November 13th Panther Press


Dear Spring Hill Families,

As an educator and school leader it is important to find time for continuous growth and reflection. The beginning of a new quarter allows all of us- students, teachers, and principals to reflect and reset. As I reflected, I feel a great sense of responsibility and gratitude. I am thankful for the entire Spring Hill community; we have great parents and amazing teachers. In addition, I love building relationships with your children. This has brought me the greatest joy. It is never lost on me how significant my job is and that your children are who I serve each and every day. 

Welcome to 2nd Quarter!

What are your hopes and dreams for the school year? This quarter, I’ll be asking this question to help students get excited about learning and make a personal connection to what they will learn in school. Inviting students to name learning goals shows them that school is a safe place, that they’re important members of the classroom/school, and they can look forward to an engaging, challenging, and fun year of learning. 

 

In this issue:

Honoring Veterans

Coat Drive

Santa's Ride

Weather Cancellation Procedures

Cooper MS Theatre Expo

Family Life Education

MySchoolBucks

Calendar Corrections

Calendar

 

Sincerely,

Sarah C. Aiello

Proud Principal

Spring Hill Elementary School


Honoring Veterans

Vteran's Day 4

Members of the armed forces spoke with Spring Hill students and were honored with a performance by the SHES band as part of our school's Veteran's Day celebrations. Thank you to all who serve and have served.

Veteran's Day2

Hutchison Elementary Coat Drive

coat drive 2

Jack Partridge and Liam Logan collected and donated over 80 coats, gloves and hats yesterday for Hutchinson Elementary School. A big thanks to our neighbors and Spring Hill community. 

Your generosity will keep a child warm this winter! 

coat drive 1

Santa's Ride 2019

Santa's Ride 1

New Toys, Games, Books and Gift Collection

Presented by the Fairfax County Police Motor Squad with support of:

Virginia State Police,Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, Vienna Police Department, Falls Church Sheriff’s Office, Fairfax City Police Department and Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority Police

Spring Hill Elementary School, (boxes in front office)

Groveton ES, Poplar Tree ES, Springfield Estates ES,Terraset ES, Holy Spirit School, Pender School, West Springfield ES and St. Ambrose School.

Please join us to donate NEW unwrapped toys, games, books, and gifts to be distributed to children at Fairfax Hospital, Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center and to children in the community who might not otherwise have a cheerful holiday season!

We Need Your Help!

Please bring your items to any participating elementary school, Fairfax County Police Station, the lobby of Pennino Herrity Office Buildings, or the Government Center, no later than 9:00 a.m. Monday, December 9, 2019.

Thank you!

 

Santa's Ride2

Weather Cancellation Procedures

When bad weather or other emergency situations occur, it may be necessary for FCPS to cancel, delay, or close schools early. Parents and students should have a well-communicated plan in place in the event of these emergency situations. Children need to know where to go or what to do if a parent will not be home.

The safety of our students and staff is our number one priority any time a decision must be made regarding school closures and delays during a weather situation. We review information from emergency management and state highway administrators about road conditions, and school personnel also go out and inspect the conditions of roads, sidewalks, and FCPS parking lots and bus lanes.

Due to the speed of updating, the official @FCPSnews Twitter account (with blue checkmark) is generally the first and fastest mode of communication. 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 FCPS Twitter alert and receipt of an email in your inbox.    

In the case of emergency for a weather-related closing, delay, or early dismissal, the FCPS website will automatically include an alert at the top of each page with the appropriate information. This information will remain posted until normal operations have resumed, or you click "Close This Alert" to remove it. If you have closed the alert, a red exclamation mark will remain to indicate that the alert is still active. 

FCPS tries to make decisions in the evening, taking into account that parents need time to make proper arrangements. But when there is a lot of uncertainty, we wait to get the latest morning forecast. In that case, the superintendent makes the decision of whether to delay or close schools by approximately 4:30 a.m.

FCPS provides information about closings and delays in many ways including:

  • Posted to the FCPS Twitter and Facebook pages.
  • Posted to www.fcps.edu.
  • Email and text messages sent to parents (using the parent contact information listed in weCare@school). 
  • Email sent to employees (using the employee's FCPS email address).
  • Email sent to News You Choose subscribers of Delayed Openings and School Closings.
  • Posted on FCPS cable Channel 21 (Cox Communications, Reston Comcast, and Verizon cable customers only).
  • Area radio and television stations.
  • FCPS has a series of closing conditions to help explain how the weather has affected schools and activities.

For more information, click link below:

https://www.fcps.edu/resources/safety-and-transportation/weather-cancellation-procedures


Attendance

Help Your Child Succeed in School:

Build the Habit of Good Attendance Early

School success goes hand in hand with good attendance!

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Starting in kindergarten, too many absences can cause children to fall behind in school.
  • Missing 10 percent (or about 18 days) can make it harder to learn to read.
  • Students can still fall behind if they miss just a day or two days every few weeks.
  • Being late to school may lead to poor attendance.
  • Absences can affect the whole classroom if the teacher has to slow down learning to help children catch up.

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Start building this habit in preschool so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college, and at work.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

  • Set a regular bed time and morning routine.
  • Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
  • Find out what day school starts and make sure your child has the required shots.
  • Introduce your child to her teachers and classmates before school starts to help her transition.
  • Don’t let your child stay home unless she is truly sick. Keep in mind complaints of a stomach ache or headache can be a sign of anxiety and not a reason to stay home.
  • If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors, or other parents for advice on how to make her feel comfortable and excited about learning.
  • Develop back-up plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor, or another parent.
  • Avoid medical appointments and extended trips when school is in session.

 

For more on school readiness, visit attendanceworks.org and reachoutandread.org


Cooper MS Theatre Expo 2019

Dear Elementary School 5th & 6th Grade Students,

 

You are cordially invited to the Theatre Expo at Cooper Middle School on Saturday, December 14th, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Theatre Expo is a fun-filled day of workshops so that you can experience what middle school theatre is like and to learn from theatre professionals and work with middle school theatre students!

The cost of the event is $10 per student. This price includes three workshops and pizza. Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from Cooper Middle School.

If you are interested, please register online and complete payment via Myschoolbucks no later than November 29th. There are a limited number of spaces for this workshop, so it’s first paid, first served! Online registration and the $10 registration fee are due to Cooper Middle School no later than November 29th. If you are paying by check, it should be made out to Cooper Middle School. Please note that the workshop registration fee is NONREFUNDABLE once paid.

Each class will be one hour long with five minutes of passing time between workshops. Students will be given a rotation schedule for the workshops when they arrive at Cooper for the expo. There will be a break with pizza for all between the second and third workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to interact with Cooper Middle School theatre and choir students to learn about the programs available at Cooper.

Go to www.coopermstheatre.org for more information and to register.

We look forward to seeing you at the Expo!

Sincerely,

Meg Baber

Cooper Middle School

Theatre Arts Teacher

mababer@fcps.edu


Family Life Education

 

Family Life Education Instructional Program Information

Family Life Parent Preview Session

Friday, November 15th,

7:45 am-8:45 am, Computer Lab

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 will be included in your child’s back-to-school/orientation packets and are available online for Elementary (K-6) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-family-life-education , Middle School (7-8) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/middle-school-academics-7-8/family-life-education-fle, and High School (9-12) https://www.fcps.edu/academics/high-school-academics-9-12/family-life-education-fle. 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 teacher or by contacting Instructional Services at 571-423-4550 or by contacting Elizabeth Payne, Health and Physical Education Coordinator at etpayne@fcps.edu.


MySchoolBucks

Pay for Student Fees Online

 

Dear Parents,

Online payment for student fees and school store items is available through the MySchoolBucks School Store. This online payment service provides a quick and easy way to pay for school-related purchases. You will be able to pay for a variety of school fees using credit/debit cards or electronic checks.

MySchoolBucks provides:

  • Convenience - Available 24/7 on the web
  • Efficiency - Eliminate the need to write checks and for students to bring money to school
  • Flexibility - Make payments using credit/debit cards and electronic checks
  • Security - MySchoolBucks adheres to the highest security standards, including PCI and CISP 

Enrollment is easy!

  1. Go to www.MySchoolBucks.com or, to the MySchoolBucks link located on your school’s homepage to establish an account
  2. Add your students using the name of the school they are attending, and either their student ID or birthdate
  3. You will receive a confirmation email that your account has been established
  4. Make purchases with your credit/debit card or electronic checks
  5. There are no convenience fees for using the online payment system

Customer Service:

 

Reimbursements or questions about cafeteria and/or lunches, please contact FCPS Food and Nutrition Services at link below:

https://www.fcps.edu/resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/prices-lunch-account-prepayments


Calendar Corrections

Our Panther folders have some incorrect dates on the calendar that's on the back of the folder.

Please note the following correction:

Tuesday, March 3rd is the student holiday(School Planning Day), not Friday, March 13th.

Sorry for the confusion!


Calendar of Events

Week of Nov 11th:

Thursday, Nov. 14: AAP Screening & Identification Session, Cafeteria,      6:30 pm

Friday, Nov. 15: Family Life Preview Session, Computer Lab, 7:45-8:45 am PTO Meeting, Lg Pod, 9-10 am

  

Week of Nov 18th:

Monday, Nov. 18: 6th GR FT (Kenely, Minutoli & Smith), Inner Quest (Camp Crowell), 10:45 am-5:45 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 20: 4th GR Coffee, Lg Pod, 9-10 am

Friday, Nov. 22: 1st Gr Coffee, Lg Pod, 9-10 am                                           2nd GR Thanksgiving Play, Cafeteria, 9:15-10:15 am

 

Week of Nov 25th:

Monday, Nov. 25: 5th GR FT (All), Newseum, 9:30 am-1:00 pm

Tuesday, Nov. 26: Kindergarten Thanksgiving Performance, Cafeteria,     2:30-3:30 pm

Wednesday, Nov. 27-Friday, Nov. 29: Thanksgiving Break

 

Full 2019-2020 calendar: click here:

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/19-20-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf