Lees Corner Updates-3/20/2020

chalk walk

We miss our students & families!

photo courtesy of a Lees Corner teacher who took this picture of her artwork during a chalk walk in her neighborhood.


Dear Lees Corner Families,

We want to thank each of you for your patience and understanding as we all navigate evolving factors associated with coronavirus, COVID-19 that closed our schools one week ago. Please understand that Dr. Brabrand and the FCPS Leadership team are doing all they can to provide information, updates, and practices that will help us get through this together. They are going to extraordinary measures to provide support and timely information, aligned with health, state, and federal mandates.

We have never been more grateful to live and work in an area with so many resources and so many citizens committed to serving one another. The Lees Corner Community is truly a very special place to live, work, grow, and learn! .

Yesterday, March 19th, you received a message from Dr. Brabrand entitled, "FCPS COVID-19 Update from the Superintendent". We would like to quote from that letter:

This is an extraordinary time for our community, state and nation. While we have no way to predict how the days ahead will unfold, we strongly encourage you to follow the guidance we are receiving each day from the health professionals to contain the spread of the virus. We all want to be responsible global citizens – FCPS employees and families alike – and do our part to stop the spread.”

Your continued support and offers to help our school and other members of the community are so very encouraging! 

Please take care of yourselves so that you and your loved ones remain safe and healthy!

Sincerely,

VaRonica Sloan, Principal

Laura Tapper, Assistant Principal 

Lees Corner Elementary School


FCPS Grab & Go Lunches

Fairfax County Public Schools is continuing to provide grab and go lunches at no cost for students, and the list of sites keeps increasing!

Please continue to check the FCPS website daily for food distribution locations. There you will find a list of locations and their hours of operation.

All meals are available at no cost to children 18 years and under. Adult lunches are available for purchase for $2.

You can also click HERE to see a Food Resources Map that families can use to find the nearest food distribution location. Enter your address or choose a location from the map to find the nearest food resource. Clicking on a resource will give further details and provide directions. After you enter your address, you can select how far from your location you would like to search, anywhere from 1-15 miles.


Stay Connected to LCES

twitter

Follow us on Twitter @Lees_Corner_ES to see tweets and retweets with information and resources.

facebook

Consider joining the Lees Corner PTA on Facebook. This is a private group available only to LCES families and staff.


Continuity of Learning

Virginia schools are closed by order of the Governor's office. The guidance provided by the Virginia Department of Education is that since school divisions cannot ensure equity in access, student instructional assignments should not be required or graded during the closure.

Please continue to take advantage of the continuity of learning resources:

  • When anyone logs on to FCPS 24-7 (Blackboard) they will see a Continuity of Learning module that has links to resources for elementary students as well as resources for middle and high school students.
  • Continuity of learning resources are also available at this link along with information about our instructional videos available on cable TV.

FCPS Approved Learning Resources

To support students and families with the continuity of learning, we are sharing a list of FCPS approved learning resources for reading and math. Note that the resources are sorted by BOLD TEXT.

READING

  • Starfall:  This site will help teach early emergent and beginning readers letter names and sounds along with some basic sight words.  http://www.starfall.com/
  • Pocket Phonics (app):   If your child already knows his/her letter names, this free app can be a useful next step in teaching letter-sound correspondence and basic phonics. https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/abc-pocketphonics-lite/id302689971?mt=8
  • Grammar Blast:  This site is focused on 2nd-5th grade students.   In it, students answer a series of multiple choice questions regarding grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.  http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/grammar/
  • Slime Kids Grammar/Spelling Games:   This site has a variety of games for both primary and upper elementary students to help practice grammar and spelling rules, as well as strengthen their typing skills. http://www.slimekids.com/games/grammar-games/
  • Wacky Tales:  This site is geared towards students in grades 3 and above and assumes knowledge of parts-of-speech.  As with Madlibs, students complete tales by inserting words for various parts-of-speech and create “Wacky Tales.”  http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
  • Comma Chameleon:  After choosing the correct punctuation, students help the chameleon place the punctuation properly into sentences.   There are also games to help learn and reinforce their understanding of the parts-of speech.  http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/punctuation.htm
  • Proofreading Makes Perfect:  This site focuses on 5th grade students and provides practice for students to correct sentences. http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/language_arts/pmp/interactive_guide/g05/g05home.htm
  • Alien Punctuation:  This site is more appropriate for upper elementary students.   It is a challenging punctuation game sponsored by the BBC.   In it, students help “zap” or edit corrections into sentences. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/using_punctuation/play/
  • Free Rice:  This site helps students expand their vocabulary and practice grammar rules from elementary school through high school.   It also has content in other subject areas.   Importantly, the site is the result of a joint endeavor by the United Nations and Harvard University and sponsors food aid donations with every correct answer (bowls of rice add up to bushels, etc.).   It is a great website for teaching students that their learning efforts can make a difference.  While it is an option to create a login to track points, there is no need to register in order to play. freerice.com
  • Chomp-Chomp:  This site is also geared toward advanced upper elementary, middle school, and high school students.  It focuses on more advanced grammar rules that affect writing  (, pronoun-antecedent and subject-verb agreement, compound and complex sentences, etc.).    http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm
  • Virginia SOL Practice: http://iq.whro.org/languagearts.htm   (prior SOL standards -- released tests)
  • Scholastic Learn at Home:  This free resource provides your children with 20+ days of articles and stories, videos, and fun learning challenges.  Children can complete them anytime. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

MATH RESOURCES

  • The Virginia Department of Education’s math website has many resources, including standards and practice SOL-test math questions. http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/index.shtml
  • NRICH is an innovative collaboration between the Faculties of Mathematics and Education at the University of Cambridge, part of the University’s Millennium Mathematics Project.  NRICH provides thousands of free online mathematics resources for ages 3 to 18, covering all stages of early years, primary and secondary school education - completely free and available to all. http://nrich.maths.org
  • youcubed: This fabulous website has resources for parents, teachers, and students. Watch videos, find engaging tasks, read articles, and learn about the “math revolution” that Stanford Professor Jo Boaler promotes!  https://www.youcubed.org/
  • CueThink: This National Science Foundation–funded program helps students strengthen math skills, inspires a growth mindset, and encourages critical thinking. Students will learn to solve problems and explain their thinking using mathematician George Polya’s four-step approach. https://www.cuethink.com/
  • GregTangMath strives to provide unparalleled math lessons for students as well as professional development for in-service teachers. Games, puzzles, and other resources, like free downloads, worksheets/word problems, math centers. https://www.gregtangmath.com/
  • Illuminations: This site, from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), features complete lesson plans, mobile games for students, interactive activities, and brain teasers. https://illuminations.nctm.org/
  • Khan Academy is on a mission to give a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Their personalized learning resources are available for all ages. Video learning segments are followed by practice activities.  https://www.khanacademy.org/ (Please note:  Internet Explorer doesn’t support this website.  Use Chrome)
  • Prodigy Software: Math games that tackle more than 1,200 crucial math skills in a fun and engaging way. https://www.prodigygame.com/
  • Splash Math:Boost confidence, increase scores, and get ahead. Fun for enrichment or regular practice. https://www.splashlearn.com/
  • National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NVML): This National Science Foundation-supported project provides a large library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives and concept tutorials for math instruction. http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Math sites: Worksheets 

  • Common Core Sheets: Math worksheets for just about any area of study. Free downloads. Good for planning lessons, review, and independent work.  https://www.commoncoresheets.com/
  • Math-Aids: Dynamically created math worksheets for students, teachers, parents … anyone!  https://www.math-aids.com/
  • Math-Drills.com: Free Math Worksheets.  This website iincludes over 50 thousand free math worksheets that may be used to help students learn math. Our PDF math worksheets are available on a broad range of topics including number sense, arithmetic, pre-algebra, geometry, measurement, money concepts and much more. There are also a few interactive math features including the Sudoku and Dots math games, and the more serious math flash cards and unit converter.  https://www.math-drills.com/

Math sites: Upper Grade-levels

PBS Math Club (Gr 6-9): From PBS Learning Media, middle schoolers will love this entertaining video blog. Not only does each episode cover Common Core Standards, it makes math learning culturally relevant with pop-culture references. https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/pbs-math-club/#.WmY9epM-f


Let's Keep Music in Our Lives

MIOSM

 

March is "Music in Our Schools Month". Since we aren't in school, let's make March "Music in Our Lives Month" ! Listening to music you love and singing or dancing along is a wonderful way to stay happy and healthy wherever you are.