Churchill Chatter - Issue 22, February 14, 2020
In This Week's Issue
- CRS Calendar of Upcoming Events
- Science Olympiad and KLQ Teams' Successes
- Spotlight on Churchill Road: Fifth Grade Teacher Joy Byrne
- New Process for Outside Users to Email FCPS Employees
- President's Day Holiday on Monday, February 17 -- School Closed
- CRS PTA News - Bingo Night 2/21, Multicultural Night 3/13 - Crafts & Sign-ups and Bball poster contest - entries due 2/21
CRS Calendar of Upcoming Events
Monday, February 17
President's Day Holiday - School Closed
Friday, February 21
Family Bingo Night, Gym, 6:00-7:30 PM
Tuesday, March 3
Student Holiday (Primary Election Day)
Churchill Road Teams Excel in Recent Competitions
CRS Science Olympiad B Team Places First in Regionals
 Churchill Road Science Olympiad B Teams at the Regional Competition.
Last Saturday, the 29 fifth and sixth grade students of the CRS Science Olympiad B Team won the Regional Competition held in The University of Mary Washington. The students participated in a day full of science and competition with many other schools from Fairfax County and around Virginia. The two Churchill Road teams earned 1st place medals in eight events, 2nd place in six events, and 3rd place in three events as well as various 4th to 6th place medals. In total, the team earned medals in 28 of the 29 events!.
The first place finish qualified the team for the State Competition. Thank you to the students for their amazing work and a very special thank to our coaches, Ms. DeLuca and Mr. Kilpatrick, and our parent mentors.
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CRS KLQ Team Places Second in National Championship
KLQ Team members Mia, Sydney, Dyland and Miqy with the Quizmaster at the National Championship.
Twelve members of CRS’s Kids’ Lit Quiz club recently competed at the regional literature competition in Hartford, Connecticut. They demonstrated stellar sportsmanship, excellent teamwork, and enthusiasm for reading. All three teams placed in the top ten for the region. Each team also achieved the top score in one of the ten categories: Aiden L., Annika D., Chloe L., and Tyler E. earned top scores for the category “Males”; Jun L., Katherine J., Lachlan T., and Sophie C. were top scorers for the category “Anatomy”; and Mia T., Miqy K., Sydney Y., and Dylan T. were top scorers for the category “Amphibians.”
One of CRS’s three teams advanced to the national finals and placed second while facing off against competitive middle schools. The only team to perform better than CRS’s KLQ team in the national final was Longfellow Middle School. It was an excellent result for FCPS!
KLQ is incredibly grateful for the support of Ms. DeLuca, Ms. Vichness, Ms. Warren, and all the members of KLQ who generously shared their enthusiasm for reading to help prepare our teams for competition.
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Spotlight on Churchill: Joy Byrne, Fifth Grade Teacher
Newlywed Mrs. Byrne and her husband.
With fifteen years of teaching experience, Mrs. Joy Byrne brings a tremendous amount of experience, as well as a lot of enthusiasm for learning, to the classroom. This is her fourth year teaching fifth grade at CRS.
One of the favorite aspects of Mrs. Byrne’s role at CRS is teaching science. Science has always intrigued her because she loves seeing the new discoveries and innovative ideas that happen every day. In addition to sharing the joy of science during the school year, she appreciates that she also gets to share science with students through her STEM camp during the summer.
Ms. Byrne grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, although her family now lives all over -- Maui, Nashville, San Francisco, Morgantown, and Wheeling. When she was in elementary school, she loved playing board games and video games. She even built a computer with her dad, and was able to see the inner workings of a computer and learn to persevere when faced with challenging tasks! Later, Mrs. Byrne attended college at Marshall University. Currently, she lives in Reston, Virginia, with her husband and her cat, Hercules Mulligan. She is a big fan of Northern Virginia because there is always something new and interesting happening. She enjoys that we are located close to amazing museums and that most places are just a metro ride away.
In addition to her love of science, Mrs. Byrne relishes reading -- especially mysteries -- and traveling. Her travels have allowed her to explore 38 of the 50 states, as well as parts of Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and South Korea. As a child her family drove cross-country from West Virginia to Colorado; they visited landmarks, such as Mount Rushmore, and went whitewater rafting down the Colorado River. One of Mrs. Byrne’s most exciting adventures was sky diving! She admits it was terrifying, but also an incredible opportunity to see the area from a different perspective 😉. When looking for less excitement, Mrs. Byrne creates projects with her Cricut machine.
This school year has also included a wonderful life event for Mrs. Bryne. In October she got married in Oahu!💕
We are grateful Mrs. Byrne is a wonderful member of our fifth grade team and readily imparts her love of science, reading, and adventure with her students! Thank you Mrs. Byrne!
New Process for Emailing an FCPS Staff Member
Rather than listing staff email addresses, our Churchill Road website staff directory now connects you to a staff member through a form. The staff member can reply directly to you, the original sender, as you are required to submit an email address in order to receive a response.
The text on the form reads:
To send an email to this staff member, fill out and submit this form. Please enter an email address where you can be reached if the staffer needs to respond to you.
For the safety of our staff, submissions to this form are logged and are NOT CONFIDENTIAL. If you must discuss sensitive or personal information with a staff member, please allow them to first respond so that you may send the information in an email exchange.
Once the form is submitted, the sender will see:
You have successfully sent an email to this staff member.
Email addresses are no longer listed to prevent spam and other technology issues that can arise when outside companies and organizations have access to school email addresses. If you have already emailed your child's teacher through previous exchanges, this information does not apply to you. This is for parents/organizations who have not yet contacted a Churchill Road staff member. Our interest in sharing these updates with you is to address any confusion that may have occurred since the county made district-wide changes to school websites.
Wellness: The Benefits of Opening Up
This Friday many of our students will celebrate Valentine’s Day by sharing kind notes with classmates. Those Valentines may be adorned with superheroes, cartoon characters, or personal creations, and all will likely be embellished with hearts of all sizes.
In addition to being a key symbol for Valentine’s Day, the heart is essential for sustaining life and energizing the body. The heart’s central location, where many physical and energetic pathways are located, allow it to impact many areas of health and wellness. Due to long hours in front of computers, clenching the steering wheel during traffic, or being hunched over some electronic device, we often over-burden our backs and allow our hearts to sink. Take Valentine’s week as the perfect opportunity to lift your heart. Here are two easy exercises you can periodically work into your day (even at your desk). One exercise is to simply clasps your hands together behind your back working to bring your elbows closer together as you lift and open your chest. Another exercise is to extend your arms wide in a T position, turn palms to face back, thumbs pointing down, and gently press your arms back three to five times. In honor of Valentine’s Day, try these exercises several times this week and become more aware of keeping your shoulders back, collar bones open, and leading with your heart as you move through your day.
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Cheer Winners of the Week
Congratulations to our Churchill Cheer winners for the week of February 3. Cheers are given to students who follow the four R’s. This week’s winners are: Lily Kerrane (K); Gabriela Corona (Grade 1); Joelle Kang (Grade 2), Roniya Janardhanan (Grade 3) and Owen Fangonil (Grade 4). Our winners for Music are: Lexi Hall ( K-2) and Bella Washington (3-4). Remember, at CRS we follow the four R’s. We respect ourselves, we respect others, we respect property, we respect the Earth, and we are responsible.
President's Day Holiday on Monday, February 17
School will be closed on Monday, February 17 in honor of President's Day.
If your student will be absent any additional days surrounding the upcoming holiday, please call the CRS 24-hour attendance line at 703-288-8484 or email ChurchillRoadElem.Attendance@fcps.edu.
Bingo Night Next Week!
It may be cold-ish outside, but we’re ready for summer games style fun at family Bingo Night! Join us for games, food, and prizes on Friday, February 21 from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Family tickets are now on sale – buy online now and save! Pre-purchased tickets are $10 and include entry for your family, 5 Bingo cards, and 2 raffle tickets. Tickets at the door will be $15 (cash only).
NEW! Not only can you buy tickets online in advance, you can preorder your food! Pick one of our two family meal packs – the Pepperoni Pizza Pack or Cheese Pizza Pack. Each is $15 and comes with a large pizza and 4 bottles of water – you save $5 versus purchasing at Bingo Night!
Buy tickets, meal packs and see the event details at http://www.churchillroadpta.org/bingo.
Multicultural Night Craft and Signups
Multicultural Night (formerly known as the Parade of Cuisines) is Friday, March 13 from 6-8 p.m. Join us for a celebration of culture and international cuisine as we share dishes from around the world and enjoy a variety of performances and cultural booths.
All Heritage in Me Art craft creations must be submitted by Friday 2/20, to the student’s homeroom teacher.
Signups for participating in the Fashion and Flag show and/or Cultural Performances close this Friday 2/14. Participants must attend rehearsal on 3/11 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Parents are invited to sign up as volunteers or to host a Cultural Booth to share more about a particular culture at the event.
Find all the event details at http://www.churchillroadpta.org/multicultural-night.
Basketball Poster Contest
Calling all b-ball fans! Enter our poster contest! Students are invited to create a poster promoting our epic Bobcat Basketball Parents vs. Teachers game. A winner will be selected from each grade and each will receive free admission and passes for the snack bar. All entries must be submitted by Friday, February 21 (box in the lobby). Get all the rule details at http://www.churchillroadpta.org/basketball.
Links to PTA News
Link to the CRS PTA homepage:
http://www.churchillroadpta.org/
Link to the PTA Week-at-a-Glance:
https://churchillroadpta.membershiptoolkit.com/newsletters
As outlined by FCPS Regulation 1367.2, school principals shall offer options to nonprofit organizations that want to make their materials available to students and parents. At Churchill Road, non-profit organizations will be permitted to send home flyers in the take home folder 4 times during the year. The dates for the 2019-2020 school year are the weeks of September 16, December 2, March 2 and May 4. These fliers must be related to the school’s educational mission and be age-appropriate. Community organizations must submit their materials in advance to the school’s principal and must include the disclaimer “These materials are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Fairfax County School Board, the Superintendent, or this School.” Once approved, the organization will be required to make the copies necessary for distribution. Any questions can be directed to Kim Moran, Churchill Road's Public Relations Liaison.
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