Dear Olde Creek Families and Friends,
We hope that our students and families are staying safe and healthy! It was great to connect with many of you during our distance learning parent sessions and our open house sessions. Thank you for joining us. If you have not already, please check out our daily announcements through our Morning News Show! You will also see a new staff member in our ‘Staff Corner’ each day.
We are thankful for your partnership and positive messages this week. Our first day of direct instruction was great! We had a few technology issues, but our teachers and families handled it with grace. Thank you so much for the outstanding participation. Unfortunately not all schools had the same positive experience, which was why changes to the log-in format needed to be made to ensure student safety. We know a safe and positive distance learning community is ahead and are happy to be on this journey with you. Please assure your student(s) that we are excited for more days together starting on Monday. Our teachers will be sending out grade level specific information on our updated log-in procedures. We have also created a video tutorial to support this new process for accessing Blackboard Collaborate Ultra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSWcDz9VJUM&feature=youtu.be
Thank you for the countless positive messages from families, we appreciate the continued support. Olde Creek is an incredible community and we are grateful to be a part of it. Please continue to reach out to us if you have questions or need support.
Be Well and Best Regards,
Melissa Miller, Principal: mhmiller@fcps.edu
Alison Butler, Assistant Principal: ajbutler@fcps.edu
Kelly Durso, Assistant Principal: kldurso@fcps.edu
Ann Platenkamp, Administrative Assistant: amplatenkamp@fcps.edu
Lizardo Santos, Student Information Assistant: LISantos@fcps.edu
Sandy McCulloch, Office Assistant: slmcculloch@fcps.edu
 Accessing Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Students/families will not be using the links that were previously given to them by teachers.
We have created a video tutorial to support this new process for accessing Blackboard Collaborate Ultra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSWcDz9VJUM&feature=youtu.be
To access the instructional sessions with teachers or the office hours/Bear Time with teachers:
- All students will need to log into their FCPS Blackboard 24/7 account with their student number and their FCPS password. https://fcps.blackboard.com/
- Click on the grade level course.
- Look for the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra tab on the left menu. Click on that tab.
- Students will see the sessions they are enrolled in.
- Click on the session button to join the session. The student’s name will automatically show up. Note: Parents are not able to access this on their Blackboard Parent account.
Olde Creek Digital Resource Information for Parents and Students
Digital Resources
Student Links
FCPS Distance Learning YouTube Channel
Math and Language Arts Distance Learning Lessons broadcast on Apple 21 can now be accessed by students and parents on demand. To view, go to Fairfax County Public Schools Distance Learning on YouTube and subscribe. Playlists are arranged by grade level (for math) and content for language arts. Content can also be accessed on the FCPS Apple 21 cable television channel and is streaming at https://www.fcps.edu/news-features-and-events/cable-tv/cable-tv-guide. The site will be updated regularly as videos are developed and finalized.
Learning at Home: Support for Families
The Learning at Home: Support for Families web page provides information about the role of families and caregivers in the FCPS Distance Learning Plan. This site is updated often – please return often for additional guidance and resources.
DreamBox-Online Math Program
We are very excited to offer an online math program to our students called Dreambox. Dreambox helps build conceptual understanding while adapting its content to each individual child. You will be receiving an email sometime next week from your child’s teacher that will contain directions on how to access Dreambox, tips on getting the most out of the program, and your child’s login and password information. Please see the below links for additional information and for tech support.
https://www.dreambox.com/home-learning-with-dreambox
Need tech support? support@dreambox.com
Olde Creek Elementary School Mental Health Team
Wellness and Support Services and Resources
Hello everyone! We hope that this message finds you and your families safe and healthy. During these challenging times we want to let you know that the Olde Creek Mental Health Team is here to support you and your children, so please feel free to reach out to us for help when needed.
The Olde Creek Mental Team members:
Jeanna Squif, School Counselor, JMSquif@fcps.edu
Ellen Goldberger, School Psychologist, emgoldberger@fcps.edu
Mary Valad, School Social Worker, mevalad@fcps.edu
Services that we are able to provide you include:
- Supportive counseling by phone for students and referrals if needed
- Parenting support
- Community based referral/resources (such as: assistance with basic needs)
- Mental Health community based resources
- Online resources (articles, websites, activities to do at home, etc.)
- Tips and ideas to help support your family with distance learning
Emergency Resources:
- Merrifield Mental Health Emergency Services. Call: 703-573-5979 TTY dial 711
- Crisis Link Regional Hotline. Call: 703-527-4077
- Crisis Text. Text: NEEDHELP to 85511
- Dominion Hospital Emergency. Call: 703-536-2000
- INOVA Emergency. Call: 703-289-7560
- Life Threatening Emergency. Call: 911
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Reading Fitness Quest
Good news Olde Creek Bears! We’re continuing the Reading Fitness Quest virtually! When your child completes a sheet, please email Ms. Smet at masmet@fcps.edu and she’ll send the next sheet. Any reading and exercising done since March 13 when schools closed should be counted. There’s still time to complete a sheet before the end of the school year. The final day to submit is May 29. Keep reading and exercising and stay tuned for updates. We have also linked the sheet in case any families need one.
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Yearbook Sales
Our yearbook is now for sale online! Please see the flyer linked here. The yearbooks are $14 and the extended due date to order is June 12, 2020.
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Social Media
Along with Daily Morning Announcements, we have kicked off our Mindful Mondays and Thinking Thursdays on social media. Please follow us to check it out!
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
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Registration
Schools remain closed to families, however, if you have a student to register for next year, please scan a copy of all required documents to our School Registrar, Mr. Santos, at LISantos@fcps.edu. Original documents will need to be shown prior to the start of the school year, but we can begin processing this information from scanned documents. Early registration for next year is important as it supports the number of teachers for which we are staffed. Information on required registration documents can be found here: https://www.fcps.edu/registration . Please direct any questions about registration to Mr. Santos.
OC SACC Trex Challenge
On behalf of the SACC team, we would like to first say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have participated in our Trex Recycling Challenge this year. Thanks to all of your hard work and awesome recycling habits, we have collected 441 lbs so far! You have surprised all of us by going above and beyond in collecting plastic bags for our project, and we are very proud of everyone who helped contribute to our goal. As you know, our goal was to collect 500 lbs for Trex, and we would like to challenge all of you to continue recycling--because we believe that we can still meet that number! If you have continued collecting or would like to continue collecting for our challenge, we have some instructions for you dedicated recyclers.
Our SACC kids this year have worked very hard weighing and bagging up all of that wonderful plastic you guys have saved up for this challenge. For weigh-ins, we had been compacting the plastic into a larger bag (think big shopping bags, though this is not required). Since plastic is so lightweight, we found that having a reference start weight is the best way to get an accurate measurement. At SACC we had volunteer kiddos step on a scale and weigh themselves, and step off. Then, we would have them hold a bag stuffed with our recycled plastic, and they would step on the scale again. We then subtracted the child's original weight and record the difference. It's that easy!
If you decide to participate, we will be taking plastic weights until April 28th. You do not need to worry about turning it in at this time--we will coordinate a drop off at a later date.
You can email your numbers to me, Sarah Cortez, at ccortez@fcps.edu, or Christin McGowan, at cnmcgowan@fcps.edu. This is an awesome activity to take part in, especially with Earth Day coming up. We want our kids to see that even through tough times, we can still work together as a community and help protect our planet. We miss all of our Olde Creek staff, kiddos, and families very very much, and we look forward to hearing from you all.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
-The Olde Creek SACC team
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