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September 28, 2018
 Ms. Berra's Morning Yoga Club
Dear
Willow Springs,
The first month
of the 2018-19 school year is already concluding,
and we find ourselves hitting our stride and becoming familiar with daily routines! Students are building relationships with new friends, exploring innovative content, learning more about their teachers, and our bus arrivals and dismissals are running smoothly.
We had our fourth fire drill
last week and the building was evacuated in one minute and fifty seconds, our best time yet! We also had two of the four required lockdown drills this month where
students remain in their classrooms and all interior and exterior doors are
closed and locked; once students are accounted for, the school returns to
normal operation. These exercises are critical in keeping everyone
here at Willow Springs safe and sound in case of an emergency.
As we
reflect on everything that went on in September, it's
only fitting that we take a moment to highlight our school weather station.
Willow Springs is the only school in Virginia (except for Virginia Tech and
UVA) with its own WeatherSTEM weather station! The WeatherSTEM unit is a
full-service weather station that measures everything from wind speed to soil
moisture and solar radiation. You can
access the real-time unit
data through an app and a Facebook page. We
use the data to teach students about meteorology,
science, and math; so it is a unique resource for us to have. Science teacher Terri Kidwell thinks the data the
station provides is invaluable. "Whenever we study our weather, we have a weather unit right
here and can actually
learn from the weather data found in our own backyard," she said.
Our
WeatherSTEM is also used daily by our news crew students that produce a daily
morning news show. During the show our anchors make general announcements,
acknowledge birthdays, and forecast the weather. It’s a great way to start the day and we all enjoy watching them
throughout the school building. View an episode from this week here!
Last
but not least, I encourage you to bring your family and join us for our first restaurant night of the school year. This Tuesday,
October 2nd, from 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. our PTA will be hosting a restaurant
night at Chipotle in Fair Lakes, 13042 Fair Lakes Shopping Center. There will
be handouts for the kids, no clean-up for the adults, and fun for all. See you
there!!!
Have
a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Dylan Taylor, Principal
Rashida Green, Assistant Principal
Sara Van Aalst, Assistant Principal
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This Tuesday!
Chipotle Restaurant Night
Tuesday, October 2nd
5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Chipotle, 13042 Fair Lakes Shopping Center
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Friday, October 12th
Rain date scheduled for Friday, October 26th
Click here to volunteer.
Grades K-3 (9:30 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.)
Grades 4-6 (1:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
Afternoon volunteer slots still available!
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Have you updated your child's default plan?
Smartphone link: https://app.pickuppatrol.net/parents
This is a friendly reminder to please use PickUp Patrol to report ALL ABSENCES AND CHANGES to your child’s dismissal plans. If your registration email has expired or you did not receive one, please let us know.
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AAP PARENT INFORMATION MEETING
An AAP parent information meeting will be held at Willow Springs on Friday, October 19, 2018 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the Willow Springs Cafeteria. Mrs. Murray, the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART) will provide information about levels of service at Willow Springs as well as explain and answer questions about the screening process for AAP services. The meeting is open to all K-6 parents. For more information visit our website.
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Did you know your child can eat breakfast at school?
Students $1.75; Adults $2.20
Full Menu
More information here
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WeatherSTEM
To learn more about WeatherSTEM, visit their webpage. To access WSES's weather station download the app and select Willow Springs as your closest unit. You can also access our weather station via Twitter and Facebook.
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Family
Life Education Instructional Program Information:
Fairfax
County Public Schools (FCPS) provides a comprehensive, sequential Family Life
Education (FLE) program for students in grades kindergarten through grade
twelve. Instruction is seen as a partnership among parents and guardians,
the school, and the community in supporting the learning essential to the
development of strong families, positive relationships, and a healthy
community.
Parents/guardians
may choose to opt their child out of all or part of the Family Life Education
program. Students who are opted out are provided with age-appropriate,
nonpunitive alternative health instruction, and every effort is made to foster
respect for family choices. If you wish to opt your child out of all or
part of FLE for this school year, opt out forms were sent home in your child’s Thursday folder and are available online for
Elementary (K-6) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-family-life-education. Please fill in the opt-out form and return it to your child’s school prior to
Family Life Education instruction.
Detailed
grade-level program descriptions are available online at Elementary (K-6) ,
Middle School (7-8) , and High School (9-12). FLE grade level-specific lessons
and media that FCPS has streaming rights for are available for parents online
in FCPS 24-7 (Blackboard) Parent View https://fcps.blackboard.com/.
Account information is available at your local school or online at http://www.fcps.edu/is/instructionaltechnology/247help/parents.shtml.
Grade level-specific lessons are also available at the Fairfax County Regional
Library in the City of Fairfax (this location does not have media). Grade
level-specific lessons and media that is not streamed online are available for
review at your child’s school library. Due to copyright permissions, we are
unable to stream all media online.
Program
questions may be addressed at your child’s school or by contacting
Instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by contacting Elizabeth Payne, Health
and Physical Education Coordinator at etpayne@fcps.edu.
WSES Looking Ahead
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Tuesday, October 2nd - Restaurant Night, Chipotle, 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.(13042 Fair Lakes Shopping Center)
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Monday, October 8th - Columbus Day; Student Holiday
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Friday, October 19th - AAP Parent Information Meeting 9:30 a.m. (Cafeteria)
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Friday, November 2nd - First Grading Period Ends
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Monday & Tuesday, November 5th & 6th - Student Holidays
Notable dates include Columbus Day, Monday, 10/8, Student Holiday; Thanksgiving break, November 21-23; Winter break, December 24,
2018-January 4, 2019; Spring Break, April 15-19, 2019; and the last day of
school, June 13, 2019.
Visit the Willow Springs Elementary PTA website.
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