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Dear Newington Forest Families,
Thank you for a great turnout with both of our Back to School nights. It was wonderful to meet so many new families to our community and to reconnect with returning families. I appreciate your partnership and I am looking forward to a great school year together.
Once the school year begins, time really goes by quickly. We are already halfway through the first quarter of school. Teachers have been teaching classroom routines and procedures and completing reading and math assessments. As we approach the end of the first quarter (Nov. 1st), parent/teacher conferences will occur. For those of you who are new to Fairfax County Public Schools, two days in November are designated for parent/teacher conferences. To accommodate parents’ schedules, I have asked our staff to offer conferences from October 15th to November 15th.
Sincerely,
Angela Thompson
Principal
Date Changes
- SCA Induction Ceremony October 18th
- Curriculum Night November 7th
CogAT testing
The Cognitive Abilities Tests (CogAT) is an aptitude test that Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) offers each school year. All 2nd grade students attending FCPS are administered the Fairfax County Public Schools CogAT-Custom Form, Grade 2 Test. New students to FCPS in grades 3-6 who do not have an abilities test in their student record will be tested during the second week of October. In addition, parents of students in grades 3-6 who have already taken either the CogAT or the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test (NNAT) may make a request for their child to retake the CogAT.
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October
4– PTA Donuts for Dads
8:00-8:30am
14– Student Holiday
18- SCA Induction Ceremony
9am, Cafeteria
24– Fall Festival
30– Area Strings Concert SCHS
November
4– No School/Student Holiday
5– No School/Student Holiday
7– Curriculum Night 6-7pm
8– Book Fair open from
11/8- 11/15
9– Book Fair open
10:30am-2:30pm
13– FLE Parent Preview
6:30-7pm, Cafeteria
PTA Meeting
7pm, Cafeteria
22– Thanksgiving Luncheon
27-29- No School
Thanksgiving Break
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Upcoming Field Trips
- October 23rd- Kindergarten Cox Farms
- October 23rd- 4th Grade National
Symphony
- October 24th– 3rd Grade TheaterWorks
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FCPS Mental Health and Wellness Conference
FCPS' sixth annual Mental Health and Wellness Conference will be held on Saturday, October 5, at Fairfax HS, at 8 a.m. Inova and Kaiser Permanente are partnering with FCPS on this event.
From 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m., the focus will be on social and emotional learning. Marc Brackett, Ph.D., founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, will deliver the keynote address. All attendees will receive a free copy of Dr. Brackett’s latest book. Breakouts will include sessions on stress and anxiety, fostering resilience, healthy use of technology, drugs and the adolescent brain, vaping, and other topics. A special session for high school students–the Our Minds Matter Teen Summit–will also be held during the morning. Attendees are encouraged to stay for Inova’s Act on Addiction Summit, from 12:30-4 p.m. The summit will offer several breakout sessions addressing substance misuse identification, resources, and recovery. Breakfast and lunch will be provided courtesy of Inova. Please visit the conference page to register for this event.
https://www.fcps.edu/event/mental-health-and-wellness-conference
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Corcoran’s Gallery of Young Artists
The students did a beautiful job creating their Square One Art projects. They look terrific! We can’t wait for you to see them. Be sure to look for the order forms with your child’s art work in mid-October. This is a fundraiser that promotes creativity and self-confidence in our students, while raising money for field trips and other PTA activities.
In October, Kindergarten will be creating a silly self-portrait with found objects. They will also learn the three-step painting process by painting a pumpkin and using printmaking techniques to turn it into a jack-o-lantern.
First grade will meet Shapeman and use him to draw a picture of a family helper.
Second grade will work collaboratively to make a community collage mural after comparing the rural paintings of Grant Wood and the urban paintings of Red Grooms.
Third grade will view artwork from different cultures and be introduced to the portraits of Frida Kahlo. They will use their knowledge of correct facial proportion to create their own Cultural Self Portrait.
Fourth grade will look at Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory Painting. They will discuss the concept of time, what it may mean in artworks, and all the different phrases associated with time. They will create a cut paper collage to illustrate a descriptive phrase about time.
Fifth grade will practice quiet concentration by learning about blind Contour drawings. Then we will discuss the concept of Industrial Globalization and make a contour drawing of their shoes.
Sixth grade will connect with their Social Studies unit about America’s First People. They will use hand building techniques to create an artifact from clay.
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Students in grades 3-6 will learn how to use a micro:bit and discover options for integrating it into STEAM lessons. The micro:bit is a pocket-sized micro-controller that teaches basic coding and programming skills.
K Exploring the 5 senses through a variety of
challenges and hands-on activities
1st Participating in a bird’s nest and acorn chute
engineering challenge
2nd Using magnets to solve, “The Big Pumpkin
Problem”
3rd Creating a ladybug food chain game and using
the micro:bit as a random number generator
instead of dice
4th Exploring ecosystems and engineering
solutions to the deer overpopulation problem in
VA
5th Using experimental design to test if soil type
affects the stability of a building during an
earthquake
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NFS Book Fair
Who: Anyone who loves books, students, volunteering or book fairs.
What: Newington Forest Elementary School is getting ready for the Fall 2019 Book Fair. The theme this fall is Arctic Adventure
When: The dates for the book fair are Saturday, November 9 through Friday, November 15. In addition to the school day, we plan to have the fair open on Saturday, November 9 f rom 10:30 – 2:30pm and the evening of Wednesday, November 13 from school end of day to 7pm.
Where: Newington Forest ES Library
Why: The book fair is important to the library and school and its proceeds support the en tire school community. Additionally, the book fair is a school event that students look for ward to.
How: You can contact the librarian, Petra Sharrett, at plsharrett@fcps.edu or sign-up using the following sign-up genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080f45a5aa23a4fa7-arctic
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