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Volume 2, Issue 19; November 24, 2018
 Flint Hill...a Family of Families
Dear Flint Hill Parents,
We hope that you are enjoying this extended Thanksgiving break with your children and families!
We are thankful for you and want to take a moment to tell you how much we appreciate you sharing your children with us each and every day!
To all our teachers, who work intentionally to meet the needs of their students, we appreciate your daily efforts to engage all learners in meaningful experiences across all content areas. As a school that prioritizes lifelong learning in a collaborative environment, your passion for teaching does not go unnoticed. We are grateful for your focus on differentiation, social emotional learning, and literacy. You are, without a doubt, creating thinkers and learners here at Flint Hill!
Please make the most of the rest of your weekend and know that when we count our blessings, we count our extended #FHESfamily twice!
Warmly,
FHES Administration
Did You Hear the News? Two Years in a Row!
First Place
Category: Float Without Music
Town of Vienna Halloween Parade
 We can't wait to display our ribbons next to one another! Thank you, once again, for the hard work and dedication exhibited by our entire school community!
Float + School Spirit = Winning Combination!
Thank you, Town of Vienna and Mayor DiRocco, for presenting this award to our school!
Report Card Printing
Our county is moving to a paperless progress report system. First quarter report cards will be printed; however, we anticipate going paperless for our second quarter progress reports--with your help. Please create a ParentVUE account to assist with our smooth transition to paperless delivery. If you need an activation code, please contact our Student Information Assistant (SIA), Mrs. Shirley Eason, for assistance.
DedicatED
Continuing our conversation from last week regarding the ways in which we meet the needs of all learners in a diverse classroom setting, we would like to take a moment to reiterate how we are creating flexible groups for math instruction across grades 3-6 this year. While we continue to place students who require Level IV advanced academic math instruction in a class that remains constant throughout the year, we decided to revisit and reframe how we group the remainder, and majority, of our students in order to best meet their needs. We wanted to create groupings that allow for more thoughtful, focused math instruction, and that also allow teachers to narrow learning targets--honing in on intervention needs, as well as enrichment, for their students. This year, all students in grades 3-6 have been placed in flexible math groups, with the intent to address areas of need that are observed on quarterly math assessments that group 2-3 math units together, as well as spiral back to repeated math concepts.
In lieu of pre-assessment, which is an assessment given before a new unit to find out what students need more instruction on and what they may already know, a prerequisite assessment tends to focus on understandings and skills that are essential to continued progress in a content sequence; prerequisite assessments help teachers create learning targets that focus on building a strong foundation that needs to be present before a student can successfully move on to more advanced concepts. At Flint Hill, we craft a hybrid assessment that ensures we hone in on possible areas of need and intervention, as well as areas for enrichment. We assess problem solving skills and emphasize explanation of thinking--not just computation. In this respect, we have crafted a more comprehensive means to assess all learners throughout the year.
The traditional days in which a "high," "medium," and "low" group existed have been replaced by creating groups that seek to understand ability in problem solving. While some of our students understand the more difficult, critical thinking problems, they may exhibit difficulties in mental math. Conversely, some of our more gifted computation students may have difficulty explaining their thinking. Each quarter, we ask our teachers to group students according to the needs that exist for this particular group of learners on this specific assessment. For example, students may exhibit strengths in number sense and measurement, but not in geometry. The groups are not stagnant, and teachers are spending a great deal of time emphasizing that a particular teacher doesn't teach a particular type of student. We ask for your help in sending the message that all teachers teach all students.
As we move through this year, we will be looking carefully at our data--observing impact on student academic progress and learning outcomes. We will continue to provide you with additional information about flexible grouping and welcome any questions that you may have.
Your child's math teacher will be reaching out to you shortly, if he or she hasn't done so already. Thank you, once again, for supporting us as we forward the most effective practices for grouping and instruction.
Please Mark Your Calendars!
The Overscheduled, Stressed Out, Anxious Child: November 30th
Three Hour Early Release: December 14th
Last Day of School/Winter Break Begins: December 21st (full day)
Great news! Flint Hill Elementary’ s school events are now easily added to your own personal calendar. To find out how to download our calendar feed, please go here.
Inclement Weather and Emergency Closing Plans; Make Arrangements Now in Case of an Unforeseen Schedule Change
Cold and wintry weather has arrived! Due to inclement weather or other emergency situations, it may be necessary to close schools for the entire day, to open schools late, or to close early.
Parents are urged to make arrangements now for the care of their children when schedule changes are made (and to provide for the rare situation when it is necessary to close an individual school because of a power failure or other circumstances). Children should know where to go if a parent will not be home.
FCPS has several schedules set up to address inclement weather; these are put into effect when conditions threaten the safety of students and staff members:
- Keep schools closed.
- Open two hours late.
- Close two hours early.
When Fairfax County Public Schools has a schedule change (closing or delay) due to inclement weather or other emergencies, the information is communicated in several ways as soon as the decision is made.
Note: The official @FCPSnews Twitter account (with blue checkmark) is generally the first and fastest mode of communication during emergency weather closings. Other communication channels will be updated as quickly as possible including email, text, website, other social media, and news stations. Please be aware, due to the large volume of emails sent, there will likely be a lag between the time a FCPS Twitter alert is posted and receipt of an email in your inbox.
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Falcon Feedback
To provide feedback directly to Ms. Hertzberg, please use the QR code, or click on the link below: https://tinyurl.com/y7hxegwt.
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