January 15th Panther Press


Dear Spring Hill Families,

We hope you have a wonderful winter break. In preparation for our return, please review our arrival and dismissal procedures to ensure a smooth and safe start to the new year.

Arrival & Dismissal Procedures

Arrival

  • Students may not enter the school any earlier than 8:25 am. We do not have staff to supervise students before 8:25.
  • If you walk your child to school in the morning, you may drop your child off at the front door (Door #1 or Door #7).  However, if you intend to enter the building you must enter through Door #1 and receive a badge in the main office. Adults may not enter any other entrance to gain access to the school but door #1.
  • All Kiss n’ Ride students and SACC students enter the school at DOOR #9.  
  • Before school SACC: Students are not to be dropped off at Kiss & Ride. You must walk your child into the SACC room. 
  • To keep children out of the path of moving buses, no vehicle should enter the main driveway, in front of the school, between the hours of 8:00-8:50 am and 3:00-4:00 pm because this area is used exclusively for buses.
  • As students arrive in the morning, they will be directed to one of three locations in the building until they are dismissed to their classrooms at 8:45 am.
    • Any student purchasing breakfast (in any grade) may head to the cafeteria.
    • Kindergarten and Grade 1 students will head to the large pod and line up by class.
    • Grade 2-4 students will proceed to the cafeteria.
    • Grade 5 and 6 students will proceed to the gym.
  • Our bell rings at 8:50am. Any student arriving after 8:50 must come to the front office and receive a tardy pass.

Dismissal

  • Dismissal begins at 3:35 pm. 
  • Afternoon Kiss & Ride, please remain in a single file line and do not pass other cars, even if you have your child in your car, unless you are given the direction to do so. Follow the directions of staff.  Please be patient – it typically takes 15 minutes to dismiss all Kiss-N-Ride students. 

Students who ride buses will be dismissed when their bus is called. They are to exit through Door 1 and proceed to their bus.

Walkers and Parent Pick- up:

  • Students in grades 2, 4, 3, 5 will exit through Door 6 to meet parents/guardians
  • Students in grade 6 will exit though Door 8
  • Students in Kindergarten and 1st Grade will exit through door 7
  • Parents/Guardians should park at the Spring Hill Rec Center (where there is ample parking) and walk to meet their child.

 

All students who are not picked-up by 3:50 will report to the Main Office to be supervised until a parent/guardian arrives.

Thank you for your continued partnership.

 

In this issue:

 

iReady Testing

Rise Against Hunger

WordMasters Challenge

Weather Cancellation Procedures

Attendance

MySchoolBucks

Calendar Corrections

Calendar

 

 

Sarah C. Aiello

Proud Principal

Spring Hill Elementary School


iReady Testing

In the next few weeks, identified students in Grades K-6 will participate in iReady testing.

The iReady universal screening tool is intended to identify students with potential gaps in foundational mathematics and/or literacy skills and to monitor progress in students found to be at risk. Midyear testing in primary grades allows any developing gaps to be caught early. In upper grades, testing for students who scored below or near the fall benchmark provides an additional data point to measure how they are progressing and whether they may need different or additional academic support. The window also offers an opportunity to screen any students who enrolled after the fall window.

If you have any questions, please contact Amy Briggs our Testing Coordinator at arbriggs@fcps.edu

 


Rise Against Hunger

Rise Against Hunger

Rise Against Hunger Fundraising

 

Again this year Spring Hill will be supporting Rise Against Hunger in partnership with other local schools. We have a goal to prepare 100,000 meal packages for schools and orphanages around the world. Click here to learn more about Rise Against Hunger.

In the coming days, your child will bring home a collection box in which they can start to save money to be donated as part of our “Learn to Earn” fundraising efforts.  “Learn to Earn” is the initiative we promote to encourage students to earn money they would like to donate by taking on additional chores, setting aside part of their allowance, helping shovel snow, or any innovative way they can think. This initiative also provides learners the opportunity to make a choice; whether to keep that extra money or to donate part or all of it towards a greater good. 

Donations will be accepted at Spring Hill Elementary through Friday,     January 24.


WordMasters Challenge

A team representing Spring Hill Elementary School achieved Highest Honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually. The fourth grade team scored an impressive 178 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing third in the nation.

Competing in the very difficult Gold Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth grader Luke Chang and sixth grader Ayla Zhang each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 14 fourth graders and 26 sixth graders achieved this result. Other students from Spring Hill Elementary School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include fourth graders Brooke Champoux and Wyatt Lilley, fifth graders Edward Guo and Shveta Sunkar, and sixth grader Megan Connery. The students were coached in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge™ by their Language Arts Teacher.

The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight. They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.

The WordMasters Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in New Jersey which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.


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


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 Jan 13th:

Tuesday, Dec 14:  5th & 6th Orchestra Concert, Gym, 7-8 pm

Friday, Dec 17:  PTO Meeting, Lg Pod, 9-10 am

 

Week of Jan 20th:

Monday, Jan 20: MLK Holiday: No School

Wednesday, Jan 22:  3rd GR Egyptian Showcase (Chang, Fisher & Fishbone), Cafeteria, 9-10:30 am

Thursday, Jan 23:  3rd GR Egyptian Showcase (Boswell, Michaels & Nalley), Cafeteria, 9-10:30 am

Friday, Jan 24:  2nd Grading Period Ends                                      Geography Bee, Cafeteria, 2:00 pm

 

Week of Jan 27th:

Monday, Jan 27: Student Holiday: Teacher Workday

Tuesday, Jan 28: Student Holiday: Staff Development

 

Week of Feb 3rd:

Monday, Feb 3: 1st GR FT (All), GM   Center for the Arts, 9:45-11:45 am

Wednesday, Feb 5:  Picture Day: Clubs, Groups and Candids, Lg Pod, 9am-3:15pm

 

Full 2019-2020 calendar: click here:

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