due to the challenges of running a virtual science program.  Families were reluctant to commit to the science program under those circumstances. The Science Olympiad did take place but at a much-reduced participation rate in Virginia.

The good news is that we are bringing it back.  We hope to rekindle the culture we had before 2020 -21.

Science Olympiad is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing male, female, and minority interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers.  One of Science Olympiad’s goals is to create a passion for learning science by supporting elementary and secondary Science Olympiad tournaments at building, district, county, state, and national levels with an emphasis on teamwork and a commitment to excellence.

Kent Gardens participates with at Division B (6 – 8^th grade) team and a Division A (3- 5^thgrade) team.   Each team may participate in up to 23 events.  The 6^th grade team competes officially.  The 3 -5^th grade team competes as a practice team with more relaxed rules.  Sometimes 5^th graders participate in the Division B.

Science Olympiad teams are groups of 15 students that work in pairs and prepare for 2 or 3 events per pair.  For more details, see the VASO 2022 Event List:

2022 VASO Event List  Click on the event in the right column to see details

Events are divided into two categories:

• Study events, such as Anatomy and Physiology.  At the tournament, students, working with their partner, simply answer a written test.
• Building events, such as Mousetrap Vehicle or Bridge. For these events, students work with their partner on building a specific device following the rules provided. At the tournament, the device is tested in front of judges.
• Break out of which Division B events are written and which are device events.  2022 Written and Device Events.pdf

The Kent Gardens Science Olympiad seeks participation on three levels:

1. Students interested should let their teachers know or Mr. Shivnen
2. Parent Coordinators. We normally have two parent coordinators who schedule bi-monthly event progress meetings and provide information on rules, dates, and logistics for the eventual regional tournament which takes place in February.
3. Parent mentors. Each event has a parent who mentors each student pair of participants

To restart our Science Olympiad team, we will seek student and parent participation interest in September.  Students please let me know through your teachers.  Parents please contact me here: jjshivnen@fcps.edu

Cost:  $60 per student for the year.

At Kent Gardens, every Friday is #KGPride Friday! Stock your child’s closet now–we have a variety of Kent Gardens Elementary School items that you may purchase, including car magnets, t-shirts, sweat shirts, socks and more. SHOP OUR ONLINE STORE NOW!

Chair: Natalie Faucher

Simply use the links below when you shop at Shutterfly, and Kent Gardens PTA will receive a percentage of your purchase!

Our food recovery program allows children to donate uneaten/unopened food from the school lunch they purchase to the SHARE of McLean food pantry.  Last year we collected 1,187 pounds of food. This fall we are excited to kick off another great year of reducing waste and giving back to our local community in need.

Chair: Julie Brown, Amy Carey

Chair: Jenny Wormser

The National PTA Reflections program is PTA’s cornerstone arts program. It offers students the opportunity to earn local, state and even national recognition for original artwork they create in response to a specific theme.

Square One Art is a creative and exciting fundraising opportunity that helps KG PTA raise money by turning your child’s art into useful keepsakes. Square 1 Art offers the ability to have students’ artwork easily transformed into a diverse selection of high quality custom products at reasonable prices.

Chair: Sarah Nearing

Kent Gardens looks forward to celebrating National French Week each year, in collaboration with the Bureau of Government of Quebec. School-sponsored French Week celebrations include presentations and other festivities

Chair: Atresha Whitmore, Abby Allen

International Night celebrates our diverse community, teaches our kids about the world around them, and brings Kent Gardens E.S. families together as we share our global experiences and delicious food with each other. For more information, visit our International Night page.

Chair: Nadya Abhyankar

Kent Gardens offers two yearly book fairs—one in the fall and one in the spring.

Chairs: Kara Horgan, Lisa Fraser

Webmasters: Bethany Nguyen