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Greetings, Graham Road Families!
We are still processing the announcement that Virginia public schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year. I want to express my deepest and most sincere disappointment. While we know this step is necessary to keep everyone safe, it doesn’t take away the feelings of sadness we are all feeling about the school year coming to an early end. We will miss you all every day but rest assured we are looking forward to finding ways to safely connect. Students will begin receiving phone calls from teachers soon if they haven’t already! We will continue our journey of learning, resilience and problem solving together safely from our homes.
I want to remind you of some pieces of the FCPS continuity of learning plan are already in place. Currently, students with access to a device and internet can participate in optional, self-directed learning activities posted on FCPS 24-7 Blackboard. Additionally, FCPS cable channels with learning activities are now available. New instructional videos are currently being developed and recorded and will be added to the programming. Channel 21 includes elementary school programming. Please consider having your children tune in!
Beginning March 30th, your child will be sent a packet of learning materials in the mail. These packets will be mailed to your home address at the beginning of every week until the week of June 5, 2020. You should receive a total of nine learning packets between now and June 5, 2020. If your address has changed, please log onto your Student Information System (SIS) Parent Account to make updates. If you do not have a Student Information System (SIS) Parent account, please click here to register for an account. An activation key will be sent to you to complete your registration, along with the simple steps to set up your account. Your username and password for the Student Information System (SIS) and FCPS 24/7 Learning: Parent View will be the same. The FCPS 24/7 Learning: Parent View will also allow you to access distance learning materials. Having these accounts set up is critical for the next phase of the school year.
Beginning April 14, students with access to a device and internet will be able to access additional materials on Blackboard. Parents can view these online learning materials by ensuring they have a Student Information System (SIS) Parent Account and are able to login to FCPS 24-7 Learning: Parent View. If you do not have a Student Information System (SIS) Parent account, please click here to register for an account. An activation key will be sent to you to complete your registration, along with the simple steps to set up your account. Your username and password for the Student Information System (SIS) and FCPS 24/7 Learning: Parent View will be the same.
Please reach out to me with questions, you can send me an email at lebadini@fcps.edu and I will do whatever I can to help! We look forward to connecting with you all virtually and over the phone soon!
Lauren Badini
Principal
In addition to the curbside food distribution sites run by FCPS food services, No Kid Hungry has launched a texting hotline to let parents know about emergency food distribution sites in their neighborhoods. Parents & caregivers can text the word “FOOD” (or “COMIDA”) to 877-877 to find the nearest sites.
Over the last week, we’ve learned of two local internet providers offering services that might be of interest and support to families during this challenging time.
- Comcast is offering Internet Essentials which offers two free months of internet access
- Cox Communications is also offering the Connect2Compete package which provides free internet initially and low pricing thereafter (see additional details below). They also have a hotspot finder to see if there are areas of connectivity nearby your location.
- Dominion Power has shared that it will be suspending all service disconnections for nonpayment as it does not want “Customers should not have to worry about losing service during this critical time.” In addition, the company is planning to waive late fees and reconnection fees and is seeking approval from utility commissions where required to do so.
Connect2Compete Low-Cost, Home
Internet Program Expanded in
Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tips to Helping Your Child Stay Calm during the School Closure
As the media puts out update after update about the coronavirus, everyone can feel an increasing sense of worry and stress. Children are no excep-tion. We encourage you to limit your child’s expo-sure to the media. This newsletter will provide you some ideas to help you and your child(ren) find a sense of calm in the midst of the stress and even find some fun at-home diversions that don’t involve turning on the TV.
Tip #1: Allow your child to recognize and acknowledge his/her feelings . While children may initially welcome a break from school, they may also have other feelings surface—from feeling unsettled about an interruption in their daily routines to stronger worry about the ambiguity of when life will return to normal. Sometimes, kids can’t name an emo-tion but may report how their body feels—stomach aches, fast heart beat, breathing fast, feeling sweaty. These could be physical signs that cortisol, the stress hormone, has been released into the body. Ask your doctor, if you are con-cerned about other causes of physical symptoms.
Tip #2 Provide a calming influence for them by practicing mindfulness and teaching your child to use mindful strate-gies as well. It may seem obvious, but deep breathing is the best way to reverse the body’s response to stress and perceived danger. This is a great way to activate the para-sympathetic nervous system which promotes a slower heart right, relaxed muscles, cooler skin, and a calmer stomach. If you want to use a visual to promote calm, here is a Youtube video you might try out: https://youtu.be/aXItOY0sLRY The title is “RELAX AND BREATHE: Do nothing for 10 minutes.” There are also many phone apps you can download, including: Calm, Meditate, and Headspace. These apps provide deep breathing exercises, guided medi-tations, and stories to listen to that promote sleep. The re-verse side of this newsletter provide a couple other sugges-tions of activities to calm the mind and body.
Tip #3: Talk to your child about the coronavirus. You can start by asking your child if he/she has any questions and invite them to share what they have heard. That way you can correct any misconceptions and share the facts of what you have learned. Be sure to take into account your child’s age and level of development when deciding how much to share.
There is a great article by the Child Mind Institute that you can read to give you tips about how to handle this conversa-tion. Go to: https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/ La informacion aqui esta escrito en espanol tambien.
Take a 4-3-2-1 Mindfulness Walk.
Even in a suburban setting, most of us have access to green spaces that are away from people. During your walk with your child, encourage them to engage their senses to take in the natural world. Have them focus on:
4 sights, 3 sounds, 2, textures to touch, and 1 smell. (we’ll leave taste out of this one...unless you want to bring a snack along!) Older kids can make note of their observations in a Naturalist Notebook. The Mind Up curriculum we use in school encourages students to pay attention to their senses as a way of breaking the cycle of worrying thoughts. When we train our brains to pay close attention to the world around us, we “change the channel” away from those thoughts; what better channel to go to than the Nature channel!
Take the Chain Drawing Challenge.
All you need is a piece of paper and a couple pencils. Place a line or shape on the paper and then tell your child it is his/her turn to add a line or shape to the drawing. Take turns back and forth until you both agree that the drawing is complete. For an added level of activity, you can then give your child the chance to color in the drawing with cray-ons or markers.
This act of cooperative creation can give you a chance to do some-thing fun together when you or your kids are getting bogged down by household chores, academic enrichment activities or boredom.
Play Indoor Balloon Volleyball.
Can’t go out-side? Then turn any room into a volleyball court with 6-10 feet of string and two chairs. You could even have more fun by decorating the net with yarn or streamers; but this is optional. Then blow up a bal-loon and, if desired, decorate that as well. For young-er children, please make sure that uninflated balloons are kept out of reach since these could be a safety hazard. Then let the games begin! Since this is just for fun, kids can make up their own rules about how many times the balloon can be touched before it goes over the “net.” And if you have more than one child, consider adding more than one balloon for an added challenge. Physical activity releases endorphins into the body that create a sense of well being. And kids with a lot of energy will use it up chasing down balloons!
Cites Consulted for this News letter include:
• https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXItOY0sLRY
• https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/learn-more/coronavirus-resources
• Bennett, Steve & Ruth. 365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child. Holbrook, Massachusetts: Adams Media Corporation, 1991.
• The Hawn Foundation. The Mind Up Curriculum; Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning—-and Living. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2011
Developed by Louise Robinson, Daniel’s Run Elementary
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Your Partners in Education
At Graham Road, our mission is to empower students, staff, and families. With you, we will collaborate to provide equitable education so that we can all strive to reach our fullest potential as members of society. Please let us know when there is a question, concern or feedback to help us do better.
Lauren Badini, Principal lebadini@fcps.edu
Patty Hibner, Asst. Principal pjhibner@fcps.edu
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